Religion Dispatches
…agerly clicked on it. I was surprised when I saw this wasn’t a clip of his latest hysterical stand up, but an essay he penned for the Wall Street Journal’s Speakeasy blog. The topic of his essay was how he came to be an atheist. The whole piece is here. While there is humor in the piece, it’s actually more of a sweet thoughtful response to all the people who ask him and other atheists why they don’t believe in God. And as my husband noticed, Gerva…
Read More…or past support. So many progressives rejoiced at Obama’s victory, but the latest developments mean we must keep close tabs on his administration. It’s admirable to want to bring your enemies to the table, but one must always remember they are still enemies. With no political support to repay, Obama’s inclusion of them signals that he’s ready to give the religious right more power than they have ever enjoyed within Republican administrations—who k…
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…o the spooky fairy tale has now transformed into a sort of love-story. The latest film version, Red Riding Hood, is thus a knowing participant in a very long folkloric tradition that takes us all the way back to Early Modern Europe. There are intriguing gestures toward each of the tales Orenstein rehearses, and they’ve even added a little vampire logic for good measure. These werewolves can pass their powers on with a bite, but only in the once-ev…
Read More…olitical force, forcing creationists to shape shift their message into the latest anti-evolution attack. The battle is now back in Louisiana, the site of Dover’s precursor of Edwards v. Aguillard, in which creation science was struck down as religion in 1987. The strategy is now focused on “teaching the controversy.” Instead of actually claiming that they have a scientific claim, they now just try to instill doubt in students’ minds about the vali…
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…ism. And, while Christians grapple to find their notion of the soul in the latest neuroscience, metaphysicals (together with the Dalai Lama) can’t get enough of it. Fortunately, we don’t have to choose. Science as a way of living doesn’t depend utterly on theology. An evangelical can map the human genome, an atheist can unravel the big bang, and a Buddhist can be twice as likely to become a scientist than the average American. In any case a theolo…
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…ure poses, and, in some extreme cases, distinguishing features is only the latest stop on the elevator ride up from the basement of the religious unconscious—the postmodern return of one of the most primitive manifestations of the fan mind, namely, ritual cannibalism, in which participants absorb an enemy’s magical powers by eating his flesh. Following Freud’s analysis, in Totem and Taboo, of the Christian Eucharist as a revival of that ancient to…
Read More…e to the American values that you reference. Regrettably, this is just the latest example of your tendency to offer intemperate comments about Islam. At a town hall meeting during your campaign, you characterized Islam as America’s enemy and asserted, “Islam is a totalitarian, theocratic political ideology; it is not a religion.” Such untrue and inflammatory remarks intensify an unsettling trend of anti-Muslim rhetoric and fear in our country. The…
Read More…. Precious may suffer at Oscar time due to a perceived backlash from being promoted by Oprah; and to be honest, I have been skeptical of her post-Frey picks. But director Lee Daniels and screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher brought Sapphire’s novel Push to light by capturing the essence of Precious’ hell without forcing the audience to endure a blow-by-blow account of the horrors. Her transformation from an abused illiterate teen mother living with her…
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…ome profound changes in the way people make decisions in their lives.” The latest entry into the series, written by Montgomery’s son, is said to the be the scariest. But, like the others, it’s also meant to be reassuring. “Don’t be afraid,” Montgomery said in 2010, when asked to sum up the Choose Your Own Adventure message. “Understand that we are all confronted with choices everyday of our life. And it’s new, it’s exciting, and sometimes it’s rea…
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…ovided relief to residents in Kobe, they are eager to help victims of this latest natural disaster. World Vision Japan is gathering relief funds and is working to aid victims; Caritas Japan, the Catholic charity, is gathering donations and working with dioceses to provide support in the afflicted region; the United Church of Christ is housing refugees in its Sendai churches; and the Salvation Army in Tokyo is gathering money and opened their doors…
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