Religion Dispatches
…publicists for the Ben Stein movie Expelled, launched a joint-venture Web site that not only promoted “academic freedom” bills, but provided sample wording for writing the legislation. Stein held press conferences and showings of the movie—which tries to make the argument (poorly) that academic freedom is under attack because science professors are being persecuted for believing in intelligent design—in states where the bills had been introduced….
Read More
…That’s where the people who founded America looked.” According to its Web site, “The Scriptures contain a theology of the family, the church, and the state. Principles in God’s written Word that relate to civil government, politics, economics, and education are timeless and universally useful for the benefit of any culture on Earth today.” Through its Biblical Worldview University, Providence aims to ensure that “leaders in the church, education,…
Read More…ston, we have a problem,” Engle intones in a new “crisis” video on his web site. In the video, which is filled with his characteristic predictions of the earth-shattering impact of his prayer movement, he claims that an unspecified “they” are calling the clinic “an abortion super center.” But who is the they? Engle himself. In unveiling its planned move to the new facility, Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas announced, “we look forw…
Read More
…?” demands Heather Loop. “How just is that?” Bedford Avenue has become the site of spiraling road rage that has consumed both sides. And religion, saddled with clothing, doesn’t make it any easier. For whatever deep conviction the Hasidic community might bring to opposing a bike lane, cyclists bring some of their own. The statement Heather Loop wanted to make with her panty ride, she said, was that removing the lane won’t make the cyclists go away…
Read More…n Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (the former governor of Kansas, the site of some of the most violent anti-abortion extremism) “the most pro-abortion governor in America.” Wright followed FRC’s Perkins, who claimed health care reform efforts are not about the well-being of Americans, but a “Planned Parenthood bailout.” Americans United for Life’s Charmaine Yoest portrayed Planned Parenthood as an evil giant motivated by profit (even though i…
Read More
…are difficult to substantiate. As one astute commenter on the Haaretz Web site put it, Sand’s book is more about the past than the future. Interviewed by that newspaper’s correspondent, Sand responded strongly to both academic and popular criticism of his thesis. But it is the book’s claims about the Jewish past that have caused the biggest buzz and generated the strongest condemnation by Israeli historians of the Jewish past. These critics point…
Read More
…-based and Neighborhood Partnerships (which just launched its official Web site) currently lacks a Buddhist representative, despite the presence of at least one appointee from the other four major world religions. That said, it bears mentioning that Buddhists have been conspicuously absent from many of the administration’s conversations about and efforts around religion in America. We were not included, for example, in President Obama’s inaugural…
Read More…If you get the Women’s Entertainment channel in your cable package, be sure to tune in tonight at ten to see RD’s Kathryn Joyce discuss her book Quiverfull on a special program, “Born to Breed.” For other broadcast times, check out the web site. …
Read MoreThis morning, the lead headline on the Washington Post’s web site read: “Hazy, contradictory picture of suspect emerges.” That might be due to the rampant speculation and fact-free “reporting” that has dominated coverage of yesterday’s tragedy at Fort Hood. Maj. Nidal M. Hasan allegedly went on yesterday’s shooting rampage that killed 13 and injured more than 30 more at the Army base in Texas. He is an Army psychiatrist born in the northern Virgi…
Read More
…implications on the ground. Of his book, Glucklich writes on the HarperOne site: The obvious topic is whether Iran can be deterred from using nuclear weapons against Israel when they finally do acquire them. Can deterrence ever work with an actor who is completely committed to a religious life? An Indologist by training, Glucklich has written highly acclaimed, prize-winning books that adroitly analyze the Hindu tradition and its mythic claims. He…
Read More