Religion Dispatches
…life. It became possible for people to conceive of meaningful lives in God-free ways — as painters in the service of art, as scientists in the service of knowledge. For David Brooks, in other words, it feels amazingly great to live amidst the spoils of our secular age! But really, how does it feel to live in an age like ours, having moved from “the all encompassing sacred cosmos, to our current world in which faith is a choice, in which some peop…
Read More
…is, and Jewish participants asserting their historical status as victims. Questions come out more as accusations or personal revelations in these settings. When things go well, feelings of “joy” and being “moved” abound, much like the Slim Peace participants claim of their experience. It is unclear whether such events actually change how these Jews and Muslims perceive each other, or if they only change how Jews and Muslims view themselves. In th…
Read More
…wsletter which reaches many high schoolers. As more and more students have come forward complaining that their school uses Lightspeed Systems to block TST’s website, TST’s legal team now regards these students as potential plaintiffs. Public education has long been an important issue for Malcolm Jarry. In fact, TST’s first political action was a protest intended to call attention to a bill signed by Florida governor Rick Scott intended to promote…
Read More
…oul of their ideology. When the logical endpoint of your understanding of “freedom of religion” is state-sanctioned violence against othered people, I contend that you’re doing freedom of religion wrong. This will bring us back to the prominent theologian I mentioned at the beginning of this article. (You didn’t think I was going to forget about him, did you?) Presbyterian Church of America minster, author, and apologist Tim Keller—he of “sex outs…
Read More
…y of these things). The incorporation of music, almost liturgical with call-and-response type elements, fits all too well into a fascist spectacle of aesthetics. This goes well beyond the mood enhancing aspect of the songs other candidates walk on to—it’s the music of the most reactionary elements of Trump’s supporters, given official recognition and a place in the performance, all of which is designed to bring the rest of the crowd with them. And…
Read More
…congregations, colleges, or seminaries. Intrigued by the idea of bringing high-end critical pedagogy to the people, I asked Crossan how his passion for biblical studies led him to want to engage with laypeople – and what that experience has been like. ______ Peter Laarman: You are doing these elaborate video projects with the Dykes Foundation. What’s that been like, and have you ever felt you need to oversimplify when you are working with laypeop…
Read More
…nt lingers as the most widely known religious sentiment yet expressed by a high-profile Japanese public figure in reaction to the current crisis. It resonates with similar remarks made in the United States following disasters, such as those by Pat Robertson in 2005, who described Hurricane Katrina as divine retribution for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts upholding Roe vs. Wade, or the televised conversation between Robertson and Jerry Fal…
Read More
…the 2016 election the Times‘ executive editor told NPR: “I think that the New York-based and Washington-based too probably, media powerhouses don’t quite get religion.” The problem is that efforts to better understand evangelicals all too often manifest as a reluctance to be critical and a failure to include the perspectives of both exvangelicals and policy researchers, both of whom are knowledgeable and have legitimate concerns about widespread…
Read More
…ents who usually hold Q’s word as gospel? Travis View, conspiracy theory researcher and co-host of the QAnon Anonymous podcast, told us: “The belief that JFK Jr. is alive and will reveal himself soon is typically an extension of the belief that his father President Kennedy was assassinated by the deep state. This is seen in the claims from some QAnon followers that JFK Jr. is returning to avenge his father’s death. QAnon promises followers ultimat…
Read More
…or for ill—continues to play in segregated African-American communities vis-à-vis social welfare, cultural cohesion, political engagement and educational opportunity (i.e., providing scholarships, linking with colleges and universities, establishing safe spaces for studying/tutoring/mentoring, etc.). It’s important to remember that African Americans (along with Latinos) continue to be the most residentially segregated in the U.S., have the highest…
Read More