Religion Dispatches
…2000) and others, estimates at around half are confident, with even higher numbers among younger clergy. The bishops know this and yet few are able to speak with the kind of candor the pope manages on a daily basis. There are reasons for this, which brings me to the third thing that happened—or didn’t happen—in the wake of Francis’ press conference. No bishop or church leader stood by Francis and in so many words said publicly, “You know, the pop…
Read More…g the conflict within the former Yugoslavia. In the days leading up to July 11, 1995, Bosniaks had come to Srebrenica from surrounding areas, because it was declared a UN safe area; then Dutch UN peacekeepers stepped aside, having no mandate to resist the Serbs by force, and the slaughter commenced. Civilians raced blindly into the surrounding forests, to be picked off by snipers or captured and raped. When NATO bombs finally started falling, Bosn…
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…g up’ and when we had some difficult times in our family’s life, when I was 12, 13 the Church became this very important thing that wrapped around us and supported us.” She said her study of medieval English at university and figures like Julian of Norwich had fascinated her and reaffirmed her Faith. “I never felt the need break away,” she said. “In the past, when I didn’t go I found I missed it, it provides community and creates a space that is v…
Read More…ht stalwart Gary Bauer warmed up the audience by comparing the election to Flight 93, a new standard even for the hyperbolic rhetoric of evangelical supporters of Trump, who previously have called his rhetoric “Churchillian” and warned that this election could be the final nail in the coffin of American liberty. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a Flight 93 election. This may be our last shot. It’s time to roll. It’s time to run down the aisle and sav…
Read More…hen put it and make the intentions. That means you have to know where your flight is going. As it happens my flight will enter Saudi Arabia from a non-Muslim majority country, France, so will land in Jeddah, the transitional port. However, since my next stop is Makkah, and Jeddah is closer to it than any of the five miqat, then technically I have to make my intention and take on the ihram before I leave the U.S. (or in France, or mid-air). Everybo…
Read More…cation of his religious worldview served to insulate him from conservative flight. Bump writes that Robertson’s “comments about black Americans were buried under a rush to defend the right of Christian Americans to express disapproval of gays,” and that, compared to Bundy Robertson “did a much better job leveraging political sentiment in his favor after his controversial remarks.” But Robertson didn’t have to do much leveraging; his comments came…
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…told me, “and therefore enables me to live with him and the Father and the Spirit forever, and all of his friends” News of Cardinal George’s departure from this earthly realm broke my heart more than a little. But as his life is celebrated today in a funeral mass at the Chicago cathedral where he presided for 17 years, I am thankful for having known him and that he has arrived on the other side of the veil to take his seat among the Great Cloud of…
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…Pride Walk. Colombia: Profile of trans musician and activist explores her spiritual life Sentiido profiles Sarah Gonzalez, a musician and transgender activist whose “spiritual life is linked to a deep respect for nature, an idea enriched by Buddhist and shamanic practices.” Sarah says that struggling with her identity, she prayed to the Virgin Mary to be “fixed,” before understanding that Catholic doctrine was standing in the way of an authentic…
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…m terrible at thinking of titles and was rather pleased with Moving by the Spirit. Having to come up with something else is hard! In any case, the idea of “moving,” and the Pentecostal version of this, which is what I mean by “moving by the Spirit,” serves as an organizing motif for the book. So, the current title gives you a reasonable idea of what it’s about. How do you feel about the cover? I love it! So many books about Pentecostalism have cov…
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…by Pentecostal students at Sharon Children’s Homes and Schools in February, 1948. Weary of what they felt was a “spiritual drought” in institutional Pentecostalism, they were in search of fresh spiritual experience. This is a driving aspect of NAR to this day. This anti-denominationalism led to accusations that the movement was taking members and churches out of institutional Pentecostalism. This was certainly a factor when the General Council of…
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