Religion Dispatches
…e entered one of the world’s most famous (former) mosques, I picked up an “official” pamphlet for tourists, which told visitors that the magnificent structure they were about to see dated back to “the Islamic interruption.” What a nice form of denial. Having studied medieval Spain in preparation for our trip, I found uncomfortable echoes with Serbian propaganda. Spain expelled its Jewish population in 1492 followed by Muslims, though ethnically…
Read More
…otection the EU gives us,” she said. “We now risk losing that protection. The government must promise that there will be no rollback on LGBT rights after Brexit.” Japan: Local officials form pro-LGBT equality league Several dozen local officials launched a new group to advocate for LGBT human rights….
Read More
…umference, putting pi at 3. A Babylonian clay tablet from somewhere between 1900 and 1600 BCE sets the constant at 3.1250. An Egyptian papyrus from 1650 BCE goes with 3.1605. In 250 BCE, the Greek mathematician Archimedes discovered a geometrical approach to calculating pi, proving that pi is somewhere between 3.1408 and 3.1429. Today, supercomputers can calculate over 13.3 trillion digits of pi. It’s not just mathematicians who seem to be entranc…
Read More
…d resignations and retirements. Pope John Paul II replaced as many as 86 of 100 Mexican bishops in two years alone, between 1997-1998. In the most famous case, the indigenous-identified bishop Arturo Lona Reyes of Tehuantepec refused to tender his resignation. The same year, 1997, saw the closing of two Mexican seminaries that seemed to be sympathetic to the Chiapas rebellion. The Mexican pattern of closing seminaries and replacing bishops was rep…
Read More
…nity,” he said. Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda and publishable by up to 14 years in jail. A number of laws have attempted to punish homosexuality with more severe consequences including death, but those bills have folded under international pressure. While activists say the foundation of the bill is fundamentally discriminatory, they also say that successful lobbying campaigns have helped introduce possible amendments that strip the bill of it…
Read More
…or sell for under two dollars). And unlike the internet, the space of the iPhone feels not just private, but personal. Yes, the iPhone might be my means of connection with the world—it is, after all, a phone—but it is also my own little password-locked garden that I carry with me wherever I go. Moreover, I can remake the landscape with a few flicks of my fingers whenever I choose. As a result, the territory necessarily mixes the sacred and the pro…
Read More
…ear the site was too great. And other presidents, including Bill Clinton in 1996, have not visited the Wall either. In general there has been little response, positive or negative, to the news that the president would not go to the Wall. But Americans and Israelis concerned with civil rights in Israel should be applauding the news, because there are many good reasons why President Obama should not visit the Western Wall. The New York Times quoted…
Read More
…ave a firm answer until the FAQ was published. Since the FAQ is not on the official project website, the purpose of Park51 may still change. A project can, should and will evolve, yes, but the base case or starting point for that evolution needs to be clearly defined and clearly understood. This lack of leadership also means that an important constituency has not been consulted: the Muslims that the center supposedly represents. I have asked repea…
Read More
…n Church in Charleston was burned to the ground by whites following a major 1822 slave uprising when it was discovered that long-time church member and class leader (and free person of color) Denmark Vesey had been preaching insurrection there. And now, in a distinctively American drama that never ends, the historic and brave Emanuel (“God with us”) African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston has been violated yet again, almost 200 years late…
Read More
…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…
Read More