Religion Dispatches
…ding up to this year’s election.“ (For more on Pray the Vote, go here) The promo for Craig Detweiler’s new book Into the Dark reads: “Detweiler, a well-respected film expert and media spokesperson on Hollywood and Christianity, examines forty-five twenty-first-century films that resonate theologically—from The Lord of the Rings trilogy to Little Miss Sunshine—offering groundbreaking insight into their scriptural connections and theological applica…
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…inciple that imagining creates reality has captivated modern readers,” the promo copy explains. The publisher probably didn’t expect the book to resonate quite so uncomfortably with the political moment when they chose November 8th—Election Day—as its publication date. But indeed, Donald Trump’s distinctive style has roots in the spiritual tradition of which At Your Command and The Secret are both a part. Neville was just ahead of his time. Born i…
Read More…ing that Obama should be impeached because he is a Muslim (complete with a promo promising free guns, paid for by “a millionaire” who wants you “protected against what’s coming.”) The video in the email is by evangelist Jack van Impe, known for his premillennial rapture theology and his disconnected rambling in Bible verses. It is entitled “President Obama’s Religion in Question” and argues that he is really a Muslim. Joan, who claims in an email…
Read More…R. Reno asks, why all this evangelical fuss now? And what is especially Christian about Christian ecology? Lauri Lebo points out that not everyone involved in the cleanup is an evangelical Christian. Some of them just used to be. Malaysia is abuzz about the new hit reality series Young Imam. The winner of the show gets a scholarship, a job at a Kuala Lampur mosque, and a free trip to Mecca. On American TV, Fox’s comedy Glee will be adding a Chris…
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…hich I’m a member. We’re doing everything possible to stop the draft law.” Malaysia: Comedy Film with LGBT Themes Banned Banglasia, an irreverent comedy film, has been banned by authorities because it mocks the government and “accentuates negative sociocultural lifestyles such as lesbian gay bisexual transgender (LGBT).” Thailand: Gay American-Spanish Couple Fighting Surrogate for Custody of Child An American man and his Spanish partner had their…
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…texts her or emails her instead of telling her personally, a problem that Malaysian Muslims have recently been addressing? In Malaysia, the practice was banned, but Egypt was still debating the issue in January 2008. Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post points out that these questions can get thornier still, when she asks: Is it rude to watch your phone in church—if that’s where you’ve downloaded your Bible? Can text-message blessings be spi…
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…inline counterparts. So in 1954, Congress enacted the provision of the tax code at stake in Gaylor v. Mnuchin. A House committee said that the aim of the new subsection was to treat equally those ministers for whom churches provided housing and those who were paid housing allowances instead. The sponsor of the legislation, Illinois Democratic Rep. Peter Mack, justified the law in terms resonant of the fight against communism: Certainly, in these t…
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…. So it’s more about representation and identity than it is about specific codes or laws.” Even though some political activists in Middle Eastern and North African countries promote “Islamic law” in reaction to the imposition of European-style government and legal systems on them, there is no single school of thought on what shari’ah, or divine law, is or means—and there is no single, accepted legal code. “If Islamic law were some book where you c…
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…uples. The third criterion Dr. King identifies is that “an unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal.” For same sex couples to have legal access just like heterosexual couples…
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…al” amid the government’s recent crackdown on LGBT people: A 1945 criminal code passed by Britain when Tanzania was under its administration prescribes between 30 years to life in jail for gay male sex. Lesbian sex isn’t against the law. Activists say that, despite the law, former president Jakaya Kikwete, who was in office from 2005 to 2015, mainly left LGBT people alone. But since his successor John Magufuli was elected, that tolerance has evapo…
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