Religion Dispatches
…ester NY, who lost his daughter Jean, a flight attendant on board American Airlines Flight 11. Mr. Roger said he hoped the pope would say prayers for the place, for the people, and for his daughter Jean. Praying at a unlighted candle next to the prie-dieu Pope Benedict XVI used on his visit, the Pope offered those prayers silently while looking at the south pool of the memorial. The 9/11 site has become not just a memorial or a museum—it is a pilg…
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…good move. When I got to the lobby another something told me to dig out my phone and check it for messages. Sure enough, I had one from an unfamiliar number. A woman’s voice said Bedi was still sleeping, exhausted from the previous day’s overseas flight, and needed to reschedule our interview for that afternoon. I called the number back, convinced the opportunity was lost. “I’m here at the hotel now, but I’m booked solid this afternoon—” “Hold on,…
Read More…extent resist facing how poorly Russia still performs internationally in a number of important respects—not least LGBT rights. That being said, I’ll be the first to admit that the US is far from perfect, and I am ready to criticize many of its policies. I suppose that it is precisely this readiness, this desire many of us have to show that we are open-minded and fair, that represents one key psychological source of the temptation to engage in fal…
Read More…ways in which beliefs about complementarianism correlate with myths about domestic violence and abuse. In claiming that the problem with Patterson is that his behavior is unbiblical, not that it’s abusive and sexist, these women, well-meaning as they may be, are actually skirting the issue of biblical inerrancy which is at the heart of the matter as well as ignoring both the moral and exegetical problems with the doctrine of complementarianism it…
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…n the Matrix presents us with a story about how simulation theory fed into domestic abuse, but the terms of the conversation aren’t honest. As Dr. Megan Goodwin has shown, abuse doesn’t happen more often in marginalized religions; the discourse that tells us otherwise does so in part to protect long standing relations of power in the US that work to uphold the supremacy of certain forms of religion (white, protestant) over others. And, while robus…
Read More…it would not have the same effect to see ‘Will you enter into a registered domestic partnership with me?’ Groucho Marx’s one-liner, ‘Marriage is a wonderful institution… but who wants to live in an institution?’ would lack its punch if the word ‘marriage’ were replaced with the alternative phrase.” It’s nice to see that the justices get it that “registered domestic partnerships” are not the same as marriage, even if they come with all the same rig…
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…nonhuman animals in this book. I’m especially interested in relations with domestic animals, who have been largely ignored by environmental and social ethicists. Historically, and still today, people’s relations with domestic animals have been among the most important dimensions of our lives. The history of different species and their roles in various cultures have received a lot of attention, and there are some great histories out there. There ar…
Read More…t as having an important impact on American popular culture. His play, The Domestic Crusaders, is about a multi-generational household. The family happens to be from Pakistan and they happen to be Muslim. As I write in an earlier review, “their stories can belong to anyone. That is the power of Domestic Crusaders. It is billed as an immigrant, Pakistani, Muslim experience, but it is the story of any community that is trying to preserve a unique id…
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…arge part of the Great Plains, restored wildlife and built a system of over 800 state and county parks. They electrified an entire region of the country, bringing what had been America’s “Third World” up to 20th century standards. They created works of art, gave concerts, set up theaters throughout the country, ran nursery schools, served over 1.2 billion school lunches to needy children, gave immunizations, taught illiterate adults to read and wr…
Read More…e group did not get a private meeting with Pope Francis, but was given VIP tickets to the pope’s weekly audience in St. Peter’s square. Religion News Service reports that several bishops, including “San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone – point man or the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ battle against gay marriage – had written a letter to the Vatican on their behalf.” A group of LGBT Catholics from London who met up with the New Ways…
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