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…
Read More…help find the missing airliner by using the power of remote viewing, a form of ESP….
Read More…worst instances of a global Islam’s diverse history are quotidian, or even spiritually necessary, what can one do? At times like this I’m mildly keen on giving up. After all, how can we even respond to such misinformation? What could I possibly say to balance its unfairness? Then I realized that we should never argue on these terms—the deck is stacked against us. One way to push back is to highlight a very different kind of Muslim world, the real,…
Read More
On Christmas Day, 2009, as a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam prepared to land in Detroit, passengers smelled smoke and heard a series of bangs or popping noises. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old man from a prominent Nigerian family, was attempting to ignite an explosive device sewn into his underwear. He succeeded only in igniting himself—after his arrest, he had to be treated for second-degree burns on his hands and crotch. Inst…
Read More
…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…
Read More…ction that we have been getting from the hierarchy is due to the welcoming spirit of Pope Francis, who wants to welcome everyone,” said [Sister Jeannine] Gramick, speaking by phone from Assisi, the pilgrims’ last stop before heading to Rome. “It’s very heartening to people who have felt alienated and rejected for so long, so we are feeling very hopeful.” “While LGBT Catholics hope for changes, they are realistic enough to know that Francis may not…
Read More
…omething-year-old Deadhead guys hit on my teenage friends by offering them tickets to shows. Deadheads were anathema to my chosen subculture of socially conscious punks. East Bay punks were aggro and in your face about social justice, feminism, human rights; Deadheads, in our eyes, were too stoned and obsessed with their god Jerry to care. Sometimes, I’d be out in Berkeley at night, coming out of a punk show in some basement or garage, and I’d hea…
Read More
…dren’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 the Assemblies of God in the U.S. pass…
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
…d whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin.” – Mark 3: 28-29 All houses of worship are sanctuaries, but the concept of sanctuary holds particular resonance in Black Church tradition on account of the church’s role as the one institution white people could not take completely away from the persons whom they never ceased to abuse in the most un-Christian wa…
Read More