Religion Dispatches
…levision network earlier this week, sitting for an interview with televangelists Marcus and Joni Lamb, to sell not only his faith in God, but his faith in small government. Paul’s most sincerely held religious belief, no surprise, was in minimizing government. People “think somehow there’s salvation in government,” Paul said, but “there isn’t.” In fact, lack of government oversight has been a salvation, at least a financial one, for the Lambs. As…
Read More…sure some in government don’t want to destroy our country.” Moore’s enemy list was long that night, particularly when it came to immigration matters. By failing to protect the borders, he said, the government was failing to “to protect against invasions.” Moore added, incredulously, “They’re letting anybody come in!” He called for the impeachment of Supreme Court justices over the 2003 decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down Texas anti-s…
Read More…ay, anti-immigrant views. In Idaho, he worked with Scott Lively, the evangelist known for provoking an anti-gay panic in Uganda that led to the introduction of the Anti Homosexuality Bill there, and who claims a link between Nazism and homosexuality: In an online column, Fischer defended Lively’s preposterous and debunked “history” of a Nazi-gay link, claiming “the masculine homosexual movement in Germany created the Brown Shirts, and the Brown Sh…
Read More…ternate universe for a lot of reasons, but now we can add a new one to the list. Because in the first such case of which I’m aware, a bakery in Denver has been sued for refusing to bake a homophobic cake. According to the reports, the plaintiff in the suit requested that the baker bake him a cake that said “God hates gays” along with a picture of two men holding hands with an X over them. When the baker—who identifies as Christian herself—refused,…
Read More…came after only three hearings, during which families quarreled with journalists who tried to photograph their relatives in the dock. The courtroom erupted into a frenzy after the word “acquittal” was heard from the judge and women ululated. Scott Long, an American researcher who had followed the case said he was both “shocked and delighted.” “I hope this is a sign that these raids will come to an end,” Long told The Associated Press amid the chee…
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…indeed apply to yoga. 8. Yogaphobia Fear of Yoga continued to flourish. To list just a few 2014 incidents: Albert Mohler cited Indiana University religious studies scholar Candy Gunther Brown’s expertise—in 2013, Brown testified in a high-profile court case against allowing yoga in Encinitas, California public schools since it, according to Brown, promotes Hinduism—in support of his own argument that yoga is dangerous for Christians. In an op-ed p…
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…the charges of plagiarism, to his gaming of the New York Times Bestseller List, to his reputation as a hyper-masculine misogynist and homophobe with an authoritarian leadership style. [T]he scheme itself is part of an overall ethos that seeks to proselytize “by every means available.” What’s important, in other words, is that people hear “about Jesus”—however that might happen. Thus it was not surprising when Driscoll announced this past weekend…
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…rn world,”³ while another lumped Muslims together with communists and socialists commenting, bizarrely, that “The greatest fear for a communist, a socialist or a Muslim is Truth.”⁴ Other TTT comments were just plain false: “Islam is spread by the sword while monotheistic religions are not.”⁵ (Try telling that to an Aztec or Inca—not to mention the fact that Islam is a “monotheistic religion.”) Yet despite TTT’s lack of credentials and the obviousl…
Read More…pick from. Advocates of gay marriage have already announced that they will promote their own lists in all dioceses. Opponents have said they will wait until they see the first lists submitted in the spring. Their strategy seems to be to get their people in here, as they have been previously. Poland: First Openly Gay Mayor Elected Vanessa Gera reports for Associated Press that Robert Biedron had already made history by becoming the first openly gay…
Read More…n in America. Early films like White Zombie (1932)––based on the sensationalistic writing of William Seabrook—presented Vodou as a sinister religion involving poison and mind control. When I ask my students to list their associations with Vodou, “scary” is the most common response. American fear and fascination with Vodou is also closely intertwined with issues of class and, especially, race. This matrix of associations is evident in the example o…
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