Religion Dispatches
…r dreams for the Church and what we need in a new leader.” Joelle Casteix, Western Region Director for SNAP, which advocates on behalf of some 20,000 survivors and allies of those abused by Roman Catholic priests, likewise sees the action of laypeople as critical to any meaningful change in the Roman Catholic Church. “The only way that we can have influence,” she says, “is if Catholics sitting in the pews demand change. It’s time for the Catholic…
Read More…ce? Be sure to adjust your posture and tone of voice you use when you take your seat at the table and negotiate with… oh, wait. Are there women at the table where such decisions are made? Are you a Jewish woman who wants to pray at the Western Wall? Convene a lean-in circle of other women with whom you can discuss your ambitions… oh, wait. Small gender-segregated groupings for women are actually the wall’s status quo. If segregation is doctrine,…
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…. We translated what got the most play, what was most interesting to us as Westerners, not what took the Muslim world by (sand)storm. (Which is funny and inaccurate, since most Muslims live in warm and humid climates like South and Southeast Asia’s.) But if you’re intrigued by the History Channel’s The Bible, either the actual series or the subject matter, and want to see its televised twin—especially, but not only, if you come from the Muslim tra…
Read More…ternoon, the excitement could hardly be contained. The first pope from the Western Hemisphere! The first Francis! An advocate for the poor! A defender of human rights! Wait. Bergoglio, a defender of human rights? The idea that anyone would characterize the new pope as having a solid record on such issues is laughable. One needn’t look further than his staunch opposition to LGBT rights and his flagrant attacks on women to see the contempt. In the…
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…mes across as shameful. They portray controversy over the legislation as a Western media creation. But the documentary’s footage of anti-gay histrionics at churches, rallies, and on the floor of the parliament make it clear that the threat is all too real. Joanna Watson, a longtime missionary in Uganda affiliated with IHOP, says she was attracted to women when she was younger but that she was healed. She tells pastors-in-training that people have…
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…forts are underway elsewhere, including proposals to establish Centers for Western Civilization, new Great Books programs, and the like. Funders typically want to expand beyond their cadre of scholars at smaller universities and private colleges (such as Hillsdale) and push their ideas in the highest reaches of the academic world, at the research universities and in the Ivy League. But of course, even a cursory look at George W. Bush’s cabinet and…
Read More…no need for prayer to save an unrepentant America from sin, no downfall of Western civilization caused by the erosion of “traditional” marriage. No mention of infringements of religious freedom. In fact, on matters of religion, the report sounds remarkably like an effort at Democratic faith outreach. “We need to campaign among Hispanic, Black, Asian, and gay Americans and demonstrate that we care about them, too.” And “the RNC should consider hiri…
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…lit up by fireworks. The next time you hear about the next great threat to Western civilization, please remember what happened the last time. They say that Americans who came of age after September 11 have known only permanent war. We are not the only ones. For all the Americans and Iraqis who died because a war was prosecuted for no discernible reason, with no plan in mind, with no hope but to topple one regime after another—as if these were not…
Read More…atheists of going after Islam simply because it is “low-hanging fruit” in Western contexts: “Throw in a few pictures of burqas, mention infibulation, and who will argue with your revulsion of religion?” Audience after audience applauds these tired tactics as if they were original, but they are highly unscientific and do little to further understanding. It’s not difficult to see how the character of one’s atheism may closely reflect the character…
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…h Lankford sees as an attempt to mask the “shame and disgrace” of suicide. Western experts, looking for a comprehensible narrative, mistake consistency for fact. The misconceptions are further compounded by how difficult it is to identify a potential suicide—even mental health professionals can get it wrong—and how easy it is to conflate suicide terrorists with regular terrorists, the vast majority of whom don’t strap on bombs, preferring to stay…
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