Religion Dispatches
…the Federation adds: For too long your world has lived under a cloud that most of you have been unaware of. If you were to KNOW the Truths of what has been hidden from you, you would be appalled and in great disbelief. It is time for your souls to be allowed to be who they are. The veil is to be removed. Until Monday afternoon, I was only dimly aware of this religious world, though certainly curious. A few minutes into our conversation, I asked H…
Read More…tist theology. Eleison, which is also in the business of distributing “the most popular pork skins in America,” also lists pro-Stupak Bobby Bright as a client. Bright, also of Alabama, was recently profiled in the Times, too, for voting more with Republicans than Democrats (including against the health care bill, after demanding the inclusion of the Stupak amendment). What the party leadership is out of touch with is not Stupak, but its own consti…
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…Web sites disseminating confidential church materials online, and, perhaps most sensationally, against the American media. Not long after its founder L. Ron Hubbard published his bestselling self-help book Dianetics in 1950, the movement became the subject of often withering critiques by a wide range of journalists. And for the next sixty years it was the focus of exposés in various publications, from Life, to the Los Angeles Times, the New York T…
Read More…of short-lived Satanic groups including The Church of the IV Majesties and most recently Dakhma of Angra Mainyu. Since 2010, Daniels has been involved in organizing “black masses” or “Satanic exorcisms” at the Oklahoma City Civic Center three times. The most recent event had an audience of zero. Daniels does not appear to be a diabolic genius. The website for his current group presents a confusing mix of Zoroastrian, Gnostic, and Hindu ideas riddl…
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…ear. The Fellowship is about 110 clergy, 75 churches. throughout the U.S., mostly inner-city. Most are pastored by same-gender loving people, or people who are affirming of SGLP. Predominantly African American, emerging from Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal backgrounds. In your book [Where the Edge Gathers] you use a hybrid word to describe that tradition. What was it again? Methabaptacostal. And that’s really true, our worship style is informed by…
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…om receiving communion in her home diocese, she is free to receive it in almo*]}*st all other dioceses in the country. Washington DC has, in the minds of ultra conservative anti-abortion Catholics, been a particular thorn in their side. Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick (and Cardinal Hickey before him) was adamant in his refusal to deny communion to legislators who disagreed on abortion or other issues. Anti-abortion groups such as the Catholic-led A…
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…ems to cut to these politically and culturally charged questions more than most other fields. I feel very lucky about that, because if I were an expert in soil mechanics or something, my work would be important, but nobody would care about the questions I’m asking. What attracted me to this field is the centrality of the brain to our identities. It’s interesting that you said that the questions it touches are charged. You’re right about that, and…
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…d conservative Protestant faiths generate high levels of religious belief. Most religious texts say that homosexuality is problematic. More religious people are more likely to take these religious precepts seriously. When a large proportion of people are highly dedicated to their religion, everyone within the country tends to develop more conservative views. In these countries, the media are likely to reflect dominant religious views. Schools and…
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…inflicted serious violence against the country’s Hindu minority during its most important festival, Durga Puja. The trigger? A Facebook post showing the Qur’an being placed on an image of a Hindu deity. To some Muslims, this offensive post justified attacks on Hindu shops, temples, and homes across Bangladesh. The violence didn’t stop here, though. In the neighboring Indian state of Tripura, Hindu extremist groups protesting the Bangladesh violenc…
Read More…ope John Paul II, Pope Benedict sent the following text message to Italian mobile phone users: “Let us go forth in the joy of the risen Lord and trusting in his permanent help.” JPII had been texting Italians with a “thought of the day” while he was still alive, so Benedict was simply carrying on this tradition. Pope Benedict has more recently used text messaging to communicate with attendees throughout this year’s World Youth Day in Sydney, Austr…
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