Religion Dispatches
…was a book almost twice as long. My publisher felt, obviously, that a three-hundred-page book would be much more accessible than the almost six hundred pages I envisioned. This means I didn’t get to spend as much time on Satan in American literature as I had hoped (though there are long sections on important figures like Hawthorne and Twain). I think that I probably would have also, in a longer book, spent even more time on folklore, especially ur…
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…suffering or who have caused my suffering, it tends to be the Prodigal Son-types who have alleviated it. My great spiritual ideal is John XXIII. He was a big, roly-poly guy who, while vicar in Turkey, signed fake passports for Jews, allowing them to escape. One of my favorite pictures in the world is of him with a wine glass in one hand and a cigarette in the other. As Pope, he said, “See everything, overlook much, correct a little.” He opened up…
Read More…ounced on Thursday “that the church would give sanctuary to Sulma Franco, a 31-year-old Guatemalan immigrant who fled her home country after threats on her life.” “We’re honored to step into an ancient tradition: the tradition of churches offering sanctuary to someone seeking justice,” said the church’s reverend, Meg Barnhouse. Franco, who identifies herself as a lesbian woman, told the crowd she fled her home country in 2009 after her life was th…
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…wn the same-sex marriage debate in the country, rather than enrage the anti-gay-camp, which includes groups such as the ‘League for Defending Happy Families’. The anti-gay-camp is dominated by conservative Taiwanese Christians and the moral right of Taiwan. It is worth noting that while Christians, including both Protestants and Catholics, constitute less than 6 per cent of the whole population of Taiwan, they are the most vocal and organised grou…
Read More…series of posts; how they kept a straight face in covering the virtual self-parody Barton performs with these words is beyond me). They constitute instead a private language that validates Barton’s own self-conception as a defender of Truth against those who, according to him, do not believe in any Truths of any sort. It’s a case study, in some ways, of recent depictions of the neuroscience of political differences, and in particular the way “rig…
Read More…d that as he drove home from the border, Mr. Zodhiates tried to call a cellphone number registered to Liberty Counsel, an evangelical legal group. That cellphone number has sometimes been used by Mathew D. Staver, the founder of Liberty Counsel, dean of the Liberty University Law School in Lynchburg, Va., and a leader of Ms. Miller’s defense team. The RICO filed by Jenkins includes information that RD readers learned last year from Sarah Posner’s…
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…ive of the pharmacists’ movement, though, I came across a surprisingly well-organized coalition of evangelical anti-contraception groups, some of whom were arguing that Christians should leave their family size and spacing in the hands of God. As I began to read a number of books that shaped the community and conviction, particularly early movement texts like Mary Pride’s The Way Home: Beyond Feminism, Back to Reality, and Rick and Jan Hess’ Full…
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…ystem—a bicyclist ringing a bell—that helped locals identify and expel door-to-door evangelists. But Aarón had military connections in local government, and roots in the region. Elisa had been born in the city. After two decades of civil war and social reform, rural migrants had swelled Guadalajara’s working classes. Aarón soon built a following among poor Guadalajarans, in part by offering social services. In 1954, he managed to secure a piece of…
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…lso had an eye to the future, envisioning a church that was much more media-savvy and tethered to the modern age. His quick work helped dissipate attention and avoid long-lasting repercussions. A decade after the bombing, in 1995, Hinckley became the church’s fifteenth president. His thirteen years at the head of the faith are now remembered for the great strides taken to further court the national spotlight and earn cultural admiration, reversing…
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…brity and the moniker “America’s Pastor,” are largely the product of a best-selling self-help devotional, The Purpose Driven Life. Stunning skeptical publishers, the book has sold 25 million copies and is, according to Publisher’s Weekly, the best selling hardback in American history. Revenue from the book has enabled Warren to stop drawing a salary and to refund the 25 years of salary he’d already drawn. Furthermore, the huge sums that continue t…
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