Religion Dispatches
…t appear to have a chance, and any oppositional movements are absent or at best anemic. And forget about any religiously-inspired critique of this never-ending conflict, since there are apparently no Christians or Jews or Buddhists or Muslims in America who can make a case about the immorality of war that makes much of a difference. Why are we fighting this war? Protest is futile, though some artists rise to the occasion and question national deci…
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…rank and authority of a chief or king,” he wrote in The Golden Bough, the best of them “perceive how easy it is to dupe their weaker brother and to play on his superstition for their own advantage. Not that the sorcerer is always a knave and impostor; he is often sincerely convinced that he really possesses those wonderful powers which the credulity of his fellows ascribes to him.” The savviest magician-king, in other words, tells the people what…
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…est suits our agendas at any given time. Behold my soul mate, my polar opposite, my better half, my ball and chain, my dissertation topic, my role model, my muse, my T & A, the girl of my dreams—anything but the Divine Image embodied in a unique and to a large degree unknowable human being. Do you recall when the National Endowment for the Arts came under fire for supporting an artist who’d submerged a crucifix in a container of urine? It was call…
Read More…is, you tell people there was a chance, but you were so much less than the best of humanity.” His turn of phrase is a bit prettier (as is his later order to “Be extraordinary”), but I think it’s important—and a sign of Doctor Who’s moral optimism—that this message came from a human being first. The alien Doctor may be this show’s de facto messiah, but the ethical message he brings comes from ourselves first. If it’s just the Doctor telling us to “…
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…eye on the present and plan to ensure our rights for future generations as best we can. All sides sometimes conflate religion or “faith” with religious freedom. But religious freedom according to the Virginia Statute and the First Amendment is not about religion. Religious freedom is about the right to believe as you will. Much like the right to vote is not the same as voting. I think we can learn to better connect the right to religious freedom w…
Read More…0 copies. It had occupied the No. 1 position on the Wal-Mart inspirational best-seller list, showed up on Wal-Mart’s list of top 10 best sellers for seven weeks, and made the USA Today top 50 best-seller list for six weeks. Hagee, who serves as head pastor of the 18,000-member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, hosts his own television program that is seen twice a day on TBN. He argues that the United States must join Israel in a pre-emptiv…
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…0 copies. It had occupied the No. 1 position on the Wal-Mart inspirational best-seller list, showed up on Wal-Mart’s list of top 10 best sellers for seven weeks, and made the USA Today top 50 best-seller list for six weeks. * * * * Esther is a favorite Old Testament figure of many evangelicals, a heroine who saved her people from a genocidal plot masterminded by the evil vizier Haman through her influence as the wife of the King of Persia. When sh…
Read More…ing the country on The Unapologetics Tour, in connection with which they visited sites important to evangelical history and subculture, interviewed numerous exvangelicals, and held book readings and events related to the launch of journalist and novelist Hesse’s second novel, Carnality: Sebastian Phoenix and the Dark Star. One of these events took place at City Lit Books in Chicago on Friday, October 12. The well attended event, audio of which is…
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…cs.” Eventually her students helped her collect these essays in one of the best books ever published in feminist religious thought, Making the Connections. Many chapters from these books warrant book-length treatment, but she published just one such monograph: Our Right to Choose: Toward a New Ethic of Abortion. Although Bev’s interests ranged widely, this book is a good example of how she taught her students to frame issues—to think concretely ab…
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…rable, messy selves? The church is where you dress up and wear your Sunday best. That sometimes precludes being real. Did you find any of your expectations easily confirmed? What surprised me the least is how dogmatic people can be on all points of the theological spectrum. It was disappointing, but it wasn’t surprising, to hear Fred Phelps be dogmatic. It was disappointing but not surprising to hear people in the Metropolitan Community Church be…
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