Religion Dispatches
…oes it mean when New Atheists and far-right evangelicals spout the same conspiracy theories while actual New Testament scholars are ignored? There are at least four factors to blame for how the Ishtar/Easter conspiracy theory is invoked. …
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…f which do happen to wear (typically small) crucifixes—and thus the visual code aimed its sights more narrowly on undesirable religious minorities, while at the same time allowing the government to proclaim the even-handedness of its approach. But whatever the actual intentions of the government, the deployment of this category of the ‘permitted sign’ wonderfully epitomized a much larger and more longstanding liberal project to (re)construct mode…
Read More…pulpy example of a larger pattern of scriptural citation that obscures and promotes tensions between market forces and nationalism, dynamics I discuss in depth in my book, The Babylon Complex (Oxford University Press, 2014). A reboot of the older Jack Ryan series—based on Tom Clancy novels like Hunt for Red October—Shadow Recruit uses an all new screenplay by Adam Cozad and David Koepp. Still, the film is highly reminiscent of the earlier series’…
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…anything is a “safe space” on campus to discuss the problems in the Middle East. When I was asked to join the Hillel Executive I accepted, even if hesitantly, because I thought I might bring a more liberal voice. When I was told that the “price” to be on the committee was a donation in the five-figure range, I balked. The obligation to donate was waived. It was good to have members who lived in the area and interacted with the students, I was told…
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…screen shot from a now-viral video in which local activists from Oakland’s East Bay Meditation Center took to the stage at the Wisdom 2.0 conference, calling attention to the problems of gentrification precipitated by the growth of the tech industry in San Francisco. In the image, Meng sits cross-legged as the activists hold high a banner reading “Eviction-Free San Francisco.” “For me,” I had explained, “this image represents a distinction that Ma…
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…to scientific rigor. Shortly after The Cubit spoke with Miller, The Daily Beast published a review of The Spiritual Child highlighting errors and shaky interpretations. As reviewer Vlad Chituc (who, in full disclosure, is a friend) points out, Miller misrepresents key details of a study by the psychologist Paul Bloom. She also cites a pair of studies from The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine—one involving psychic communication, an…
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…s less on the intense, amazing, wowing technology, and explores what I at least think are much more important questions about the way technological evolution will shape human relationships—both to AI and to each other. MHS: But we keep getting Ultron. Or surreal-murder-mystery-show AI, as in Ex Machina. HL: I’ve heard Ex Machina is fantastic, as in fantastically entertaining, like Ultron. Hey, you can’t fault Hollywood. MHS: Oh, sure, creepy AI se…
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…im populations will increase not only in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but also in North America. Their demographic study validates your prediction that there will be more religious switching within Western culture from Christianity to non-affiliation. But the percentage of unaffiliated believers will actually go down as a percentage of the global population. But of course that’s a projection, and it’s based on the analysis of trends tha…
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…name. Ostensibly, FBM is about biblical prophecy, the contemporary Middle East, and the role of Jews in history, though it’d be more accurate to say that FBM is an attempt to use history and science to prove the existence of a Christian, pro-American God. During the eclipse of a full moon, the face of the disk turns red: a blood moon. The appearance of four blood moons in a short period of time is called a tetrad. Right now, we’re three-quarters…
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…activist told Uganda’s Kuchu Times, a news outlet run by LGBT activists in east Africa…. Indeed, Kuchu Times reflected on the hostile environment LGBT Africans face in the media, lamenting that “Such incidences where the media has incited violence to the point of death should serve as a lesson not to put other people’s lives in danger, but not in Africa.” Critics included many of the paper’s own readers: Comments on the newspaper’s website were ov…
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