Religion Dispatches
…long considered quintessential “outsiders” to mainstream American culture, today find themselves at the center of the American zeitgeist. Yet it is the Mormons’ supposed theological weirdness that is the centripetal attraction. As Joanna Brooks has noted in these pages, the New York Times recently featured Harold Bloom’s musings on how a President Romney would govern a country, and a planet, from which he would in the afterlife depart, becoming th…
Read More…S Newsroom reads: “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regrets today’s decision. California voters have twice been given the opportunity to vote on the definition of marriage in their state and both times have determined that marriage should be recognized as only between a man and a woman. We agree. Marriage between a man and a woman is the bedrock of society. “We recognize that this decision represents only the opening of a vigorous d…
Read More…g to translate Catholic doctrine into public policy, largely foreshadowing today’s debates about the rights of Christians, or any followers of a specific religion, to impose their values on others. “There is a Catholic law on birth control. There is a Catholic law on abortion. I accept the Catholic law. There is no Catholic law on what you have to do about imposing birth control on others,” Cuomo said. After O’Connor called out Ferraro for being a…
Read More…licy circles in North America and Europe and by many academics invested in promoting religious freedom). It is, rather, an inescapably context-bound, polyvalent concept unfolding within divergent histories in differing political orders. This realization has led us to pose a number of crucial questions to those engaged in the promotion of religious freedom as a stable and singular human right. These questions, explored in detail in the PoRF volume…
Read More…ng to save?” Kumrits asked his friend. “Man, he sounded just like we sound today.” But if you ask them what they are, they really don’t know. And they’re fine with that. They don’t know where they will be spiritually in a year, but they don’t seem very much preoccupied by it. Today, their spirituality comes from the Tao Te Ching. They are dedicated to shedding their possessions. Kumrits lives year round in a camper. The two men are constantly chal…
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…an ancient biblical story about a cataclysmic flood to life for audiences today. Was it biblical? Was it the least biblical Bible movie ever made? These questions flare up in what is frankly a flat and over-rehearsed debate about the Bible in American life. Honestly, does it matter whether a movie is biblical? Do the spiritual-but-not-religious care? Do those evangelicals who grow tired of the stereotype made of them in the media care? Do secular…
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…who profited from putting up pilgrims and selling food and wares. Then as today, approval by the Vatican involved both strict alignment with doctrine and a spotless personal record for anyone involved. Trends in official sainthood have changed over time based on who best represents the political and theological interests of the Vatican. Still, the Catholic Church tends not to uphold stringent regulations on folk devotion. Most apparitions, miracl…
Read More…and a more equitable role for women in LDS Church leadership and service. Today, the global operations of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are governed and directed by an all-male organizational chain of command. Mormon women may participate in some decision-making at the congregational level. But at all levels most forms of institutional power—from the power to shape the church’s global policies and finances to the power to bles…
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…developed a dynamic culture and practice of musical theater that persists today, which importantly set the stage for Broadway’s satirical, full-circle swing back to Mormons in 2011—over 180 years and several iterations later, Mormonism was back in New York where it had started. Mormons were something of an easy target in 2011, what with the Mormon Church’s opposition to marriage equality and Mitt Romney’s seemingly picture perfect life running pe…
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…experienced a notable growth spurt in the early 2000s and your membership today is holding fairly steady, whereas the forecast for many of the mainline groups remains quite dire. What would say is the message here? Being ahead of the curve in some ways—certainly on LGBTQ equality—has been helpful to us. And we have grown relatively more in the South, where there is still the expectation of people going to church. We need to explore new ways to ga…
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