Religion Dispatches
…reation of religious empires. Meanwhile, Warren’s books read more like self-help books than dire warnings of Satanic or Muslim hordes that drive the work of say, John Hagee, and his ideology is about free market fundamentalism more than it is about overt religious and political triumphalism. This, along with an avuncular personality gives him an image of moderation that will fit more comfortably with the corporate wings of both major parties. Only…
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…ornia Institute for Women for stalking and the attempted kidnapping of a 14-year-old boy since 2021. DePape’s association with Taub and his voter affiliation with the Green Party in 2013 form the basis for claims that he experienced a rapid swing from left-wing to right-wing, with a crucial pivot around 2014 due to Gamergate. Some commentators have felt comfortable labeling DePape “a far-right extremist.” Others have called this impulse to label b…
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…vent that may sound familiar to those in Texas played out in a small rural community in south-central Pennsylvania. A member of the Dover Area School Board uttered a sentence at a public meeting that would touch off a firestorm of debate in his small community and across the nation. During a discussion about why the board refused to buy a ninth grade biology textbook which included a section on evolutionary theory, Bill Buckingham set the stage fo…
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…here. Over half of its population lives under two dollars a day. Its infant-mortality rate is 2.5 times higher than its neighbor, the Dominican Republic. The devastating earthquake of 2010 not only shattered much of the country’s infrastructure, it left as many as 300,000 dead. According to the Spiritual Mappers, these conditions are not the result of socio-economic instability. They are not the legacy of what is widely regarded as history’s most…
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…owever, the existence of sages is true in a self-evident, I-think-therefore-I-am sort of way. I should say “some sages,” actually, because I’m pretty sure that believing in sages is not a prerequisite for being a sage. It’s extremely likely that the majority of sages aren’t even aware of their own sagehood. And if they are aware of it, there’s no guarantee that they’d tell us about it. As Lin writes: “Tao cultivators have no missionary zeal that d…
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…post-racial. For Fluker, an in-between ethic enables us to see in the post-racial idea a commendable desire for transcendence while acknowledging how the post-racial fantasy denies ongoing forms of racial violence and suffering. Liminality also prompts black Christians to acknowledge the lingering traumas of the past without allowing this backward turn to prohibit the construction of a better future, the making of home in an inhospitable world. M…
Read More…. I learned of the message on Monday, October 11, from a 70-something, self-described ex-hippie named Herb who frequents the East Atlanta coffee shop where I often study. Perhaps noticing the text on Buddhism sitting beside me, he asked, out of the blue, something like, “So do you know about the cataclysmic event that’s gonna happen tomorrow night?” “Which one?’ I responded, thinking he was referencing the economy, or the election, or the environm…
Read More…o major churches in Sydney have distanced themselves from the anti-marriage-equality views of the Australian Christian Lobby. From News.com: In letters to their congregations, the bishop of Parramatta, Vincent Long Van Nguyen, suggested that Catholics vote according to their conscience and Reverend Andrew Sempell of the St James Anglican Church warned that “slippery slope” arguments employed by the no campaign “betray the gospel of grace”. Reveren…
Read More…grades to the site—an enhanced reading experience, better integration with social media, peace on earth. (We’ll be updating via our newsletter, here.) It’s our birthday, but it’s you who deserve the party (and the gluten-free, kosher, vegan, cruelty-free cake). Thank you for reading, for writing, and for your thoughtful and dynamic engagement with the ever-evolving question of religion in public life and culture. Yours, The Eds. …
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You have questions, big questions. Ask the Dust has answers. RD’s new advice columnist—an authority wise enough to prefer anonymity—invites your questions about religion in real life. From the serious to the sacrilegious, no question is too high or too low for Ask the Dust. For example: I’m the only non-Catholic teacher at St. Ignatius. Should I just convert and get it over with? Ask the Dust. My spouse is an atheist. May I baptize him while he’s…
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