Religion Dispatches
…tly runs into creationists training to be educators. “It’s not only in the South, or in rural areas,” Wiles said. Wiles recently held a workshop for 30 science teachers in the Syracuse city school system. Three of the teachers were actively interested in promoting intelligent design. He suspects that the reason that so few cases make it to the public stage is that many parents aren’t always aware of what’s going on in the classroom. Also, children…
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…politics, not your politics directing your faith.” What an idea! And from South Bend, Indiana, some equally unexpected news. The University of Notre Dame recently announced that President Barack Obama would give the commencement address this May, and will also receive an honorary doctor of laws degree. Unsurprisingly, the announcement was greeted with protests from conservative Catholics who object to Obama’s pro-choice position on abortion and t…
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…eat ceremony were used by Indians from Canada into southern Mexico. In the south they’re called temescals and resemble a wet sauna or steam room; tribes in the American Southwest have dry sweats that feature heated rocks but no water, or a fire built inside the sweat with a smoke hole in the center of the lodge. The version that Ray and his followers used in Sedona is considered Plains style, where rocks are heated to glowing in a fire outside and…
Read More…lates. Keep an eye out for my new “RELGNGUY” plate in the Atlanta area. In South Carolina, a mosque was defaced with bacon. A 9/11 responder is suing the developers behind the Park51 project claiming compensation for “psychological terrorism.” He wants $350 million as compensation. The Washington Post decided not to run a comic from the popular Non Sequitur comic strip entitled “Where’s Muhammad?” The single-frame comic was a parody of the popular…
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…their family. When broken down in by region in the U.S., those who live in Southern states of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina and Tennessee (and North Dakota) reported the highest fear of social stigma. States such as California, Washington, New York, and New England states reported the least. (Unfortunately, the article is not available online.) I can’t say I’m really all that surprised at the results. If anyone needs ane…
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…kely to have significant strategy impacts not only in Iowa but also in the South. For now, the Romney campaign seems focused on making endorsements—now numbering 100 or more—in key 2010 races, including successful GOP gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley in South Carolina. This strategy shift reflects a refinement of the Romney 2008 campaign’s tactic of downplaying the candidate’s faith entirely as well as a renewed focus (taking a page from his fr…
Read More…mptation and actually moved in line so I would not notice. I spend my time listening intently to what is being recited. If my mind wanders— and it does— it helps not to have something to keep my attention away from intense listening. As I stand I do nod my head in agreement or shake it in astonishment at the dhikr, the reminder of our intimate relationship with Allah, with all creation and with each other. I don’t know what this would be like anym…
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…ure that you could just “overcome them with our capacity to forgive.” So I listened to her, discussed it further with her, and then read her book, and this is the deal: the evidence shows that the perpetrator of a crime against another human being must seek forgiveness from the family and others if not the victim directly. What happened in South Africa was that the family would have the choice to forgive. By forgiving, they raise the perpetrator b…
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…ists, United Church of Christ, Catholics, Presbyterians, Unitarian Universalists, Jews, Mennonites, and Quakers. The first sanctuary was here in Tucson in 1985 at the Southside Presbyterian Church by the Rev. John Fife, who hung signs outside the church: “This is a Sanctuary for the Oppressed of Central America,” and “Immigration: do not profane the Sanctuary of God.” The church gave shelter to thousands fleeing the Central American death squads….
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…or to New York City. She grew up in churches as a pastor’s daughter in the South, and when it came time for a college search, she cast her eyes to New York University, graduating in 2005 with her BFA. She is now studying for a master’s degree at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. Button doesn’t flinch when approaching difficult subject matter. From the Jim Crow South to the Rape of Tamar in the Bible, Button’s work presents a comp…
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