Religion Dispatches
…scientists and teachers in Europe and North America. The Atlas, available online, is full of plain English and nice illustrations, containing many of the usual attacks on Darwin heard from Christian fundamentalists in this country. The author does go a bit further than most, making the intriguing assertion that all science since Darwin—including the fossil record, genetics, and the like—has successfully disproved Darwin, before going on to the us…
Read More…Digital Age). They were the first to establish appealing, professional Web sites providing scholarly resources, news, and community forums geared to Muslims. As result, these groups though relatively small in number within the Muslim community outgunned their philosophical rivals for years online; their “full-spectrum dominance” only coming to an end in the late 1990s. And like many evangelicals on the radio today, they fail to remember that even…
Read More…h, became the first openly gay British royal. Russia: Court bans LGBT news site Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports that a Siberian court has banned one of the country’s most popular LGBT news sites “without warning.” Uganda: Police block pride march before it starts Police blocked supporters of LGBT equality from convening on a beach and told them to leave the area, reports BuzzFeed’s David Mack. Minister for Ethics and Integrity Simon Lokodo…
Read More…s well as for denying the existence of Jesus. The Zeitgeist Film Series website elliptically describes “The Zeitgeist movement” as calling for a “new social system:” While the films have served as inspirations for The Movement, the subject matter in the films is not to be confused with the main materials/interests of The Zeitgeist Movement itself, which focus on values, resource economics and sustainability. For example, TZM is not about 9/11, Com…
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…ime time news segment of five minutes or less. While there are segments of online communities, such as those here at Religion Dispatches, that have graciously accepted the task of doing the heavy lifting when it comes to public theological discourse, I ask the question: who will be there to help bridge the gap to what Donnie McClurkin said in his video response to the actions of the promoters disinviting him to sing? McClurkin said in a Socialcam…
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…Mansfield did an interview with Ben Smith, a writer for Politico.com (the online wing of the Politico news organization). In the column, titled “Bush Backer Pens pro-Obama Book,” Smith writes that the book’s “tone ranges from gently critical to gushing, and the author defends Obama—and even his controversial former minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright—from conservative critics, and portrays him as a compelling figure for Christian voters.” Accordin…
Read More…et up by the UN High Commission for Refugees in neighboring Kurdistan. I visited some of these camps in recent months and talked with a group of young men who were hanging out in front of their tents smoking cigarettes in an act of defiance against the ISIS regime that would jail anyone caught smoking. They told me that they were relieved to be free from the region’s control—it was like “living in a prison,” they told me—but they were concerned th…
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…ed positive for COVID-19 last week. As a result, the school has shifted to online instruction only until August 24, which is more than two weeks from when the boy tested positive. But while this move may seem responsible, it should be noted that, according to local reporting, the school previously required masks “except at recess,” which does cause me to question whether school officials have an adequate understanding of how children work, let alo…
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…r Michael Schulson and Yale Law School student Hilary Ledwell got together online to discuss killer Roombas, golems, and whether Tony Stark would be legally liable for the depredations of his fancy robot. Michael Schulson: You’ve been studying AI and the law, so I’m wondering: is the legal system ready for a robo-killer like Ultron? Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) using J.A.R.V.I.S., the AI computer that, according to the Marvel Cinematic Universe…
Read More…plan ahead, don’t we, in life?” adding, “I have spare tire on my car.” His online biography at Shepherds Staff Ministries, where DeGraaf, an Air Force Academy graduate and an ordained pastor, is a “biblical” financial advisor, boasts, “During the Summer of Mercy he served as Executive Director for Hope for the Heartland.” The Summer of Mercy was a six-week abortion clinic blockade, organized by the fringe anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, that…
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