Religion Dispatches
…some of the most Christian principles in this matter. This community of outcasts understands, on a gut level, if not a religious level, that it is good, and just, and moral to welcome the stranger; to show hospitality, especially to the least of these. Remind me again how people can’t be good without God?…
Read More…erence for our Savior, show clips of them. All of us can tolerate and even welcome discussion over religious differences. But when it comes to mocking the Person Christians believe was God in the flesh, the Savior of the world, under the guise of humor, we’re compelled to speak out. We ask that you please email Comedy Central’s parent company Viacom, and kindly ask them to not allow this show to make it onto their schedule. I never thought I would…
Read More…y of prophetic millennialism. Beck, a convert to Mormonism, recalls the strident prophetic voice that distinguished Mormonism from 19th-century Protestant groups. Many Mormons have a long cultural memory of persecution. Though they may welcome their church’s modern emphasis on their similarities to other religionists, I believe there remains a longing in them for the ‘peculiar people’ identity conveyed by the divisive prophetic voice and the histo…
Read More…ith Abraham, three strangers come to Abraham and Sarah’s home and they are welcomed in with a lavish meal. The strangers turn out to be angels from God who bless them with news that they are to have a son at their advanced age. When Jesus is asked in Matthew 25 who will get into heaven, Jesus offers these criteria, “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you took me in.” That’s a far cry from t…
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…a new year at Hogwarts, with Dumbledore in the middle of his heartwarming welcome to students. In this situation, Chuck Bass would light a cigar, take out a flask, tell Dumbledore to get a life, and try to get at least two first-year girls into bed by night’s end—preferably at the same time. Alas, it is not difficult to imagine Quentin, “[the] slacker Park Slope Harry Potter,” and his fellow magician friends (the perpetually bored and drunk) Elio…
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…holic Church, without a Pope or anyone else on top, a Church where all are welcome and involved. This creeping clericalism was operative in the analysis of the sisters’ letter in support of the health care bill. Some commentators tried to equate the sisters and the bishops as if there were really two sides within the Catholic hierarchy and now the other side had spoken. With all due respect to the nuns, this is simply not true. As the health care…
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…to reignite the culture wars in the name of religious liberty. In a video promoting the Declaration, Colson likened contemporary America to Nazi Germany, and “elites” and “intellectuals” to Hitler. For decades, PFM has placed its volunteers inside prison walls to minister directly to inmates. In addition to questions about the programs’ effectiveness, such partnerships with state institutions have drawn legal challenges. InnerChange, a PFM progra…
Read More…Community, sought to dispel “rumors” that the tea party movement doesn’t “welcome blacks.” Yet while they endorsed their tea party friends (who had apparently depleted their audience), other speakers made clear that perhaps the tea parties needed a little more of the holy ghost. “We need the tea party movement with a Christian imperative,” said the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. “That wo…
Read More…e. The government has no business trying to convince you otherwise. You’re welcome to sit down. We invited you to stand, but no one made you. But if you do believe, I would ask you, personally and not on behalf of the government, to take a moment to thank Him, for the many gifts you believe you have received from Him, including the opportunity to pursue an education in a country explicitly founded on the belief that we are endowed by our Creator w…
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…fter passing through a military checkpoint. Christians and Muslims are not welcome. As an occupying power, Israel is required by international law to preserve the status quo and to act for the benefit of the local civilian population. But Israel claimed security reasons for its Jewish-only access. “These are Muslim holy sites,” explained Sheikh Taysir Tamimi, head of the Palestinian Shari’a Islamic courts. Tamimi remembers praying in the Bilal Mos…
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