Religion Dispatches
…such nonsense. But in studies like this one, Phrenology’s back again in a new form, implying this time that the size of the brain is any indicator of human intelligence. We’ve all been told countless times that the human brain is a highly redundant organ, and that each of us uses only a fraction of it in normal circumstances. Given that established scientific truism, it would be passing strange if brain size bore any relation to intelligence. An…
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…sts (womenpriests is all one word) movement, whose mission is to create “a new model of ordained ministry in a renewed Roman Catholic Church.” But there are many models of women’s leadership in Catholicism; I think it is important to frame the film in the context of the larger movement for change that characterizes 21st-century Catholicism, lest viewers are left with an incomplete picture. Part of the movement is indeed focused on women’s ordinati…
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…sion was later ruled moot because HHS had changed its policy and did not renew the USCCB’s contract (provoking the Republican accusations of anti-Catholic bias), the ACLU maintains the legal reasoning still applies. If it does, the ACLU argues, the bishops’ claims that the new Prison Rape Elimination Act regulations violate RFRA would not prevail, since RFRA cannot trump the Constitution. “It’s a stretch to argue, as they do, that they are entitle…
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…el Hill. A good Northeastern liberal, I’d read the warning articles in The New Republic before I went, and I knew the Tea Party had taken over the state, but I could not have imagined something like the “bathroom bill,” or HB2. When I sat in Bell’s audience in Durham in March, the fallout from the state’s recent anti-LGBT legislation was just beginning. Still, I kept waiting for someone in the audience to ask: what do we do if it’s not our church…
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…age lamps and computer screens burning late into the night. Curiously, the New Testament offers a framework for understanding today’s Nones. Paul’s travelogue in the Acts of the Apostles contains this line, recounting his visit to Philippi: “On the Sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there” (Acts 16:13). A riverbank? Really? It’s a…
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…hat there is a way for progressive Christian voices to be heard and form a new church—not a new denomination, but a new way of being the church. I truly think that can happen. I know it can happen because I’ve lived it. I’ve lived it in Eugene. When we became a reconciling congregation, not only did the doors open wider, but many of the gatekeepers of the old rigid order left. We were then able to be the church in a new way. We weren’t just church…
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…own on freedoms of assembly, association, speech and information. Vatican: New Cardinals, New Geography, Same Old, Same Old? Pope Francis named his first group of cardinals this week; they will be formally appointed next month. Pew notes that more than half of the 90 cardinals selected by Francis’s predecessor, Benedict, were European. But just eight of Francis’ first 19 are from Europe; six of them are from Latin America and the Caribbean. Fernan…
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…k’s arguments to the contrary the company’s own research suggests that its News Feed tends to modestly increase political polarization. And while Twitter may serve more effectively in broadcasting breaking news, it also tends toward polarization when it comes to politically charged issues. This is especially a problem on the right: research shows that conservatives are more likely to retreat into ideological echo-chambers—a dynamic that Donald Tru…
Read More…a) November 6, 2013 Kamala Khan, a Pakistani-origin Muslim American is the new Ms. Marvel! Abso-friggin-awesome! http://t.co/tn9aOaDzQu — Anthony Permal (@anthonypermal) November 6, 2013 Kamala Khan: Marvel’s first Muslim-American female superhero. My Q is: will she use her powers to fight drones? http://t.co/vmAe3lZ6iY … — Rozina Ali (@rozina_ali) November 5, 2013 Meet Kamala Khan, the New Teenage Muslim MS. MARVEL http://t.co/R5sCxiDrcT Look Ma,…
Read More…these. But, perhaps others in the viewing audience might be moved by this new Bible to get the job done. I do believe, however, that Vest and his organization are sincere and that they want a people to again read the Bible instead of having it collect dust on the shelf. I suppose I would be a bit more impressed, however, if proceeds of the sales of the Poverty and Justice Bible, or even a portion of the proceeds, were going to help the poor and o…
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