Search for "More About Buddhism & Science"

New Apostolic Reformation Faces Profound Rift Due to Trump Prophecies and ‘Spiritual Manipulation of the Prophetic Gift’

By Frederick Clarkson and André Gagné

…une tellers or prognosticators, nor is their role to satisfy our curiosity about the future or reveal abstract information.” But the statement isn’t confined to concerns about false election prognostication; it obliquely refers to other matters that require accountability as well: “We reject the spiritual manipulation of the prophetic gift for the personal benefit of the prophet or of his or her ministry, whether to garner favor, power, or financi…

Hell Is (For) Other People

By Peter Laarman

…n, etc. But, they argue, Jesus changed the subject and got people to think about what pleases God, about what makes for a godly life, rather than on what’s behind Door #3. And, of course, Jesus is the supreme messenger of restorative rather than retributive justice (a fact all but universally ignored by the ECT folks). Michael Hardin riffs on connections between developing post-exilic notions of Hell and concomitantly evolving ideas about Satan. H…

The Vile Attack on Salman Rushdie Reminds Us of the Value of a Free Society — But is Our Outrage More About the Criminal Than the Crime?

By Haroon Moghul

…t’s not so much about the ends as it is the intentions and means. It’s not about whether we got it done, but about what we did to get or keep ourselves there. That is foundational in Islam: The Qur’anic genesis narrative describes Adam and Eve, and by implication all human beings, as Caliphs, as stewards of God’s creation and representatives of God’s compassion in the world. However, humans only ascend to this moral station by failing and admittin…

Theocracy: “What Would Be So Bad About It?”

By Julie Ingersoll

…ons and argued that they were key financial backers in the effort to bring about theocracy as envisioned by Rushdoony. In the Christianity Today piece, though, Roberta Ahmanson is quoted as saying “I never was (a theocrat), and I don’t know if Howard ever was either. I’m afraid to say this, but also, what would be so bad about it?” Rushdoony certainly was no “ogre”—in fact, at least later in life, he seemed every bit the distinguished intellectual…

Discrimination on the Taxpayer’s Dime? The Fight To Curtail the Overreach of RFRA

By Sarah Posner

…here are further complicated by the government’s failure to be transparent about how these taxpayer-funded contracts are carried out on a day-to-day basis. Since the Bush era, civil liberties advocates have been frustrated by an absence of transparency about the extent of faith-based contracts, and the extent to which contractors were not following the law—whether pertaining to employment discrimination, proselytizing, or other constitutional conc…

A Queer Atheist In the Heart of Mormon Country

By Chris Stedman

…y or the eradication of religion are not my goals. Instead, I am concerned about privilege, and about fear of the other. Interfaith work can challenge both; it humanizes difference, allowing people to see that there are many ways of being and believing, and recognize that a just society makes space for all people. I understand that some of this sounds a bit simple and idealistic—I know that appeals for pluralism and tolerance occasionally sound li…

What ‘Faith Groups Do X’ Journalism Reveals About the Press’s Priorities

By Chrissy Stroop

…ish an editorial cartoon response in which he eviscerated lazy stereotypes about his generation and insisted the real story was the post-Great Recession economy. The “Millennials Have Killed X” trope attracted so much attention that it has its own entry on Know Your Meme, which states that the trend peaked in 2016. Zoomers seem to have mostly escaped the same treatment so far, although the British tabloid press have accused Gen-Z of killing Brusse…

Obamunism? The Traditional Values Coalition Coins a Term

By Bill Berkowitz

…on Dispatches had the opportunity to ask the filmmakers and its publicist, about 22 Weeks: Religion Dispatches: Can you give me some specifics about the film? Angel Manuel Soto, producer and director: The film is 28 minutes long with credits. 22 Weeks is a drama, but due to documenting true events in a dramatic way, some people call it a docudrama, but I would never say that it’s a documentary. It’s not meant to inform or educate. Rather, it is me…

Pariah or Charmed Hero: America’s Obsession with Jews and Israel

By Shaul Magid

…omething quite different happened. In a debate where the candidates agreed about almost nothing, each fighting to distance themselves from Washington, Wall Street greed, oil companies, and corporate America, suddenly not only were they in agreement about their undying love of Israel, they were actually arguing over who was more in love! The world markets are collapsing, Russia invades Georgia, the Taliban are back in power in Afghanistan, Pakistan…

Greatest Hits of 2015: Religion Stories Our Readers Couldn’t Resist

By Ellie Faustino

…I did what any academic or journalist would do, and started learning more about the company that supposedly had me on its payroll. #2 Confront Death by Avoiding Fritos: The Gluten Lie, Fad Diets, & Foodie Faith Turns out we’re definitely obsessed with food and figuring out why we eat what we eat (or why we don’t eat what we don’t…) Michael Schulson’s interview with Alan Levinovitz revealed how gluten-free and other fad diets have come to replace…