Religion Dispatches
…ulations to which we have been exposed during the past year.” First on his list of such tribulations, and made damningly ironic in this, the Vatican’s self-styled Year for Priests, is the fact that “in this year of all years and to a degree we could not have imagined, we came to know of the abuse of minors committed by priests who twist the sacrament into its antithesis, and under the mantle of sacred protection profoundly wound human persons in t…
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…quad. In a video by the outfit (who, by the way, “abhor violence”) Santa’s list of “heinous crimes against the Lord our God” are read out before the execution. Among them “idolatry” for replacing himself with Jesus Christ, and for being a “stumbling block to parents who lie to their children that you exist to bring them gifts.” Then, before the violence begins, Santa is told: “We would plead that the Lord have mercy on your soul, but you have no s…
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…parkly lights can make any dive feel like home. So, Cheers has to make the list for great Christmas episodes. Limiting myself to only one Saturday Night Live sketch, the best would have to be Alec Baldwin’s Schewddy Balls. As much as Christmas is about humor, it’s also about the warm and fuzzies. Nothing delivers the warm and fuzzies (along with pubescent awkwardness) better than The Wonder Years. Speaking of awkward, the most awkwardl…
Read More…upports “illegal immigration” and “socialist health care;” in sum, “a socialist wish list.” After the Senate failed to break the Republican filibuster of the DREAM Act on Saturday, the UMC’s General Board of Church and Society put out the following statement from Bishop Minerva Carcaño of the Desert Southwest Conference: Though the Senate failed to supply the necessary leadership to provide humane and effective solutions to the badly broken immigr…
Read More…he essentials for spending a day in meditation, prayer, and gratitude: my “lists” of people to remember to pray for, my Qur’an, my zhikr beads, and my wits. The night before Arafat, I considered it to be a warm-up. We are supposed to be focused on ibadah, thinking about Allah, repenting for our shortcomings, reading Qur’an, meditating, praying. For some reason, I took this as the opportunity to organize our motley crew and said, “We have no fard (…
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Hopefully the first of many playlists to be featured on the RD blog, here’s a list from S. Brent Plate to accompany his article on the latest take on religion from angst- and doubt-filled indie rockers. Negative/Mystical Theology Arcade Fire, “Black Mirror” (from Neon Bible) Vic Chesnutt, “Flirted With You All My Life” (from At the Cut) Salome, “The Witness” (from Terminal) Arcade Fire, “City with No Children” (from The Suburbs) Danger Mouse and…
Read More…scenes in Naples, Italy. A Dallas, Texas megachurch pastor is compiling a list of business that fail to recognize Christmas and instead settle for ‘Happy Holidays.’ Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma is taking a stand in the war on Christmas by trying to keep the “Christ” in “Christmas parade.” And the three wise men may have been from China. Always striving to sink to ever lower levels of human decency, the Westboro Baptist Church says it will pic…
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…e appearing daily, or several times daily, in upcoming weeks. The complete list, in proper order, is here.] The Kingdom is not the King. Some things are required or experienced because of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This is not the same as preparing to meet the King. The king is my metaphor for the preparation for the hajj, or maybe even the hajj itself. It should also not to be mistaken here for the name of Allah, al-Malik, the King. Okay, so ou…
Read More…ent of those under the age of 30 believe that. Mohler blames the requisite list of boogeymen for the destruction of marriage: feminists and the sexual revolution that meant no one had to buy the cow to get the milk, growing numbers of cohabiting couples, no-fault divorce, serial monogamy, and of course, the Pill for giving women control over their own bodies. While he doesn’t come right out and blame the gays for the decline in marriage, he does t…
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…contentious, coming in at number one on The American Library Association’s list of “Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009.” The film series, the seventh of which was released last weekend, is the highest-grossing series of all time, surpassing both Star Wars and the James Bond films—all 22 of them. Harry Potter, the story goes, is a special young man and a talented wizard, who—with a lot of magic and the support of a strong network of friends…
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