Religion Dispatches
…’t stop with NuSkin. Look for pest control and alarm systems companies—which conventionally hire large numbers of Mormon returned missionaries to go door-to-door, nutritional supplement companies like Melaluca, makers of modest clothing, and food storage or disaster preparedness companies….
Read More
…t for the anti-choice mission to defund and defame Planned Parenthood. It will also serve as a pure political tool to electrify the single-issue voter to recruit carloads of right-wing voters to the polls. PRENDA, like the Pence Amendment, will likely not pass in the Senate. But if it passes the House we can expect a joint Boehner/Franks press conference designed to use the victory as reinforcement of a growing GOP meme: this bill will save millio…
Read More…ship(ped) overseas to play in the sand with al-Quiada (sic) for a little while,’ while a person identified as a Giles County elementary school teacher sent a message to the Freedom From Religion Foundation reading ‘you folks are allowing Satin (sic) to rule you.’” What an odd mediation proposal. Does the judge really think people who believe the Ten Commandments should be posted in public schools would be amenable to editing them? And does he thin…
Read More…d regret” for Alabama’s role in slavery: “A slavery apology is pure political pandering. It also opens the door for radical Blacks to come in and demand reparations for slavery. An apology will not solve the anger, nor address the lack of moral character which permeates most of Black culture today.” Rev. Peterson added: “America has done more than any other nation to atone for slavery and past discrimination. All the slaves are dead as well the sl…
Read More
…hrough an un-nuanced “us vs. them” mentality. Most religion scholars who deal heavily with new religious movements have been branded as “cult apologists” at some point in their careers. At stake in this accusation is an assumption that “whoever is not for us is against us,” and that anyone who is not actively attempting to debunk and discredit minority religions has decided to defend them unconditionally. I have written for here and elsewhere that…
Read More…than blasphemy and a crude film. Watch:…
Read More
…ted ministries like Olivet University in San Francisco, the World Evangelical Alliance, and the Christian Post, a number of these affiliates went on the defensive. No response was more immediate, or more aggressive, than that of the Christian Post. Different Standards At Work The day after CT’s article was published online, the Post published a long piece titled, “Sources in ‘Second Coming Christ Controversy’ Face Scrutiny,” followed days later by…
Read More
…nomic justice, to the rejection of violence as a solution for personal, familial, social, or political disagreements. So why am I not hearing about this much in Sunday sermons? One reason is that there is a complex theology behind the Gospel message of activist, transformative nonviolence that is easy for a homilist to set aside in favor of God-loves-you! Sunday messages that demand little from believers beyond robust self-esteem and a vague accep…
Read More
…illions of practicing Buddhists, not to mention for his millions of spiritually-curious online followers? But his atheistic-toned words should not come as a surprise. Back in June, he tweeted that he is “increasingly convinced that the time has come to find a way of thinking about spirituality and ethics beyond religion altogether.” Slowly, HHDL’s social media team has been tweaking the guru’s image to better align with our more secular views. Wes…
Read More…id. The words Muhammed were dubbed over in post-production, as were essentially all other offensive references to Islam and Muhammed. Garcia also says that “Bacile” told her he was Egyptian and spoke Arabic on set. The Times’ Robert Mackey notes that On The Media’s Sarah Abdurrahman first noticed the dubbing. Really final update for today: The Guardian reports: The hunt for the maker of the anti-Islamic video that inflamed mayhem in Egypt and Liby…
Read More