Religion Dispatches
…life, global warming, and human cloning.” In addition to state-approved textbooks, teachers “may use supplemental textbooks and other instructional materials to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review scientific theories in an objective manner.” In his column, Chapman disingenuously writes: Tate’s fulminations are not characteristic of the educators and legislators who passed the new Louisiana law, but you can be sure that the Dar…
Read More…hrases like “teach the controversy” when it serves their purposes. For an example of their promotion of intelligent design in public school science class, see their 1999 booklet Intelligent Design in Public School Science Curricula: A Legal Guidebook. Also, in the case of Dover, Discovery initially sent pro-ID DVDs, such as Signature in the Cell, to school board members. But when it looked like the case was headed for a First Amendment trial that…
Read More…phet Muhammad said, is charity. But Gaffney et al. portray shari’ah as a fixed legal code that a fifth column of “adherents” seek to implement in place of the Constitution (somehow, they don’t explain how one Muslim in Congress or the less than one percent of the U.S. adult population that is Muslim would accomplish this). Gaffney told the audience for his talk, which was directed at Congressional staffers: [I]n fact we are looking at a mortal thr…
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…g’s impermanent, everything’s in flux. Everything is waiting. And to some extent, waiting to expire. It’s funny at a conference recently I heard someone say, “I’m an aspiring writer.” And I turned to my wife and said “expiring writer?” You know, mortality is accompanied by waiting. There’s simply no making a division between the two. Even if it’s just for the next day to dawn and for the years to pass and for something to happen that is unforeseen…
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…are no doubt a trend in the countries Griswold profiles, but her in-depth examination of each context avoids generalization and oversimplification. In Indonesia, Griswold looks past the easy characterizations of the country with the world’s largest Muslim population, questioning the idea that the country is transforming into a modern secular democracy by arguing that the classic traits of a weak state—poor governance, corruption—are leading Indone…
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…er-built online virtual “world.” The creator of the virtual Wailing Wall, “Xanadu,” explains that the digital wall, “is a peaceful spot to sit and grieve, pray, meditate, or comfort a friend. The wall accepts self-created notecards that are immediately deleted. The idea is to allow The Wailing Wall to bear away your burden.” Given the fact that both walls seem to function as a sort of “go-between” for the worshipper wanting to communicate with God…
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…s. I am not quite sure about the “film noir” feel of Caprica. It’s a cross between a 1930s pre-code movie and Metropolis. The cops, the smoking, the old-fashioned cars; I thought Caprica was supposed to be technologically savvy, not a cross between the future and the past. What does this say about its inhabitants—and the show’s creator? I agree with Diane, this week seems to be a placeholder for something to come, but in the process, I did not lea…
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…fortunate.” A 23-year-old “Jane of all trades extraordinaire,” who goes by xxLylaDurdeNxx on Candy Rain, gave other reasons too. She wore rubber breasts on her chest and spoke of her bicycle in poetic cadences. “Zero emissions on this thing. I’m not going to kill somebody on this thing. I’m working my fat ass out on this thing. It’s good work. Cleaner city, prettier city. If nobody’s gotten on a bike in this city, it’s a great feeling, I recommend…
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…e districts purchase the same versions. The board members have appointed six experts, and, the choices appear carefully crafted to be fair and balanced to differing views: one side representing a commitment to sound education, and the other side representing an agenda of religious far-right extremism. In addition to Marshall, who holds a seminary degree from Princeton and has no background in social science, they include: David Barton, whose compa…
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…as no children or gaggles of children—the mothers in the book have four, six, eight, and twelve children. Also, a woman either works or is a stay-at-home mom, with a few exceptions. Interestingly, many mothers featured are graduates of ranking universities—Harvard, MIT, and Stanford, to name a few. Jane Reckart, a Stanford grad and stay-at-home mom, remarks on how Opus Dei helped her along to way to motherhood: …I was caught unprepared for how deb…
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