Religion Dispatches
…he elected readers for their generation, offered a way to crack the hidden codes of divine scripture. In most cases, the very belief that a given reader of the Apocalypse had been divinely appointed carried with it the clear implication that those times must be very close. Otherwise, we wouldn’t need such a close and spiritually esoteric reading at all. If that is, roughly speaking, how such apocalyptic calculations have looked and behaved in the…
Read More…ound the planet. However, without exception, these are persons whose moral codes and personal dignity mean so much to me that I cannot imagine the world without them or without their advice. They are the ones who remind me about beauty and majesty of the creation. This will be an intense week and I don’t know how much will be worth public consideration. But here I am Oh Lord, Labayk Allahuma Labayk, towards Your house I put my intentions. Take me…
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…C) from the very beginnings of the denomination: their holiness and purity codes in the early 20th century forbade the processing or pressing of hair (like Madam C.J. Walker’s revolutionary hair-straightening process.) As the denomination grew in cities during the 1940s, straight hair became the currency of charismatic authority and power for the church mothers and pastors’ wives. Lighter skin, straighter hair, and European features became a preci…
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…couldn’t understand why someone in his position could waste time with tax codes when there were so many babies to save. By the end of the session, our local representative was visibly shaken. I wonder whether he ever agreed to speak at a parochial school again. That episode has been at the front of my mind since news broke of the Dobbs decision, “among the Court’s worst decisions in history.” While there would never be a good time for the Supreme…
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…l likely have longer-term effects, possibly even on the children’s genetic codes. Yet one group has remained largely silent: the “pro-family” movement comprised largely of conservative white evangelicals. Many evangelical leaders, such as Paula White, who chairs the White House Evangelical Advisory Board for Donald Trump, claim the tearing apart of families is justified by blaming the parents as criminals. White went so far as to claim that Jesus…
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…tonement, via the spilling of their own blood and the risking of their own freedom, for the sins of nuclear violence and idolatry. To ensure metaphysical efficacy, the action adhered to a ritual template that has remained strikingly consistent since the first Plowshares action — trespass, blood, hammers. But another crucial element of the Plowshares’ actions is the wait to be apprehended, which illuminates the ways in which the actions are meant t…
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…th their religious scriptures. From public writings like sermons and legal codes, to private writings like journals and letters, these writings all make up what I call the “Mormon archive,” which is a smaller part of the “American archive.” The archive, I argue, is not just a physical and metaphorical space where (race) history is preserved. It is also where (race) history is made. Exploring the “race of the archive,” as I call it, is a way into s…
Read More…ning that several predominately Muslim countries are updating their family codes to reflect pushes for equality and fairness. But this assumes that it’s the laws that lag behind society, which just isn’t always true. Yes, there are men and women who want family laws in their countries to change. But that doesn’t mean society at large wants this, too. Many men are reluctant to dismantle the patriarchal interpretations that work in their favor, and…
Read More…ties, barricading themselves within a bunker because they believed that barcodes on food packaging are Satanic. In a statement, Christian dairy tycoon Boyko-Veliky explained the crosses: Russian Milk is forced to place bar codes on its packaging, as without this, we will only be able to sell our goods at farms, not in stores. . . . By placing the cross on the bar code, we want to demonstrate our stance: We are with our Lord, Jesus Christ, and not…
Read More…from its location as a “popular religion.” But lacking a sacred text, law codes, or traditions of written commentary, Voodoo is a marginalized tradition (marked as “primitive,” as if religions evolve along a given trajectory) compared to those “world religions” that come to dominate empires. Until now, Voodoo also lacked a formal institution of authority. The establishment of a national federation of Voodooists and their election, in turn, of Bea…
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