Religion Dispatches
…tories. In a nasty campaign season and a still-sluggish economy, they’re a welcome reprieve. And it’s okay to draw religious lessons from them, if that’s what you’re inclined to do. But those lessons should not be about a vindictive and arbitrary God who favors some athletes over others, but should be about the capacity of religion and spirituality to cause us to be better people, however we understand what that means. What’s miraculous is not how…
Read More…nd irresponsible this is. There wasn’t much fake religion, which is always welcome. This president doesn’t like to pander in that way, I gather. But there was the odiferous religion of nationalism. There was a distinct pong of American exceptionalism (“ours is a moral power,” “indispensable nation”), there was the blooded scent of saber-rattling (Iran), and there was the crisp masculine tang of “America will always win” on a level (trade) playing…
Read More…al Mormonism is an entirely different story—and that’s a change LDS people welcome. In his ignorance, Siegel follows Harold Bloom, who weighed in with an astoundingly incoherent and “dread”-ful jeremiad against Romney’s Mormonism last November. And Maureen Dowd, who continues to outsource her columns on Romney’s Mormonism to purveyors of smack and sensationalism, like Bill Maher and the authors of the latest Romney tell-all biography. Polygamy r…
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…ence. Lowe’s seems to be objecting to capitalism by refusing money from customers. Shouldn’t that appeal to your socialist sensibilities? PC: If you take the L and W and E and S out of Lowe’s and add a B-A-M and another A you get o-BAMA. That’s a link. I’m just saying. Lowe’s = Obama = Socialism. Think about that, left-wingers. RM: I think Lowes’ ill-conceived PR decisions of late are even mind-boggling to my Canadian Socialist self! In your role…
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…e reading this, Matisyahu, or Matt, or by whatever new name this newly strong self is to be known, let me be the first to welcome you home….
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…y, as the principle values of the society they want to see established. Whether or not that is what is happening here, there is a welcome warmth in the suggestion….
Read More…it is unclear whether it signals a real shift in Sojourners’ stated desire to avoid the issue via paid advertising. It is increasingly important that progressive Christians take a firm unambiguous stand and decide they want fellow Christians to welcome the LGBT community in the church.” It is that “firm and unambiguous stand” that Sojourners continues to resist taking — simply because they can’t understand that the spiritual homelessness LGBT peo…
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…words, it had been just nine years since a majority of Americans began to welcome voices from beyond into their homes, less than twenty since the earliest regional “radio-phonic” transmissions, and already it seemed perfectly natural for families to sit for hours in their living rooms, ears titled toward the hearth of a talking wooden box. Corwin was more responsible than anyone for filling those talking boxes with words that mattered. When the N…
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…ioners of weird religion aren’t all ones that we (liberals anyway) want to welcome into our homes, but in these essays Sharlet is careful to notice the humanity of the people he is writing about. In good liberal fashion, there would seem to be no one beyond redemption (though some might need a bit more atonement than others). The placement of the first essay, “Sweet Fuck All, Colorado” (you’ll have to read it to get the title), is significant. H…
Read More…as importantly shaped who we have become as a people. We must continue to welcome faith into the public square and allow it to flourish. Our government should respect religious values, not silence them. We will always pledge our allegiance to a nation under God. Our values ennoble the citizen, and strengthen the nation. We should remember that decency and civility are values too. One of the speakers who will follow me today, has crossed that line…
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