Religion Dispatches
…much reaction to the Pew poll in regards to denominational viability, affiliation, and attitudes toward things such as Israel, the Holocaust, God, and religion. Interestingly, Zionism has been replaced by “caring for Israel,” which is in some ways similar, though there are important distinctions. Zionism represents a systemic Jewish experiment in identity, language, culture, and politics, while “Caring for Israel” is largely an emotional category…
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…ussion about the scale of conversion and the impact it is having on the Indian social fabric. It’s a conversation Uganda and a number of African nations have not had—which is having devastating consequences for the their LGBT communities. As scholar and social activist Jim Perkinson has reminded us, countries such as India are only a microcosm of the worldwide impact of missionary activity. “The effect on native people of predatory proselytization…
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…at danger is especially acute for religious institutions, which face a special moral hazard in becoming too closely identified with a specific party. And, as political scientist Timothy Byrnes writes in the journal OMG!, no religious institution is in more peril of losing its soul to politics than the U.S. Catholic Church. (Unlike many evangelicals, who at this point appear to have little soul left to loose given their die-hard support of Trump)….
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…ering?” the first hit was a sponsored result for the website of David Jeremiah, a conservative evangelical preacher in California. Do these websites actually shape people’s responses to deep theological questions? Can search results and search engine optimization influence the beliefs of an individual confronting a difficult question? It’s hard to tell. But as people go online for answers to religious questions, fundamentalist and fringe religious…
Read More…onesia is being swamped by immoral behavior, fueled by the internet and social media. Members of the group wept as it became clear the court would not side with them. Rights advocates had feared judges would criminalize tens of millions of people by outlawing gay and extramarital sex, setting back human rights in the world’s most populous Muslim nation. Separately, some lawmakers are seeking to make homosexuality a crime in an amended criminal cod…
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…am of beliefs that arise around the world. Since the creation of new criteria for Marian apparitions in 1978, hundreds of sightings have been studied, and at least 12 were formally approved as of 2008—according to most numbers (although even a simple count of “official” sites is hard to obtain), Our Lady of Good Help is the 13th. Pope Benedict XVI recently called for more moderation in approving such sites, but any new regulations did not fall int…
Read More…ing-making practices of Nones. The first, sponsored in part through the Social Science Research Council’s “New Directions in the Study of Prayer” initiative, will explore the plurality of Nones who say they regularly engage in prayer. The second, sponsored in part through a Hackworth Grant from the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, will explore the ethical practices of Nones. These two projects are part of a larger boo…
Read More…like a mass suicide. It looked like people were on their way out. It was crazy.” Soon after the incident, Lakota spiritual leaders filed suit against the United States, the US Attorney’s office, Angel Resorts, and the state of Arizona contending that the sweat lodge at Angel Resort is a violation of the treaty of 1868. The treaty states in part that: “if bad men among the whites or other people subject to the authority of the United States shall…
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…on of singular national distemper where, for reasons best understood by social psychiatrists, the American people have entered into what can only be described as ‘open season’ on Islam.” The conspiracy theorists succeed by using self-styled, unqualified “experts” to stoke fears of secret plots of Muslims to take over America and replace its Constitution with shari’ah law. That they even point to shari’ah, says Lena Salaymeh, a Harvard-trained lawy…
Read More…SGM leader Larry Tomczak—evangelical responses were much the same. Mohler, describing Mahaney as a “visionary Christian leader,” insisted that there was “nothing disqualifying” in the allegations against him. Duncan spoke of his “complete love and respect” for Mahaney and urged followers to “ignore the assaults of wounded people” and avoid the “ugly” and “unbiblical” practice of “adjudicating…[on] the internet.” These more recent comments have so…
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