Religion Dispatches
…harist, it included a restatement of a prohibition of totally wheat-gluten-free hosts. This was often reported as something of a snub of the Celiac sufferers (or gluten intolerant) among the faithful. But reading through the directive and the supporting documentation, I was struck by their attempts to accommodate communicants who can’t tolerate some essential aspect of the rite. The bread for the host can be so low in gluten as to qualify for “glu…
Read More
…me not through serious communitarianism or self-scrutiny, but through self-promotion and free markets. This is a heartening plea. Yet as we continue to debate the proper place of popularization in the academy (and the place of academics in popularization), it is well worth remembering at what cost comes her sermonic accessibility. For as Vowell strains to celebrate Roger Williams’ iconoclasm, she does not do so through careful treads through his p…
Read More
…ntly quoting the New Testament and rhapsodizing about how Christians “love freedom so much… because it’s ingrained in our being as new creations in Christ.” She goes on, “We came to Jesus, because we were bound, we were not free. But Jesus paid the ultimate price to set us free for all of eternity.” No, there’s simply no tenable case to be made that Boebert is not a “real” Christian. She is very much a Christian. She is also a terrible person. And…
Read More
…rder could send a signal to churches and religious nonprofits that they’re free to begin engaging in more direct electioneering—like raising money for candidates or specific causes without endangering their tax-exempt status—but the impact of that signal remains to be seen, Kreis cautioned. And a full revocation of the Johnson Amendment would require an act of Congress—like the passage of H.R. 172, introduced into the House in January by North Car…
Read More
…escribed as such must likewise be antisemitism. When antisemitism is the cause Because antisemitism has a particular pedigree and logic, antisemitic attacks often have an easily detectable DNA. On January 15th, 2022, a rabbi and his congregants were held hostage in Colleyville, Texas by a gunman demanding the rabbi, somehow, order the release of an al-Qaeda prisoner held in the nearby Fort Worth prison. The gunman’s logic is clear: since Jews cont…
Read More…heon points out, there is a danger that when we understand ourselves to be promoting pluralism, we are enforcing a tacit division between “good” and “bad” religions (what Leonard Primiano called a “two-tiered model of religion”). A recent example is the fracas that occurred last year when The Satanic Temple offered to re-enact a black mass as part of a Harvard cultural studies club. The Temple’s multicultural performance was quickly reinterpreted…
Read More
…y about the genocide) of Native Americans on the Mall called The National Museum of the American Indian, the museum of American slavery (The United States National Slavery Museum) is located elsewhere, in Fredricksburg, Virginia. While I celebrate America’s decision to build a Holocaust Museum, I wonder what the choice of that exclusive, almost sacred, real estate implies and how that may cohere with what I call America’s obsession with Israel. So…
Read More…sh anti-gay law that would criminalizeeven the dissemination of ideas that promote LGBT equality. Radio Free Europe reports: Kyrgyzstan’s parliament has approved a draft law that bans “propaganda of same-sex relations” in the first reading. Lawmaker Kurmanbek Dyikanbaev told RFE/RL on October 15 that 79 deputies voted for the legislation, while seven voted against it. The law has to pass the parliament’s approval in two more readings and then be s…
Read More
…e issues to be “non-negotiable“ and those they “are not even debatable because God’s word is clear on these issues.’“ These included abortion, same sex marriage, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning and euthanasia. He later said he regretted the letter but that he had not changed his views. While he is a skilled showman, he is unable to sustain moderation in style or in substance even before a national television audience. His real self lea…
Read More…a: In addition, politicians and other public figures such as faith leaders use the press to promote a message of intolerance against lesbians and gays. In August 2013, for example, Education Minister Ronald Thwaites stated at a press conference that while new teaching manuals on family life promotes tolerance on all grounds, “We will not be grooming Jamaican children for homosexual behavior.” More from the report: The evidence shows that reporting…
Read More