Religion Dispatches
…ven listen to the album for fear that my mother would know that I was even listening to such language. But, as Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president Albert Mohler, Jr. rightly pointed out in a recent interview, when we’re forbidden in the Ten Commandments from taking God’s name in vain, it’s not just outlawing such phrases as “God damn,” or “Oh, my God!” For Israel, they knew, first and foremost, not to speak falsely about God. It’s not…
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…s own cards on the table: What is needed is neither the overweening rationalist atheism of a Dawkins nor the rarefied religious belief of an Eagleton but a theologically engaged atheism that resembles disappointed belief. Such atheism, only a semitone from faith, would be, like musical dissonance, the more acute for its proximity. It could give a brother’s account of belief, rather than treat it as some unwanted impoverished relative. It would be…
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…re reform. She should have added the topics of science and religion to her list. Why do attempts at reasonable discussion between science and religion in our society today range from disastrous to nonexistent? We need to step back and understand the broader context. Why do these discussions fail? How did the contemporary impasse arise? How might we as a society move beyond it? A little background: A Bloody Family Feud Think of it as a family feud…
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…stern conception of women’s rights over the Muslim one.” Sadly, this journalist-turned-polemicist is hailed by Faoud Ajami in the New York Times as a clarion voice who “has written the most sustained and thoughtful treatment of the subject (immigration, Islam, and the West) to date.” Pace that high-five imprimatur for one of its own guild, Caldwell is less an objective journalist than an alarmist rhetorician. He clogs the reader with untrammeled,…
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…usly. The creation of the State of Israel was a product of a Jewish nationalist movement that arose at the end of the 19th century and sought to provide protection for Jews who were treated as second-class citizens in both Christian Europe and Muslim countries for many hundreds of years. The desire for a safe haven made perfect sense, though the antagonism that they encountered from many Palestinians made perfect sense as well given the previous h…
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…e all the tragedies that occurred in the Soviet Union, it was a deeply moralistic society where each individual was expected to contribute to the common good and endure sacrifices for the benefit of future generations. The arts, the media, the education system, and the youth leagues all served to communicate a clear moral message that promoted altruism, social responsibility, and a strong work ethic. When the Soviet Union disintegrated, religion t…
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…iracy theorists regard the Guidestones as vital evidence of a demonic globalist agenda. Another interesting parallel can be drawn between the Guidestones and the Book of Revelation. Both are texts of little-known origin warning of future peril. These conditions allow for historical-critical as well as dispensationalist readings of both messages. Scholars believe the Book of Revelation was written sometime in the first century and is a warning to e…
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…mphal tale of Protestant superiority and Christian manifest destiny. Journalist Jeff Sharlet refers to this story as “providential history.” As far as I can discover, Cotton Mather composed the first version of it in 1702 as the Magnalia Christi Americana, or “The Great Deeds of Christ in America.” From then until now some form of this church history has informed American culture. Atheist Sam Harris and evangelical activist James Dobson both belie…
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…as, in effect, created a Sunni Army. The fate of this entity trumps a long list of daunting variables in Iraq. Sunni leaders protest constantly that the nation’s interests against Iran are not being defended. If the Sunnis and Kurds can be integrated into the Iraqi Shiite Army, which is euphemistically called the Iraq Army, Iraq has a chance of holding together as a semi-federalized state. There is no other option that averts another upsurge of de…
Read More…ouse and several Pentecostal organizations denounced him. And fellow evangelists that were once sycophants in his presence distanced themselves from him. (In the case of Bishop T.D. Jakes, the Dallas preacher dubiously acquired Pearson’s mailing list of subscribers and previously held prime-time spot on TBN). Within a few years, his 5,000 member congregation was down to a faithful few hundred, his church building was in foreclosure, and his future…
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