Religion Dispatches
…t this did make me think about the phenomenon of interfaith as it is being promoted these days. First of all, this is not an idea promoted by the oppressed to invite others to celebrate their faith. It is something those already in power or with privilege extend to make an opening or orchestrate a collective. This means, those who do get invitations are usually at a disadvantage. If nothing else, it could be from the mere organizational standpoint…
Read More…ing the off-season. An update on the Oklahoma atheist billboard story. The sign reads “Atheism is OK in Oklahoma.” A billboard company has answered the atheists with signs reading: “Why settle for OK? God promises MORE” and “God is more than OK in Oklahoma.” Take that. The Oklevueha Native American Church of Utah is suing to prevent state and federal authorities from arresting and prosecuting church members for peyote possession and use. Only memb…
Read More…fspring, someone’s sibling, someone’s parent, or in some other way someone significant to someone else. As a survival mechanism we have a tendency to forge relationships of blood, friendship, or ideology, and then engage in competition with others who are at best more distantly related, and in some fashion “different” from us. It is for pointing out how morality based on such allegiances breaks down that I appreciate the parable of “the Good Samar…
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…e seen God’s work through that church serving them with that money.” Apparently, the church hasn’t learned its lesson: The church’s electronic sign had a simple message flashing Tuesday: “He’ll Be Back.”…
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…to be reckoned with and has myriad forms of expression, commitment, moral codes, and values—just like global Christianity. In the U.S., Muslims are increasingly part of the social landscape, with mosques, community centers, and public figures (including the first Muslim Miss America and the easy reelection of one of the two Muslim members of Congress) who contribute to the fabulous religious mosaic that characterizes the best of American values….
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…f Spiritual Progressives ran a full page ad in the New York Times. The ad, signed by Dr. Cornel West, Sister Joan Chittister, and 2800 others, urges President-Elect Obama to: 1.) Call for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza when he is sworn in as president, and 2.) Convene an International Peace Conference to resolve the Israel/Palestine struggle. He now seeks to have that ad republished in the Washington Post and other media. You can read, sign and/o…
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…; cooperation is perfectly possible, so it pays to make serious efforts to promote it, which means being responsive to the changing concerns of everyone else in the web. There are rights and wrongs done on every side; it makes no sense to measure how much blame accrues to any one side, because finger-pointing blocks the way to cooperation. Self-esteem comes from promoting cooperation; if self-esteem must depend on showing one’s strength (an open q…
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Over the last year or two, I’ve become an unironic, unapologetic fan of reality TV. I know the criticisms—they dumb us down, they elevate public humiliation—but what I’m really interested in is the way shows like Spike’s Joe Schmo Show or VH1’s I Love Money turn into morality plays about the value of friendship and loyalty. In the best reality shows, the initial rush of schadenfreude is gradually replaced with a genuine affection for the “good gu…
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…ing rose petals at you all day. And when a teacher loses his bearings, the signs are hard to miss. As Tamm grew up and witnessed the guru’s increasingly erratic posturing (elaborate weightlifting hoaxes and an underground zoo of exotic animals were among his most bewildering experiments), she began to question the idea of devotion to a guru. After a number of attempts to leave, she broke free of the group at age twenty-five. I recently caught up w…
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…ce members were often not Christians and rejection could be interpreted as sign of authenticity. I’ve never attended a Christian metal or punk show, although I saw Danielson Famile, who could be described as Christian indie rock, at a music festival. You talk a lot about the authority Christians have given to rock musicians, and how in turn, they wish to co-opt or reclaim that power for their own spiritual message. Didn’t Christians, at least in p…
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