Religion Dispatches
…that only an American would be concerned with. But Kulah thought they were promoting his document. The other thing, regarding President Obama: do you remember when Gene Robinson was invited to be part of his [inauguration], there was a lot of outcry from the American conservatives? One thing that was interesting was that [Rev. David Runnion-Bareford] the leader of the Association for Church Renewal, wrote a letter to Obama saying this will be seen…
Read More…he religious beliefs of some dictate the deprivation of rights for others. Today the Coalition Against Religious Discrimination (CARD) is calling on Obama to honor this week’s anniversary of President Franklin Roosevelt’s signing of an executive order prohibiting racial discrimination by military contractors, by finally putting an end to a Bush-era executive order that permits religious organizations receiving federal grants to discriminate in hir…
Read More
…an alternative to yoga,” which she calls PraiseMoves. In a 2005 article in Today’s Christian Woman ominously titled “The Truth About Yoga,” Holly Vicente Robaina recounts Willis’ cautionary tale of how yoga led her into a life of errant New Age practices, loneliness, alcoholism, and promiscuity. After years of pain, she discovered Christianity, burned her New Age books, and gave up yoga. In a follow-upChristianity Today article titled “Take a Pass…
Read More
…ion were more daring 120 years ago than anything Porta dos Fundos is doing today. Or there’s The Book of Mormon, which contains the rousing, blasphemous anthem “Hasa Diga Eebowai,”5 which to anyone who cares, translates as “F*ck you God!” Or David Javerbaum’s hilarious play, An Act of God, that has God apologize for latent psychopathic tendencies by saying “I made mankind in My image, and I’m an asshole.” So, when it comes to Christian religious c…
Read More
…central place that religion and congregating religiously still holds among today’s immigrants. In contrast to Levitt’s focus on religious activities across borders, Kniss and Numrich examine several congregations in one area. They look at similarities and differences in moral authority, moral project, and sectarian inclinations among Roman Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist congregations in Chicago. Throu…
Read More
…all, the Thanksgiving dinner and the family homecoming theme remained. So, today, some Americans bemoan the loss of religious influence and want to use Thanksgiving as an occasion to call the nation back to its Puritan roots. Others argue that the day is about family reunions, gratitude, and bringing the nation together in understanding and tolerance, whatever their religion or lack thereof. This argument is partially an echo of other aspects of t…
Read More
…I discern it, and I integrate it. This,” he added, “is what Jesus would do today!” But would we rather have a pope who is at the very least trying to sustain a conversation—however much he lurches and dodges and equivocates—or one who describes LGBTQ people as victims of “an intrinsic moral evil”? But then Francis clarified further. “Please don’t say the pope sanctifies transgenders [sic].” He described trans people’s struggle as a “moral problem,…
Read More
…eadline called him an “Apostle of Bible-Based Economics,” and Christianity Today declared that North “Saw Austrian Economics in the Bible and Disaster on the Horizon.” All true. But both obits made little assessment of the political and theological significance of his life and prodigious work as an author, editor, publisher and back room political strategist. Let’s see if we can help. The 1976 election featuring professing evangelical Christian Ji…
Read More…eral authority — a modern-day TEA Partier could have written such a speech today. The speech said nothing about the evil institution of slavery that Davis’s administration supported. This is just another attempt to whitewash the real history of the Confederacy and the Civil War. The board is scheduled to vote today on these new standards. If they approve them (and there is no reason to assume they won’t), America will be another step closer to ins…
Read More
…a Friend to his Country.” The motion passed. Now, when we hear that story today, it’s often used to suggest that people who oppose elected officials abusing government power to impose their religion on others are the “bigots” that Sam Adams disclaimed. That ignores the fact that this was still a British colony with an established church and that the U.S. Constitution wouldn’t invent the separation of church and state for another 15 years or so. B…
Read More