Religion Dispatches
…tar. While some accounts, such as @request_prayers and its affiliated site www.prayerrequest.com, are crowdsourced, others have volunteer prayer teams standing by. @OurPrayer, the prayer request handle for Guideposts magazine, offers a description of its service that could serve as a script for heaven’s own automated telephone response system: “Your prayer concerns are important to us,” OurPrayer.org says, “and that’s why each and every prayer req…
Read More…nd question: should therefore their loving relationships be legally recognized, and the conclusion I have reached is that they should. In the video, Rudd also points out that he has been very open about his change of heart, which he says “was the product of some many many months and years of reflection, in good Christian conscience.” Indeed, Rudd described his journey in a long essay published in May, which approaches the marriage question both a…
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…time, Hamilton was in previews at The Public Theater, already generating buzz. As I wrote my thesis, I was struck by how well Hamilton articulated a gospel the church refused to preach. As a member of a predominantly white denomination and a graduate of a predominantly white seminary, I know firsthand how the voices of the oppressed are silenced. I’ve heard countless times how the United States is a Christian nation built on Christian principles….
Read More…ycle check it out; it’s the coolest). In both cases, I reflect on the realization that I don’t do enough of that during the rest of the year. I donate money to charity and take “stuff” to Hospice. I take in a rescue dog about to be euthanized, training him so he can join a family whose home he will fill with love (a gift to him and to them). I fill my own home with a Christmas tree, many lights and candles, music and with the warmth generated only…
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…th QAnon falsehoods that link Satanism to political conspiracies such as Pizzagate (Democrats engaging in Satanic ritual abuse in a DC pizza parlor) and adrenochrome-harvesting. Of course, social media and the Internet have amplified these contemporary conspiracy theories. When I see the effects of fake news on people I know—coupled with an ever-increasing lack of critical thinking—I’m pessimistic about this rhetoric ever dying down. [Editor’s not…
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…Banner.” No other hymn will ever be the spiritual national anthem that “Amazing Grace” has become. All of which makes it particularly striking to consider that “Amazing Grace” is not one song, but many. More than most pieces of music, its meaning is dependent upon the context in which it is sung or heard. The American “Amazing Grace” spectrum runs from the painfully stilted (for example, when sung by Tom Netheron of the Lawrence Welk’s “Musical Fa…
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…ative ethos offered yet in this election.” Cruz also spoke for unity–the buzzword of the evening. But Cruz envisioned unity around a set of conservative ideals, rather than behind a demagogic figure as the other evening’s speakers had demanded. “We will unite the country by standing together for shared values, by standing for liberty,” Cruz concluded as the crowd howled in protest. A party that had once cheered as Barry Goldwater famously declared…
Read More…r documents in his book on Bright, the Washington for Jesus rally he organized with Gimenez in 1980 had a goal of being “a twelve-hour prayer rally, focusing on the need to restore God’s favor to the United States through repentance.” Sound familiar? The only religious right hot shot who didn’t show support for that one was Jerry Falwell, because, according to Turner, “he was hesitant to cooperate with charismatics and Pentecostals.” Later in his…
Read More…n Halloween into a “Christian gift-giving festival” and a time for evangelizing. And actually, in spite of the headline on this post, the Jesusween FAQ says it’s OK to give out candy along with gospel tracts or inexpensive Bibles. Just be sure to respond to “Trick or Treat” with “Jesus loves you.” The Hell House Experience. Plenty of evangelical churches create “Hell House” tours around Halloween, hoping to scare teens away from sex (especially ga…
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…raight people, why can’t we have kids like straight people?” he continued. Zehava Gal-On, the head of Meretz, said “In Israel in 2017, we will not just let homophobia be. So many children are lookoing for a warm and loving home, and they’re finding one just because of a conservative and ignorant government.” The head of the Knesset’s LGBT Caucus, Michal Rosin, said that the government is “ignorant and prejudiced” and blamed the religious monopoly…
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