Muslims Wearing Things, Tea Party Chastised on Nazi Talk, and Politicking in Church
RD’s weekly review doesn’t flinch when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar shows up in a Stetson.
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Crying Witch: Learning From the O’Donnell “Dabbling” Debacle
While Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell didn’t say anything about Wicca, per se, when she talked about “dabbling into witchcraft,” her more recent “kill the witch” comments will surely distance her further from pagan communities used to dealing (especially around Halloween) with this confusion between the swirling cultural tropes of “the witch” and those who embrace “witch” as a religious self-description.
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The Fear is Real: A New View of Halloween “Hell Houses”
Tribulation Trail, and other “Hell Houses” are not solely managing hypothetical fears of what may happen in end-times scenarios; they are about managing fears about the present and imagining a way out now. This “way out” is much more than metaphysical. It seems to fit with the material realities of what it is like to be a member of the working class of the U.S., by offering a sense of orientation and self-worth to people who have been demoralized and exploited in almost every other possible way.
Read MoreAnother Book Burner Lusts for Attention
Only this time it’s the Bible and the Heretics include Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and Rick Warren.
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Skepticism Over O’Donnell’s Dabbling in Witchcraft
Which witch is which?
Read MoreWhat is a “Religious Progressive” Anyway?
Can you be a progressive and still be opposed to abortion, or to gay rights, or [insert hot-button social/cultural issue here]?
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Jesus Goes to the Dark Carnival: Hell House Gets a Makeover?
Evangelical-sponsored haunted houses known as “Hell Houses” were spooky attractions filled with the ghosts of the culture wars. Now, a softer, gentler version, the “Judgement House” claims to eschew politics, but does it?
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No Turkey for Me: Confessions of an Indian Militant
Forty years ago, Indian militants, as they were then named, occupied the island of Alcatraz. In their memory, our writer reflects on both the bloody history of the first Thanksgiving, and the remarkable, enduring power of tribal tradition to create spiritual sustenance in the modern world.
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Sex, the Body, the World: It’s R. Crumb’s Bible Now
Among the most surprising things about underground comics master R. Crumb’s new illustration of the first book of the Hebrew Bible is not only how straight he plays the visual translation, but also the affinity between his own sensibility and the fleshly materiality of Genesis.
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Reverend Billy For Mayor: Is He For Real?
Performance artist or man of God? Agitator or politician? The Church of Life After Shopping’s Reverend Billy has a choir and a congregation like a preacher—does he have to be a “real” clergyman to minister to the masses?
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