ReligionDispatches - Stories

Immigration Reform: A Country Divided, Or a Richer Society?

Cecilia Menjivar — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:01 PST

With the Obama administration’s renewed support for immigration reform, and new support from conservative Christian leaders, immigrants’ rights activists are looking toward real progress—and their vision is supported by recent scholarship in the intersection of religion and immigration.

Tariq Ramadan in Montreal: Defining Ethics in Terms of Religion

Spencer Dew — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:01 PST

Controversial Muslim Scholar Tariq Ramadan, banned from travel to the United States, spoke in Montreal last week at the annual convention of the American Academy of Religion. In a question-and-answer session he answered accusations of “doublespeak.”

The Anti-Gay Highway: New Report Details Mutually Beneficial Relationship Between US Evangelicals and African Antigay Clergy

Kathryn Joyce — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:00:01 PST

A new report documents the trend of evangelicals like Rick Warren exporting sexuality issues to Africa, whose clergy, in turn, support the minority antigay view in mainline denominations, weakening them. The author of the report speaks with RD at length about what he found.

Prophetic Counterterrorism: Avoiding the Insanity of Repeated Failure

Eric Reitan — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:01 PST

The secular world, in confronting evil, has long relied on one solution: the use of coercive power to violently incapacitate those who do evil—often with “collateral damage.” Maybe it’s time to explore other options?

Two Wars and No Peace in Sight: The Role of Faith-Based Pacifism

Richard Ricketts — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:01 PST

When it comes to peace activism, holding signs might not always be enough, says sociologist Sharon Nepstad. In this interview she explains why, and talks about the unique historical role of religion in nonviolent protest.

Words Matter: The Linguistic Damage of “Going Muslim”

Daniel Martin Varisco — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:01 PST

The etymological ethnic bias of the phrase “going Muslim,” used to refer to the massacre at Fort Hood, is as damaging as it is inaccurate.

Massacre of Jesuits in El Salvador: 20 Years Later

Richard Amesbury — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:00:01 PST

Two decades after the murder of six Jesuit professors, El Salvador is celebrating the end of right-wing rule and the first peaceful transfer of power in nearly 200 years.

Stupak Forming Fault Lines in Left-Leaning Faith Groups?

Sarah Posner — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 PST

With left-leaning faith groups unable to agree on abortion issues, the religious right—with the help of anti-choice Democrats—were able to convince Democratic strategists that they spoke for people of faith. Will the inability to take a strong stance for women’s rights split religious coalitions?

House Health Care Bill Discriminates Against Religious Freedom

Gordon D. Newby — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:01 PST

Abortion is not a liberal, secular invention; there are examples in Jewish, Muslim, and even Christian theologies—and in Buddhist and Hindu traditions—of instances in which abortion is justified.

Muslim Students Shocked By Professor’s Column

Haroon Moghul — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:00:01 PST

An NYU professor suggests in Forbes that we refer to tragedies like the one at Ft. Hood as “Going Muslim.” An NYU alumnus, himself a Muslim, finds himself shocked, not so much by the article, as by the response of the school administration.

Moses on the Mayflower: Was the Prophet a Founding Father?

Linell Cady — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:01 PST

Author Bruce Feiler is back from “walking the Bible” and is roaming the country, tracing Moses’ footsteps. But in his eagerness to make the prophet into a unifying symbol, he misses the true complexity of the relationship between religion and the secular in America.

Does Religion Drive Evolution? And Other Questions from the Cutting Edge of Biohistory

Arri Eisen — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:01 PST

New theories hold that aspects of human culture—religion, art, and economy—have an impact on our evolution as a species. And we’re changing fast.

Spinning Ft. Hood

Hussein Rashid — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:01 PST

RD associate editor Hussein Rashid scrutinizes a cross-section of reactions to the Ft. Hood massacre, from those eager to blame Islam to a number of Muslim-Americans.

Faith or Trauma: Questioning the Motivation of the Fort Hood Shooter

Louise A. Cainkar — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:00:01 PST

The picture of Major Nidal Hasan grows murkier—but it is a mistake to assume that we understand the role of his faith in the massacre at Fort Hood.

Sex, the Body, the World: It’s R. Crumb’s Bible Now

Naomi Seidman — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 PST

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.

The Gospel of Contradiction: An Interview with Mary Gordon

Nathan Schneider — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 PST

Why is the character of Jesus so powerful? Why is he such a hit? Bestselling writer Mary Gordon re-reads the Gospels, asking these questions, among others, and trying to figure out why fundamentalist readings of scripture, grounded in fear and rage, have come to dominate the understanding of religion in this country.

Bad Religion Leaves Big Bruises: When Christians Threaten Health Care Reform

Peter Laarman — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 PST

Two strands of Christianity battle against a bill ensuring that all Americans are cared for. One prefers John Locke to Jesus while the other has its issues with women.

Are US Bishops Responsible for Anti-Abortion Amendment in Health Care Reform?

Frances Kissling — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:00:01 PST

As so many pundits ask whether it was the 11th-hour activism of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops that enabled the anti-choice provision to be inserted into the health care bill, our analyst explores a different possibility: Democratic strategy.

Politics, Not Religion, At Heart of Health Care Reform Wrangle on Abortion

Sarah Posner — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 PST

Despite repeated compromises from pro-choice Democrats, anti-choice Dems threaten to kill health care reform unless all their demands are met.

A Daily Utopia: Creating Our Moral Values Every Day

Anna Peterson — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:00:01 PST

The author of a new book talks to RD about the radical that lies beneath our everyday practices, whether ethics requires religion, and the “education of desire.”

Beautiful Dreamers: A Documentary Asks “What is God”?

Nathan Schneider — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:01 PST

Peter Rodger traveled through twenty-three countries in three years asking the same question to everyone he met, and filming, gorgeously, the results. Turns out the question—“What is God?”—reveals more than a person’s faith.

Compelled by Faith: When Prayer is Not Good For You

Mandy Van Deven — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:01 PST

Abby Sher collected thumbtacks and paper clips, traced the patterns on her wallpaper, and prayed fervidly to avert disaster. In another era she might have been just another pious eccentric; today she’s a recovering obsessive-compulsive who has renounced (most of) her faith.

American Fever: A Tale of Romance and Pestilence

Michael A. Elliott — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:01 PST

An online novel about a flu pandemic blurs the boundaries between real “flu-blogging” and the dystopic world of its blogger protagonist. And it exposes the cultural anxiety, both religious and secular, that disease unleashes.

Hitchens Debates Conservative Evangelical: Nothing Happens

Eric Reitan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:01 PST

A new documentary called <i>Collision</i> follows the collegial debate between new atheist Christopher Hitchens and conservative evangelical Doug Wilson. Spoiler alert: Neither budges and both gloat to the respective choirs they’d been preaching to. Is this the best we can do?

Religion is Not about Belief: Karen Armstrong’s The Case for God

Brian McGrath Davis — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:01 PST

Of all the monotheisms, Christianity has come to depend the most on the idea of belief, or doctrine. But there is a strong countertradition, now submerged, that insists that any time we say we know who God is, or what God wants, we are committing an act of heresy.