ReligionDispatches - Dispatches From International

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.

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.

Suicide Bombers and the Prozac God: A Review of Dying for Heaven

Bruce B. Lawrence — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:00:01 PST

A new work advancing a radical theory of the motivation behind suicide bombers is almost bizarrely off the mark. Stitching together thought and observation from disparate and often dissonant sources, Georgetown theology professor Ariel Glucklich’s book would be laughable were he not a consultant to the defense community.

Escalating Afghanistan: What Did You Do in the Class War, Daddy?

Peter Laarman — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:01 PDT

Don’t the clergy have a duty to challenge the march of folly in Afghanistan and Pakistan?

Vatican’s Come-Hither to Anglicans: A Theological Scandal

Mary E. Hunt — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:00:01 PDT

While the Catholic Church is touting its warm welcome to conservative Anglicans, it’s also a simple union of those who reject gay and women’s ordination.

Is the Boson Particle “Hated by God”?

Arri Eisen — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:00:01 PDT

Two eminent physicists have hypothesized that the Higgs boson might be hated by God to such an extent that if one occurred it would go back in time and stop itself from being made.

Lars von Trier is the Antichrist Best Film Director in the World

S. Brent Plate — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 09:00:01 PDT

In the great tradition of Socrates and Kierkegaard, Lars von Trier realizes that his role is to enable the audience to ask questions and confront themselves.

Religion, AIDS, & Africa, After Obama

John Blevins — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:00:01 PDT

What is the role of religion in addressing the challenges facing contemporary African cultures? A new model suggests that religious organizations may be uniquely suited to effect change.

The Revolution Will Be Whispered: An Excerpt From Everywhere a Guest, Nowhere at Home: A New Vision of Israel and Palestine

Kim Chernin — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:00:01 PDT

In this lyrical excerpt, author Kim Chernin envisions a new solution that rises up from the Sinai desert nurtured by two little girls.

Animal Sacrifice and Sexuality in Santería

Nick Street — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:00:01 PDT

In the wake of a religious freedom victory, scholar Salvador Vidal-Ortiz discusses the concepts of “newborns,” “wives,” and the role of gays and lesbians in Santería.

Huckabee in the Holy Land: A Christian Zionist Campaign

Shalom Goldman — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 22:00:01 PDT

The religious right’s preferred presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee recently returned from a visit to Israel. What prompted Time to call it his first campaign stop in the 2012 race?

Jewish “Women of the Wall” Defy Law to Pray

Kelly Hartog — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 22:00:01 PDT

A powerful documentary, “Praying in Her Own Voice,” chronicles twenty years of struggle for religious equality at one of Judaism’s most sacred sites and asks: How can there be unity when half the population is silenced?

Satanic or Silly: Does Yale Press Censorship of Cartoons Insult Muslims?

Daniel Martin Varisco — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:00:01 PDT

While the rioting over the Danish cartoons seems to be well behind us, Yale University Press recently removed the images from a new scholarly work on the topic. Do Muslim extremists need a scholarly book as pretext with two wars being fought in Muslim nations and an ongoing crisis in Gaza? The problem isn’t with these images, but with the ubiquitous Islamophobia in the United States.

Youth Violence Among American Muslims: A Perspective

Muneer Fareed — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:00:01 PDT

What drives some young American Muslims to fight other people’s wars—or worse still, to bring these battles home?

How Should We Speak of Unspeakable Evil?

Louis A. Ruprecht — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:00:01 PDT

Do we turn to the wrong institutions when we go to courts of law to attempt to enact forgiveness or reconciliation for genocide?

Rarefied Islamophobia: When Americans Duplicate the European Cultural Talk

Jocelyne Cesari — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:00:01 PDT

By presenting itself as a disinterested collection of “facts” and “data,” an alarmist new book about the Muslim threat to Europe has been taken more seriously than your standard Islamophobic pamphlet.

Air Kissing the Mezuzah: Religion and Science Collide in Fight Against Virus

Shalom Goldman — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:00:01 PDT

In both Israel and India, religious rituals governing purity and health are clashing with efforts to stop the “swine flu” virus from spreading and killing more citizens.

Sisterhood is Islamic: an Interview with Daisy Khan

Rene Rosechild — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:00:01 PDT

The face of modern global feminism is wearing hijab. The director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement talks to us about the new "Jihad Against Violence" and other developments in the worldwide Muslim women's movement.

On the Taliban’s Hit List: An Exiled Pakistani Singer’s Plea to Save Music

Austin Dacey — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 18:00:01 PDT

An interview with a singer marked for death by the Taliban. Curiously, while the Taliban claims that music is a violation of Islamic law, they do have their own melodies and hymns.

Afghan Idol: Can a Talent Competition Save a Nation?

Becky Garrison — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 18:00:01 PDT

An interview with the director of Afghan Star, a documentary that follows a tense but cathartic talent competition.

Aung San Suu Kyi: The Verdict is Unfair

Juliane Schober — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:00:01 PDT

For Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, her years of house arrest have only deepened her Buddhist insight, and strengthened her commitment to a just society in Burma.

Israeli Jesus: More Popular Than Ever

Shalom Goldman — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:00:01 PDT

The staging in Jaffa of a controversial play with Jesus as central character is shut down by protests—but not for the reasons one might imagine.

Feared Taliban Leader Killed, But Military Strategy is Not the Answer in Afghanistan

Mark Juergensmeyer — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:00:01 PDT

A gathering of senior scholars in the field agree that the US presence in South Asia invokes a colonial legacy and undermines peace.

Ahmadinejad’s Call For “Compassion” is a Cynical Display, Critics Say

Ebrahim Moosa — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:00:01 PDT

As the Iranian president makes a public show of Islamic virtue, it is instructive to look through the eyes of Iran’s most prominent theologians and dissenters, and to recall what actual compassion looks like.

Of Zionism and Anti-Zionism: The Ultra Orthodox and the Settler Movement in Israel

Shaul Magid — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:00:01 PDT

Israel’s Ultra Orthodox, or Haredim, do not share the theological assumptions of the settlers—but in recent years a purely pragmatic alliance has formed. What does this mean for Israel as a society?