The Sacred & Profane: Buddhism and Science, Gold’s Gym and Scientology, Jesus and Yoga
Posted: December 7, 2010 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Buddhism, Glenn Beck, Gold's Gym, Jesus, Obama, religion and science, Religion Dispatches, science, Scientology, Yoga Leave a comment »Buddhism and Science: Problems and Perils
My colleague at Emory, Kenny Smith, compares the function of authenticity in Scientology and Gold’s Gym
Apparently, most U.S. pastors don’t think Obama is a Christian…or Glenn Beck, for that matter.
Stephen Prothero asks who owns Jesus and Yoga. I wonder when religions became a matter of ownership.
Everything I Learned About Hanukkah Was On TV
Posted: December 4, 2010 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Hanukkah, media, religion dispatches, Religion Dispatches, TV Leave a comment »I’ve got a new post up at Religion Dispatches where I present a different Hanukkah TV clip for each night of the holiday. If you haven’t seen the Hanukkah episode of The Nanny than you have missed out.
Check out the videos here.
Forgiving LeBron, Fetal Jesus Sonogram, and Hummus Wars
Posted: December 4, 2010 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Religion Dispatches Leave a comment »The best part of Christmas is the advertising. I don’t mean the Coca Cola commercials with Santa and polar bears. I mean stuff like a sonogram of fetal Jesus complete with halo and a tag line reminding us “He’s on His way.” I also always enjoy a good Christmas billboard duel. This season do we celebrate Reason or Jesus? And are those are only choices? Maybe we should settle on the friendlier “Reason’s Greetings.”
The only thing I like as much as Christmas is butter. Now, I can have them both thanks to one Iowa artist’s butter nativity scene. Best Christmas fund raiser ever. A nativity scene in Boulder, Colorado has provoked the ire of local atheists who argue that the scene’s placement on the steps of the City and County Building is a state endorsement of religion. They are protesting through—you guessed it—three billboards. Worst holiday display ever: KKK Snowman.
Continue reading at Religion Dispatches
‘Atheizing’ the Dead, Religious Doughnuts, & Tax-Free Witching: The Week in Religion, Poetically
Posted: September 17, 2010 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: American Religion, atheism, Islam, Religion, religion dispatches, Religion Dispatches, religion news Leave a comment »Inspired by Mormon baptism practices, Atheize the Dead offers to convert your deceased loved one to atheism.
The Hartford, Connecticut city council found itself in hot water when it proposed a Muslim invocation for one of its pre-meeting prayers. After its website was inundated with protests against the planned invocations, the council decided to cancel prayers of any sort at the meetings and will open with an “interfaith moment of silence.”
Donald Trump offered to buy out one of the major investors in the Park51 project. The investors said thanks but no thanks.
A North Carolina teenager whose family is part of the Church of Body Modification has run into trouble with her school’s dress code. The 14-year-old is looking at a ten day suspension if she returns to school wearing her prohibited nose ring. In Roswell, New Mexico, a group of students have been suspended for giving their teachers boxes of doughnuts with religious messages attached to them.
Romania has decided not to tax its witches and fortunetellers. One reason being that the witches and fortunetellers aren’t good at keeping receipts.
Continue reading at Religion Dispatches >>>
Shariah-Approved Sex Aids, Abstinence-Only Goes to China, and Abercrombie Hijab…The Week in Religion, Poetically
Posted: September 10, 2010 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: American Religion, beer, blogging, gender, Islam, media, Mormonism, Religion, religion dispatches, Religion Dispatches, religion news, science, sex Leave a comment »Ramadan is not only a time for fasting, it’s also a time for the best television around the Muslim world. A television serial in Egypt has stirred controversy: The Group explores the world of the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s largest opposition movement. Similarly, a Syrian serial, What Your Right Hand Possess (it sounds better in Arabic) has drawn furiouscriticism for allegedly distorting Islam. A Malaysian TV station has axed a commercial wishing Muslims a happy Eid al-Fitr because viewers complained the commercial was too Christmas-y.
In France, halal food is going upscale.
Christian morality meets communist population control: evangelical group Focus on the Family has partnered with Chinese officials to bring its abstinence program to Chinese teens. Muslim couples can find “shariah-approved” products for “sexual health” at El Asira—an online shop attracting 30,000 visits a week.
Teetotaling Mormons in Idaho grow barley for beer brewers.
A Muslim mason who worked to rebuild the Saint Jean Cathedral in Lyon, France, has been immortalized as a winged gargoyle on the facade of the church. The inscription beneath his stone image reads “God is great.” In Germany, a team of researchers have built digital models of synagogues destroyed by Nazis on Kristallnacht in 1938.
Continue Reading at Religion Dispatches>>>
The Week in Religion, Poetically
Posted: August 27, 2010 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: American Religion, blogging, Islam, religion dispatches, Religion Dispatches, religion news Leave a comment »A limit of two stories about the not-a-mosque not at Ground Zero: First,I can’t get “We’ve Got To Stop the Mosque at Ground Zero” out of my head. It’s mix of offensive lyrics and campy Toby Keith rip-off vocals makes it funny and pathetic at the same time. Plus, it’s catchier than the Bed Intruder song. Second, Miss USA, a Muslim herself, has taken a standagainst the Park51 project. So, there you have it.
The Salem Witch Trials: video game edition. It’s like a Hawthorne short story for your PC or Mac.
A Brooklyn rabbi has been approved to serve as a chaplain in the Army reserves but can’t because the Army wants him to shave his beard. As an older rabbi serving the Army put it, “Look at some of our past generals’ beards, like Ulysses Grant. In the Civil War, a lot of those guys in the military leadership looked like Hasidic individuals.” At Fort Eustis in Virginia, about 80 soldiers were punished for choosing not to attend an evangelical Christian concert organized by the camp’s commanders. A Muslim soldier is wants to leave the military as a conscientious objector.
Continue reading at Religion Dispatches >>>
This Week in Religion, Poetically
Posted: June 24, 2010 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: blogging, religion dispatches, Religion Dispatches, religion news Leave a comment »My roundup of this week’s religion in the news can be found over at Religion Dispatches. My favorite story this week has to be Ricky Williams leading meditation classes. I’d pay for that.
Bringing you the week in religion
Posted: June 18, 2010 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: blogging, Religion, religion dispatches, Religion Dispatches Leave a comment »I’ve got a new gig over at Religion Dispatches writing a weekly review of religion in the news. Check out my first attempt.
