Category: Daily

Religion & Media Current Events

Taboo Dinner Party Talk

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Amy Levin: “Aren’t these topics the very ones your mother warned you never to raise at a dinner party?” asks Marie Griffith, editor of the new online magazine, Religion & Politics. With its boasted tagline, “Fit for Polite Company,” Griffith, the current director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics at Washington University in St. Louis, says in her editor’s note that the journal’s aim is to address one of the most “contested issues of our time:” the role religion plays in U.S civic and political life. Continue Reading →

His Holiness Gets Huffed

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Ashley Baxstrom: The Huffington Post announced on Friday that its very own Arianna Huffington – the Post’s namesake? Editor? Aggregator General? Blogger in Chief? – will interview the Dalai Lama on May 14th.

His Holiness will be awarded the prestigious Templeton prize, which “honors a living person who has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life’s spiritual dimension.” When he heard he would be receiving the award, he responded that he was just a simple Buddhist monk.

Huffington will sit down with him at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London the day of the award for a one-hour interview, and has asked the Post’s readers for topic suggestions. “If you had an hour with the Dalai Lama how would you use it?” the story asks. Continue Reading →

Laurel Snyder's Jewish Dreams of Trees

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Amy Levin: Jewish parents today have their pick of ethically themed children’s books with just-enough-but-not-too-much religion. But there’s something refreshingly unique about Laurel Snyder’s new book, Good Night, Laila Tov. Snyder’s tale follows two children on an outdoor family vacation, replete with camping on the beach, walking in fields full of berries, and the catching shelter deep woods. Illustrated with lush greens and warm hues, Good Night, Laila Tov makes you want to take a nap on a rainbow after you’ve saved a coral reef from extinction. In other words, it’s the perfect blend of accessible environmentalism (the kids help their parents plant trees) and a rhythmic bedtime serenade. Continue Reading →

Laurel Snyder’s Jewish Dreams of Trees

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Amy Levin: Jewish parents today have their pick of ethically themed children’s books with just-enough-but-not-too-much religion. But there’s something refreshingly unique about Laurel Snyder’s new book, Good Night, Laila Tov. Snyder’s tale follows two children on an outdoor family vacation, replete with camping on the beach, walking in fields full of berries, and the catching shelter deep woods. Illustrated with lush greens and warm hues, Good Night, Laila Tov makes you want to take a nap on a rainbow after you’ve saved a coral reef from extinction. In other words, it’s the perfect blend of accessible environmentalism (the kids help their parents plant trees) and a rhythmic bedtime serenade. Continue Reading →

Daily Links: Grand Jury Duty Blues

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I’m three weeks down, one to go.  Serving justice in Brooklyn has kept me quiet, but here’s what I’m reading between testimonials:

Jane Iwamura at The Scoop on Tupac’s undead appearance at Coachella.

One wonders if Mark Oppenheimer just didn’t have any critical thinking to apply to his recent review of Ross Douthat’s new book, Bad Religion, or if the NYT editors just sliced it right out for the sake of their home-base columnist.  (Regardless, I send a shout-out to one beat man who knows what real bad religion means, Pete Finestone.  Hey Stone, wanna write a review for us?  Word.)

Ahem!  Mennonites are exploring their “martyr complex,” a trait “many Mennonites carry—especially ethnic German and Swiss Mennonites—and the consequences of that mindset.”

Remember when Sojourners backed away from the gays?  Becky Garrison does.  It was a true grit moment, one the “faith in action for social justice” magazine sadly failed to pass, a turning point in our desire to like Sojourners for all their ramble, an end to our guilt for never really getting Jim Wallis’ swagger.

New crits on the religion chopping block.  Religion & Politics launched this week.

The Grand Mufti of the Republic of Tatarstan recounts his version of the past year.

Church artwork is moving to where the devout are; from Europe to Latin America, Africa and Asia.

What do atheist billboards do?

Fredrick Clarkson writes at Women’s ENews about the latest doings of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. Continue Reading →

In the World weekly links, Pandora's Box edition

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…most residents of Trivandrum had not been clamoring for the temple’s vaults to be searched. This had initially puzzeled me. In America…it’s inconceivable that a mysterious, locked door would be left alone. (Recall Geraldo Rivera breaking into Al Capone’s vault, in the nineteen-eighties). But in India the wealth stored in the vaults of Hindu temples is viewed in largely spiritual, not monetary, terms…

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…Men and women will carry back to their small villages and towns tales of the Grand Mosque’s splendor, which is the reward sought by every Muslim ruler who alters the mosque…

The New Yorker has been cleaning up in the religion-writing sweepstakes these past few weeks, particularly with two pieces that raise fascinating questions about wealth, expenditure and the preservation—or radical renovation—of sacred sites. If you missed them, it’s worth circling back. The pieces, read together, amount to a tale of two temples and the ripple effects of altering their physical and natural environments.  Continue Reading →

In the World weekly links, Pandora’s Box edition

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…most residents of Trivandrum had not been clamoring for the temple’s vaults to be searched. This had initially puzzeled me. In America…it’s inconceivable that a mysterious, locked door would be left alone. (Recall Geraldo Rivera breaking into Al Capone’s vault, in the nineteen-eighties). But in India the wealth stored in the vaults of Hindu temples is viewed in largely spiritual, not monetary, terms…

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…Men and women will carry back to their small villages and towns tales of the Grand Mosque’s splendor, which is the reward sought by every Muslim ruler who alters the mosque…

The New Yorker has been cleaning up in the religion-writing sweepstakes these past few weeks, particularly with two pieces that raise fascinating questions about wealth, expenditure and the preservation—or radical renovation—of sacred sites. If you missed them, it’s worth circling back. The pieces, read together, amount to a tale of two temples and the ripple effects of altering their physical and natural environments.  Continue Reading →

The Kony2012 Family

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In a statement on their website and a follow-up video released on April 5th, IC elaborates on the background behind the Kony story and encourages everyone to explore inhumane conditions throughout the world. To this end, they devised a worldwide day of action titled “Cover the Night (Make Kony Famous 2012). Continue Reading →

Happy Birthday Zionism

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Amy Levin: Given that today and tomorrow mark two extremely important national holidays in Israel beginning with Yom Hazikaron, the day of remembrance for Israeli soldiers, followed by Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel’s independence day, it seems fitting to bring the timeless debate over Zionism to the virtual table. This week, Huffpost Religion is publishing daily columns as part of a series called “Liberal Zionists Speak Out.” Continue Reading →

RT if u

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Ashley Baxstrom: You’ve probably heard at this point about the Vatican’s statement concerning what it considers to be the wayward actions of its sisters in faith. You can refer to The Revealer’s “Radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith” for the basics, including how nuns were “reprimanded for making public statements that ‘disagree with or challenge the bishops, who are the church’s authentic teachers of faith and morals.’”

And then, you’ve probably heard about some of the reactions, people talking about Christian feminism, and hierarchy, and personal histories with the Church and faith. One major trend in the reactions has been people coming to the defense of the nuns for acting on behalf of social justice and the poor. But we all know a trend of movement hasn’t really gained steam until it’s gone viral, and that’s where we find ourselves today. Continue Reading →