Ex-evangelical Valerie Tarico wrote a post, republished yesterday by Salon, that argues the internet is killing religion. Tarico isn’t very specific about what kind of religion she’s talking about, she uses “organized religion” and evangelical fundamentalism more or less interchangeably. But the claims are interesting: basically, that the availability of information [...]
Apropos of our ongoing discussion of what religious political engagement should look like amid the culture wars, Conor Williams has made an effort at describing two different faith interacts with American politics. He calls these “ideological religion,” which would be your extreme religious partisan; and “dispositional religion,” which is theologically engaged [...]
The fallout continues. Evangelicals of all shades are showing their colors over Obama’s affirmation of gay marriage. The arguments are often predictable and not worth rehashing here. Rather, I’m always interested in the tangential quarrels that arise when we’re all provoked to debate. And many are happening out there, but I thought I’d briefly share [...]
I wanted to ignore this. I really did. When a youth pastor friend of mine sent me a link to the YouTube page of Jeff Bethke, this quasi-rapping, Drake-looking, spoken-word poet, and asked my opinion, I said, “Lame.” The poem is called “Sexual Healing,” and in it Bethke gives his take [...]
This weekend marks the 10th anniversary of the attacks against our country on September 11, 2001, and New York City, Washington DC, and just about every other major metropolitan area in the US is planning to mark the anniversary with one kind of commemorative happening or another. The main event in New York, a [...]
Today, in an op-ed at the New York Times, David E. Campbell and Robert D. Putnam, authors of American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, turn their attention to the Tea Party and determine that it’s not their desire for a smaller government that unites Tea Partiers, but their [...]
In his book Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? John Fea explores the history of Christian nationalism, the relationship between Christianity and the American Revolution, and the beliefs of several of America’s founders. The most interesting and original part of the book shows that there have always been significant figures [...]
Religion is sometimes held to be untrue today because there are so many different and often conflicting claims made about it. To even speak of “religion” in such reified and monolithic terms offends contemporary ears. In an address to the 2009 American Academy of Religion conference in Montreal, then president Mark [...]
When faced with a difficulty or a problem we often attempt to take stock of our situation in order to come to a solution. But taking stock can itself be a complicated process, and there are many ways to disagree about how this ought to be done – just what are the relevant factors? And [...]
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Last week, Matthew Milliner, a Ph.D. candidate in art history at Princeton University, wrote a piece for The Huffington Post’s Religion vertical entitled “The Return of the Religious in Contemporary Art.” I bring this to your attention primarily because the phenomenon that the [...]
Image by Pesky Library via Flickr
This past weekend, the New York Times Sunday Book Review featured six essays and an introduction on the topic of literary criticism entitled “Why Criticism Matters.” I won’t assume that our readers are overly interested or concerned with the state of [...]
I’m sure many Patrol readers can commiserate with me about the sinking feeling I get anytime I hear about some religious person, and particularly a Christian, doing or saying something crazy and/or offensive. As much as I try to not be cynical, a lifetime of disappointment and embarrassment has made me wary.
All that [...]
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