Predictably, some conservative Christians have attacked Avatar for depicting pantheistic Na’vi as noble. Is it actually the film’s critique of greed and environmental neglect that offends?
The religious right claims that Obama misled Americans about his piety. But being in church doesn’t make you any more a Christian than being in a garage makes you a car.
In which we take the long view, considering the place of religion in the twenty-first century so far. What stands out is our confusion—about religion, about the secular sphere, and about the future of both as embodying forms of political commitment capable of peaceable coexistence.
While fundamentalists continue to deny evolution and the validity of scientific thought, and some scientists continue to deny the validity of religion, the Year of Darwin held some notable examples of peaceful co-existence.
Did Williamsburg’s Hasidic community have Mayor Bloomberg close a major bike lane simply because they were offended by the immodestly clothed hipsters biking through their neighborhood, as most of the press has reported? Was a topless protest the best way to respond?
