Search

New Super Tuesday robocall.

Michael Muhammad Knight is living in that liminal space, not crossing thresholds of belonging and closing the door. He walks back and forth, and the text conveys that sense of unsettledness. Intentionally or not, Knight forces the reader to think about how we define ourselves and how much agency we actually have in that process.

But Professor Randy Bott is no outlier.

Santorum not alone among Catholics in antipathy to JFK’s speech.

The crowd favorite at the DC screening I attended was the filmmaker’s interview with Bishop Barbara Harris, whose 1989 consecration as the first female bishop in the Anglican Communion also shook up the church. Harris is memorably direct. About the idea that Robinson is the first gay bishop, Harris snorts, “Give me a break.” In response to some of the rhetoric at the bishops’ gathering, she says, “if assholes could fly, this place would be an airport.”

For leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, if heaven ain’t a lot like Dixie—with low taxes, fewer regulations, a decreased state involvement in public welfare and institutions, denial of coverage for women’s health concerns, and bitter attacks on the Obama administration launched from every available platform—then they don’t want to go. And even the city slickers running Mitt Romney’s campaigns and the rowdy friends at Ron Paul’s rallies should be able to appreciate that.

The inverse of the argument that Islam ‘causes’ terrorism is the idea that Islam could solve the problem. Either way, it’s undue focus on the religion.

Two unlikely heroes, Tim Tebow and Jeremy Lin, have rocked the sports world. Lurking behind their stardom is a whole lot of bad theology.

Efforts by the hierarchical institution to spin the current controversy as a matter of religious liberty are unconvincing. After all, it is not the Catholic Church whose liberty is impinged upon. Members, even bishops, can still teach and believe what they wish. No one forces them to use contraception. Rather, it is employees of Catholic institutions, including janitors and housekeepers, whose rights to make their own decisions about health care are impinged upon. Blaming the victim is an old trick, but, in this case, few people are buying it.

Kadivar’s condemnation of all fatwas that call for the death of a “blasphemer” or “apostate” is in the spirit of his general approach to Islamic law. In his opinion as a legal scholar, an interpretation of Islam is fully compatible with the provisions of the UN declaration of Human Rights. When I asked him if he was optimistic about the possibility of reform in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a reform that would bring Islam into congruence with Human Rights ideas, he answered affirmatively and assertively. “Yes,” he said, “I am optimistic. That is why I am writing.”