Do you want seven clusters of religion-themed links for your (if you’re in the US) Labor Day weekend? Nonsense. Of course you do:
1. “You want to bet my future with that condom?” (via William Wan at WaPo) Evidently Focus on the Family is willing to stay mum about religion if it means they get to shame Chinese women for being sexual.
Provincial leaders told Dobson during their visit that they admired his strong stances on everything – marriage, parenting, gender issues, the sanctity of life. The only thing they disagreed with was evangelism…. To work in China, however, Focus on the Family has had to make a pledge of its own: no politically sensitive material, and no religion. The evangelical group says it’s strictly abiding by those terms.
More by Tracy Clark-Flory at Broadsheet.. Also, the Guardian gives snippets of the curriculum’s role-play which (surprise!) has boys as the sexual pursuers and girls as the intended naysayers. Pfhoo…. can you imagine how bad it might be if the curriculum contained some sort of politically sensitive material, rather than simply advocating a particular agenda on “marriage, parenting, gender issues, the sanctity of life”? I don’t even want to contemplate it.
2. “[T]he god who would reward cowardice and dishonesty and punish irreconcilable doubt is among the many gods in which (whom?) I do not believe.” In Vanity Fair, Christopher Hitchens’ thoughtful and not-all-that-snotty reply to those praying for him, including those praying for his death-as-smiting. As you might expect, I am not a Hitchens booster generally, but this is one of the best reflections on death I’ve ever read.
3. A new way to deal with mobile phones in church. An episcopal priest in Halifax is blessing her congregation’s electronic gadgets. (via Episcopalcafe) This kind of religion news story usually gets whatever traction it gets because we’re meant to shake our heads and sputter with cognitive dissonance: “Church?! Ritual?! Smartphones?! Oh, this modern world we live in! I need a cool compress, my blankie, a scotch, and a lie-down!” To me, though, it recalled a memory from when I was member of a pacifist Christian anarchist community. On the doors of the shed where we kept the gardening and maintenance tools was written “The tools of the community shall be treated as the vessels of the altar. -The Rule of St. Benedict.” (Which, upon googling, seems comparable enough to what other English translations have: See Rule of St. Benedict 31:10, here.) Today, for many, smart phones and the internet are tools of community. It’s fascinating to me, how religions and faith communities begin to recognize – or decide to refuse entry to – these tools in their ritual life.
4. We have met the religious outlier, and it is us. Check out this chart by NYT’s Charles Blow. In the world generally, religiosity is highly correlated with poverty. Not so in the United States, as you can see.
Also, although Blow doesn’t focus on this, I notice that the United States is unique in having non-Catholic Christianity enjoy this sort of prominence. Aha, but: The 2008 American Religious Identification Survey suggests that the U.S. is slowly becoming less Christian, with 86% of Americans self-identifying as Christians in 1990 and 76% identifying themselves as Christians in 2008… although it gets tremendously complicated (and incredibly interesting, if you’re a nerd like me) when you break it down according to ethnicity and variety of Christianity.
(Quick rundown: While many of the historic denominations such as United Methodism experienced decline, some more idiosyncratic varieties of Christianity — like Seventh Day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses — had increases. So, too, did the very un-idiosyncratic “nondenominational generic” variety of Christianity, for which there has been an uptick since 2001. Meanwhile Catholicism has maintained its large share mostly thanks to an influx of Latin@s into the U.S… even though Latin@s are still becoming less religious over time, like the rest of the population. Got all that?)
Overall, though, it’s not other religions who are claiming ex-Christian defectors: it’s the “Nones,” those who identify as having no religion. Which may suggest that the United States is becoming less of an outlier.
5. Don’t worry, it looks like my dismissiveness toward Glenn Beck is not catching. Remember the other day, when I pleaded with theo-blogy to stop treating Glenn Beck seriously? And smart commenters were all, “Uh, Sarah? Maybe you noticed this dude is dangerous?” And I was all, “Right. Um. Right. Okay, let me explain. I didn’t mean dismiss him outright. I meant let’s stop acting like he’s an intellectually honest person whose God-blurts are done in good faith, and let’s start treating him like the mendacious disaster that he is!”? Well, I think I may have lost that one. In any case, to show I’m a gracious loser, here are three different theological engagements with Glenn Beck, two from the religious right and one from the religious left.
(And to anticipate a possible objection: I know some believe Jim Wallis to be beyond such left/right characterizations. He’s an evangelical! And a democrat! “You got a donkey in my social justice!”/”You got social justice in my donkey!” Well, so say many smart people. Me, I increasingly see a man who is all about promoting and branding himself as Democrats’ answer to the “buncha godless thus-and-suches!” charge from the right. And who is not half as progressive as most of the people whom I know who cite him favorably. Which is his prerogative, of course, and people gotta eat. But when it comes to a leader who will reinvigorate the left… well, I take comfort in the fact that there are a few of us whose Wallis Wannabes team jerseys are packed up in the attic with high school debate trophies and the cassette soundtrack to Aspects of Love.)
6. Hinduism Trendspotter Pieces Coming Soon To A Media Outlet Near You: ReligionLink is a story idea resource for religion reporters. Their “Hindu chic” analysis includes plenty of information for the religion reporter wanting to cover the Nice White Lady cooptation angle. So if you see a “Hindu chic” trendspotting piece that includes no such analysis, be advised that they are likely without excuse.
7. This makes me feel so competent.
