Monday, July 27, 2015
Then this happened...
On July 16, 2015 a Muslim man killed four Marines and a sailor in Chattanooga, TN. In the aftermath of that terrible event, this happened.
Satanists erect statue of Baphomet in Detroit
I have a friend who says "Satanists make everything better." They certainly make life more interesting by pushing the limits of Church/State separation.
Time magazine reported on the event.
Time magazine reported on the event.
Does Dawkins Have A Savior Complex?
Richard Dawkins tweets that Muslim women need liberated. Muslim women respond negatively.
Read all about it.
Read all about it.
Friday, July 24, 2015
Black Mormons...
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has a mixed history when it comes to members of African descent. On the one hand, the LDS Church denied black people the priesthood, and admission to temple rites, until the 1970s, claiming their dark skin was the "mark of Ham." On the other hand, the early Mormon community included free blacks and their attitude toward slavery may have contributed to the troubles they had with their neighbors in Missouri back in 1838.
Today the LDS has a reputation for whiteness.
Interesting article here.
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Mormonism's Jon Krakauer Problem
Jon Krakauer wrote a compelling book about a horrifying murder committed by a fringe group of the Latter Day Saint movement. According to this article Krakauer's book is problematic. It conflates mainstream Mormonism with extremist groups. Unfortunately, it is the only introduction to Mormonism many people have had.
Part
of the Krakauer problem then becomes a problem of genre confusion. To
be sure, Under the Banner of Heaven is meticulously researched with
extensive endnotes. And Krakauer’s hours of interviews with former
members of the FLDS expose the abuses that the leadership of this
insular community have long perpetrated. And he does so with arguably
more authority than even the many Mormon fundamentalist captivity
narratives published before or since. Yet, more than history or
investigative journalism, Under the Banner of Heaven is first and
foremost a page-turning polemic against religion in general and
Mormonism—in all its forms—in particular. As such, if it can be solved
at all, the Krakauer problem cannot be solved by peer-reviewed
biographies of Joseph Smith, like Richard Bushman’s celebrated and
exhaustive Rough Stone Rolling, published in 2005.* Nor can it be solved
by trade press books like Bowman’s own The Mormon People, which came
out in 2012, and has been perhaps the best single-volume history of
Mormonism published in the last decade. Krakauer tells a better, more
gripping story because he writes by a different set of rules that values
thesis over fact. - See more at:
http://religionandpolitics.org/2015/07/14/mormonism-and-the-problem-of-jon-krakauer/#sthash.MmEONSR1.dpuf
And
yet the Krakauer problem doesn’t end with problematic sources and
faulty interpretations of theology. To contextualize Under the Banner of
Heaven as a piece of writing, the literary “parents” to Krakauer’s book
are not only twentieth-century true-crime thrillers and captivity
narratives like Capote’s In Cold Blood (which, of course, has also been
criticized for blurring the lines between fact and fiction in service of
a better story). Bowman says Krakauer’s version of Mormon history is
“descended from the works of Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson,
and Jack London who all wrote nineteenth-century dime novels premised
on the notion that Brigham Young’s Zion was a totalitarian dictatorship
complete with secret police and young Mormon maidens pining for rescue
from the grimly-bearded elders of the church.” - See more at:
http://religionandpolitics.org/2015/07/14/mormonism-and-the-problem-of-jon-krakauer/#sthash.MmEONSR1.dpuf
And
yet the Krakauer problem doesn’t end with problematic sources and
faulty interpretations of theology. To contextualize Under the Banner of
Heaven as a piece of writing, the literary “parents” to Krakauer’s book
are not only twentieth-century true-crime thrillers and captivity
narratives like Capote’s In Cold Blood (which, of course, has also been
criticized for blurring the lines between fact and fiction in service of
a better story). Bowman says Krakauer’s version of Mormon history is
“descended from the works of Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson,
and Jack London who all wrote nineteenth-century dime novels premised
on the notion that Brigham Young’s Zion was a totalitarian dictatorship
complete with secret police and young Mormon maidens pining for rescue
from the grimly-bearded elders of the church.” - See more at:
http://religionandpolitics.org/2015/07/14/mormonism-and-the-problem-of-jon-krakauer/#sthash.MmEONSR1.dpuf
And
yet the Krakauer problem doesn’t end with problematic sources and
faulty interpretations of theology. To contextualize Under the Banner of
Heaven as a piece of writing, the literary “parents” to Krakauer’s book
are not only twentieth-century true-crime thrillers and captivity
narratives like Capote’s In Cold Blood (which, of course, has also been
criticized for blurring the lines between fact and fiction in service of
a better story). Bowman says Krakauer’s version of Mormon history is
“descended from the works of Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson,
and Jack London who all wrote nineteenth-century dime novels premised
on the notion that Brigham Young’s Zion was a totalitarian dictatorship
complete with secret police and young Mormon maidens pining for rescue
from the grimly-bearded elders of the church.” - See more at:
http://religionandpolitics.org/2015/07/14/mormonism-and-the-problem-of-jon-krakauer/#sthash.MmEONSR1.dpuf
And
yet the Krakauer problem doesn’t end with problematic sources and
faulty interpretations of theology. To contextualize Under the Banner of
Heaven as a piece of writing, the literary “parents” to Krakauer’s book
are not only twentieth-century true-crime thrillers and captivity
narratives like Capote’s In Cold Blood (which, of course, has also been
criticized for blurring the lines between fact and fiction in service of
a better story). Bowman says Krakauer’s version of Mormon history is
“descended from the works of Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson,
and Jack London who all wrote nineteenth-century dime novels premised
on the notion that Brigham Young’s Zion was a totalitarian dictatorship
complete with secret police and young Mormon maidens pining for rescue
from the grimly-bearded elders of the church.” - See more at:
http://religionandpolitics.org/2015/07/14/mormonism-and-the-problem-of-jon-krakauer/#sthash.MmEONSR1.dpuf
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Friday, July 10, 2015
Religious Accomodation in the Magic Kingdom
Sikh mail carrier allowed to wear his religion's distinctive emblems at work in Walt Disney World.
Read about it here.
Read about it here.
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
They Tried to Kill Us (We Survived, Let's Eat)
Jewish humor from Jewmungous (Sean Altman). The video features the estimable Garth Kravitz as the rabbi!
Monday, July 6, 2015
Ise Jingu
The Grand Shrine to Amaratsu in Ise, Japan is entirely rebuilt every 20 years. The video is a little corny, but worth watching.
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