#MAGA Hat Jesus, Jan. 6, 2021 (photo Tyler Merbler, Flickr/Creative Commons) Edited copy of a blast email I sent to participants in "Sundays@6," an online adult faith formation group that Debi and I facilitate for our ELCA Lutheran parish church about the Missouri Synod's official statement on white Christian nationalism as contrary to Christian doctrine … Continue reading Citing Luther’s Small Catechism, Missouri Synod president condems white Christian nationalism as ‘evil’
Is Elon Musk egging on QAnon, or is he simply naive? Either way, he has no sense of media ethics whatsoever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti7LiO_QnRE David Axelrod: 'He said [political invective] gets the Brooklyn up in him.' Well, that certainly didn't take very long, did it? The Washington Post reports that Elon Musk's tweeted invective about US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband and White House infectious disease adviser Anthony Faucci has "injected new energy into the jumbled set of … Continue reading Is Elon Musk egging on QAnon, or is he simply naive? Either way, he has no sense of media ethics whatsoever
British tech writer reads Elon Musk’s Twitter dump so you don’t have to — ‘a big, hyped, coordinated’ partisan hit job
Enemy of the People? (Wikimedia Commons) A British tech writer and UK technology editor for the Guardian took time away from covering the FTX cryptocurrency scandals to post an item today to the paper's website with the intriguing headline: "I read Elon Musk’s ‘Twitter Files’ so you don’t have to." That head's a fair summary … Continue reading British tech writer reads Elon Musk’s Twitter dump so you don’t have to — ‘a big, hyped, coordinated’ partisan hit job
Did Justice Thomas violate 28 USC 455 during the Supreme Court’s latest no-good, very-bad week?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGEzX8o4qwE MSNBC, Dec. 8, 2022 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGEzX8o4qwE&t=131s) 28 U.S. Code § 455 - Disqualification of justice, judge, or magistrate judge(a) Any justice, judge, or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.(b)He shall also disqualify himself in the following circumstances:[...](4) He knows that he, … Continue reading Did Justice Thomas violate 28 USC 455 during the Supreme Court’s latest no-good, very-bad week?
Money changers in the temple? Justice Alito’s leaks show dangers of too-cozy relationships between church, state
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN_TcmU1-k4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN_TcmU1-k4 [Roger] Williams described the true church as a magnificent garden, unsullied and pure, resonant of Eden. The world he described as “the Wilderness,” a word with personal resonance for him. Then he used for the first time a phrase he would use again, a phrase that although not commonly attributed to him has … Continue reading Money changers in the temple? Justice Alito’s leaks show dangers of too-cozy relationships between church, state
Impact of Indiana’s abortion ban on women’s health services in Illinois, religious pluralism post-Roe v. Wade
Clips, links for 'Swedes in Roger Williams' Garden' The evening before Indiana's extreme new anti-abortion law went into effect, protesters gathered at the county courthouse in Bloomington, Ind., for a Jewish Havdalah ceremony marking what they see as a transition from "an era of full rights [...] into a darker time," as Illinois gears up … Continue reading Impact of Indiana’s abortion ban on women’s health services in Illinois, religious pluralism post-Roe v. Wade
Research notes: Cite for Rushdie’s creolization quote; right-wing dog whistle du jour featuring assault on Rushdie
Two very different items popped up last night when I did a Google search on keywords Salman Rushdie and creolization. They are: A 2001 article on "Creolization and the Lessons of a Watergoddess in the Black Atlantic" by Alex van Stipriaan that cites a Rushdie quote: "Mélange, hotchpotch, a bit of this and a bit … Continue reading Research notes: Cite for Rushdie’s creolization quote; right-wing dog whistle du jour featuring assault on Rushdie
Sounding the alarm on CNN in Trump’s America: ‘Two inimical factions’ split along ‘racial and religious lines’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS2trMvo4aM Most of the time, CNN's weekend anchor Jim Acosta makes me break out in hives. I saw enough of his brand of performative journalism to last me a lifetime a long time ago, when the bigfoot TV reporters from Chicago would descend on the Illinois Statehouse at the end of the legislative session. But … Continue reading Sounding the alarm on CNN in Trump’s America: ‘Two inimical factions’ split along ‘racial and religious lines’
Archipelagos? Can a French postcolonial novelist’s creole metaphor help us head off a new Civil War?
Battle of Fort Sanders, Knoxville, Nov. 29, 1863. Wikimedia Commons) “The past is never dead. It's not even past.” ― William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun "[...] le monde entier s’archipélise et se créolise." Édouard Glissant Traité du Tout-Monde My inner child was an English major, but before that he majored in history. In fact, he got … Continue reading Archipelagos? Can a French postcolonial novelist’s creole metaphor help us head off a new Civil War?
Does Justice Alito’s call for ‘special protection’ for traditional religion spell trouble for religious minorities?
Two articles published today to the internet shed light on different aspects of what I believe to be the same worrisome trend ... An op ed piece in the New York Times by longtime Supreme Court reporter Linda Greenhouse. Headlined "Alito’s Call to Arms to Secure Religious Liberty," it suggests Alito's rather narrow brand of … Continue reading Does Justice Alito’s call for ‘special protection’ for traditional religion spell trouble for religious minorities?
Ordinary Time 