Another potentially rewarding context for creolization! A French legal scholar named Mireille Delmas-Marty has written a couple of articles building on the work of French Caribbean poet Edouard Glissant and suggesting creolization -- by which I think she essentially means negotiating differences among different cultures -- as a means of ensuring cultural diversity in a … Continue reading Mireille Delmas-Marty: A French jurist advocates ‘reciprocal creolization’ to protect cultural diversity from globalism
David Brooks speculates on Jeremiah, Jewish history and ‘creative minorities’ in a diverse, polarized America
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq1tosBXgTE The segment with David Brooks' discussion of 'creative minorities' begins at 43:00. Editor's (admin's) Note. I posted this to Facebook with this note: "A new post to my spirituality blog. On an unusually thought-provoking op ed piece by David Brooks, one of the New York Times' house conservatives, in which he suggests a new … Continue reading David Brooks speculates on Jeremiah, Jewish history and ‘creative minorities’ in a diverse, polarized America
Tucker Carlson says the quiet part out loud, echoes ‘great replacement’ conspiracy theory, nativism of 1850s
Anti-Irish cartoon by Thomas Nast, 1871 (Wikimedia) Fascinating profile of Tucker Carlson today on the Washington Post website by Michael Kranish, a national political investigative reporter for the Post who has written bios of Trump, Mitt Romney and Thomas Jefferson. Quotes sources who know the man, ranging from Al Sharpton to Bill Kristol, to make … Continue reading Tucker Carlson says the quiet part out loud, echoes ‘great replacement’ conspiracy theory, nativism of 1850s
David Brooks (and Martin Marty) on shared stories, the facts of history and American civil religion
In a remarkable op ed piece heading into the 4th of July weekend, at a time when Americans can't agree on factual matters as whether the 2020 election was fraudulent (spoiler alert: it wasn't) or scientific matters like whether vaccination can wind down the Covid-19 epidemic (it can), David Brooks of the New York Times … Continue reading David Brooks (and Martin Marty) on shared stories, the facts of history and American civil religion
Yiddish author’s prayer jotted down on scrap paper brings joy — and a call to do better — in dark, divisive times
Memorial to Bashevis Singer in Biłgoraj, Poland (Wikipedia, Creative Commons) Discovered while I was looking for something else: A remarkable prayer by Nobel Prize-winning Jewish-American author Isaac Bashevis Singer. I was reading coverage of the struggle to form a new governing majority in Israel's parliament, and I was pulled right in by a headline that said … Continue reading Yiddish author’s prayer jotted down on scrap paper brings joy — and a call to do better — in dark, divisive times
Whitehead and Perry: (white) Christian nationalism, Jan. 6 riot, Jim Crow election laws a fundamental ‘threat to a pluralistic, democratic society’
An op ed piece by sociologists Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry uploaded yesterday to Time magazine's website connects some important dots. Authors of Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States (Oxford, 2020), they conclude white Christian nationalism is "fundamentally a threat to a pluralistic, democratic society." Here's what I shared to Facebook … Continue reading Whitehead and Perry: (white) Christian nationalism, Jan. 6 riot, Jim Crow election laws a fundamental ‘threat to a pluralistic, democratic society’
James Davison Hunter on today’s ‘culture war’ — and why I worry about the runup to the Civil War in the 1850s
https://theweek.com/cartoons/983971/political-cartoon-mcconnell-mccarthy-jan-6-gop A couple of disconcerting long-form articles on the news websites this weekend. They're very different. One is an interview with the scholar who coined the term "culture war" and the other is a news-feature story on this month's shambolic election "audit" in Arizona. But they both show how desperate our times are getting (imho), … Continue reading James Davison Hunter on today’s ‘culture war’ — and why I worry about the runup to the Civil War in the 1850s
Tucker Carlson’s ‘replacement theory’ rhetoric, white Christian nationalism and the Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol
Let's connect some dots that could help bring a couple of disparate strands of my immigration history project together. (Spoiler alert: I think some of the difficulties Swedish Lutheran immigrants experienced in the 1850s were similar to those confronting Buddhist, Hindu or Sikh immigrants today, and I think the "great replacement theory" of today is … Continue reading Tucker Carlson’s ‘replacement theory’ rhetoric, white Christian nationalism and the Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol
Notes & quotes: Andersonville history, diversity; link to PDF file of 1928 congregational history of Immanuel
Andersonville Chamber of Commerce, "Welcome to Andersonville," Andersonville Chamber of Commerce, http://www.andersonville.org/the-neighborhood/ A neighborhood on Chicago’s north side, Andersonville is known for its Swedish roots, historic architecture, and bustling urban main street, Clark Street. When you arrive in Andersonville, you feel you have arrived someplace special. While our roots are Swedish, we are also recognized … Continue reading Notes & quotes: Andersonville history, diversity; link to PDF file of 1928 congregational history of Immanuel
Supreme Court’s drift to right-wing fundamentalism alarms ACLU, Jewish temple in Philadelphia
Editor's (moderator's) note. In early November the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case brought by a Catholic Social Services of Philadelphia seeking to opt out of the city's requirement that social service agencies serve clients irrespective of race, creed or sexual orientation. It was one of the very first cases heard after … Continue reading Supreme Court’s drift to right-wing fundamentalism alarms ACLU, Jewish temple in Philadelphia
