Watching Germany grapple with its rough beast is sort of like cultural voyeurism — outsiders are weirdly fascinated even as Germans seem unsure of how to proceed. Two recent articles in Spiegel offer powerful reminders that gawking, a paradoxical product of attraction and revulsion, can be unsettling.
The first, by Frank Hornig and Michael Sontheimer, discusses [...]
Tags:Berlin·Bethlehem·Civil Religion·eschatology·Frank Hornig·Fuhrer·German History Museum·Germany·Hitler·Ian Kershaw·Jews·Michael Sontheimer·Muslims·National Socialism·nationalism·Nazi·Ole Reissmann·racism·rough beast·salvation·schadenfreude·The Second Coming·uncivil religion·W.B. Yeats·weltanschauung·xenophobia
In a previous post, I outlined what the sociologist Robert Bellah calls “civil religion,” and its elaboration by Carolyn Martin and David Ingle in their classic article, “Blood Sacrifice and the Nation: Revisiting Civil Religion.” Now, Lexington over at The Economist has posted on “The Perils of Constitution Worship.” Lexington notes that Americans in general [...]
Tags:Blood Sacrifice and the Nation·Carolyn Martin·Civil Religion·David Ingle·deification·founding fathers·Lexington·mythology·nationalism·original intent·Robert Bellah·sacred national texts·Tea Party·The Perils of Constitution Worship
The parents of a 14 year old in New York have sued a Catholic school after the Diocese refused their child admission because he had not been immunized. Never mind that that his lack of immunization poses a danger to himself and to other children. It apparently is a matter of spoliation and “violation of [...]
Tags:admission·body as temple·Catholic School·divine Architect·God's design·immune system·immunization·Joshua Rhett Miller
So says J.R. Dieckmann, an electrician and writer who runs a website that I will neither name nor link. He did, however, post this startling proclamation over here, one of the many bizarre and paranoid websites that are making so much fearful noise in American politics.
Decoding Dieckmann’s assertion is easy — what he means is [...]
Tags:Christian government·Christianity·Islam·J.R. Dieckmann·profane·religious government·sacred·secularization·separation of church and state
An evangelical church in Ohio has been picketing a nearby strip club and the strippers have been returning the favors. At least the groups are talking and being civil with one another — this is a positive sign and could lead to something. The AP’s Jeannie Nuss reports; be sure to check out the photos, [...]
Tags:evangelical church·Fox Hole·New Beginnings Ministries Church·Ohio·picketing·strip club·strippers
In an odd article that attempts to situate Anne Rice’s very public proclamation that she is leaving the Catholic Church within the larger context of American Christianity, Los Angeles Times religion reporter William Lobdell makes two apparently contradictory claims:
American Christianity is not well, and there’s evidence to indicate that its condition is more critical [...]
Tags:American Christianity·Anne Rice·atheists·Catholic Church·Christian diversity·Christian God·Christian nation·Christianity in America·Christopher Hitchens·Civil Religion·Cordoba Center·evangelicals·exclusivism·Ground Zero·intolerance·Islam·Islamic center·Max Fisher·mosque·Muslim·nationalism·Pew Forum·religious diversity·religious freedom·sacred space·Stephen Merino·unaffiliated·United States·William Lobdell
The story is a familiar one: a new religion is founded — or, as the sociologist Rodney Stark would say, a new sect is born from an older tradition — and over time it becomes successful. By success, I mean that it grows, becomes popular, and shows few signs of slowing down.
At some point during [...]
Tags:Beijing·Buddhist economy·China·Chinese Buddhism·Chinese government·Chinese state·Christianity·co-opt·co-optation·Confucius·Constantine·Cultural Revolution·Dalai Lama·domesticated religion·Foucault·new religions·official atheism·political power·power·profits·religion as commodity·resistance·Roman Empire·sects·state·suppression·surveillance·Tibetan Buddhism·Western Buddhism·World Buddhist Forum
In yesterday’s post on the religion of nationalism, I noted that Ground Zero is sacred ground for the believer-patriots of American national religion. If you questioned this assertion, doubt no more — the GOP has produced an incendiary video which declares that Ground Zero is “sacred ground” and that an Islamic mosque cannot be built [...]
Tags:American national religion·blasphemy·Christian America·Civil Religion·Ground Zero·Islam·jihad·Kill the Ground Zero Mosque video·Muslims·nationalism as religion·patriot·patriotism·radical Islam·sacred ground·sacred site
In a previous post, Religious Wars and Nationalism, I discussed two factors that play a major role in group cohesion. The first factor, which played a dominant role for the majority of human evolution, was extended and fictive kinship. This is what primarily held groups together during the Paleolithic. After the Neolithic Revolution, another factor [...]
Tags:Benedict Anderson·Blood Sacrifice and the Nation: Revisiting Civil Religion·Carolyn Marvin·Civil Religion·David Ingle·Durkheim·group cohesion·group identity·group level selection·guardians of faith·high priests·hymnals·Imagined Communities·kinship·liturgy·nationalism·Neolithic Revolution·Paleolithic·patriotism·patriots·religion·religiosity·religious violence·ritual leaders·ritual objects·Robert Bellah·sacred places·sacred texts·saints·temples·totemism·totems
Today, while examining the key word searches that have led people to this blog, I noticed this interesting query: “Are tea partiers psychotic?” This Google search must have pulled up my post “Tea Parties and Monkey Gods,” in which I observed that Tea Partiers seem to be animated by a toxic combination of anger and [...]
Tags:anger·angst·autonomy·dependence·faith·fantasy·fear·fiction·free markets·fundamentalists·Hegel·identity·imaginary·individualism·J.M. Bernstein·libertarians·metaphysical·metaphysics·paranoia·Pierre Bourdieu·psychotic·rage·religious right·structuralism·sturm und drang·Tea Party·The Stone
