(RNS) Several hundred people endured a rainy Dallas morning to crowd the synagogue where Mike Jacobs had been a member for many years. And yes, they heard about his Holocaust-related history. But that wasn’t all. Not hardly.
(RNS) Science is all but useless in arguments about personhood. Because almost everyone who takes a position does so on the basis of religious belief.
(RNS) What’s this got to do with Westboro, the church whose members are notorious for bringing their “God hates fags” signs to military funerals? Lots.
(RNS) To most people, a few biblical passages are a crazy justification to handle deadly serpents. But I evaluate these kinds of claims through Weiss’ Law of Religious Relativism: Any religion is, by definition, crazy to a nonbeliever.
(RNS) "The Lego Movie," well-reviewed and making money by the brickyard, builds its story upon religious and moral themes. They don’t all snap together securely, but that’s in keeping with the rest of the film.
(RNS) Cavalier Nazi comparisons disrespect the actual victims of the Nazis by suggesting that any perceived wrong is like the Holocaust. It's not.
(RNS) The image of Santa is anything but eternal. And it’s been revised any number of times.
(RNS) Last week, the Greek prime minister got dinged for showing insufficient respect for Judaism. It’s possible his critics have it exactly backwards.
(RNS) Most of the reviews for "Gravity" don’t mention that the main character represents an increasingly common theme in American religion: The spiritual “none of the above.”
(RNS) A Florida pastor plans to burn a pile of Qurans on the 9/11 anniversary, and interfaith activist Mike Ghouse hopes no one pays him an ounce of attention. “It is not what (the pastor) will do, it is what we do as Americans and American Muslims.”
(RNS) Steve Jobs was a “none” before anybody knew what that meant.
(RNS) Cultural icons surge and retreat like tsunamis. But even in this viral era, lightning international popularity with a moral message is something unusual. Since the dawn of broadcast media, who else has managed this trick as well as Francis when starting with so little in the way of fame?
(RNS) Imagine that Joe Lieberman had been elected president. And that in a moment of crisis, he felt compelled to explain that some American Jewish support for Israel is partly explained by the Jewish cultural memory of the Holocaust. Would he be accused of whatever the Jewish equivalent of “race-baiting” might be?
(RNS) If “Man of Steel” panders to Christians, in “The Lone Ranger,” Christians are portrayed as unattractive, ineffectual, hateful or flat-out hypocritically evil.
