Once upon a time there was this strange religious phenomenon in American life — especially in mass media — that was known as the New Age Movement.
Postmodern? Sure. Maybe post religion?
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WPost: Anti-intellectual, but spiritual, Rick Perry
Someone posed this question to me last night: If Rick Perry is to the GOP as Howard Dean was to the Democrats in 2004, does that make Mitt Romney the eventual nominee from Massachusetts? And does that mean the incumbent will probably win?
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Armenian genocide and modern memory
The Daily Beast, a news and opinion website published by Tina Brown in conjunction with Newsweek magazine, has weighed in on the diplomatic spat between Israel and Turkey. In a piece entitled “The Erdogan Doctrine“, columnist Owen Matthews argues President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling AK Party have been unfairly characterized as villainous Islamist thugs. They have actually sought to build bridges with Turkey’s minority faiths, Matthews argues.
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Correction and clarification time
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Ghost in the search for a 'super-Earth'
Even though I receive the dead-tree-pulp Washington Post at my office on Capitol Hill, one of the first things I hit each day in my home email is the digital, push-edition of “washingtonpost.com: Today’s Headlines & Columnists.” I want see that line-up (along with the push versions of The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and others) before I leave my wifi zone and board that commuter train.
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Time does not have layers
The other day, I praised the “Shrek-like” nature of a CNN story exploring what religious leaders planned to say on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks:
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Prostitutes in the temple?
An Arizona organization that went by the name Phoenix Goddess Temple was raided last week. The group claims it provides religious services while the Maricopa County attorney says those services were sexual and were traded for money. Readers were not pleased with how this was presented in various media reports.
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Mel Gibson, Joe Eszterhas and Maccabees, oh my
If you are into film, alcohol, claims of anti-Semitism and manic mood swings, you may already know that Mel Gibson is developing a film about, well, the man who could justifiably be called the Jewish version of William “Braveheart” Wallace. That would be one Judah Maccabee, the warrior whose story is tightly linked with the celebration of the once low-key Jewish holiday called Hanukkah.
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Pod people: Finding God in Google searches
In this week’s Crossroads podcast, host Todd Wilken and I discuss whether a congregation with 75 members is “tiny” or of median size. It’s funny how many people have talked to me about that post where we learned that the median size of congregations, in terms of weekly worship, is 75 participants. My feedback indicates that both popular perception and media treatment would have assumed the median worship attendance to be much higher.
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