A few years ago, I read a fascinating story in the New York Times about Buddhist teachers Michael Roach and Christie McNally. A decade earlier, they’d taken vows never to separate, night or day. And yet, the article explained, they were celibate. It was one of those interesting, if a tad fluffy, stories written under the heading “Living Together.” The headline was “Making Their Own Limits in a Spiritual Partnership:”
Man bites dog in Dallas?
Missing chaplains in military suicides story
Because I go to church near the Pentagon, my congregation is blessed to have many chaplains as part of our membership while they serve there.
Russian, Syria and the long lens of history
One of the most interesting facts about the branch of Orthodoxy to which my home parish belongs is that the Church of Antioch is one member of the family of Eastern churches that has rarely controlled its own culture and, thus, its own destiny.
Gay church marriages in Denmark
The Telegraph reports that the Danish parliament has passed a law requiring all churches in the Nordic country to perform gay marriages. Clergy may opt not to perform the ceremonies, but church authorities must find a substitute minister to solemnize the marriage.
Got news? Pelosi and Sunday-only religion
Often you’ll see political blogs regurgitating one another so the same storylines get pushed through the cycle. Some blogs do very good aggregation while others obviously use bait to get more clicks. Few blogs specialize in breaking new ground.
What? Face-eating man who might be religious?
A friend sent me the bizarre news about the naked man shot to death while he was chewing off a homelessman’s face and said “Sound like demons?” linking to Mark 5. Yeah, so I’m guessing your average reporter knows next to nothing about demons, but I was curious to see how it would play out in the media.
Nun wars: Is the pope Catholic?
Truth be told, for several days now I have been trying to find ways to avoid writing about the whole nun-wars story.
The media as referees. NBA referees.
Apparently Dan Rather was on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show not too long ago where he scoffed at the idea that the media is biased in a liberal fashion. He said that criticizing the media for liberal bias is just “working the refs.” I’m going based on second-hand reports because I’m traveling right now and for some reason the wifi system I’m on won’t let me actually watch this video.
