MetaFilter posts tagged with religion and Politics

Can you find Satan?

Rhaomi — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:29:52 -0800

"This may truly be the most important new painting of the twenty first century." The McNaughton Fine Art Company presents "One Nation Under God" [cache], an... interesting take on American history in a nifty zoom interface. Artist John McNaughton, who calls himself "the only living artist in the world today" to practice the Barbizon School of French Impressionism, has an extensive body of less opinionated work for you to admire. Interview. Character list.

Because Even the Bible Has a Well-Known Liberal Bias

saulgoodman — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:32:27 -0800

The Conservative Bible Project. Rod Dreher of Belief.net offers further analysis of a budding new Wiki project to rewrite the Holy Bible to eliminate what some young conservatives apparently now view as liberal bias in the scriptures (via Harpers).

It is available through churches and at Wal-Marts....

squalor — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:27:02 -0800

“They are brands that may not be considered cool by the often elitist and self-absorbed standards of New York media,” she said. She had taken a car from Manhattan that morning, and wore a pink wool shirt-dress, patent leather Manolo Blahnik heels, and diamond hoop earrings.

Reader's Digest jumps the shark. (NYT)

The Adaptive Value of Human Institutions:* Building a Better (Secular) 'Religion'

kliuless — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 11:42:14 -0800

Keynes & Marx thought "that productivity would grow sufficiently to allow our needs to be met with very little labour," and that humankind's biggest preoccupation in the future would be leading lives of comfortable (or comparative) leisure. Obviously, that has not yet come to pass. But why?** Yochai Benkler (previously), for one, is working on it... *just saw jared diamond on the evolution of religion (and was inspired ;) **e.g., one could say the social utility of the enclosure movement has reached its limit (or a local logical maximum) and that the means of (re)production might now be (self-)organised not by the state and/or market per se, but (at long last!) by a conscious collective cultural aesthetic :P

Islam, modernity and democracy

kliuless — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:54:28 -0800

Is the west thwarting Arab plans for reform? Few Muslims now invest much hope in the democratic western powers (essentially the US, Britain and France) that back the rulers who oppress them, even if, against the odds, they still admire “western” values, science and culture. There is no endemic or intrinsic conflict between Christians and Muslims. Rather, the root of the problem is that a majority of Muslims is convinced that the west – interested only in a stability based on regional strongmen, the security of Israel and cheap oil – is engaged in a war against Islam and is bent on denying them the freedoms it claims for itself. That is why it is so self-defeating to collude in tyranny as ostensibly a lesser evil than political Islam. BONUS Is a high IQ a burden as much as a blessing?

Here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere!

shoesfullofdust — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 07:27:54 -0800

How Science Fiction Found Religion

The Subversion of the EPA

homunculus — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:00:32 -0800

Smoke and Mirrors: The Subversion of the EPA. "This four-part series details how the Bush administration weakened the EPA. It installed a pliant agency chief, Stephen L. Johnson. Under him, the EPA created pro-industry regulations later thrown out by the courts. It promoted a flawed voluntary program to fight climate change. It bypassed air pollution recommendations from its own scientists to satisfy the White House." [Via Reality Base]

Sarah Palin's Church: Prayer Warriors, Spirit Mapping & FEMA

scalefree — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:42:30 -0800

Thomas Muthee, the witch-hunting prayer warrior who anointed Sarah Palin, is part of a much larger movement called the New Apostolic Reformation. Researchers at religious watchdog site Talk2Action have released a 36 page report on the NAR (part 1, part 2, part 3 & PDF). Learn about Palin confidant Mary Glazier, the Queen of Heaven, the Christian Emergency Network and much, much more.

Will the Mormon Church decide who gets married in California?

homunculus — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:30:20 -0800

Prophets and politics. "The Mormon Church works to ban gay marriage in California, even as gay people in places like Rexburg, Idaho, come out of the LDS closet."

The Insiders

Blazecock Pileon — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:55:04 -0800

Jane Meyer of The New Yorker explains how John McCain came to pick Sarah Palin Jane Meyer offers a fascinating account of the mating ritual performed between Palin and Republican elite in the year leading up to the general election. Excerpts: ``From the start of her political career, Palin has positioned herself as an insurgent intent on dislodging entrenched interests. In 1996, a campaign pamphlet for her first mayoral run—recently obtained by The New Republic—strikes the same note of populist resentment that Palin did at the Convention: “I’m tired of ‘business as usual’ in this town, and of the ‘Good Ol’ Boys’ network that runs the show here.” Yet Palin has routinely turned to members of Washington’s Old Guard for help. After she became the mayor of Wasilla, Palin oversaw the hiring of a law firm to represent the town’s interests in Washington, D.C. The Wasilla account was handled by Steven Silver, a Washington-area lobbyist who had been the chief of staff to Alaska’s long-serving Republican senator Ted Stevens, who was indicted in July on charges of accepting illegal gifts and is now standing trial. (Silver declined to discuss his ties to Palin.) As the Washington Post reported, Silver’s efforts in the capital helped Wasilla, a town of sixty-seven hundred residents, secure twenty-seven million dollars in federal earmarks. During this election season, however, Palin has presented herself as more abstemious, saying, “I’ve championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress.” ``In February, 2007, Adam Brickley gave himself a mission: he began searching for a running mate for McCain who could halt the momentum of the Democrats. Brickley, a self-described “obsessive” political junkie who recently graduated from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, told me that he began by “randomly searching Wikipedia and election sites for Republican women.”... ``By the spring, the McCain campaign had reportedly sent scouts to Alaska to start vetting Palin as a possible running mate. A week or so before McCain named her, however, sources close to the campaign say, McCain was intent on naming his fellow-senator Joe Lieberman, an independent, who left the Democratic Party in 2006. David Keene, the chairman of the American Conservative Union, who is close to a number of McCain’s top aides, told me that “McCain and Lindsey Graham”—the South Carolina senator, who has been McCain’s closest campaign companion—“really wanted Joe.” But Keene believed that “McCain was scared off” in the final days, after warnings from his advisers that choosing Lieberman would ignite a contentious floor fight at the Convention, as social conservatives revolted against Lieberman for being, among other things, pro-choice. ``“They took it away from him,” a longtime friend of McCain—who asked not to be identified, since the campaign has declined to discuss its selection process—said of the advisers. “He was furious. He was pissed. It wasn’t what he wanted.” Another friend disputed this, characterizing McCain’s mood as one of “understanding resignation.” ''

I will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall.

felix betachat — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 09:16:45 -0800

Fire, brimstone & pee. (SLYT)

Hey, buddy, you're full of *%#@!

louche mustachio — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 18:22:01 -0800

In these final days the campaign,with the promise of more mudslinging looming large on the horizon, tempers flaring, political threads raging out of control, it's important to remember that religion and politics often make some people give way to ranting and raving and carrying on like emotional children... ...they either refuse to discuss it with reason or else they prefer argumentum ad hominem which is a Hell of a way to conduct a discussion. Well anyhow... Scott Beach's breathless 1976 treatise on the perils of heated discourse on two emotional subjects rings as true today as it ever has. Dr. Demento Details The YTMND treatment A mashup with Napoleon XIV's They're Coming to Take me Away and a remix of Jan Svankmajer's Punch and Judy Although listeners will detect a distinct bias, the lesson contained herein applies to all.

The Political Scene

semmi — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 16:32:04 -0800

Party Faithful. Can the Democrats get a foothold on the religious vote?

Pastor Rick's Test

finite — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:02:17 -0800

At the risk of heresy, let it be said that setting up the two presidential candidates for religious interrogation by an evangelical minister -- no matter how beloved -- is supremely wrong. Saddleback Sideshow: Presidential Professions Of Faith Distract Voters From The Core Issues Of The Day

"An already difficult journey has become dangerous."

amyms — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 02:49:28 -0800

Long before people called themselves Muslims or Hindus, long before they fought and died over these or any labels... water dripped and froze inside the Amarnath Cave at the heart of Kashmir. Amarnath Cave official site. Amarnath Cave pilgrimage. Amarnath virtual tour. Wikipedia's page on the Amarnath land transfer.

Persia

homunculus — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 21:05:12 -0800

Persia: Ancient Soul of Iran. "A glorious past inspires a conflicted nation."

What Muslims Really Think

anotherpanacea — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 07:12:38 -0800

Who are Muslims? Gallup has conducted a poll "in 40 predominantly Muslim nations and among significant Muslim populations in the West. It is the first set of unified and scientifically representative views from 1.3 billion Muslims globally." They'll be parsing and interpreting this data for years, but for the time being, they've offered some of their key results online and in print. See also, the Muslim-West Facts Initiative. (via) Some excerpts:
Do Muslims Want Democracy and Theocracy? What Makes a Radical? What Do Muslim Women Want? Islam and the West: Clash or Coexistence?
Initial results were published in 2006 in Foreign Policy: "What Makes a Muslim Radical?" in pdf.

Where Religion & Politics Intersect

Rykey — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:47:02 -0800

Like it or not, religion is at the forefront of the 2008 US Presidential elections. The Pew Forum On Religion & Public Life previously cited in MeFi threads examines many of the current intersections of religion and politics, domestic and abroad.

HeroWorship Filter

l33tpolicywonk — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 09:50:44 -0800

Is Barack Obama the Messiah? After all, it may explain the logo. Maybe he's just a light-worker, "who can actually help usher in a new way of being on the planet." This could just be all hootenany from the press, like Chris Matthews, who called BO the "New Testament." But, as always, there are unbelievers.

Dignity and Bioethics

homunculus — Wed, 28 May 2008 13:35:43 -0800

The Stupidity of Dignity: Conservative bioethics' latest, most dangerous ploy. Steven Pinker reviews Human Dignity and Bioethics, the latest report from the President's Council on Bioethics. dgaicun posted Pinker's article in the Leon Kass vs. ice-cream thread, but I think it and the report deserve their own post.

Moyers interviews Wright

homunculus — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:23:20 -0800

Bill Moyers interviews the Reverend Jeremiah Wright in his first broadcast interview with a journalist since he became embroiled in a controversy for his remarks and his relationship with Barack Obama Previous post about Wright.

Political Ties To a Secretive Religious Group

ericb — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:25:19 -0800

“For more than 50 years, the National Prayer Breakfast has been a Washington institution. Every president has attended the breakfast since Eisenhower, elbow-to-elbow with Democrats and Republicans alike.”^* The event is sponsored by a secretive Capitol Hill group known as “The Fellowship,” (aka The Family)* “For 15 years, Hillary Clinton has been part of [this] secretive religious group that seeks to bring Jesus back to Capitol Hill.” An exposé of the group 'The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power,' by Jeff Sharlet will be published in May. [NBC video]. From Jeff Sharlet's book jacket:

“They are ‘the Family’—fundamentalism’s avant-garde, waging spiritual war in the halls of American power and around the globe. They consider themselves the ‘new chosen,’ congressmen, generals, and foreign dictators who meet in confidential ‘cells,’ to pray and plan for a ‘leadership led by God,’ to be won not by force but through ‘quiet diplomacy.’ Their base is a leafy estate overlooking the Potomac in Arlington, Virginia, and Jeff Sharlet is the only journalist to have written from inside its walls. The Family is about the other half of American fundamentalist power—not its angry masses, but its sophisticated elites. Sharlet follows the story back to Abraham Vereide, an immigrant preacher who in 1935 organized a small group of businessmen sympathetic to European fascism, fusing the Far Right with his own polite but authoritarian faith. From that core, Vereide built an international network of fundamentalists who spoke the language of establishment power, a ‘family’ that thrives to this day. In public, they host prayer breakfasts; in private they preach a gospel of ‘biblical capitalism,’ military might, and American empire. Citing Hitler, Lenin, and Mao, Doug Coe, the Family’s current leader, declares, ‘We work with power where we can, build new power where we can’t.’ Sharlet’s discoveries dramatically challenge conventional wisdom about American fundamentalism, revealing its crucial role in the unraveling of the New Deal, the waging of the Cold War, and the no-holds-barred economics of globalization. The question Sharlet believes we must ask is not ‘What do fundamentalists want?’ but ‘What have they already done?’”

Reconciliation of church and state?

allkindsoftime — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 04:42:30 -0800

I think its time that we joined a serious debate about how to reconcile faith with our modern pluralistic society. Obama on religion and politics. (SLnonYTP)

Elections would be much more entertaining this way.

JDHarper — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:53:28 -0800

Your mother told you never to discuss religion or politics in polite company. You'll probably start a fight. Bible fight was here previously, but I think that Kung-Fu Elections is new.

When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross

plexi — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 13:26:14 -0800

American Fascists: A CBC interview with author Chris Hedges regarding the Christians Right's onward march toward political power.