At getreligion.org, Terry Mattingly asks whether the Episcopal Church, increasingly isolated from the wider Anglican Communion, should be referred to as a sect.
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Announcements, events, and opportunities related to topics of interest to TIF readers are posted here. Additionally you may find round-ups of news items and brief commentary on current events.
For a listing of all of the events announcements, click here.
For a listing of announcements regarding books, click here.
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Mexico’s Saint Death
by Nathan SchneiderIn the Washington Post, William Booth reports on the growing popularity of Santa Muerte.
December 8, 2009
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Atheists need a different voice
by Nathan SchneiderIn USA Today, Boston University religion professor Stephen Prothero points to the emergence of a new kind of new atheism.
December 9, 2009
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Early Islam: the mystic tide
by Jessica PolebaumIn part four of a five part series at 3 Quarks Daily, Namit Arora charts the development of Sufism from the third to the the seventh century of Islamic history.
December 9, 2009
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Does Europe have a Muslim problem?
by Charles GelmanIn the New York Review of Books, Malise Ruthven reads Christopher Caldwell's Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West alongside Tariq Ramadan's What I Believe and finds neither to be quite adequate to the challenges they claim to take up. Where Caldwell distorts, Ramadan disengages.
December 9, 2009
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Jon Stewart’s favorite conservative
by John SchmalzbauerMike Huckabee just might be Jon Stewart's favorite conservative Christian politician. Back in December of 2008, Huckabee and Stewart had a lively yet civil debate about gay marriage. Last June they sparred on abortion. Last night Huckabee made yet another Daily Show appearance. Once again, television's odd couple had an amicable, funny, and productive conversation.
December 10, 2009
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Southern fried music
by John SchmalzbauerThe Oxford American, the “Southern magazine of good writing,” has released its 11th annual music issue, “True Soul & Other True Sounds.” The Jubilee Humming Birds are among the gospel acts profiled in this issue. Reflecting on the Birds’ recording of “Will the Lord Be with Me,” journalist Warwick Sabin writes: “The South may be the ultimate Old Testament playground, where everyone is in awe of a God who is capricious, unpredictable, generous, and cruel. Majestic and subtle physical beauty is everywhere, from the coastlines to the mountains to the Delta plains. Amid these gorgeous surroundings are poverty and deprivation, racial and religious conflict, and other manifestations of man's sinful nature [...]."
December 11, 2009
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Swiss minarets and American self-righteousness?
by Jessica PolebaumAt the Scoop, Courtney Bender analyzes the American media's editorial treatment of the Swiss minaret ban.
December 12, 2009
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Atheist councilman challenged
by Ruth BraunsteinIn Ashville, North Carolina, opponents of atheist City Councilman Cecil Bothwell are challenging the legitimacy of his oath of office on the grounds that the state Constitution disqualifies officeholders “who shall deny the being of Almighty God.”
December 14, 2009
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Growing up evangelical
by Daniel VacaAt Killing the Buddha, Kiera Feldman reports on a recent panel that brought together Malcolm Gladwell, James Wood, and Christine Smallwood. You wonder: what unites this seemingly motley crew of New York literati? They all claim an evangelical upbringing.
December 14, 2009