On the occassion of the final broadcast of "The Oprah Winfrey Show," Kathryn Lofton reflects, in an On Faith article, on what Oprah was.
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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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Faith and fashion
by Lydia BrawnerSt. Louis Rams wide receiver Mark Clayton is keeping busy during the NFL lockout with MyChristianT.com a side business that combines fashion, faith and social networking. Calling himself a "christianpreneur" in this video from NBC News Dallas-Fort Worth, his line includes Team Jesus hoodies for men and women and t-shirts with phrases like I Twitter Jesus.
May 27, 2011
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Continuing controversy over Louisiana’s public school curriculum
by Lydia BrawnerThe New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that efforts to repeal the 2008 Science Education Act have failed despite efforts by Louisiana Senator Karen Carter and affidavits from "43 Nobel laureates, faculty members and administrators from Louisiana State University and LSU's Pennington Biomedical Research Center, and a host of state and national organizations of scientists and educators."
May 31, 2011
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Kentucky approves state funding to expand Creation Museum
by Grace YukichShould the state be in the business of funding private religious projects, even if they could boost the well-being of local economies? According to an editorial published yesterday in The New York Times, the Kentucky Tourism Development Finance Authority recently allocated more than $40 million in tax incentives for a planned expansion to the controversial Creation Museum. . . . Even Kentucky's Democratic governor supports state funding for the project, arguing that it will bring 900 jobs to the area. Of course, as the editorial points out, "public money is not supposed to pay to advance religion."
June 1, 2011
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Whose foreskin?
by Charles GelmanCourtney Bender discusses the controversial ballot measure to prohibit circumcision of males under eighteen years of age, which will be up for a vote in San Francisco in November.
June 13, 2011
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(In)Visible Copts
by Jessica PolebaumAt Jadaliyya, Anthony Shenoda reflects on the simultaneous visibility and invisibility of the Coptic Christian community in Egypt.
June 14, 2011
books
Religion und Öffentlichkeit
by Charles GelmanThe German translation, by Michael Adrian, of The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere will be published by Suhrkamp Verlag in October.
June 16, 2011
books
Book review: Bridging the maximalist-minimalist divide
by Annie Hardison-MoodyMust human rights be grounded in a religious or metaphysical worldview in order for them to be understood and implemented globally? Or should they be developed based on broad consensus, divorced from religious grounds? These are the questions that open Grace Kao’s new book Grounding Human Rights in a Pluralist World. Kao situates herself between these two positions, developing a rationale for human rights that is based on her retrieval of particular elements of the most prominent methods for justifying human rights approaches.
June 16, 2011
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War on drugs may be interfering with Americans’ spiritual awakening
by Charles GelmanKevin Drum, of Mother Jones, reports on a study conducted by the esteemed researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine that purports to demonstrate the positive, long-term personal and social effects of psilocybin mushrooms, including greater awareness of, and openness to, the spiritual and the sacred.
June 17, 2011
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Is there anybody out there? (Pink Floyd and Charles Taylor)
by Charles GelmanIn the Frankfurter Rundschau, Hartmut Rosa hears the echoes of Pink Floyd in the work of Charles Taylor.
June 24, 2011