Articles about Religion
Obama is a Muslim Probably, Says Robert Jeffress (Sort Of)
Sorry I’m just getting around to making this proclamation: Every day it bums me out that our building is so close to Robert Jeffress’ church. (Via.)
The Mean, Racist Streets of Dallas
Our post on the Diversity & Justice seminar at Perkins School of Theology was picked up by the religious journal First Things. Their commenters had as much fun with the topic as ours did, including Ben who noted the absence of “Radical-Reactionary Scots-Irish-American Grumpy Young Bible-Thumping Good-Old-Boys like me…”
This drew a response from Sze-kar Wan, professor of New Testament at Perkins:
“Bible-thumping,” Ben? You got it! Sorry, not white or “good-ole-boy” enough for you, tho. You won’t let me, I am sure. Dallasites don’t let me forget that either. Everyday. The kinds of taunts I get on the streets of Dallas tell me we have a lot of work to do.
Really? The professors gets “taunts on the streets of Dallas”? Is his hair dyed blue? Does he wear smelly, uncured bear robes? Even if, I can’t quite envision taunts. In fact, I’ll go so far as to call it a lie.
The Dallas Must-Do List: The Potter’s House
The Bishop delivers his message.
After greeting the troops last week, I’d done seven of the Things Every Dallasite Must Do. In tackling my eighth — attending a service at the Potter’s House — I was forced to do something I’d rarely done before.
I actually showed up early for church. I’m not talking crazy early — I could count the spare minutes on one hand — but seriously, arriving at church early might be a first in my long-standing family tradition of religious tardiness. So I was patting myself on the back for punctuality on Sunday as I turned onto Kiest Boulevard, the road that leads to the Potter’s House.
Then, I had a revelation: a few minutes early isn’t enough minutes early.
The massive parking lot that surrounded T.D. Jakes’ megachurch was completely full. Fortunately, traffic cops were redirecting cars to an even bigger lot across the street, where there were still some open spots. We pulled in, parked, and then worked our way across a pedestrian bridge along with an eclectically clad group of worshippers. Some were wearing their Sunday best, though plenty had on jeans and t-shirts.
After we walked in, we settled into seats near the back of the lower floor. The choir was singing something ultra energetic. I can’t recall exactly what it was about — about Jesus, I’d guess — but I do distinctly remember one thing: It. Was. Awesome.
‘God Loves My Politicized Religion’ Seminar
Perkins School of Theology will host a seminar on April 12 at Perkins Chapel on the topic, “God Loves Diversity & Justice.” Here are the self-descriptions of the panelists:
“A Human and Feminist from Gaza, Palestine”
“A Jewish Prophet”
“An Exilic Chinese-American”
“A White American Working-Class Feminist”
“A Feminist Muslim Lawyer”
“A Transethnic Korean-American Feminist Theologian”
“A Progressive White Male German-American Theologian”
“An African American Communications Professor”
“A Jewish Russian-American-Israeli Hebrew Bible Scholar”
This seems to me to be a quite restricted representation of diversity, and I am sure FrontBurnervians will have other perspectives to recommend to Perkins for inclusion. For those interested in attending, the seminar details are here.
University of Dallas Alum in High Dudgeon Over Potentially Teaching Sodomy to Undergrads
Okay, confusing headline. Let’s break this down.
Patrick Fagan writes over on The Catholic Thing that he’s got five kids who went through the University of Dallas. But now he’s poised to condemn the university. It all depends on how UD board votes tonight on a curriculum matter. Fagan writes:
The UD theology department gives undergraduates the real goods – the full faith and orthodoxy. Yet UD is poised to offer a new undergraduate major in pastoral theology next fall to be taught by the School of Ministry, not the current theology department. Unlike theology and the rest of UD’s departments, this school is not well known and has had a rather separated existence, but is now about to become part of the UD mainstream.
And why, pray tell, might it be a bad thing if the School of Ministry becomes part of the mainstream? You know the answer already. Gay sex.
Take, for instance, Professor Jerome Walsh, who is currently teaching an Old Testament course to School of Ministry graduate students. Walsh’s interests in the Old Testament include publication of a lengthy analysis of Leviticus in which he claims that Israel’s holy law only ever meant to condemn the completed act of sodomy and that “other forms of male-male sexual encounter, encompassing the whole range of physical expressions of affection that do not entail penetration, are not envisaged in these laws” (see p. 209, warning: graphic content). Will this be taught to undergraduates?
[Insert Brokeback joke. Cue brimstone.]
Orthodox Jews to Have Tough Weekend
Remember when Pamela Gwyn Kripke wrote about the North Dallas eruv in the January issue of D? Preston Hollow People’s Claire St. Amant is reporting that the eruv’s borders have been compromised.
Judge Rules Against Fort Worth Bishop
In a decision with national implications for the Episcopal Church, District Judge John Chupp has ordered the Fort Worth diocese, which severed its tied to the national body, to surrender its property to the national Church.
Leading Off (12/20/10)
1. The important takeaway from this report on the large raid on a cockfighting ring over the weekend: staging cockfights is illegal in Texas, but attending cockfights isn’t. Huh.
2. An armed standoff in the middle of the night between police and someone allegedly involved in a domestic dispute isn’t exactly far from normal. But my question: how did this person get into the basement of Iron Cactus downtown?
3. As the saying goes (or at least as someone once said to me): if you want to know the future of media today, look to Evangelical Christians and pornography. So what are the implications of this Grapevine megachurch having a 3-D Christmas service? I’m not sure. I hope it doesn’t mean more videos of preachers’ dogs eating Christmas presents, but it probably does.
This Year’s Christmas Controversy, Ctd
The atheist ad campaign in Fort Worth has turned into a full-scale brouhaha, predictably. Who’s winning so far? Why, it seems the Fort Worth bus company is winning.
Gospel Star Called Bigger than Life
An era in Southern gospel music was celebrated today, when services for piano legend/songwriter Marion Snider were held at Dallas’ Northway Christian Church. Called “the greatest pianist to ever play in a gospel quartet,” the longtime Oak Cliff resident died Sunday at 96, after performing for more than 80 years. His wife, Belle, died in 2008.
At today’s remembrance–whose hymns and speakers Snider selected himself–the Stamps Quartet mainstay was recalled as “bigger than life,” as someone who wouldn’t compromise his music, even for his friend W.A. Criswell. But the most affecting tribute came from Snider’s granddaughter, Ashley Erickson. Ashley said her fondest memory of Snider came when she was a little girl, ”driving with him to the farm, singing ‘You Are My Sunshine’ at the top of our lungs.”
Who’s the Holiest of the Holy?
Oh, how I love lists. And here’s a new one from Men’s Health. It’s of the holiest in the land. Dallas comes in at 17 for being one of the most religious cities. Colorado Springs came in at No. 1 and Fort Worth is No. 11. But, hey, Dallas beat out Houston (No. 22), so there’s that.
First Baptist Church Building Implosion: D Magazine’s Sundance Film Festival Entry
We dispatched our video intern Robbie Curtis to cover Saturday morning’s building implosion by our downtown neighbor, First Baptist Church. What he delivered to us isn’t your run-of-the-mill piece of Web journalism. Oh, no.
It’s more like a meditation on the very nature of death and destruction. It stands as a testament to the ineffability of memory itself. (Plus you can see our office building, in the last shots.)
Ron Washington is My New Life Coach
On potentially closing out the Yankees today, from his post-game interview:
We are not thinking about how we are going to close anyone out. We are going to go out there and play baseball, and whatever the game asks us to do, we’ll do it. We are not coming to the ballpark tomorrow night with the only thing on our minds of closing somebody out. We are coming to the ballpark tomorrow with our minds on baseball and our minds reacting to whatever the game says we have to react to. If it happens, it happens. And if it don’t, it doesn’t happen.
“Whatever the game asks us to do, we’ll do it.” That’s my new motto. Not poking fun at all. Have completely underestimated the Old School Brother all this time.
Did Evangelicals Save Dallas From the Housing Bubble?
That’s basically the thesis of this paper by Christopher Crowe for the International Monetary Fund. Wendall Cox – keeping a straight face – finds some problems with the notion, starting with this:
Rising prices are needed for there to be any incentive to speculate. If, for example, the numerous Evangelicals in Dallas-Fort Worth had undertaken a furious speculative frenzy, prices would not have gone up, instead more houses would have been built. This is because the liberal land use regime in Dallas-Fort Worth permits housing to be built in response to demand and nullifies any potential for speculative gain. Evangelicals, of course, like Catholics, Mainstream Protestants, Jews and Atheists are not stupid and were no more inclined to speculate on housing in the plentiful Dallas-Fort Worth market than they would have been climb over one another to offer higher prices for sand on the beach.
St. Paul United Methodist Choir Stirs the Shriveled Remains of Your Badly Dehydrated Soul
By now you’ve no doubt read the story about the renovations at St. Paul United Methodist Church in the Dallas Arts District, which is featured in the August issue of our print product.
Well, it’s Wednesday. It’s 100 degrees outside. You can’t even look forward to quitting time, since you’ve got to trudge out to your car in this blistering heat. What you need is some inspiration.
Cue the choir at St. Paul:
Home |
Masthead |
News from D |
About Us |
Contact Us |
Subscribe |
Advertise |
Privacy Policy |
Customer Service |
Awards | Archives | Reprints | d custom | Jobs | Advertiser's Index
Awards | Archives | Reprints | d custom | Jobs | Advertiser's Index