Alterdestiny: American Religion

Showing posts with label American Religion. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Historical Image of the Day

George Whitfield, preacher of the Great Awakening, Brought the movement to America in 1738.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Historical Image of the Day

Back to a place where I have time to do the images again.

This week's set will be on American religion.

Methodist camp meeting, 1839

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Ebert on New Agers

Hilarious stuff from Roger Ebert:

New Age beliefs are the Creationism of the Progressives. I move in circles where most people would find it absurd to believe that humans didn't evolve from prehistoric ancestors, yet many of these same people quite happily believe in astrology, psychics, reincarnation, the Tarot deck, the i Ching, and sooth-saying. Palmistry and phrenology have pretty much blown over.
If you were attending a dinner party of community leaders in Dallas, Atlanta, Omaha or Colorado Springs and the conversation turned to religion, a chill might fall on the room if you confessed yourself an atheist. Yet at a dinner party of the nicest and brightest in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and (especially) Los Angeles, if the hostess began to confide about past lives, her Sign and yours, and her healing crystals, it might not go over so well if you confessed you thought she was full of it.

All so true. New Age "beliefs" are such massive bullshit. No more or no less so than creationism, but certainly its equal.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Historical Image of the Day

Juliann Jane Tillman, preacher of A.M.E. Church, Philadelphia, 1844

Saturday, April 11, 2009

So this isn't really a blog post on culture wars.

I'm too tired. But I wanted to share this Guardian piece about Obama's effect on the culture wars.

The president has taken a stand against anti-abortion rules in clinics and legalised funding for stem cell research. He has praised Islam and Iran on his recent overseas trip and held a Passover ceremony in the White House. Meanwhile, a series of states, including Iowa, deep in the American heartland, have legalised gay marriage and more are expected to follow suit.

Yet, for all the sound and fury this has prompted on the extreme right, Obama remains a popular president. That has led some to wonder if the culture wars are finally losing some of their power. "People are tired of this. A lot of them are thinking: let's move on," said Professor Shaun Bowler, a political scientist at the University of California, Riverside.

Read it. Is good.

Thursday, February 05, 2009

Bad excuses and simple economics: Taxpayers subsidizing corporate excess AND religion

Wells Fargo, one of the largest banks in the country, received $25 billion in taxpayer money as part of the recent bank bailout. Apparently, running a business so poorly that you need a $25 billion handout is all the more reason to celebrate—only under increased public scrutiny did the Wells Fargo executives cancel a lavish Las Vegas junket. This did not come without some severely lame rationalization. The spokesperson for the company said that “recognition events are still part of our culture”. Recognition events are fine—how about a cake or after-work drinks on the boss? In the past, Wells Fargo’s “recognition events” have included performances by such bland celebrities as Huey Lewis, Cher, and Jay Leno (as well as camel rides!) Here’s the worst one—the official Wells Fargo statement about the eventual cancelling of the planned trip said that the bank had “never planned to use taxpayer bailout money to fund the trip”.

This is why these banks are losing their collective asses—I’m once again convinced that the people running them don’t really know that much about economics.

Floyd is on his way to buy groceries, with a $50 bill in hand. However, Floyd is out of gas, but if he spends his $50 on gas, he won’t have any money for groceries. Floyd’s neighbor, Hank, could give his friend $50. However, due to Floyd’s smaller than average penis and chronic premature ejaculation problems, he drives a Hummer. Hank has something of an environmental conscience, and doesn’t want his money buying gas for Floyd’s suburban tank. Floyd cleverly tells Hank that if he gives him the $50 that he is short, he’ll buy groceries with Hank’s $50 bill and use his own $50 to buy gas.

You see the problem? This is basically what Wells Fargo is saying, in their desire to convince the public that nothing about their conduct is/was wrong. The same kind of math is in play with respect to faith-based initiatives. The argument goes much like Floyd’s—religious groups can take the money provided they use it for social services (and thus freeing up more of their money for bigger buildings, missionary work, researching that cure for lesbianism, etc.) I’m beyond disappointed (though not entirely surprised) that Obama has announced he will continue and expand the Bush administration’s policy of funding religious groups that provide certain social services. It’s a political move, I know, and as I’ve said before, I’m loathe to second guess the guy’s political strategy (like SarahJ said, he just “gets” politics) but at a certain point, I’m ready for some principle. This is one of them. Funding religious groups is a bad idea, both for religious groups, religious freedoms, and social services. Let’s put that money to use fixing and expanding social services—certainly that would be more cost effective. Let’s avoid the divisive questions that come along—if a religious group is receiving funding from the government, do they still get to fire and hire based on religion? Are we impugning religious freedom if we say no? These are questions that are distracting from what should be the central point of faith-based initiatives: the increased access and quality of social services. Under Bush, I think it was more about throwing some dollars and a political bone to the right. Under Obama, this just ought to go away. This is the time to show some principle, Mr. President; let’s not buy gas for Floyd’s Hummer any more.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Historical Image of the Day

The Fox sisters. These young women were the founders of the spiritualist movement, which was very popular in the mid and late 19th century. In 1848, they (at the time around their early teens or slightly younger) began claiming that they could communicate with the dead. Loud knocks were the sign. Soon, mediums popped up around the country. This proved particularly popular in the years after the Civil War, with so many grieving families desperate to communicate with their dead.

Later in life, 2 of the Fox sisters admitted that they produced those loud knocks by cracking their toe joints, which I guess they could very well.

Saturday, November 01, 2008

Historical Image of the Day

Daddy Grace, founder of the United House of Prayer for All People, a revivalist (cult one might say) church that appealed to poor urban African-Americans in the early to mid 20th century.

He was also an early pioneer in the Sun Ra school of fashion.