Politics & Society

The name of the Goddess

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For those who try to be open to the spiritual commitments of others, it is contradictory to call a group with whom we may soon be at war with by the name of a deity who is loved and honored by many. I believe that people who identify with Goddess Spirituality and generally paganism are mostly Spiritual Progressives. They honor Nature and the energies of Peace. Taking the name of their Goddesses in vain is like taking the name of any other deity in vain.

Politics & Society

Progressive Faith Communities Take Back the Discussion on Morals

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The coalition, Faith in Public Life, announced their national mobilization plans for the 2014 elections last week. Under this coalition, progressive faith communities are taking back the words commonly associated with the Religious Right — Faith, Family, Freedom, the Flag and Values — and fitting them into progressive terms as they work together towards social justice, changing the discourse for this election season.

Atheism

A Real Guide to Spirituality Without Religion

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Sam Harris recently published Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion. But is having spirituality without religion even possible, and how can it be done? Sigfried Gold envisions the kind of guide he wishes Harris created, stating that a guide to spirituality without religion should offer, not just a broad account of all the various forms of spirituality, but some discussion of the particular challenges involved in practicing these for people who are unwilling to accept the tenets of any particular religion.

Culture

6 Reasons that Debunk the Myth of Islam Promoting Hatred of Jews and Christians

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Some Muslims use the Quran verse, “O You who have believed! Do not take the Jews and Christians as your allies (Auliya). They are allies of one another. He among you who takes them for allies is one of them. God does not guide the oppressive folks” as a way to justify hatred towards Jews. Ro Waseem uses his knowledge of the Quran to dismantle this myth.

Christianity

Pope Francis' Lesson: The Abrahamic religions need a spiritual summit meeting, not dialogue-by-press-statements

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The crisis in the Middle East is endangering the spiritual integrity of the three Abrahamic religions — Judaism, Christianity and Islam — as six armies and armed groups claim the mantle of religion for their identities. The spiritual leaders of these three faiths must convene an emergency “spiritual summit” meeting to articulate their shared spiritual values and vision, in terms of their respective traditions, teachings and scriptures, and how to apply these to the current disastrous circumstances. If they don’t, what credibility will these religions have in the silence of the ruins after the bombs stop falling?

Atheism

Constructing God in the Public Sphere

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Blatant religious violence is still ongoing in our world today, where in the name of “God” people fight and kill people who are not like them, launch vitriolic hate-filled speeches against one another, and kidnap young school girls. Beyond lazy hate speech against religion, in a world confronted by extremism, how might we as religious and non-religious people play a thoughtful role in creating the conditions for a healthy God-view in our society?

Christianity

Jesus Died With His Hands Up, Too

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So in the aftermath of the terrible tragedy in Ferguson, Missouri, let us take a long clear look at the cross once again and see it for what it is. It is a powerful reminder that peace in our neighborhoods isn’t something that can be enforced with local police armed with high-powered surplus military equipment. It’s a grim visual statement of the consequences of a preemptive policy of shoot first, ask questions later. It’s a sobering symbol of what happens when a society puts less value on human life than it does on arbitrarily-defined standards of public safety.

Healing Israel/Palestine

Border Lessons: Jewish Resources for Resisting Nationalism

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Standing on the site of the Warsaw ghetto, hearing Israeli Hebrew spoken around me, I thought about Gaza. And a deeply cynical, deeply hurt, deeply hopeless voice within me thinks: do Israelis really need to come all the way to Warsaw to learn about ghettoes? And a more hopeful voice, the voice of a student and a teacher wonders, what if more of us came to Warsaw not to reinforce a history of oppression, but to study the legacy of those proposing ways to eradicate it?