The Revealer

Amy Levin: It’s barely been a day and President Barack Obama’s personal endorsement (belief? affirmation? slow and agonizing compromise?) of same-sex marriage in an interview with ABC’s Robin Robert’s has spread like wildfire across the news, blog, and twitter spheres. Obama’s comments came just a day after North Carolina passed a ban on same-sex marriage, becoming the 30th state to do so. Reaction to Obama has been divided to say the least. Some are excited, some are livid, and others are confused.
[ Read more ]

Taboo Dinner Party Talk

08 May 2012

Amy Levin: “Aren’t these topics the very ones your mother warned you never to raise at a dinner party?” asks Marie Griffith, editor of the new online magazine, Religion & Politics. With its boasted tagline, “Fit for Polite Company,” Griffith, the current director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics at Washington University in St. Louis, says in her editor’s note that the journal’s aim is to address one of the most “contested issues of our time:” the role religion plays in U.S civic and political life.
[ Read more ]

RT if u <3 da Sistas

25 April 2012

Ashley Baxstrom: You’ve probably heard at this point about the Vatican’s statement concerning what it considers to be the wayward actions of its sisters in faith. You can refer to The Revealer’s “Radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith” for the basics, including how nuns were “reprimanded for making public statements that ‘disagree with or challenge the bishops, who are the church’s authentic teachers of faith and morals.’” And then, you’ve probably heard about some of the reactions, people talking about Christian feminism, and hierarchy, and personal histories with the Church and faith. One major trend in the reactions has been people coming to the defense of the nuns for acting on behalf of social justice and the poor. But we all know a trend of movement hasn’t really gained steam until it’s gone viral, and that’s where we find ourselves today.
[ Read more ]

Chuck Colson Reads

21 April 2012

Anthea Butler at Religion Dispatches David Badash at The New Civil Rights Movement Jeff Sharlet on Twitter Michael Dobbs at The Washington Post David Sessions at The Daily Beast David Mark and Adelle M. Banks at Religion News Service
[ Read more ]

“Radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.”

19 April 2012

The bishops have taken nearly four years to plan their renovation of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. The new oversight and changes come without input from the Women Religious. The New York Times wrote yesterday:

The sisters were also reprimanded for making public statements that “disagree with or challenge the bishops, who are the church’s authentic teachers of faith and morals.” During the debate over the health care overhaul in 2010, American bishops came out in opposition to the health plan, but dozens of sisters, many of whom belong to the Leadership Conference, signed a statement supporting it — support that provided crucial cover for the Obama administration in the battle over health care.

Read National Catholic Reporter's thorough coverage here.
[ Read more ]

So Long, Rowan Williams

16 April 2012

What does Rowan Williams's resignation mean for American Anglicans? By Daniel Schultz Word reached us lately that the eyebrows of the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, had decided to step down at the age of 61, apparently taking the attached primate with them into an early retirement, or at least a return to the academic life as Master of Magdalene College. Perhaps not coincidentally, a little while later it came out that the Church of England was set to reject the Anglican Covenant, Williams' pet project to bind together the far-flung theologies of the Anglican Communion in some way or another. Nobody was ever quite sure how. In any case, a defeat like this must have been hard to bear, even for Williams' ordinarily indefatigable—not to mention gravity-defying—eyebrows. Little wonder he (and they) decided to light out for ~~Oxford~~ (update: Cambridge per the comments) while the getting was good. What does Williams' departure and the arrival of his successor mean for the average Christian in the United States? As with so much in the world of the church, the answer is: it depends. At the moment, the bookmakers favor John Sentamu, the Ugandan-born Archbishop of York, to replace Williams. But it's not by much: Sentamu averages about a 50-50 shot from the houses willing to accept a wager on his ascension.
[ Read more ]

TransFaith, TransWeb

12 April 2012

Becky Garrison: The Miss Universe Organization’s decision to change their rules so that transgender women can compete appears to signify a growing acceptance of trans individuals (GLAAD and other groups had admonished the organization). However, statistics from the Transgender Europe’s Trans Murder Monitoring project, noting more than 800 reported murders of trans people in the last four years, indicates this shifting is not universal. But the internet helps. As a growing sign of the increased visibility of the trans community, academic, author and activist Helen Boyd, noted that one can now find over a hundred transgender related blogs. In addition, this community also connects with each other via Facebook, Twitter, Live Journal and other social media tools.
[ Read more ]

Restricting Free Speech or Promoting Hate?

04 April 2012

Becky Garrison: Even though the Family Research Council was designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in 2010, their spokesperson, Tony Perkins, continues to grace cable network news programs like MSNBC’s "Hardball With Chris Matthews." In light of the fact that Perkins has been a guest on the station 23 times since the SPLC issued their findings, Faithful America designed a TV ad they hoped to run on MSNBC calling the network to cease booking Tony Perkins. As reported by The Advocate, MSNBC chose not to run the ad. According to an MSNBC spokesman, “We have many guests from a variety of viewpoints who all play roles in the political process. The views of our guests are not those of MSNBC.”
[ Read more ]

Easter Riot

27 March 2012

Ashley Baxstrom: It’s a curious culture we live in when a children’s event has to be cancelled because people are acting belligerently.

It’s troubling even – or maybe especially – when it’s a religious children’s event. A religious children’s event that’s supposed to be a joyous celebration. A religious children’s event that’s supposed to be a joyous celebration about a bunny (or, you know, Jesus).
[ Read more ]

The Gender & Sexual Politics of End of Life Care, April 10

27 March 2012

I'll be on a panel with the amazing Susan Gerbino, Amber Hollibaugh, Ai-Jen Poo and Robert Campbell on April 10. Come say hi.

The Gender and Sexual Politics of End of Life Care April 10, Tuesday 6 to 8 pm Performance Studies Studio 21 Broadway, 6th Floor, Room 612
[ Read more ]

					The Revealer In the World Thanks to a generous two-year grant from the Henry Luce Foundation The Revealer is going global with news and analysis about media and religion around the world. [ Read more ]

	“Traditional” and Reformist Practices: Advanced Islamic Education in Northern Nigeria 15 May 2012 This post is the third in a series on Muslim schooling in Northern Nigeria. The first post gave an overview of the series, and the second discussed Qur’anic schools. by Alex Thurston In Nigeria, advanced Islamic education–the step following one’s basic instruction in the Qur’an–takes various forms. Here, I’ll examine the traditional settings for advanced Islamic education. The term “traditional” is a problematic one, as “traditions” are sometimes much more recent – and more consciously invented – than outsiders might assume. But the term has some use for describing systems that have evolved over time and were not directly created by colonial or postcolonial governments or by postcolonial reformist movements. “Advanced Islamic education,” meanwhile, refers here to training beyond the memorization of the Qur’an and instruction in the basic ritual requirements of Islam. This kind of training has occurred for centuries, and still occurs, in the homes and schools of individual teachers. Many Northern Muslims begin (as do their counterparts elsewhere in West Africa) by studying the Qur’an and basic religious instruction with their fathers or with other family members, but advanced training usually necessitates outside mentors. Religious seekers most often proceed from the Qur’an to introductory texts of Maliki fiqh (jurisprudence). The Maliki School, one of four main Sunni schools of legal thought, is the most widespread in North and West Africa. Introductory Maliki texts (some of which are available in Arabic and in translation here) treat similar issues, ranging from the requirements of prayer to the rules of inheritance. The curriculum proceeds not thematically, but in levels of complexity; each text deals with the same issues in greater depth, meaning that the student who advances to the level of mastering the Risala (Epistle) of Ibn Abi Zaid al Qayrawani or the Mukhtasar (Compendium) of Khalil ibn Ishaq has a deep grasp of fiqh. Sheikhs often teach by parsing Arabic texts line by line in local languages until students have mastered each lesson; even at this stage, memorization can play a large role in learning. Continue reading “Traditional” and Reformist Practices: Advanced Islamic Education in Northern Nigeria»

Daily Links: “Which Reminds Me” Edition 16 May 2012 Hear Kathryn Joyce, The Revealer's former managing editor, talk about personhood bills, the Quiverfull movement, and the patriarchy movement here, on Tulsa public radio. Nicole Neroulias writes at The Scoop that despite common reporting, same sex marriage is about a lot more than religion. Yesterday the USCCB spelled out exactly why they are opposed to the Obama administration's provision of birth control to all insured women without a copay. The Church would strongly prefer to tell employers and employees, at least the ones that answer to Catholic leadership, how to manage their reproductive rights. If the issue were just money (no Catholic money used to "subsidize" contraceptives), the compromise that Obama and Sebelius struck with insurance companies--that companies will provide contraception to individuals directly, without implicating the employer--would satisfy the USCCB. It doesn't. Which reminds me, will Kathleen Sebelius still give the graduation speech at Georgetown University? The Economist follows up on a May 6th New York Times feature about "The Life of Jesus Christ," a play performed by the inmates of Angola prison in Louisiana, with an article of its own. The New York Times used the title, "In Prison, Play With Trial at Its Heart Resonates," The Economist, "Enacting forgiveness and redemption." Both remind me of the brilliant piece by Liliana Segura at Colorlines last year, "Dispatch From Angola: Faith-Based Slavery in a Louisiana Prison." [ Read more ] Playing Amendment One 14 May 2012 Becky Garrison on the political positions played by media, voters, advocates and the president on Amendment One. [ Read more ] Daily Links: What Social Contract? Edition 11 May 2012 Jim Davis on the death of a predatory priest. Amy Levin on liberalism and feminism. The Immanent Frame's fantastic "Politics of Religious Freedom" series. Catholics roll up their sleeves over a Wendell Berry lecture. Hasidic Jews trying to stay out of court. Rowan Williams on the blood market. [ Read more ] Wherever Two or More Women Are Gathered… 11 May 2012 ...the Catholic Church seems to find "radical feminist" ideology. Even if the gatherers are cookie-hawking tweens. And members of a non-Catholic organization. Not affiliated with the Church in any way. To the ever broadening category of Catholic Church vs. Women, we add today's entry: the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has formalized it's disapproval of the Girl Scouts of the USA with an official inquiry. It's hard to not giggle at the USCCB following up its harassment of the women religious with the tweens with badges, but there you have the church's priorities clearly demonstrated. The Washington Post, via an AP article by David Crary, quotes Girl Scouts' spokewoman Michelle Tompskins: “For us, there’s an overarching sadness to it,” Tompkins added. “We’re just trying to further girls’ leadership.” Exactly. Read more on the Girl Scout inquiry here, and here. [ Read more ] Queer Methodist Doings 09 May 2012 Becky Garrison: A Gallup poll released on May 20, 2011 states that for the first time a majority (53%) of Americans believes same-sex marriage should be recognized by the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages. Also, an April, 2012 survey by the Pew Research Center showed that for the first time there is as much strong support as strong opposition to gay marriage – 22 percent each. [ Read more ] His Holiness Gets Huffed 07 May 2012 Ashley Baxstrom: The Huffington Post announced on Friday that its very own Arianna Huffington – the Post’s namesake? Editor? Aggregator General? Blogger in Chief? – will interview the Dalai Lama on May 14^th. His Holiness will be awarded the prestigious Templeton prize, which “honors a living person who has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life’s spiritual dimension.” When he heard he would be receiving the award, he responded that he was just a simple Buddhist monk. Huffington will sit down with him at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London the day of the award for a one-hour interview, and has asked the Post’s readers for topic suggestions. “If you had an hour with the Dalai Lama how would you use it?” the story asks. [ Read more ] Daily Links: Grand Jury Duty Blues 04 May 2012 I'm three weeks down, one to go. Serving justice in Brooklyn has kept me quiet, but here's what I'm reading between testimonials: Jane Iwamura at The Scoop on Tupac's undead appearance at Coachella. One wonders if Mark Oppenheimer just didn't have any critical thinking to apply to his recent review of Ross Douthat's new book, Bad Religion, or if the NYT editors just sliced it right out for the sake of their home-base columnist. (Regardless, I send a shout-out to one beat man who knows what real bad religion means, Pete Finestone. Hey Stone, wanna write a review for us? Word.) Ahem! Mennonites are exploring their "martyr complex," a trait "many Mennonites carry—especially ethnic German and Swiss Mennonites—and the consequences of that mindset." Remember when Sojourners backed away from the gays? Becky Garrison does. It was a true grit moment, one the "faith in action for social justice" magazine sadly failed to pass, a turning point in our desire to like Sojourners for all their ramble, an end to our guilt for never really getting Jim Wallis' swagger. New crits on the religion chopping block. Religion & Politics launched this week. The Grand Mufti of the Republic of Tatarstan recounts his version of the past year. Church artwork is moving to where the devout are; from Europe to Latin America, Africa and Asia. What do atheist billboards do? Fredrick Clarkson writes at Women's ENews about the latest doings of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. [ Read more ] In the World weekly links, Pandora’s Box edition 04 May 2012 …most residents of Trivandrum had not been clamoring for the temple’s vaults to be searched. This had initially puzzeled me. In America…it’s inconceivable that a mysterious, locked door would be left alone. (Recall Geraldo Rivera breaking into Al Capone’s vault, in the nineteen-eighties). But in India the wealth stored in the vaults of Hindu temples is viewed in largely spiritual, not monetary, terms... ** ...Men and women will carry back to their small villages and towns tales of the Grand Mosque’s splendor, which is the reward sought by every Muslim ruler who alters the mosque...** The New Yorker has been cleaning up in the religion-writing sweepstakes these past few weeks, particularly with two pieces that raise fascinating questions about wealth, expenditure and the preservation—or radical renovation—of sacred sites. If you missed them, it’s worth circling back. The pieces, read together, amount to a tale of two temples and the ripple effects of altering their physical and natural environments. [ Read more ] The Kony2012 Family 25 April 2012 In a statement on their website and a follow-up video released on April 5^th, IC elaborates on the background behind the Kony story and encourages everyone to explore inhumane conditions throughout the world. To this end, they devised a worldwide day of action titled “Cover the Night (Make Kony Famous 2012). [ Read more ] Happy Birthday Zionism 25 April 2012 Amy Levin: Given that today and tomorrow mark two extremely important national holidays in Israel beginning with Yom Hazikaron, the day of remembrance for Israeli soldiers, followed by Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel’s independence day, it seems fitting to bring the timeless debate over Zionism to the virtual table. This week, Huffpost Religion is publishing daily columns as part of a series called “Liberal Zionists Speak Out.” [ Read more ]		Preaching Out of the Closet 10 May 2012 Amy Levin: It’s barely been a day and President Barack Obama’s personal endorsement (belief? affirmation? slow and agonizing compromise?) of same-sex marriage in an interview with ABC’s Robin Robert’s has spread like wildfire across the news, blog, and twitter spheres. Obama’s comments came just a day after North Carolina passed a ban on same-sex marriage, becoming the 30th state to do so. Reaction to Obama has been divided to say the least. Some are excited, some are livid, and others are confused. [ Read more ] Taboo Dinner Party Talk 08 May 2012 Amy Levin: “Aren’t these topics the very ones your mother warned you never to raise at a dinner party?” asks Marie Griffith, editor of the new online magazine, Religion & Politics. With its boasted tagline, “Fit for Polite Company,” Griffith, the current director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics at Washington University in St. Louis, says in her editor’s note that the journal’s aim is to address one of the most “contested issues of our time:” the role religion plays in U.S civic and political life. [ Read more ] RT if u <3 da Sistas 25 April 2012 Ashley Baxstrom: You’ve probably heard at this point about the Vatican’s statement concerning what it considers to be the wayward actions of its sisters in faith. You can refer to The Revealer’s “Radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith” for the basics, including how nuns were “reprimanded for making public statements that ‘disagree with or challenge the bishops, who are the church’s authentic teachers of faith and morals.’” And then, you’ve probably heard about some of the reactions, people talking about Christian feminism, and hierarchy, and personal histories with the Church and faith. One major trend in the reactions has been people coming to the defense of the nuns for acting on behalf of social justice and the poor. But we all know a trend of movement hasn’t really gained steam until it’s gone viral, and that’s where we find ourselves today. [ Read more ] Chuck Colson Reads 21 April 2012 Anthea Butler at Religion Dispatches David Badash at The New Civil Rights Movement Jeff Sharlet on Twitter Michael Dobbs at The Washington Post David Sessions at The Daily Beast David Mark and Adelle M. Banks at Religion News Service [ Read more ] “Radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.” 19 April 2012 The bishops have taken nearly four years to plan their renovation of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. The new oversight and changes come without input from the Women Religious. The New York Times wrote yesterday: The sisters were also reprimanded for making public statements that “disagree with or challenge the bishops, who are the church’s authentic teachers of faith and morals.” During the debate over the health care overhaul in 2010, American bishops came out in opposition to the health plan, but dozens of sisters, many of whom belong to the Leadership Conference, signed a statement supporting it — support that provided crucial cover for the Obama administration in the battle over health care. Read National Catholic Reporter's thorough coverage here. [ Read more ] So Long, Rowan Williams 16 April 2012 What does Rowan Williams's resignation mean for American Anglicans? By Daniel Schultz Word reached us lately that the eyebrows of the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, had decided to step down at the age of 61, apparently taking the attached primate with them into an early retirement, or at least a return to the academic life as Master of Magdalene College. Perhaps not coincidentally, a little while later it came out that the Church of England was set to reject the Anglican Covenant, Williams' pet project to bind together the far-flung theologies of the Anglican Communion in some way or another. Nobody was ever quite sure how. In any case, a defeat like this must have been hard to bear, even for Williams' ordinarily indefatigable—not to mention gravity-defying—eyebrows. Little wonder he (and they) decided to light out for ~~Oxford~~ (update: Cambridge per the comments) while the getting was good. What does Williams' departure and the arrival of his successor mean for the average Christian in the United States? As with so much in the world of the church, the answer is: it depends. At the moment, the bookmakers favor John Sentamu, the Ugandan-born Archbishop of York, to replace Williams. But it's not by much: Sentamu averages about a 50-50 shot from the houses willing to accept a wager on his ascension. [ Read more ] TransFaith, TransWeb 12 April 2012 Becky Garrison: The Miss Universe Organization’s decision to change their rules so that transgender women can compete appears to signify a growing acceptance of trans individuals (GLAAD and other groups had admonished the organization). However, statistics from the Transgender Europe’s Trans Murder Monitoring project, noting more than 800 reported murders of trans people in the last four years, indicates this shifting is not universal. But the internet helps. As a growing sign of the increased visibility of the trans community, academic, author and activist Helen Boyd, noted that one can now find over a hundred transgender related blogs. In addition, this community also connects with each other via Facebook, Twitter, Live Journal and other social media tools. [ Read more ] Restricting Free Speech or Promoting Hate? 04 April 2012 Becky Garrison: Even though the Family Research Council was designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in 2010, their spokesperson, Tony Perkins, continues to grace cable network news programs like MSNBC’s "Hardball With Chris Matthews." In light of the fact that Perkins has been a guest on the station 23 times since the SPLC issued their findings, Faithful America designed a TV ad they hoped to run on MSNBC calling the network to cease booking Tony Perkins. As reported by The Advocate, MSNBC chose not to run the ad. According to an MSNBC spokesman, “We have many guests from a variety of viewpoints who all play roles in the political process. The views of our guests are not those of MSNBC.” [ Read more ] Easter Riot 27 March 2012 Ashley Baxstrom: It’s a curious culture we live in when a children’s event has to be cancelled because people are acting belligerently. It’s troubling even – or maybe especially – when it’s a religious children’s event. A religious children’s event that’s supposed to be a joyous celebration. A religious children’s event that’s supposed to be a joyous celebration about a bunny (or, you know, Jesus). [ Read more ] The Gender & Sexual Politics of End of Life Care, April 10 27 March 2012 I'll be on a panel with the amazing Susan Gerbino, Amber Hollibaugh, Ai-Jen Poo and Robert Campbell on April 10. Come say hi. The Gender and Sexual Politics of End of Life Care April 10, Tuesday 6 to 8 pm Performance Studies Studio 21 Broadway, 6th Floor, Room 612 [ Read more ]		“But Marriage is No Sacrament.” 14 May 2012 From Gary Wills' new article at New York Review of Books: The early church had no specific rite for marriage. This was left up to the secular authorities of the Roman Empire, since marriage is a legal concern for the legitimacy of heirs. When the Empire became Christian under Constantine, Christian emperors continued the imperial control of marriage, as the Code of Justinian makes clear. When the Empire faltered in the West, church courts took up the role of legal adjudicator of valid marriages. But there was still no special religious meaning to the institution. As the best scholar of sacramental history, Joseph Martos, puts it: “Before the eleventh century there was no such thing as a Christian wedding ceremony in the Latin church, and throughout the Middle Ages there was no single church ritual for solemnizing marriage between Christians.” [ Read more ] Islam’s Mighty Wind 04 May 2012 From Peter Brown's review of the Met's "Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition (7th-9th Century)," at The New York Review of Books: The exhibition takes us to the heart of this great detonation. It embraces the last century of the pre-Islamic Middle East and the first two centuries of Islam. To our surprise, we do not find ourselves in a world swept by a mighty wind. Instead, we enter a series of quiet rooms where time seems to stand still. Like a perfect late fall day, only the occasional rustle of a falling leaf startles us into realizing that the seasons are about to change. The few clear signs that Islam had, indeed, become politically dominant in the Middle East by the end of the seventh century strike us with almost ominous intensity. For there are so few of them. [ Read more ] The Fallen Catholic DeLillo 04 May 2012 From the Los Angeles Review of Books, a review of Don DeLillo's The Angel Esmeralda: Nine Stories, by Cornel Bonca: The fallen Catholic DeLillo began to find a way to write about certain inescapable promptings of "awe" and "wonder" that were so insistent that they qualified as spiritual intimations. I'd argue that it's no accident that his greatest stretch of creation followed this shift, a two-decade-long marvel that helped push the American postmodern movement beyond its previous reliance on linguistic gamesmanship, black humor, and recursive irony, as books like White Noise, Libra, Mao II, Underworld, and The Body Artist assured DeLillo a place in the American canon. [ Read more ] An Art Critic in Ethiopia 22 April 2012 From Holland Cotter's article on his visit to the sunken churches of Lalibela: A priest, in white, stood at a lectern and read aloud from an illuminated book as a European video crew fussed with sound checks, then asked him, please, to start again. To an outsider the general impression was confusing, disconcerting. Can this newish, nondescript, somewhat disheveled, in-progress space really be the physical and psychic center of one the world’s oldest versions of Christianity? [ Read more ] Intubated Women, Catholic Health Care and What it Means to be Alive 11 April 2012 The Catholic Church understands far better than patients’ rights advocates do how religion, gender and sexuality work in society. If the debate about health care were focused on men’s bodies, the Church understands there would be a resounding call to make their hospitals subject to legal and medical standards. But because it’s about women’s bodies, the public conversation on all sides gets confused over issues of shame, pain, inconvenience, autonomy, social responsibility and voice. [ Read more ] I’m Not Religious, I Just Love Meditation 29 March 2012 Amy Levin: While the image of Oprah endorsing transcendental meditation is about as banal as a priest offering the sacrament, the Queen of the New-Age spiritual marketplace has sold spirituality to those in her pews again. Oprah’s bricolage-like church offered this week’s sermon via her show Next Chapter on the OWN network: transcendental meditation is awesome, readily available for consumption, and so culturally adaptable that even a city in the middle of corn country is bursting with enlightenment. [ Read more ] The Makings of Viral 14 March 2012 James Curcio at Modern Mythology on Kony2012 and "virality": You see, for something to become "viral" it has to be entirely ubiquitous, which essentially means that it must be stripped of all nuance and worthwhile content. This is an issue facing all propogandists who have any ethics at all. It must act on a common emotion, a simple emotion that is shared by many people. It must have the pretense of a genuine expression.... [ Read more ] Catholic Church Abuses Sex Abuse Victims 13 March 2012 It's been more than a decade since the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal rocked Boston. In that time, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) has provided national support to victims of abuse. But recently SNAP is finding that the Church's new approach to managing national lawsuits is not apology and reparation but counter-attack. Seeking to prove that SNAP is not a "rape crisis center" the Church is subpoenaing to access confidential communication between SNAP and victims, thus exposing victims to public scrutiny. [ Read more ] “Could People Be Good Without Foundations?” 08 March 2012 From Andrew Hartman's recent post at U.S. Intellectual History, "The Politics of Epistemology," in which he excerpts the following (and more) from his book Education and the Cold War: By the beginning of the Cold War, this crisis was seemingly resolved in what Purcell terms the “relativist theory of democracy,” a stripped-down version of Dewey’s pragmatism in which democracy was made normative to America. This relativist theory of democracy blended what its practitioners believed were the best elements of naturalism, especially a faith in the empirical social sciences, with a co-opted version of rationalism, particularly a Platonic belief that American democracy was an end in itself. Although the relativist theorists of democracy considered themselves pragmatists in their attention to means, pragmatism as an identifiable philosophical radicalism, personified by Dewey in its aggressive and reform-oriented form, faded from view. Rather than critique democracy as it existed, relativist theorists assumed that American society was the democratic ideal. The status quo became an end in itself as intellectuals focused their labors on political stability. (h/t Michael J. Altman) [ Read more ] Moral Ambivalence in Modern China 02 March 2012 From The Lancet, an article by Charles Stafford on Deep China: the Moral Life of the Person, a new book by Arthur Kleinman, Yunxiang Yan, Jing Jun, Sing Lee, Everett Zhang, Pan tianshu, Wu Fei, and Guo Jinhau (University of California Press, 2012): Of course, mixed feelings are at the heart of ethical discourse and moral practice in all human societies. If life were simple, we wouldn't have to think about morality very much—but life isn't simple. What is striking in the case of China is that this “ordinary” moral ambivalence has played itself out against the backdrop of massive social experimentation. What if we try to wipe out our traditional cultural values and practices more or less overnight (as happened during the Cultural Revolution)? What if we restrict families to having one child (as happened with the family planning policy)? What if we take our rural youth and move them, en masse, to the cities (as is happening with the current wave of rural-to-urban migration)? As anthropologists and others have shown, these experiments have generated an abundance of unintended consequences. [ Read more ]

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