Officials closed all schools in Augusta County, VA, as a safety precaution when parents were distressed by a world geography assignment from the schools’ standard textbook in world religions. The assignment:”Here is the shahada, the Islamic statement of faith, written in Arabic. In the space below, try copying it by hand. This should give you […]
An applicant for an adjunct professor job claims in a lawsuit that a small private Christian liberal arts college discriminated against him by refusing to hire him because he’s Jewish. The suit says the college did not state in its job posting that being a Christian was required or that hiring would be predicated on practicing the […]
Do Christians And Muslims Worship The Same God? and Round-Table Discussion. These two audio clips follow up on the Wheaton College soc prof situation and to what extent Christians may identify with the convictions of other religions. The round-table discussion is 6 min. and can help students begin to make some distinctions that avoid the usual […]
In what may be the first in a series of test cases, a MA state judge has ruled that a Catholic school discriminated against a gay man when it rescinded a job offer after learning he was in a same-sex marriage. Judge Wilkins said Fontbonne Catholic School could claim a religious exemption to the state anti-discrimination law […]
Captured on Canvas, a reflection on two paintings for Advent at the National Gallery, is an essay that students may consider about the link between visual allegory and our liturgical allegory of God’s real intervention in history: ” If it is Christmas we are celebrating, then we have left the realm of allegory far behind.”
How secular Americans are reshaping funeral rituals: Students can examine the trend toward cremation as a pattern in sociology, business, religion, family studies, ritual expression, and psychology. According to estimates by the funeral industry’s main trade group, 2015 is on track to be the year that cremation surpasses burial for the first time, as a long-standing […]
God May Forgive Ads That Offend, but Customers Probably Won’t: The advertising industry typically avoids religion, but some advertisers have made God or prayer a part of their campaigns, albeit very carefully. This high-risk, high-reward strategy, if done right, can inspire religious or spiritually minded consumers to act, but if done wrong, it can alienate an […]
From Ryan Anderson’s Witherspoon Public Discourse site, this legal opinion piece considers argues that same-sex marriage endangers not only religious liberty, but also the school choice movement. We need new laws to protect schools from being forced to adopt sexual orientation nondiscrimination policies in order to be eligible for voucher, tax credit/deduction, or educational savings […]
The GetReligion monitor site on news coverage of religion offers this overview of the case and how it has been reported. School officials at Castle Elementary School in Johnson County, KY, have edited the Luke nativity text out of the script of “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” This case may be of interest for courses in theater, […]
Wheaton College Suspends Hijab-Wearing Professor After ‘Same God’ Comment: Wheaton college has put on administrative leave a professor wearing a hijab to support Muslims — for her explanation, not the act. These links take you to the initial coverage from Christianity Today here and also here, the Chicago Tribune, and the Religion News Service. Students and […]
