Religion

Political philosopher John Gray says that we are deceiving ourselves if we think that ISIS is a medieval throwback. Every barbaric act and strategy it employs have also been employed by modern states. In fact, an eschatological cult like ISIS could only have emerged in modernity; fundamentalism, he says, emerges and thrives in societies in which long-settled customs and traditions have been disrupted. And for that matter, movements like Communism and Nazism were simply secular versions of the same millenarian vision. More:

Richard Gamble reviews John Wilsey’s American Exceptionalism and Civil Religion, and finds Wilsey’s version of exceptionalism to be dangerous in its own way:

Can “exceptionalism” be made safe for America? Can exceptionalism be made safe for American Christians who desire to be at the same time patriotic and faithful to their God? As long as exceptionalism remains the test of creedal orthodoxy it has been turned into, these questions will need to be answered with all the sound historical and theological judgment at our disposal.

This column by the NYT’s Timothy Egan is exactly why so many conservative Catholics cringed at Pope Francis’s recent apostolic exhortation. Excerpts:

A Nebraska judge has denied a prisoner’s lawsuit that claimed he was denied his right to worship his “God”, the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The defendant also claims he faced discrimination for his faith and was mocked for his beliefs. According to ABC: Stephen Cavanaugh sued the Department of Correctional Services and penitentiary officials in 2014 seeking $5 million and a court order mandating that inmates who practice FSMism receive the same rights and privileges as inmates who practice other religions. U.S. District Judge John Gerrard dismissed the lawsuit on Tuesday.