tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82379426008898755992012-01-27T18:08:45.590-05:00Religion, Culture, PowerOccasional Observations and Analysis on Religion from a student, scholar and educator of religion and culture.Christopher W. Chasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02915441981151705686noreply@blogger.comBlogger191100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8237942600889875599.post-28643251286963631172012-01-27T18:08:00.000-05:002012-01-27T18:08:45.602-05:00Encountering Ancestors: a vital part of religionIn recent days, there seems to have been an uptick in the media coverage of Mitt Romney and ceremonies performed in Mormon temples for deceased relatives. As per standard, the articles at Gawker and the Huffington Post assume a kind of odd secularist perspective whereby interaction with ancestors is one the one hand ineffective, but also somehow necessarily creepy, disrespectful and manipulative.Christopher W. Chasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02915441981151705686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8237942600889875599.post-90473177987635761432012-01-22T19:02:00.000-05:002012-01-22T19:02:53.022-05:00Review: Hinduism- A Way of Life
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Christopher W. Chasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02915441981151705686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8237942600889875599.post-53494691310863091652011-04-06T13:12:00.005-04:002011-04-06T14:26:59.840-04:00Boundaries, Boundaries, Boundaries
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One of the occupational hazards found in working and teaching humanities, especially religious studies, is the practice of drawing boundaries. Humans are messy, and Christopher W. Chasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02915441981151705686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8237942600889875599.post-28768364703864363782010-07-27T13:41:00.002-04:002010-07-27T13:48:19.483-04:00Community Centers and their DiscontentsIts no surprise that as midterm elections in the United States are coming closer, that religion is again becoming a major fault line, mostly in terms of how to "treat" Muslims. For the past several years, an organization called the Cordoba Initiative has been making plans to create an interfaith presence in a Muslim context near the infamous site of the World Trade Center, a neighborhood where Christopher W. Chasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02915441981151705686noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8237942600889875599.post-56360387248002673782010-03-17T01:44:00.003-04:002010-07-22T01:25:06.256-04:00Turning Towards the Haitian StruggleAs you can see, I've taken some time off from blogging. Almost a year. Since last April I concentrated on finishing my PhD, with a dissertation titled Approaching the Sacred Grove: The Orphic Impulse in Pagan Religious Music. I've also taken up the Review Editor slot at The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies. Alongside my regular teaching responsibilities at Iowa State, I Christopher W. Chasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02915441981151705686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8237942600889875599.post-43210167459057780732009-04-11T00:14:00.009-04:002009-04-11T00:47:16.457-04:00When "Freedom Of Religion" Isn'tMSNBC is reporting on an issue that, like many issues in religion and culture, seems cut and dried to people of different perspectives and attitudes, but in fact is neither simple nor recent. The issue concerns an alleged head-on conflict between religious organizations and lesbigay people. Convention wisdom has these two groups of people at odds, as if religious people can all be lumped into "Christopher W. Chasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02915441981151705686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8237942600889875599.post-68941726933841290312009-04-08T22:50:00.006-04:002009-04-08T23:16:44.893-04:00Pesach and the rhetoric of "Judeo-Christianity"Tonight marks the beginning of Passover, or Pesakh in the Jewish tradition. As some friends and colleagues are engaging their Seder meals and retelling the Haggadah, I thought I would keep this in mind while talking about the the recent American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) conducted through Trinity College. This is just the latest in several surveys, including one conducted the Pew Christopher W. Chasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02915441981151705686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8237942600889875599.post-15918898269291341872008-11-17T17:24:00.004-05:002008-11-17T17:37:13.976-05:00Proposition 8 and the LDS backlashThe fallout from the 2008 U.S. Presidential election continues. Proposition 8, the ballot initiative to end same-sex marriage in CA, passed by a very narrow margin. A number of voter groups voted overwhelmingly for this measure. This includes both Latino and African-American populations who turned out by a large measure also to vote for Senator Obama's Democratic candidacy. But the passing of Christopher W. Chasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02915441981151705686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8237942600889875599.post-76548684189248346152008-11-14T02:45:00.002-05:002008-11-14T02:55:20.396-05:00No Sacrament For You!In the wake of the U.S. election, there appears to remain a sector of the Roman Catholic community that is challenging the votes and political commitments of its parishioners. In some previous elections, especially in 2004, there was a notorious effort by certain localized authorities in the Church to use the power of withholding the Eucharist from politicians who supported political positions atChristopher W. Chasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02915441981151705686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8237942600889875599.post-44655262061957871042008-09-03T19:18:00.005-04:002008-09-03T19:42:56.343-04:00The Political Sermon SeasonI've taken a break from writing this blog for the past few weeks. In that time I've moved to Iowa State University and begun my teaching schedule there. I very much enjoy my position and am looking forward to having a great teaching semester. In the meantime, there is no shortage of religious issues at hand in the news, certainly in the U.S political arena.The recent buzz on the net in terms of Christopher W. Chasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02915441981151705686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8237942600889875599.post-6827091544774994532008-07-09T01:38:00.005-04:002008-07-09T01:51:09.671-04:00"Good men should combat the believer in divine creation, maddened by an evil doctrine."The symbol you see beside this paragraph is the official U.S. military headstone designation for an atheist soldier. I've placed it here because CNN is reporting that Army Spc. Jeremy Hall, a two-tour Iraq war veteran and atheist, is suing U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Department of Defense for illegal religious discrimination. Spc. Hall claims that he was subjected to intense Christopher W. Chasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02915441981151705686noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8237942600889875599.post-16554684120541565682008-07-05T02:27:00.005-04:002008-07-05T02:38:44.124-04:00Hinduism Seen Through a Glass-Very Very DarklyWhen attempting to keep track of current trends and events in religion, I am constantly reminded of the varying ways that different media sources frame those events. For example, in many newspapers of record across the world, there is no "Religion" section, as you often find in U.S. newspapers. Stories with overtly religious content are often instead covered under News or Culture. In some cases, Christopher W. Chasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02915441981151705686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8237942600889875599.post-36171642451643314902008-06-28T23:28:00.005-04:002008-06-28T23:35:58.039-04:00Never Underestimate The Power Of Religion To AdaptI spent much of last week in Mexico. Specifically, in the city of Monterrey, which is the provincial capital of Nuevo Leon state. I was there on family business, and unfortunately my formal reasons for being there kept me quite occupied for the duration of the trip. Consequently, I was largely unable to get out and investigate the religious landscape. During my brief sojourns in cars and buses Christopher W. Chasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02915441981151705686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8237942600889875599.post-29015966690866431352008-06-21T23:20:00.007-04:002008-06-28T23:45:14.646-04:00Claiming the Exclusive 'Right' to Appear ReligiousIn the United States, the state of South Carolina, like many states, offers specialty license places for drivers of automobiles. In some cases, as in Michigan, specialty license plates offer a way to raise funds for social causes the purchasers advocate. In other cases, they also offer ways for the state to raise extra revenue without raising taxes across the entire population. Of course, the Christopher W. Chasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02915441981151705686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8237942600889875599.post-84632167801936682132008-06-15T19:00:00.006-04:002008-06-28T23:37:34.480-04:00The Karmic Cycle Meets The Water Cycle In MyanmarUnless you've been living underneath a rock recently, you've at least heard about the devastation wreaked on the Union of Myanmar (formerly Burma) by Cyclone Nargis starting in early May. And for a few weeks last Fall, Buddhist monks in Myanmar also made the top stories of world news for engaging in a massive uprising against the military junta there. These two events, seemingly disconnected in Christopher W. Chasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02915441981151705686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8237942600889875599.post-86526761819986113262008-06-12T23:48:00.007-04:002008-06-12T23:59:15.571-04:00Fear, Loathing and Religion in the American Electorate: IslamTo say that there has been a buzz around U.S. Senator Barack Obama and his current bid for the Presidency would be a massive understatement. For many reasons, historical and otherwise, his candidacy has evoked intense interest, both from his supporters and his detractors. While his Trinity UCC pastor and former U.S. Marine Rev. Jeremiah Wright's soundbites have caused a fair amount of controversyChristopher W. Chasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02915441981151705686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8237942600889875599.post-71850201830782700682008-05-28T23:00:00.005-04:002008-05-28T23:17:11.353-04:00World Religions: The joys and frustrations of teaching.I have recently accepted a faculty position at Iowa State University. Starting this Fall, I will be teaching in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies. Most of my courses this fall term will be "Introduction To World Religions."Teaching "World Religions" in the classroom is one of those tasks that religion scholars find endlessly frustrating on a variety of levels. At the most Christopher W. Chasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02915441981151705686noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8237942600889875599.post-11626986861836161802008-05-19T22:35:00.005-04:002008-05-19T22:51:21.313-04:00Natural Disasters Produce Religious EchoesIt has been one week since the earthquake centered in the Chinese province of Sichuan, in Southcentral China. In that time, some have wondered just how religion is playing a part in people's lives at this time. The death toll is currently around 50,000 and still rising, not to mention that there are over 4 million people displaced at the present time. This presents a real challenge to those who Christopher W. Chasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02915441981151705686noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8237942600889875599.post-57657132521206113512008-05-18T14:05:00.003-04:002008-05-18T14:11:53.123-04:00Welcome to the Religion, Culture, Power weblog!Welcome! This is the inaugural post of my professional weblog. I'm glad you stopped by. I will be offering periodic analysis of issues involving religion, from education to practice to controversies and other items as well. I hope you will visit often and offer your own insights through comments. I am committed to the idea that "religious literacy" is not optional in this day and age. Whatever Christopher W. Chasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02915441981151705686noreply@blogger.com0