Pacific Standard May-June 2013 Cover

Does Mormon Matter?

July 19, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
Mitt Romney

It's hard to miss that being Mormon is an issue in this presidential election. Gallup recently reported that nearly one in five Americans say that they would not vote for a Mormon—a sentiment most prevalent with Democrats and voters with low levels of education. The latter group, particularly whites and Latinos, are key to the GOP’s 2012 campaign. Add to that, many in Mitt Romney’s own party—particularly conservative Christians—see his religion as a liability. Critical to these issues is the assumption that Mormon elected officials actually behave differently from ... Read More

More like this: Politics
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A Twist of Faiths: Claremont’s Mission to Desegregate Religion

June 22, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
Books from different religious traditions

“Have you seen our prayer room?” Mahmoud Harmoush bolts up a stairway on the campus of Claremont School of Theology, the tails of his navy sports coat flying. He’s a stocky man of 52, quick on his feet, with a beard flecked salt and pepper. On the first day of spring semester, just a few students have returned to the United Methodist graduate school in this Southern California college town. Harmoush, a master’s candidate, had hustled from his home in Temecula—an hour south—to an 8:30 class that morning on interfaith counseling, driven home, and then returned. He was ready to ... Read More

More like this: Culture, July-August 2012
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The Book of Mormon: A Biography

May 3, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
The Book of Mormon: A Biography

America is experiencing something of a Mormon moment, thanks to Mitt Romney’s bid for the presidency and a Tony Award-winning musical named after the Book of Mormon. But much remains unknown about this faith, including the circumstances surrounding its primary sacred text. Paul C. Gutjahr’s well-written and erudite account of the history of the Book of Mormon fills much of this void. In The Book of Mormon: A Biography, he describes an earthly drama that begins in upstate New York in the 1820s, connects with a mythological past about ancient North American civilizations (which includes ... Read More

More like this: Culture, May-June 2012
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Computer Determines If Torah Is Mosaic … or a mosaic

November 17, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment

In a marriage of traditional biblical scholarship and the latest in computerized textual analysis, a team of Israeli scholars has shed light on a long-simmering dispute over the authorship of the first five books of the Old Testament. The new technique supports a scholarly consensus that the Torah, traditionally attributed solely to Moses, is based on two primary sources. “It’s cool to be able to answer some of these millennia-old questions with cutting-edge 21st-century techniques,” says Idan Dershowitz, a graduate student in Biblical studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, ... Read More

More like this: Culture
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How to Keep the Devil From Getting More Than His Due

October 29, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment

The February 2011 issue of Currents in Biblical Research should have a calming effect on anyone who had to hide behind the sofa when watching the scary scenes in The Exorcism of Emily Rose. In “The Devil in the Details,” Derek R. Brown, a doctoral candidate at the University of Edinburgh, discusses the different ideas about demons and Satan in ancient religious texts. The ideas range from the “original” concept of Satan as he is described in the Old Testament, as an adversarial angel who is a member of God’s divine council, to the “new” Satan of the New Testament Gospels, ... Read More

More like this: Culture
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The Fear of a Sharia Planet

October 6, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment

The “supremacy clause” of the U.S. Constitution is one of the first things taught in many first-year law school courses. Article VI, Clause 2 states quite clearly that the “Constitution and the laws of the United States … shall be the supreme law of the land” and that no other law (foreign or domestic) can pre-empt or supersede it. While that seems pretty clear, some national conservative political figures have convinced more than a dozen American states that “Sharia,” or Islamic law, is somehow on the verge of toppling the American way of law. While that’s unlikely, some ... Read More

More like this: Legal Affairs
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Myth of the Modern Religious War

September 10, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Religion, War

Not long ago, a church leader at the Protestant sect I belong to gave a sermon criticizing the role of religion in today's conflicts. He cited the Crusades, clashes between Catholics and Protestants, and other "religious wars" of the Middle East and throughout Asia. It made me wonder how prevalent these are, given that many of these conflicts cited either occurred a long time ago or are predominantly fought over other reasons. The political science literature on the subject is overshadowed by Samuel Huntington's Clash of Civilizations, frequently cited by the mainstream media and numerous ... Read More

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Teaching Religious Literacy in California’s Bible Belt

August 26, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment

A fourth "R" has been added to the core curriculum in the Modesto, Calif., public schools: Religion. In September 2000 — one year before the 9/11 attacks — this Central California community instituted a requirement that all ninth-graders complete a nine-week survey course on the world's religions. It is believed to be the first school system in the U.S. to make religious literacy mandatory for graduation. University of Virginia sociologist Emile Lester writes about this experiment in the journal Politics and Religion and in his new book Teaching about Religions, published by the University ... Read More

More like this: Education, September-October 2011
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Celebrants Offering More Meaningful Funerals

July 6, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment

Diane Meily planned her own funeral as she lay dying of cancer. She met with the mortician at her bedside, chose her own casket and videotaped a farewell message. She was a high school teacher; it was meant to be an inspiration for her students. She envisioned a personal, uplifting service to convey the spirit of her life, capped by the playing of her favorite song, Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up." But Meily's pastor of 15 years had his own ideas about her funeral. In a call with the family following her death, he turned down several of her last requests, including the song. Meily's family ... Read More

More like this: Culture, July-August 2011, News and Options
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Energy Conservation Through the Lens of Faith

May 30, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment

Advocates of green living are often eager to support their cause by referencing benefits of an eco-friendly life style. The rewards for conserving energy in the home or driving a hybrid car include lower energy bills, fewer trips to the gas pumps and knowing that the air is a bit less toxic. In recent years, however, voices within progressive religion have elevated the cause to a higher plateau. Within the three monotheistic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, an effort grounded in a shared theology has spawned Interfaith Power and Light, a national organization that preaches ... Read More

More like this: Environment
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