https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/public/ recent bookmarks from matthewmcvickar 2020-02-04T19:23:27+00:00 https://www.polygon.com/2019/5/20/18632723/vr-chat-baptism-anime-girl-dj-soto matthewmcvickarSyrmor interviews DJ Soto, a Christian pastor who is looking to redefine what faith looks like. As Soto tells it, part of his interest in taking up a virtual house of prayer is that it opens up the experience to people who might otherwise be excluded from real-world congregations, such as folks in wheelchairs and recovering drug addicts. Soto describes one instance where he baptized a woman who couldn’t leave her home, and the experience was so intense that she started “bawling,” as she never thought she’d have the opportunity to do it given her condition. His service also allows him to reach people he couldn’t if he preached solely through typical avenues. He has been performing virtual reality baptisms for a year now.]]> videogames religion inclusion https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:4d31fa6df1b1/ 2019-12-08T17:07:51+00:00 https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/9/1/15951874/prosperity-gospel-explained-why-joel-osteen-believes-prayer-can-make-you-rich-trump matthewmcvickarIt’s difficult to say that the prosperity gospel itself led to Donald Trump’s inauguration. Again, only 17 percent of American Christians identify with it explicitly. It’s far more true, however, to say that the same cultural forces that led to the prosperity gospel’s proliferation in America — individualism, an affinity for ostentatious and charismatic leaders, the Protestant work ethic, and a cultural obsession with the power of “positive thinking” — shape how we, as a nation, approach politics. What is our collective approach to health care, after all, if not rooted in a visceral sense that the unlucky are responsible for their own misfortune? What is our willingness to vote a man like Trump into office but a collective cultural reward for those who brand themselves as successful?]]> america christianity religion politics https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:04ac44da52cd/ 2019-07-19T23:03:35+00:00 https://aeon.co/essays/muslims-lived-in-america-before-protestantism-even-existed matthewmcvickarMuslims thus arrived in America more than a century before the Virginia Company founded the Jamestown colony in 1607. Muslims came to America more than a century before the Puritans founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. Muslims were living in America not only before Protestants, but before Protestantism existed. After Catholicism, Islam was the second monotheistic religion in the Americas. The popular misunderstanding, even among educated people, that Islam and Muslims are recent additions to America tells us important things about how American history has been written. In particular, it reveals how historians have justified and celebrated the emergence of the modern nation-state. One way to valorise the United States of America has been to minimise the heterogeneity and scale – the cosmopolitanism, diversity and mutual co-existence of peoples – in America during the first 300 years of European presence. [...] If there is any religious group who represents the best version of religious freedom in America, it is Muslims such as Zemourri and al-Rahman. They came to America under conditions of genuine oppression, and struggled for the recognition of their religion and the freedom to practise it. In contrast to Anglo-Protestants, Muslims in America have demurred the impulse to tyrannise others, including Native Americans. The most persistent consequence of the Puritan effect has been a continuing commitment to producing a past focused on how the actions, usually courageous and principled, of Anglo-Protestants (almost always in New England and the Chesapeake) led to the United States of America, its government and its institutions. The truth is that the history of America is not primarily an Anglo-Protestant story, any more than the history of the West more broadly. It might not be a straightforward or self-evident matter what, exactly, constitutes ‘the West’. But the more global era in history inaugurated by the European colonisation of the Western hemisphere must be a significant part of it. If the West means, in part, the Western hemisphere or North America, Muslims have been part of its societies from the very beginning. Conflicts over what the American nation is and who belongs to it are perennial. Answers remain open to a range of possibilities and are vitally important. Historically, Muslims are Americans, as originally American as Anglo-Protestants. In many ways, America’s early Muslims are exemplars of the best practices and ideals of American religion. Any statement or suggestion to the contrary, no matter how well-meaning, derives from either intended or inherited chauvinism.]]> america history religion islam africa race https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:b47e6ffc7d49/ 2019-05-06T19:17:16+00:00 https://www.topic.com/holy-sheet matthewmcvickarThe ongoing debate between the scientific and the miraculous, as seen through a very thin piece of fabric: the Shroud of Turin.]]> religion history christianity https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:609b62b8fdd4/ 2018-11-27T17:00:22+00:00 https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-does-dagnabbit-mean matthewmcvickarThis piece of pseudo-profanity is what’s known as a taboo deformation—a word we say when we don’t want to say the word.]]> language religion culture https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:96a3140f7ae3/ 2016-11-22T04:21:35+00:00 http://www.vice.com/read/dear-students-from-your-muslim-american-teacher matthewmcvickarAll the things I should've told my students about being a Muslim and a woman and an American.]]> muslim history america race religion trump https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:c0dbf8fc315b/ 2015-12-17T00:09:36+00:00 http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2015/09/24/marilynne-robinson-fear/ matthewmcvickarFearfulness obscures the distinction between real threat on one hand and on the other the terrors that beset those who see threat everywhere. … A “civilian” Kalashnikov can easily be modified into a weapon that would blast a deer to smithereens. That’s illegal, of course, and unsportsmanlike. I have heard the asymmetry rationalized thus: deer can’t shoot back. Neither can adolescents in a movie theater, of course. … As for America, we have a way of plunging into wars we weary of and abandon after a few years and a few thousand casualties, having forgotten what our object was; these wars demonstrate an overwhelming power to destroy without any comparable regard to life and liberty, to the responsibilities of power, that would be consistent with maintaining our good name. We throw away our status in the world at the urging of those who think it has nothing to do with our laws and institutions, impressed by the zeal of those supernumeraries who are convinced that it all comes down to shock and awe and boots on the ground. This notion of glory explains, I suppose, some part of the fantasizing, the make-believe wars against make-believe enemies, and a great many of the very real Kalashnikovs.]]> guncontrol religion america terrorism politics https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:9836f44150bc/ 2015-10-27T19:21:49+00:00 http://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/12/arts/the-man-who-rendered-jesus-for-the-age-of-duplication.html matthewmcvickarPerhaps it was just as well, then, that the exhibition did not include a Sallman painting familiarly known as "Sputnik Christ." Painted in the late 1950's, it shows a monumental Jesus standing atop Earth, his figure extending into outer space, with planets, meteors and satellites whizzing by.]]> religion painting https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:5f2114cfebb5/ 2014-11-26T22:45:18+00:00 http://www.scoutsongs.com/lyrics/graces-for-girl-scouts.html matthewmcvickar religion https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:571c679d0412/ 2012-10-04T10:02:06+00:00 http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2012/08/13/120813crat_atlarge_gopnik?currentPage=all matthewmcvickar christianity gop religion https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:8e9ad253f376/ 2012-10-01T04:43:46+00:00 http://aylororris.tumblr.com/post/29646481892/pussy-riot-and-hashtag-activism matthewmcvickarThere are jailed dissenters around the world, with harsher sentences for lesser crimes, wasting in silence. We shouldn’t forget them and we shouldn’t forget the message Pussy Riot was trying to spread. However, we should let rebellion and reform grow organically from within a country and then foster and support it with an outsider’s perspective; we shouldn’t place ourselves and our lives and our Twitter feeds directly into someone else’s story and someone else’s struggle. If it’s not about you, don’t make it about you.]]> protest activism twitter internet russia politics religion https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:e3f0813a3f34/ 2012-04-10T00:59:16+00:00 http://multivax.com/last_question.html matthewmcvickar literature science scifi god religion universe future https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:1c3d94dfce7c/ 2012-01-12T10:49:39+00:00 http://www.nypress.com/article-7663-the-doom-that-came-to-chelsea.html matthewmcvickar nyc occult religion https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:3c81650a017f/ 2011-07-27T05:51:36+00:00 http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/07/mf_chainworld/all/1 matthewmcvickar culture religion games videogames https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:17a0d9021859/ 2010-12-15T21:40:20+00:00 http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/06/ff_alcoholics_anonymous/all/1 matthewmcvickar psychology culture religion history https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:da8a43ff21a0/ 2010-11-29T00:02:09+00:00 http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/11/28/fbi/index.html matthewmcvickar terrorism usa fbi religion politics https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:cc42556fe138/ 2010-10-19T10:42:19+00:00 http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/oct/09/insane-clown-posse-christians-god matthewmcvickar icp christianity music religion america interview https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:0abccb52d687/ 2010-08-03T08:33:18+00:00 http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/08/01/how_puritans_became_capitalists?mode=PF matthewmcvickar religion capitalism america history market christianity puritanism https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:7c34ebbfa117/ 2010-07-31T10:29:38+00:00 http://www.gandhiserve.org/information/listen_to_gandhi/lec_1_on_god/augven_spiritual_message.html matthewmcvickar ghandi religion god essay writing history faith https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:c823ec269025/ 2010-06-01T00:16:50+00:00 http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/146557 matthewmcvickar christianity culture homosexuality journalism religion sex gay https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:777fd3709d4a/ 2010-02-04T09:26:03+00:00 http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/2/2/832988/-The-2010-Comprehensive-Daily-Kos-Research-2000-Poll-of-Self-Identified-Republicans matthewmcvickar politics religion news obama usa statistics republican 2010 conservatives gop poll numbers https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:f50f82a6e2e1/ 2009-01-09T01:03:01+00:00 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/world/europe/07london.html?_r=1 matthewmcvickaradvertising culture religion social atheism dawkins https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:c90b3f679a57/ 2008-12-29T05:46:45+00:00 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article5400568.ece matthewmcvickar faith religion atheism africa christianity charity missions https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:96eae726f2e4/ 2008-08-16T23:11:05+00:00 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012 matthewmcvickar 2012 apocalypse endtimes astrology calendar future time reference religion culture https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:156542cf4ae8/ 2007-10-28T19:22:30+00:00 http://www.graphpaper.com/2007/10-28_the-trenches-of-the-culture-war matthewmcvickar culture america religion politics https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:f7c09d9730ca/ 2007-07-30T07:50:19+00:00 http://biologistshelpingbookstores.blogspot.com/ matthewmcvickar creationism evolution religion books biology science https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:85a1efcc2ac8/ 2007-05-30T18:11:01+00:00 http://gregladen.com/wordpress/?p=869 matthewmcvickar creationism religion atheism america culture https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:455b5c42e45b/ 2007-05-30T17:58:45+00:00 http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/05/the_creation_museum.php matthewmcvickar creationism religion evolution science museum atheism https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:5575529d3954/ 2007-05-30T17:57:06+00:00 http://studentweb.eku.edu/zachary_lynn/museum/index.html matthewmcvickar creationism museum religion evolution biology https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:dc911d00cb9c/ 2007-05-02T19:16:33+00:00 http://www.whywontgodhealamputees.com/ matthewmcvickar religion atheism christianity god https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:b15d6dcff716/ 2007-01-10T14:59:16+00:00 http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0104buddhist-ON.html matthewmcvickar government politics religion buddhism congress https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:772fdc97c83d/ 2005-10-29T02:03:26+00:00 http://www.devoted1.com/ matthewmcvickar design humor ipod religion https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:33a28e6b2bdb/ 2005-07-27T14:05:07+00:00 http://harpers.org/ExcerptTheChristianParadox.html matthewmcvickar religion politics https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:a653b7fce488/ 2005-06-28T05:47:44+00:00 http://www.classicreader.com/read.php/sid.6/bookid.1736/ matthewmcvickarreligion writing https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:1c5e26c6985d/ 2005-06-15T14:37:22+00:00 http://www.scientology-kills.org/index.html matthewmcvickarscientology religion https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:aa9d1541ca56/ 2005-06-07T15:34:26+00:00 http://www.ezlink.com/~perry/Co$/Christian/mrsummar.htm matthewmcvickar religion https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:0942e847be9f/ 2005-06-07T15:32:00+00:00 http://www.tvgasm.com/archives/miscellaneous_tv/000829.php matthewmcvickar religion people tv scientology https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:6f8caf2eb52d/ 2005-06-04T00:42:10+00:00 http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/film/news/story.jsp?story=643675 matthewmcvickar religion people scientology https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:6c78d57195c0/ 2005-04-27T14:43:03+00:00 http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/04/26/news/pope.php matthewmcvickar people religion history https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:99355b5ea159/ 2005-04-22T18:15:27+00:00 http://www.stereogum.com/archives/001421.html matthewmcvickar music religion https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:6addbd529c35/ 2004-11-22T23:49:40+00:00 http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurrin1/textbookdisclaimers/ matthewmcvickar diy religion education https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:c7f25e0ae2b7/ 2004-10-18T19:30:12+00:00 http://www.ironyage.com/hollys/cake/sheepgotoheaven.html matthewmcvickar religion music https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:ef6b0e9576b5/ 2004-10-04T00:34:56+00:00 http://taxexemptchildabuse.net/ matthewmcvickar scientology religion https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:34bc41ea55f4/ 2004-10-04T00:31:49+00:00 http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/6420217?rnd=1092364818611&has-player=true&version=6.0.11.847& matthewmcvickar people religion scientology https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:b0af24b1457f/ 2004-10-03T23:56:39+00:00 http://www.rotten.com/library/religion/scientology/ matthewmcvickar people religion scientology https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:8f800e2570b9/ 2004-08-21T16:00:33+00:00 http://www.lamrim.com/index2.html matthewmcvickar philosophy religion https://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:a2aae39c3722/