Americans talk a lot about religion. Do we know much about it? In a word, no.
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Results tagged “religion”
[I]f you drink blood that doesn't necessarily mean you're a vampire. There are blood fetishists. This is something I talk about in the book: there people who used to describe themselves as vampires and now describe themselves as blood fetishists.
And I've seen symbiotic relations form between blood fetishists and vampires.
A few weeks ago, the Boston Globe quietly ditched its weekly Health/Science section, choosing to save some cash by farming out those stories to other departments while keeping more important sections, like the funny pages and horoscopes. The move was a troubling one for those who are concerned about how science news is reported, since even the former Globe science editor admits, "this can't help but dim the overall breadth and scope of coverage when you're fighting for space every day and defining what you do in a more narrowly focused way."
Whether as a result of Catholicism's opposition to condoms and beer pong or for another reason, the Catholic population in New England is decreasing, particularly in Massachusetts, as Catholics increase in the southwest. According to the American Religious Identification Survey, 54 percent of Bay Staters self-identified as Catholic in 1990; in 2008, the amount went down to 39 percent. Rather than adopting new religions, these folks seem to now identify as secular, following a larger trend: just 8.2 percent of Americans claimed "no religion" in 1990; 15 percent of the country is non-religious today. Vermont is 34% religionless, the highest in the nation.
As surveys have it, Massachusetts is the third least religious state, behind just Vermont and New Hampshire in the heathen countdown. Maine rounds out the total of only four states in the U.S. where people don't say religion is an important part of their daily lives. The results were somewhat surprising to us, but maybe they're not counting sports as a religion in this survey. Not so surprisingly, a bunch of Southern states were the most religious.
This Bostonist is sort of a humbug. He's just not a big fan of the holiday season. Christmas lights, rampant shopping, nasty sugar cookies, fairy tales about flying quadropeds and sons of god, or what have you—not a big fan. But he does like to be ecumenical about his disinterest.
The Holiday season is in full swing in NYC, with holiday lights in Brooklyn, a giant snow globe in Bryant Park and Chanukah specials for ham. One citizen decided to go vigilante on annoying car alarms, a murder suspect used a fake Asian accent on the stand and a video of a man being beaten up by teenage girls on a subway shocked the city. And we interviewed soon-to-be-leaving-Gawker editor Choire Sicha, who said,...
--Fires ran rampant yesterday. A mother and her son were injured last night in a fire in Somerville. One firefighter was treated and released at the hospital. [Boston Globe] --Another fire broke out in Haverhill last night, and people were injured jumping out of the windows. No one died in the blaze, but 24 people have lost their homes. [Boston Globe, Boston Herald] --The state Supreme Judicial Court is letting Heidi Erickson, who kept...
Pundits, talking heads, and peanut galleries in general have sat back and digested Massachusetts governor and political aspirant Mitt Romney's "I Am Mormon, Hear Me Roar" speech. Reactions range from underwhelmed to slightly less underwhelmed. Christopher Hitchens took some time out from getting his body waxed to call it "windy" and "boilerplate." The Globe said it was "tactically astute," but that Romney shut out non-religious and non-Christian audiences, despite his brief shoutout to those of...
Former Massachusetts governor and presidential aspirant Mitt Romney delivered a thoughtful, moving speech today at the George Bush Sr. Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, Texas. Romney delivered points that no one could argue with--namely, that religious liberty is "fundamental to America's greatness." No kidding. Isn't that why the pilgrims came here in the first place? Aside from a few "duh" moments, Romney delivered a solid speech with some quotable lines, particularly: "Americans do...
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney may be trying to tell potential voters to set his Mormon faith aside, but one large chunk of the voting bloc is speaking out about Romney's beliefs. The Osmonds, that legendary Mormon entertainment dynasty, have so many members it's difficult to count them all, but they're welcoming Romney into the fold. In one of the least shocking semi-endorsements of all time, Donny and Marie Osmond delivered a positive evaluation of...
The United States has a lot to be afraid of: the war in Iraq, the mortgage crisis, wildfires, the gulf between the haves and have nots, and Dick Cheney. But former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney thinks that the nation should really be afraid of Hillary Clinton. In an attempt to celebrate Halloween and trash an opponent at the same time, Mitt Romney told an audience in Iowa, "What do you think about Hillary's House of...
Authorial Intent spotlights readings throughout the area. All events are free unless otherwise noted. Michelle Wildgen, You're Not You, Wednesday, October 3, 7:00 pm, Brookline Booksmith. In Wildgen's debut novel, which is enjoying glowing reviews, Bec, a drifting college student, takes care of Kate, an older, sophisticated woman dying from ALS. The two grow close, and soon Bec is taking care of business for Kate - such as carrying out a clever little way to...
Just over a year ago (in June 2006) the ACLU threatened the MBTA with a lawsuit, alleging that their unwritten policy against amateur photography on the nation's oldest subway system was unconstitutional. Specifically the ACLU asserted that it was a violation of the first amendment rights (free speech specifically, though a fair argument could be made for freedom of press, we challenge you to give us a legitimate application for freedom of religion.) The...
All in all, it's been a pretty good week for former Massachusetts governor and presidential aspirant Mitt Romney. Aside from a minor seatbelt flap, Romney saw a considerable improvement in his chances at election. The Des Moines Register announced that Romney was backed by 30 percent of Iowa Republicans, which puts him ahead of McCain and Giuliani. What is making Romney so appealing to those who haven't had the dubious pleasure of being governed by...
With L'Affaire Sharpton, L'Affaire Duck Hunt, and L'Affaire Hair, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is building quite a national reputation. It may not be the reputation he wants, but we think it might be time to start a weekly roundup of Mitt's exploits as he runs for president. --Romney claims that he's found religion – of sorts – when it comes to abortion. Even though he was pro-choice, and everyone knows he's pro-choice, and his...
The Boston Independent Film Festival runs from April 25 through May 1. You can get tickets at their official site. Punk's Not Dead will screen on Thursday, April 26, at 10:00 pm at the Somerville Theatre and on Friday, April 27, at 9:30 pm at the Brattle Theatre. Silver Jew will screen on Saturday, April 28, at 10:15 pm at the Coolidge, on Sunday, April 29, at 10:15 pm at the Coolidge, and Monday, April...
How do you write a treatise on Dunkin' Donuts? With five dollar words like "inculcated" and "extant." Mike Miliard writes such a tome for the Phoenix titled "Choosing our Religion" about the rise and embrace of Boston's beloved coffee and donut shop. It's not clear if people outside New England identify our chain the same way we see Starbucks as something coming from Seattle, but it really doesn’t matter – we drink it, and love...
When Bostonist scanned the list of those on Deval Patrick's inaugural committee, we thought, "James Taylor? Huh. James 'Fire and Rain' Taylor? Is he doing the Bono thing now?" We learned that was indeed the case, and rumors have now surfaced that the soft-rocker might be dropping a few tunes at the Deval Patrick Million-Dollar Bash. Carol Beggy and Mark Shanahan write, "At his Boston concert before the election, Sweet Baby James dedicated 'Fire...
As Bostonist's non-lawyer friends stumble into work today and read the paper, they keep e-mailing us and asking, "Bostonist, you law-talking person, how is it that the Supreme Judicial Court can rule that a ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional generally, but OK when applied to out-of-state couples?" Allow us to explain. This case involves a challenge to an old law that says no one from out-of-state can get married here if they would be...
Just about a week ago, Bostonist garnered more comments than we'd ever before received on a single post when we talked about the Massachusetts Catholic archbishops' plan to stop placing children for adoption with same-sex couples, in violation of state anti-discrimination law. At first, the Church seemed confident it would get around the problem hiring a white-shoe law firm to seek an exemption, and although the Governor initially said the matter was out of his...
Whew! Bostonist was worried for a minute that gay marriage and related issues might stay out of the headlines for too long, but the good folks at the Catholic Church seldom let us down. The bishops of Massachusetts's four archdioceses have announced their plan to seek an exemption for Catholic Charities from the state rule (in .pdf form) forbidding licensed adoption agencies from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation. As you might have guessed,...
With the holidays behind us and the doldrums of winter officially underway (to say nothing of the dreaded return to the workaday life), now is a time when the seasonal affective disorder can set in kinda hard. So let Bostonist forestall that sorry fate, if only for a little while, by regaling you with the tale of the how our Russian Jewish immigrant family celebrates the birth of Christ: This year, December 25 marked two...
In this week’s News & Opinions’ “Weekly Dig” Editor Joe Keohane delves into the heated controversy over Intelligent Design (ID). It’s been difficult to escape the term Intelligent Design, a variation on “Creationism,” in popular media’s discourse. In recent weeks the Kansas Board of Education voted in favor of teaching ID, causing many, including Keohane to cite Kansas’ history with teaching evolution in public schools. The infamous John Scopes debacle of 1925 when the high...
In other parts of the world, stampedes are pretty much reserved for passion-inspiring subjects like soccer and religious pilgrimages. In this country, we stampede for post-Thanksgiving bargains. Bostonist doesn’t know who fares better in that comparison (being not especially enamored of soccer, religion, or shopping), but we generally start to feel a little disgusted as the holiest day in the retail calendar approaches. This year was no exception, and we swore on Thursday night that...
While Bostonist was happily ensconced in the warm embrace of family, turkey, and red wine yesterday, those America-hating scofflaws at Super 88 Markets (some of them just a few blocks down Washington street from our law-abiding gathering) were undermining everything we hold dear in this Commonwealth by being open for business. Despite Attorney General Reilly's stern warnings to Whole Foods and others, the Globe reports that the Asian foodstuffs chain was welcoming customers in many...
The logical part of Bostonist's brain understands why it is OK not to have a one-game playoff with the Yankees to determine who is the champion of the AL East: No matter who wins, both teams will be in the playoffs, and fighting over who gets to play Anaheim and who gets to play the White Sox is like, um . . . metaphors fail us; it's obviously dumb. But baseball is not logical -...
Bostonist has seen that Sox pitcher Curt Schilling is a religious man. As he scribbled down notes and prayers after pitching each inning against the Yankees in last year’s post-season, we could see that he believed that religion could help him and his bloody sock win games. When the Sox defied all odds last season to come back from four games behind New York, some fans believed it could only be something bigger than us...
Among other interesting rulings this month, the Supreme Court held Monday that displays of the Ten Commandments on public property are unconstitutional . . . except when they're not. In two cases, the Court approved an big stone rendering of the Commandments in a park surrounding the Texas state capitol, but rejected the posting of the commandments in Kentucky courtrooms. The unlikely swing vote in this confusing mess was Massachusetts' own Justice Stephen Breyer, who...