What’s the deal with prayers before football games? I don’t know when it became the norm for someone to lead players and spectators in prayer before high school football games in the U.S. I don’t remember such prayers before high school football games when I was in high school in the 1960s, but perhaps we said them and I’ve forgotten. And I don’t know how widespread the practice is, or was. But in at least some parts of the country... Read more
On Friday night, September 1, 2023, an event happened that will be a footnote in the history of church-state relations in the United States: Coach Joe Kennedy once again knelt and prayed on the Bremerton High School football field after a game. Coach Kennedy and his prayers were the subject of a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court case, Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, that has critically impacted church-state relations in the U.S. Joseph Kennedy was an assistant football coach at a public... Read more
The discovery of a long-hidden library in a cave near Dunhuang, China, was one of the great archaeological finds of all time. And if you’ve never heard of it, you aren’t alone. The discovery of the Dunhuang cave library was “on par with Tutankhamun’s tomb and the Dead Sea Scrolls,” wrote Jacob Mikanowski in the New Yorker (October 9, 2013). The library held more than 45,000 manuscripts and printed documents that had been hidden for 900 years. The texts were... Read more
Last month, the state of Oklahoma approved the first religious charter school in the nation. Oklahoma is now facing lawsuits as well as pushback from the charter school movement. St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, an online school proposed for rural students, will receive tax money and also provide Catholic instruction. Until very recently, this would have been considered a clear and obvious violation of the Estabishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution. But recent U.S. Supreme... Read more
Sri Lanka’s Festival of the Tooth is possibly the oldest Buddhist festival in Asia. Indeed, elements of the festival, called Esala Perahera, probably pre-date Buddhism’s arrival in Sri Lanka in the 3rd century BCE. Esala Perahera roughly translates into “procession of the eighth lunar month,” and following a lunar calendar the festival usually happens in July or August. In 2023 it will be held from August 21 to August 31. In 2024 it will be from July 10 to July... Read more
What is the meaning of faith? In particular, what is the meaning of the word faith in a religious sense? This is important, because “faith” often is used as a synonym for “religion.” Religious people are said to be “people of faith” who are following a “faith tradition.” Because religion is a hard word to define, understanding the meaning of religious faith would be a big help in understanding it. The 20th century Christian theologian Paul Tillich said, “There is... Read more
What does the word religion mean? I often hear that Buddhism is not a religion, but many Buddhists disagree and say it depends on how religion is defined. Many dictionary definitions make religion out to be something connected to the belief in and worship of God or gods, which leaves Buddhism out. How else is religion defined? I direct you to an essay in the online Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy on “The Concept of Religion.” It makes the point that... Read more
I recently moved, and this morning while unpacking a box of books I came across one I probably haven’t looked at for 50 years — The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. When I was in college — 1969 to 1973 — this was one of the books everybody read, or claimed to have read, or at least carried around and cited occcasionally. The Prophet was first published a century ago in 1923, and I doubt that it has ever been out... Read more
Child labor is making a comeback in the U.S. Several states are passing laws to weaken protections for child labor so that younger children may be gainfully employed for hours every day. This is just one more “What century is this, again?” issue; they seem to be becoming more common. Violations of federal child labor laws are on the rise. Earlier this year the U.S. Department of Labor fined a meatpacking company $1.5 million after the agency found it had... Read more
Juneteenth — June 19 — is an official holiday now, commemorating the ending of slavery in the U.S. This is an accomplishment worthy of commemoration, of course. But I do wish that politicians and news media would get the history right. Every year we’re subjected to a mangled narrative of what happened on June 19. 1865, that doesn’t exactly match the facts. Compulsive history nerd that I am, I must explain what the narratives get wrong. On June 19, 1865,... Read more
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