KtBlog
musings, news, events, and your letters to the editors
2009 Vulgaria Child Catcher of the Year
It’s always a treat when a Killing the Buddha writer receives recognition for their work. KtB contributors have been winners or finalists for the National Book Award, the National Book…
Mothers We Have Known
Killing the Buddha celebrates Mother’s Day this year with Elizabeth Wildman’s “Big Fat Jewish Pregnancy” and Kathryn Joyce’s acceptance speech for her 2009 Vulgaria Child Catcher of the Year Prize,…
Regions of the Great Heresy
At the 92nd Street Y tonight, I joined KtB author Ann Neumann for a lecture by the Israeli novelist David Grossman on Bruno Schulz. Jonathan Safran Foer, in turn, introduced…
Big in Somalia
Online Somali pirates have hijacked my May Harper’s feature, “Jesus Killed Mohammed,” excerpted “exclusively” (no more) here on Killing the Buddha. A publication called Garowe has re-published the piece —…
U.S. Army Chaplain: “We hunt people for Jesus.”
“Special forces guys, they hunt men, basically. We do the same thing as Christians, we hunt people for Jesus. Hunt ’em down.” That’s Lt. Colonel Gary Hensley, who at the…
A Sigh of Relief
We just got a powerful letter from “Gabe.” Messages like this make all our Buddha killing feel worthwhile: I have just read the article, “[Shattered Faith in Two Parts],” and…
Credit Card Rosary
My friend/hero Will, who for the months since his success in electing Barack Obama president has made it his business to travel around “visiting people,” sent me a delightful little…
Everything but the Broken Link
Thank God for rainy Sundays. For mindless movies and bad television. For moments when we needed the perfect excuse for avoiding that thing that needs to be done by tomorrow,…
The Poem of Force
Some time ago, a dear friend shared with me a photocopy of some sections of Simone Weil’s essay The Iliad or The Poem of Force. I remember being haunted by…
How Do We Know We’re Not in a Cult?
For those of you deathly concerned about this question, we just got a letter from “FutureChurch” (a.k.a. Thomas Hohstadt) that may help: Dear friends, How do we know we haven’t…
The Illustration Saga
My recent article for the Boston Globe included this unassuming concoction by way of illustration: Sure, it’s nice, but I would have thought no more of it but for a…
Talmud vs. Torture
I noted yesterday that religious voices against torture have not been clearly heard in the public conversation. That’s in part the fault of a media that tends to “get” religion…
Also, the Crucifixion Was Really Just a Carpentry Mishap
Arguing against hate crimes legislation that would protect queer folks, Representative Virginia Foxx (R., NC) says that Matthew Shepard was simply the victim of a robbery gone wrong, and that…
A Poet’s Suggestions for the Pope
Quentin Kirk—who has been a Cold War spy and a schoolteacher but now literally wears a “poet” hat—sent us the following dispatch today. From Quentin Kirk, a poet living in…
The Mysteries of Torture
One doesn’t often look to Keith Olbermann for revelation of religion in the public sphere, but he inadvertently exposes the raw nerve at the heart of the “debate” over torture.…
The Muslim Plot to Conquer America (Through Basic Human Decency)
The United States’ first Muslim congressman, Keith Ellison of Minnesota, was arrested about an hour ago along with seven other activists protesting the Muslim government of Sudan’s expulsion of foreign…