KtBlog
Perseverance of the Editors
I’ve always been startled by the variety of writing that appears between the digital “covers” of this magazine: features, criticism, commentary, fiction, and personal essays—but never anything so ordinary as all that for KtB.
KtB Wants You…To Write About the Eclipse
The total solar eclipse passing over the continental U.S. this August 21st is the first to do so in 99 years, but American eclipse stories go back much farther than that. It was a “Dark Day” in the spring of 1780 that apparently convinced Shaker leader Mother Ann Lee to “open” her revelation to new…
Uggs for Gaza
“After a few drinks, Mitch gleaned that Rafe and Joey were “just friends,” which he found encouraging. Less encouraging—downright puzzling, really—was when the conversation turned to environmental concerns, or their version of them. Rafe was dating a girl who studied the effects of secondhand smoke on cats. Joey’s niece just had a particular kind of…
New Year’s Horn-Tooting
It has been a great year for Buddha-killing. In interviewing our co-founder Peter Manseau about his new book One Nation Under Gods (coming out this month!), Publishers Weekly called Killing the Buddha a “pioneer [of] religion journalism online.” Our pal Darcey Steinke gave us a shoutout in Granta: “Killing the Buddha is a website about…
September Buddha-killing Update
Whenever something we publish on KtB prompts a surprising response, I like to take a little time and then weigh in to the conversation editorially speaking. Last week’s feature, “White People Problems,” from our friend Briallen Hopper, is an impassioned meditation on the need for difficult conversations about race and power, on the occasion of…
Win Bassett on the Blog Train
A literary blog train started by @bethkepler which has stopped by (in succession) @melissaduclos, @modmyth, @kayaoakes @otherspoon and @marykvalle has lumbered up to newly minted Buddha-killer Win Bassett’s station. What is Win doing? Answers right here! What am I working on? I use to serve as a prosecutor in North Carolina, and I loved when…
Behind the Scenes at KtB
I am honored to be tagged in my very first “blog train,” thanks to the awesome Melissa Duclos, my grad-school colleague and writer-editor extraordinaire, whose latest venture, The Clovers Project, seeks to create mentoring groups for student, emerging, and established writers to support each other. That’s a spirit we can definitely identify with around here…
This Mutant Genre
The introduction to a new anthology Radiant Truths: Essential …. Essays on American Belief
“It’s The World That’s Strange”
Barbara Ehrenreich talks to Jeff Sharlet about her new book, mysticism, secrecy, and science.
Told You So
As generally skeptical types, we Buddha-killers don’t like to claim victory over the forces of dogma and oversimplification very often. The very act of our title is, after all, in the present tense. But it does seem in recent months that the good word of Buddha-killing–writing about religion the way most of us actually experience…
Is the Internet Taking Away America’s Religion?
Apparently the Internet is taking away America’s religion. According to data-analyzer Allen Downey, an Olin College of Engineering computer scientist, a drop in the religiously afflilated correlates to a rise in Internet use. He also cites the “drop in religious upbringing” and “the increase in college-level education” as other factors in the rise of religious-preference-lackers.…
Happy New Year from KtB!
Herewith, in the spirit of the season, a highly subjective New Year’s Eve countdown of our favorite KtB moments of 2013. 10 Illustrated posts by Communicant Mary Valle. 9 New books by Buddha-killers. 8 hot tips on new Buddha-killing movies by Becky Garrison. 7 Habits of a Highly Effective Philosopher. 6 Pieces of original reporting…
Buy Buddha-killing Books!
So we’re not big on holiday themed lists at KtB, but we promise this one’s for a worthy cause: our contributors! Many of the excellent writers who have published here also came out with books this year, and we think they all make excellent gifts. But, as they used to say on Reading Rainbow, you…
Giving Thanks For Torn Bread
Last week, the awesome Kaya Oakes, who’s written several beautiful personal essays for KtB, entrusted us with a new one, which she felt was a little more experimental, less linear than her other work. “Torn Bread” is a searching, self-reflective exploration of the feeling of receiving Communion from a female Episcopal priest, as a feminist Catholic…
Apocalypse Week…Again
Here at Killing the Buddha, we’ve been all over the apocalypse for a long time. The apocalypse is kind of like Christmas: it threatens to happen just about every year, or then maybe it does, or doesn’t, and anyway life goes on. As the apparently Mormon-inspired sci-fi show Battlestar Galactica likes to say “All of…
Home Taping Is Skill in Buddha
We are musicians, sampling his breaks, writing our own songs hundreds of times.
Heart and Head
A couple of weeks ago, I found myself sitting at a conference table in a Chicago convention center, along with a couple dozen strangers, tears streaming down my face. How embarrassing! It was awkward enough to be a civilian at the Academy of American Religion conference, intimidated by the advance reading packet for this Religion…
Buddha-Killing on Network TV
My good husband brought this to my attention. In this recent episode of Fringe, Pacey from Dawson’s Creek gives the book If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him! to the Nordicly blond FBI agent he works with on supernatural cases, and, apparently, does not have sex with for some stupid TV-reason. You…