Assertive Spiritualities Archives - Page 6 of 10 - Assertive Spirituality

Church Buildings as “Essential” and COVID-19: A Rhetorical Analysis

May 23, 2020 DS Leiter Comments 3 comments

Yesterday the current head of the executive branch of the US government made an announcement advocating for the immediate reopening of churches and other houses of worship as “essential” as quickly as this weekend. That announcement understandably set off a firestorm in the spiritually-focused groups I’m a part of. In this blog post, as a result, I will be looking at the concept of “houses of worship as essential” and the rhetoric around it. In doing so, I will also…

Read More Read More

Toward Healthy Dissent (Person Holding a Sign that says "Stop Talking")

Striving for Healthy Dissent (in Today’s Progressive Politics)

May 2, 2020 DS Leiter Comments 2 comments

Hello friends! Lately I’ve been thinking about—and encountering—a lot of both healthy dissent and also the unhealthy varieties, especially when it comes to the 2020 election among my left-leaning and progressive friends. So today I want to unwrap some of those facets of the differences between healthy and unhealthy dissent, and encourage us all to diagnose the difference in ourselves and others so we can achieve our shared goals without too much unhealthy detraction. And let’s be honest: this is…

Read More Read More

COVID-19, Religious Organizations, and Spiritual Trauma: A Rhetorical Analysis

April 19, 2020 DS Leiter Comments 2 comments

It happened so quickly, didn’t it? On March 1 in my first article about COVID-19 on this site, I was apologizing for calling the current pandemic “only a cold,” and recommending preparations. About that time I was also recommending that my university students absolutely not shake hands with each other when they did their in-class interviews. Since then, we in the US have all been metaphorically hit by a freight train—okay, a virus—forcing us to rethink how we do connection…

Read More Read More

Assertively Countering #COVID19’s Abusive Effects

April 5, 2020 DS Leiter Comments 0 Comment

As I’ve gone through the last few weeks, it’s been extremely obvious that the responses to this COVID-19 pandemic that are NOT denialist have fallen roughly along two different tracks, one of which is profoundly more disturbing than the other: (1) this is life, people die, and the economy and/or profits are more important than that; and (2) this is life, let’s band together, and there’s a lot to grieve here, so let’s make space to do that. In this…

Read More Read More

A Visual representation of the anxieties of influence that surround #COVID19

Managing Our Anxieties of Influence in an Age of #COVID19

March 22, 2020 DS Leiter Comments 0 Comment

This article is about my observations of the anxieties about being able to influence such a huge problem as a global pandemic like #COVID19. You know, that really overwhelming thing that the majority of reasonable people are looking to the best experts to help with right now, and following their advice. Which is why you’re super-anxious about your 79-year-old great aunt who thinks just running to Target for a few things rather than getting delivery is still a very normal…

Read More Read More

Picture of Eggs showing the Fragility of Pandemic Care

Doing Our Best to Maintain Our Pandemic Care Ecosystem

March 15, 2020 DS Leiter Comments 2 comments

Well, what I feared when I was researching the piece I wrote here two weeks ago on responding healthily to the coronavirus has happened. It’s here. And not just one death, as it was then. More. We still don’t know even close to the scope of how many cases there are in the US, because of the lack of testing. But things—major things—have been closing. It’s exhaustingly stressful and overwhelming for many of us—those who are taking it seriously and…

Read More Read More

The World’s Looking for a Stable Emergent Leader: No Pressure, Democrats! (A Rhetorical Analysis)

March 8, 2020 DS Leiter Comments 0 Comment

A day or two ago, a sympathetic yet anxious friend from overseas asked me to explain the dynamics around why the fallout from Super Tuesday was coming down the way it was. Between that and others’ interpretations of the race and my own analysis, I’ve come up with a fairly unified theory, based in my study and teaching of stress, trauma, and conflict communication, as to what’s going on. This present blog post will unwrap a few of the dimensions…

Read More Read More

Responding Healthily to the Rhetoric of Denial and Fear: Coronavirus

March 1, 2020 DS Leiter Comments 0 Comment

I’ve seen great pieces in recent days with titles like “you can’t gaslight a virus.” Sadly, you can muddy the rhetorical waters around it big time though–and that can enable its spread. And we’ve been seeing a lot of that from multiple sources, including the US government. A lot of times the rhetoric ends up ramping up the fear in response to the uncertainty of such an event. This blog post looks at the ways all of this happens and…

Read More Read More

picture of torn words symbolizing Nancy Pelosi's protest at the State of the Union

When Demonization Is Elevated and a Woman Tears It Up: The Religio-Political Rhetoric of the SOTU

February 9, 2020 DS Leiter Comments 5 comments

It was hard to choose what to write about this week. Since this project focuses on the contexts around the religio-political landscape and I’ve been talking about god terms (things we see as “all good” and defend at all costs) and devil terms (things we see as “all bad” and fight at all costs, I ultimately zeroed in on two highly symbolic gestures at the State of the Union. That’s right, we’ll be talking about and contrasting Rush Limbaugh (whose…

Read More Read More

We all get discouraged, even when we're superheroes--and then we feel the need for positive projection, like this girl

Lessons from Watching Superhero Movies During the Impeachment

February 1, 2020 DS Leiter Comments 1 comment

This week, as the impeachment narratives continued to unfold, I was watching multiple Marvel movies on Disney+ during a free trial. (Note: The Protestant work ethic triggers in me wish me to tell you not to worry–I still got my work done this week. 😉 ) In this article I plan to talk about how watching these superhero movies both helped me cope with current events, and also inspired me toward further #AssertiveSpirituality action in pursuit of the common good….

Read More Read More

rhetoric and policies too often silence the voices of justice--this image highlights that with an image of a barbed-wire fence

MLK, “Nice,” the 81%, and the Silencing of Voices for Justice

January 18, 2020 DS Leiter Comments 4 comments

NOTE: This piece was originally published in January 2020. That means it was published before the pandemic, before the 2020 election, before 1/6, and before the switch to the Biden administration. It is startling to me, looking back from my current vantage point in 2022 after all those events, to see how relevant all of this still is, as is “Letters from Birmingham Jail.” May we continue the struggle against white supremacy and fascism and for justice and healthier communities…

Read More Read More

Image depicting the harm that comes from demonization and warmongering--the article gives tips to speak back.

How to Push Back Against Demonization and Warmongering

January 11, 2020 DS Leiter Comments 2 comments

As I pointed out last week, 2020’s been really religio-politically intense so far. What with war being threatened between the US and Iran and Australia burning, it feels like the world is bating its breath to see what’s going to happen. Meanwhile, rhetoric from the current US administration is turning real humans into seeming cartoons, continuing to demonize and dehumanize the Other—especially the progressive/liberal other and the Middle Eastern other (not to mention other brown-skinned immigrant others). It’s important to…

Read More Read More

A "This Is Your Year" book, highlighting the article's theme of making resolutions and goals without falling prey to emotional fallacies

Avoiding Emotional Fallacies in Resolutions: Toward a(nother) Year of Assertiveness

January 3, 2020 DS Leiter Comments 2 comments

I don’t know about you, but I had been flagging a bit in my resolve in the end of the last year. It’s hard work, this relay marathon of speaking up and working against the toxic crap (and there’s soooo much of it!). It’s easy to be weary going forward. In this week’s post, I’ll discuss many of the emotional fallacies that often prevent us from forming and keeping resolutions toward acting toward the common good–as well as their antidotes….

Read More Read More

Shows people with Bibles as an illustration for an analysis of religious rhetoric

Feeling (Slightly Less) Betrayed by White Evangelicals: The Christianity Today Editorial

December 21, 2019 DS Leiter Comments 7 comments

This week I’m going back to pick up the story of how Election 2016 in the US left me feeling betrayed by my white Evangelical folks (the previous parts of this series can be found here and here). This week I’m going to talk about how I saw religious rhetoric shift as a result of the religio-political apocalypse before I explain how this week’s events, especially Thursday’s bombshell Christianity Today post-impeachment-hearings editorial calling for the removal of the current head…

Read More Read More

A Picture of a woman looking disbelieved: #BelieveWomen

#BelieveWomen, The Handmaid’s Tale, and the Roots of (Deeply Socialized) Gaslighting

December 14, 2019 DS Leiter Comments 0 Comment

As I write this, it is Advent. During this time, many Christians ponder the controversial #BelieveWomen story in which Mary told Joseph she was pregnant through surprising means—and he almost divorced her because of it, until he heard from an angel that her tale was true. It’s maybe not surprising that he didn’t believe her—after all, I know A LOT of people who still bristle at the idea that she was impregnated by God. Reflecting on this story (especially at…

Read More Read More