Search for "Philippine Airlines "

An Open Letter to CEO Jeff Smisek On United Airlines’ Blasphemous Safety Video

By Austin Dacey

…ual recompense. In the video message that was played before my last United Airlines flight, you expressed your desire to greet each and every passenger; you invited us to sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight. If I could greet you now, I would want to know: were you unaware of the monstrosity that was about to follow? There, rising above the hiss of the pressurized air, as the video monitors snapped to the image of an engorged sun bursting from be…

Mile-High Identity Politics: What We Can Learn From the Same-Sex Seating Controversy

By Eboo Patel

…on the tension caused when Orthodox Jewish men request same-sex seating on airlines for religious reasons generated over 3,000 reader responses. The scenario as described in the story generally unfolds something like this: the individual reaches his assigned seat and finds that the seat next to him is occupied by a woman. He shifts uncomfortably in the aisle until the flight attendant or an alert passenger recognizes what’s going on and asks the w…

What Does a Moral Economy Look Like for the 99 Percent?

By Jonathan Rosenblum

…y left the airport and began marching a mile to the headquarters of Alaska Airlines. I think the photo does a great job of embodying the energy of the budding movement—clergy and workers from a diversity of backgrounds and faiths. To me, the picture reinforces a key argument of the book: this is a moral fight. For nine months leading up to the rally, organizers had been meeting people at the airport and in the community, coaxing them to take on an…

Layoffs on the Religious Right

By Bill Berkowitz

…jects these days—is Congressman Jose de Venecia Jr., former Speaker of the Philippine House of Representatives. In an undated speech published on Moon’s Universal Peace Federation Web site, de Venecia Jr. stated: One of the great missions of Rev. Moon is to see how we can bring about a unification of the great religions of the world…and under the leadership of Rev. Moon—I had the privilege to present to the Security Council last year—a resolution…

LGBTs in Philippines Reflect on Papal Visit; Francis Meets Trans Man Shunned by Parish; French Group Turns ‘Bar of Sodom’ into ‘Pub of Mercy’; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…compassion and acceptance will trickle down to the Catholic Church in the Philippines.” Other activists are not as optimistic: ”Chris Salvatierra, former Coordinator of Task force Pride (TFP) stated, “The Philippine Catholic Church hierarchy & its allies will not follow because they are afraid of change.“ The Pope’s comments at a January 15 mass, in which he warned against “confusing presentations of sexuality, marriage and the family” disappoint…

UN Human Rights Council Creates LGBT Watchdog; Orthodox Council Affirms Traditional Teaching on Family; Pope Francis Says Church Should Apologize to Gays; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ustralian voters believe homosexuality is immoral. Japan: Using comics as cultural lifeline for LGBT youth A new manga series is meant to provide LGBT youth in Japan with a cultural lifeline by portraying gay and transgender characters. Philippines: Law enforcement charged with exploitation and abuse of LGBT people Reuters covers a report by OutRight Action International that accuses Philippine law enforcement officers of subjecting LGBT people to…

Vainglory Days: A Foremost Expert on Religious Violence Offers Clues to How QAnon Might End

By Mark Juergensmeyer

…behavior—if not their beliefs—will not be tolerated. Saving face When the Philippine authorities were negotiating in earnest with the Muslim separatist movement in Mindanao, they determined that simply requiring the fighters to lay down their arms was not sufficient. Many of the militants had been guerilla soldiers since they were teenage boys, and now some ten or twenty years later, fighting was the only skill that they had. For that reason, re-…

Democrats Look to Conservative Evangelicals on Immigration

By Sarah Posner

…e couple got married in April after DC made gay marriage legal, de Leon, a Philippine national, cannot obtain a green card through Beddingfield as a heterosexual spouse could. De Leon lamented how the anti-UAFA religious voices are more frequently heard in Congress. “I’m a strong believer in the separation of church and state—what you do is fine if you believe same-sex couples shouldn’t be married in your churches, good for you. But any religion,”…

Finding the Missing Airliner with Coconuts

By Joseph Laycock

…at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport and attempted to locate Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 using a magical ritual that combined Islamic elements with shamanic practices. On Thursday Ibrahim Mat Zin, also known as Rajah Bomoh Sedunia Nujum, delivered a press conference (in which he demonstrated a squint that bore an uncanny resemblance to Pat Robertson.) He initially stated that he had been invited to perform his ritual by one of Malaysia’s “…

The Sex Scandal Following Whole Foods’ Guru

By Michael Schulson

…ned with authentic caring.” Examples include Whole Foods Market, Southwest Airlines, Starbucks, and, somewhat mysteriously, Amazon.com, which is known for using underpaid temp-style labor in its warehouses and allegedly mistreating employees at its home offices. You don’t have to be a Marxist to question whether these institutions are “fulfilling every major value of the great spiritual traditions.” At the very least, that sentiment might seem ali…