Religion Dispatches
…e Cone’s black theology with Marxism. Here he is wildly off base and his unfortunate tendency to take everything he doesn’t like, slap it on to his chalkboard, draw lines, and call it a connection, gets the better of him. Unfortunately, he doesn’t always do his homework. Unlike many Latin American Liberationists, black theologians, including Cone, actually tend to reject Marxism as a philosophical source. It is too white, too Western and, tends to…
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…We have an unprecedented access to cheap goods, yet we must recognize that cheap goods are cheaply made. I am not speaking of quality, I am speaking of cheap labor. We must recognize that through the act of shopping, whether it is for an article of clothing, a toy, a pint of strawberries, or even our morning cup of coffee, we participate in a global economy that values profit over people. Disposable goods are made by disposable people, faceless in…
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…e success either. The opening weekend saw sales of more than $6 million in tickets. That’s the kind of number that will inspire others to try and figure out the formula for the faith-and-family blockbuster. Yet, with the cost of the film reportedly exceeding $30 million, it’s an open question whether or not the Left Behind reboot will get a second installment. The marketing problem of evangelical movies is still, stubbornly, a problem. The general…
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…nversation. An example is their responsiveness, albeit slow at times, to efforts at holding them accountable to their stated commitments to LGBT safety in the wake of dangerous homophobic proclamations by (now former) Exodus board members in Uganda and Jamaica. In 2009 board member Don Schmierer attended an anti-gay conference in Uganda which served as a precursor to and ideological justification for a proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill that include…
Read More…e of the project’s launch video which includes voices from six continents. Jamaica: Two Faces of Christianity It Gets Better’s international affiliates page notes that a project for Jamaica is in the works and “coming soon.” The sooner the better – Religious Right figures like Peter LaBarbera and MassResistance’s Brian Camenker participated in a recent conference there and urged Jamaicans not to do away with sodomy laws. Those laws have literally…
Read More…endently of gender identity or sexual orientation,” as part of a broader effort to “achieve a Society of Rights in which all Mexicans are guaranteed equal rights under the law,” he wrote. He also announced that Mexico would become part of the UN’s LGBTI Core Group promoting equality internationally. “I understand that these measures will be met with some resistance and that a number of taboos related to the topic still persist,” he wrote, “However…
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…ou’ll read an excerpt below—has surprised me, too. I wish I could find my airline companion and give him this book, to surprise him, too—in a good way. (I would accept Lakers tickets in lieu of apologies, but I think that particular era is done.) This whole book is a result of a profound evolution, and needs to be seen as such. American Muslims have gone through a lot over the last few decades. We were never the caricature Islamophobes made us ou…
Read More…gy. This one was raised by Justice Samuel Alito, who pointed to a Danish effort that would close kosher and halal slaugherhouses through a law that would ban killing an animal without stunning it first. Verrilli described that law as “targeted” at religion in a way the ACA is not. But, Verrilli noted, the contraception benefit is different, as is the companies’ objection. In this case, Verrilli argued, the rights of the employees of Hobby Lobby an…
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…ed the “dark side” of society would be edited, or in severe cases stopped. Jamaica: Outgoing ambassador defends U.S. LGBT advocacy but says it’s not tied to aid Outgoing U.S. ambassador Luis Morena said in an interview with the Jamaica Observer that while the U.S. will not use foreign aid to pressure the government to address LGBT issues—such as the colonial-era “buggery” law defended by religious conservatives—the U.S. will continue to advocate f…
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…te segregation and economic favoritism. When I spoke with Rothstein on the phone, he underscored the long-term effects of this last policy. During the 1940s and 1950s, suburban subdivisions were built in St. Louis, and throughout the country, using federal loans stipulating that no homes be sold to African Americans. Priced at about $125,000 in today’s dollars, these were affordable—with a mortgage—to working class families, black or white. Yet bl…
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