Religion Dispatches
…he signers claim is “God’s law.” At the heart of the pledge is not a plea for justice, but a plea for a legal system that yields to their religious views. A plea, in other words, to subvert the Constitution in the service of subverting the Constitution; to undermine the Establishment Clause in the service of depriving certain citizens, deemed sinful by a particular religious view, of equal protection of the law….
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…erman said in The Nation, “put racial, social, and economic justice at the center of the 2016 campaign”; to VP nominee Tim Kaine talking about how his Catholic faith “became something vital” and the “north star for orienting my life” which led him toward a “battle for social justice”; the convention demonstrated faith in action. Unlike the Republican Party, which tends to see “faith” as a static concept like “patriotism” that’s either performed co…
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…claim of artistry end?” Melling asked, noting that in addition to wedding service-providers like bakeries and florists, dress-shops, hair salons, and “any number” of other businesses could claim that their services are in fact a form of constitutionally protected artistic practice. “The claim at issue here sounds as if the business can put up a sign in its window that says, ‘We sell cakes for heterosexuals only,’” Melling explained, taking ADF’s…
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…York Times’ Charles Blow cited new Pew research indicating that far fewer Americans think there’s anything “superior” about this country. While it is still true that almost 90% of white evangelical Christians believe that God wants Americans to enjoy a wildly disproportionate share of Earth’s resources, younger people and the rapidly-growing cohort of people with no religious affiliation strongly reject the idea. This has consequences, I think, f…
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…licitly religious venues—Christianity Today, Hollywood Jesus, Catholic New Service, and Plugged In—scarcely noted the religious symbolism teeming in the film. Catholic News Service seemed more concerned about the blood and pole dances than anything else, while Focus on the Family’s Plugged In review was also startling in its absolute devotion to the sex, violence, and drugs of the film. Christianity Today’s review makes one wonder why they even re…
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…l voting block) applaud its stance. However, the overall numbers among its American delegates and within the American population reveal a growing support for LGBTQ rights within the public and religious sphere. The denomination has a full communion relationship (mutual recognition of shared beliefs) with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), which has openly gay bishops. It has also agreed upon an Interim Eucharist Sharing with the Ep…
Read More…ristmas tree, 65 percent send cards, and more than half attend a religious service. More than 70 percent of Americans grow up with visits from Santa Claus. Even among the small segment that doesn’t celebrate Christmas, a majority say they gather with friends and family on that holiday. Stealing the baby Jesus is a stupid prank, not a threat to this way of life. But it’s because of this stupidity, and not some other reason, that if you want to pay…
Read More…’s why Joe Lieberman can say that burning the Qur’an is “inconsistent with American values” yet stand shoulder to shoulder with John Hagee, who has said, “Islam in general—those who live by the Koran have a scriptural mandate to kill Christians and Jews,” and whose entire worldview is predicated on vanquishing Islam. Or why Sarah Palin can say burning the Qur’an is “antithetical to American ideals,” but equate it in provocativeness to “building a…
Read More…ed to “water down their teachings” or perhaps even be barred from military service in the future if they hold beliefs that condemn homosexuality. Austin Nimocks, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, even found a way to mix the concern about rampant sex and religious liberty with over-the-top rhetoric: No American, especially those serving in the armed forces, should be required to check their religion at the door. The agenda that is pushi…
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…eting space. The Götz Foundation is a generous donor to the Jesuit Refugee Service so it’s safe to assume some influence there. Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin made clear that he was informed of the dissing by Ms. McAleese, not by his Roman colleagues. In fact, she has remained silent publicly on the matter, awaiting response to her private letter to Pope Francis who is Mr. Farrell’s boss. I wonder if this time the men are a little over their sk…
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