Search for "= Copa Airlines Reservations 800-299-7264 Copa Airlines Official Site Copa Airlines Flights"

Washington Post Blogger “Proud” To Have Shared Stage With Geert Wilders

By Sarah Posner

…n one of the State Department cables released by WikiLeaks, a U.S. embassy official in the Netherlands summed up Wilders for President Obama as “no friend of the U.S.”: The Wilders Factor: Golden-pompadoured, maverick parliamentarian Geert Wilders, anti-Islam, nationalist Freedom Party remains a thorn in the coalition’s side, capitalizing on the social stresses resulting from the failure to fully integrate almost a million Dutch Muslims, mostly of…

DADT Repeal: The New “Religious Freedom” Issue

By Sarah Posner

…r troops’ religious liberties in unprecedented jeopardy. Indeed, the first official casualty of this hurried vote may well be the religious freedom of chaplains and Service members.” Blomberg continued, “We hope that our nation’s leaders will work to ensure that none of our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines are ever made to choose between serving their country or obeying their God as result of this damaging policy decision. And ADF stands rea…

The Religious “Right” to Denounce Homosexuality

By Sarah Posner

…Martinez, in which the CLS argued that Hastings Law School should grant it official recognition as a club, even though it required “members and those wishing to hold leadership positions in the club to be professing Christians and to disavow ‘unrepentant participation in or advocacy of a sexually immoral lifestyle,‘” in violation of the school’s non-discrimination policy. Although CLS lost that case at the Supreme Court, it was one in a long line…

The Book of Mormon, Dark Skin, and Racist Theology

By Joanna Brooks

…you’ll never hear that verse cited. And with good reason. The changing of official, Church-authored chapter headings in the Book of Mormon signifies a contemporary LDS decertification (from the top of the food chain in Salt Lake City!) of the arcane folk belief that dark skin signifies accursedness. I found that significant when I wrote about it last week, and I still do. Baby steps? Absolutely. Will the Church change the text of the Book of Morm…

What’s Ahead in the World of Mormonism for 2011

By Joanna Brooks

…t would be a welcome reminder indeed. Years ago, a high-ranking LDS Church official was reported to have compared working with Elder Boyd K. Packer to trying to “stage manage a grizzly bear.” In October 2010, after Elder Packer delivered a highly controversial and bruising talk on LGBT issues at the Church’s global General Conference, grizzly bears indeed may have been stage managed. Packer’s talk was revised for publication and (in response to pr…

Was a Teacher Disciplined for Refusing to Apologize for Teaching Science?

By Lauri Lebo

…rotected by the First Amendment. Because Hensley was asked to speak in her official capacity as a public employee, her refusal to speak does not give rise to a claim for violation of her First Amendment rights.” A link to the full decision is here. The National Center for Science Education has more on the story here. It’s difficult to tell exactly what took place in the classroom and whether Hensley overstepped her boundaries in a discussion of re…

Crowdsourced Catholicism: New iPhone App Lets Users Forgive Sins

By Vincent Gonzalez

…urch, had only three confessions visible and had not yet offered his first official edict. For better and worse, as of my survey, it seemed the trolls had not yet discovered Penance. Still uncomplicated by tales of murder and rape, nor even confessions denigrating other Saints by name or mocking the application, Penance feels still untried, a community yet to crystalize around substantial moral challenges, a larval church which may or may not ever…

Blasphemy and Betrayal: The Murder of Salman Taseer

By Anna Bigelow

…the public eye in recent weeks. The governor was one of the few government officials willing to speak out forcefully and publicly; not only about the trumped up case against Aasia Bibi (who was accused by neighbors with whom she was involved in other disputes at the time of the accusation) but also about the need to reform the blasphemy laws instituted during the military dictatorship of General Zia-ul-Haq from 1977-1988. The blasphemy laws (Penal…

The Revival of the Pastors’ Policy Briefings

By Sarah Posner

…ut the evangelical vote for Huckabee, with a former Texas Republican Party official writing on his blog in 2007: Lane brought together some 250 Iowa pastors at a Rediscovering God in America event in Des Moines. Huckabee, a former pastor, spoke at that event; and many of the Iowa pastors are expected to turn out their members for Governor Huckabee at the August straw polls. Lane, who is emerging as a major political force within the evangelical co…

Frank Gaffney Appointed to Clarion Fund Board

By Sarah Posner

…up Aish HaTorah, although Ronn Torossian, the group’s spokesperson, denied official involvement. (Torossian represents other right-wing religious individuals and organizations; after the Washington Post hired Christian right lawyer-activist Jordan Sekulow as a blogger last month, Politico’s Ben Smith reported that Torossian, a “frequent Gawker target,” repeatedly pitched reporters with Sekulow’s implausible expertise in a wide variety of subjects….