Search Results for:

VIPREG2024 1xbet free promo code 2024 Central African Republic

The Religious Origins of Fake News and ‘Alternative Facts’

…nts, and then the whole thing just kind of fizzles out.”) What is it about Republicans that seems to make them more credulous to fake news than Democrats. The answer to this question might have to do with the religious roots of today’s Republican Party in the Christian Right. Beginning with the Moral Majority, founded in 1979 by Jerry Falwell and Tim LaHaye, and continuing through church organizations such as Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition an…

Read More

Religious Freedom Battle Is Far From Over: Here’s What to Look for in 2019

…ination, has only a thin and ambiguous record on cases involving religious freedom—will come out. And only time will reveal whether the rhetoric of religious freedom will remain a rallying cry on the right, or become one on the left. Already reports are suggesting that some moderate evangelical groups are preparing to follow in the footsteps of the Mormon church by supporting LGBTQ nondiscrimination laws in return for rigorous religious freedom pr…

Read More

American Missionary Could Face Genocide Charges, But Brazil’s Indigenous Communities Have a Bigger Problem

…it’s unclear how the case would proceed. According to the Brazilian penal code, criminal charges for genocide can be brought against nationals but foreigners cannot be prosecuted under national law. One possible explanation for FUNAI’s approach is to generate awareness of the detrimental outlook for the agency and the indigenous communities they protect. The incident comes on the heels of growing threats to indigenous sovereignty by a new right-w…

Read More

Democratic Hopeful Pete Buttigieg Makes Faith 101 Misstep

…et’s get a couple of quick points out of the way before we get down to the central issue. First, towards the end of the clip, you hear Buttigieg talk about “Pharisees.” I think he means it in the narrow sense of Jesus’ named opponents in the New Testament, rather than the broader sense of a synonym for “hypocrites.” You could reasonably argue it either way. It’s still problematic. Unfortunately, not enough Christians understand that Pharisees went…

Read More

Is God a Winning Strategy for Democrats?

…Christians are better than Christianity. They employ their personal moral code, choosing the moral morsels from the Bible that square with their contemporary sensibility. The Bible does not portray Jesus as a liberal powerhouse. Or at least, not solely as the man liberal Christians claim. We need look no further than hell to prove this point. Americans possess an unparalled degree of religious liberty, but Jesus promises eternal torture if they e…

Read More

Jerry Falwell Jr. Is Corrupt, but Liberty U’s Problems Go Far Deeper

…ntracts to family friends; and how he ordered his staff to violate IRS tax code. Falwell’s been able to get away with such behavior partly because he doesn’t fear his board of trustees, which is essentially just a collection of close friends of the family. As noted above, Mark DeMoss, the one trustee who did speak up in disagreement of Falwell’s endorsement of Trump, was immediately removed from the board—a testament to Falwell’s Trumpian fragilit…

Read More

Catholic Anti-Nuke Activists Looking at 20 Years in Prison a True Test for Religious Freedom

…should be dismissed became they impinge upon the Plowshares 7’s religious freedom. This claim rested on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), a 1993 law that requires the federal government not to “substantially burden” someone’s practice of religion unless a “compelling government interest” is involved and the rule the government is enforcing is the “least restrictive means” of achieving its goal. The judge in the Plowshares trial denied…

Read More

Whistleblower Alleges $100B Hoarding Scandal by LDS Church; But There’s An Easy Fix

…ransparency requirements. Even the most extreme understanding of religious freedom could not stop Congress from legislating transparency because accountability to the taxpayers does not “prohibit” or even hinder the free exercise of religion. For instance, Ensign claims that “the amassed funds would be used in the event of the second coming of Christ.” But filing financial information with the IRS would not prohibit the church from hoarding this w…

Read More

Is the Satanic Temple Just an Elaborate Prank? 10 Questions for the Author of ‘Speak of the Devil’

…rbed to read some of TST’s Christian opponents openly renouncing religious freedom if it meant respecting the freedoms of Satanists. I also think TST is forcing the public to think more critically about what “religion” is. They are directly challenging the popular notion that religion is really about supernaturalism. I met several Satanists who had been hostile to the idea of “religion,” until they discovered TST and re-imagined what a religion co…

Read More

Does ‘Criss-Cross Apple Sauce’ Make Yoga Secular? Opponents of Yoga in Public Schools Have a Point

…nterviewed). The 1993 Alabama State Department of Education Administrative Code prohibits public school personnel from using “any techniques that involve the induction of hypnotic states, guided imagery, meditation or yoga,” and defines yoga as “a Hindu philosophy and method of religious training in which eastern meditation and contemplation are joined with physical exercises, allegedly to facilitate the development of body-mind-spirit.” The propo…

Read More