Religion Dispatches
…nch, and Washington’s Christin Gregoire), because official praying events now appear to be a prerequisite for high office. Still, though, Perry’s very short gubernatorial guest list is a sign of his event’s, uh, shall we say politely, problematic nature. It’s just too bad that no governor seems willing to come right out and say that….
Read More…ke all the GOP candidates save Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum, did not sign Vander Plaats’ pledge. Jackson, who is black, told the Christian Post that he was disappointed the pledge addressed only statistics about black families, and that it should have been “vetted by minority groups such as his International Communion of Evangelical Churches.” The ICEC was recently launched by Jackson because, according to its website, “Christianity is not j…
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…. Joining him in the seat of American power was Sarah Palin, who, with her signal lack of originality and predilection for repetition, told the crowd: “We must restore America and restore her honor.” For this year’s “Restoring Courage” rally on August 24, Beck has set his sights even higher, gathering the elite of the conservative faithful in the Israeli capital of Jerusalem—or, in the Christian Zionist imagination, God’s ‘seat of power.’ In his a…
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…Living. In addition, Sieradski is a writer, photographer, filmmaker, and designer whose work explores themes of post-normative Jewish cultural expression. I see from the Facebook page you put up for the Kol Nidre minyan at Occupy Wall Street that you already have more than enough people for minyan. To your knowledge, is this the very first Kol Nidre service in the history of the world that takes place in solidarity with a protest against economic…
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…xy saw the conquest of the West Bank, the biblical Judea and Samaria, as a sign not only of God’s favor but also of the imminence of the redemption. To exonerate Israel, Goldberg and Gorenberg, both well-known as American Jewish “liberals” on Israel, are willing to pin the blame on right wingers who are holding the well-meaning liberals hostage. The Israeli majority, Goldberg writes, “is powerless in the face of the relentless settler minority.” T…
Read More…is a white male conservative authoring some sappy pledge for candidates to sign. After reading the report on John Ensign and Mark Sandford hitting the Appalachian Trail, and the RNC using funds at a sex-themed voyeur nightclub, moralizing, asinine pledges aren’t going to stop anyone, including the candidates, from having sex and watching lots of porn. Add in the ahistoricism of the right, and it’s laughable that any pledge from this hypocritical b…
Read More…e think it’s a good standard.” The Personhood pledge, which Romney did not sign, commits candidates to supporting legislation and judges who would declare fertilized eggs human beings with “unalienable rights.” The anti-Romney ad the group is running has been called misleading by FactCheck.org: An anti-abortion group is making the shocking claim that Mitt Romney “enforced a law which required Catholic hospitals to provide abortions.” To call this…
Read More…Moreover, to insert a letter in the parish bulletin to encourage people to sign petitions after Mass so as to place same-sex marriage on the November ballot is not a call for dialogue. It is to claim a position as Catholic that many Catholics do not share. I point out these three dynamics in one letter to a local church because I assume that this approach is part of a larger national strategy to defeat same-sex marriage and deny rights to couples…
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…and even a university official giving a speech. The unnamed hospital has a sign that says “Hospital.” But it isn’t really universal, is it? It depicts what abortion would be like if women were all beautiful, tragic figures, living in a world run by men who treated them with, not respect, but a kind of indulgent kindness. Well, okay. In the real world of policy, poverty, pregnancy complications, and domestic violence are often important factors too…
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…he bill, helping organize letter and petition drives which garnered 40,000 signatures calling for the veto. At a rally Wednesday night at the Utah state capital, Hilary Brown, a Utah Mormon, carried a picture of the Virgin Mary with the caption: “Abstinence. Not Entirely Effective. Knowledge = Power. Veto.” Meredith Hudson LeSueur, a Utah Mormon and mother of two, converted Brown’s sign into an image that went viral on the internet. Other Mormon m…
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