Search for "how to get cheap airline tickets for a funeral phone number 1-800-299-7264"

As Tensions Escalate in the Balkans, the West Could Hand Putin a Valuable Weapon

By Katherine Kelaidis

…“License Plates Start War” on their 2020s bingo card might be in for a pleasant surprise. Large crowds of ethnic Serbs recently gathered to demonstrate against a plan by the Kosovar government to gradually ban Serbia-issued license plates, while over 300 ethnic Serbs have resigned from the police force in the majority-Serb province of North Mitrovica, as part of a larger withdrawal of Serbians from the province’s public institutions. The dispute…

UPDATED: Oklahoma Personhood Bill Not Dead…

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…klahoma bill SB-1433—the so-called personhood bill, backed by Personhood USA and Oklahomans for Life—is dead. According to a press release sent out minutes ago by Speaker Kris Steele’s office, the bill will not come up for a vote: The House Republican Caucus voted today not to hear the personhood bill on the House floor. This decision was not made unilaterally, but as a caucus collectively. I accept the will of our caucus. The fact is this bill s…

Trump’s “Muslim Ban” A Gift to Terrorists

By Ali Olomi

…ven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.” The response to the proposal has been swift; spontaneous protests in support of immigrants and Muslims took place in airports across the nation, advocacy groups (successfully, so far) challenged portions of the order, while public figures like Madeleine Albright vowed to register as a Muslim. The immigration ban on refugees from Muslim-majority countries is pr…

Religious Practices on Trial in Arizona: The Problem With “Experts”

By Johnny P. Flynn

…illion dollars, and as of Monday morning February 8, Ray was still in the Yavapai County jail. Since the October 8 incident that resulted in the deaths of three people in a Ray-led “Warrior Sweat,” Sheriff’s deputies have interviewed hundreds of witnesses in the investigation leading to the indictments. Dozens of participants were treated at area hospitals after the sweat lodge, and by the end of that fatal day Kirby Brown and James Shore were dea…

New Research Links Spiritual-Not-Religious to Mental Disorder

By Elizabeth Drescher

…erable to mental disorder.” This week, the news swam the pond to appear in a number of US news outlets. The research, led by University College London professor Michael King, reveals a population of “spiritual but not religious” Brits that generally tracks to the US population of “Nones” identified in a recent study by the Pew Forum on Religion in American Life. Some 35 percent of the more than 7,000 Brits surveyed indicated that they had “a relig…

3 Reasons Catholic Bishops Are Holding Their Tongues on GOP Health Care Debacle

By Patricia Miller

…Catholic Bishops, who personally went to the White House to complain to Obama. A special committee was formed. Legislators were lobbied. Lay Catholics were called on to protest. A scorching letter was read aloud by bishops at masses across the country. And threats were made about the Catholic vote in 2012. But now, even as the clearly deceptive and immoral Trump administration plunges further into chaos and the Republican Party uses it as a distr…

Exclusive: Christian Right Bill Mill, Project Blitz, Hasn’t Gone Away, It’s Just Gotten More Secretive

By Frederick Clarkson

…public scrutiny, RD’s revelation of a second playbook and the unwanted media attention that followed our reports (from The New York Times, Salon, The Guardian, Religion News Service, USA Today, Church & State magazine and many more) the sponsoring Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation (CPCF) scrubbed everything under the rubric of Project Blitz from their site. One Ohio state senator went so far as to lie to a reporter about even knowing about Pr…

Does God Want Jeremy Lin to Win?

By Jay Michaelson

On February 3, with stars Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire at full strength, the New York Knicks lost to the Boston Celtics, dropping them to a disappointing 8 wins and 15 losses. Jeremy Lin, a relatively unknown 3rd-string point guard who’d joined the team weeks earlier, took three shots, missed all of them, and ended up with two points in less than seven minutes of play. As of this past Sunday, when they defeated last year’s world champion…

Amway, Religious Right Pyramid Scheme, Returns to the Motherland

By Bill Berkowitz

…ons of dollars on television commercials, and on print ads in newspapers, magazines, and online, laying the groundwork for a return to the Motherland. Founded in 1959 by two high school buddies from Grand Rapids, Michigan, Richard DeVos and the late Jay Van Andel, Amway—short for “American Way”—peddled all sorts of products including health, beauty, and household items. These days, Nutrilite, which the company calls “the world’s leading brand of v…

Dispatches from the Workplace: Postville: Ground Zero for the Intersection of Immigrant and Workers’ Rights

By Kim Bobo

…estimony and documentation from a host of clergy and community leaders, Iowa academics and union officials. The story they tell is consistent, and shocking. How AgriProcessors and its owners treat their employees is a matter for federal and Iowa state authorities to judge. We hope someone takes a good, hard look at conditions in Postville. Given the current state of American labor law, it’s not likely that much will change dramatically for the bet…