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Discrimination on the Taxpayer’s Dime? The Fight To Curtail the Overreach of RFRA

By Sarah Posner

…t, even though VAWA specifically prohibits employment discrimination. Last year, a coalition of over 90 civil liberties, religious, health, women’s, and LGBT advocates again called on the Obama administration to reverse the World Vision Memo, calling it one of the most notable examples of the Bush Administration’s attempt to impose a constitutionally erroneous and deeply harmful policy—RFRA should not be interpreted or employed as a tool for broad…

Freezing Our Way to a Fiery Hell?

By Steve A. Wiggins

…’s yet another ethical element. During one of New York’s worst storms—last year—Mayor de Blasio kept the schools open in horrendous travel conditions. One of the reasons given? Many children get their only hot meal of the day at school. We have to force kids to school so they can eat a square meal? And Zuccotti Park was cleared out years ago. A city like New York, with both ostentatious wealth and profound inequality, is part of a chaotic system….

Communicators for Christ: How Homeschool Debate Leagues Shaped the Rising Stars of the Christian Right

By R.L. Stollar

…While I was too young to participate in HSLDA’s debate league in its first year, my older brother did participate. He attended the very first state debate tournament for homeschoolers in California—also attended by Alaska state representative David Eastman. In fact, the round that determined who represented California at that first national tournament was between Eastman’s team and my brother’s, with Eastman winning. That first year, the national…

Following Republican Playbook, German Conservatism Breaks the Post-WWII Taboo

By Annika Brockschmidt

…lection of Friedrich Merz as party leader from the CDU’s right flank, after 16 years of Angela Merkel, change was in the air: He wanted to sharpen the CDU’s conservative profile, Merz said. It became apparent rather quickly what Merkel’s former arch-rival meant by this. In just the last year, the elected CDU politicians have openly embraced the “culture wars,” pulling directly from the American Right’s anti-trans playbook by fear-mongering about t…

Conservative Bishops Headed For Synod Victory?; Indonesian Sharia Official Says Gay Caning Law Meant To ‘Safeguard Human Dignity’; Slovenian Court OK’s Referendum on Marriage Equality Law; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…s them especially vulnerable,” but most will still “have to wait about two years for a ticket out of Turkey.” But to an individual, those two years can feel like an eternity. Refugees are generally barred from working and often survive doing back-breaking black-market labor or sex work. One sign of how at risk they feel is that all of those who spoke to BuzzFeed News for this story asked to be identified by their first names or nicknames. Many — e…

Democrats Look to Conservative Evangelicals on Immigration

By Sarah Posner

…Tan exhausted her asylum appeals and was facing possible deportation last year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced, and succeeded in passing, a private relief bill on her behalf; it would have to be renewed each year if Tan is to avoid deportation. In support of the bill, her priest, Fr. Piers M. Lahey of the Church of the Good Shepherd, wrote a letter to Feinstein which was entered into the Congressional Record. Lahey described Tan and Mercado as…

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

By Andrew L. Seidel

…the church’s investment firm, called Ensign Peak Advisors. In just over 20 years, Ensign amassed $100 billion. That’s because the company only distributed funds twice, both times to for-profit entities, while continuing to invest the funds and acquire tithes from Mormons who donate 10% of their income in order “to gain access to the sacred spaces and saving rituals of a Mormon temple.” But mostly, this meteoric growth is because the IRS views Ensi…

To One Early 20th Century Rabbi Skeptical of Zionism, Passover Isn’t Simply A Celebration Of Freedom — It’s Also A Warning

By Shaul Magid

…te a lengthy essay called Herut (Liberation) published in 1906, just three years after the Kishinev pogrom and a year after the first Russian Revolution in 1905. The violence spreading in Europe would eventually lead to World War I and the deaths of millions of civilians. This essay was also written shortly after the death of Theodore Herzl in 1904 and the rising popularity of Zionism, which Tamares was initially sympathetic to, having attended th…

‘Id Mubarak and Many Happy Returns!

By Amina Wadud

…returns.” The reply is, wa antum bis-sihah was-Salaam, which is “may every year (find you) with health and peace.” I think in the United States, we take ours from South Asia and just say ‘Id Mubarak, “blessed ‘Id,” with the response, ‘Id Karim, “noble or generous ‘Id.” And everywhere there is food. So much food you can see why such a rigorous fast does not produce the world’s thinnest people: they’d eat it all back during the three-day celebration…

Mexican Bishops Exorcism Against Equality; African Bishops Oppose ‘Enemy of Human Race’; Israeli Islamic Leader Anti-Gay Op-Ed

By Peter Montgomery

…tribunal has heard.” An email circulated within the Church of England last year, after the Rev Canon Jeremy Pemberton married his partner Laurence Cunnington, reveals that the Most Rev Justin Welby asked staff at Lambeth Palace to ensure senior figures stick to a standard pre-agreed “line” if asked about the issue. They were told that the Archbishop wanted to “move the conversation on” to other subjects such as poverty. And they were urged to defl…