Religion Dispatches
…estern greed. In the West, in order to preserve our strategic position and cheap oil supply, we have often supported rulers (such as the shahs of Iran, the Saudis and, initially, Saddam Hussein) who have established dictatorial regimes which suppressed any normal opposition. The only place where people felt free to express their distress has been the mosque. The modern world has been very violent. Between 1914 and 1945, seventy million people died…
Read More…hey don’t have it as bad as gays in ISIS-held territory. So let’s put that cheap argument to bed. At Patheos, Benjamin Corey shakes that cheap argument awake: Can we stop complaining about this bogus idea that American Christians are persecuted now? I mean, really. Can we stop? The world needs us to turn from ourselves and focus on this real persecution, because it’s evil and must be exposed and stopped. However, our own self-centeredness as Ameri…
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…grants from their homes. They are pulled to the U.S. because of demand for cheap labor. One of the major pushes came in the ’90s with the passage of NAFTA, which opened the door to many agri-businesses to move farms down to Mexico, putting small farmers out of business. And while the number of undocumented border crossers is down, Brother David says, it will be virtually impossible to eliminate them as long as the opportunities for jobs exist. As…
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…al global conference. Mormon women travelled from as far away as New York, Florida, and Germany to take part in the collective action organized by the group Ordain Women as a gentle and symbolic demonstration against pervasive gender segregation in LDS Church administration and leadership. All observant men and boys over the age of 12 are eligible for ordination to the Mormon lay priesthood, and the Church’s theological, liturgical, financial, and…
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…se 17 year-old son, Jordan Davis, was shot dead in 2012 at a Jacksonville, Florida gas station by Michael Dunn, a white man angry about loud music in a car occupied by unarmed black teenagers, came to share her story with an activist best known for his graphic protests outside abortion clinics. For each of them, that first encounter was charged with trepidation and fear. McBath, a Lutheran-turned-Pentecostal whose family has roots in the civil rig…
Read More…rity to “Ponzi scheme” continue to play, although a new poll shows 52% of Florida Republicans agree with him. If Romney wins New Hampshire, Florida, and Nevada, the question on which the longer-haul primary will hang seems to be this: can a candidate win the GOP nomination without a winning a majority of evangelical Christian conservatives? What can Romney do to overcome his disadvantage among religious conservatives as a perceived social moderat…
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…ot violent, just not silent anymore. The event was in a more rural part of Florida than where I live and I passed a number of confederate flags on my way there. I expected an all white crowd making arguments about “reverse discrimination,” libertarian arguments against violations of state sovereignty, especially with regard to the Civil Rights Act, and maybe even some of the “slavery wasn’t as bad as people say” arguments. Not so much. Don’t Like…
Read More…rence also offered their support for Proposition 2: “This amendment to the Florida Constitution affirms Florida’s existing marriage law (Section 741.212 FS) and protects marriage as currently defined in law from being negated or overturned by legislative process or judicial ruling…Our support for this proposed constitutional amendment is not motivated by discrimination or animosity toward any group…” This wave of two-issue voting has moved beyond…
Read More…oof that not all Southern evangelicals dislike Romney. Everyone’s favorite Florida religion storyline fixates on older Jewish voters who perennially threaten to ditch Democrats for not being strong enough on Israel. Jews may make up only 3% of Florida, but margins are tight enough—Obama now leads by .4%—that their votes matter. An emerging storyline is that Latino evangelicals (who lean conservative on social issues but prioritize immigration refo…
Read More…e should. Rev. Larry Reimer, minister at the United Church of Gainesville, Florida, recently proposed an alternative: the best way to protest what the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, is planning is to read the Qur’an. This seems an appropriate way to not interfere with the free speech of others, and yet use our own freedom to express our dismay at those who use their freedom to express intolerance and to attempt to provoke othe…
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