Religion Dispatches
…on, ran an entire branded campaign around #crossequalslove. Other churches used Easter as a verb (perhaps in reference to the final stanza of this Gerard Manley Hopkins poem, or simply because our culture verbs almost everything online). “#EasterWithUs,” requested North Point Ministries, also in the Atlanta area. Gateway Church, in Texas, urged parishioners to post a selfie of themselves with someone they’d brought to church, as part of the #Easte…
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…ngresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote Monday night: “When politicians use faith as an excuse to pass and uphold laws that seize control of people’s bodies but not guarantee them healthcare, feed the poor, shelter the homeless, or welcome the stranger, you have to wonder if it’s really about faith at all.” No, you don’t have to wonder. It’s about their faith, full stop. Millions in this country—white evangelical Protestants and conservative wh…
Read More…n the sincerity of the USCCB’s position that the restriction it imposed on its subcontractors on the use of TVPA funds for abortion and contraceptive services was motivated by deeply held religious beliefs.” In other words, the Free Exercise Clause does, of course, protect one’s expression of deeply held religious beliefs. But the Establishment Clause prohibits the government from favoring particular religious beliefs, no matter how deeply held th…
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…I urge people to consider in their mystical insights into the relationship between nature and divinity. Bishop Curry’s use of Teilhard’s vision of “fire” at the Royal Wedding comes largely from The Mass on the World, completed in 1923! Sadly, it also seems indisputable that the mature formulations of some of Teilhard’s most famous ideas—e.g., the Noosphere, the Omega Point, the divinization of the species—rest upon philosophies infused with concep…
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…alleged “failure” to adhere to societally imposed gender norms. Desanctis betrays her own ideological preferences by setting up a false dichotomy between trans rights and “religious liberty.” She inaccurately portrays North Carolina’s HB2 as a simple law allowing “businesses to determine their own rules regarding bathrooms and [establishing] rules for bathrooms in government buildings.” She does not mention the fact that under HB 2, trans women t…
Read More…rous.” He then said bin Laden’s death should change our foreign policy because we are doing what Bin Laden wanted: “He wanted us to stay there, drain our resources and bankrupt our country… the connection between our foreign policy and our financial problems is significant.” These days many Americans are war weary—and that includes Obama supporters who think he has not done enough to get us out. It might look like the time is ripe for deficit-hawk…
Read More…her moral person? No need to worry about an Eichmann scenario of claiming freedom of moral responsibility because one was just doing one’s job. Both as a legal fiction and as a real person, Eichmann identified with a job that was itself immoral and unjust. Giving out marriage licenses is not in itself evil. Yet, while Kim Davis is still required to sign the name of her moral person to official documents, she still fears implicating her moral pers…
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…period in history when the people supposed to be hunting him found it more useful to use the hunt as a smokescreen for lining their pockets in illegal mining operations and ghost soldier salary rackets. He also had the smarts to claim to represent the disenfranchised Acholi tribe, which stalled the intellectuals and academics who should be uniting against him. Sure, the Acholi are disenfranchised. But how can you insult the intelligence of Acholi…
Read More…he philosopher believed that animal meat is infested with evil demons that use sacrificial meals as a conduit to corrupt the human body. Once inside the body, Porphyry asserts, these demons use the human digestive system to glut their appetites, emitting harmful gasses as they digest the meat. The telltale sign of demonic infection is uncomfortable bloating, flatulence, and belching. For Porphyry, then, burps at the dinner table weren’t just viola…
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…tion) Movement for and by Pacific Island Youth. And she’s a layperson. Because it’s important to remember that laypeople know how to pray too. Valarie Kaur: A Sikh filmmaker and multifaith activist, Kaur offered a national voice for her community after the fatal shooting of Sikh worshippers at a temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Because before there was Newtown, Connecticut, there was Oak Creek. Were any of these women to take her place behind the p…
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