Religion Dispatches
…something different now—not just my own blood, but a larger communion of the self in the world. I write every morning in my kitchen, stirring my coffee with one of Grammy’s spoons. I’ll never use it in a grand candlelit dinner with my children and their children. It’s for everyday use. I am the end of my line. But also, the beginning of another kind….
Read More…s will not receive such coverage. In this respect, any possible connection between the Little Sisters’ religious objection and their employees’ use of contraception would be even more attenuated than Notre Dame’s. Indeed, it’s not at all obvious why the plaintiff has standing to object to the self-certification requirement: How could the Little Sisters be complicit in their employees’ use of contraceptives if those employees will not receive reimb…
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…NOM have provided more than 55 percent of the funding. NOM, which loves to use alarmist rhetoric about rich gay funders, is itself heavily dependent on big donors. Earlier this month it announced that a donor had given the group $2 million to use as a 2-for-1 matching grant for its anti-marriage and anti-Obama campaigns. How do progressive Catholics respond to the combined forces of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the money machines th…
Read More…e Afghanistan and Pakistan have governments that are in various degrees of uselessness. There is a political angle to Obama’s support of Indonesia, as he attempts to set-up rival powers with China; Indonesia’s close relationship with Australia makes them a credible power center. Just as important, Obama recognizes that democracy is messy, painful, and not the same everywhere. Indonesia carved out its own understanding of democracy that recognizes…
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…that Trump is such an artist, but it’s the other way around: Trump didn’t use the religious right to win the presidency; the religious right used Trump to get what it wanted. And this itself is nothing new, despite claims to the contrary which, we think, has more to say about the commentator than the subject in question. Although it may be convenient and more than a little self-serving to view Trump as an aberration who doesn’t align with desired…
Read More…anned hearings are being decried by religious leaders and scholars as an abuse of government power, a blow to religious freedom, and a government-backed demonization of millions of decent people of faith. As a Mormon, I find the King hearings particularly objectionable. Because Mormons of all people know what it feels like for an entire religion to be publicly demeaned for the objectionable deeds of its fringe minorities. And because our religion…
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…est number, then living at a minimal level with 12 billion people would be better. If you want people living the very best possible lifestyle, then 100 million people would be better. If you stop thinking about only human beings, but thinking about all the rest of the living organisms on earth, clearly the 100 million people is far better for the rest of the organisms on earth than is the 12 billion. How Paleo will the lifestyle of those 100 milli…
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…urt cases we discuss come next with great emphasis placed on the religious freedom clause and their civil rights. I demand that they know their rights and stand up for those rights if another person is being harassed––not because they agree with the person being harassed (I tell them they can absolutely disagree) but because the rights belong to all of us. If we allow anyone to chip away at those rights we will see the foundation of our nation wea…
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…e you okay with your child marrying a scientist”—social scientists love to use that, because it’s a good measure of social distance—heck yeah, everyone would love their child to marry a scientist! These are highly educated people, who we hold in esteem. And “would you like your child to have more science education”—of course! But especially the more conservative faith traditions do sometimes feel like scientists overstep their bounds, and that the…
Read More…From Catholic Perspectives” scheduled for September 25 which reportedly caused Chaput to cancel the group’s permission to use the space. “Unfortunately, this is yet another instance of the kind of exclusion LGBT Catholics and supporters have endured for decades. Bishops have refused to allow us to meet in our own Churches, retreat centers and colleges,” Equally Blessed said in a statement. “There is a lack of information in the Catholic Church ab…
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