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Will Iowa’s Abortion Ban Respect Religious Freedom?

By Christine Ryan

…ion since Iowa’s Republican-controlled legislature approved the ban over a year ago, but the state’s Supreme Court ended the reprieve in June by overturning the lower court’s injunction. In doing so, the Iowa Supreme Court also nullified a 2018 decision that recognized abortion as a fundamental right under the state’s Constitution—an essential component of “ordered liberty.” However, with new personnel and a green light from the US Supreme Court,…

Mormon Rejection of Trump Embarrassing for Evangelicals?

By Neil J. Young

…have no doubt found themselves allied in many political causes through the years, American evangelicalism also has a long history of attacking Mormonism as a false Christian faith and even a dangerous “cult.” This has, understandably, made for rather strange (and strained) relations. While evangelical leaders often praised Mormon conservatism, they worried that too much enthusiasm would signal support for Mormon religious beliefs. Amidst the socia…

My Business, Myself: Piercing the Corporate Veil

By Howard M. Friedman

…health insurance policies that cover contraception. Because Annex has only 16 full-time and two part-time employees, the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare,” does not require it to provide health insurance to its workers at all. (Only businesses with 50 or more employees are required by the new law to provide insurance.) However, if Annex chooses to offer its employees insurance, its plan—like those of larger companies—must comply with the minimu…

Haiti and the Push for Theological Questions

By Paula M. Cooey

…nine on the Richter scale. It devastated the population. Estimates of the number of people killed range from 10,000 to 100,000. At the time the quake struck, worshipers filled the churches honoring their dead. The churches, the worshippers, and the city around them were effectively destroyed. Not long after the major quake hit, a tsunami followed that killed those who had rushed to the beaches in fear to avoid the havoc of the earthquake. The cat…

The Best the Largest Progressive Jewish Org Could Come Up With?

By Jay Michaelson

…d Jewish Funds for Justice, the latter of which had already swallowed up a number of smaller Jewish social justice organizations. I know several people who work at BtA, and I commend them on their ability to keep a secret. I and friends of mine plied several of these folks with drinks, but their lips stayed sealed. (I did find out that the org would have an action-verb in it, as is the fashion these days, but that’s all.) That being said, I’m not…

Change v. Change at NPR

By Warren Throckmorton

…der of Journey into Manhood, and Peterson Toscano, a man who went spent 17 years in an unsuccessful effort to change his orientation. Schumacher-Matos correctly points out that much of the negative reaction centered on the presentation of Wyler and Toscano as representative of two sides of a current debate in psychology. In fact, the official pronouncements of the mental health professions are clear that scientific evidence does not warrant psycho…

Conservative Christians Insist the Toxic Theology Portrayed in the Duggar Family Doc is ‘Fringe’ — But is it Really All That Different?

By Caroline Matas

…y, former mayor of Indianapolis and deputy mayor of New York City Stephen Goldsmith, and current U.S. Representative Daniel Webster (R-FL). Past members of the IBLP’s Board of Directors and Advisory Board include billionaire and part-owner of the San Antonio Spurs James Leininger, former Congressman Sam Johnson (R-TX), and Georgia State Senator Ralph T. Hudgens. Gothard’s foundational beliefs—the eponymous “basic life principles” and their attenda…

Ex-Gay Conversion Therapy: Choosing Religion Over Sex

By Lynne Gerber

…n that were close and deep while reflective of the conservative values he holds. While not a choice I would quickly endorse, it was evident to me the helpful space the ex-gay world can give people like Leonard to grapple with the contradictions between sexuality and religion. Which is to say I can understand NPR ombudsman Edward Schumacher-Matos’ effort, in defense of Morning Edition’s recent story on “conversion therapy,” to acknowledge the seemi…

“Pregnancy is Not a Disease”: Birth of an Anti-Contraception Rallying Cry

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…notion that pregnancy is not an illness draws, I daresay uneasily, from a number of sources. There’s the classical notion that a thing’s nature is derived from its purpose, and the purpose of female bodies is to bear children. There’s the persistent early modern fear that women, especially privileged white women, are becoming overcivilized and unnatural, not having as many privileged white babies, relying on technology and pain relief, and not fi…

The New Age Fantasy of a Celtic Church that Revered Nature and the Divine Feminine Never Existed — So What?

By Ed Simon

…, an Episcopal priest at the Eucharist Church in San Francisco, wrote last year that while he’d long dismissed the holiday as “an excuse for people to get sloshed on green beer or talk about leprechauns and four leafed clovers,” he’s come to see St. Patrick’s Day as a “powerful means of enfleshing the gospel.” For Jones, his appreciation for the saint was inculcated in the community of which he’s a member, an ecumenical fellowship named after a tw…