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What Pence and Kaine Reveal About Divides in Catholicism

…he hierarchy wasn’t to be trusted? It’s that split within Catholicism that freed up Catholics to affiliate with whatever political party best met their priorities: social justice issues for left-leaning Catholics and sexual restraint, law-and-order, and a muscular national defense for right-leaning Catholics. And, as Jack Jenkins notes at Think Progress: …if this sort of dissenting spirit was unique among modern American Catholics, one could plaus…

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Graeme Wood on ISIS: No Such Thing as Objective Critique

…ocation of Koranic verses. He reports that ISIS supporters “often speak in codes and allusions that sound odd or old-fashioned to non-Muslims, but refer to specific traditions and texts of early Islam,” and that they, “spoke with an academic precision that put me in mind of a good graduate seminar.” These people speak with authority, so they must be authoritative. So the logic goes. In the article, Wood relies on the familiar Protestant notion tha…

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What a Forgotten 19th Century Suffragist Can Teach Us About Women’s Rights vs. The Religious Right

…ity among the sexes and religions. Suffrage was part of the broader set of freedoms that Gage sought, but freedom goes well beyond that. What Gage saw was that you can’t just “get out the vote.” You have to change the mythologies. New stories need to be told, even if they are the old stories that have been forgotten.   [Research for this essay is greatly indebted to the ongoing work of Sally Roesch Wagner, and the Matilda Joslyn Gage Home in Fayet…

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Alabama Senate Considers Giving Church Its Own Police Force; Irony Reportedly Dead

…see here. Because we are to pretend drugs don’t exist in the affluent zip codes, because drug abuse cannot be acknowledged in the pursuit of the Christ-centered life. Because everybody is better off if we pretend that problem is … somebody else’s problem. This is from April 2015, before the original bill was considered in the Alabama Legislature. To recap once again: the Briarwood high school was caught trying to sweep a drug problem under the ru…

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London’s ‘Big Gay Iftar’ And More in Global LGBT Recap

…fi Islam and Putinism. The authorities have banned alcohol, enforced dress codes and “moral behavior” for women, supported honor killings and blood feuds, and even closed orphanages as being alien to Chechen culture. Russian police reportedly arrested about 20 protesters in St. Petersburg on May 1. The BBC reported on psychological and religious “cures” that gay people in Russia are being subjected to: Some Russian families turn to religious insti…

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Georgia Gov Vetoes Right-To-Discriminate Bill

…mothers, as well as the enforcement of rigid, invasive, and discriminatory codes of conduct. This section of the bill is somewhat similar to one introduced in Missouri, which aims to remove religious organizations from the definition of “employer” within the state’s human rights law. Finally, the bill also contained a Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) provision modeled on the federal RFRA. While the RFRA contained a caveat that it should no…

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Good Hair, Good God! The Divine Politics of African-American Hair

…C) from the very beginnings of the denomination: their holiness and purity codes in the early 20th century forbade the processing or pressing of hair (like Madam C.J. Walker’s revolutionary hair-straightening process.) As the denomination grew in cities during the 1940s, straight hair became the currency of charismatic authority and power for the church mothers and pastors’ wives. Lighter skin, straighter hair, and European features became a preci…

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Into the Darkest Moment of a Dark Year Comes the Saturnalia, a Time for Drinking, Swearing, Gambling, and the Circle of Life

…god belonging to an era before civilization constrained men with societal codes and rigidities. During the Saturnalia, they break free of restrictions, provided that order (Cosmos) be restored at the end of the festival. There’s nothing more appropriate to reflect on in a pandemic year of grief which has forced us to reconsider fragility, finitude and time. During these shorter days and longer nights, as we may or may not put up a Christmas tree…

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Why We Stay: What the History of Mormonism Reveals About the Origins of “Race”

…th their religious scriptures. From public writings like sermons and legal codes, to private writings like journals and letters, these writings all make up what I call the “Mormon archive,” which is a smaller part of the “American archive.” The archive, I argue, is not just a physical and metaphorical space where (race) history is preserved. It is also where (race) history is made. Exploring the “race of the archive,” as I call it, is a way into s…

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DeSantis’ Religious Exemption Will Kill—And it Violates the 1st Amendment

…hurches from cramming too many people into a building in violation of fire codes. The congregants’ right to gather and worship is limited by the government’s need to protect those congregants from being trampled to death and the community from a fire. Preventing large gatherings at this moment is even more crucial. It’s hard to imagine a clearer need for prohibiting church services and gatherings than a highly infectious global pandemic. More impo…

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