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Conservative Catholic Elites Oppose Trump… as He Rides Catholic Vote to Victory in Michigan

…?) And who were similarly silent when the party tried to capitalize on the coded racism of the anti-Obama forces in 2012 or upend the Affordable Care Act, even though the Catholic Church has been advocating for universal health care since Model Ts were on the road. And it’s even funnier that those who helped put Bush and Cheney in office and watched as they led the nation into endless, unwinnable wars, and justified torture to prevent an ever-pres…

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Synod or Sin Oddly: Vatican Encourages Catholics to ‘Walk Together’ as Long as the Hierarchy Leads the Way and Decides the Route

…ive minutes on the agenda of their November 2021 meeting to discuss what’s promoted as the most life-changing process for the Catholic community worldwide since Vatican II. There is a deep disconnect here between rhetoric and reality. Many bishops, especially the most conservative, are simply ignoring or, it is rumored, dissing the whole thing, perhaps considering it more of Francis’ folly. Others are mounting middling efforts. Still others are gi…

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The Hypocrisy in Protests against Ultra-Orthodox in Israel

…s, the haredim have a very narrow reading of these sources but it’s a safe bet that they can cite chapter and verse to support their views—often more adroitly than their modern counterparts. In his Mishneh Torah (Code of Law), Maimonides explicitly advocated the position that women should stay mostly in their homes. The kabbalistic literature now so popular in modern Israel is in many ways worse. We have evidence that in the heyday of Safed in the…

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Are Social Issues Non-Issues?

…are moral issues. His sense of economic morality, though, forged somewhere between focus groups and Ayn Rand, is very different from the one most Americans share. Obama could have taken up this claim, and articulated a different economic-moral vision, one in which the top wage-earners pay their share, and in which health care is not predicated on the right insurance bet. This could have been a worthwhile ethical exchange, undermining the too-neat…

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What Makes Mormons Weird?

…r difference within the precincts of our hearts and minds. But the tension between our mainstream self-presentation—the blonde Ken-doll phenotype many ascribe to ethnic Mormons (descended from 19th-century English and Scandinavian emigrants), our conservative politics, the carefully crafted and highly standardized language Mormons learn to use to both protect our beliefs and describe them to non-Mormons—and the radical innovativeness of Mormon bel…

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When Mormons Mobilize: Anti-Gay Marriage Prop. 8 Effort ‘Outed’?

…l church leaders to serve as regional (or “stake”-level) directors and zip code (or “ward”-level) supervisors for grassroots campaigning. One LDS zipcode supervisor reported that the Mormon Church was “the only member of the Protect Marriage coalition” to participate in the Yes on 8 ground campaign. On August 16, the Yes on 8 ground-campaign began its voter-identification phase, with a reported 15,000–30,000 Mormon precinct walkers knocking doors…

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Louisiana Citizens Horrified that there’s Evolution in Science Books

…chers and school districts to use “supplemental textbooks,” which are just code words for creationist and pro-intelligent design materials. Barbara Forrest, a philosophy professor at Southeastern Louisiana University, co-founder of Louisiana Citizens for Science and one of the creationist movement’s most damning critics, said she believes the complaints are merely a tactic to get disclaimers (Warning: These books teach evolution!) added to the tex…

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Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Lurid Picture of Nigeria’s Muslims in Newsweek

…m, realize the essential interdependence of all the country’s regions, for better or worse.       Hirsi Ali claims (as do some Islamists) that Nigeria is a “majority-Muslim” country of 160 million people with a 40 percent Christian minority. It is more likely that Nigeria, whose census does not include questions of religious identity, is about equally Christian and Muslim, with both heavily influenced by their roots in traditional African faith. A…

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Syria Receives Sudanese Weapons on Ukrainian Aircraft via Qatar and Turkey

…in Syria couldn’t get any more confusing, the New York Times reports that Sudanese weapons are apparently making their way, on Ukrainian aircraft, to Syria, via Qatar and Turkey. Of course the latter countries’ involvement means these are not helping Bashar, unless you think his overthrow is good for his long-term life plans. This means that the Sunni Islamist regime in North Africa, closely allied to China and Iran, is shipping locally- and Chin…

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Contrary to Claims of Anti-Trans Muslims, LGBTQ+ Acceptance is Widespread in the History of Islam

…l codes. Tunisia’s anti-sodomy laws are derived from the 1913 French Penal Code, while section 347 of the penal code in Christian Cameroon is a French colonial law. Similarly, the Ottoman adoption of French codes would ban the köçek. Across the Muslim world, many of the laws criminalizing LGBTQ+ people are direct relics of colonial law. It would take generations to gradually align the region with European colonial sexual values through a shift in…

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