Search for "cheap airline tickets from new york ny to grand rapids mi phone number 1-800-299-7264"

The New God-Fearers (FKA “The Nones”) and Where to Find Them

By Carlos Wilton

…raditional churches. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEu2MH3J0qg A great many Nones are the spiritual progeny of the cheerful, well-dressed parade of Eisenhower-era churchgoers: fathers in their Mad Men suits, mothers in their pert hats and white gloves. They are Dick, Jane and Sally from the elementary-school readers, now with children and grandchildren of their own. (“See Dick. See Dick run. See Dick run away from church.”) Back then, the cultur…

A New Goal for Anti-Choice Activists: Targeting “Sex-Selective” Abortion

By Andy Kopsa

…hoice community. There a bill to ban sex-selection abortion circulating in New York, and Georgia Right to Life is trying to gather support for similar legislation. Live Action even addresses the issue in a February blog post quoting a Canadian Medical Association Journal interim editor who called the abortion of “female babies” “discrimination against women in its most extreme form.” There is no real evidence given in the PRENDA hearing to support…

Overnight Sensation ‘The Rich Men North of Richmond’ isn’t Just a Window into a Forgotten America — It’s an Invitation into a Worldview

By Bradley Onishi

…ublic conversation about poverty. “She used 80 names, 30 addresses, 15 telephone numbers to collect food stamps, Social Security, veterans’ benefits for four nonexistent deceased veteran husbands, as well as welfare. Her tax-free cash income alone has been running $150,000 a year.” Reagan’s caricature of the “welfare queen” cemented it in the American imaginary: By the time the “welfare queen” finally emerged on the national stage, the American pu…

Discrimination on the Taxpayer’s Dime? The Fight To Curtail the Overreach of RFRA

By Sarah Posner

…ginia and a proponent of a robust reading of RFRA, said via email that the new sex discrimination rules under the Executive Order are “about regulating the religious charity’s employment practices as a condition of eligibility for government contracts,” and could present a RFRA claim. But Daniel Mach, director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, said RFRA “should not be invoked to discriminate or…

Will Women Priests Change the Church?

By Mary E. Hunt

…documentary that is making the rounds at film festivals (it will debut in New York on February 12 at the Athena Film Festival, hosted by Barnard College). The title refers to protests held at churches around the country during the Conclave in 2005 that elected Pope Benedict XVI where women created pink smoke—instead of the traditional white smoke that heralds the choice of a pope—to draw attention to the fact that the election was a men’s club af…

Are They Jewish Bones? Battle for Separation of Synagogue & State in Israel

By Shalom Goldman

…accede to the demands of his coalition’s Ultra-Orthodox constiuents, Benjamin Netanyahu (busy with international affairs in general and with the conflict with the Obama administration in particular) at first made a hasty and incautious decision that may have wide-ranging implications for all Israelis—and not only for those served by the staff of Barzilai Hospital. Then this week, in one of those sudden reversals of policy for which he is now know…

Catholics for Choice Blasts New Proposed Contraception Coverage Rule

By Sarah Posner

…ocial services organizations, and Catholic hospitals, said Hutchinson. The new proposed rule permits these organizations, she said, to self-certify that they are entitled to the work-around, or accommodation, that places the onus of providing and paying for the contraception coverage on the insurance company. Hutchinson said she was “dubious, maybe cynical, about how easy and how smooth the process of making sure the folks who do need, the employ…

How Robert Bellah (1927-2013) Changed the Study of Religion

By Mark Juergensmeyer

…ommunitarian spirit that transformed Christianity and gave rise to a whole new protestant movement. At the same time, similar movements were emerging in other traditions in other parts of the world. In India, for example, bhakti movements of social rebellion were erupting throughout the subcontinent, eschewing Brahmanical authority for the fellowship of devotees of a new breed of eclectic saints and teachers who could be outcastes, blind, female,…

Comparing Gender Transition and Surrogacy to War and Human Trafficking, Vatican’s ‘Dignitas Infinita’ is an Intellectually Embarrassing and Harmful Mess

By Mary E. Hunt

…an Daniel C. Maguire who has explained that Roman Catholics have been of many minds on abortion over the long years. The many very complicated issues included do not lend themselves to a few short paragraphs. Whose idea was this mini-catechism of morality? The format is not appropriate to the content. On abortion, Francis’ writers want people “to have the courage to look the truth in the eye and call things by their proper name.” Yet they’re incap…

Homosexual Thoughts and Feelings Not a Sin, Says New LDS Handbook

By Joanna Brooks

…S Social Services to identify resources to provide such counseling in harmony with gospel principles. If members feel same-gender attraction but do not engage in any homosexual behavior, leaders should support and encourage them in their resolve to live the law of chastity and to control unrighteous thoughts. These members may receive Church callings. If they are worthy and qualified in every other way, they may also hold temple recommends and rec…