Search for "Klm Royal Dutch Airlines Reservation 800-299-7264 Official Site Phone Number"

Was a Teacher Disciplined for Refusing to Apologize for Teaching Science?

By Lauri Lebo

…rotected by the First Amendment. Because Hensley was asked to speak in her official capacity as a public employee, her refusal to speak does not give rise to a claim for violation of her First Amendment rights.” A link to the full decision is here. The National Center for Science Education has more on the story here. It’s difficult to tell exactly what took place in the classroom and whether Hensley overstepped her boundaries in a discussion of re…

LDS Apostle Says Same-Sex Attraction Can be Overcome

By Joanna Brooks

…studies, there are those who focus on institutional discourses of religion—official church histories, theologies, and declarations—and there are those who study “lived religion,” the way the practice of religion feels to those who give their lives to it. Even as I listened to Elder Packer in the Conference Center and knew his address would be making headlines, what I most wanted to share with Religion Dispatches readers were the “lived religion” i…

The Unbearable Stupidness of Talking about the President’s Religion

By Daniel Schultz

…action from small pesky items like getting the effing economy back on track. In short, the dialogue should proceed as follows: Q.: Is the President really a Christian? I mean, does his really really for reals love him some Jesus? A.: Listen, pinhead: the official unemployment rate is almost 10%. The real rate is more like 17%. I don’t care if the President worships a goat. This seems utterly simple. It can also be deployed against the pretensions…

The Revival of the Pastors’ Policy Briefings

By Sarah Posner

…ut the evangelical vote for Huckabee, with a former Texas Republican Party official writing on his blog in 2007: Lane brought together some 250 Iowa pastors at a Rediscovering God in America event in Des Moines. Huckabee, a former pastor, spoke at that event; and many of the Iowa pastors are expected to turn out their members for Governor Huckabee at the August straw polls. Lane, who is emerging as a major political force within the evangelical co…

Teaching the Dalai Lama’s Monks: Better Religion Through Science

By Arri Eisen

…te any discussion of personal belief, religion, or spirituality from their official discourse. Brilliant. So, it’s refreshing to be part of a project [see the New York Times article in yesterday’s Science section], an experiment really, in which academics are actively engaging religious tradition and belief. Even better, and ironically, this engagement is driven by scientists; the very folks many blame for hammering personal belief out of intellec…

The Tebow Effect

By Sarah Posner

…roud mother of a strapping young man who reaches the pinnacle of America’s number one sports obsession. The new message of evangelicalism: If you believe, God will deliver. Gone is the fire and brimstone, the episodic Pat Robertson outburst swept under the rug. Handsome and athletic, Tebow preaches how believing in Jesus elevates you; you no longer have to fear God’s judgment and wrath. Even the feminist Hillary Clinton was Tebow-ized at the Natio…

Moses on the Mayflower: Was the Prophet a Founding Father?

By Linell Cady

…s earlier books, Feiler’s newest is a travelogue that mixes pilgrimages to sites, conversations with the keepers of the flame, interviews with leading figures and scholars, and personal reflection. He sets out on a midnight trek on the former underground railway, tries on Charlton Heston’s Moses costume from the 1950s blockbuster The Ten Commandments, and even reports on a private meeting with George W. Bush in the White House. In a nutshell, Fei…

Campaigns of Omission

By Sarah Posner

…issues in the cash-strapped state. Sekulow tweeted after the results were official, “called 4 Bob McDonnell here in VA – huge victory for GOP, conservatives, and Regent alums everywhere (Regent in Gov mansion).” McDonnell, in other words, portrayed himself as a moderate while letting his opponent fight the culture war. He wasn’t about to reprise his 2003 position that engaging in anal or oral sex might disquality someone from being a judge; his 1…

Hitchens Debates Conservative Evangelical: Nothing Happens

By Eric Reitan

…ns that get the fans cheering, both sides can declare victory. There is no official scoreboard, and each can return to his respective constituencies at the end of the day and spin the contest as a win. Wilson can go back to his evangelical fan base and say, as he did in the Piper interview, “Hitchens has no argument… he just doesn’t like God.” He can point to the vagueness with which Hitchens responded when asked to provide, on his naturalistic as…

Weird Testament: The Bible Gets the R. Crumb Treatment

By Gabriel Mckee

…lly, sanctimoniousness—was a common target. Yesterday, October 19, was the official publication date of Crumb’s Book of Genesis Illustrated, a work five years in the making. Far from the sharp satire that one might expect from the creator of Fritz the Cat and Mr. Natural, Genesis is a remarkably straight, even reverent, adaptation. In his introduction, Crumb explains that he avoided adding interpretation or clearing up confusing passages, leaving…