Religion Dispatches
…me from dancing with the one I love but my mind holds the key set my body free, set my spirit free… And a symphonic explosion of sound highlights the climax to “Intervention”: Been working for the church while your life falls apart been singing hallelujah with the fear in your heart The Wilderness Downtown When Neon Bible was released in 2007, lead vocalist and songwriter Win Butler, who has spoken about his Mormon upbringing and religious influe…
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…o words emblazoned on your chest. It’s time. You’re gonna make a break for freedom. You will not be a slave anymore.” But she isn’t feeling free: she’s trapped in a deep depression. Midway through the season, Rabbi Raquel has an epic breakdown in the days leading up to Passover. She’s preparing for a seder and conversing with Sarah, the eldest Pfefferman sibling. Sarah has been having some contact highs with Judaism throughout season, while Raquel…
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…worried about Mormon theocracy as well. People use that word theocracy too freely. Mormons then would have said that their government was an expression of popular will. They believed in the franchise, and they exercised it. But they wanted Brigham Young to be the territorial governor. When federal agents deposed the territorial government, it looked to Mormons like tyranny. They would have said, “You are violating the Constitution, and we are the…
Read More…teaching of LGBT issues in schools Rev. David Robertson, moderator of the Free Church of Scotland, criticized LGBT activists with Time for Inclusive Education for wanting to “indoctrinate children” by having schools teach about LGBT issues, More from The Herald’s Hanna Rodger: Speaking to the Sunday Herald, Robertson said: “Primary school children do not need to be taught what gay and transgender is. “We are concerned that what is being proposed…
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…that baking a cake for a baptism violated their beliefs. An individual is free to hold and to practice such beliefs, but they are not free to use those beliefs to claim a right to discriminate in the public arena. Same-sex couples have been granted access to civil marriage under the Constitution, and they must be allowed to exercise that right freely, including buying goods and services from businesses open to the public. The brief filed by Maste…
Read More…uled in Glenn’s favor on a preliminary motion, it’s notable for a prisoner free exercise case to get the court’s approval to go forward. Howard Friedman, who tracks prisoners’ free exercise lawsuits on his blog, Religion Clause, notes that since October there have been rulings in 31 of such cases, two-thirds of which were dismissed by the court. Most prisoner free exercise cases involve Muslim inmates, though neo-pagan groups, New Religious Moveme…
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…xactly what the Establishment Clause prohibits. The Stand Up for Religious Freedom rallies emphasized the Free Exercise Clause and their own “religious freedom,” but they ignore, most certainly not by accident, the principle upon which Judge Stearns’ decision rests: “[t]o insist that the government respect the separation of church and state is not to discriminate against religion; indeed, it promotes a respect for religion by refusing to single ou…
Read More…to be a free and open space where ideas may be exchanged and contested in free and open fashion. He may also be correct that proponents of same-sex marriage should meditate on their individual and collective responses to those opposed. But he is wrong to suggest that Ryan T. Anderson has been “shunned.” Anderson has been able to study at some of the nation’s top universities. He holds a position at a prominent conservative think tank. He is a reg…
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…a network of schools and interfaith centers, and has been known to provide free trips to American academics to show them the Hizmet activities in Turkey. In the spirit of full disclosure, I am one of those academics who have benefited from a casual association with members of the Hizmet movement in the United States. But I didn’t get a free trip to Turkey. In my case I had given talks in spring of 2015, that were jointly sponsored by a Hizmet inte…
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…eader. He has faced accusations of imposing an autocratic rule by muzzling free speech and media freedoms. Tanzania: Government threatens LGBT activists and NGO supporters Government officials have “threatened to arrest and expel activists, as well as deregister all non-governmental organisations that campaign for gay rights,” reports Reuters. Singapore: Pink Dot rally succeeds without banned participation and funding from foreigners Thousands att…
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