Religion Dispatches
…ggression on parents) in order to change orientation. This is not what the New York Times article was about. In contrast to this report, the New York Times article generated no controversy or outrage. If Spiegel wanted to report on people who accept their sexuality but live in such a way to honor their religious commitments then why interview a guy who promises that gays can change? This is complicated. Wyler’s stated reason for wanting to change…
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…urprise. In October 2005—just three years after the bishops’ adopted their new norms—the Archdiocese of Chicago’s review board recommended removing an accused priest, Daniel McCormack, from ministry, and Cardinal Francis George refused to do so. He wasn’t removed from ministry until January 2006, and McCormack later pled guilty to abusing five kids. As the victims’ attorney Marc Pearlman told NPR, “I just don’t know… how many kids were abused betw…
Read More…Eleison Group, who the RNS article notes worked doing faith outreach on a number of Democratic campaigns in 2006 and 2008 but not in 2010. In both the RNS interview and in an article on Huffington Post, Sapp argues for a causal link between lackluster faith outreach in this election cycle and Democratic losses; his conclusion: “the results were disastrous.” To support this argument, Sapp claims the following: Compared to ’06, Democrats nationally…
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…ed less-than-orthodox. And even relatively conservative Catholics like the newly-minted Pope Francis would agree that the “Christian moral code” involves a commitment to peace and social justice, which Eberstadt seems to ignore in favor of questions of sexual morality. (To be fair, Simon didn’t ask her about such issues.) But the heart of Eberstadt’s argument is demographics, and just about every piece of social research released in the few years…
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…Indians were burned alive: “Men as the Pequots, whom the First Planters of New-England found in the Wilderness. …These Ammonites perceived that they had made themselves to sink before the New-English Israel… Five or Six Hundred of these Barbarians were dismissed from a World that was Burdened with them.” This mythology of divine conquest is built into the American imagination, most obviously in the concepts of Manifest Destiny and American Excepti…
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…counter-protestors. That’s an exaggeration, but I’m just saying, that the number of nazis compared to counter-protestors was unreal. I’m just like, where in the hell did all these people come from? They took over the fucking city. So as things were heating up, we saw riot gear enter into our barricade, where we had been secured. And it was advised to leave that location and go to a secure location. And so, at that point we left that barricade and…
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…ciety, among the most physically intimate, and likely include the greatest number of vulnerable people. Even single members of large congregations can have a dramatic effect on how coronavirus spreads or doesn’t, as South Korea found out the hard way. While many aren’t meeting at all or are streaming services, some churches that do meet feel like they need to support those who need it, in worship or otherwise. My mother’s congregation in Madison,…
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…ople who aren’t associated with the Christian right. Ten is a pretty small number to best represent a movement Newsweek describes as “changing and growing more diffuse, even as it remains a potent force in American politics.” While some of the picks seem obvious (Marjorie Dannenfelser of the anti-choice group Susan B. Anthony List, or Jim Daly, the new head of Focus on the Family, or Robert George mastermind of the Manhattan Declaration) legal sch…
Read MoreTuesday’s Democratic primary in New York made even clearer a point that has been obvious since Super Tuesday: Bernie Sanders almost certainly will not be the Democratic nominee in 2016. But that doesn’t mean he should get out of the race. As many have argued, when we get to Philadelphia, Sanders can use his total delegate count to leverage changes in the party platform or nomination process. He could press for a $15/hour minimum wage plank, for e…
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…meframe. Of course, statements are written all the time. I can’t count the number of statements and petitions I’ve signed over the last decade about one issue or another. This is why we knew we could not, we would not, simply offer a few words proclaiming our disgust. We wanted actionable items, matters that we could take up within our local communities and the academy. Already, we’ve followed up this statement by a discussion with the Association…
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