Boy Scout “Perversion Files” Raise Questions about Abuse in Mormon Contexts
…ims and accusers. In 1995, the Church established stronger guidelines and new protocols for reporting abuse, including a 1-800 number for local clergy. …
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What To Do When Fred Phelps Arrives in Your Neighborhood
…in overt ways. Cohocton is a small town, with a population in 2009 of about 800 people. It is in upstate New York. It is not my small town, nor is it likely yours; and yet each of these places is someone’s neighborhood. This time, it is only an hour away for me. Picketing as “The Workingman’s Means of Communication” On March 2, 2011, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in response to a series of prior decisions around Westboro Baptist Church’s pi…
Read MoreNew Poll: Repeal DOMA
…s, but the numbers [pdf] show that the sample actually skewed right. Of the 800 registered voters polled 38 percent were strong, weak, or independent-leaning Democrats with 41 percent identifying as strong, weak, or independent leaning Republicans. Conservatives outweighed liberals by 38 to 18 percent, and a full 74 percent of those polled identified as religious. Some 40 percent claimed the moniker of “born again,” and 33 percent said they attend…
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My God, David Brooks
…ding of our natures. Shakespeare helped us see character in more intricate ways. An improvement in mores means we take less pleasure from bear-baiting, hanging and other forms of public cruelty. We have a greater understanding of how nature works . . . These achievements did make it possible to construct a purely humanistic account of the meaningful life. It became possible for people to conceive of meaningful lives in God-free ways — as painters…
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Behind the Inclusive-Sounding Ads of this $100 Million PR-Blitz-for-Jesus it’s the Same Old Conservative Christian Fantasy
…behind “He Gets Us” want from the people they reach? There are a couple of ways to get at the answer to that question. Along with considering Bill McKendry’s record mentioned above, one is to take a look at the 990 forms the Signatry has filed with the IRS. 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, which include churches and charities, are tax exempt. But in order to maintain that status, they’re required to make annual financial filings that are matters…
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The Intellectual Source Code For National Conservatism Can Be Found at This Niche Catholic Publication
…e, as it were) is Catholic natural law moral philosophy. Natural law is the 800-year-old Thomist tradition that absorbs (from revelation and scripture) and communicates (into public discourse and legal practice) a quite specific understanding of the human individual as the summit of God’s creation. First Things has hosted some of the most important debates and produced some of the most fruitful arguments in support of National Conservatism, the in…
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As Florida Attempts to Make it Illegal, an Argument for the Sacred Work of White Discomfort
…of one generation being visited down three or four generations (Exodus 20; Numbers 14; Deuteronomy 5; Jeremiah 32). This transmission isn’t mystical but is both genetic and cultural. Just as abuse begets abuse and addiction begets addiction, prejudice begets prejudice. In the Christian Scripture, Paul talks about the need to reckon not just with sinful individual nature but with “principalities and powers,” a theological way of describing the impe…
Read MoreGambian Leaders Portray Anti-Gay Law as Defense of Islam, Ugandan Politicians as ‘Christmas Gift’; Global LGBT Recap
…hose who are seeking the patronage of Russian strongman Vladimir Putin. Norway: Anti-Equality Forces Gaining Strength in Norwegian Church, Both Sides Organizing A commentary by Hanne Skartveit published in Norway last week suggests that changes in the church, and the appointment of new bishops who oppose allowing gays to marry in the church, have shifted the college of bishops away from majority support for marriage. She says opponents of gay marr…
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Something So Broken: What’s Frightening About Beasts of the Southern Wild
…Orleans to rescue their lost loved ones trapped beneath the sea.” In many ways, Beasts is a thematic and stylistic extension of Glory at Sea, which takes place in a levee-less enclave called the Bathtub, where a girl named Hushpuppy (played by Wallis) lives with her neglectful but loving father Wink, played by New Orleans baker-turned-actor Dwight Henry. Father and daughter, together with other outcasts of the Bathtub, face the possibility of cat…
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Why Faith Needs Redemptive Struggle to Be Meaningful
…when it’s one of the most prominent words and themes in the Bible. I am always reminded of the Book of James when I observe the theory and theology of Rev. Barber: The biblical writer and Rev. Barber both insist that a vital Christian faith propels us into the struggle for basic justice, that faith without redemptive struggle is dead. We all owe Rev. Barber a debt of gratitude, both for his leadership in the field and for this precious book, The…
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