Religion Dispatches
…t makes atheism into one of the factors that we treat as identity —like race and sexuality. Unlike atheism, though, we assume that race and sexuality are not a matter of choice or conscious conviction. Bell’s marketplace uses language of social justice to protect the consumer in the choice—equally valid—between faith in God and faith in unfaith. His gamble might be risky in relation to God, but it is a sure thing in the marketplace….
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…og that he felt that Custer or Columbus would have been a more appropriate code name for bin Laden, and that the use of Geronimo was just another example of how “We’ve been reduced to caricatures as mascots and entertainment in sports and media.” In fact, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee held hearings recently on American Indians and racist stereotypes, and one of the first items of business was a discussion of why this particular code name wa…
Read More…for Pagans and literal witch hunts around the world. This week a woman in Paraguay was accused of witchcraft and burned alive; last month a Nigerian witch-hunter sued The British Humanist Association for criticizing her methods; and in Saudi Arabia police have begun to track Twitter users suspected of spreading witchcraft. Going after journalists like Latson is not going to stop actual fear mongers from claiming that innocent people are part of o…
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…llywood Censored. The code they designed became the Motion Picture Conduct Code, popularly know as the Hays Code after it was adopted by William Hays, a Presbyterian elder who was hired by the major studios to help clean up the industry’s image after it was rocked by a series of scandals. The code, says Black, “was a fascinating combination of Catholic theology, conservative politics and pop psychology—an amalgam that would control the content of…
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…nitiative that has been tackled since the last three legislatures is not cause for a split between the PAN, she said, since “National Action is favor of marriage between mother and father.” The PAN denied that her links with the Confamilia organization, linked to the Catholic Church and with which she shared the presidium, damaged her image before society: “It does not affect me because I am being congruent with my principles, values and stateme…
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…ek, I found myself thinking about Zoe in relation to Lawrence Lessig’s Law/Code distinction. Lessig uses the example of speeding. You can make it against the law to speed, and we have the free choice to violate the law and face the consequences. You can program the car so that it can not exceed the speed limit and you take away that free will, except for those who have the capacity to hack the code and reprogram the car. We normally think of robot…
Read More…ed Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment declaring that only marriages between a man and a woman are valid in the state. But he points out that militant homosexuals have not respected that decision and have vandalized property, threatened people, and mailed white powder to Mormon churches. Fitzpatrick calls that “fascism.” “Fascism rejects democratic values. We see outright rejection of democracy in California.” He’s half right. Those who oppo…
Read More…avid Blight tells the story of the first Memorial Day, celebrated by newly freed blacks in Charleston, South Carolina memorializing dead Union troops. In Joplin, Missouri, residents mourned those lost in the tornado. The Department of Homeland Security has ended a post-9/11 registration program that required Arab and Muslim men to register with the government, but not before tangling many Muslim immigrants up in legal proceedings. The Muslim Broth…
Read More…does not refuse anyone due to their religion yet she is quite happy to refuse us because of our sexuality.” …“It’s not just wrong, it’s illegal to discriminate against people when you are providing goods and services, you should not discriminate on the grounds of sexuality or race.” When asked his opinion on the fact that Ms Wilson attempted to justify her actions by stating that she is a Jehovah’s Witness, he said: “If they have a deeply held re…
Read More…ote marks the first time a same-sex union motion was passed in the Lower House. According to ANSA, the motion commits the government “to promote the adoption of a law on civil unions, particularly with regard to the condition of the people of same sex,” and to ”ensure equal treatment throughout the nation.” Brazil: Massive pride celebration, continuing religious opposition An estimated 2 million people celebrated pride in Sao Paolo, but in spite o…
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