Religion Dispatches
…known for attacks on Scientology, decided to send a message to the Catholic Church by shutting down the official Vatican website (still not responding as of this posting). What are the Church’s misdeeds, according to these code crusaders? They go back to the selling of indulgences in the 16th century. And more recently, of course, there’s the Church’s interference in Italy’s domestic politics. (Not just Italy, we’d have to say.) – The Eds. …
Read More…ave endorsed the measure. It proposes to redefine the basic word “person,” applying it to fertilized eggs. The goal of this mischief, as many have noted, is to outlaw all abortions with no exceptions—even for rape or incest, or when a woman’s life is in danger. This would mean that, in Mississippi (or the several other states like Florida and Ohio that are drafting similar measures) it will be safer to be a fertilized-egg-person (FEP) than a woman…
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…rs the group—because generally, most people would like horrible things to happen to those who harm children. This is the same rhetoric used against Democrats by QAnon, whose followers believe that a global cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles runs the world, and it can often lead to “save the children” being understood as “murder our opponents.” It’s also the same playbook used by anti-abortion advocates for decades. The threats against Boston Ch…
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…ning) than on religion, defined in terms of religious institutions. Ethics codes, like the Code of Ethics for Nurses of the American Nurses Association, emphasize the importance of patients’ spiritual well-being and the NANDA International, which develops language around nursing diagnoses, recognizes three diagnoses related to spirituality and spiritual distress. In medical and broader public discourse about religion, spirituality, and medicine, i…
Read More…oly Land Foundation trial. Meanwhile, the Family Research Council has just appointed Lt. General William G. “Jerry” Boykin (Ret.) as executive vice president. Boykin, among other things, has claimed that “we need to realize that Islam itself is not just a religion—it is a totalitarian way of life. It’s a legal system, shari’ah law; it’s a financial system; it’s a moral code; it’s a political system; it’s a military system. It should not be protect…
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…ause it’s the very definition of voter intimidation, which is illegal. The Code of Laws of the United States of America states that: “Whoever intimidates, threatens, coerces, or attempts to intimidate, threaten, or coerce, any other person for the purpose of interfering with the right of such other person to vote or to vote as he may choose, or of causing such other person to vote for, or not to vote for, any candidate for the office of President,…
Read More…hy of international coverage because the Palestinian women had broken “the code of silence” by resorting to Israeli courts. The implications of this juxtaposition of two unrelated events are that Palestinians belong to a backward, patriarchal culture that, rightly or wrongly, is under attack by a modern, “democratic” state with a legal apparatus that supports women’s rights. Others have shown that the New York Times gave disproportionate attention…
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…f famous forbears. “The bridegroom is also a grandson of Baron Georg von Trapp,” concludes one, “The family’s story was the basis of The Sound of Music.” In this late-modern moment, there are fewer von Trapps to honor, and more Maidenform investors to assuage. To read the Times announcement pages is to encounter repeatedly the symbolic hegemony of starter hedge funds, Manhattan arts agencies, and the Ivy League as the taming ties of couplehood. An…
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…t subsidizes the surgery. It dates back to 1986 when, following a personal appeal from a trans woman, Ayatollah Khomeini issued a hand-written fatwa that “God willing, sex reassignment, if advised by a reliable doctor, is permissible.” More from the BuzzFeed story: Hundreds have undergone sex reassignment surgery in Iran since Molkara’s meeting with Khomeini. Almost 1,400 people applied for permission for the process between 2006 and 2014, accordi…
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…same Torah and commentaries, study the same Talmud, live by the same legal codes, and adhere to the same basic belief system. Yes, the haredim have a very narrow reading of these sources but it’s a safe bet that they can cite chapter and verse to support their views—often more adroitly than their modern counterparts. In his Mishneh Torah (Code of Law), Maimonides explicitly advocated the position that women should stay mostly in their homes. The k…
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