Religion Dispatches
…ss federal mandates. The Centers for Disease Control, for instance, have a number of relatively small field stations, research facilities coordinating work on malaria and other blood-borne diseases. In the absence of a coherent alternative, they were ordered to become AIDS research labs as well. A great deal of the initial outlays went into converting relatively small field stations into much larger research laboratories called upon to expand thei…
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…that legalized abortion.” He “voted for federal funding of abortions on a number of occasions,” including 2003, when “he voted for an amendment that would repeal President Reagan’s ‘Mexico City Policy’ and allow funding for abortions—and abortion counseling—abroad.” In 1999, “he voted to kill an amendment that would prohibit taxpayer dollars to fund abortions covered by federal health insurance plans… [and] in 1997, [he] voted for an amendment th…
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…label themselves spiritual, or religious, or both, or neither; when they encounter any number of mundane moments when questions of religion press upon them. But what if our choices vis-à-vis religion have some other complicated and fraught economy beyond that of the psychic? Might such choices never be choices to begin with, despite the fact that the a priori status of that choice has gained such philosophical and political currency over the last…
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…the atheist bus adverts, said: ‘You wait for ages for an atheist bus, then 800 come along at once. I hope they will brighten people’s days and make them smile on their way to work.’” So will it be a year of smiles for the faithless—or, perhaps, the faithful? A lot depends on the economy. Religion didn’t fare particularly well during the Great Depression. Despite the seeming need for alternative realities, church attendance didn’t swell in the 193…
Read More…iating symptom of a nation turning against its own citizens, though it is encouraging that, in the wake of Notre Dame, donations to the Louisiana churches have begun to surge. I wouldn’t underplay the seriousness of what happened in Paris, Jerusalem, and Louisiana. But I do find it fascinating, in a depressing way, that a 13th century mosque has been willfully demolished, and a 16th century mosque forcibly converted into a Communist propaganda cen…
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…als say, a disaster site is a terrible place to exchange business cards. Since 9/11, the emergency management community increasingly has recognized the importance of involving “whole communities” into disaster preparedness, including faith communities. The United States has a deeply religious and diverse population, with more than 70 percent identifying as an adherent of a faith. FEMA has urged emergency managers and VOAD partners to increase thei…
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…ilies. It’s that simple! Each packet contains one card with “information concerning AFA, including instructions on how to participate in AFA’s online Action Alert site.” You can give the other 24 cards “to your friends and family.” Exactly what is being “Push[ed] Back”against isn’t quite clear. Wildmon doesn’t really say. One needn’t stretch one’s imagination much to get the sense that when push comes to shove, just about everything advanced by th…
Read More…e killed for the crime of his or her father.” But notice, where rape and incest are concerned, it is only the fetus’ innocence that’s stipulated. See, if I were talking about the innocent people injured by rape, I would eventually consider the person who was raped. I might even at some point think about her innocence. (Well, I probably wouldn’t put it in those terms. I would think, “[Expletive deleted], that’s horrible and should never ever ever…
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…pean Jews. Never mind that the Declaration of Independence’s “universal principles” include a description of Native Americans as “merciless Indian Savages, whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction, of all Ages, Sexes and Conditions.” The most pernicious part of the bill is its bizarre definition of “individual freedom,” consisting of eight principles plainly written to protect white people. The final one is the most sweeping:…
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…ith because I thought (and had confirmation at that time) that it did not include people like me. Although he has since found an affirming faith community, Charles stressed that his journey back to religion, and to a solid sense of self-worth, was long and made more difficult by his time in conversion therapy. The one positive impact of the treatment, Charles said, was that it made him “relentlessly committed to trans people, LGBQ people and their…
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