Search Results for:

VIPREG2024 onexbet promo code Oman

Condemnation, Condolences in Wake of Orlando Massacre and More

…e advocates called for in the country. After Peña Nieto announced he would promote a constitutional reform to recognize gay marriage throughout the country, as well as amendments to the Federal Civil Code to allow homosexual adoption, more than 1,000 organizations joined together to form the National Front for the Family (FNF). Heading up this front are the National Union of Parents, Family Network, ConFamilia, CitizenGo, HazteOir, Dilo Bien, and…

Read More

Jack Ryan Uses Bible to Exonerate Wall Street, CIA

…pulpy example of a larger pattern of scriptural citation that obscures and promotes tensions between market forces and nationalism, dynamics I discuss in depth in my book, The Babylon Complex (Oxford University Press, 2014). A reboot of the older Jack Ryan series—based on Tom Clancy novels like Hunt for Red October—Shadow Recruit uses an all new screenplay by Adam Cozad and David Koepp. Still, the film is highly reminiscent of the earlier series’…

Read More

“Freedom” vs. “Liberty”: Why Religious Conservatives Have Begun to Favor One Over the Other

…y groups on the religious right have latched onto “religious liberty” as a code for this particular sensibility. To be sure, these groups also routinely appeal to religious freedom. But, as recent linguistic shifts have shown, the word liberty brings something extra to the table. “When people talk about religious freedom, they may be talking about the right of everybody to practice their religion, or the right to refuse service to people whose sex…

Read More

The Facts About ‘Sharia’ May Surprise You

…. It’s considered one of the world’s three major legal systems, alongside Roman law and English common law. In fact, the shariah-based legal system, being a case-based system, resembled English common law much more than Roman law. The Guardian article on Mubarak Bala confidently states that “sharia law” is applied in twelve Nigerian states. But this is wrong. Shariah, as it was meant to be applied, with its courts and judges and institutions, is n…

Read More

There’s Nothing Wrong with ‘Prayer’; But There’s Every Reason to be Skeptical of Pence’s Coronavirus Prayer Circle

…that words like “regular,” “real,” and “normal,” in this context are often code for “conservative white Christians”? Might Merritt have devoted a thought or two to the possibility that American criticism of “thoughts and prayers” responses to real-world problems have everything to do with the fact that right-wing Christians—white evangelicals above all—constitute the one demographic that stands in the way of us seriously addressing our gun violenc…

Read More

‘Religious Freedom’ for Atheists

…tes throughout secular democratic Europe. Article 226b of the Danish Penal Code, for instance, singles out for protection—among other categories—groups of people who “on account of their faith” are threatened, insulted, or degraded. It does not single out people, regardless of their affiliation, on account of their convictions of conscience. Know Thy Enmity The most principled motivation for hate speech laws can be found in the principle of equal…

Read More

Excerpt: The Christian Roots of Zionism

…observation during the Crimean War, when the continued viability of the Ottoman Empire came into question. With the weakening of the Ottoman Empire, continued Turkish rule in Palestine came into question. In Shaftesbury’s view, first expressed two decades before the Crimean War, Christians needed to support a Jewish restoration so as to prepare the stage for the Second Coming. As Shaftesbury was a friend and relative of Henry John Temple Palmersto…

Read More

LGBT Victories at Olympics, Struggles in Brazil; Catholic Bishops Organizing Anti-Marriage Equality Protests in Mexico; Global LGBT Recap

…ticularly striking, since 45 percent of its population self-identifies as Roman Catholic, and the Uruguayan bishops have persisted in their criticism of both the reproductive rights and the LGBT agendas.” Orlandi hopes that when OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro “may be persuaded to relent his promotion of the [LGBT] agenda” when he meets with Pope Francis in September for an interreligious dialogue being co-sponsored with the Vatican. The New Ci…

Read More

Is Alcoholics Anonymous a Religion?

…d back in 2014, defended itself by invoking section 18 of the Human Rights code, which allows a religious group to restrict participation to the faithful. So while AA presents itself to the public as a “spiritual” program, distinguishing itself from “religious” groups, it nevertheless claimed “religious” legal status in order to protect itself. Although the definition of “religion” is generally assumed in common parlance, it is not in any sense ea…

Read More

A Real-Life Truman Show?

…ve sandals led a group of fair-haired children in prayer. The young blond woman urged the children to suggest prayers to say for their families, but the group of eight- and ten-year-olds sat silently except for the sound of them slurping from their juice boxes. Finally, the woman gave up and began the prayer herself. She thanked God for all his blessings. She made no mention of the oil spill disaster or of the people whose lives had been destroyed…

Read More