Religion Dispatches
…We have an unprecedented access to cheap goods, yet we must recognize that cheap goods are cheaply made. I am not speaking of quality, I am speaking of cheap labor. We must recognize that through the act of shopping, whether it is for an article of clothing, a toy, a pint of strawberries, or even our morning cup of coffee, we participate in a global economy that values profit over people. Disposable goods are made by disposable people, faceless in…
Read MoreAt oral argument in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. and Conestoga Wood Specialties, Inc. v. Sebelius this morning, the Supreme Court justices spent a great deal of time questioning the lawyers in the case about whether corporations have a religious conscience, and whether Congress intended to protect it when enacting the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). What was most striking, though, was how all three female justices, Sonia So…
Read More…ind of country will Egyptians wake up to tomorrow? This is the pretext for military intervention. My preemptive proof? It’s more predictive. The military will use the resulting instability that emerges from its own violent crackdowns to belay democracy, arguing there can be no handover of power until Egypt is safe from its enemies, in a kind of long-war on terror that, like our own, can never end. (Indeed, you can only kill a people you’ve demoniz…
Read More…ru earlier this month. The Washington Blade’s Michael Lavers interviewed a number of Caribbean LGBT advocates who agreed that “the movement for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in their region continues to lag far behind that in Latin America,” partly because there has been a longer experience of independence in Latin American countries. Erin Greene, director of advocacy for SASH Bahamas, told the Blade that conservative religious bel…
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…religion has long been limited, Catholicism plays a big role in the Dutch Caribbean. Religious leaders, such as Pastor Daniel Szpila, have led the way in opposing the move in Aruba. Their influence on voters makes it difficult for politicians to tackle the issue… Activists in the Netherlands and the Dutch Caribbean alike are hopeful that a change in Aruba, the largest and most significant of the overseas territories, could instigate change in Cur…
Read More…EA Singapore refused to discontinue a promotion which offers its customers discount tickets to a Christian magic show produced by Lawrence Khong, the anti-gay pastor of Faith Community Baptist Church: Mr Khong has claimed that gay people have “a shorter lifespan, more sexually transmitted infections and more health problems than the general population” and has warned of a “looming threat” of “homosexual activists” trying to repeal sodomy laws. Man…
Read More…to me it would be a very easy to make hajj from there. I bought an airline ticket and was in contact with the family of one of my graduate school friends. They would pick me up from the airport and host me during my stay and the days of ritual. Nice plan. So I went to the embassy to get the visa and was denied because (as an American) I needed proof that I was Muslim. How do I prove I have been a practicing Muslim for a decade? I went to the famou…
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…tormed the Capitol had well-paying jobs, were middle-aged—and a concerning number were former members of the military and law enforcement. Many things about the attempted coup in Germany remain unknown, “especially regarding the groups’ specific plans and inner-group dynamics,” says Lamberty. “However, several participants aren’t unknown to those monitoring right-wing extremism, and have been spreading conspiracy myths and narratives belonging to…
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…care needs look like. If the point is to cut a “tremendous cost” from the military’s health care expenditures perhaps we should start with those suffering from erectile dysfunction: https://twitter.com/JoyAnnReid/status/890247497700057090 (For the record, I believe all members of the military deserve full, unfettered access to whatever kind of health care they and their doctor determine they need.) And, of course, there are several other places w…
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…ted. Squires’s case is not a harbinger of the end of religious freedom for military chaplains; it appears, instead, to be a bad call on the part of an overzealous investigator who, in seeking to uphold the military’s strong commitment to equal opportunity, may have missed the legal peculiarities of the chaplaincy context. What makes “perform or provide” an unusual standard in disputes involving LGBTQ+ concerns is that it stands in a distinctive re…
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