Religion Dispatches
…bout the bible has been untrue. His objection to the idea of collective salvation is no exception. Collective salvation is illustrated in, among other places, Matthew 5:23-24: “when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.” In other words, to be recon…
Read More…bama since 2014. According to Project Vote Smart, he was endorsed by Conservative Christians of Alabama a group he formerly chaired, and which quizzes candidates on such questions as: “Do you support public prayer and Bible reading in Public Schools?” prior to offering their endorsement. Zeigler’s Bible-believing bona fides would seem to be impeccable, not to mention his intolerance of sexual impropriety among government officials. He filed an eth…
Read More…ing down Alabama’s constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage is invalid, and his subsequent order to Alabama’s probate judges not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, stem from the same ideology that drove his Ten Commandments spectacle: that politicians, judges, and the “tyranny of men” are trying, unconstitutionally, to subvert God’s law. Moore’s actions have led to comparisons to George Wallace, Alabama’s segregationist form…
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…nfairness. We have put in our part—we went to the airport, we paid for our ticket, we spent our time, we stood in line—and then the flight was cancelled. So there’s a discrepancy between the inputs and the outputs, there’s a sense of injustice and unfairness—that’s why compensation is so important. That’s also why dissatisfied customers at restaurants want to get their dish for free, or get a free glass of wine, or a free dessert, because that bal…
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…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 More…bortions. That, actually, is a testament to how successful religious conservatives have been in getting statutory and regulatory exemptions, and Verrilli repeatedly pointed out that a Hobby Lobby win here would vastly expand that universe to corporations. Although houses of worship are exempt from the regulation, the Obama administration granted religious non-profits an accommodation that shifts the onus of providing coverage to the insurer—withou…
Read More…it? Looked at it another way, Robert Bentley was simply repeating common evangelical doctrine; evangelicals, those Protestants who insist upon the importance of being “born again” use such familial language to refer to other members of their spiritual community. That is, for a moment, Bentley was not speaking the language of politics, but the language of evangelical Protestantism, not as a politician, but a pastor of a faith whose theological rhe…
Read More…ral times and flirted with running for president. He won reelection to the Alabama high court in 2012. Writing to Alabama Governor Robert Bentley today, Moore complains that last week’s federal court ruling striking down Alabama’s ban on same-sex marriage “has raised serious, legitimate concerns about the propriety of federal court jurisdiction over the Alabama Sanctity of Marriage Amendment.” In the letter, Moore warns that local clerks who issue…
Read More…the system. I never know what that mark is and the extent of my detainment varies but I am always searched. Whenever I would enter in Indonesia, having done so at least 15 times in the year and half I lived there, I could see the computers as the passport is swiped and it reads “No known alerts.” I still hover over the counter as they swipe, wondering if the “alert” from the US side or the “fatwas” from various parties, will one day appear there a…
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…the “terror texts” through exegesis, it is more convincing and useful to devalue them relative to other texts, elevating the “countering texts of liberation.” “There are all sorts of things that we’ve decided we no longer read in the way they were once read” she says, citing verses instructing slaves to obey their masters. People are still wrestling with Pauline claims about wives submitting themselves to their husbands. She says people who don’…
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