Religion Dispatches
…ish Telegraphic Agency. Judeo-Christian Politicking: The Ethics and Public Policy Center, the Washington, D.C.-based think tank founded by Ernest Lefever and formerly headed by Neoconservative hawk Elliott Abrams (as mentioned above), was “established in 1976 to clarify and reinforce the bond between the Judeo-Christian moral tradition and the public debate over domestic and foreign policy issues.” These days, it is all about support for McCain/Pa…
Read More…at The New Civil Rights Movement recaps some of the response: Calling the policy change to support equality “open rebellion,” the president of the certified anti-gay hate group Family Research Council, Tony Perkins, penned an op-ed stating World Vision had “walked away from one of the greatest legacies in Christian ministry, trading a vision to reach the world for the world’s vision of marriage.” Billy Graham’s son Franklin Graham, speaking with…
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…o is organize efforts to oppose the Church’s stated position or change its policy. It’s not exactly “live and let live,” but it’s a huge leap forward over some previous LDS leaders’ statements on same-sex marriage, such as when Pres. Boyd K. Packer warned in 2010 that “If we’re not alert, there are those today who not only tolerate but advocate voting to change laws that will legalize immorality, as if a vote would somehow alter the designs of God…
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…f oppression. We were discouraged, however, that some of the White House’s policy proposals cut against the intersectional approach we need, leaving the door open to flawed strategies—such as suppressing Israel-critical speech and expanding the police and security state—that harm Muslim and other communities, and ultimately do little to keep Jews safe. In the lead-up to the release of the report, public controversy hinged on whether the White Hous…
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…I’ve discussed this topic at length here.) The fact is that current Church policy does allow for a living man to be “sealed” (married for eternity) to more than one woman at a time. For example, a widower or divorced man who has elected to terminate his civil marriage but not his LDS temple marriage is permitted to marry another woman in an LDS temple with the assurance that both first and second marriages would be eternal. The same is not possibl…
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…problem can be crushed instead of solved. Israeli criticism of government policy is an old story, not a new one. And the attempts by American organizations to suppress that criticism is an equally old story. What is new here is that to a very large extent the American efforts are succeeding despite the so-called ‘information revolution.’ Particularly among the opinion makers in the ‘official’ Jewish establishment criticism of Israel is considered…
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…l and reading “In God We Trust” on a dollar bill to justify hateful public policy is straight out of the Christian nationalist playbook. That Hyde-Smith next turns to the Bible and its passages about slavery and thoughtcrime to justify disenfranchising Black voters is apt. She wrongly cited Exodus 20 verse 18, which is about trembling and lightning and thunder and generally being afraid of the biblical god, not the sabbath. The verse comes immedia…
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…anging from access to reproductive health care and LGBTQ rights to foreign policy (notably with regard to Israel and the Middle East). The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, like the Constitution and the First Amendment that followed, was aspirational. Which is to say that they hoped the principle would shape and inform our culture, politics, and law over time. It did, albeit unevenly and slowly. But the principle also allowed for ever greate…
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…lso dismissed any concerns about the influence of coal money on the public policy statements of the diocese. “It’s just a non-issue in such discussions,” he told me. “I’m flabbergasted the topic is even coming up.” Certainly a deeper and more sustained conversation is necessary. In order to yield fruit, such conversations require some degree of financial transparency on the part of the church. This is rarely an easy task, as dioceses are not subje…
Read More…eas we take Christian values and traditions into consideration when making policy. “Take the family, for instance. Traditional Christian views of marriage and family life have come under attack of late, whereas we have no problem in supporting and even promoting conventional marriage as a firm foundation for a secure and happy family.” The Stormont, Northern Ireland’s legislature, voted for the fourth time against marriage equality. The vote was 4…
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