Religion Dispatches
…ople, regardless of their sexual orientation or anything else. We have all the American values: the values of hard work, the values of integrity, the values of fairness and respect. Our church is very much opposed to alcohol and we’re probably one of the biggest sales engines of liquor in the United States. I don’t drink. We serve a lot of liquor.” It remains to be seen how a new BSA policy would be implemented in LDS contexts. Membership records…
Read More…eneral Jeff Sessions used a Bible verse to respond to critics of the DOJ’s policy of separating migrant families: “I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government for his purposes.” This defense is both unsatisfying and infuriating. First, it’s a post-facto plucking of a Bible verse from its context in order to provide support for an alread…
Read More…ense influence that non-literal, non-empirical perceptions exercise on our policy debates and policymaking process when it comes to war (as well as nearly everything else in the political realm). That educational step is crucial if there is to be any hope of getting the public debate onto a more rational, reality-based track. Calling the irrational, non-empirical factors “myth,” no matter how crude the term, may be the best way to get their attent…
Read More…e operation of the farm’s event venue, which does enforce a discriminatory policy.) But because Country Mill Farms (and its event venue) is located in neighboring Eaton County—specifically in Delta Township, which offers no statutory public accommodations protections to LGBT people—that denial of service based on sexual orientation is entirely legal where it took place. Frankly, East Lansing doesn’t have jurisdictional authority to implicate Count…
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…n your feed lately? It states that Facebook is instituting a “No Religion” policy, whereby “anyone spreading religious beliefs” will have their account shut down and be subject to “investigation.” Because what better business model could there be for Facebook than Stalinist Russia? Whenever something like this pops up, I can’t help but think about the person who started it. Somebody made that fake Facebook notice, and put enough energy into it to…
Read More…of adult members who participate in homosexual behavior. No formal explanation for the policy has been given, but many sources say it is to prevent homosexual members from being appointed to lay clerical positions in the Church’s youth programs. The new BSA policy appears to mirror this LDS Church policy in differentiating between gay youth and gay adults. Both also carry the implication that gay adults are less trustworthy in positions of respons…
Read More…e do you draw the line on what’s an acceptable religious justification for policy, and what is not? (“I don’t think God intends that” isn’t a sufficient response to comments like Mourdock’s.) Every time a politician invokes a religious justification for a policy position, he or she should be compelled to articulate a non-religious one. That goes, too, for any Republican who wants to weasel out of endorsing Mourdock’s position on rape exceptions; t…
Read More…and love kindness.” But Pence also cautioned: “If you want to come to the United States, come legally, or don’t come at all.” (Emphasis mine.) It takes some nerve to defend the Trump administration’s senseless immigration policy to Central American leaders, but that’s Pence for you. Manafort knew what he was doing when he selected that dead-eyed Opie from Indy. The man could lie about the dead grandmother in his basement and not break the plastic…
Read More…ry. Jessica Grose provides a thorough point-by-point rebuttal of Douthat’s policy claims in Slate, while Michele Goldberg notes that all evidence suggests that limiting abortion is likely to undermine marriage. But the idea that advances in reproductive freedom have erroded the family is becoming so prevelant on the right that it’s important to look at the origins of this argument. Douthat is a self-described “right-leaning Catholic” and the Catho…
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…. And that’s what the law states,” she was transforming the question about policy choices into an answer about legislation. This is a mode of deception without having to intentionally tell what one recognizes as a literal lie. It was a way to bring a new fact (the changed policy) into harmony with a perceived required belief (there was no change in “the law”). Creationism The question of lying often rests on intentionality. And it’s here that the…
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