Religion Dispatches
…he Democrats and their allies are willing to call out a perfect example of class warfare waged by the overclass against the rest of us. In my view, far too many Democrats are entirely comfortable with neoliberal economics: they fully accept the thesis that a corporate-friendly regime of deregulation and low taxes is good for everyone. Far too many Dems depend on Wall Street and the 1% to fund their campaigns. Far too many are perfectly happy to ca…
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…ew I’d say yes. It was a beautiful spring day during the last full week of classes at the end of the great Covid school year coop-up. More importantly, the course considered issues of religion, (in)tolerance, and free speech, and we had discussed Cindy’s bombastic preaching earlier in the semester. Fully vaccinated, I offered, in lieu of class, to livestream the sermon for the few students who didn’t plan to attend. Around two hundred people came…
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…hristian nation where conservative white Christians are a special, favored class and all others are second class citizens. The separation of church and state is one bedrock that protects and enshrines equality in a way that too many of us do not understand, but which will be painfully obvious when it’s gone. That separation is what ensures that we all have freedom without favor, and equality without exception. That separation is America. And if th…
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…ght just be the most forgotten and silenced subgroup of queer folks in the United States—LGBTQ students in evangelical (and LDS) institutions of higher education. Southwick’s undergraduate degree comes from the nearby George Fox University, a CCCU member school that represents the more conservative side of the Quaker tradition. He was subjected to the immensely harmful practice of conversion therapy there, which the state of Oregon now bans for mi…
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…ime Minister Yitzhak Shamir signed the order for Awad’s deportation to the United States. In the United States Awad persisted in espousing a non-violent approach to the conflict: “I am one of those people who reminds the Palestinians that the Israeli is a human being. And we must see them, as well as ourselves, as human beings. The more you destroy another human being the more you destroy yourself.” During the Second Intifada, which began in Octob…
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…and examine—is there racial bias in these policies? Stop and frisk in the United States. Mass incarceration in the United States, where race is really the factor. I’m trying to argue the same thing, that targeting Muslims as terrorists in this country has been really problematic, rather than looking to the root causes that underly terrorism. The scary thing is we don’t know what the trajectory could be for Muslims. Before 9/11, the idea that ther…
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…. That lack of assurance is humbling—and important—and puts you out of the business of judging others, I think. ++++++++++ The Role of Religion in US Politics Is it too late for another Top Ten list for 2008? Check out Americans United for Separation of Church and State’s “Top Ten List of Church–State Stories for 2008,” where “The Role of Religion in the Presidential Campaign,” occupies the top spot. And if such longtime religious right organizati…
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…e moving there, we are not there yet. We are moving on to perfection.” The United Methodist Church, which has more than 7 million members in the United States, is divided over the issue of homosexuality. “This election raises significant concerns and questions of church polity and unity,” Bruce R. Ough, president of the Church’s Council of Bishops, said in a statement after the vote. And some comment from the United Methodist Church’s news service…
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…e U.S. to a horrific series of environment-related plagues—and good middle-class Christian people are forced to decide whether their faith impels them to give refuge and support to the victims or whether they can simply join the sauve-qui-peut scramble for higher ground. Faced with this decision, there will be a clear separation between those who will stand and serve and those who will flee and basically ignore the groans of the sufferers. The Chr…
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…request for a permit by saying they could not guarantee activists’ safety United Methodist Church: Bishops create commission to avoid schism over sexuality issues The United Methodist Church, whose global policy-making body met May 10-20 in its quadrennial General Conference, is “struggling to avoid a split over gay rights,” according to Associated Press religion writer Rachel Zoll. The church has 12 million members worldwide, 7 million of those…
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