Religion Dispatches
…hrough the gate leading to the water, one must punch in a combination pass code. The town’s elegantly manicured gardens belie its state’s housing market collapse. But just outside of town, realtors advertise “Free Foreclosure Lists!” Sitting along a commons of lush grass, an attractive young couple casually dressed in designer sunglasses, khakis, and expensive sandals led a group of fair-haired children in prayer. The young blond woman urged the c…
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…nd genocide should predispose Jews against systematic policies of wanton abuse. The State of Israel has a mixed record of living up to these Jewish ideals. Torture as a means of prisoner interrogation was officially sanctioned until 1999, when it was outlawed by the High Court. The infamous “ticking bomb” defense—the notion that torture will prevent an imminent attack, which has proven more relevant on 24 than in reality—was not deemed sufficient…
Read More…series of denunciations that the National Republican Senatorial Committee used in its ad condemning it. Democrats should’ve stuck up for him, saying, yes, we’re sick of these moralizing right-wingers who want to tell us that Christianity demands legal protections for zygotes and none for gays, and try to tie rights for others to a “big government” that’s “on our backs.” Conway was right to point out that the moralizers like to impose their views…
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…First, Douthat warns of encroaching “scientism” which, in this context, is code for failing to believe the supernatural truth claims of Christianity. Second, paradoxically, Douthat perceives a tendency among non-religious people to embrace the mystical belief systems that he himself rejects, like astrology or wellness. (So much for scientism!) Yet we don’t see any actual evidence that these trends are as widespread among the deconverted as he sugg…
Read More…rence to “religious freedom” from Romney. Insiders know that the latter is code for exempting individuals and institutions from following government mandates on health care and provisions on anti-discrimination. But to the middle, Romney’s comment surely passed under the radar. And as for Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell, even Paul Ryan is for that now. All this in the shadow of an unprecedented legal war against women’s reproductive choices, and an ever-morp…
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…e: Ahmadis have a “glass ceiling” in the civil service, and discriminatory use of voter registration lists (Ahmadis are enrolled separately) keeps them from participation in elected government, even in areas where they are the overwhelming majority. From there it spreads through society in ways both perverse and corrupt, according to Ahmad: a non-Ahmadi colonel’s career is ended because his staff driver attended an Ahmadiyya mosque. Clergy can be…
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…l church leaders to serve as regional (or “stake”-level) directors and zip code (or “ward”-level) supervisors for grassroots campaigning. One LDS zipcode supervisor reported that the Mormon Church was “the only member of the Protect Marriage coalition” to participate in the Yes on 8 ground campaign. On August 16, the Yes on 8 ground-campaign began its voter-identification phase, with a reported 15,000–30,000 Mormon precinct walkers knocking doors…
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…, you F***ers.” It is too profane to reprint in its natural state. Not because we are squeamish here at RD, but because I am a gentle soul and don’t want to upset anyone. Which is also why I am not a great figure on the world stage, or a performer, or a dissertation-finisher. But I digress. Anyhow, this rant is such a beautiful blend of sacred and profane that it’s actually a theological act. It performs a holy truth, about the hi-low nature of th…
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…ing case that most likely contains more details than those I’ve offered, I use it only as a backdrop to illustrate the ease in which orthodoxy can—potentially—morph into idolatry. Our Ideals are Not Our Actions What is tolerance? Is it a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one’s own? Is it the capacity for or the practice of recognizing and respecting the beliefs or practices of others? Is it sym…
Read More…p, whose tax exempt status is under section (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, risk their tax-exempt status if they use tax-exempt resources to endorse political candidates. Although the law is clear, no audits have been initiated since 2009, after a federal court ordered the agency to issue regulations clarifying requirements that audits of churches be authorized by an “appropriate high-level Treasury official.” During the uproar over the suppo…
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