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In the Papal Pocket: Benedict XVI and the Press

…ty of which I am a part, and I take serious exception to the institution’s free ride in the press. The complexity of contemporary Catholicism—especially the fact that millions of Catholics want a participatory, democratic, horizontally integrated church with broadly based non-clerical leadership—is newsworthy. Many such important issues, including the institution’s continued efforts to shape public policy on reproductive health, Catholic teachings…

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Protests Force Torch Detour in San Francisco

…ese performers sang Olympic pop promos and protesters waved signs reading “Free Tibet” and “Free Speech Now.” One man shouted, “Protect the First Amendment! This isn’t Communist China!” Police and park rangers tried convincing the protesters to leave the plaza and join the pro-Tibet contingent out in the street, but the protesters would not budge. Along the waterfront, the local chapter of Students for a Free Tibet drew huge crowds with their Chin…

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Khalifah: We Really Do Have Control Over Our Own Destiny

…igious thinkers). I’m not trying to solve this age old problem how much is free will and how much is predestination, but I wish to make a comment. I cannot see complacency if it leaves one unable to say, I will try to do this or that, at the very least. Most Muslims follow the Qur’anic advice to say after ward such plans, “in sha’ Allah” if God wills. The Prophet has a nice way of reminding us of what I call the simultaneity of pre-determination a…

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Capricology: Tattoos, Blood, Cyber-Dating

…m the car so that it can not exceed the speed limit and you take away that free will, except for those who have the capacity to hack the code and reprogram the car. We normally think of robots as almost pure code, yet the scene last week when Graystone orders the Zoebot to rip off her arm raises some interesting stakes in this. It seems to me that people may be treating the Cylons differently depending on what mix of code and law they believe gove…

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Discrimination on the Taxpayer’s Dime? The Fight To Curtail the Overreach of RFRA

…Hobby Lobby—where the Court noted that even if women could not obtain cost-free contraception coverage through their employer’s health plan, they could still purchase contraception—unaccompanied immigrant children in custody don’t have that freedom. In addition, Hamilton said, “rape is different” from access to contraception. “Courts have not had a chance to do the weighing of a victim of sexual assault versus the religious claims of an organizati…

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Competing Visions of Family & Freedom at UN; Methodists Try to Avoid Schism on Sexuality; Catholic Cardinal Denounces LGBT ‘Demonic Ideology’; Global LGBT Recap

…at marriage is now our sole agenda. That is not the case—at least not now. Freedom of assembly, freedom of expression—that’s what we’re fighting for.” Also recognized by OutRight were U.S. Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTI Persons; the UN Free & Equal campaign; and Dan Bross, who heads Microsoft’s Global Corporate Responsibility Program. In other UN news, the Organization of Islamic States, along with Tanzania, Cameroon, and Russia, are…

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Global LGBT Recap: Francis’s First Year; Homophobia and Development; African Activists Push Back

…ampion open government and civil society and fight corruption.  We bolster freedom of assembly and a free press…. At times, we are compelled to make tough choices when the immediate need to defend our national security requires us to work with governments that do not share our fundamental commitment to human rights.  No one knows that better than all of you.  We look to you to strike the extremely difficult balance that both preserves critical bil…

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Pussy Riot Members Sentenced to 2 Years for Offending Russian Orthodox Church

…is latest wonderful aphorism. If Medvedev gave his presidency the slogan: “Freedom is better than non-freedom”, then, thanks to Medvedev’s felicitous saying, Putin’s third term has a good chance of being known by a new aphorism: “Prison is better than stoning.” I would like you to think carefully about the following reflection by Montaigne from his Essays written in the 16th century. He wrote: “You are holding your opinions in too high a regard if…

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Policing Academic Freedom: A Book, a Controversy, and the Ominous Aftermath

…that scholarly publishers in all countries should defend the principles of freedom of speech and academic freedom by all legal means. While Doniger was supported by the AAS, her body guards that escorted her around the conference reflected the continued presence of the polemic arena. Some of the negative reactions were openly hostile, whereas others were cloaked in political and legal rhetoric that echoed Mr. Batra’s suit. Prior to the conference,…

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Gun Ownership as Sin—A Strategic, Secular Proposal for Gun Reform

…d own” but “keep and bear”) arms. Guns are “necessary to the security of a free State,” the Amendment tell us. Indeed we first won our national freedom and security with guns. Our Revolution began, Emerson’s myth-making poem tells us, when “embattled farmers” collectively fired a single “shot heard round the world.” We had no need of professional soldiers; just ordinary folks like you and me who were brave enough to demand freedom at the point of…

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