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Pox Americana: Franzen’s Tragic Vision

By Peter Laarman

…with the Nature Conservancy to become a DC-based environmental shill for a Houston oil and gas player (and Bush family friend) named Vincent Haven (Franzen’s use of surnames is consistently arch in a way that Dickens would appreciate). With the help of his nubile young Indian-American assistant, Walter becomes complicit in Haven’s scheme to save a big chunk of West Virginia habitat for the endangered cerulean warbler. He continues even after learn…

Polygamy Bus Tour, ‘Spiritual’ Healthcare for Christian Scientists, Baptizing an Alien…

By Michael J. Altman

…about these guys as neighbors, what kind of neighbors would they want?” In Houston, a mosque and a Unitarian Universalist church have become great neighbors. In Russia, witches, wizards, and faith healers face a ban on advertising their healing expertise. Authorities also want to require licenses to practice alternative medicine and would not license witches or wizards. Christian Scientists in the U.S., meanwhile, are asking for health insurance t…

Bullies Flourishing with Christian Support

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…lton Middle School in the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District in Houston Texas. Brown, his family said, was “bullied to death” – picked on for his small size, his religion and because he did not wear designer clothes and shoes. Kids also accused him of being gay, some of them performing mock gay acts on him in his physical education class, his mother and stepfather said. • Billy (William) Lucas, 15, a student at Greensburg Community High…

Is Ken Starr ‘Pulling a Clinton’ on Jewish Studies Professor Marc Ellis?

By Kiera Feldman

…when Starr presided over a mock Supreme Court session at the University of Houston.) A fifth generation Texan who paid his college tuition by very successfully selling bibles door-to-door (“He was so personable and so likable,” remembered a co-salesman), Starr has returned home to the Lone Star state. At Baylor University, on the banks of the Brazos River, on a campus endowed with its own bear sanctuary, Judge Starr reigns supreme. In all likeliho…

Inside the American Family Association

By Sarah Posner

…the “secular world is nicer.” (Read the whole thing here.) Meanwhile, the Houston Chronicle reports, “Reliant Park officials have said they planned a ‘small arena configuration’ the would accommodate about 10,000 people.” That’s a fraction of the 70,000 person capacity of Reliant Park that Perry and friends first envisioned, and event organizers are now emphasizing how the event will be simulcast in churches across the country. Perry may end up p…

Gay Pride Weekend Draws Mormon Allies and Equality Supporters

By Joanna Brooks

…are alike unto God.” Nineteen LDS marchers held the Affirmation banner in Houston, as did an estimated 100 LDS LGBT and allied marchers in Santiago de Chile. The largest contingent of the weekend gathered in San Francisco, where more than 100 LDS people gathered to march behind the Mormons for Marriage Equality banner, winning the parade’s award for “Absolutely Outrageous” contingent. Mitch Mayne, who is openly gay and holds a leadership position…

You’re Worse When You’re Hiding The Cocaine: A Moral Psychologist on Character and Blame

By Vlad Chituc

…bad person. Along with Tamler Sommers, a philosopher at the University of Houston, Pizarro hosts “Very Bad Wizards,” a podcast on ethics and cognitive science that includes an impressive array of guests—from Sam Harris, a neuroscientist and atheist polemicist, to Paul Bloom, a moral psychologist, to Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist and scholar of irrationality. (Disclosure: Dan Ariely is my boss, and I got to be friends with Pizarro while he sp…

Texas’ Anti-LGBT Adoption Bill Is Unconstitutional and Unnecessary, Say Texas Law Professors

By Sunnivie Brydum

…titutions, including the University of Texas, Texas A&M, the University of Houston and Southern Methodist University. While it’s not unheard of for law professors to weigh in on pending state legislation, it’s uncommon for legal scholars to voluntarily step into such a controversial topic in state politics. In the nine-page memo (posted in full below), the professors meticulously lay out the reasons why House Bill 3859 , formally titled the “Freed…

GOP isn’t Pro-Life After All

By Patricia Miller

…’s called an X chromosome, which means we can’t have a baby,” he said on a Houston radio show to justify the oft-repeated claim that requiring plans to cover the health care costs associated with a pregnancy is unfair to men. Setting aside whatever meaning we might make of the fact that the legislator confused the X and the Y chromosome, Republicans are now on record as opposing insurance coverage for contraceptives, for abortion (even for health…

It’s Preposterous That We Can’t Question Nominees on Religion

By Patricia Miller

…y within you, and that’s of concern when you come to big issues that large numbers of people have fought for for years in this country. The odd Yoda-like phrasing of “the dogma lives loudly within you,” aside, Feinstein was asking a fair question about how the execution of Barrett’s religious beliefs would comport with her duties as a judge—a question that Barrett herself had raised, albeit in an article written some years ago. Barrett assured the…