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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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Angels & Demons: America’s Preeminent Pop Theologian Takes on Religion and Science

…ough our religious imagination, one that could embrace a revolution led by Freemasons and uncover new scriptures written on secret golden plates. Free from the burden of Europe’s institutional rivalries, it has always refused to see scientific reason as a threat to faith. In the 19th century, it gave birth to “metaphysical” movements like Christian Science and spiritualism, which staked a claim to science convincing enough to attract the interest…

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Russia Expels Gay American Pastor, An Epidemic of Anti-LGBT Violence in Brazil, And More in the Global LGBT Recap

…hose reports often take an especially truculent, pro-Kremlin stance. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty posted a photo essay chronicling the “rollercoaster” of attitudes toward Russia’s gay community since the fall of the Soviet Union, including “a grim U-turn under Vladimir Putin.” Cayman Islands: Coalition of church leaders launching campaign for ‘Bible-based values’ The Cayman New Service reports that a coalition of church leaders, including Angli…

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For International Human Rights Day, a Snapshot of LGBT Rights from the Vatican to Cape Town

…on (or part thereof), as applied in other cases this may place minorities’ free expression in a precarious position: subservient to majoritarian prejudices. Taiwan: Human Rights Day concert promotes marriage equality The China Post reports that up to 250,000 people (police said 75,000) joined a Human Rights Day concert on Saturday held in support of marriage equality, which is being promoted by President Tsai Ing-wen but resisted by some religious…

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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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Kagan: Establishment Clause Is “Hard”

…s that there needs to be some “play in the joints.” There needs to be some freedom for government to act in this area without being subject to a claim from the other side – some freedom for government to make religious accommodations without being subject to Establishment Clause challenges, and some freedom on government’s part to enforce the values of the Establishment Clause without being subject to Free Exercise claims. That’s not to say how an…

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Secularist Activists Are Being Murdered in Bangladesh: An Ongoing Crisis Causes Many to Flee

…secular and democratic Bangladesh, where people have secure life and enjoy freedom of speech, freedom to publish, and freedom to express.” Still—what has he and his family lost? And what is Bangladesh losing as a result of this unchecked mayhem? Who Will Remain? As the attacks illustrate a deep problem in Bangladesh, these two stories illustrate a deeper success: since February 2015, more than a dozen writers, publishers, and activists—and, in som…

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The Next Islamists: The Wide Green Smudge That’s Changing Our World

…: The Rise of the Muslim Middle Class and What It Will Mean For Our World (Free Press, 2009) and Ben Simpfendorfer’s intriguing The New Silk Road: How a Rising Arab World is Turning Away from the West and Rediscovering China (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2009). The Wide Green Smudge Simpfendorfer, fluent in Arabic and Chinese, is Chief China Economist at Royal Bank of Scotland, and has lived throughout the Middle East. He brings a casual language that make…

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Mitt Romney and the Ghost of Anti-Mormonism

…worried about Mormon theocracy as well. People use that word theocracy too freely. Mormons then would have said that their government was an expression of popular will. They believed in the franchise, and they exercised it. But they wanted Brigham Young to be the territorial governor. When federal agents deposed the territorial government, it looked to Mormons like tyranny. They would have said, “You are violating the Constitution, and we are the…

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Hicksters, Stickers, and Affection: Why I Left D.C. for the Family Farm

…omatoes use their hands every day, work outside, get regular exercise, are free from the restraints of a cubicle, and even live in “tiny home” communities (formerly known as “trailer parks”). It may sound idyllic to the young, well-educated, and the restless masses of yesterday and today. But not many of us are seek employment alongside migrant laborers because of the near constant physical pain and discomfort, regular exposure to toxic chemicals,…

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