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When Conservatives Turn Revolutionary

…rized to make declarations of war, not the Executive branch, precisely because the Founders were so suspicious of centralized power, symbolized by kings and emperors. It did not matter to them whether the king’s rhetoric spoke of freedom, equality and democracy; he was still acting autocratically, like a king. That is precisely why a Congressional authorization of the use of force to retaliate against a terrorist attack is not a declaration of war…

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

…areness of the value of condoms in HIV prevention on the basis that condom use promotes promiscuity. There is some worry that the horrific wave of extrajudicial killings being carried out by government and vigilantes in the name of fighting drug trafficking could be turned against others, including LGBT people. Malta: Ban on conversion therapy adopted along with law ‘depathologizing’ gender identity Two pieces of legislation were adopted on Decemb…

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

…ircumstances of domestic violence. H.B. 3859 violates the Establishment Clause by allowing state funds to be used to compel minors into religious education, without providing ample opportunities for comparable secular instruction or support. Where private individuals have no or insufficient choice in selecting a religious program, government support for a religious organization violates the Establishment Clause. Courts are particularly sensitive t…

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

…Religious Studies major before law school, and now an advocate engaged in promoting an accurate understanding of Hinduism and countering misrepresentations on a near daily basis, four words in the AAR statement—to offer any interpretation—leap out at me. To a lay person who deeply respects my religious tradition, it is this unconditional and self-proclaimed right ‘to offer any interpretation’ which lies at the root of what is wrong with religious…

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Whistleblower Alleges $100B Hoarding Scandal by LDS Church; But There’s An Easy Fix

…ements as well. In short, we knew nothing about this shady arrangement because Congress has refused to ask. Churches are financial and informational black holes. They file no financial information with the government. Nothing. The same is true for many church auxiliary organizations, like Ensign. Other charities, those that are not church-affiliated, file annual disclosures (a Form 990 or the like) with the IRS that track every penny in and out of…

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The New “Values Voters” Mantra

…ly Research Council, the FRC Action PAC, and which it is running against House Democratic incumbents Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-8), Betsy Markey (CO-4), Carol Shea-Porter (NH-1), John Boccieri (OH-16), and Tom Perriello (VA-5). In a press release about the $125,000 ad buy, FRC highlighted its campaign against Perriello, a Democrat representing a swath of central and southwest Virginia who was once considered a poster child for the Democrats’ faith out…

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Op-Ed: Bishops vs. Catholic Politicians

…ative moral absolute. Indeed, contrary to Vatican theology, the failure to use condoms when one’s spouse is HIV positive is morally wrong. There are many other circumstances where the failure to use artificial contraception could not be morally justified. Abortion is also not seen by Catholic theologians as “intrinsically evil.” The following are cases from real life. Few theologians and few others would accuse these women of sin. Case #1: A woman…

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Indonesia’s Anti-Porn Bill is Anti-Pluralism

…pornography casts a very wide net. Defining pornography as things that “arouse sexual propensity, desires or longings” sets a decidedly moral tone without a concrete system of defining methods of evaluating what “sexual desire” actually is or what “incitement” includes. This is especially problematic because conservative Islamic parties, who may define “incitement” differently than Indonesians of other faiths, introduced and backed the bill. And,…

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Obama at Notre Dame: A Chance to Talk to Catholics

…paration of church and state—as some progressives hope he will do—he might use his Notre Dame podium-cum-pulpit to address an audience both near and wide: American Catholics. American Catholics, if the polls are right, have not been a problem for Obama on the political front, at least not yet. Fifty-four percent of them voted for him in November; 45 percent of mass-going Catholics did. But ever since Ronald Reagan swiped it from the Democrats, the…

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Religious and Political Silence on India’s LGBTQ Decision Speaks Volumes

…ally sick people.” Did religious voices largely drop out of the debate because they knew it was a lost cause? The Supreme Court’s decision to end the use of Section 377 to discriminate, harass, and threaten LGBTQ Indians after nearly 160 years is no doubt worthy of attention. Modi’s silence and that of his religious allies, therefore, could be interpreted as progress when contrasted with the vocal homophobic and transphobic pushback that the initi…

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