Religion Dispatches
…e, scientifically-driven reproductive health policy, the way the introduction of this bill has unfolded also speaks volumes about the escalating role of religion in shaping public policy. Will religious blessings be required to achieve the art of the possible, and will their absence make sound policy impossible?…
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…nds as well to consensus-minded religious leaders who wade into the public policy arena. It is so easy to call for behavioral changes, including sanctions for the noncompliant, when those in need of redemption are poor and powerless; much harder to demand behavioral changes when those whose ways need the most serious mending are the wealthy and powerful. So while it is perpetually depressing to see the Democrats drinking the Kool-Aid of No Enemies…
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…testations to the contrary notwithstanding. His game is to inundate public policy makers (including local and state education boards as well as Congress) with ideas packaged as products that will move policy. Historical scholarship moves slowly and carefully, usually shunning the public arena; Barton’s proof-texting, by contrast, supplies ready-made (if sometimes made-up) quotations ready for use in the latest public policy debate, whether they in…
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…ake sure that women don’t get safe abortion care.” The NAF’s 2011 clinical policy guidelines are 55 pages long; longer than the new Kansas regulations. Like the Kansas standards for abortion clinics—and, for that matter, the Kansas standards for other outpatient surgery centers—the NAF policy guidelines cover various aspects of patient care. There are standards and recommendations for infection control, ultrasounds, taking a patient’s medical hist…
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…rever. Even among “dwellers” who recognize the folly of the Republican war policy in Iraq, some will find that symbolism overriding their policy concerns and pushing them to vote for McCain. It won’t always be this way. History is on the side of the “seekers.” Eventually they will dominate public life, including the political process. The “dwellers” sense that they are fighting a rear-guard action, which is why their counterattack is so ferocious….
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…ether, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and other luminaries launched a change.org petition addressed to Starr, which has thus far gathered over 5,000 signatures. The petition asserts that the controversy “looks more and more like a persecution to silence a Jewish voice of dissent.” “The charges,” reads a petition update, “are about ‘abuse of authority.’…Many of us were contacted several times by institutional lawyers who tried to persuade us to tell them…
Read More…es’ comment about millenials’ “eyes glazing over” when faced with detailed policy questions, the study actually provides more clues about why the anti-choice movement might be succeeding in legislating these restrictions, despite being out of step with the majority of Americans, than it does about the moral conflicts experienced by millenials. And of course not all millenials’ eyes glaze over. As Dawn Laguens, Planned Parenthood Executive Vice Pre…
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…The New York City Department of Education excluded the church, citing its policy of excluding both religious services of worship and meetings of partisan political groups at public schools. The courts consistently upheld the DOE’s policy—until 2001. The Supreme Court’s 2001 ruling in Good News Club v. Milford Central School changed everything, opening up new possibilities for the Bronx Household of Faith to challenge the City’s policy, and the co…
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…in Puerto Rico predated the storm, and is, indeed, the result of American policy; policy rooted in imperialism and its corollary racism; policy inconsistent with the basic legal ideals of democracy; and policy the result of which is radical injustice. Yet critique—like prayer—is not enough. What is required in the future is political action, both on the mainland and on the island, in Washington and in San Juan, to imagine a just, equal, and susta…
Read More…ally business groups—have the most influence. The lowdown is that American policy is indeed largely determined by securities and investment companies, oil companies and Big Pharma. A close second are professional organizations like the Association of Trial Lawyers, the Health Insurance Association and the (less-than-scary but apparently influential) Independent Insurance Agents of America. What does this have to do with religion? Well, the study a…
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