Search Results for:

VIPREG2024 how to use 1xbet free bet promo code Portugal

What To Do When Fred Phelps Arrives in Your Neighborhood

…ive. Yet, fantasy picketing in my imagination allows those of us who favor free speech (even free horrifying speech—remember Skokie and the Nazis) to express our outrage without giving up our commitment to free speech and, indeed, to express our outrage without being as offensive as those we find despicable. Not to mention avoiding the violence. And, of course, fantasy picketing gets around the many ways our culture has come to limit dissent in re…

Read More

DeSantis is a No-Show, the Right’s ‘Secret Sauce,’ and Final Thoughts on Pray Vote Stand

…rsonally promised him many years ago that “the court will uphold religious freedom and free exercise…but I don’t know if—but if you [faithful Americans] can uphold it in your daily life and culture.” Brownback seems to tell the crowd that weaponizing the “free exercise” clause will remain a crucial tactic for the Christian Right moving forward. “If you want to have a traditional set of values,” he tells the crowd—“if you just wanna claim life is s…

Read More

What 19th-Century Marriage Controversies Can Tell Us About The Fight Over Gay Marriage

…eteenth-century polygamy controversy. Marriage is a unique institution because it is always both public and private, and both religious and civil. What then are the freedoms and limitations to religious expression in marriage? With nineteenth-century polygamy some of the debate was over the validity of the religion and Joseph Smith as a prophet, but a significant part of the debate was about the treatment of women in polygamy. There were sensation…

Read More

Grassley Staff Memo on Televangelists Makes Clear Religious Right Opposition to Government Oversight

…for endorsing candidates, churches would become even more politicized, and free to use their tax-exempt status to do so. UPDATE: Michael Batts, who has been appointed to lead the ECFA commission Grassley requested, reiterated that both the ECFA and Grassley agree on the “principle that less government is better,” adding that the “overarching principle is the independence of the church from the government and the independence of the government from…

Read More

Why Hobby Lobby is a Pandora’s Box: Ginsburg v. Alito

…why. This was not a First Amendment case. It was filed under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). Understanding this will require a little legal history but I promise to keep it brief. Prior to 1990 The Court ruled on First Amendment Free Exercise claims with a test known as the Sherbert Test. Constitutional rights are not absolute (think laws against human sacrifice). Essentially an infringement on Free Exercise was permitted if: 1) ther…

Read More

The Fire Next Time: Tibetan Protests Spread

…of the city’s Tibetan refugee settlement, personalizing the struggle for Tibet’s freedom. “If I’m not doing anything, I shouldn’t call myself a Tibetan,” the young people told Raha. While uprisings in Tibet in the late 1980s inspired international solidarity movements among young Westerners, recent protests inside Tibet have galvanized a new generation of activists within the refugee community [See here for RD’s previous coverage]. The young refug…

Read More

Pornography’s Dirty Little Secret: What We Say vs. What We Do

…any case, the rhetoric and reality gaps when it comes to religion and porn use easily confuses the issues and leaves people at odds in knowing what to do. Associate Pastor Cameron Beyenberg works with youth at a Southern California church. In working with young people between the ages of 14 and 18, Beyenberg notes that teens have a lot of questions abut pornography, and they really want to talk about the issues—even if some of the teens are initia…

Read More

Cruz Brings GOP Nomination into the Toilet

…oms, with several parents challenging schools who let transgender children use the restroom of their choice, because they don’t want to have to explain to their kids why Brenda is now Johnnie. This upsets the whole applecart about fixed gender identities as well as traditional male and female sexual and culture roles. It’s not hard to understand how the more public emergence of transgender people is upsetting to more traditionally minded people, e…

Read More

Is Religion Wrecking Our Air?

…o do anything about it. The agency has several statutes that it could have used to regulate the ritual use of mercury inside homes, most importantly the Toxic Substances Control Act, or TSCA, which allows the agency to take a wide variety of regulatory actions against substances that pose an unreasonable risk to the environment or public health. To look into the issue, the EPA established a task force that conducted research and interviewed intere…

Read More

If We Did Use the Bible to Run the Country…

…es heads against rocks and keeping young nubile girls for their own sexual use. On the other hand, the wealthy would sell all that they have and give the proceeds to the poor. I have no need for Jeff Sessions or anyone in this administration to interpret scripture to or for me. What I require is that they exercise the responsibilities of their offices with integrity and compassion. I invite the Attorney General and the White House spokesperson to…

Read More