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As Hobby Lobby Heads to SCOTUS, Let’s Ditch Kosher Butcher Analogies

By Sarah Posner

…r (1985), another unanimous decision – a religious exemption would require customers, employees, or competitors to bear a heavy cost in the service of another’s religion, something the Court has understandably been loath to sanction. That said, though, it’s hard to imagine (a) the government requiring kosher butchers to sell pork, except in the conservative imagination where the government persecutes religious believers and (b) in any case, why th…

Marriage Equality Coming To Taiwan In Spite of Religious Objectors?; Anti-Gay Ruling Sought By Indonesian Islamists Threatens Women & Poor Couples; LDS Church Launches New ‘Mormon and Gay’ Site; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…amily. “This ruling undermines democratic freedom. It undermines religious freedom. It undermines free speech.” The McArthur family, which owns the bakery, has “been supported by the Christian Institute, which has organized public rallies and garnered financial backing for the case.” Nigeria: Human Rights Watch reports on impact of law banning same-sex marriage Human Rights Watch released a report this month documenting the impact of the Same Sex…

House Votes to Repeal DADT

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…tary, the Department of Veterans Affairs reported in 2000 that “55 percent of women experienced sexual harassment in the military. And a 2005 study estimates that more than half of women in the reserves and National Guard suffered sexual assault or harassment during their service.” From the numbers, it would seem that the majority of harassers in the military are straight men. Could this be the real fear of the religious right, that the inclusion…

Mormon “Martin Luther” Causes Stir by Uploading LDS Church Handbook of Instructions to Internet

By Joanna Brooks

…ed “correlation” to try to systematize and simplify Church doctrine in the service of worldwide proselytizing and coordination. Top-down correlation may have met its match in the world of the Internet, where information flows horizontally. Just since September, we’ve seen a significant amount of movement in the official discourse of the LDS Church on LGBT issues. From the controversy surrounding Elder Boyd Packer’s Conference talk to the changes i…

RDPulpit: Israel in Gaza: Right but not Smart

By Rabbi Michael Lerner

…fective control of Israel; C. Israel opens the border with Gaza and allows free access to and from Israel by Gazans and Palestinians, subject only to full search and seizure of any weapons. Israel allows free travel of food, gas, electricity, water, and consumer goods and materials including transports from land, air, and sea, subject only to full search and seizure of any weapons or materials typically used for weapons; D. Israel agrees to releas…

Wesolowski Sexual Abuse Case a New Approach or Same Old Same Old?

By Mary E. Hunt

…wing the money is the soundest approach. Mansions and beach houses are not free, so obviously Catholic money is keeping his successor in the style to which Wesolowski became accustomed. Multiply that by the number of countries where the Vatican has diplomatic relations. I doubt these diplomatic men cook their own meals or wash their own cassocks, no matter how frugal Pope Francis may be. So somebody pays a lot of money to keep this genteel charade…

Atheists Ignore Islamophobia at their Peril

By Chris Stedman

…ing things like “go back to the Middle East, you pedophiles.” We should be free to criticize all religions, Islam included, but that doesn’t mean we should feel free to deride and scorn its adherents. It should go without saying that this isn’t a problem with atheism, but it is a problem among atheists and it’s one that is being largely ignored. 9/11 is frequently lifted up as the genesis of “New Atheism,” and it’s not uncommon to see people at at…

Episcopal Conference Lives Up to Episcopal Jokes

By Julie Ingersoll

…the height of the battling, that it was all not such a big deal, that the number of dissidents was actually quite small and that he thought his church would be better off once they were gone. Indeed, according to Wikipedia there are over 7,000 Episcopal congregations in the US with over 2 million members, though the significance of that number is unclear since, as the priest in the church where I was baptized once teased me: “when you’re baptiz…

Amway, Religious Right Pyramid Scheme, Returns to the Motherland

By Bill Berkowitz

…is designed to recognize Americans “who have performed exemplary deeds of service for the nation.” What of Colson’s service to the nation? He was an avid supporter of the Vietnam War, a willing architect of, and participant in, the Nixon administration’s attempted shredding of the Constitution. He spent seven months at Alabama’s Maxwell Prison for his involvement in the Watergate scandal, and he was an erstwhile co-conspirator, according to Senat…

It’s Bring Your Gun to Church Day

By Bill Berkowitz

…much work to be done in this area. Response to our mission, resources, and services thus far has been great. Will the Christian Security Network serve the security interests of religious entities other than Christian churches—for example, mosques or synagogues? JH: There are other organizations that already service the security and emergency planning needs for other religions; the Christian Security Network is in contact with several of them to sh…