Religion Dispatches
…ld that Mormonism today is a “diverse” faith tradition and, intriguingly, that he “adds to that diversity,” which is probably code for a less-than-orthodox approach to the faith. Huntsman is helped also by the fact that whereas Mormonism may be the most intriguing thing about candidate Romney, candidate Huntsman plays rock-and-roll and rides motorcycles. 3. He needs to show well in New Hampshire, but it’s South Carolina he is banking on. His campa…
Read More…the time, a slightly more measured view of the shari’ah “threat,” saying that he opposed a shari’ah “legal code” but stopped short of a full-on endorsement of shari’ah law bans. (That said, Reed does indeed understand his audience, and its fears.) The composition of the Faith and Freedom panel led me to believe he might have been attempting if not a rapprochement, then at least some balance. Ironically enough, the panel followed one on alleged an…
Read More…and straight people and men and nuclear families, and because we’re angry that that has not proven to be a winning recruitment strategy or slogan, we’ve decided just to lie a lot. Also, abortions are super fun. Especially the late-term kind. I mean, I can’t fathom why they account for just one percent of all abortions. Not that I’ve had one myself, but judging from the Yelp reviews at the Topeka Abortionplex, they are totally fun. So, hats off to…
Read More…atus could eventually be rectified if he married an American citizen. But what they didn’t know was that Vargas is gay. He therefore falls into a category of undocumented immigrants who, unlike straight people, have no marriage-related immigration rights. That is, the American citizen in LGBT binational couples, even if they are legally married in a state or country that permits it, cannot sponsor their undocumented spouse for citizenship. Over 30…
Read More…1980. In fact, the connection is much stronger.” Kaylor reported in June that although Robison denied that his group was supporting a particular candidate—in fact, the group was divided over who to support, as was the religious right leadership in 2008—the televangelist appears to be a prime motivator of Perry’s prayer rally scheduled for August 6. His group did not just participate in a single phone call, as Amy Sullivan reported at TIME, but ga…
Read More…ability to defend themselves and their families, you destroy the country. That’s exactly what Western women have done for the last forty years. So why are you surprised about the results? Freedoms need to be enforced by violence or the credible threat of violence, or they are meaningless. Even though women can take steps to protect themselves, the primary responsibility for protection will probably always belong to men. Women will thus only have a…
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…k on the floor in front of us. They told us to pick up one item and share what that item meant to us. In its segment examining so-called “ex-gay” therapies—religious programs that try to turn gays straight—NPR, as as Warren Throckmorton first discussed here, omitted vital pieces of “ex-gay” Rich Wyler’s biography, specifically that he is a “certified life coach” who makes his living counseling men who want to become straight. He co-founded Journe…
Read More…cannot do within the guidelines of the IRS rules. He cited the part of the code that prohibits influencing legislation and labeled it “legalese,” before a lengthy parsing of what counts as legislation and then what counts as influencing— none of which substantially departed from everyday understanding of those terms. The talk sounded much like the “word study” sermon style found in many fundamentalist churches. He was careful to clarify that wheth…
Read More…s “weird.” The news set off a wave of speculation that weird was, in fact, code for Mormon, and that Obama and team planned to use the word “weird” as a dog-whistle to stoke voters’ antipathies towards Mormonism in 2012. The news set off a wave of cringes among Mormon politicos as well. Because Mormons do recognize “weird” as a word that sticks to us in the American imagination. In 1995, LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley declared in an inter…
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…me that Jewish homosexuals today are far less emotionally stressed by the code that ruled out the possibility of being both Jewish and gay. Even among some Orthodox Jewish communities the issue is being addressed—though not yet resolved. I love your notion of “layered ethnographies”—in which you add to prior ethnographies rather than amend them. So, the ethnography of CBST includes the first and second editions of your book as well as subsequent…
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