Religion Dispatches
…battle against the contraceptive mandate dealt more in falsehoods and hysteria than facts or the nuances of Catholic moral theology. Ironically, it took freeing Notre Dame from the mandate for it to realize it had been free all along….
Read More…nimum wage laws unconstitutional and claims to be a constitutional purist — pay Moffitt for his constitutional, uh, expertise? In the lawsuit against UNC, Moffitt and his co-plaintiffs alleged that the assignment of the Sells text violated both the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment — charging that UNC, a public institution, was not only unconstitutionally promoting Islam by assigning the text but inhibiting non-Muslims…
Read More
…lim countries (now 56), combining a World Bank-style mission with interest-free loans to member governments. It lent legitimacy and visibility to the approach. That decade’s oil boom gave a jump start to a new crop of commercial Islamic banks, particularly in the Persian Gulf states. By the ’80s, Pakistan, Sudan, and Iran were making efforts to Islamize their entire economies. In the last decade, the industry has expanded dramatically. Dow Jones n…
Read More
…s. White nationalists will support protectionist measures, and they oppose free trade in capital goods because they oppose free trade (or open borders) for labor. Whether or not they gain traction by claiming that the stock market and banks are controlled by Jews depends on whether people of goodwill are able to offer a more compelling vision of change. With Obama in the White House, I think we can expect more of the same, plus some. Some White na…
Read More…lightful swimming party. Some of my non-Muslim women friends envied us the freedom of swimming with women alone. One told me how she disliked baring unnecessary lengths of flesh for the pool—whether for modesty or for self-consciousness or because she hated having to shave. The swimsuit, for instance, is after all an inherently eroticized, sexualized garment. There’s a reason why Sports Illustrated has a swimsuit issue. It’s also why men love to l…
Read More…omic efficiency, they have to define religion as a private affair. In your free time, you can be religious (or not) in any way you like, they say in effect. But when you enter the public sphere, you must leave religious identity behind and be a good secular citizen of the state, working together with all others for the well-being of the state. In recent years, Berger has followed the sociologists’ trend and cast doubt on his own simplistic predict…
Read More…k decry “I shall not want” as socialism. Language changed to “I will enjoy freedom from a pre-approved credit limit.” [Ecclesiastes 1:9]: Lawmakers of both parties sport lapel pins declaring, “THERE IS NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN – AND THAT’S A GOOD THING.” Washington fashion mavens concur. [Song of Solomon]: removed as NEA funding slashed for 4,359th time. [Amos 5:24]: David Broder insists in column that moderates can overcome “divisive” rhetoric….
Read More…ders need to help their congregations tell the story of American religious freedom, both its successes and its failures. Celebrate the ways religious liberty provides the crucial bulwark that allows for pluralism of belief and experience: offer special worship services, sermons, education programs, and social media outreach efforts that critically engage the tensions between freedom and liberty in religious practice and American citizenship; take…
Read More…ney laundering and sentenced to three years in prison, although he remains free on appeal. The TCC and TCCRI have advocated for, among other things, “Western Civilization” centers at state universities. For Christian, at least, “civilization” is only for straight people. In a story about last week’s debate, the Austin Statesman reported that Christian maintained, “If they’re [universities] going to pay for one, they need to balance it with the oth…
Read More…events.” In January 2009, principal Frank Lay and athletic director Robert Freeman were accused of violating the consent decree when “Lay asked Freeman to offer a prayer of blessing during a school-day luncheon for the dedication of a new field house at Pace High School. “Freeman complied with the request and offered the prayer at the event. It appears this was a school-sponsored event attended by students, faculty and community members.” In respo…
Read More