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The US Religious Right and the LGBT Crisis In Uganda

By Sarah Posner

…ice station where they forced him to strip naked and interrogated him. His wife received harassing phone calls. Kaggwa appears to be the target of intimidation. Kaggwa is also the executive director of the Support Initiative For People With Atypical Sex Development, a group that advocates for the rights of intersex people in Uganda. Kaggwa was born intersex, and raised as a girl. He “became very Christian, turned to God a lot to see if there would…

Tea Party 2.0, Ready For Post-Election Launch

By Julie Ingersoll

…t the National Press Club, he and Glen Bolger of Public Opinion Strategies will hold a press conference in which they will put their spin on the election results by releasing a post election poll. Boasting that, leading up to the election, they distributed “6 million voter guides, 8 million mail pieces, 15 million phone calls, 500,000 doors knocked on by volunteers, and radio advertising covering 56 congressional districts and 22 U.S. Senate and g…

If You Were Faced With Him

By Amina Wadud

…to Oakland as I had told my middle daughter I would. She needed assistance with the baby because her Canadian in-laws gave her a car, which had to be cleared at customs before local registration. Then we went to the farmers’ market, the flea markets, and the swap meet. She insists on using a baby carrier instead of a stroller. So I held her six-month-old while she pillaged through a sea of clothing. That’s a lot of holding, trust me. When we final…

Obama to Cave on Bush Tax Cuts: Letter to the Washingtonians, Chapter 1

By Daniel Schultz

…take the side of ordinary people—those who live from paycheck to paycheck without security, with precious little hope in their lives—they have turned their backs on you. They have made common cause with those who oppress them, who mean to turn you out of office, to turn back the clock, and undo every good that you have done. And you still don’t get it. A word needs to be said here; that is to say, a word imagining the world differently, based on…

Dear Scientists: Please Stop Bashing Free Will!

By John Horgan

…ral cable that transmits signals between the brain’s hemispheres, may be afflicted with alien-hand syndrome, in which one hand reaches out and grabs things (including other people) without any conscious intent on the part of its mortified owner. Neurosurgeons preparing the brain of an epileptic before surgery can make the patient’s arm pop up like an eager student’s by electrically stimulating the motor cortex. The patient often insists that she m…

Why I Won’t Leave the Mormon Church Alone

By Holly Welker

…ld be impressed by letters from high school students, but ever dutiful, I wrote them anyway.) The LDS church was most recently a major player in the 2008 campaign to amend the California State Constitution to ban gay marriage via Proposition 8. That, of course, is one primary reason I cannot and will not leave the church alone: it continues to exert its influence in areas that affect my life and the lives of people I love. Most of what I have writ…

Gen X, Gadgets, and God

By Elizabeth Drescher

…oking for institutional religious roosts, any responsible religious leader will reflect on how best to engage them and keep them connected for the long haul. These days, that engagement is likely to include digital media. What’s a religious leader to do? Blog? Kind of over. Update the Web page with a Ning network? Yawn. Spiffy new Facebook page? Been there; did that. Besides, all of these platforms invite engagement outside of the face-to-face com…

Ricky Gervais: Why I’m an Atheist

By Lauri Lebo

…ou need to know to keep on reading? I’d cheerfully watch that man read the phone book. So, when my buddy Rev. El Mundo sent me the link to the comedian’s message, I eagerly clicked on it. I was surprised when I saw this wasn’t a clip of his latest hysterical stand up, but an essay he penned for the Wall Street Journal’s Speakeasy blog. The topic of his essay was how he came to be an atheist. The whole piece is here. While there is humor in the pie…

Pope Invites his Flock to Join Facebook: Is the Digital Reformation Here?

By Elizabeth Drescher

…han those with the neighbor down the street to whom we nod in passing, but with whom we never otherwise engage in any “deeply true” way. Moreover, in the era of mobile technologies, the social isolation previously associated with internet-based communications is radically diminished and, very often, interpersonal intimacy is in fact enhanced. Our use of technology can thus enrich and extend meaningful face-to-face relationships rather than necessa…

Looking For Answers at the Oscars: A Guide to This Year’s Contenders

By S. Brent Rodriguez Plate

…lions with a keystroke.” Stengel further suggests that “the way we connect with one another and with the institutions in our lives is evolving.” Who we are, how we relate to others, and our places within larger social structures are going through a profound shift in light of the technologies of new media—but also in social institutions at all levels. Pope Benedict XVI apparently agrees, (as noted in these pages by Elizabeth Drescher last month) an…