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“Symbolic” Personhood Bill Could Kill

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…o-life, conservative state. Senator Crain’s office did not return repeated phone calls, but according to The Daily Beast, he “said the bill is simply a statement that Oklahoma is ‘pro-life.’” Senate Pro Tem Brian Bingman said much the same thing, according to Reuters, offering that “Oklahoma is a conservative pro-life state—we are proud to stand up for what we know is right.” Well, yes, it feels very good to be proud of things, doesn’t it? Might I…

A Valentine for the World…and for the Church I Left

By Carolyn S. Briggs

…a headscarf. As she left the church, she began to sing. “Emmanuel,” singing that word over and over, her voice strong and unapologetic. Even when she pulled the door shut behind her, the song now muffled, but there it was: Emmanuel. I was thousands of miles away from the time in my life when I sang public praise to my God, but my heart broke at this human connection, the cracked vessel through which He spoke. Yes, I thought. Yes. Emmanuel. God is…

Bishop Minerva Carcaño Has a Nearly Impossible Job

By Mary E. Hunt

…ific cases with Lou Dobbs, she insists that immigration is not about “partisan politics” but of “lifting up a matter of conscience for this country, a moral and ethical issue. It is from that perspective that the United Methodist Church speaks.” Bishop Carcaño seeks to develop a consistent ethic of justice. On matters of same-sex love, this is not as easy as it sounds. The United Methodist Church in its Book of Discipline holds that “no self-avo…

“Guerilla Warrior of Judeo-Christian Political Commentary” Stars in Anti-Newt Video in Iowa

By Sarah Posner

…sday, to every registered Republican or non-aligned Iowa voter with a cell phone on record. . . . The video’s star is Molotov Mitchell, whom Cary K. Gordon, president of PeaceMakers Institute and pastor of Sioux City’s Cornerstone Church, calls “the guerilla warrior of Judeo-Christian political commentary.” Mitchell is an edgy independent filmmaker whose Illuminati Pictures delivers something akin to an animated political cartoon weekly at WorldN…

The Many, Not the Few: An Anthem for Occupy

By Elizabeth Drescher

…e a video of the performance, despite a Secret Service prohibition on cell phones, because Makana’s guitar is tuned with a smartphone app. Or, reporters are interested in how Obama, his guests, and security detail responded—or didn’t, as it turned out. But this misses the heart of the story, as Makana’s set at the APEC dinner was less dissenting performance than performative utterance—the songs he played, the protest t-shirt hidden beneath the com…

Even Tougher Questions to Ask Mormon Presidential Candidates

By Joanna Brooks

…nti-marriage-equality campaign. High-ranking Church leaders even scheduled phone calls with individual members to make the ask in person. Did Church leaders solicit an individual contribution from you to the Yes on 8 campaign or any other anti-marriage-equality initiative? If so, how did you respond? How would you respond in such a situation? 2. Mormonism is an openly patriarchal religious culture—one of the most patriarchal modern cultures on th…

White House Position
on Exemption from Contraception Coverage
“Not a Done Deal”?

By Sarah Posner

…” The Washington Post reports this morning that Democratic Senators, on a phone call yesterday with White House senior advisor David Plouffe, argued against adopting the Bishops’ position. My source says it’s “not a done deal” yet, but expected action from the White House within a week. UPDATE: Another womens’ rights advocate tells me that she has “no reason to think” that the Obama administration feels it “owes” the Bishops for health care refo…

Will a Video Game Make Sense of Qaddafi’s Death?

By Rachel Wagner

…educing the variables and historical contexts involved and effectively transforming lived events into games with predictable rules, defeatable “bad guys,” and the hopeful celebration of an “epic win.” Part of the problem with representing an event like Qaddafi’s capture in a game is the widespread degree of ignorance that contemporary media allows, especially in hyper-wired places like the United States where we vigorously defend our myopia even a…

Qaddafi Dies; Should it Matter How?

By Haroon Moghul

…r, unnecessary, and unacceptable spectacle of a hanging captured on a cell phone. If there is something that should distinguish us from those dictators who have corrupted our world, it must be here. In humility before death. In appreciation of our common humanity. In the sense that the universe is infused with a law and a purpose that makes our lives and hopes sacred, and which, from time to time, turns against those who offend it, to remind us th…

God Dissolves into the Occupy Movement

By Nathan Schneider

…here everyone is welcome on an equal footing and where everyone can become sanctified—can be made holy—during a time of great extremity and privation. In my view the occupiers are inducing the millenarian feeling that many everyday people have been experiencing for several years—sane people, that is, who are repelled by the moronic character of Tea Party ideology. These people long for an end to what is literally unbearable and what cannot go on i…