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There’s Nothing Wrong with ‘Prayer’; But There’s Every Reason to be Skeptical of Pence’s Coronavirus Prayer Circle

…orge are clear proponents of a “Christian nation,” but Merritt should know better. Did he pause to consider the broader context, one wonders, before tweeting that “mocking [Pence] for praying—like 79% of Americans have done in the past 3 months—is why so many regular Americans despise wine-and-cheese liberals”? For starters, the Coronavirus Task Force is a U.S. government effort. Unless the prayer was entirely without reference to any specific rel…

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‘Religious Freedom’ for Atheists

…sents a much different global reality. Here the value at stake is not just freedom of speech, but freedom of conscience. The real contest is not between atheists and believers, but between those who affirm the equality of all persons of conscience and those who deny it. Aan was arrested in a small town in West Sumatra on January 18 after a number of local residents assaulted him at work in an act of self-styled vigilantism. They were reacting to s…

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Pope Calls Out “Bad Shepherds” as Conservatives Prepare to Fight Change

…riage policy would undercut other positions related to sex. Kasper also accused conservatives of having “an ideological understanding of the Gospel that the Gospel is like a penal code.” The hardliners on divorce were backed by an open letter to the synod signed by 48 conservatives, including prominent Catholics like natural law scholar Robert George and former US ambassador to the Holy See Mary Ann Glendon, but also conservative protestants like…

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Whatchoo Talkin Bout, Senator Reid? Obama’s African-American Dialect is Religious

…nt of alliteration and assonance are all creative staples of the African American homiletic tradition. Whether Richard Allen, France Haper, Barbara Jordan or Martin Luther King, Jr., President Obama in many ways extends this rhetorical ritual of performed religious and political speech. Just because one doesn’t sound like Mushmouth from Fat Albert or use the imaginary “jive” language from the movie Airplane does not mean that one is not informed b…

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How Do We Break the Cycle of Religious Violence in South Asia?

…s sentiments of another community. In India, Muslim or Dalit men may be accused of slaughtering a cow. In Pakistan, a Christian woman may be accused of disrespecting the Prophet Muhammad, or a Hindu boy may be accused of urinating in a madrasa library. In many instances, this is enough to put someone in jail. In Pakistan, blasphemy merits the death penalty. In India, those who are seen as engaging in religious offense (listed under Section 295A of…

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Declaring a Theological State of Emergency: Trump’s Ignorance Must Not Be Ours

…matters religious, although that does not seem to deter its adherents. Because the content of these statements is focused on a specific world religion, I believe that scholars and activists of many religions need to step forward in concrete, educational ways. Theologians must be among the first responders on this one. And we need to start at the beginning since Mr. Trump’s ignorance of the Muslim faith mirrors that of many Americans. “Islam” has b…

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Death Penalty Inconsistent with Life

…pt to say that those seeking to be elected have a special dispensation because if they do not speak against the decision of the Supreme Court they would not be elected makes a mockery of truth and the obligation candidates have to make known their positions. Politicians, elected or seeking to be elected, must remember at all times that holding office or getting elected to office does not trump life. Their moral responsibility is to lead the nation…

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Lindsey Graham and Al Qaeda Share the Same “Allahu Akbar”

…are the correct ones. Think about the term “jihad.” It’s one of the most abused and misused terms of its kind. The vast majority of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims understand the concept in a non-violent way; it’s a struggle, they say, to live a pious life in the face of challenges. Writes Asma Afsaruddin here in RD: If we put on our historical glasses, a considerably different picture emerges. The earliest connotations of jihad had to do with pat…

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Warships, Animals, Pubs Eligible For Blessings From Church of England, But Not Same-Sex Couples; Global LGBT Recap

…els like a place where love and sex have parted ways, and where the arc of freedom is bending toward license. It is in this context that Mr. Johar’s equivocations acquire special meaning. He is not popular among activists and the intelligentsia. They accuse him of reducing gay characters to effeminate parodies. Apurva Asrani, the script writer of “Aligarh,” an affecting film about a gay professor in a Muslim university town, wrote in The Wire: “Sa…

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Why I’m Grateful for 2012, The Rapture, and other Millennial Delusions

…lms like Fight Club or the latest Batman flick: utopian idealists who will use any means, including violence, to bring about the transformation they seek. In practice, though, they tend to be mostly harmless. I once had a noted New Age peace activist tell me that, because all spiritual practice has ripple effects outward, “my cat is a contemplative contributor to the universe.” I swear I’m not making that up. The reasoning (if that’s what it is) i…

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