Religion Dispatches
…who wants a Christian president, particularly one who would revise the tax code “so we can rejoice together because it would stimulate economic growth.” (Huckabee’s hosted debate, though, this past weekend, was more of a snooze than a circus.) In 2008 Huckabee got a fundraising boost from Kenneth Copeland, Word of Faith megastar. Copeland, at the time under investigation by the Senate Finance Committee for misuse of tax-deductible donor funds, cla…
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…atives immediately attacked Obama’s requirement, stating that empathy was “code” for a judge who would legislate from the bench (a position satirized by one observer who noted that Jesus himself, a noted proponent of empathy, would have been opposed by the GOP as well). They’ve taken a fresh new idea and wrapped it in the lexicon of the same old culture wars. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell stated that Obama wanted a judge with “perceived s…
Read More…e homosexuality two months ago after convictions in Al-Hoceima in the northeast. “The debate has, however, increased in intensity with the latest controversy in a country torn between conservative mores and proximity to the West.” India: Actress discusses role as lesbian in film banned in India Preeti Gupta, a popular TV and theater actor, plays a lesbian girl Leela in Unfreedom, a movie released in the U.S. in May but banned in India. The film, b…
Read More…Christians are better than Christianity. They employ their personal moral code, choosing the moral morsels from the Bible that square with their contemporary sensibility. The Bible does not portray Jesus as a liberal powerhouse. Or at least, not solely as the man liberal Christians claim. We need look no further than hell to prove this point. Americans possess an unparalled degree of religious liberty, but Jesus promises eternal torture if they e…
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…endorsed the message of the Believe Out Loud video. Sojourners thought it better to promote the video that way—”in an editorial context.” King’s original post has a pretty active comments section—much of it critical of Sojourners, some supportive. Although criticism—on or off its own pages—doesn’t appear to be pushing the group toward any capitulation, or, as McLaren makes plain, towards any activism on LGBT rights. Mark Silk notes that while Soj…
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…Nike’s unwillingness to permit long-term audits by the WRC will “set labor code reforms back 15 years,” according to Kline. He and students at Georgetown have called on the university to end its business relationship with Nike. Villanova students created a petition, underscoring the conflict between the university’s Catholic values and Nike’s complicity in worker exploitation. Administrators at universities including Cornell, Rutgers, Oberlin, Geo…
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…ld step of drawing down one million dollars from the Diocesan Endowment to promote the ‘no’ case,” he said. Davies told the gathering that “the stakes are high and the cost is high”. “Yet the cause is just and it is a consequence of our discipleship to uphold the gift of marriage as God has designed it — a creation ordinance for all people. By so doing, the wisdom of God is made manifest.” … “I believe that a change in the definition of marriage i…
Read More…ed in relative good faith and mediated by other signatories. There was at least the veneer of a commitment to international law. This is precisely what the Bush team has acted most dramatically against. And it began well before 9/11 with Kyoto. Napoleon’s treaties ironically made it far easier to repatriate all the Vatican statues after Waterloo; there was a clear record of precisely what had been taken, what had been done, and thus at least a mod…
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…al same-sex relations, forces women to adhere to a strict and modest dress code in public, and has zero-tolerance for dissident’s freedom of expression – presents a surprisingly lenient attitude on trans issues. On the surface, the Iranian government seems supportive of the trans community. Official reports reveal that gender confirmation surgery for trans individuals is subsidized by the state. Trans activists are also legally allowed to organize…
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…: subservient to majoritarian prejudices. Taiwan: Human Rights Day concert promotes marriage equality The China Post reports that up to 250,000 people (police said 75,000) joined a Human Rights Day concert on Saturday held in support of marriage equality, which is being promoted by President Tsai Ing-wen but resisted by some religious organizations. “The event, coinciding with Human Rights Day, came amid pressure from some civic groups seeking to…
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