Religion Dispatches
…o tried to silence Rhea County schoolteacher John Scopes for teaching evolution in 1925, by limiting even an objective discussion of the scientific strengths and weaknesses of evolutionary theory,” Fowler wrote last month in an op–ed in the Chattanoogan. But “strengths and weaknesses” are merely code words to try to water down the teaching of evolution. The American Association for the Advancement of Science, has issued a statement against the bil…
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…ayer of my persuasion (we’ll call her Petra from Yuma) finds using the tax code to benefit such schools offensive to the First Amendment. In the past, Petra from Yuma could go into court to challenge the tax credit as a form of state-subsidized religion. But Petra (or a Thomas Jefferson redivivus, for that matter) is now out of luck. The core issue is whether providing the tax credit has the exact same practical impact as simply giving tax revenue…
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…a sarcasm-laden open letter to Wallis, which highlights the contradiction between Sojourners’ diversity statement and its actions: Anyway, just wanted to let you know that you might want to track down and correct whomever it is in your organization who is so egregiously failing to properly represent you and your wonderful work. (Hint: the person you’re looking for might be someone pretty high up in your organization; Believe Out Loud was told tha…
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…be running career schools as defined by Chapter 132 of the Texas Education Code. They had already sent such letters to directors in Austin. Arguing that the regulation of career schools benefits consumers by monitoring programs, ensuring that they are legitimate businesses, and providing an avenue for student complaints, the TWC requested directors to choose one of the following: apply and secure a career school license at the cost of up to $3,000…
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…literally a doubting Thomas. Much of Wood’s narrative concerns the tension between these two antagonists. But it is a milder tension than the intense frustration that informs the work of disappointed misotheists like Zora Neale Hurston and Rebecca West—both of whom reflexively equated their father’s betrayal of them with God’s abandonment of humanity. By contrast, Tom genuinely loves his father; he just finds him to be a bit pathetic and tiresome…
Read More…to poke fun at Romney to sharpen those contrasts. And there’s no love lost between Huntsman and Romney, who are distant cousins. 8. And yet, there are undeniable similarities between the Huntsman and Romney, including the fact that both as governors launched health care plans they later disavowed. Does his early hemming and hawing about his own religion indicate a tendency to spin and squirm, or—even worse—flip and flop? It’s way too early to even…
Read More…s, listening to speeches at the League of Women Voters, demonstrating with Code Pink and Le Front Des Lesbiennes Radicales, and generally gathering with other women to no good end. Now, I actually was there when the original plot was hatched, funnily enough: It was back in 1973, at the Women’s Exchange tea room in Eugene, Oregon. (To the public, it was billed as a Missionary Society presentation.) We had just finished singing a song about the weav…
Read More…immigration reform. And, to be sure, religious arguments for UAFA fared no better; they were met with religious arguments against including UAFA in any comprehensive package because naturally some allegedy loving religious advocates can’t find a place in their heart for the gays. Which brings me back to the Netroots Nation panel, which was not, as one might predict, a dismissive and reductive portrayal of Tea Partiers as racist; instead, panelists…
Read More…. His misuse of the Bible for reactionary politics is wrong. His dichotomy between evangelism and environmentalism is wrong. His demonization of thoughtful pro-environment Christians is wrong.” Robison’s agenda for the 2012 election draws from that same well of contempt for a contemporary secular democracy. Kaylor points to Robison’s June 3 blog post, which reads like a theo-economic merger of a religious right and Tea Party wishlist (a merger Rob…
Read More…e multipliers. Conservatives are strenuously trying to challenge parallels between the Norway shooter and the positions they themselves have been advocating. But Breivik’s call for a return to patriarchy, driven by a fear of emasculation by powerful women, is also a feature of American religious right rhetoric. Florida Congressman and Tea Party favorite Allen West, speaking last spring at a “Women Impacting the Nation” meeting, declared: “We need…
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