Religion Dispatches
…ares. There’s something strange afoot on Starship UK—a strangeness perhaps best illustrated by its “voting booths,” which show the ship’s citizens a video and then gives them two options—to protest what they have seen, or to forget the video’s contents, having their memories selectively erased. The voting booth won’t show the Doctor the video—it can tell he’s not human, and thus not entitled to vote—but he chooses the “protest” button, sight unsee…
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…intention is to show them the truth, no matter how unpleasant. I tried my best to deliver the truth as it was told to me by the dozens of advocates I spoke with, and as I saw it in the archival record. If I am even partially successful, then anyone who reads the book will want to learn more about what these remarkable advocates are doing. I hope some will get inspired to become more personally involved in the struggle against Islamophobia. What a…
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…hat he couldn’t see the science shifting, and soon found himself earnestly promoting vitamin supplements and a “psychic energizer” called deaner. Narrow-minded objectivity also got the best of Lori and Larry Altobelli, a couple living in Leominster, Boston whose second child, Joshua, was born with autism. Leominster was once nicknamed “the Plastic City” for its booming plastics industry, until the resulting pollution produced dangerous hazardous w…
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…ith—that government programs are an ineffective means of poverty relief at best, and at worst, a counter-productive or even predatory response to the poor. When I say “an article of faith” here, I am not being critical: there are many American Christians who believe that taxes are theft, government hurts more than it helps, and that the right way to address poverty is through religious charity only, not public policy. People like Rev. Barber and I…
Read More…on has the right to institute, solemnize, and protect its own definition of marriage. Our theology holds that just as God is a married couple—a Heavenly Father and a Heavenly Mother—marriage is to be the union of a man and a woman, and we will continue to promote and hold our members to this standard. Public officials should create and administer laws that reflect the best of our aspirations as a just and caring society. Such laws will properly ba…
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…and only very incompletely explored, ethical territory as we sort out the best ways to balance personal privacy and public safety as these are impacted by our engagement with new media. But even given difficulties defining necessary and appropriate boundaries of personal, professional, and institutional transparency, we can see the virtue of transparency overall as having a stabilizing ethical function that invites openness and honesty while disc…
Read More…less educated white voters in the South, Appalachia (West Virginia is his best state) and the Northeast. Catholics are sparse in the first two regions, but heavy in the last, which includes some of the country’s most Catholic states: Rhode Island, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York. To date Trump is holding up well in these states, especially his home state of New York. But a surging Marco Rubio, a Catholic who is now edging int…
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…Southpark’s Mr. Hankey sings a Hanukkah song: Night 6- The Holiday Armadillo brings Hanukkah to Friends: Night 7- Hanukkah Harry saves Easter on Saturday Night Live: Night 8- The Daily Show with Jon Stewart offers its best Hanukah moments: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c Exclusive – Best Hanukkah Moments Mash-up www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor The Daily Show on Facebook …
Read MoreThe best part of Christmas is the advertising. I don’t mean the Coca Cola commercials with Santa and polar bears. I mean stuff like a sonogram of fetal Jesus complete with halo and a tag line reminding us “He’s on His way.” I also always enjoy a good Christmas billboard duel. This season do we celebrate Reason or Jesus? And are those are only choices? Maybe we should settle on the friendlier “Reason’s Greetings.” The only thing I like as much as…
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…on works in Bascom Hall, and the Bascom dairy on campus sells probably the best ice cream in the state. Likewise Charles Van Hise, the long-serving president of the UW is remembered with a hall where generations of students have studied foreign languages. People outside of Badgerland might be more familiar with Robert “Fighting Bob” LaFollette, founder of the Progressive Party in the early 20th century, and still today an inspiration to lefties. E…
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