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

By Jonathan L. Walton

…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…

Is Alcoholics Anonymous a Religion?

By Galen Watts

…conservatism. To show how definitions of “religion” and “spirituality” are used rhetorically we need only consider how AA Toronto Intergroup, when charged with discrimination on the basis of creed back in 2014, defended itself by invoking section 18 of the Human Rights code, which allows a religious group to restrict participation to the faithful. So while AA presents itself to the public as a “spiritual” program, distinguishing itself from “relig…

Conservative Points in Pope’s Speech Include Liberal “Chasers”

By Patricia Miller

…o nonviolence and diversity; and to Thomas Merton as “a man of dialogue, a promoter of peace between people and religions.” Nary a conservative icon among them—and both Day and Merton are beloved by progressive Catholics. Even when conservatives thought they had finally gotten to their part of the program, jumping to their feet when Francis spoke of “our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development”—which has l…

Talmud v. Torture: The Jewish Case Against “Enhanced Interrogation”

By Benjamin Weiner

…nd genocide should predispose Jews against systematic policies of wanton abuse. The State of Israel has a mixed record of living up to these Jewish ideals. Torture as a means of prisoner interrogation was officially sanctioned until 1999, when it was outlawed by the High Court. The infamous “ticking bomb” defense—the notion that torture will prevent an imminent attack, which has proven more relevant on 24 than in reality—was not deemed sufficient…

Op-Ed: Bishops vs. Catholic Politicians

By Daniel C. Maguire

…ative moral absolute. Indeed, contrary to Vatican theology, the failure to use condoms when one’s spouse is HIV positive is morally wrong. There are many other circumstances where the failure to use artificial contraception could not be morally justified. Abortion is also not seen by Catholic theologians as “intrinsically evil.” The following are cases from real life. Few theologians and few others would accuse these women of sin. Case #1: A woman…

Still Trying to Get Creationism into Science Classes

By Lauri Lebo

…ry Institute has run away from a school board after members there actually used the word “creationism.” Because of his recent response in American Spectator to the Livingston Parish School Board, I compared Discovery Institute president Bruce Chapman to Monty Python’s Brave Sir Robin. As the song goes, “when danger reared its ugly head, he bravely turned his tail and fled.” Some folks at DI must have taken umbrage. But Mr. Klinghoffer also took ex…

Finding Nonreligious Happiness at the RNC

By Peter Montgomery

…e handed me a booklet called The Way to Happiness: A Common Sense Guide to Better Living. The rules in chapter one are indeed common sense: Get care when you are ill; Keep your body clean; Preserve your teeth; Eat properly; and Get Rest. Other rules caution against harmful drugs, excessive drinking, and sexual promiscuity. Two chapters are devoted to the Golden Rule, stated both positively and negatively (“Try not to do to things to others that yo…

Art(ful) History in Texas

By Lauri Lebo

…ys that he and other board members weren’t trying to ignore slavery as a cause of the Civil War. “There were multiple causes,” he said. Davis’ address, which reads eerily like a Tea Party manifesto, never mentions slavery, but the board makes no mention of teaching its own state’s Ordinance of Secession, which states: (Texas) was received as a commonwealth holding, maintaining and protecting the institution known as negro slavery—the servitude of…

We Would Be Wise to Pay Attention to Trump’s Apocalyptic QAnon Posting Spree

By Thomas Lecaque

…ind him. He holds in his right hand a ghostly “Q+” (according to some, the code name Trump himself uses when he posts on Q message boards) and the text reads “The World Will Soon Understand/Nothing Can Stop What is Coming,” a direct reference to “The Storm.” As I wrote back in 2020: The QAnoners’ apocalypse, unsurprisingly, is one of political partisan violence, culminating in “The Storm,” when all of the so-called “deep state leaders” will be arr…

American Missionary Could Face Genocide Charges, But Brazil’s Indigenous Communities Have a Bigger Problem

By Amy Fallas

…ke contact with the nationally protected indigenous group, he could “be accused of a crime of genocide by deliberately exposing the safety and life of the Himarimã,” said Bruno Pereira, FUNAI coordinator for uncontacted tribes. While FUNAI intends to notify federal prosecutors about the incident, it’s unclear how the case would proceed. According to the Brazilian penal code, criminal charges for genocide can be brought against nationals but foreig…