Religion Dispatches
…such as those proposed in California, laws that seek to create a separate class of citizens according to the discriminating categories of sexual identity, are actually instituting a discriminatory legal no-no, unless the state can show a far more compelling state interest in categorizing and sorting its citizens of a marriageable age according to the categories of sexual identity. As I have listened to this debate unfold, I have been puzzling ove…
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…o protect these people, Middle Americans of all racial backgrounds—working class and middle class—to protect them against what I think is a hostile and nihilistic elite that is seeking to impose its values onto the working and middle classes to bolster their own power, prestige, status and achievement.” Yet, a closer look at the issues these two figures have championed reveals how Christian nationalism remains an animating force in the GOP’s cultu…
Read More…ust one example, your recent column about disconnected “haphazard” working class men identifies a real problem; there is no doubt on that score. But you place religious practice and affiliation in the category of palliative resources for those being crushed by the new ruthless economy, whereas the religion usually referred to as prophetic—a form of religion we still regard as indispensable—sees faith as much more than a kind of backstop for those…
Read More…ument as “impermissibly tied to moral disapproval of same-sex couples as a class of Oklahoma citizens. All of these perceived ‘threats’ are to one view of the marriage institution—a view that is bound up in procreation, one morally ‘ideal’ parenting model, and sexual fidelity.” The claim to be “preserving” the “traditional institution of marriage,” wrote Kern, is just a “kinder way” of expressing the state’s “moral disapproval” of same-sex couple…
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…wish to violate the rules by discriminating against members of a protected class, that funding should simply be off-limits, whether we’re talking about adoption agencies, healthcare providers, or educational institutions. On a deeper level, however, there is very little daylight between the naive and sometimes hostile suggestion that queer kids “just shouldn’t be at Christian colleges and universities” and the patently absurd suggestion that we “j…
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…daries and exclusions had, at one time, been clearly delimited in terms of class, race, and sex. Tiger is male, so he posed no threat there. And he is clearly and indisputably good at golf, so has never been marginal in that sense. But Tiger is clearly not white. Before proceeding, let’s clarify precisely what and whom we’re talking about here. We understand that Tiger Woods is not the first non-white professional golfer in the history of the spor…
Read More…standards that could very likely determine what your kid learns in biology class in the next decade. For more than a year, board members, led by McLeroy, a Young Earth Creationist, had been leading efforts to preserve wording in Texas’ science education standards that waters down the teaching of evolutionary theory: The student is expected to analyze, review, and critique scientific explanations, including hypotheses and theories, as to their stre…
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…many ways this book is both sequel and prequel to Anderson’s contemporary classic Beyond Ontological Blackness. It is a sequel in that Anderson constructs a principled path of moving beyond the flat interpretations of African American religious experience that have been regulated by antiquated notions of “the black church.” Rather, for Anderson, “creative exchange” can be realized in the ambiguous/grotesque moments where beloved community actuall…
Read More…is stable or strengthening among our college-educated elites, much larger numbers of Americans, particularly in middle and working-class America, are abandoning the institution entirely, with harmful social and personal consequences.” Blankenhorn sees this disparity leading to further inequality, a weakened middle class and children in danger. His proposal is to bring together everyone who is concerned with strengthening marriage, including gays…
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…of God, will receive God’s punishment. Yes, perhaps among them there is a class that is genetically sick, another class that has mental deviation, but we should not give them tribute.” The report also cites Rubk Hakobyan a former leader of the Heritage party who is now an independent MP: “I am not a fanatic in religious terms, but the Bible says to go and multiply, different sexes, protect nature. Now what, should we declare the Bible as no longe…
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