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Why I Won’t Leave the Mormon Church Alone

By Holly Welker

…ommunity. In The Drowned and the Saved, Primo Levi states, “Changing moral codes is always costly; all heretics, apostates, and dissidents know this.” Mormons who leave the church face dire consequences: damnation, separation for all eternity from loved ones, shunning and judgment in this life, as well as irritated, self-righteous assertions that we shouldn’t even discuss parts of our own history. It’s hard to invite all that, and one main reason…

Cornel West, Using His Powers for Good

By Edward J. Blum

…prison system, an emphasis on public investment, equitable progressive tax codes, restitution paid by banks and businesses that have abused the system, health care assurances, and a White House conference on eradication of poverty. The appendix carries a letter to the president that can be photocopied or torn out. It calls for a transformation not only of how Americans talk about the poor, but also of what they do for those without homes, secure j…

Does Religion Condemn Homosexuality?

By Michael Bronski

…, then, like the story of Sodom, warns against the transgression of social codes that ensure an ordered society. Being penetrated by another man, or raping two male houseguests, is a metaphor for disorder and the neglect of social constraint. Such a scenario may seem extreme for the lesson it imparts, but that is how allegories teach us moral lessons. Historically, the most frequently cited scriptural passages in all three Abrahamic traditions—Jud…

Why I Boycotted a Conference at Brigham Young University

By Mark Juergensmeyer

…iety and for an individual’s own intellectual growth. But what about honor codes that many universities impose? These are usually attempts to regulate behavior—not thought. They attempt to prohibit, for example, alcohol and pot in student dorms. Prohibitions against thinking, against ideas that are counter to administrators’ beliefs, however, should have no place in a university. Although I am not an expert in issues of religious freedom in Americ…

Barbara Ehrenreich’s ‘Wild God’ is Not Here to Help

By Angela Bonavoglia

…icism often reveals a wild, amoral Other, religion insists on conventional codes of ethics enforced by an ethical supernatural being.” The honest thing to do, she maintains, “would be to admit that ethical systems are a human invention, and the Other is something else entirely.” This analysis goes to the heart of some of what’s wrong with the anthropocentrism of the Abrahamic religions, with our conception of a God whom we can only comprehend by g…

RDPulpit: To the ‘Furiously Raging’ Religious Right

By Peter Laarman

…used were nearly all rules and regulations laid down in Levitical holiness codes, in wrath-filled passages from the prophetic literature, and in the Pauline and pseudo-Pauline literature. This heavy reliance on rule-bound scriptural teaching works really well for wannabe moral enforcers, but to recall the words of our Saviour (himself quoting Isaiah): “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” I am no trained theolo…

Into the Darkest Moment of a Dark Year Comes the Saturnalia, a Time for Drinking, Swearing, Gambling, and the Circle of Life

By Farah Abdessamad

…, and the mysteries surrounding the sun’s disappearance from our lives. It promoted role reversals, free speech, and libationary merriment of Dionysian proportions involving drinking, swearing and gambling, with banquets and food sacrificed to deities. It even marked a truce period; no wars could be declared during the Saturnalia (but occasional murders occurred taking advantage of the distractions). On 19 December, gifts would be exchanged. Green…

What the USCCB’s New “Religious Liberty” Initiative Took from Evangelicals

By Sarah Posner

…F’s view, cannot coexist with its version of Christianity. Anti-harassment codes at schools and universities, gay rights events, and other expressions of freedom or equal rights for LGBT people, necessarily silence Christians, who, ADF insists, are biblically compelled to condemn homosexuality. The “homosexual agenda,” then, is ipso facto anti-Christian. Alan Sears, ADF’s president, told the Family Research Council’s Values Voters Summit last fall…

An Open Letter to Rabbi Dov Linzer on Modesty and Jewish Law

By Shaul Magid

…ort their position by reading closely and deeply the same Talmud and legal codes that you do. Their community embodies an extreme yet also consistent rendering of Judaism founded on the Talmud and the legal tradition it generated. It is true that their egregious behavior steps beyond any acceptable norm. But their more general interpretation of Jewish law does not. Shouldn’t recent incidents serve to show that your anti-misogynist Orthodoxy, which…

A Moral Galaxy: War and Suffering in “Star Wars: The Old Republic”

By Robert M. Geraci and Nat Recine

…t waging a just war. “This game helped me understand the different ethical codes to a greater degree,” comments one. “Given that I attempted to play each class in a specific manner, I found it interesting how certain stories ‘rang’ with me, and others were discordant. It’s an interesting game, and I would almost advocate using it for educational purposes in high school.” If each player can acquire an embodied, lived experience of cultural ideals t…