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Progressive Faith Leaders Rally to Keep Heat on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

By Alex McNeill

…aders in the public square to amplify God’s call to remove the barriers to service for lesbian and gay people,” he continued. Well before the ruling, “faith leaders have been making their own congregants aware of how DADT harms gay and lesbian service members and also harms our country at a time when skilled members of the military are needed more than ever,” Knox said. However, advocacy on behalf of lesbian and gay servicemembers is not limited t…

Confronting Economic Privilege Together

By Daniel Schultz

…as highlight economic language in the Bible, it would be a valuable public service. Even better would be highlighting the very un-Christian ways violent rhetoric is used in service of economic privilege. Haters and militiamen should not be able to hide behind the screen of faith, that much should be right in the unions’ wheelhouse, as they say. So how about it Mr. Trumka? Sponsor a little tikkun olam and repair the social fabric of the nation at t…

How (Not) to Understand Romney’s Time as an LDS Bishop

By Joanna Brooks

…athy for women’s issues. But Romney’s outlook did mature over his years of service, according to the Post, and he may have assisted Boston-area Mormon feminists by deflecting Church headquarters’ inquiries into their activities. On Tuesday, Salon.com’s Justin Elliot selected the most unflattering elements of Romney’s career as bishop to depict the GOP presidential candidate as “an enforcer of the most socially conservative policies of the LDS chur…

Recovering From Rejection: The Second Coming of Ted Haggard

By Wendy Norris

…rculated email, and on his blog. London reportedly told the Religious News Service of Haggard’s plans to hold prayer services, “When you think of the ethics of that, it, to me, just defies explanation.” Not to be left out of the media feeding frenzy, other high-profile pastors in the conservative evangelical Christian community quickly piled on. C. Peter Wagner, who co-founded the World Prayer Center with Haggard and is well known for the exorcism…

A Scholar Responds: Scripture as a Weapon

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…er 11 attacks. The Centers for Disease Control are a part of the uniformed service; there is an enormous new bureaucracy called the “Department of Homeland Security” (wasn’t this what the Army and Navy were supposed to be for, under the Constitution?). And the state Militias which were the sole purpose for the Second Amendment to the Constitution are now called “National Guard.” None of these units are staffed by “people” who bring their own arms…

When Corporations are “Persons” Under the Law: The Real Problem With Health Care

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…tate, excluding Indians not taxed”; and Section Three excluded from future service any member of the government who had previously sworn an oath of office to the State and then joined the Confederacy in open rebellion. Predictable stuff, really. After winning the War, Washington intended to re-draw the electoral map and to prohibit southern states from electing popular war heroes back to Congress. That’s slightly power-mongering, but certainly ben…

The Journalist and the Bishops: CNS Editor Fired For Tweeting Opposition to LGBT Discrimination

By Patricia Miller

…talking points, fooling no one.” The USCCB owns and runs the Catholic News Service, but officially CNS is editorially independent from the bishops’ conference and provides news to both secular and religious outlets. In reality, however, it’s always existed in a somewhat liminal space journalistically speaking, combining fundamentally solid reporting with a pro-hierarchy tilt in story selection, heavy on stories that feature official Catholic voice…

The Tragedy of Religious Freedom

By Patrick Hornbeck

…een allowed exemptions. Thoroughgoing pacifists may be freed from military service, but those who disagree with a particular war (say, on the basis of Christian “just war” theory) are not. The IRS suspended evangelical Bob Jones University’s tax exemption when the institution refused to change its policies forbidding interracial dating. And while small doses of alcohol are permitted in communion, users of the hallucinogenic substance peyote, which…

Yes, Virginia: There IS a War on Christmas: Its Revolutionary Meaning is Inverted in the Winner-Take-All Era

By Peter Laarman

…empty,” in the midst of ecclesiastical opulence, in places where mere lip service is paid to the cause of the lowly. It is painful to hear these words, especially in such settings, because where is the evidence that God has already done these things? Try telling that to the single mother with hungry kids and not enough money to pay for heat. Try telling it to the injured warehouse or delivery worker (or nurse, or culinary worker) who has to pop p…

A Method to Obama’s Madness?

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…ng the wheels for the project in motion with calls and e-mails to national service organizations. The committee is reaching out to organizations of all sizes and ideologies, including faith-based groups, unions and businesses as well as political groups—from Moveon.org on the left to Focus on the Family on the right—to motivate their members to participate. I understand now. What Obama is doing is exactly what George W. Bush and others like him wo…