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Jack Ryan Uses Bible to Exonerate Wall Street, CIA

…pulpy example of a larger pattern of scriptural citation that obscures and promotes tensions between market forces and nationalism, dynamics I discuss in depth in my book, The Babylon Complex (Oxford University Press, 2014). A reboot of the older Jack Ryan series—based on Tom Clancy novels like Hunt for Red October—Shadow Recruit uses an all new screenplay by Adam Cozad and David Koepp. Still, the film is highly reminiscent of the earlier series’…

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Global LGBT Recap: Adventists Talk About, Not To, LGBT People; British Muslim Group Welcomes Gay-Rights Activist; Homophobia Exports Continue

…hist Nuns On Sunday, Christian churches held a “Happy Family” rally by “to promote the idea of a family as consisting of one father, one mother and their children.” One participant held a homemade sign praising anti-gay laws in Uganda and urging the government to “be courageous” and follow Kampala’s example. The event was crashed by about 100 pro-marriage-equality activists shouting, “Let us in, we also support faily values, we also want to have a…

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UPDATE: An Abrupt End to Quebec Separatist Plan to Ban “Ostentatious Signs” of Religion

…osely one of the key planks of the proposed Charter, namely to draw a line between ‘ostentatious’ and ‘non-ostentatious’ religious signs, and their respective degrees of permissibility within the public sector workplace.  “From this point on,” it was stated in one government document, “those working for the state must demonstrate their religious neutrality, not only in their behavior but also in their appearance.”  The proposed Bill thus proscribe…

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Policing Academic Freedom: A Book, a Controversy, and the Ominous Aftermath

…ian states and thus interfere with the friendly and constructive relations between non-Asian Asian states (sic). In an effort to combat the support of the American Academy of Religion, the Hindu American Foundation that had protested against Doniger’s work in 2009 published a blistering critique in the Huffington Post on the AAR. In a piece entitled “Academic Integrity: It’s What’s Missing at the AAR,” HAF co-founder and co-Director Suhag A. Shukl…

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The Secret History of Easter

…from Wikipedia). New Testament scholars have noted that since The DaVinci Code became a cultural phenomenon, there’s been a surge of conspiratorial claims about Jesus, the early church, and the influence of Pagan mystery religions. Authors such as Craig Evans and Bart Ehrman have written with bewilderment at the revival of “mythicist” theories of Jesus and “nineteenth-century philosophical hokum” that was long ago dismissed by serious scholars wh…

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Brits Get A Dose of Christian Nation Politicking

…trality, or the role that faith can play in helping people to have a moral code.” That accusation is abruptly followed by the disclaimer that “[o]f course, faith is neither necessary nor sufficient for morality.” Cameron also lays bare his quintessentially 21st century religiosity, proclaiming that “I am a member of the Church of England, and, I suspect, a rather classic one: not that regular in attendance, and a bit vague on some of the more diff…

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‘Religious Freedom’ for Atheists

…tes throughout secular democratic Europe. Article 226b of the Danish Penal Code, for instance, singles out for protection—among other categories—groups of people who “on account of their faith” are threatened, insulted, or degraded. It does not single out people, regardless of their affiliation, on account of their convictions of conscience. Know Thy Enmity The most principled motivation for hate speech laws can be found in the principle of equal…

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Lessons from the Defeat of the Oklahoma Personhood Bill

…It seems that’s when the personhood battle really became a power struggle between the personhood lobby and the Republican leadership. With so many amendments and so much public controversy surrounding the bill, the Republican leadership opted not to bring the bill forward. This raised the ire of Personhood USA and Oklahomans for Life, who continued to lobby for its passage. Personhood USA responded immediately with a press release calling Speaker…

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Supreme Court OKs State Funding Scheme for Religious Schools and Bars Challenges

…ayer of my persuasion (we’ll call her Petra from Yuma) finds using the tax code to benefit such schools offensive to the First Amendment. In the past, Petra from Yuma could go into court to challenge the tax credit as a form of state-subsidized religion. But Petra (or a Thomas Jefferson redivivus, for that matter) is now out of luck. The core issue is whether providing the tax credit has the exact same practical impact as simply giving tax revenue…

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Perry Thinks Palestinians Should Be Shafted, No Surprise

…Israel, and “[a]s part of the 1993 Oslo accords, in an exchange of letters between then Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the Palestine Liberation Organization met all of these conditions nearly 20 years ago.” Three experts on Middle East diplomacy told Kessler Perry appeared to be “remarkably uninformed.” Tomorrow, though, Perry will be holding a “pro-Israel” press conference with none other than Republicans’ favo…

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