Religion Dispatches
…y give up his daughters to such a fate. That’s just a short, off-the-cuff, list of some of God’s “best,” the ones that God uses to set moral examples for the rest of us through the millennia—murderers, adulterers, child abusers, and polygamists. All behaviors that were chosen, by the way. I figure if these are some of God’s “best” and gay and lesbian people are not, perhaps it’s simply because we have a higher standard of morality than God’s “best…
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…he firm’s nearly $9.5 billion portfolio. CPG’s 2012 annual report does not list individual investment holdings. But, with executive staff and trustees (who are elected by delegates and bishops at the Episcopal Church’s triennial General Convention) with deep ties to the investment community that has certainly lived well outside of the ethical standards one would expect for a Church-affiliated financial organization, it’s certainly fair for Episcop…
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…man psychology being what it is, however, we are good at constructing checklists that limit our obligations at the same time that they assure us of our worthiness. And I can’t help but wonder if Mitt’s comment about his taxes (he hasn’t paid a penny more than he is legally required, and believes that he would not be a good candidate for president if he had) doesn’t reveal a bit of this attitude. His 10% tithing may impress those outside the tradit…
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…Newly Deconverted,” contained no mention of the Sikh shooting, but it did list an instance where a Florida door-to-door salesman was shot, and noted the recent mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado. PZ Myers, who is among the most visible atheist bloggers in the world, did write about the shooting twice, though one of his posts simply referenced the shooting as a way to condemn America’s “gun culture,” while the other focused on Pat Robertson’s comme…
Read More…ent male and 49 percent female, but the children of the Forbes billionaire list are 60 percent male. Have a gander at that Romney family picture: five sons, zero daughters. Romney has 18 grandchildren, and they exceed a 2:1 ratio of grandsons to granddaughters (13:5). When they go to church at their summer-vacation home, the Romney clan makes up a third of the congregation. He is basically a tribal chieftain. Professor Obama? Two daughters. May as…
Read More…ion reduction,” but Warren likens such rhetoric likening it to Schindler’s List: an attempt to save some lives but not end a “holocaust.” In the world of the “broader agenda” evangelicals, when liberals advocate for gay marriage, they’re stoking the culture wars; when a “broader agenda” evangelical crusades against it, he’s merely upholding biblical standards. In that tradition, Warren in October implored his followers to vote for Proposition 8 be…
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…lse is mainstream now? Defenders of the Unborn, at whose event Akin spoke, promotes the trope that the widespread availability of contraception has caused “an increase in abortion, pornography, divorce, sexual abuse and other problems.” The group advises followers: “You can help end the ravages of contraception by saving sex for marriage and using natural methods of family planning. These are just as accurate as artificial methods and they have ma…
Read More…t to get out the vote for them,” Marjorie Dannenfelser of Susan B. Anthony List, which endorsed Rick Santorum, told Gibson. He has an “intensity” problem, according to the Family Research Council’s Ken Blackwell (who was once deemed out of the mainstream by Republicans in his home state of Ohio). A move to the center would “kill him,” said Deal Hudson of Catholic Advocate, who thinks that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is too liberal. All…
Read More…resses him on a position get stonewalled and badgered? Not fun to watch or listen to, my friends. Not fun at all. Whence cometh the prickliness of Mitt Romney? Eight theses: A. a personality flaw B. a result of having been insulated by class privilege C. a result of developing his leadership style in an LDS institutional culture wherein leaders are expected to appear “flawless” and dissent and open disagreement is not sanctioned D. a consequence o…
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…se we always need a “Party of Fear,” whether it comes in the form of Federalists dubious of democracy in the New Republic, or nativists fearing the influence of “new immigrants” in the 1850s (or the 2000s), or contemporary commentators suspicious of Obama’s foreign, Islamic, or radical roots. Even from his grave, hack journalist Andrew Breitbart continues to taste that fear, and spread the hate. And a “religion of fear” serves a multitude of purpo…
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