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Can Faith-Based Organizing for Gun Control Work?

By Sarah Posner

…ail the number of gun deaths in America, the number of mass shootings, the number of accidents, the number of suicides. The movement would have more than these grassroots activists. It would have willing politicians, a legal strategy, and lots of money. All of these components would work in tandem to change people’s minds, to pressure lawmakers, to intimidate politicians running for office, to go to court when necessary. With these political, legi…

Why Do Evangelicals And Dems Want Immigration Reform?

By Daniel Schultz

…, craven paycheck blogger, I immediately agree with whatever Our Dear Overlords order, no matter how seemingly arbitrary. And so it was in this case, pausing only for a three-day weekend. It turns out the Overlords have a weakness for the “church and family time” excuse. Who knew? In any event, I don’t have much to say about the “evangelical cabinet” itself, other than that a number of them have advocated for the “broader social agenda” among evan…

The Gospel Church and the Ruining of Gay Lives: An Interview with Anthony Heilbut

By Douglas Harrison

…, and then I say, thinking of all the ruined gay lives, this really is the number that no man can number. It’s also interesting to me that “Writing It Out” is followed by the section “War on the Children.” Such an organization suggests that the latter was a reaction against the former—that as these voices emerge, there’s this really virulent reaction culturally against them. And also it’s so very political. As the church has become more right-win…

Catholic Church Bans Gay Film: This Week’s Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…very person who has LGBT characteristics so they can return to normal,” according to a report in the Jakarta Post. “Based on NU’s evaluation, LGBT activities should be prohibited and categorized as crimes,” the Post quoted the group’s leader as saying. The call for legislation was most strongly taken up by the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), a conservative Islamist party that has a small number of seats in the National Assembly. Reuters’ Alisa Tan…

Is Torture Utilitarian?

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…ms. And that leads to some very bizarre moral reasoning. Utilitarianism is number-crunching, but of a very peculiar kind; in its crudest forms, it seems to imply that you can measure pleasure and pain, and that by maximizing the pleasure of the greatest number of people, you may be able to justify the infliction of pain on a select few. We see that strange logic at work in these memoranda. First, the CIA justified waterboarding with the “ticking t…

Why We Must Reclaim “Religious Freedom” from Christian Conservatives

By Bill Berkowitz

…reciated aspect of the wider trend is something called “religification.” A number of Christian right legal agencies have produced manuals for churches and related institutions, to rewrite such things as job descriptions to extend the legal definition of “ministry” in order to seek exemption from labor standards and civil rights laws, and to inoculate themselves against discrimination lawsuits. Much of this is based on the 2012 U.S. Supreme Court r…

Liberty University’s In-House Conversion ‘Therapist’ Retires, But Will the Christian School Cease This Discredited Practice?

By Lucas Wilson

…nts at Liberty is eminently justified, especially given Emerick’s parting words, which are, simply put, chilling: “When someone asks me how many children I have, I tell them three daughters and thousands of sons.” This disturbing sentiment hints at the overwhelming number of students who were habitually subjugated to Emerick’s chaotic work. The question, however, remains: While neither he nor Liberty referred to him as a therapist of any kind, how…

Who’s Scared of Polygamy? A Restrained Case for the “Slippery Slope” Argument

By William E. Smith

…ears. In other words, now that same-sex marriage is legal, what’s next? According to a number of pundits, such as Fredrik DeBoer at Politico, it’s polygamy. I count myself among this group. This question is pressing in light of the fact that support for polygamy has risen rapidly (from 7% to 16%) among Americans over the past few years. Some liberal commentators, understandably, have been quick to insist that legalizing polygamy isn’t on the horiz…

Republicans “Evangelizing” Catholic Voters

By Patricia Miller

…up-to-powerful-bishops (who then turn a blind eye as you preside over a record number of executions) and occasionally make-noise-about-how-much-you-care-for-the-poor-as-you-gut-social-welfare-programs-type of Catholicism, as detailed by the New York Times, seems positively 20th century. The question now is whether, just as his brother used “compassionate conservatism” to attract Catholics to the GOP, Jeb can toughen-up his Catholicism—particularly…

The Great Secret of Constitutional Law: Why Proposition 8 Will (and perhaps should) Be Upheld

By Bruce Ledewitz

…ame today. What should we conclude if 75% of the American people want the words “under God” to remain in the Pledge of Allegiance? We should conclude that the words “under God” are going to stay in the Pledge of Allegiance, Establishment Clause or no Establishment Clause. The great hidden truth of American constitutional law is that our law is determined by the wishes and commitments of the American people. Sometimes the effect of public opinion o…