Search for "cheap lan airlines december tickets phone number 1-800-299-7264"

Refusing the Monsters on Maple Street: A First-Person Commentary from the Mass Hysteria at JFK

By Marion Grau

…on each other and the human race would self-destruct. Since 2001, when Homeland Security began to impose “threat levels” that legitimized the increase in surveillance and control after 9/11, we’ve become used to (and yet also entirely unprepared for) moments of fear and terror. Being frequently put on notice for potential terrorist activity now feels normal, but under the surface of normality hides a heightened sense of insecurity, of fraying bond…

Praying To The God Of The SUV

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…God acts to “protect” those who believe. Relying on “almighty God” for homeland security discounts the reality of free will. The hijackers on September 11 had free will: they used it to hijack planes and fly them into buildings. The people going to work had free will: some called in sick, some had tight shoes and stopped for a Band-Aid. Some got to work early or came in on a day off. If God has granted us free will, then God must stand back and le…

As Long As There’s Fear, We Aren’t Ready for Atheism: A Conversation with Theologian and Ex-Priest Daniel Maguire

By Alana Massey

…to atheism than its more dismissive predecessors. RD spoke with Maguire by phone about his latest book and the future of belief. What was the impetus for undertaking this after a long career as a priest and theologian who was once a believer? I started out as the absolute true believer. I believed everything the Vatican taught. One of the things that helped me was working in a parish. I started to meet real people and to discover that some of the…

Mormons Prepare for WA Marriage Equality Fight

By Joanna Brooks

…country among Mormons wherever marriage equality is on the ballot. In Maryland, one ward used email to organize signature gatherers for the same-sex marriage referendum there. Washington Mormons for Marriage Equality broke that story. A week later, in North Carolina, we learned that a letter was read in church stating that members should vote on this issue, that the issue was important, but that members should not use ward email lists or say that…

United Methodists Elect 1st Gay Bishop; Canadian Anglicans OK Same-Sex Marriage

By Peter Montgomery

…July 12 all the Campus Martius was busy. Puerto Rico: Communities mourn Orlando victims The Washington Blade’s Michael Lavers reports on families and communities in Puerto Rico mourning the victims of the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando. Nepal: Interview with intersex activist UNAIDS publishes an interview with Esan Regmi, an intersex man who was lead facilitator at Nepal’s first national meeting earlier this year on the issues and challen…

Pro-Choice, Progressive Jewish Groups Weigh In On Kagan

By Sarah Posner

…e community’s tepid reception of Kagan, Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, issued a statement this afternoon that was silent on reproductive rights but merely noted, “We are confident that Kagan will bring the dedication and commitment that have marked her career with her to the highest court in the land.”) Ratzen, who also serves on the Advisory Council to the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighbor…

Maryland Governor says Support for Marriage Equality “Very Much Informed” by his Catholicism

By Peter Montgomery

…tant to its passage and in keeping with the traditions of the state of Maryland. The referendum language makes clear that the law protects clergy from having to perform any ceremony that violates their beliefs, guarantees each faith control over its marriage doctrine, and “provides that religious organizations and certain related entities are not required to provide goods, services, or benefits to an individual related to the celebration or promot…

The “Marginalization” of Tim Keller: When Anything Short of Adulation Is Oppression

By Anita Little

…not give Keller, Redeemer Presbyterian Church founder and prolific church planter, the award came after an outcry from many PTS students, faculty and alumni who felt honoring the conservative theologian ran counter to the mission of the PCUSA seminary and showed disregard for its women and LGBT students. (As a neo-Calvinist, Keller objects to the ordination of women and LGBT people.) In his column, Merritt wrote: If Christians like Tim Keller are…

Senator Ted Kennedy: A Catholic We Could Canonize

By Frances Kissling

…d as kin by those who share their heritage, age, or religion. I remember a phone call with my doctor immediately after the election of Barack Obama. We were rejoicing at the victory and he, an African American, said, “You cannot believe what this means to my family.” For Catholics, the election of John F. Kennedy and the successful work for justice of the Kennedy brothers and sisters were grace moments of acceptance and vindication; balm on the wo…

Is Bart Stupak As Marginalized As He Claims?

By Sarah Posner

…that cover abortion. But Marta was outraged by an email that went out from the state’s OFA director, specifically telling volunteers not to mention the Stupak amendment in their phone calls shortly before the House vote. Poor Stupak! So unimportant that he doesn’t even get mentioned by Organizing for America….