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Is Being Trans a Religion? Why the Christian Right Wants You to Think So

…again headed for the Supreme Court. And I only entertain the argument because of its manipulative use of the rhetoric of religion and “religious freedom.” Why take knowledge and practices supported by the medical establishment and cast them as a “religion”? While this rhetorical tactic might seem absurd on its face, it’s surprisingly effective for the Christian Right’s particular approach to authoritarian politics. When I was about 9 or 10, thank…

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Biden’s New ‘Restore the Soul of a Nation’ Ad Aimed at Black Voters Wary of the Frontrunner’s Dodgy History

…ing that a Biden Administration would represent a “return to normalcy” (to use the dreadful phrase coined by Warren G. Harding’s campaign). Just two (or maybe three) points worth noting about Biden’s use of “soul of a nation” rhetoric: 1. We don’t know the current condition of the nation’s “soul,” but we do have many hints regarding this matter that are unsettling, to say the least. If our “soul” were fully intact, would we even have Trump running…

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Why ‘Do You Believe in God?’ Is at the Heart of Our Religious Problem

…I do not care if there are gods or not.” Whether unconsciously or not, we use the term “religion” as a substitute for “theism” (belief in divinity). This is partly because Christianity, as the dominant religious system in the United States, normalizes a lot of its characteristics. Religion is not the same as “theism,” nor does it require an institutional affiliation. Often, students remark they are “spiritual” and not “religious,” because they th…

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The Glorious, Ethnically-Challenged, Sisterhood of Spy

…nd I know there’s no way roles aren’t eventually going to be reversed. Because the world is changing, and because we watched the trailer. (It popped up before 50 Shades of Grey, aka “Shari’ah in the Bedroom.”) When Fine is killed at the hands of the dastardly, and Bulgarian, Rayna Boyanov (played by a fantastic Rose Byrne), the CIA doesn’t just lose a great agent. Because Boyanov has the identities of all other CIA agents, which means no one can s…

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Will SB 1146 End LGBT Discrimination in California’s Religious Schools?

…th-based institutions explicitly subject” to California non-discrimination codes. Of course, that’s because non-faith-based institutions are already subject to the state and federal anti-discrimination laws. “The targets of this bill are religious colleges and universities, but the true victims of this legislation would be the innocent students,” wrote California Assemblyman Matthew Harper early last month. Since the anti-discrimination requiremen…

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Queer Nuns: Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are “Serious Parody,” Forcing Us to Redefine Nuns

…houses (non-residential chapters) in many large cities in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia. They are often happy to visit classrooms, and they will come in habit to discuss their own perspectives on the order. Because they’re a non-profit organization that gives all of its monies back to the community, some will ask only for the cost of travel; honoraria generally go to the Sister’s house rather than to the individual member….

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Decolonizing Jewish Studies Part II: A Response to the Backlash

…orbed. Jewish Studies is well-positioned to engage this task precisely because of the variegated cultures it studies and because of the field’s history. Decolonizing Jewish Studies is a multidirectional enterprise. On the one hand, Jewish pasts and presents have been explicitly (mis)appropriated under various imperial and religious-supremacist ideologies. Think of Augustine summoning the Jew to witness and testify to Christian hegemony, or of cons…

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No, Sunni and Shia Muslims Have Not Been Fighting Forever

…whose policies would be anathema in American civil discourse. Is dying because America needs to keep its allies happy better than dying because you’re in the wrong religion, or pray in the wrong way? I don’t know, but I don’t imagine it makes all that difference. I imagine it wouldn’t to you, either, if your loved ones were being killed, oppressed, dispossessed and so on and so forth. That our victims are largely Muslim is important, but not centr…

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*UPDATE*: Sam Brownback as Religious Freedom Ambassador? His Distinguished Predecessor Hopes for the Best

…little different than that of a bully wielding a club. His goal is not to use religion as a way to expand freedom, but to use a narrow, bigoted interpretation of religion to deny freedom to his fellow citizens.” Oh, and let’s see. What else has ​Gov. ​Brownback​ ​accomplished for the ​good people of the Sunflower State? This Rollling Stone overview from a few years back chronicles the multiple catastrophes suffered by Kansans during the freaky-de…

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Hajj Journal: Using the Toilet at the Grand Mosque

…everyone also does this manual flush, because, well, I’ve used enough outhouses at amusement parks or natural sights in America with no water to be thankful for what I had. Then I needed to make wudu’ and headed for the nifty wudu’ stations. Unfortunately, these too were saturated with water. Never mind my description before of the drain for removing the waste water—it was there, alright, but like the toilet, I don’t know what made it impossible f…

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