Religion Dispatches
…ployment and earnings. Compared to this huge tear in the social fabric, compared to this massive insult to a vital part of our national household, all the common-ground chatter in DC about strengthening American families by encouraging responsible personal behavior is really quite silly and (yes) self-indulgent. When I look around, I see significant and well-funded religious coalitions for immigration reform, for labor rights (Employee Free Choice…
Read More…his “ostentatious humility,” (apparently he preferred Benedict’s flair for papal bling, including his red shoes or fur-lined, ermine-trimmed winter cape). He speaks of Francis’ “maneuvers” and calls him the “chief plotter.” And he repeats the question of conservative journalist Edward Pentin’s recent book about whether last year’s synod was “rigged,” echoing its conspiratorial overtones. Of course he fails to note that Pentin’s book, which amounte…
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…ans. At Belgrade’s Gay Pride march in 2010, hardline nationalists attacked participants and clashed with police, wounding 150 people and prompting officials to ban the parade for the next three years. Indonesia: Human rights activists challenge government-led attack on LGBT people Human Rights Watch released a 56-page report documenting that actions by government officials have fueled “an unprecedented attack on the security and rights of sexual…
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…t visit by a Dutch head of state with the group, which is “advocating for a ban on discrimination against LGBT people to be included in the constitution.” India: New Delhi’s pride parade AP reports on Sunday’s New Delhi pride parade: Rituparna Borah, an activist, was not very hopeful, saying that the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not supportive of gay rights. “We have yet to have an inclusive society,” she said….
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…ners, one of whom was also the President of the Board of Trade. The church paid its pastor, E. P. Goodwin, a $5,000 salary—more than ten times the earnings of the average worker—and there were other fringe benefits besides, including lucrative investment opportunities. One member at First Congregational, who was also a leading man on the Board of Trade, advised Goodwin to invest in his watch company rather than the mines. The pastor did so and rec…
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…t tradition. A couple of geek notes here: “Sample” refers to the number of participants in the PRRI poll, out of a total of about 40,000. They’re roughly proportional to the size of that group in the population. I’ve given the vertical axis a log scale so you can make out the smaller groups. PRRI divides certain groups into Evangelical and Mainline camps, hence the “Ev.” and “M” in front of some labels. These results aren’t terribly surprising. It…
Read More…d syringes to squirt poison into their mouths. But this staff was aided by parents, make no mistake about that. In addition, a number of senior citizens are reported to have been injected with poison, but it’s impossible to determine how many. This leaves the problem of how many adults voluntarily drank the “Kool-Aid.” Suicide is, of course, called into question if they were surrounded by armed guards, though the guards themselves died at the end…
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…t an important demographic within this growth. Keep in mind, too, that the number of African Americans falling into this category has almost doubled over the past thirty-years. Belief in God doesn’t bind African Americans to one other, and it is unfortunate to assume—even with a laugh—that belief in God is some sort of litmus test. What holds African Americans together isn’t a particular response to the challenges and mysteries of life. No, what b…
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…liation Commission, seven thousand black South Africans were killed under apartheid, and the number imprisoned was far higher. The Catholic Church neither kills nor imprisons ordained women and their supporters; excommunication, while painful, is not at all the same, even when financial losses accompany it. In 2007 I published an article in the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion explaining in some detail why highly educated white women simply…
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…countries like Slovenia in 2012 or Croatia in 2013, where referendums were passed curtailing partnership rights for same-sex couples…. But the No camp has gotten some input from veterans of the California campaign and other marriage fights abroad. Frank Schubert, the conservative political consultant credited with the Proposition 8 victory, told BuzzFeed News before an NOM rally in Washington earlier this month that he has sent private polling, fo…
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