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If it’s Really About “Religious Freedom,” Why Mention Just One Belief?

By Sunnivie Brydum

…’s first post details an instance of an acceptable limitation of religious freedom: nobody can be refused service based on their identity—even if the service provider is religiously opposed to or refuses to acknowledge that identity. So let’s call it what it is: a challenge to where we draw the line on religious freedom, not whether or not we have it. That lowers the stakes considerably, and is far more accurate… And seeking accuracy in language w…

Scope Bacon, Twttr Hoaxes & Joel Osteen’s Big Reveal

By Deborah Whitehead

…gn and promotional website including a promo video that went viral, that a number of customers were disappointed and angry to find out that it was a fake. Part of the confusion seems to have been that the launch occurred on March 28, not the customary April 1. But just as important was consumer demand. Enough people were convinced by the slick product rollout that they actually wanted to try it. “That’s not funny. I really wanted a sample,” compla…

Porn, Abuse, or Just Plain Incompatibility… Is Divorce Ever a Sin?

By Daniel Schultz

…partner on the basis of their own entirely self-selected reasons. They are free to conduct themselves in marriage precisely as they choose to do. They are free to initiate divorce if and when they choose and for whatever reason might seem compelling to them. In other words, a spouse has become a consumer product, to be bought, abandoned, or traded in for a new model at the will of the customer. I dunno. Like Gushee, I’ve married dozens of couples….

How an 1843 Revelation on Polygamy Poses a Serious Challenge to Modern Mormonism

By Benjamin E. Park

…s Smith’s belief in the importance of the doctrine, as well as the growing number of people initiated into the order. And though the prophet tried to stop the rumors from spreading, an increasing number of prominent figures outraged by the alleged practice were dedicated to root out the truth. Among those trying to expose the practice and its participants were Joseph’s brother, Hyrum, as well as his wife, Emma. Then, in May of 1843, in a radical r…

Pence’s Religious Freedom Policy Made ‘LGBQ’ Hoosiers Sick—Literally

By Sunnivie Brydum

…e law is still officially in force. For many, a physical and psychological toll on those targeted feels like a natural side effect of so-called religious freedom legislation, which targets LGBTQ people and allows employers, healthcare providers, adoption agencies, and businesses to deny service and access to those whose existence allegedly offends their “sincerely held religious beliefs.” But the hard data pointing to the tangible detrimental heal…

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…

This is not a Religion Column: Biblical Capitalism

By Jeff Sharlet

…entionist god—McCain’s tax cuts for the rich and Palin’s prayers for a new Alaskan pipe line—the only salvation to be found is in the form of bail-outs, indulgences, to borrow a pre-Protestant term. And those are reserved for “the new chosen,” as the Fellowship calls America’s elite, all those now preparing for cozy afterlives to their public lives in penthouses and beach houses and a ranch down in Crawford. +++ Read more about the economy and fre…

Pamela Geller in Brooklyn: Free Speech, Hate Speech, and the Futility of Arguing with a Bigot

By Haroon Moghul

…ing that earns her money. Because it’s the only talent she has. This isn’t free speech, it’s free-market. And to what end? If you link anti-Semitism to Islamophobia, or vice versa, you make it more likely each community will deny the other’s pain. Young Muslims who are expected to accept that anti-Semitism is real, at the cost of denying discrimination against them, are unlikely to. This is not only the biggest Jewish city in the world, but the bi…

Netflix Removing Antigay Film Isn’t “Free Speech,” it’s Free Market

By Sunnivie Brydum

…is the governmental kind. But that’s an entirely different animal. Ditto “free speech.” Constitutionally protected free speech concerns, once again, the government, not the right to express any view without consequence. And no one (and certainly no government entity) stopped del Toro from making his film, distributing it to theaters, and eventually licensing it to Netflix. Quite the opposite, in fact. Once audiences were able to see the film for…

7 Problems with Trump’s Hastily-Tweeted Trans Military Ban

By Sunnivie Brydum

…e transgender community, Trump’s actions today are just one more sign that he will do everything in his power to harm us.” In the interest of full disclosure (something the President might want to study up on, himself), I have spent the past five years reporting on the state of open trans service in the U.S. Armed Forces. At The Advocate, I was the lead reporter covering the slow march toward open service, and in the course of that reportage, I me…