Religion Dispatches
…your opponents seem to exist for attention, how do you take a public moral stand against them? For a long time, fringe groups have followed the principle that there is no such thing as bad publicity. What has been striking about the alt-right, though, is the degree to which it frames provocation as its raison d’être, rather than as a means to an end. As Allum Bohkari and Milo Yiannopolous put it in a much-cited essay titled “An Establishment Conse…
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…age equality, rejection of plebiscite A new poll released this week that most Australians support marriage equality but not the government’s plan to hold a national plebiscite on whether the law should be changed to recognize same-sex couples’ right to marry. Marriage equality advocates have called the proposed plebiscite a waste of time and money, and said it would unnecessarily invite a divisive campaign. Hungary: LGBT alliance opposes ‘hatemong…
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…sed by many academics. We tend to believe that such samples can reliably test statistical relationships, but may not yield as reliable of estimates as probability samples taken over a phone or another method. That is, we tend to be somewhat skeptical of population estimates produced by such data.” Asked what they thought the purpose of the 2020 State of Theology Survey might be, and whether it might be geared toward driving evangelicals to the pol…
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…d. In fact, a bipartisan bill to protect IVF was passed overwhelmingly by the Alabama legislature, though it’s just a temporary measure. But any notion that the GOP is broadly supportive of IVF shouldn’t be taken seriously—Republicans just stopped a bill introduced by Democrats that would have established federal protections for IVF. Their goal remains the same: To end bodily autonomy for women and pregnant people, and to impose a Christian, patri…
Read More…in which they will put their spin on the election results by releasing a post election poll. Boasting that, leading up to the election, they distributed “6 million voter guides, 8 million mail pieces, 15 million phone calls, 500,000 doors knocked on by volunteers, and radio advertising covering 56 congressional districts and 22 U.S. Senate and gubernatorial races,” they are now (apparently as I write this) surveying voters to learn “who went to th…
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…and when I stopped going to church, my Christian friendships stopped. I just stopped hearing from them, and it was as if I did not exist at all. I lost most of my friends, and that was extremely painful. I realized that the friendships, based on deep spiritual experiences together, had no foundation like a normal friendship did…I was able to come out to friends who had also left their faith, and we were able to create an actual friendship based o…
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…es. There’s something strange afoot on Starship UK—a strangeness perhaps best illustrated by its “voting booths,” which show the ship’s citizens a video and then gives them two options—to protest what they have seen, or to forget the video’s contents, having their memories selectively erased. The voting booth won’t show the Doctor the video—it can tell he’s not human, and thus not entitled to vote—but he chooses the “protest” button, sight unseen….
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…ding Bridges meeting spot to find what she described as a “sea of Sunday best and strollers,” including her own—festooned in rainbow streamers. It was important, explained Luana Uluave, a straight LDS mother from Cottonwood Heights, Utah, for believing and churchgoing Mormons to organize and gather with other Mormons who understood their deep commitment to their faith. Mormons Building Bridges participants prepared signs with verses from LDS hymns…
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…e. So I think about the Joan Osborn song. What would you ask, if you had just one question? I’ve thought about it before. And I’ve thought about it a lot. Still nothing comes to mind just yet. Last year, when a friend of mine who lives in Madinah solicited prayers from people before her fourth or fifth hajj, (because, as she said, “It really works”), I asked for a house by the beach with the mortgage already paid! I mean, if you’re going to ask, m…
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…ctions. Former Trump campaign manager, senior counselor, and chief strategist, Steve Bannon, is suspected of having prior knowledge of and potentially coordinating the rallies and protests that turned into the assault on the Capitol. On Jan 5, he predicted on his radio show that “all hell is going to break loose tomorrow.” So far he’s facing two charges of criminal contempt for ignoring subpoenas from the House Select committee investigating the J…
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