Religion Dispatches
It’s a sign of the times when no one at the hair salon is talking about gay marriage or other “culture war” issues and are instead discussing the salon’s bottom line. In the chair last week, that’s all my stylist could talk about—how the sharp decline in color treatments, pedicures and perms were a harbinger of bad times ahead and how nervous she was about the economy. The problem is, she’ll still vote for John McCain—just like she voted for Geor…
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…urch. It is so monumentally stupid that the largest button on the page is “Sign Now,” as if taking the time to read the thing first would surely dissuade you from supporting it. If you don’t know the statement in question, it is the latest in a series of such pronouncements from the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, a group of evangelical Christian leaders dedicated to fostering “Biblical Sexuality.” In other words, making sure everybody…
Read More…arate check’ for abortion, which pro-life dissenters might try refusing to sign, is apparently false,” which the bishops have known since 2012. The irony is that while the Bracys’ suit is generally hostile to the ACA and the individual mandate, they will only have to pay $2.63 a month for health insurance for a family of six because of federal subsidies. And while the suit implies they will have to make a separate payment for abortion, it admits t…
Read More…fied human beings: “The problem is the tent that has grown so large on the signatures of this that are including people who are supportive of gay marriage and abortion rights,” Juleen Turnage, spokeswoman for the Assemblies of God told Religion News Service. “He (Wood) just felt that he could not become a part of a large tent.” I had thought some of the usual suspects (Mohler, Dobson, Donohue et. al.,) would have come out against it first. But sin…
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…nd that is how Brooks sells himself and his politics—he is a choice engine—promoting choice, heralding the individual, and spreading the gospel far and wide, enabling more decisions to be executed by you by making your life easier—you do not have to read Taylor after all! And here I must offer a requisite disclosure: I have read A Secular Age and I am on record as a critic of Taylor’s framing of modernity. Although I am fearless when I talk trash…
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…bama did not, decided to convert to a different faith. +++++ [To add your “signature” to this statement please send an email to: Submissions@religiondispatches.org with your name, title/position (optional), location (optional) and any personal statement you’d like to have published in support of the position —eds.] Signatories: +Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na`im, Professor of Law and Senior Fellow of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory Un…
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…hey feel like they own, which is the country. And we are seeing some clear signs that they may be willing to use whatever means necessary to protect that ownership. Yes, because now it’s definitely not just about punching above their weight. They have these aggressive networks pushing state-level legislation, they have an even wilder dominionist theology, and they have this incredible unrelenting zeal… We are certainly crossing over into something…
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…” rather than, well, intolerant. To be sure, there are people I admire who signed the Harper’s letter, and I believe they are moved by misguided notions about the “marketplace of ideas” resulting in the victory of the best ones. In the age of social media, however, we must recognize the naivete of such a view. Left unchecked, intolerance will destroy democracy. And intolerance is certainly celebrated not only by the right-wing signers of the Harpe…
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Editor’s Note: Welcome new readers! If you like this post sign up for RD’s daily email newsletter here. —- It was an impressive display—more than two hundred people standing in front of the State House on a blustery November afternoon, demonstrating in favor of marriage equality for gay and lesbian people. What made it most impressive is that the rally was in Columbia, South Carolina, a place not known as a bastion of gay rights activity. As a ve…
Read More…sensus of the synod. Progressive Catholics, however, see it as a win and a sign of progress that there was even open discussion about these issues allowed at the synod. Most encouraging, says Andrew Sullivan, is the new level of transparency under Pope Francis and his decision to include the failed paragraphs and their vote tallies in the final document: And there you see why it is not wishful thinking to believe that something profound has indeed…
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