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Reformation England Looms Over Contraception Debate

By Sarah Posner

…enacted law or regulation, such as the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the United States government is not flouting religious authority. That’s because it doesn’t answer to religious authority, like monarchs did in 16th century England. The United States is a democracy, an experiment born of events and ideas that took place long after Henry ordered More beheaded; of events and ideas that explicitly reject the notion of either monarchical or religi…

‘Pure White’ Examines the White Supremacist Origins of Evangelical Purity Culture

By Emma Cieslik

…White Protestants were sort of anointed to be the national leaders in the United States. And as far as virtue goes, the greatest amount of virtue was on the shoulders of White women through the concept of sexual purity, which was part of Victorian gender ideologies. (And of course, it was an ideal, so it had nothing to do with White women’s actual experiences.) But it presumed that White women were dispassionate, were uninterested in sex, and the…

Obsession with Attackers’ Backgrounds Misses the Point of Terrorism

By Ali Olomi

…irst theaters for jihadis, there wasn’t a single suicide bombing. Both the United States’ and Pakistan’s intelligence services sought to bring the tactic to the mujahideen through texts and training, yet it wasn’t an easy sell. Hezbollah, who early on adopted suicide bombings, eventually abandoned the tactic for more traditional paramilitary methods. The reason jihadist groups imported terrorism from their nationalist counterparts was that they sh…

Top Five (Less Sensational, But More Dangerous) Things to Remember About Pat Robertson (1930-2023)

By Mark Hulsether

…el), a heroic Christian general lies to the president and secedes from the United States with several nuclear bases. The moral: Robertson may never again be a major politician, and when he sold out to Rupert Murdoch he gave up some of his power to shape the news. But he still helps form the imaginations of the students at his university and the viewers of his show. In this role he often channels their hopes and fears into imagining holy wars—scena…

Another Manufactured Outrage: Rep. Ilhan Omar Did Nothing Wrong in Listing Hamas, Israel, and U.S. Together

By Joshua Shanes

…more effective if it were honest. And perhaps that would have lessened the number of death threats and other vile correspondences she has received. Second, others have said that she deserved the criticism for its political harm, that this hurts the Democratic party. Perhaps, but that doesn’t make much sense either, because the manufactured outrage made it worse. If a Democratic leader had privately contacted her and said, “Ilhan, you have to clari…

The Sacred and the Dead: Truckin’ as a New American Pilgrimage

By Varun Soni

…the real journey is one of self-discovery. The religious landscape of the United States has profoundly changed since the genesis of the Grateful Dead 50 years ago, especially in terms of the dramatic rise of the number of Americans who are no longer affiliated with traditional religious institutions or denominations. In the absence of traditional religious affiliation, people are increasingly turning to popular culture to explore and interrogate…

Win For ‘Natural Family’ Crowd at UN Human Rights Council…

By Peter Montgomery

…Nations: Conservatives claim “family” victory at Human Rights Council The United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution on July 3 which declared, “the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the state.” Economist blogger Erasmus reported that “a new global force is fighting liberal social mores.” It was backed by 29 countries, including Russia, China and many members of th…

State as Executioner: Rick Perry Did Not Invent the Death Penalty

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…y? My Greek friends’ incredulity about the face of judicial killing in the United States was based primarily on history. Greece languished under a military junta in the Cold War years and suffered all the totalitarian grotesqueries and social trauma we know as the plight of “the disappeared.” This was after an almost theatrically brutal German occupation in the Second World War (1 million died of famine in the first winter, countless more in repri…

Istanbul ‘Haven of Sorts’ For LGBT Syrians and Iraqis; Cayman Islands Affirm Marriage Ban with ‘Holy Bible Evidence’; No Room for LGBTs in Malaysia’s ‘Islam-Based’ Human Rights Policy; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…pping point on the way to hoped-for resettlement in Europe, Canada, or the United States. Said one transgender woman, “No reason in this life will make me think to go back to Syria, whether there is war or not. My problem is not just the war.” Another Syrian, Sami, supports himself and his friends through sex work. Like many other Syrian LGBTs, Sami is waiting for his resettlement case to be processed. In the meantime, Saturday nights are his live…

Faith and Civil Liberties Groups Pushing Back Against Islamophobia

By Sarah Posner

…unter the misperception, including in the Arab and Muslim worlds, that the United States is a nation defined by the widely covered images of the marginal few who would burn a Qur’an, rather than by a proud and longstanding tradition of religious freedom, tolerance and pluralism. In communities across the United States, this project will not only serve as a model for tolerance and cooperation and promote local faith leaders as champions of such, bu…