Religion Dispatches
…et future state where the weather is always tuned to the frequency of late January. When spring comes (as it always does), I’m thrilled again. Even if you’re not religious or don’t have children, Easter deserves a little bit of ritual. I have one nonbeliever friend who celebrates it by drinking red wine and watching The Life of Brian. Another makes Latvian Easter eggs to honor her forebears. Easter is unique amongst the majors in being a movable f…
Read More…mney scored equally among evangelical and non-evangelical voters.) Back in January, in Iowa (according to Pew) the favorability gap for Romney stood at 24%: only 14% of born-again Christians selected Romney, compared to 38% of non-evangelicals. In Florida, the favorability gap was 18%. In Ohio, it was 14%. In Alabama, it was 7%. And in Mississippi, where Romney, Gingrich, and Santorum battled to a nearly three-way split, the favorability gap was d…
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…rom the South competing for national recognition? The film emerged back in January just long enough to be peppered with rotten tomatoes and then remaindered to cut-rate run-down dollar theaters. Okay, so maybe you didn’t go see it on opening night, but I’ve been thinking a lot about the movie lately—particularly in the wake of Whitney Houston’s death. No, really. I’ll stipulate that as popular cinema goes, the movie isn’t half as good as Houston’…
Read More…bortion provider, the patient’s medical history, or—for a relatively small number of women—an aversion to the transvaginal method. Most of the time, however, the transvaginal ultrasound is a useful and common tool that helps providers perform abortions safely and well. As Joffe points out, soon after the transvaginal-as-rape meme took flight, “Will abortion clinic staff who perform the ultrasound be seen as ‘rapists,’ as the provider I mentioned e…
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…on the Special Jury Award for documentary at the Sundance Film Festival in January. I got to see the film at an event hosted by the Center for American Progress, at which both the bishop and the film’s director, Macky Alston, were present. The movie is compelling storytelling, even for those familiar with the outlines of Robinson’s story: his 2003 consecration as a bishop, the backlash from conservatives within the U.S. and global church, and the…
Read More…y now be breaking away from Anonymous as an independent movement) began in January 2008 when the Church of Scientology attempted to a remove material from an interview with Tom Cruise about his religion. Anonymous decried this move as censorship and began a campaign of tactics—both legal and illegal—to disrupt and discredit the Church of Scientology. That February, Anonymous members began to picket in front of Scientology headquarters, many of the…
Read More…I wrote on the night of the Florida primary, and as I predicted earlier in January, these supposed liberal attacks on “religious liberty,” and in particular, the contraception requirement, would become an essential theme of the 2012 presidential campaign. Romney, fighting off Newt Gingrich’s campaign theme that he is a “Massachusetts moderate,” today jumps on the bandwagon in hopes of sealing the deal with religious conservatives: But, now, more t…
Read More…on of evangelical social conservatives endorsed Rick Santorum in Dallas on January 17. And the strength of the anti-Mormonism narrative is likely to fade as the race heads out west into regions where more voters are able to moderate their judgments of Mormonism with actual contact with LDS people. In Nevada, it is estimated that 20–25% of GOP voters are LDS. If Romney stays on course, the real loser in this primary contest may be Mormons’ persecut…
Read More…ding me this clip of Eddie Long being crowned King at New Birth on Sunday, January 29, 2012. While most Christians were having regular Sunday services, over at Eddie Long’s New Birth Church in Lithonia, Ga, Ralph Messer, who is part of the Hebrew Roots movement, was crowning Eddie Long King in an elaborate ceremony that included wrapping Long in a Torah Scroll purported to be found at Auschwitz and Birkenau. In case you’re unable or unwilling to…
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…e Nobel committee would protect them, and affirm that LGBT equality is truly a global issue that defines our times. Nominations close at the end of January. Today’s tragic anniversary should spur the committee to act….
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