Religion Dispatches
…Catholic, and they favored Romney 55-44%. Romney is only doing marginally better among white Catholics only (21% of the electorate), 56-42%. Obama is winning among everyone other than white born-again Christians, 60-38%. Virginia: Virginia voters weren’t asked if they were white born again Christian or evangelical. The exit poll has Romney winning among white Protestants, who make up 41% of voters, 75-25%, among white Catholics (11%), 64-33%, bu…
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…yer. Just as no one can tell an employee how to invest a salary or spend a bonus, neither can anyone prevent the use of money for birth control that is mandated by law. At the heart of the matter, as I read it, are two fundamental issues. The first is that the concept of religious freedom takes on new meaning in an increasingly secular society. This is the bishops’ nightmare, but it is simply a fact that more people are religiously undecided—wheth…
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…battered by Muslims and Marxists, in which to make his stand. As an added bonus, he can defend the Catholic faith in a national church. The Orthodox communion is governed through a highly decentralized, synodical system in which 15 self-governing churches—traditionally organized along national/ethnic lines—act with autonomy. While this system of ecclesiastical governance predates by centuries modern concepts of race and nationalism, for a nationa…
Read More…stin Holcomb says Halloween’s pagan origins have basically been subsumed into harmless fun and can be an opportunity for good family fellowship. But don’t take things too far: “There is a big difference between kids dressing up in cute costumes for candy and Mardi-Gras-like Halloween parties, offensive costumes, and uninhibited excess.” Bonus fun: Driscoll on zombies in the Bible….
Read More…ire thing; Pierce eviscerates the burgeoning conventional wisdom that Catholics are uniformly as outraged as the Bishops, and that this trumped-up claim of infringement of religious freedom will cost Obama his reelection campaign. And he delves into Catholic theology while he’s at it. Bonus observation: in the most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, conducted February 1-4, respondents were asked, “How much does it matter to you that a candidate…
Read More…h journalist Sarah Wildman about the role of myth vs. reality in Republican presidential candidates’ rhetoric about Iran’s nuclear ambitions and Middle East policy. Plus: just how influential is Sheldon Adelson on Israeli public opinion and bonus trivia about Newt Gingrich. In this clip, we discuss how young Israelis who have little or no memory of Israel pre-Second Intifada, view the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the negative consequences for…
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…h care that humans with ovaries and vaginas use, were some kind of special bonus health care coverage that wasn’t included in “regular” insurance? The culprit might just be the Catholic Church. It was the Catholic Church after all that created the very first carve-out from health insurance when its own lobbyist crafted the Hyde Amendment that prevented Medicaid from paying for most abortions on the grounds that taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay for…
Read More…d by uncodified Muslim Sharia law, which criminalises same-sex sexual acts between both men and between women. For men, the punishment is banishment for nine months to one year or a whipping of 10 to 30 strokes, while the punishment for women is house arrest for nine months to one year.” According to Stewart, the country rejected international recommendations to improve its treatment of LGBTI people expressed in its 2010 and 2015 U.N. Universal Pe…
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…LGBT community An article in Global Voices says that there’s a difference between what the law books say about LGBT people and the reality they face. Jordan’s stance on LGBT issues is considered one of the more advanced in the Middle East, as criminalization of same-sex relations was removed from country’s the Penal Code in 1951. However, decriminalization alone has not ensured complete freedom for members of Jordan’s LGBT community. Article Six…
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…no one to turn to. Nepal: Activists call for changes in civil and criminal code Pahichan reports from Kathmandu that local human rights activists have submitted a memo to Speaker Onsari Gharti calling for changes to provisions of the civil and criminal code that violate the rights of women and gender and sexual minorities. Albania: Activists seek to build on LGBT progress with partnership recognition Kristi Pinderin, head of PRO LGBT, announced th…
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