Religion Dispatches
…all sides of the thin blue line. To truly transcend the pale, and perhaps better align ourselves with historical norms, all Jews might decouple our peoplehood from our racial pasts, sanction patrilineal descent, and recognize the vast and enriching continuum between Jewish and partially Jewish forms of religious practice. If Jews took these steps we might validate and welcome, as Jews-in-process, all of the Jews and near-Jews who are the children…
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…eace and prosperity for all, not just for ourselves. Palin’s insistence on freedom seems to suggest freedom for oneself, without assuming any responsibility for others; a perspective that would create a wild realm in which each person looks out for herself, not for the collective. Yet again, that is not the message of the Bible. When God points out immoral behavior, it is of the collective people, not individuals. The prophet Amos condemns the cri…
Read More…had taken root.” Teeman notes that some reports describe the relationship between the teen and the commander as rape while others suggest it was a consensual relationship. “Culturally, post the formation of Islam, people related homosexuality to pedophilia,” said Nahas, now an activist with the Organization For Refuge, Asylum & Migration (ORAM). “No distinction is drawn between the two. If somebody raped a boy they called him a homosexual, not a…
Read More…uman rights of transgender persons— including right to self determination, freedom of movement and freedom of expression—but these laws are also open to abuse. In this case, although the women were asleep while they were arrested in their hotel rooms, they are still being investigated under Section 28. Justice for Sisters criticized “dehumanizing” media coverage of the arrests. India: Legislature Rejects Decriminalization, UN Official Wants Court…
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…it. Now the UOC-MP, long a supporter of ecclesiastical and cultural unity between Russia and Ukraine, has declared its independence. The move came during a meeting of UOC-MP bishops on Friday May 27th. The UOC-MP has also reached out to the OCU, saying it hoped for dialogue. Though it’s unclear whether the two churches would be able to reach a consensus as significant disagreements remain—as does a deep distrust. On Sunday May 29th, the Russian O…
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…in the states that are the most likely to criminalize the practice? Don’t bet on it. And certainly don’t bet on the bishops threatening to withhold communion from a politician over it. No follow-up questions, please A third trend: as many of the examples above show, anti-abortion “centrists” are a little too coy about what they’re willing to accept in order to maintain the criminalization of abortion. This is especially important to me because th…
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…it was logical that the women would inquire about the obvious differences between their role and status and those of men, especially as it affects their ministerial effectiveness. What surprised some people was the frankness of the discussion. The tone, perhaps more than the content, is what is new. Women expect to be taken seriously and even popes have to listen. They asked Francis about women preaching, something that deacons do. He replied tha…
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…Improving educator training so they can do this effectively? Absolutely. I bet more Americans would be attracted to, appreciate and consider careers in science (the number is decreasing annually). I bet we’d have more productive conversation among students and leaders of science and religion around the many profound issues in our nation that engage both: abortion, medical care, stem cells, homosexuality, and genomic research. The battle rhetoric w…
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…efforts by proving that children raised by intact mom-and-dad families do better than kids raised by two loving moms or dads. It won’t matter that the study didn’t do that. Blamers Also a safe bet: natural disasters like Hurricane-Superstorm Sandy will continue to be chalked up to God’s anger at the advance of gay rights. So will tragedies like the mass murder of students and educators at Sandy Hook elementary school. But those blamers will sound…
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…happiness achieve it. But there’s a tension in the natural order of things between what promotes happiness and what morality demands. Hence, unless there is a supernatural order of things bringing happiness to the morally good, the highest good is little more than a pipe dream. But reason demands that it be more than a pipe dream. And so reason demands that we posit a supernatural power. Put simply, we have to suppose that moral heroes who risk th…
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