Religion Dispatches
…ous tradition but, at the same time, are implicated in questions of public policy. The three disputes I mentioned at the beginning of this article all fall into this category, even if they differ substantially in other respects. In the Wheaton case (as in related cases brought by other religious entities, including the Little Sisters of the Poor and Notre Dame), the college’s belief is that filing a form with the government indicating its oppositi…
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…. It’s a great revival. “Upon taking office…” Trump makes several concrete policy promises that flow from this White Christian nationalist vision. It’s not worth quoting Trump’s rambling justifications for the policy proposals he connects to this worldview. Lest anyone think Trump’s White Christian nationalism is empty rhetoric, however, this speech also included promises to: install White evangelical advisors in all federal agencies; appoint “roc…
Read More…it not be discrimination for that group to insist that the Catholic school change their teaching? If we use the same measure, I think we will find a way to lower the decibel level and recognize the dignity of everyone. Except no one is suggesting that the church or Catholic schools be forced to change their teaching, only to not deploy it in a way that is discriminatory in public accommodations. Also calling for a “sensible national conversation”…
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…beyond making appearances at black churches into actually creating a black policy agenda is fair. Then the letter takes a hard right turn and starts tumbling precipitously downhill. It becomes obvious that expressed concerns about poverty and violence are just a vehicle for the group’s true aims: taking away rights from groups differently marginalized from themselves. The clergy who have signed on to the letter criticize Clinton for comments she m…
Read More…anization ginned up by conservatives associated with the Ethics and Public Policy Center and given credence by an “investigation” by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. These charges boil down to the organization’s membership in the World Association of Girl Guides and Girls Scouts (WAGGGS), which, according to the bishops, advocates for “so-called ‘sexual and reproductive health/rights’.” Conservatives are also upset because some local Girl…
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…himself—once described Gorka as an “anti-Muslim extremist.” Other foreign policy specialists have described him as an Islamophobe. Gorka was a member of the Order of Vitéz, a Nazi-linked Hungarian group, and proudly displayed medals from the group at Trump’s inauguration. Most relevant, though, despite disavowals of animus toward Islam, Gorka has described it more in terms of a totalitarian ideology than a complex, diverse, global religion. That…
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…ed goal is getting the right kind of judges on the Supreme Court and other policy goals. How much access and influence do the leaders in this movement really have to the White House? I think that the religious right generally is almost disbelieving in their good fortune at how open this White House is to them. Some of them talk about how they get invited to come to the White House. Cindy Jacobs, who’s one of the elders that we study in the report,…
Read More…alk and don’t vote, lack self-awareness, and don’t have opinions on public policy that affects them. Okay, what if—just for grins, because obviously what I’m about to say is total science-fiction territory—we imagine that there’s, I don’t know, a REALLY WEIRD species of caterpillar that votes, thinks, talks, forms opinions on policy, has legal rights, is self-aware, and… uh… is actually a person? And what if a significant number of these mythical…
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…he Guardian, which began with the ominous line: “The surest mark of regime change is when they start attacking the statues.”) or implicitly reiterating the civil faith Acosta bore witness to by running poignant pictures of Lady Liberty as a manifestation of shared American values of inclusion and possibility. David Green in Haaretz wrote that the “extemporaneous remarks” in reaction to the question about the poem “betray the real attitude of both…
Read More…sion of American history. All photo ops and quick sound bites about energy policy, free markets, and American exceptionalism, then speeding off in an SUV. Topping off her day was a visit to Trump Tower, a monument to the Donald, whose comb-over was perfectly coiffed as he took pictures with Palin and Piper before having a dinner at a chain pizza parlor, La Famiglia, in New York City. Palin asked for the meeting with Trump, and since he was fresh o…
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