Religion Dispatches
…ovely cotton too. I’ll be okay with these. Then, I divide these reasonably between the suitcase that goes under the plane and my carry-on luggage. Remember I have to be in ihram before I reach Jeddah. Then there are the things that need to go in a suitcase but you use them every day. Fortunately, I have all those nifty scent-free products; as far as most of the cosmetics go, I don’t use those on a daily basis. But other things, like toothpaste, I’…
Read More
…dy else. And when it concerns science and technology, the more you do, the better. Morphological freedom is an attractive concept, and I agree that we should be open to thinking about new relationships between technology and humanity. Personally I don’t believe that there’s any one morally correct way to be human, or that technology is essentially good or evil, but many critics of transhumanism, I think, fear that technology will alter some vision…
Read More
…Utah television station even ran a nightly news segment suggesting a link between the changes, Proposition 8, and the protests following Elder Boyd K. Packer’s controversial conference talk on homosexuality. Yesterday, the Church newsroom went on the defensive with a blog post decrying the poor journalism of the local television news crew (shocking), especially its narrative linking of recent protests to the CHI changes, pointing out that the rev…
Read More
…undamentalism.” That encyclical included clear and direct criticism of the free-market fundamentalism at the heart of attempts to dismantle financial reform: The conviction that the economy must be autonomous, that it must be shielded from ‘influences’ of a moral character, has led man to abuse the economic process in a thoroughly destructive way. In the long term, these convictions have led to economic, social and political systems that trample u…
Read More
…in reference to his network. That word, Nazi, means something. We are all free to use it as we please. It’s our right, of course. But when its use is stripped of any of its real meaning, I just ask you to remember the story of Abraham Reiss. Lamborn knows better than to drop the “Nazi” bomb into the conversation, but the “liberal bias” bunk serves the same purpose. And his staff’s investigations into the allegedly sinister doings at the network a…
Read More
…oard of overstepping the First Amendment and infringing on their rights to free religious exercise and free speech.” Among the colleges and seminaries that spurn regional accreditation, many justify their decision by citing freedom from governmental oversight, a position compatible with the conservative mentality often dominant at such institutions. Ideologically consistent, this claim has the ancillary benefit of helping its makers dodge the cost…
Read More
…just communists, but also “those organizations and men who have aided and abetted the cause of Communism by word or deed, whether intentionally or unintentionally.” The “entire left-wing movement,” which included the liberal National Council of Churches, “is of the devil.” Speaking at the 1962 Christian Crusade convention, after fulminating that the “Liberal Establishment” was the “greatest threat to freedom, New Testament Christianity, and consti…
Read More
…found my “people” and my sense of belonging. It was the most thrilling and freeing experience of my high school life. The dancing, the moving, the drums, the parking lot scene where along with veggie burritos, beautiful beaded jewelry, and other crafts, I found a real sense of community. If music can be an intoxicant, then American Beauty was my gateway drug. It introduced me to other Dead albums and I devoured each one. Eventually I found my fell…
Read More
…s become an important community for them. “It has now become more acceptable for people to state that they are questioning or no longer religious” says Hashman. “We are dedicated to free inquiry and freedom of expression, and that can come off as abrasive, but we believe it necessary for a free and democratic society.”…
Read More…nal argument against his own proselytizing by positing a false equivalence between an actual religion and “religious pluralism” that he claims is a religion silencing his religion. Therefore, “religious pluralism,” in his view, cannot be imposed on him. (Perhaps he attended Glenn Beck’s university on constitutional law?) The Pentagon report noted that while military regulations do not require chaplains to act in contravention of their own religiou…
Read More