Religion Dispatches
…ions, arguing that “Several recent incidences of violent extremists in the United States who are committed to fighting here and abroad have underscored the threat to the United States and our interests posed by individuals radicalized at home. Our best defenses against this threat are well informed and equipped families, local communities, and institutions.” This statement comes under the heading of countering radicalization. While I have no doubt…
Read More…e in 1979, religious leaders have set aside their divisions and have stood united in their strong commitment to aid and resettle Syrian refugees. Last week, as Congress debated the fate of Syrian refugee resettlement, organizations representing the entire gamut of American religious communities—Muslims and Jews, evangelicals and Unitarians, Catholics and Hindus—spoke with one clear voice: “To turn our back on refugees would be to betray our nation…
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…realized that complete separation of church and state was the best way to promote true religion. Our original national motto speaks to the way that our religious, ethnic and racial diversity is a source of greatness: E Pluribus Unum–out of many, one. This is nowhere more true than in religion. Jefferson once explained that the normal rule in politics was reversed when talking about religion; for religion, “divided we stand, united we fall.” Our d…
Read More…o wield political power, don’t represent everyone of that faith. Catholics United, for example, countered the opposition of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops when it opposed a health care reform bill that conservatives falsely claimed included federal funding of abortion services. At the same time, Catholics United won’t address the USCCB’s stance on abortion or contraception, but Catholics for Choice certainly does. The spoils shou…
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…phill battle. In 1977 indigenous leaders from around the world organized a United Nations conference to promote indigenous sovereignty and self-determination. Their first recommendation was “to observe October 12, the day of so-called ‘discovery’ of America, as an International Day of Solidarity with the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas.” Within the United States, the Colorado branch of the American Indian Movement (AIM) would, in the 1980s, pro…
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…That’s how Islam became a global religion: people left the confines of the Arabian Peninsula and took Islam with them. And that’s what’s happening now. What we discovered was that a great many undocumented immigrants who make the long, perilous journey from Latin America and Mexico to the United States, before they do so, they make a vow to Santa Muerte, make peace with Saint Death. They say to themselves, “I may not make this, there’s a good chan…
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…realized that complete separation of church and state was the best way to promote true religion. Our original national motto speaks to the way that our religious, ethnic and racial diversity is a source of greatness: E Pluribus Unum–out of many, one. This is nowhere more true than in religion. Jefferson once explained that the normal rule in politics was reversed when talking about religion; for religion, “divided we stand, united we fall.” Our d…
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…at they can turn their trial into what they perceive to be a referendum on United States defense strategy.” That motion was denied, as typically happens. Even when the defendants are prevented from speaking about necessity and international law, though, in being arrested and tried the activists identify themselves with the figure of the prosecuted and persecuted Christ who is at the heart of their theology. The Performance of Nonbelonging The tria…
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…gious meaning. The bill’s secular opponents—such as the ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State—and its religious opponents, including Haslam, are united in the view that such a separation is impossible. This is in a deep sense a semiotic failure on both ends of the political spectrum. But it may also be a recognition of the Bible’s unique role as a political and legal powder keg in American history, going back to the Bible ri…
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…s to abortion care is a significant problem of health care delivery in the United States. A major study by the Guttmacher Institute found that some 87% of US counties lack a single abortion provider. The study notes a long-term decline in the rate of abortion in the United States, but could not determine whether this was because of increased access to and use of contraception, or due to the lack of access to abortion providers. And yet, even of th…
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