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Maryland Governor says Support for Marriage Equality “Very Much Informed” by his Catholicism

…ce at winning, given the state’s Democratic leanings and promising polling numbers. O’Malley said that expansive religious freedom language in the law was important to its passage and in keeping with the traditions of the state of Maryland. The referendum language makes clear that the law protects clergy from having to perform any ceremony that violates their beliefs, guarantees each faith control over its marriage doctrine, and “provides that rel…

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“Symbolic” Personhood Bill Could Kill

…o-life, conservative state. Senator Crain’s office did not return repeated phone calls, but according to The Daily Beast, he “said the bill is simply a statement that Oklahoma is ‘pro-life.’” Senate Pro Tem Brian Bingman said much the same thing, according to Reuters, offering that “Oklahoma is a conservative pro-life state—we are proud to stand up for what we know is right.” Well, yes, it feels very good to be proud of things, doesn’t it? Might I…

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Who’s Accusing Who of Mormon-Baiting?

…t Coke and a dozen pink-frosted sugar cookies that there is no anti-Mormon phonebanking script in use by Catholics for Obama. Anywhere. Is anti-Mormonism real? Yes. But even if one poorly-trained rogue phonebanker veered off script into an anti-Mormon ad lib, it does not make for a concerted anti-Mormon effort.  (Leave that to orthographically challenged “Heaven is Easy” ministry in Florida.) May cool heads prevail as the race heats up in its fina…

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Missouri Pastor Goes Viral on Gawker: ‘Separation of Church and Hate’

…rising thing about the reaction? I was having dinner with my family and my phone wouldn’t stop buzzing. To be honest—as lame as this might sound—the most surprising part of all this craziness was how quickly it all took off. Even though I thought the speech would only be heard by those at the City Council meeting, I owe a lot to Gawker, George Takei, and many others for sharing it, because it helps show that people of faith across the country—even…

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Electionpocalypse, Part I (Christianity)

…y.” Would Chuck be proud of his successor, Eric Metaxas, who defended the “sanctity of life” by making fun of the liberals and government while peoples’ lives, homes, and livelihoods were destroyed in Sandy? On Monday, Metaxas tweeted “jokes” like “Manhattan is now TOTALLY surrounded by water. #stormhype”; “If George W. Bush had signed the Kyoto Treaty, none of this would be happening. #allDubyasfault” (since deleted); and “I can’t get a 64 oz. so…

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Escape From Manhattan: Tech, Tragedy and Storytelling in Sandy’s Wake

…And nobody can deny the convenience of ready access to information, maps, phone numbers, calendars, and social satisfaction that our reliance on technology provides. Technology is a tool, right? It doesn’t change who we are, right? It doesn’t blind us—it reveals reality by connecting us and showing us the world via our screens… right? Look, I know that our new imaginative, mediated work is doing good. I know people can feel a real sense of empowe…

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Safety Not Guaranteed

…cuation zone—but offered no easy solution. * Almost a week after Hurricane Sandy I know the neighborhood much better than before. Sheens remained open throughout four days of no power and sold us batteries and cigarettes; they were expensive, but they were there.  The owner of the Italian restaurant downstairs who lost five large freezers full of food when rising ground water swamped his basement loaned me his phone.  At the bar of a French restau…

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Church Uses Facebook for Sacramental Scrutiny at its Peril

…ld. In the past decade, the Roman Catholic clergy abuse, News of the World phone-hacking, and Wikileaks scandals have marked new, and only very incompletely explored, ethical territory as we sort out the best ways to balance personal privacy and public safety as these are impacted by our engagement with new media. But even given difficulties defining necessary and appropriate boundaries of personal, professional, and institutional transparency, we…

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Becoming Forever Lonesome: How Violence Changes Us

…hing of what the victims and the parents of the victims of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School now have. Every horror is utterly, terribly unique, but there are universals. In a super white, super loud flash… or a DJ’s croon… or a telephone’s brrng brrng, when you become forever lonesome. Because you know the real secret. Anything can happen. Aliens could land. ***  Among the outrages of living in a time of violence is that victims feel t…

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What’s Islamophobia, and Do I Have It?

…rs—but religion is doubtless part of the story. You can’t kill tens of thousands and rape thousands on the basis of their religion, and claim religion has nothing to do with it. One does not slaughter a people until one has hated them sufficiently to go from seeing them as individuals to seeing them as a mass to be done away with. And that hate is Islamophobia. Fears of “creeping Shari’ah”—the manufactured fear Islamophobes haunt America with, too…

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