Search Results for:

VIPREG2024 1xbet promo code free bet 202 Singapore

Romney’s Debate Coach and his Religion Answer

…inciple. As I wrote at the time, Romney had a conundrum: needing to defend free exercise of religion (an in particular, his religion), but realizing that the Republican base demands the “Judeo-Christian” answer. Given that many conservative evangelicals don’t even think Romney’s religion is part of Christianity, when he gave the “Judeo-Christian” answer last night I cringed—because he didn’t balance it with a free exercise answer. In other words,…

Read More

Turn On The News: This Isn’t a Split, It’s a Tiny Sliver of Conservatives Walking Out the Door — Introducing A New Media Criticism Column

…If I can get comfortable with the idea that religion shouldn’t be given a free pass, reporters can surely get there. Which brings us, unfortunately, back to Kathryn Post’s piece. I’m afraid it doesn’t pass many of the tests laid out above. The trouble starts immediately, with the headline: “Reformed Church in America splits as conservative churches form new denomination.” The first two paragraphs then inform us that 43 out of 1,000 congregations…

Read More

“Pregnancy is Not a Disease”: Birth of an Anti-Contraception Rallying Cry

…ting new people, and the “unitive” purpose of fostering love and closeness between a heterosexual married couple. It did so partly to correct a prevailing notion that any non-procreative sex was a sin—even, for example, sex between a married couple where one or both partners were infertile.) Yet even with all their emphasis on procreation, ancient theologians didn’t bring much rosy optimism to pregnancy and childbirth. To the contrary, many though…

Read More

Searching in Vain for a “Pure” Elie Wiesel

…one another to task. But we would expect all of us (including Wiesel!) to betray our better selves on a regular basis. For those of us who are humanists or social scientists, we might research how such betrayals—or, for those of us who love jargon, “dialectical reversals”—occur as a matter of course when we live out our commitments among people who disagree with us. And all of us might come to realize that our acts of solidarity, whether with som…

Read More

Are Religious Leaders Prepared to Engage “Religious Liberty” Questions Post-Hobby Lobby?

…ams, and social media outreach efforts that critically engage the tensions between freedom and liberty in religious practice and American citizenship; take a stand in the pulpit for the legal and moral place of competing religious convictions; explicitly honor the lives of women and children by calling for the provision of adequate healthcare and family planning services unhindered by an employer’s religious convictions; affirm the right of indivi…

Read More

It’s Not “Inappropriate” for Public School Teacher to Tell Class that Obama Isn’t Christian

…discuss important controversial topics and that schools must be “religion free zones.” Superintendent Ledbetter announced that he’s considering more diversity and sensitivity training for teachers. He also sent a certified letter to the parents explaining that the incident will not happen again and that Nancy Perry is retiring. A local NBC affiliate reported, “The superintendent believes it goes back to a basic lesson: don’t talk politics or reli…

Read More

Joe Miller’s Anti-Gay, Anti-Islam Advisor

…f Carolina students are better prepared to enter this University, they are better citizens for it.” Ah, but being better informed citizens was actually anathema for Moffitt and his genius friends who apparently saw this as a threat to Christianity. At the time, Moffitt told the PBS program Religion and Ethics Newsweekly that the assignment of this academic text constituted proselytizing and “I don’t think that Islam is a religion of peace.” Did Mi…

Read More

Global LGBT Recap: Religious Leaders Support Persecution as Countries Vie in Homophobia Olympics

…critical moment. Chissano ended his letter quoting Nelson Mandela: “To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” Russia: Putin Tells Gays to ‘Leave Kids Alone’ But Arrests Rainbow Flag-Waving Teen As the Olympics approach, the biggest concern of Russian officials may not be international opposition to the country’s anti-gay laws but the threat of terrorism related to on…

Read More

Far-Right Evangelicals And The Campaign Against Obama

…llowed Obama to succeed, and they worship what they believe is “God-given” free-market capitalism. In effect, the radical right movement in America, having failed at the ballot box to find a successor to their boy in the White House, George W. Bush, is regrouping in the Senate and Congress and working hard to undo the Obama presidency. The sooner Americans wake up to the fact that what Jeff Sharlet describes in his book is only the tip of the iceb…

Read More

You Are More Than Your Brain: A Revolutionary Theory of Consciousness

…the rise of religion historically, politically, and culturally.” A Bridge Between Worlds Noë’s book is relevant and valuable far beyond its thesis that consciousness is not synonymous with the brain: Out of Our Heads represents a remarkable bridge between two cultures. Noë admits a political objective: get science and the humanities talking again. They have a lot to say, if only they could get over themselves. “The idea that science and philosoph…

Read More