Religion Dispatches
…e plan who gets pregnant and can’t come up with the $5,000 that it took to buy a pregnancy “rider” before the ACA reforms, should either abort the baby or go old school and give birth by herself in a field somewhere without the benefit of prenatal care or a doctor. More moderate Republicans have begun to realize the indefensibility of this position. Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, who is a doctor, acknowledged, albeit imperfectly, that jettisoning…
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…force an opening to get her back to surface. Don’t want to do that. I did buy a white zippered sweat shirt at the K-mart the other day because some of those overnights, early mornings in the desert can be cold, and I’d rather be hot than not. But, I’m excited to get to this point in my personal preparations. Actually the whole thing has been paid in full, the ticket has been purchased with the itinerary sent to me and now I am waiting for the vis…
Read More…Who is the new leader of the religious right? Let’s just say, to question number one, no, OK? And now, post-Beckfest, the new Question is: is Glenn Beck the new leader of the religious right? As evidenced by the Black Robed Regiment, Beck is cultivating the support of religious right leaders who like his new God gig. After all, there have been worries along the way that the tea party — and possibly Beck as a de facto leader or at least inspirer o…
Read More…re like a white-collar job fair than an act of Islamophobia. Some shoppers buy kosher not for religious practice, but because they think it’s safer. In Poughkeepsie, New York, a local Jewish group has been given the okay to place a menorah on public property downtown—they just can’t use city resources to build it or light it. Clothing retailer and gatekeeper of what’s hip (or at least what was hip in the early 2000s), Abercrombie & Fitch, is being…
Read More…ent doesn’t define rights.” In other words, if the government tells you to buy insurance under the individual mandate, it’s not only infringing on your God-given rights, but exceeding its authority granted by God. (I’m not defending this argument, obviously, just explaining it. You can read more in this piece Julie and I wrote about how this argument is used to promote the idea of militias — one of the many ways the “government exceeds its God-giv…
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…er to don a new, purified version of the self. But then, one really has to buy into the whole ritual thing for that to happen. One of the distinguishing characteristics of humankind is evidence tracing back through the years, that we have always oriented ourselves towards something Sacred, Ultimate, or wholly (holy?) Other. In burial sites, from the wealthy Pharaohs to the poor desert nomad, this evidence is manifest in the form of elaborate relic…
Read More…will open with an “interfaith moment of silence.” Donald Trump offered to buy out one of the major investors in the Park51 project. The investors said thanks but no thanks. A North Carolina teenager whose family is part of the Church of Body Modification has run into trouble with her school’s dress code. The 14-year-old is looking at a ten day suspension if she returns to school wearing her prohibited nose ring. In Roswell, New Mexico, a group of…
Read More…ly pursuing them, put them on the church payroll, and used church funds to buy them gifts and take them on lavish trips. Long used his position of spiritual authority to coerce the young men into sexual relationships with him, they charge, relationships that Long insisted were sanctioned by God. The notion of “spiritual” fathers and sons, and of obedience to one in spiritual authority, is a common theme in Long’s career trajectory. The plaintiffs…
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…gelists use sexuality in titles of books and preaching to get followers to buy their extended respectability sermons, packaged as sensual tomes like The Lady The Lover and her Lord, Foreplay: Sexual Healing for Spiritual Wholeness, or No More Sheets. Then emotional meetings are arranged so that everyone can “confess” and feel clean while the ‘leader” can be shown to be above reproach. The master at this is Donnie McClurkin, whose tearful testimoni…
Read More…ol over the matter. So when I had to introduce myself I just went with the numbers as the doctor had given them to me. I’m in that pre-diabetes state, and if I get a handle on it I can avoid progression to a worse state, or stroke or death or whatever. I took her seriously when she told me and I took measures to address it before I came to class, ordering my own books to return the ones I borrowed from the library. Actually getting some of those l…
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