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Hearts and (Versus?) Minds: Bachmann’s Ultrasound Bill

…ng to Bachmann, the goal here is to make sure that the woman has “the very best information with which to make that decision.” (Good thing she’s still about leaving the decision up to the woman, because otherwise she might be disheartened by evidence suggesting that viewing an ultrasound makes little difference in the outcome of that decision.) Yes, that’s the line on ultrasound bills. They give women some sort of necessary information. But why do…

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Putting the “Protest” Back in Protestant: Reclaiming the Spirit of Resistance

…overall than most white Christian bodies. But the clarion prophet’s voice best exemplified by Martin Luther King Jr., is fading fast. It also bears noting that Black Pentecostalism (the still-growing part of the Black Church) is relatively less interested in structural social change than the African-American Baptist and Methodist traditions. Hispanic evangelicals? See Pentecostalism (above). Self-help, yes; structural social change (apart from re…

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The Bible Is Not a Diet Plan

…“boring!” Or consider the words of another megapastor, Joel Osteen, in his bestselling Your Best Life Now: “If you are struggling financially, say something such as, ‘Father, I thank You that You’re causing me to be at the right place at the right time. You are bringing wonderful financial opportunities my way.’ If you will live with an attitude of faith, then, like the saints of old, before long God’s favor is going to show up, and that situation…

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Three Cheers for Mormon Support of Same-Sex Legislation? Not So Fast

…r their rights (to very little fanfare and often to dismissal or apathy at best), this provision bothers me deeply. In any case, RFMA is very much not the Equality Act, a bill that would provide sweeping non-discrimination protections for queer Americans that has languished in Congress for years. It’s a defensive piece of legislation, a protection of the status quo rather than a step forward. If America were truly a functional democracy, we could…

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T-Shirts and Minarets: The Rending of the Social Contract

…annot impose their beliefs on us. We may come to a mutual agreement on the best course of action that align with religious belief, but that is different than imposing a religious edict. Two current incidents show the perilous relationship between religion and politics and responsibilities in civil society: The first case is based in the US and involves the ACLU. Several students in a Florida school district wore shirts that said “Islam is of the D…

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2023 CPAC Lived Down to Expectations, But Don’t Buy the Narrative: The GOP is Not as Divided as You Might Think

…e allegations. The large ballroom of the main stage was half-filled at the best of times—even during Trump’s speech, the “highlight” of the conference. Perhaps more than ever before, this year’s CPAC was a spectacle of right-wing grifters, garish influencers hoping to make it to Fox News with a viral clip, and the most MAGA of the pro-Trump wing of the Republican Party. The speakers who turned up tried their best to rile up the audience—with varyi…

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A Pale Glimpse of Moon

…e, because all the senses were quickened. This, I thought, was Rome at its best and most seductive. Perhaps it was America at its best as well. Greer went first and he recognized his role in this grand affair. He was the opening act, the warm-up band, and he handled his role with humility and self-effacing dignity. There is nothing more surprising, nor more pleasurable, than having the warm-up band make you wish them to hang around. He hung around…

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Can Atheists Simply Ignore Theology?

…at we have to “try on” alternative interpretations to see which offers the best fit with the whole of human experience—not merely with what we experience through our senses, but also with the broader and ultimately more important dimensions of our lived experience, including our moral and aesthetic experience and our sense of the numinous. Is a naturalistic worldview, one which explains away these latter features of our lives (or at least the last…

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Pro-Choice, Pro-Life, and Pro-Home Birth

…r Pérez, the division between different stages of pregnancy is illusory at best. “Doing this work makes me realize it’s not black and white,” Pérez says. “A lot of people at abortion clinics are actually having miscarriages… so trying to draw that distinction just doesn’t work for the way people lead their lives, and the way that abortion works. Midwifery care was always tied to abortion care. This connection is not a new thing. The current politi…

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Can a Progressive Atheist Defeat the Democrats’ “Family” Man in NC?

Congressman Heath Shuler is best known for a few things: his NFL career, his challenge of Nancy Pelosi for House Democratic Leadership, and his co-sponsorship of anti-abortion bills. Once lauded as a new breed of Democrat, able to win in a ‘red’ district by running to the right of the party, it now looks as though the conservative evangelical “Blue Dog” Democrat may be on his way out. If he opts to run for reelection in 2012 Shuler will face a pr…

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