Religion Dispatches
…us just keeps saying gutsy things—like when he told a roomful of people, one of whom was Governor Haley Barbour: Few politicians today use outright race baiting, but we see the symbols some use and the phrases they utter and everyone knows what the code is—what really is being said. Oh, and he’s also called attention to how voter ID laws endanger the voting rights of poor and elderly people, and was named a Champion of Justice by the Mississippi C…
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…forthcoming probes about whether or not the clinic can be cited for minor code violations. With an air of boredom, Newman ran through the list of tactics he’d turn to if he couldn’t prevent the clinic from opening. They’ll run their “Truth Truck”—a large vehicle with side panels covered with images of late-term aborted fetuses—and plant 200 crosses outside the clinic every day. They’ll limit the number of clients willing to enter by making women…
Read More…uld have created a national gun registry. From Jennifer Steinhauser at the New York Times this morning: As for the N.R.A., while some saw the group’s leader, Wayne LaPierre, as meandering and on defense after the Connecticut school shootings in December, seasoned lawmakers heard something far more telling: the group, which once supported new background checks, would no longer abide them. As a result, before a single hearing, bill or speech on the…
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…dren is worth getting riled up about. Nor do I mean “Let’s be cautious” as code for “Maybe this isn’t an important question.” To the contrary, it’s a vital question. Yet it’s also an easy question to approach in an unhelpful way. Precisely because sexual abuse is appallingly common, compassionate people look for patterns to explain why it happened in this instance and not that one. And that’s a good thing: abuse prevention means recognizing common…
Read More…ligious freedom. In the terms of section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, these corporations are called “churches,” their “integrated auxiliaries,” and “conventions or associations of churches,” where churches are defined as a “subset of IRC 501(c)(3) organizations organized and operated for religious purposes.” Necessarily, such entities are artificial or fictive persons under the law, subjects capable of claiming rights and bearing respon…
Read More…d has been involved in the protests, the archbishop’s soft-pedaling of the new restrictions follows a familiar pattern. “The Diocese of Oakland dealt with the same situation last year,” he said in an email. “The situation there followed the pattern of an initially harsh opening move from the bishop, a general outcry from parents and teachers, a period of reflection and reconsideration followed by the release of language that is less prescriptive i…
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…and addresses us, the television audience: Truth be told, I never really knew him or what his dreams were. He was quiet, timid, almost invisible. My mother didn’t think much of him. My mother’s mother hated him. The man never scratched the surface of life. Maybe it’s best he died so young. He wasn’t doing much but taking up space. But that doesn’t make for a very powerful eulogy, now, does it? Like so many politicians, Frank uses faith as a ploy…
Read More…olic Diocese Issues Guidelines for Baptism of Children of Same-Sex Couples New Ways Ministry’s blog highlights a news report that a diocese in Spain “has issued guidelines to priests on baptizing children of lesbian and gay couples, as a way of making sure that these children are not ignored by the Church.” Spain is one of 12 European nations to legalize same-gender marriage, and in 2005 it was the third nation in the world to do so. The Diocese o…
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…e. I have not been able to find reference to them in the criminal or civil code of Illinois, where the movie is set. I did learn that many EMTs in Chicago are employed by private companies, in which case such an employee would not be violating the establishment clause by proselytizing.) This is the movie’s big theological problem: a firm certainty that if it seems Christian to you, it probably is Christian, and is therefore a good thing in exactly…
Read More…was known for his ability to cite entire sections of the California legal code from memory, educating African Americans about their rights as they were arrested. The underlying principle of Panther patrols was that the members of black communities should be able to actively supervise the police in their own neighborhoods. Feiden Santana’s decision to record and release the video of Walter Scott’s murder recalls the spirit of such patrols, and wou…
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