Religion Dispatches
…ssence for me: Allah made me free and equal and anyone who dares to limit that freedom or curtail my equality has no right to do so. They also have no control over my choice to live that equality and justice, save for oppression. The Qur’an is pretty emphatic about that: oppression is human-made and must be human-eradicated. I reject anything and anyone who interferes with my choice and my right to live free and equal. I do so as an integral part…
Read More…y of smoking of drinking. . . we’ve got excited people around the country that give testimony that by following these principles in God’s word they have lasting freedom.” He argues that God says, “I will make you more wealthy than the nations around you” and, mentioning IBLP “medical seminars” promises that “none of the diseases of the world around will affect you if you follow (God’s) principles.” Now there’s a health care plan and the mother of…
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…s education or the right to homeschool your children. It’s no coincidence that the Alliance Defending Freedom, the organization leading the crusade to overturn Roe in the Supreme Court (and which is designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center) is run by evangelical homeschool advocate Michael Farris. Homeschoolers, who are overwhelmingly evangelical Christians, have long been forced-birth advocates. But on the cusp of victory, th…
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…uthority as a guiding principle. I never had to deconstruct. I don’t know what that is like. But I admire the hell out of it. I often wonder if I had been raised and systematically told to believe X, whether I’d’ve had the courage to shake off that mind-forged manacle. Of course I want to say, “yes, without doubt,” but that undersells the pressures and defense mechanisms some religions, sects, and religious communities have evolved to keep people…
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…n. But what about the damage that’s been done to its internal reputation; what about what this never-ending—and now Congressionally affirmed—nightmare looks like to the country’s own people? That’s where to look for the worst damage. Like Covid, the virus of anti-democratic anti-Blackness isn’t going away. The difference is that we now have a plan to contain Covid-19. We will rebuild our public health capacity. But we have no plan, and no public h…
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…to Fox & Friends. Whether that’s a real organization I have no idea, but that’s not what I’m most interested in. I’m most interested in expressing gratitude to the good reverend for admitting that “states’ rights” have nothing to do with conservatism. Think about it. If the principle of “states’ rights” meant what conservatives have said it meant to them, not one of them, not Jerry Falwell Jr. nor anyone calling him or herself a “principled conse…
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…ssue and promised to roll back the mandate. And, finally, in mid-October, that’s what opponents of the mandate got from Trump, what the bishops had wanted all along: a get-out-of-jail-free card that essentially allows any non-profit or business entity to opt out of the mandate for any religious or moral objection they cared to cook up without any mechanism in place to ensure that women in the plans receive contraception. Just days later, Notre Dam…
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…oting a pro-abortion ideology. And, in the type of take-no-prisoners, fact-free rhetoric that has become all-to-familiar in the age of Trump, anti-Girl Scout activists have spread the rumor that the proceeds of sales of Girl Scout cookies go to fund Planned Parenthood. The national Girl Scouts organization says it takes no position and provides no materials on issues of human sexuality, abortion or contraception, and has no relationship with Plann…
Read More…go down that path again. “I’m running to be a leader for all Kansans, so that we can continue our legacy as a Free State, where discrimination and bigotry – against anyone – is not tolerated.” Why is this so good (or at least why am I so excited by it)? Let me count the ways: It’s true. Check the Holland site for the citations, which are difficult to refute. Lou Engle has horrible politics. Brownback should have his judgment questioned for hangin…
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…al refrain proffered over and over again, I was certifiably interested in what perceptions informed this logic to the point that so many people were convinced they were not just right, but also the moral superior in the argument. Far too often, American Christianity encourages its members to retreat into foxholes, digging ever deeper toward a vainglorious pursuit of moral superiority. The implied tone of those criticizing Osteen was that this real…
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