Religion Dispatches
…of peace has been sitting in a drawer ready to be implemented for at least 15 years, and most of us think Christian Zionism is an impediment toward peace in the Middle East.” The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has reported that about 20 to 40 million Americans are Christian Zionists. “I would say the whole flier seems to me to be describing a stereotype of a Christian Zionist,” Brog said. “There are some Christian Zionists who are opposed…
Read More
…ly dismantled some of the speakers’ Leave it to Beaver idealizations of the 1950s as a time when women were universally protected). Though only just under 3,000 women have actually signed the document since its unveiling on October 11, the fact that it exists, and the campaign to gather such a large showing of public support, reveals something important about this movement: that its followers don’t view themselves simply as a remnant of polite, ch…
Read More…and much bitterer war (there’s no other name for it): the Kohler strike of 1954 to 1961 (not resolved until 1965). Magnate Herbert Kohler and his minions attempted to paint UAW Local 833’s striking members as vandals and thugs, but in fact it was the company that hired vigilantes, corrupted the county sheriffs, and bent political leaders to join its relentless campaign to destroy the union. All this is well-documented. UAW chief Walter Reuther, e…
Read More…contraceptive mandate will be small. But imagine a scenario where a larger number of employers seeks to escape a costly mandate, such as equal access to in vitro fertilization procedures for straight and gay couples, for supposedly religious reasons and hundreds flood HHS with generic opt-out letters that don’t identify a specific insurer. Or a future administration that is less dedicated to contraceptive access. It’s not hard to see how the lack…
Read More
…ts hostility. Opiyo notes that public opinion surveys show an overwhelming number of Ugandans believe homosexuality is inconsistent with Ugandan culture and religion, and the LGBTI people do not deserve to have their legal and constitutional rights protected. This harsh climate and these campaign tactics have inspired yet another rise in sentiment against L.G.B.T.I. people and emboldened the government’s resolve to enact laws that outlaw or severe…
Read More
…xious and fearful that their classmates “will look at them like aliens.” A number of religious leaders, including Mattson, spoke at the press briefing, which was one of the most highly attended press events relating to religion that I’ve seen — except for events hosted by religious right groups. Richard Cizik, president of the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good, speaking to evangelical Christians engaging in or promoting anti-Muslim b…
Read More…rci Bowers has worked with the program extensively. Clitoraid engaged in a number of fund raising projects, including an “Adopt a Clitoris” campaign and a number of partnerships with companies that make vibrators. This funding was used to recruit and fund a team of surgeons (who are not Raelians) and to establish a “pleasure hospital” in Burkina Faso. There is some controversy as to what percentage of women who undergo the surgery will be able to…
Read More
…the trait, many are like me (by the odds, each child of two carriers has a 1 in 4 chance of getting either two bad or two good copies of the gene, and a 1 in 2 chance of getting one bad and one good copy of the gene). And so it is. I am a direct descendant of Pentecostal pastors and natural selection! So, how does Darwin affect what I believe? I believe that my African ancestors unknowingly adapted to fight the good fight one more day. I believe…
Read More…upsurge. At the same time that anti-gay violence is growing in Africa, the number of African Christians, including Roman Catholics, continues to increase. Catholics now comprise twenty percent of the population of the entire continent, or 185 million people. It would, of course, be unfair to blame increasing anti-gay violence in Africa entirely, or even primarily, on the Roman Catholic Church, given the pivotal roles played in this crisis by some…
Read More
…elf. Two questions I have spent a lot of time thinking about over the last number of years is what form, structure, and expression the phenomenon we call “religion” will take in the future (that is, if “religion” is then still labeled as such); or, conversely, is there a future for religion (specifically formal, organized, institutionalized religion as we presently recognize it) in a rapidly globalizing, postindustrial and postmodern world? Back i…
Read More