Religion Dispatches
…Islam is in our world—Muslims are the world’s youngest religion (by age), number nearly one-fourth of humanity, and live all over the planet—what good do we imagine Islamophobia will do for America? Islamophobia claims to tell the truth about Islam, free of bigotry and political correctness, but it does no such thing. Its only real legacy is one of bad foreign policy choices, too many incidents of domestic discord, all kinds of missed opportuni…
Read More…tional values under the guise of cultural pluralism, critical inquiry, and free speech. The National Catholic Register called the black mass “a Faustian bargain between Satan worship and academic freedom.” Oklahoma house member Rebecca Hamilton argued that it demonstrated why, “Harvard and its little troupe of elite schools are not healthy for this country.” She suggests that government research grants should be removed from Harvard and given to “…
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…ture. The connection is that we support this concept called “morphological freedom,” which is the basis of the movement and the party. Morphological freedom is where you can do anything you want with your body so long as it doesn’t hurt somebody else. And when it concerns science and technology, the more you do, the better. Morphological freedom is an attractive concept, and I agree that we should be open to thinking about new relationships betwee…
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…op a social and educational theory that could harmonize maximum individual freedom with maximum social solidarity. Durkheim was also in the intellectual elite, dedicated like all his colleagues to cultivating the most refined bourgeois values. Yet as an advocate of individual freedom and as a Jew with relatively newly-minted political rights, he also had to promote the democracy of the Third Republic against its ultra-nationalist conservative crit…
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…desh’s Hindus and other minorities from ongoing violence mandate religious freedom and human rights be at the forefront of the U.S. relationship with Bangladesh While the resolution is unlikely to come to the House floor for a vote (due to House Speaker John Boehner’s general refusal to vote on resolutions), it’s an important symbolic step towards recognizing that Bangladesh continues to fight the battles of yesterday with disastrous consequences…
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…ence of having to watch abusive white cops and other white terrorists walk free despite compelling evidence of wrongdoing. As in the case of the Senate’s vote on Saturday, white killers get to walk even when there is superabundant visual proof—in the form of videos and photographs—of murderous atrocities committed. Only an investment of religious proportions in the project of maintaining racist power at all costs can account for the adamant refusa…
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…icals could contribute to in other ways: the Secular Student Alliance, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Black Nonbelievers, the American Humanist Association, Hispanic American Freethinkers, American Atheists, the Center for Inquiry, Ex-Muslims of North America, and many more, including hundreds of amazing local groups that offer a more intimate and familiar community. Many of these local groups, such as the Atheist Community of Polk County (…
Read More…whole life. Having “tried everything” she went to this seminar and is “now free.” Gothard immediately follows the nail biting story with this conclusion: “so that means. . . conquering habits of sodomy 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…
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…mental health challenge as part of one’s life. I wanted to emphasize that freedom is often hard-won. The final chapter is now named “Free.” How do you feel about the cover? Initially, I resisted having my face on the cover of the book. When the publishers presented the idea to me, I gave them a list of all the memoirs without the author’s face on the cover. They gave me a comparable list of memoirs that have the author’s face on the cover. Betwee…
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…thout that context, is motivated by the same essence 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 liv…
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