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Turn On The News: This Isn’t a Split, It’s a Tiny Sliver of Conservatives Walking Out the Door — Introducing A New Media Criticism Column

…If you’re a media type who feels unnecessarily or unfairly skewered, feel free to respond at dan@religiondispatches.org with your side of the story. If you’ve got a point I’ll say so in print. (If you don’t, I may note that as well.) Readers are also welcome to send perspectives, tips, or suggestions. It’ll be like Rod Dreher’s mailbox—except not made up. Meeting the critical moment requires answering basic questions: Is a particular story accura…

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The Awkward Silence in the Wake of Jacob Neusner’s Passing

…ment was the greatest gift. Because he never claimed me as his, I remained free. In the years after I entered the academy, Jacob Neusner never acknowledged or responded to any of my scholarly work, although there were many times when I would have loved a response, any sliver of recognition. But in the end, I was one of the lucky ones. I’ve had a career all my own. Since I left Brown, I’ve been beholden to no one. Without him, I’ve been free to cul…

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Everything Was Better When We Had God In Our Schools

…n idyllic places, largely free from the type and extent of violence we see today. Sure, there were the occasional schoolyard fights, but those are a far cry from the premeditated, high-fatality attacks that are seemingly becoming all too common these days. God was allowed in our schools, and the safety of our kids was proof of God’s favor. The problem is that gun violence has been a feature of school life in the United States since the latter half…

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Does God Hate Health Care? How About Public Schools? Or Bridges?

…or Mormon anti-state conservatism is the idea that these programs mitigate freedom of choice. Mormon theology holds that the purpose of human existence is the free exercise of human agency—the ability to choose—so that men and women can learn by experience and prepare themselves to share in the glory of God. Of course, this emphasis on agency never hindered the nineteenth-century Mormon practices of economic communitarianism. But early twentieth-c…

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When Religion is a Refuge for Scoundrels: ‘Ryan Budget’ Edition

…undamentalism.” That encyclical included clear and direct criticism of the free-market fundamentalism at the heart of attempts to dismantle financial reform: The conviction that the economy must be autonomous, that it must be shielded from ‘influences’ of a moral character, has led man to abuse the economic process in a thoroughly destructive way. In the long term, these convictions have led to economic, social and political systems that trample u…

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Gambian Voters Reject Anti-Gay Strongman Jammeh; Activists Ponder Trump Impact on LGBT Human Rights; Global LGBT Recap

…s a member of the European countries that share common values, such as the free movement of people together with their families.” She said she was confident that the European court would consider free movement “a fundamental right” and recognize a husband regardless of the sex of his partner. Opposition to same-sex relationships is often fierce in Romania, where homosexuality was only decriminalized in 2002. Religious groups want the constitution…

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“We All We Got”: The Black Church As an Oasis in Baltimore’s Food Deserts

…nd their well-being at heart. With thousands of children going without the free or reduced lunches they depended on for a midday meal, it was a handful of churches and members of the community that would feed them breakfast and lunch. Meanwhile, national chain luxe-grocer Whole Foods would instead provide food for the National Guardsmen deployed by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan to “maintain order.” People of color in cities such as Baltimore or Flin…

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Is Accreditation of Religious Institutions a “Farce”?

…oard of overstepping the First Amendment and infringing on their rights to free religious exercise and free speech.” Among the colleges and seminaries that spurn regional accreditation, many justify their decision by citing freedom from governmental oversight, a position compatible with the conservative mentality often dominant at such institutions. Ideologically consistent, this claim has the ancillary benefit of helping its makers dodge the cost…

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The Islamophobia Dodge of the Religious Freedom Pledge

…tian. What’s more, though, is how Christian candidates who’ve done much to promote a lack of religious freedom for other religions (e.g., Michele Bachmann’s worry that sharia will “usurp the Constitution” or Newt Gingrich’s calls to ban sharia law because it is “a comprehensive political, economic and religious movement that seeks to impose sharia—Islamic law—upon all aspects of global society”) or who have done little to tamp it down (e.g., Rick…

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“Even the Rich Suffer”: An Interview with Google’s Jolly Good Fellow Chade-Meng Tan

…r is “no.” Look at the rich countries of Europe; look at America. They are free from material suffering, yet still they are suffering. Still, they don’t have peace. So what is needed on top of that is inner peace, inner joy, and compassion. Look at the problem from the reverse point of view: if we create inner peace, inner joy, and compassion, does that create world peace? No, because there are still people who are hungry; there are still people i…

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