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The Tea Party, the Blind Man, and the Elephant: Part 1

By Julie Ingersoll

…the shop he could have a free sub. Now the place hosts (and I mean hosts: free wings and sausage and their locally-famous sweet tea) a monthly tea party meeting. I’ll admit to being put off when a few weeks back the character of the sign changed: it said “a red-neck, Bible thumping (something or other) owns this joint,” making me feel generally unwelcome. Last night there were over 100 people there. When one speaker asked how many were “new” near…

It’s Not “Inappropriate” for Public School Teacher to Tell Class that Obama Isn’t Christian

By Joseph Laycock

…discuss important controversial topics and that schools must be “religion free zones.” Superintendent Ledbetter announced that he’s considering more diversity and sensitivity training for teachers. He also sent a certified letter to the parents explaining that the incident will not happen again and that Nancy Perry is retiring. A local NBC affiliate reported, “The superintendent believes it goes back to a basic lesson: don’t talk politics or reli…

Archbishop Drops the Girl Scouts Amid Alarmist Rhetoric and Fake Accusations

By Patricia Miller

…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…

Muslim Beard Decision was a Boost for “Religious Liberty” Advocates

By Kara Loewentheil

…determining whether or not a regulation is actually a burden on someone’s free exercise rights. And because of the way the doctrine works, it’s harder for the government to satisfy the rest of the test once the burden has been established. Part of that low bar is due to the fact that the opinion continues the slippage between the concepts of sincere religious belief and substantial burden that were evident in Hobby Lobby as well. The Court notes…

Religious Right Reax to SCOTUS: “A Spiritual 9/11”

By Peter Montgomery

…on’s Peter Morales announced that UUA ministers will celebrate by offering free weddings in all 50 states and DC during a 48-hour marathon on July 11 and 12. The United Church of Christ declared that the denomination, gathering in its General Synod, will “celebrate marriage equality live never before – because now it can.” The National Council of Jewish Women was among progressive groups who looked ahead to working on equality for LGBT people, who…

‘Son Worry’ and the Hypocrisy of the ‘Purity’ Movement

By Patricia Miller

…apply to their sons, only to their daughters. That their sons should have free rein to let “boys be boys” or to “sow their wild oats” went hand-in-hand with the idea that chaste girls wouldn’t have to worry about such boys because their own sexual experimentation would be heavily policed. So the so-called “son panic” is really anger that their sons are no longer free to do whatever they want and get away with it—as long as they “do it” to the rig…

The Non-Existent Tea Party-Religious Right God Gap

By Sarah Posner

…ek at the Values Voters Summit. Here, I heard a lot of talk about economic freedom, the supposedly free-spending, monstrous, socialist government, and about the wonders of free enterprise. Most people hear that, and they think, what happened to the God talk? These people must be trying to appeal to the largely secular tea parties. But it’s there. While many tea partiers might come to a rally with an entirely secular objection to what they call “bi…

Book Burning and the Scapegoating of Islam

By Eric Reitan

…the West, book burning has come to symbolize the totalitarian rejection of free expression—a desire to enforce conformity of thought. While there is no doubt that something like this is going on with Terry Jones and his church (not to mention Phelps), there is another symbolic meaning that is more ancient and, I suspect, more instructive. I have in mind the symbolism of making burnt offerings to supernatural powers. Rene Girard is a philosopher wh…

Trump’s Fear and Loathing Won’t Silence The Nation’s Sole LGBT Muslim Organization

By Omar Sarwar

…e very survival of minority communities. As MASGD puts it, “none of us are free until all of us are free.” To get a sense of what motivates MASGD’s activism, particularly in the current political atmosphere, I interviewed four pioneers of the American LGBT Muslim movement: Faisal Alam, Urooj Arshad, Raquel E. Saraswati, and Tynan Power. These leaders are members of MASGD’s Steering Committee, and were gracious enough to discuss with me their appre…

Junior Falwell Unmasked Conservatism; Let’s Thank Him For It

By John Stoehr

…sed to secede from the Union. Winston County, Alabama, declared itself the Free State of Winston. Unionist farmers and woodsmen in Jones County, Mississippi, declared the Free State of Jones.” By February 1864, Davis despaired: “Public meetings of treasonable character, in the name of state sovereignty, are being held.” Thus states’ rights as an ideology was contradictory and could not mobilize the white South for the long haul. What mobilized the…