Religion Dispatches
…system. For businesses tied to the weather-closing status of the New York City Public Schools, there’s yet another ethical element. During one of New York’s worst storms—last year—Mayor de Blasio kept the schools open in horrendous travel conditions. One of the reasons given? Many children get their only hot meal of the day at school. We have to force kids to school so they can eat a square meal? And Zuccotti Park was cleared out years ago. A cit…
Read More…ize state family law with judgements of the federal courts. Meanwhile, the city council of Mexicali filed a legal motion challenging court orders against the city’s ban on marriage by same-sex couples. Iran: LGBT Activists respond to government’s response to UN human rights recommendations According to Human Rights Watch, the “human rights crisis” in Iran has worsened in recent years. The UN Human Rights Council voted March 27 “to renew the mandat…
Read More…stop the killings. The killings began in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, a Mahdi Army stronghold, and were then replicated by members of militia groups in many cities across Iraq. Mahdi Army spokesmen promoted fear about the “third sex” and the “feminization” of Iraqi men, as well as suggesting that militia action was the remedy. In 2012, militia members opened a second wave of attacks on people categorized as part of the “emo” subculture,…
Read More…on.” Mexico: Mexico City adds marriage equality to its constitution Mexico City’s legislature overwhelmingly approved an amendment to its constitution to recognize the right of LGBT people to be legally married, part of a broad recognition of the rights of vulnerable people to live free from violence and discrimination. Mexico City is not part of any Mexican state. A documentary about a same-sex couple getting married in the town of Mexicali in Ba…
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…round 75 different standards by which to pace their hours. Within a single city, a train leaving on one line at 3:45 could leave before a train leaving at 3:30 on a different line, because the two companies counted the minutes differently. Not surprisingly, railroad owners wanted a common currency of time, or at least a reliable way of making conversions. They got it. Gradually, cities and regions folded themselves into national and international…
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…equality ruling. The government of Hong Kong has appealed a ruling by the city’s high court that the city must provide spousal benefits to civil servants who married same-sex partners abroad. Alfred Chan, the South China morning post reported that the chairman of Hong Kong’s Equal Opportunities Commission, said he thinks he “can do better in terms of fighting for the legal protection and rights of sexual and ethnic minorities. When 11 parents wit…
Read More…meeting in a home for Bible study, as Rutherford implies. According to the city, it’s about a guy who built a church in his backyard under false pretenses, who regularly attracted as many as 80 people to his twice-a-week services, and who has been resisting for years requirements that he abide by basic building, fire, and zoning codes. So you go back to that Charisma story and the overblown rhetoric about religious persecution, and remind yourself…
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…ply isn’t good enough. At least one woman, who managed to get his unlisted number, screamed at him demanding that he confirm the miracle. While Marian apparitions always bring controversy, this is especially so in urban areas where neighbors rarely appreciate pilgrims blocking traffic and saying the rosaries at all hours of the night. City officials responded by noting that the statue’s enclosure, which was built without a permit, did not meet bui…
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…Utah awoke to a 5.7 magnitude earthquake that struck 10 miles outside the city. Fortunately, there appears to have been no loss of life, although there was some property damage throughout the area. The iconic Salt Lake City Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints faced only minor damage. The 12-foot angel standing on the building’s highest tower was shaken to such an extent that the trump once positioned to its lips was dislodge…
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…becoming such a horrible plague incubator that people traveling out of the city absolutely need to self-isolate for two weeks in their new location. With a stricken look on his face, poor Dr. Anthony Fauci was forced to stumble through an attempt to square the president’s Easter fantasy with sound medical practice; he offered the notion that there could be areas in the country with very few infection rates (now) where some churches might, in fact,…
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