Religion Dispatches
…r companies’ promotion of Big Tobacco, cigarette use in Russia and Eastern Europe has increased dramatically. For example, Carter reports that in 1992 “only 7 percent of Russian women smoked,” whereas that number “has more than tripled” (to 22%) since then. Further, according to Matthew Meyers of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, “Russia is facing a true public health crisis… [Big Tobacco’s impact on Russia] is directly correlated with skyrocket…
Read MoreIrish voters turned out in huge numbers on Friday and cast their votes 62 to 38 percent in favor of amending the country’s constitution to allow same-sex couples to marry, making the overwhelmingly Catholic country the first in the world to legalize marriage for same-sex couples through a national referendum. Trevor Gundy, writing for the Religion News Service just before the vote, had examined the decline of the Church’s power in Ireland. “Many…
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… as part of his attack upon immigration from Asia and Southern and Eastern Europe. Klan members of his age, likewise, linked the racial body of Jesus to their racial national view. Of course, other times, the imaging is unintentional or at least never spoken. When Mormons erected the Christus statue in the middle of the 1960s there was no direct discussion of this Christ’s race, face, or hair. But situated in its historical moment and in the theol…
Read More…The Cubit: In the future will we sue Tony Stark or Ultron? The shared assumption behind creationism and anti-GMO in Europe…
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…mmigrant hustle of old New York, some preindustrial culinary paradise, pre-European North America, or the eastern European shtetl, shortly before the arrival of the Enlightenment. And, as with Shapiro’s mammoths, you can only pull yourself into the past by using the techniques of the present and future. Hipster chic and paleo dieting couldn’t exist without the affluence and leisure delivered by an industrialized market economy. Both national parks…
Read More…tions more supportive of action to combat it than in the United States and Europe. “There’s a political will to do something about it,” he said, and “those transnational ties are influential to their [Latino immigrants to the U.S.’s] attitudes about it.” Francis, the first Latin American Pope, is from Argentina. Latino Catholics in the United States are also more likely to hear about climate change at church than their white counterparts, by an ey…
Read More…Crimes reports that police in Beirut are using messaging apps on the cell phones of arrestees to try to entrap other gay men. In related news, the smartphone app Grindr, which allows gay men to find each other, announced it would permanently disable an option that allowed people to see their distance from other users. There have been reports that police in Egypt and Iran have used Grindr to hunt and arrest gay men. Jamaica: Activist Drops Challen…
Read More…tarian operations in Uganda were already worth more than $2bn annually – a number which has doubtless grown – and they compete aggressively with secular NGOs to secure US government grants…. Evangelical groups’ close ties to Ugandan government leaders have cemented their influence in my country. Charismatic humanitarian pastors like Rick Warren and evangelical NGOs such as World Vision are increasingly invited to the official forums that help to s…
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…l violence? One could make the case. The Christian Crusades were a violent European military movement directed not only against infidels, but against people of color living outside the boundaries of Europe. That’s a parallel to the argument that I often hear among non-Muslims that Muslims were bent on a violent conquest against all infidels. But more to the point, many of the white supremacist groups in the US are united under the banner of “Chris…
Read More…identity.” In a press release, Evelyne Paradis, Executive Director of ILGA-Europe, said: “Today’s vote is particularly important as the religious extremists, anti-choice and other ultra-conservative groups organised a massive sabotage campaign against this report using lies and deliberately twisting the facts. But fortunately, the European parliamentarians demonstrated their clear commitment to the EU fundamental principle of equality, non-discrim…
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