Religion Dispatches
…ing the most extreme version of the bill—the one that demotes Arabic as an official language, that deletes “equality” as a goal of the Jewish state, that grants the right of way to “Jewish” aspects of policy and secondary status to democratic principles, that opens the door to deporting non-Jews, in particular African asylum seekers, and to depriving Arabs of rights and privileges, and to neutering the Supreme Court as the last vestige of a check…
Read More…Catholic nation adopts ‘world’s most progressive’ gender identity law The officially Catholic nation of Malta has passed what BuzzFeed’s Lester Feder calls the world’s most progressive gender identity law. The law is the latest in a series of LGBT rights laws ushered in by the Labour Party after taking power in 2013, a dramatic about-face for the country which has aconstitution establishing Catholicism as the official religion. Catholic teachings…
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…s error, he adopted the great Buddhist lay-precept “do not take life,” and officially decreed the end to the practice of sport hunting throughout his entire kingdom. Manichaeans were closer to orthodox Christians in terms of theology and prophetology, but closer to Buddhists in terms of religious ethics and animal life. This is why the particular redacted Jātaka tales almost invariably address themes of human-animal interaction. The original Manic…
Read More…ted in the future,” Monsignor Rino Fisichella, the Vatican’s top bioethics official, told Associated Press Television News. “If we ascertain that it is for the good of all, of the environment and man in it, we’ll keep the same judgment,” he said. “If, on the other hand, the use of this discovery should turn against the dignity of and respect for human life, then our judgment would change.” Those in the science community say the accomplishment, whi…
Read More…you’ll never hear that verse cited. And with good reason. The changing of official, Church-authored chapter headings in the Book of Mormon signifies a contemporary LDS decertification (from the top of the food chain in Salt Lake City!) of the arcane folk belief that dark skin signifies accursedness. I found that significant when I wrote about it last week, and I still do. Baby steps? Absolutely. Will the Church change the text of the Book of Morm…
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…rable moments and struggles with anyone who would listen. And sorrow has visited the U2 family far too often this season. Bono narrowly escaped a bicycling accident in New York’s Central Park last November with his life (thank God for helmets) and may never play guitar again because of the damage done to his left arm during the crash. It was a hard-won physical rehabilitation that got the lead singer ready to return to the stage for the launch of…
Read More…peech. Newdow is arguing that the constitutionally mandated language of an official oath may not be altered willy-nilly, according to the personal quirks of conscience, or of religious belief, of a particular presidential office-holder. If the Framers did not say “God,” then neither should a US President. Why, then, am I not more enthusiastic about this threefold lawsuit? Because, as my title suggests, the political left needs to pick its battles…
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…oup of people, including inactive gang members, to silence Marcelo. How do officials claim he was murdered? The official police and attorney general’s word is that he got drunk and engaged in a bar fight with a bunch of gang members. Supposedly they hit him with a hammer and that’s what killed him. But Marcelo Rivera didn’t drink. Also, forensic evidence from the Legal Medicine (Medicina Legal) department in San Vicente establishes that the two ma…
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…web designer Lorie Smith, who had never been asked to design a wedding website at all, let alone one for a gay couple, was fretting over her theoretical right to discriminate against LGBTQ people due to sincerely held bigotry. In a highly unusual move, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, 303 Creative v. Elenis—and affirmed, in a 6-3 decision, the right of conservative Christian business owners to discriminate against LGBTQ people by denyin…
Read More…ife of these persons.” In nearly all cases, the first version followed the official Italian version in verbatim; the second provides a different tone altogether. In contrast, the Catholic News Agency argued that the original English translation was inaccurate. While the working report is not a final document, there is plenty of intrigue over who will be responsible for drafting that final document. While bishops elected conservatives to committees…
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