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In Repudiation of its Devastating Doctrine of Discovery, Vatican Masks the History and Responsibility of Catholic Church

…f course, referring to the Trump administration’s policy, not to practices promoted and normalized by his own Church in the past.) But, unlike contemporary border politics, Indigenous assimilation policies have always been specifically about land dispossession. California missions were eventually secularized—and the land was given to settlers and settler institutions. And as historian Brenda Child established, boarding schools were always about fe…

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Evangelical Groundhog Day: The ‘Times’ Identifies the ‘Religious Fervor in the American Right’ — Around Four Decades Late

…capitalism and the military industrial complex and bore no resemblance to today’s praise songs. What did my friends and I do when we saw the photo of Jerry Falwell? We laughed. He seemed a buffoon, and we couldn’t believe that anyone would ever take him seriously. We had no idea what lay ahead. This all came back to me because of another article in the New York Times—a piece published on April 6—“The Growing Religious Fervor in the American Right…

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Does Religion Justify the Murder of Troy Davis? [Updated]

…eligious traditions. There are bloody, vindictive religious traditions (as today’s not-so-new atheists insist on reminding us), and there are those which soften the human tendency toward vengeance and violence. Religion does not have the answer, because it has all the answers, the right and the wrong. Religion is less a glossary of terms (justice means this, righteousness that) than a grammar, a framework for moral reasoning. It is a language in w…

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Unquestioned Support for Israel Wasn’t Always the Way for Conservative Christians

…of this political and theological pluralism challenges the assumption that today’s Christian Zionism has been a unified and de facto stance for even the most right-wing of American Christians. After Israel’s creation in 1948, U.S. Christians were generally more concerned with the humanitarian crisis facing displaced and dispossessed Palestinians than with Israel’s significance to Christian eschatology. This concern wasn’t only informed by reports…

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Hicksters, Stickers, and Affection: Why I Left D.C. for the Family Farm

…llic to the young, well-educated, and the restless masses of yesterday and today. But not many of us are seek employment alongside migrant laborers because of the near constant physical pain and discomfort, regular exposure to toxic chemicals, unsafe working conditions, and economic exploitation that almost certainly ensures that independence remains a dream. Working the land not necessarily the solution to breaking free from a life of “quiet desp…

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The Immorality of Immortality

…boredom? I wonder. Needless to say, to the extent that longevity research promotes ways to alleviate the suffering caused by debilitating diseases such as Altzheimer and Parkinson, they are all very beneficial. However, I also believe that all programs about extension of human life cannot be divorced from the deeper reflection about the purpose of human life. Such reflection seems to be missing from the transhumanist literature. One could object…

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Does Mormonism Encourage LDS People to Lie?

…that any Mormon who were to marry and cohabitate with a two living spouses today would be excommunicated. But polygamy has not been eliminated from Mormon life. (I’ve discussed this topic at length here.) The fact is that current Church policy does allow for a living man to be “sealed” (married for eternity) to more than one woman at a time. For example, a widower or divorced man who has elected to terminate his civil marriage but not his LDS temp…

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How Not to Oppose the National Day of Prayer

…U.S.C. § 119 from law. But this year the American Humanist Association is promoting an opposition effort that is fundamentally misguided. Rather than call for its elimination, the AHA wants the annual observance to be replaced by a new “National Day of Reason.” According to its official website, a National Day of Reason would, of course, “celebrate reason,” but it would also “raise public awareness about the persistent threat to religious liberty…

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Churches Can No Longer Hide the Truth: Daniel Dennett on the New Transparency

…hat’s a projection, and it’s based on the analysis of trends that are seen today. My suspicion is that they are underestimating the importance of this new transparency. It takes twenty years to grow a Baptist, and twenty minutes to lose one. And I think that people may be in for some real surprises in those areas. After all, it’s only been a decade or two that this has been an issue for Muslim children. Are they going to let their children have ce…

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Who Gets Paid to Make America Hate? The Roots of the Islamophobia Network

…more dangerous: A monied and sophisticated indifference to reality.  Islam today, science tomorrow. (No, wait; make that misrepresenting Islam and science today.)  We must keep in mind the effect this will have on our constitutional rights and freedoms.  Those who want to target the rituals and practices of a misunderstood religious community can very easily expand their target to other populations.   We’ve come too far as a country, in terms of t…

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