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Are We Seeing the End of the ‘Good Arabs’ in Israel?

…alendar, there were riots in the ‘Al Aksa and Haram ‘al Sharif mosques in reaction to the impending Sheikh Jarrah evictions. The Israeli army responded by firing stun guns, rubber bullets, and tear gas on worshippers during their festival. Hamas then saw this as an opening to fire thousands of rockets into Israel. Israel responded with bombs of its own. Each claims the other started it, as if that matters. In short, déjà vu all over again. But thi…

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Gay, Black, and Quaker: History Catches Up with Bayard Rustin

…r King Jr. and as organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech) should have assured his place in American social and political history. But Rustin has long been denied his proper place—largely because he was an openly gay man. A Single Human Family In this centennial of his birth, Rustin’s work is taking on a renewed significance, as conservative (mostly religious) voices within t…

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Jesus, Santa, and Now Sound of Music‘s Mother Abbess?

…he Austria of 1938. It is a factual impossibility and respectful negative reaction to that represents not hate speech but a comment on 2013 political correctness run amok.” Really? One can easily point to the existence of the Sudan-born St. Josephine Bakhita, who was stationed at an Italian convent less than 200 miles from the Austrian border in 1938, to begin to refute such a claim. But the confidence with which detractors rejected the historical…

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Thanksgivukkah, With a Side of Christmas Envy

…can’t quite do: it fully grafts Jewish Americans into a story of America freedom, civic piety, and Norman Rockwell-ian family celebrations. Long ago, it seems, South Park featured the young Jewish character Kyle Broslowski singing “It’s hard to be a Jew on Christmas.” Though he ultimate reconciles himself to his Jewishness, he also bemoans his social position. “I can’t sing christmas songs or decorate a christmas tree, or leave water out for rudol…

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Andrew Sullivan is Right and Wrong on Racism, Romney, and the Book of Mormon

…originated, but certainly Young’s own racism—first fully on record in a speech to the Utah Territorial government in 1852—contributed to the end of black ordinations within the LDS Church. And Young’s racism was always based in biblical narratives of Cain and Ham, as was the racism of many other nineteenth-century white Christians. After the death of Brigham Young, LDS Church leaders debated the origins and rationale behind anti-black priesthood…

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An End to the “Gentleman’s Agreement” on Israel?

…and it’s as Israeli as the cellphone. Moreover, while East Jerusalem is indeed disputed territory, only in the parallel universe of the UN is that true of the western part of the city. No peace proposal, including the Arab Peace Initiative, includes a return to the 1947 partition plan. The notion that western Jerusalem is really disputed territory is pure diplomatic fantasy. A few weeks back, the Supreme Court weighed in. In an 8-1 decision, the c…

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Where are the Clergy? A Report from Occupy DC

…ide what the “important” issues are. Nonprofits providing social services—feeding or housing the homeless, helping unemployed with job hunting—are overwhelmed, with staffers working 50- to 60-hour weeks. His own participation “is not about me, I’m not like a lot of social justice people who come into a movement and are invested in taking it over so that donations can be brought to X,” said Merritt. “I was just more willing to come to offer whateve…

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Dreaming Beyond the Madman: Reflections on the Revolution in Libya

…the interest of Islamic solidarity, which is usually only honored in the breach, the Pakistani government had hoped to bring fellow Muslim states to its side. After Pakistan’s delegate made his presentation, the floor was opened to comments. The Iranian Ambassador was correct. Consider that sufficient introduction: the ambassador of Iran was made to seem sane, reasonable, and logical before the outpouring that the Libyan delegation accomplished. I…

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Romania’s “Witch Tax”: Magic Meets Bureaucracy

…on, and the World Bank. To close the deficit, new sources of revenue were needed. Last September, Alin Popoviciu and Cristi Dugulescu of the ruling Democratic Liberal Party drafted a law wherein all witches and fortune-tellers would have to produce receipts. More problematic was the law’s specification that witches would be held liable if any predictions they made failed to pass. The senate initially voted down the legislation and Popoviciu accuse…

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“The Gift of Gay”: Father Matthew Kelty, Confessor to Thomas Merton, Dies at 96

…nly came to mind when I learned that Father Matthew Kelty left this world peacefully at noon on Friday last. This is a great loss to those of us newly, and not-so-newly, arrived, and I wanted to try to explain why I think this is so. This remarkable monk spent fifty off-and-on years at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, where he was the last confessor that Thomas Merton ever had; and if that wasn’t enough to warrant further discussion, he was al…

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