Religion Dispatches
In continuing to oppose women’s ordination the pope argues that something has to be revealed in order for it to be done; but that we don’t do it so it must not have been revealed. A cursory examination of change on Catholic views of the death penalty and usury make quick mincemeat of that argument. Revelation provides direction toward increased justice; it’s not a checklist of historical givens.
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O’Reilly and Dugard’s interpretation of the gospels in Killing Jesus was motivated by the same politics of resentment that Trump inherited from the Tea Party—a politics of fiscal, ethnic/racial, and religious conservatism.
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Concerned as we rightly are about the immediate human cost of Lori Gilbert Kaye’s awful murder and the trauma inflicted on the Poway and national Jewish communities, hardly anyone has delved into the theological causes behind Earnest’s actions, as confused as they may be.
Read MoreGiven the ease with which the discontinuation of this policy was accomplished—two pages, three signatures—it’s worthwhile to ask: why now?
Read MoreThe truth is that the ”forced-birth” mentality of those determined to eliminate abortion access is far closer to the Nazi philosophy of dehumanization and oppression.
Read MoreCatholicism is usually seen as being at the forefront of the anti-choice movement that would take moral freedom away from the pregnant person and consign it to male-dominated churches, legislatures, and courts. But a 15th century saint reveals that it was not always so.
Read MoreWhile TST is not the first Satanic organization to obtain this status, it is the first group that clearly intends to deploy this status in legal challenges. TST’s demands for equal treatment under the law are going to be much harder to dismiss from here on out.
Read MoreIn 2010 the district court correctly decided that the National Day of Prayer violated the First Amendment: “Its sole purpose is to encourage all citizens to engage in prayer, an inherently religious exercise that serves no secular function.” On appeal, the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did not disagree—it couldn’t—but it tossed the case.
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In right-wing circles, theories about cultural Marxism in the era of Trumpism come entangled with other anti-Semitic theories, often arguing that George Soros and a shadowy “globalist” cabal are working to dissolve national borders and sovereignty into a totalitarian-communist “New World Order.”
Read MoreIf we do rebuild it, will we keep the supersessionist imagery that was fundamental to medieval Christianity—and to anti-Semitism as well? At the very least, artists, architects, historians, theologians, and—yes—politicians ought to grapple with, rather than unthinkingly follow, the instincts of one deeply unpopular president.
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