NewsTrust - Religion - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Mainstream)

Let’s just say it: The Republicans are the problem.

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Thomas E. Mann, Norman J. Ornstein - Apr. 29 (Opinion) - Rep. Allen West, a Florida Republican, was recently captured on video asserting that there are “78 to 81” Democrats in Congress who are members of the Communist Party. Of course, it’s not unusual for some renegade lawmaker from either side of the aisle to say something outrageous. What made West’s comment — right out of the McCarthyite playbook of the 1950s — so striking was the almost complete lack of condemnation from Republican congressional leaders or other major party figures, including the remaining presidential candidates. It’s not that the GOP leadership agrees with West; it is that such extreme remarks and views are now taken for granted.

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We Are All Nuns

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Nicholas D. Kristof - Apr. 28 (Opinion) - Look at the pope and at the nuns he’s cracking down on. Who’s more like Jesus?

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The instructive timing of the crackdown on nuns - She The People - The Washington Post

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Melinda Henneberger - Apr. 20 (Opinion) - The ultra-traditionalists of Marcel LeFebvre's Society of St. Pius X are another step closer to being welcomed back into the fold .. the intent was to send the message that while schisms may come and go, feminism won't be tolerated.

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Learning to Respect Religion

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Nicholas D. Kristof - Apr. 07 (Opinion) - The latest wave of respectful atheist writing strikes me as a healthy step toward nuance.

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Has Limbaugh Identified the G.O.P.’s Woman Problem?

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

New Yorker - By Amy Davidson - Mar. 04 (Opinion) - Hint: it's got something to do with money. On Friday, President Obama called a law student at Georgetown to tell her not to take it to heart that Rush Limbaugh had called her a prostitute. “What was really personal for me was that he said to tell my parents that they should be proud,” the student, Sandra Fluke, who, needless to say, is not a prostitute, told Andrea Mitchell, of MSNBC. Is anyone proud of Rush Limbaugh—even anyone in his own party? Before answering, one should read his full remarks about Fluke, who had been a potential witness in a hearing, convened by Republicans, on health-care coverage for contraception at institutions with religious connections. (Georgetown is Jesuit.) On Wednesday, Limbaugh called her “a slut”

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Focus on Social Issues Could Shape Battle for Women

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Richard W. Stevenson - Feb. 24 (Opinion) - There are any number of ways in which the politics of culture wars might play out, but perhaps the biggest question is the degree to which the new attention on social issues might shape the battle for one of the most important electoral swing groups: moderate and independent women voters.

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santorum wants to impose "judeo-christian sharia

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

CNN - By Dean Obeidallah - Jan. 05 (Opinion) - There are two Rick Santorums: The first one I might not agree with, but the second one truly scares me.

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Gingrich to gay voter: Support Obama

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

CBS News - By Newt Gingrich - Dec. 21 (Interview) - Newt Gingrich agreed Tuesday with a Iowan voter who identified himself as gay that he should support President Obama again in 2012. "If that's what's most important to you then you should support Obama."

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Romney's Making the Right Play in Iowa

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By By NATE SILVER - Nov. 22 (Opinion) - Jeff Zeleny’s weekend story about how Mitt Romney’s campaign will exert more rather than less effort in Iowa deserves your attention. It reflects what is perhaps the most important strategic decision that any Republican candidate will make this year. Mr.

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The Birth Control Solution

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Nicholas D. Kristof - Nov. 03 (Opinion) - Family planning is crucial to solving poverty, climate change and other issues. And don’t worry: contraceptives don’t cause sex.

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France, Islam and the banlieues: a debate on the place of Islam and class in the suburbs

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Michèle Tribalat, Gérard Mauger - Nov. 01 (Opinion) - In an effort to allay concerns about Islam in France, policymakers and analysts have either tried to play down its importance or sought to blend it into the landscape. Islam is often portrayed as an integral part of French history: its presence simply follows on from ancient history. The basis for this argument is shaky, for it refers to an era when Christendom – not yet referred to as the west – was in retreat, driven back by the force of Islamic arms.

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No expert on religion - Washington Post

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 02:26:40 -0700

Washington Post - Oct. 05 - No expert on religionWashington PostYet when it comes to the topic of religion, he exhibits a far less sophisticated comprehension, and his rants can come across mean-spirited. If he would only stick to science instead of veering into a domain where he is apparently not well-trained, ...and more »

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Unitarians are far from wishy-washy

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Rose McDonagh - Sep. 30 (Opinion) - In Springfield Missouri, The First Unitarian Universalist Church flies a rainbow flag to represent equality. "Every few months our flag is stolen, we have had graffiti written on our sidewalk and steps, and outdoor lights broken," Linda, the church administrator, tells me in an email. Sometimes, those angry at the congregation's stance on social issues have taken the bizarre step of turning up at the church and placing fake money in the collection plate scrawled with racist or homophobic notes. "I have a wallet full of them."

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Apocalyptic GOP Is Dragging Us Into a Civil War

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Rolling Stone - By Matt Taibbi - Sep. 12 (Opinion) - Lofgren's piece raises fascinating and terrifying questions about the future of our political system and the increasing possibility that we are headed toward something like a civil war, or a constitutional crisis. Lofgren, in describing the reasons for his defection from the Republican party, describes a Republican camp that increasingly acts not like a traditional peacetime political organization, but more like an apocalyptic cult or one of the authoritarian movements from early 20th century European history.

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The Republicans are now the anti-science party

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Paul Krugman - Sep. 04 (Opinion) - Jon Huntsman Jr, a former Utah governor and ambassador to China, isn't a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination. And that's too bad, because Mr Hunstman has been willing to say the unsayable about the Republican party in the United States, namely, that it is becoming the "anti-science party". This is an enormously important development. And it should terrify us. To see what Mr Huntsman means, consider recent statements by the two men who actually are serious contenders for the Republican nomination: Rick Perry and Mitt Romney.

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Scientists: Aliens May Punish Our Species for Climate Change

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Atlantic Monthly - By Megan Mcardle - Aug. 19 (Opinion) - Via Jonathan Adler, I see that a group of scientists doing "scenario analysis" on the potential outcomes of human contact with extra-terrestrial intelligence is worried that global warming will encourage those aliens to wipe us out: The authors warn that extraterrestrials may be wary of civilisations that expand very rapidly, as these may be prone to destroy other life as they grow, just as humans have pushed species to extinction on Earth. In the most extreme scenario, aliens might choose to destroy humanity to protect other civilisations.

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2 Dads, 2 Daughters, 1 Big Day

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Frank Bruni - Jul. 21 (Opinion) - Even in a city as diverse as New York and a neighborhood as progressive as the West Village, a little kid knows that having two dads is different. Eight-year-old Maeve certainly did.

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Why Gay Marriage is Good for America

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Newsweek - By Andrew Sullivan - Jul. 18 (Opinion) - You can have as many debates about gay marriage as you want, and over the last 22 years of campaigning for it, I’ve had my share. You can debate theology, and the divide between church and state, the issue of procreation, the red herring of polygamy, and on and on. But what it all really comes down to is the primary institution of love. The small percentage of people who are gay or lesbian were born, as all humans are, with the capacity to love and the need to be loved. These things, above everything, are what make life worth living

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Sudan split was 'over-simplified' by media

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Aljazeera - By Ali M Latifi - Jul. 10 (Opinion) - For many directly affected by the world's longest-running civil war, the Sudanese conflict has been over-simplified in the Western press as inter-religious or inter-ethnic strife. "The media tried to make us look like Jafar in Aladdin," says Khalid Albaih, a Sudanese political cartoonist. "Everyone looks alike [in Sudan], the Arabs and the Africans," he adds. John Prendergast, human rights activist and co-founder of the Enough project, told Al Jazeera: "One should not overplay this idea of north versus south or Christian versus Muslim." While Moez Ali, a Sudanese blogger and political commentator, said the conflict was an issue of disenfranchisement of a people "who were never given an agenda in the government" throughout the nation's 55-year history. Since independence in 1956, "a small group of people in power in Khartoum used race and religion to divide and conquer," says Prendergast. This conflict was further exacerbated in 2004 when the Khartoum government, headed by Omar al-Bashir, made a bid to control the oil and water resources of the south, he adds.

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The Supreme Court closes the door to justice

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Erwin Chemerinsky - Jul. 06 (Opinion) - Has the Supreme Court lost faith in the American court system? That is a strange question to ask about the justices who sit at the top of the country's judicial hierarchy. But in case after case in the just-completed term, the court, usually in 5-4 decisions with the conservatives in the majority, denied access to the courts.

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Religion strikes back at Brazil's gay culture

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Vincent Bevins - Jul. 02 (Opinion) - Brazilians tend to be fairly liberal on the issue of others' sexuality, but gay rights are threatened by a growing evangelical movement Despite a little sub-tropical rain, the world's largest gay pride parade, in São Paulo, went off spectacularly. It received broad public support, and no less a figure than Stephen Fry joined a colourful group of revellers who have much to celebrate. The supreme court had just officially recognised the rights of same-sex unions to the privileges held by heterosexual couples, and another judge soon after signed off on the country's first full-fledged gay marriage. One aspect of the celebrations, however, ignited controversy. The city's main avenue was decorated with posters , designed by an HIV prevention group, that featured 12 barely clothed male models, styled as Catholic saints, but with come-hither looks and the caption: "Not even a saint can save you. Use a condom." The group says the aim was education, but it was hard not to see the campaign as an ...

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Argument, Truth and the Social Side of Reasoning

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Gary Gutting - Jun. 30 (Opinion) - In a recent discussion about reasoning, one point was overlooked: Knowledge of the truth is a social process. Philosophers rightly think of themselves as experts on reasoning. After all, it was a philosopher, Aristotle, who developed the science of logic. But psychologists have also had some interesting things to say about the subject. A fascinating paper by Dan Sperber and Hugo Mercier has recently generated a lot of discussion.

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Gay Marriage: Where’s Mr. Obama?

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - Jun. 27 (Editorial) - On Thursday night, when same-sex marriage in New York State was teetering on a razor’s edge, President Obama had a perfect opportunity to show the results of his supposed evolution on gay marriage.

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Positive Disruption

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Roger Cohen - Jun. 23 (Opinion) - Even in the men’s room at Google’s sprawling New York offices there’s no respite from the cascade of new ideas feeding the behemoth. Rather than gaze into space, I found before my eyes messages about “signal widgets” and the implication of hav

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Atheist confab in Ireland comes as Europe confronts religion in public life

Sat, 04 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Christian Science Monitor - Jun. 04 - Atheist confab in Ireland comes as Europe confronts religion in public lifeChristian Science MonitorIn fact, faith seems to be on many European minds of late and questions of religion in public life have reentered political discourse here – from the French "burqa ban" to Ireland's antiblasphemy law to frequent complaints from Pope Benedict XVI about ...

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