Private colleges are in the limelight this week in the religious right’s war against gays. Earlier this week, the Seattle Times reported that Seattle Pacific University, a private Methodist-affiliated college, is suffering enrollment declines and shedding faculty and students because of its po[...]
Archive for the ‘Religion’ Category
August 29th, 2022 - 11:04 pm § in Religion
Toxic pastor loses job for toxic behavior
Matt Chandler, a Seattle native, was a Southern Baptist megachurch pastor in Texas (bio here). The history of the Southern Baptist denomination is rooted in support of slavery; in modern times, it’s an evangelical religion whose specific beliefs and preaching somewhat varies among member churc[...]
August 26th, 2022 - 4:36 pm § in Law and Courts, Religion
A Handmaid’s tale: Who really killed Roe v. Wade?
Roe v. Wade was overturned by a single vote. The case that overturned it was decided 6-3, but Chief Justice Roberts only concurred in reversing the lower court decision on narrower grounds, and wasn’t in favor of completely scrapping Roe v. Wade. Without Amy Cony Barrett’s vote, Roe v. W[...]
Are “In God We Trust” posters in schools really a problem?
“Civil rights advocates are ringing alarm bells about officials distributing ‘In God We Trust’ posters in Texas schools after a state law took effect requiring public campuses to display any donated items bearing that phrase,” the Guardian reported on Sunday, August 21, 2022 [...]
Seattle Pacific U. sues for right to discriminate against gays
Seattle Pacific University, a private Christian college, sued the Washington attorney general on Wednesday, July 27, 2022, to halt an investigation of its hiring practices. SPU doesn’t hire LGBQT faculty or staff. In May, its trustees reaffirmed that policy, triggering protests by faculty and [...]
Prominent Christian nationalist says Jews aren’t welcome in GOP
Andrew Torba (photo, left), an alt-right social media figure, argues Jews must be excluded from the conservative movement. “We don’t want people who are Jewish,” he said. “This is an explicitly Christian movement because this is an explicitly Christian country.” Actuall[...]
Objective Truth v. Subjective Belief
This is the battle of the new century, and it’s not going well for the good guys. It feels like 1940, struggling to hold the beachheads in England and Dunkirk (but, as you’ll recall, the good guys won that one; the lesson being to never give up the good fight, no matter how dark the [&he[...]
Will the Supreme Court destroy the rule of law?
The Supreme Court’s new conservative majority appears to be as reckless as the president who appointed them. In just the last 10 days, “the court has gutted limits on gun possession, severely weakened the wall between church and state, and taken away a right that has existed for nearly 5[...]
How abortion mixes church and state
Catholic doctrine insists if an abnormal fetus will kill its mother, and it’s “it or her,” both must die. That’s because, in the Pope’s thinking (and in the Church, nobody else’s thinking counts), the fetus is “absolutely innocent” whereas the mother i[...]
The GOP’s plan to prevent mass shootings
More prayer. Their one-page legislative program is reproduced below. This post is short because there’s nothing else to report from their side of the aisle. For a sampling of Republican lawmakers’ anguished tweets following the Uvalde, Texas, school massacre go here. Finally, to those wh[...]