Blog Profile / On Faith: Guest Voices
| URL : | http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/guest-voices | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Religion | |
| Posts on Regator: | 1131 | |
| Posts / Week: | 10 | |
| Archived Since: | April 20, 2011 | |
Blog Post Archive
Accommodating religious freedom
Let’s start the New Year with a conundrum as old as the Republic: When religious convictions clash with secular laws, how far should government go to accommodate religious claims of conscience? Read full article >>
The ‘war on women’ meets social media
At the very beginning of 2013, Republicans are demonstrating they learned nothing from the defeats handed to them by their “War on Women” in 2012. The GOP-dominated House of Representatives, at the end of the abysmal 112th Congress, failed to reauthorize the comprehensive Violence Against Women Act.. Read full article >>
Women at the Western Wall
It’s usually quite easy to get lost in the winding, cobbled lanes of Jerusalem’s Old City. But not when you’re headed to the Western Wall on Friday evening, the evening of the Jewish Sabbath. Entering from Jaffa Gate, all you need...Show More Summary
The Antichrist next door
Proximity to a target often removes its appeal, especially when antichrists are involved. Perhaps Michele Bachmann dissed her Lutheran denomination’s notion of a papal Antichrist through friendships with Roman Catholics. A pervasiveShow More Summary
When Catholicism was kind
Putting Pope Paul VI on the path to sainthood struck some as a surprise. Born as Giovanni Battista Montini, Pope Paul brought the Second Vatican Council to conclusion, and was often--and inconsistently--perceived as either ineffectual or obstructionist--a “Hamlet” suffering in the Vatican as a confused Catholic Church suffered throughout the world. Read full article >>
Scott Lively gets his day in court
Is there anything extremist right-wing preachers won’t blame on LGBT people? After the Newtown shooting, James Dobson listed tolerance of gay marriage as one of the reasons God’s punishment was directed at a bunch of first graders. And...Show More Summary
As HHS birth control mandate comes into effect, religious freedom flounders
The travesty of the Health and Human Services mandate in the Affordable Care Act continues to rankle. The mandate requires employers to underwrite for employees contraceptives, including early abortion-inducing like Ella, and female sterilization through their insurance programs. The law is driving complainants of many religions to court. Read full article >>
A G-d for all people, religious or not
A recent Pew poll on religion that found one of six people on this earth—over a billion souls-- affiliate with no religious group whatsoever. What about G-d? He seems not to have weighed in on this wholesale snub. Why is he acting as if he doesn’t care? Read full article >>
Hope after Russia’s adoption ban: Adopting justice
Most guys I know love that scene in the movie “Braveheart” where William Wallace rides in front of the army of Scotland and basically says that they (the English) can kill us, but they will never take our freedom. Mel Gibson’s character’s impassioned speech accented by blue war paint triggers deep emotions within men to champion justice. Read full article >>
The Islam women were promised
The horrific and heartbreaking news from India is tragic enough on its own: two alleged victims of gang rape have died, one a 23-year-old woman who succumbed to her wounds and a 17-year-old girl who took her own life after being pressured to marry one of her alleged attackers. Read full article >>
Peace begins in the gay-friendly home
As the new year begins, our list of threats to world peace includes the usual suspects: poverty, hunger, disease, environmental degradation, the availability of devastating weaponry and sectarian violence. To this list, Pope Benedict XVI would like to add our neighbor Bob. Read full article >>
A new year in Christ: 8 new ways to live
Welcome to the holiday hangover. One more helping of optimism served with a dose of regret is the typical prescription…otherwise known as New Year’s resolutions. In the world of marketing, this time of year is known as the “new year, new you” phenomenon, and you’ll see evidence all over the place. Show More Summary
2013: The year without fear?
We are not going to be able to address a gun culture that makes the United States the most heavily armed nation in the world, unless we also counter a fear culture that is deeply emotionally rooted in our society. Read full article ...
Keeping the faith: 2012 in gay rights victories
While sorting through the mounds of religious rubbish that littered the US of A during the 2012 election cycle, I found a few underreported gems. The end-of-year reports compiled by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)...Show More Summary
A spiritual New Year
The new year is about rebirth, which seems too hard to think about, much less achieve. If it’s hard to keep conventional resolutions (lose ten pounds, quit smoking, pay off the credit card), how much harder to promise yourself “become new again”? But actually, a spiritual resolution is easier. Show More Summary
Wolpe: List reminds us fight against hatred of Jews must remain alive
Last week, the Simon Wiesenthal Center released its 2012 list of top ten list of anti-Semitic/anti-Israel slurs at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles wrote the following in response to annual list. Read full article >>
Watch Night: The ‘moment when memory becomes hope’
In all the years I attended Watch Night services on New Year’s Eve in African American churches, I never knew its origins. I only recently learned that it originated with African Americans awaiting the New Year when the Emancipation Proclamation would take effect. Read full article >>
‘Rise of the Guardians’ fantasy-adventure film: A secularist tale
I’m always amazed and grateful of secularist attempts at retelling Christian truths to make them more “palatable” to members of that community. This may sound like I’m being facetious but I’m actually being serious. Guillermo del Toro and Dreamworks Productions have produced an outstanding, visually-rich and entertaining film in “Rise of the Guardians.” Read full article >>
America mirrors global godless trend
For years, we’ve heard how the world is much less religious than America, and that America is a bit of an outlier when it comes to the relationship between economic development of a country and the religiosity of its citizens. Read full article >>
A new birth: Faith and equality for LGBT youth, families and the nation
This season, Americans of all religious stripes this year may have to admit to their children that they’ve been perpetrating an untruth. At a time when we’re told not to forget the “reason for the season,” many must close the door on...Show More Summary