Mollie Hemingway

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The universal problem of religious freedom

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We’ve looked at a bit of the coverage of the Swiss ban on the construction of minarets — the spires on mosques that are sometimes used for the call to prayer. Earlier this month, I noted a single story that looked at how religious freedom is handled in some Muslim countries. Many stories didn’t bother to mention the issue even while they covered the outrage toward the Swiss ban from various leaders in these Muslim countries. Reader Mike Hickerson asked:


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The long arm of Sayyid Qutb

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A few days ago we looked at some of the coverage of the American men arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of ties to terrorism. I thought one of the most interesting angles — one I hoped we’d see more coverage of — was that the Council on American-Islamic Relations said they’d put the families of the men in touch with the FBI. It wasn’t that long ago that CAIR was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation trial. That trial dealt with the funding of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Hamas Party in Palestine.


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The missing motivation

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When the House of Representatives passed the Stupak amendment preventing federal tax dollars from being used to fund or subsidize abortions, it was hard to find a story that didn’t mention the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. That group, and several other organizations that oppose abortion, had worked for months to ensure passage of such an amendment. We’d been encouraging more reportage on abortion funding for months. But when the drama in the House happened, where they only passed the overall legislation because the Stupak amendment passed, I figured we’d see some good coverage of abortion politics as we moved to the Senate.


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Beer and Muslim terror

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What is it about Muslim terrorism and northern Virginia? Five men — ranging in age from late teens to mid-20s — from the suburbs near here were arrested in Pakistan and authorities are questioning them about links to terrorism.


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It's the most horrible time of the year

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The Associated Press’ Patrick Condon has a story with a great headline — “Atheists at Christmas: Eat, drink and be wary.” It’s all about how uncomfortable the Christmas season is for some avid non-believers and is a good follow-up to Eric Gorski’s recent piece on atheist groups on college campuses. Here’s how the Atheists at Christmas story begins:


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Some exclude better than others

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Back in 2004, a Christian student group was denied recognition at the University of California’s Hastings College of Law because it required its officers and voting members to uphold certain Christian teachings. The school said that the group couldn’t discriminate on the basis of religious belief.


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Pray the flu away

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When I became a parent, I was introduced to a world with a lot of fighting. Not between my husband and me — we get along great. But there can be some pretty serious fights in the Mommy Wars. These range from whether mothers should work outside the home to whether they should breastfeed exclusively. And one of the fiercest debates is over vaccination.


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