Social Issues

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Religion and Afghan Star

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I don’t watch American Idol, but I think that if I lived in a foreign culture, that country’s version of the show would be a great place to learn about that particular society. This rather amazing Guardian story on Afghanistan’s Afghan Star television show gives readers a glimpse into a society that we generally only hear in the news when it relates to war, terrorism and international politics. As a reader noted, how often do we hear about the regular people from Afghanistan, the ones who have put up with multiple invasions, governments and a bleak future.


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Flash! Catholic clergy may disagree

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To disagree on an appropriate response to a tragedy, as a few Vatican church officials have done, is not to disagree on a core doctrinal belief. But the way the debate among high-ranking Vatican clerics has “gone public” may portend another, more interesting trend–the Pope’s willingness to allow sunlight in arenas formerly keep priviate.


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Obama and the pro-life left (again)

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For Christians in the West, Easter is not that far away and a strange combination of politicos and professional pew observers inside the DC Beltway are turning up the heat on the Obama family church watch.


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The real Big controversy

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I just finished watching this season’s second to last episode of HBO’s Big Love soap opera, and I believe there may be another hidden reason that the show makes Mormons uneasy. Much of the media’s attention has been on the fact that this episode portrayed a scene in a Mormon temple, however, the show did have one line that caught me: the main character expressly claimed that the Mormon church was just as corrupt as the show’s main antagonists who are practicing polygamy and generally in trouble with the law.


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Out of sorrow, a new unity?

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It hardly seems nine years since Roman Catholics and Protestant foes vowed to co-exist peacably with one another in the 1998 Good Friday agreement. Last week’s killing of a Catholic policeman and two British soldiers (two splinter I.R. A group’s claimed responsibility for the killings) could have threatened that peace.


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Irony in the Big apology

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There is some real irony in this week’s apology from HBO regarding their anticipated controversial portrayal of a Mormon temple’s “sacred endowment ceremony” in the amazingly entertaining and insightful Sunday night soap opera Big Love. The show, which features a Utah polygamous family dealing with the challenges if interacting with both the secular world and with their fundamentalist roots, is genuinely known for portraying conservative religious beliefs quite sympathetically. Some would even say that it is (arguably) “one of the most sympathetic portraits” of such beliefs.


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Faith ghosts in the global recession

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The world’s economic troubles have many journalists writing articles about how the global society is changing as a consequence of the recession. For example, the Atlantic had this cover story on how communities like New York City will benefit from the financial crash (not exactly original or surprising considering the author). The Economist writes about how we may see a return “of economic nationalism.”


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The groan is almost audible

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Time had one of the more embarrassing stories on President Barack Obama’s decision to use taxpayer dollars to fund stem cell research that destroys embryos. Alice Park’s gushy mash note to Obama and his decision is just not up to snuff. I mean, with lines such as “The sigh of relief in labs across the country was almost audible,” you should know you’re not dealing with journalism:


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