Saudi Arabia isn’t high on anybody’s list for a religious freedom award. But last year there were some hopeful signs for religious liberty advocates when the king dismissed the chief of the religious police and a cleric who had condoned killing owners of television networks that broadcast immoral content. He had also appointed a female deputy minister and changed the makeup of a body of religious scholars — who issue fatwas — to give more moderate Sunnis representation.
Asked and Answered
There may be hundreds of millions of Buddhists in the world, but pick up an American newspaper and you’re much more likely to read about Uma Thurman than her father.
An Aggie nerd considers his path
There is so, so much to like in the recent Dallas Morning News profile of a young Texan who is wrestling with the ultimate decision of whether or not to become a monk in the Cistercian community at Our Lady of Dallas, a monastery in Irving, near Dallas.
Got reform; what about religion? (corrected)
In case you somehow missed it, there were big doings in the nation’s capital over the weekend related to an issue that President Barack Obama promised to make a top priority. I am talking, of course, about … immigration reform.
Neutral abortion terms?
Journalists have long debated how to appropriately define proponents and opponents of issues, because let’s be honest: it’s usually more fun to be for something then be against it.
Health care: So who is cheering?
As you would expect, my morning email was full of angry press statements from conservative groups — with a heavy evangelical-right flavor. Most of the emails attacked Rep. Bart Stupak and his circle of Democrats who, in the end, agreed to back the U.S. Senate health-care reform legislation, after President Barack Obama agreed to issue an executive order clarifying that this bill would not end the ban on federal funding of abortions.
Take this number -- please
On Saturday, thousands of opponents of the current health care legislation showed up at the Capitol where they expressed concern with various parts of the bill. I was able to observe many hours of the protest and some of the proceedings inside. But I thought it interesting that the very first protester I saw getting off at the Metro stop nearest to the Capitol was a nun in habit.
Context ex nihilo
There’s an Associated Press story today that is equal parts interesting and frustrating. The set-up for “Texas church bans child’s photograph of Passion,” is certainly intriguing:
Parsing the abortion language
So it appears that we are staggering to the finish line on this health-care reform bill — maybe. To no one’s surprise, or, at least, no one who has paid any attention to American politics for several decades, the key dividing line continues to be abortion.
