ReligionDispatches - Dispatches From Human Rights/Immigration

John Yoo and Jay Bybee Dodge Disciplinary Action but Recall Nuremberg

Bruce Ledewitz — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:00:01 PST

Justice Department attorney David Margolis rejected the recommendations of the investigation into the actions of two Bush-era lawyers claiming that the infamous ‘torture memo’ simply constituted ‘poor judgment.’ But John Yoo’s arguments are eerily reminiscent of the Nuremberg Defense and both men still face the judgment of international law and history.

Catholic Child Neglect: DC Archdiocese Cuts Adoption Rather Than Abide Same-Sex Parents

Mary E. Hunt — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:00:01 PST

As DC law changes to require equality for same sex couples seeking to adopt, the Catholic Church (which has been in the adoption business for generations) opts to close up shop rather than to abide by the law and treat gay and lesbian families equally.

Missionary Imposition: Idaho Baptists Charged With Kidnapping 33 Haitian Children

Anthea Butler — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 03:00:01 PST

Had the inexperienced Idaho missionaries read so much as Haiti’s Wikipedia page they would have learned that the nation has a history of slavery, colonialism, and missions that warns against attempts to remove Haitian children from their home.

Religious Leaders Urge Obama to Condemn Ugandan Anti-Gay Bill at Prayer Breakfast

Sarah Posner — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:01 PST

Obama is scheduled to address the National Prayer Breakfast, organized by ‘The Family,’ which has ties to the ‘kill-the-gays’ bill in Uganda. Religious leaders, including a member of the president's faith-based Advisory Council, are calling on the president to condemn homophobia and offer an alternative, inclusive prayer event.

Oppose Afghanistan But Not a Pacifist? Tough.

Rita Nakashima-Brock, Serene Jones, Gabriella Lettini — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:00:01 PST

While Obama used his Nobel Peace Prize speech to legitimize Afghanistan using just war principles, soldiers are currently unable to invoke these principles in refusing to serve. When we punish soldiers who heed their moral compasses, we deny them religious freedom, and our democracy is threatened. It’s time to allow those who oppose the war on ethical grounds the option of ‘Selective Conscientious Objection.’

Telling the World a ‘Big Story’: RD in Conversation with Karen Armstrong

Laurie Patton — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 00:00:01 PST

Compassion is not just a sloppy emotional bonhomie; it requires a serious intellectual effort to learn about one another, even if it’s unflattering to ourselves. RD contributor and religion scholar Laurie Patton interviews Karen Armstrong upon the launch of her global call to action, the Charter for Compassion.

A New Year’s Health Care Sobriety Test for Religious Progressives: It’s Not Obama

Peter Laarman — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:00:01 PST

Responsible religious leaders need to stay sober and stop cheerleading for the Democrats and for the Obama White House just because they’re not total Visigoths.

Military Abortion Ban: Female Soldiers Not Protected by Constitution They Defend

Kathryn Joyce — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:00:01 PST

Unable to get an abortion during a tour of duty in Iraq, a soldier is left with no option but to do it herself—a humiliating but not uncommon dilemma. Women in the military are forced to obtain a leave to get the care they need; but if they’re honest about why, they put their military career in jeopardy. If they’re not, they put their military career in jeopardy.

Indians v. The US Department of the Interior, Or, The Horse Who Couldn’t Read

Johnny P. Flynn — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:00:01 PST

This week brought a proposed $3.4 billion settlement to a little known class action suit against the US Department of the Interior on behalf of over 300,000 Indians. Our writer tells how his family history dovetails with the tragic story behind this lawsuit.

‘Calling’ Rick Warren to Task on Anti-Gay Ugandan Law

Candace Chellew-Hodge — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:00:01 PST

RD speaks with filmmaker Lisa Darden who helped to alert Pastor Rick Warren to the dangers of remaining silent.

Massacre in Mindanao: The Irresistible Urge to Blame Religion

Bruce B. Lawrence — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:00:01 PST

While most reports focus on the brutal massacre of over fifty Philippine citizens and the religious tensions that appear to be at work, beneath the surface it looks a lot more like a good old-fashioned power struggle.

Uganda’s Radical Anti-Gay Measure and the American Religious Right

Michelle Goldberg — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 01:00:01 PST

A proposed measure in Uganda would make repeated homosexual activity punishable by death. Anti-gay activists in the United States may think that it goes too far, but they laid the groundwork for it.

Immigration Reform: A Country Divided, Or a Richer Society?

Cecilia Menjivar — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:01 PST

With the Obama administration’s renewed support for immigration reform, and new support from conservative Christian leaders, immigrants’ rights activists are looking toward real progress—and their vision is supported by recent scholarship in the intersection of religion and immigration.

The Anti-Gay Highway: New Report Details Mutually Beneficial Relationship Between US Evangelicals and African Antigay Clergy

Kathryn Joyce — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:00:01 PST

A new report documents the trend of evangelicals like Rick Warren exporting sexuality issues to Africa, whose clergy, in turn, support the minority antigay view in mainline denominations, weakening them. The author of the report speaks with RD at length about what he found.

Massacre of Jesuits in El Salvador: 20 Years Later

Richard Amesbury — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:00:01 PST

Two decades after the murder of six Jesuit professors, El Salvador is celebrating the end of right-wing rule and the first peaceful transfer of power in nearly 200 years.

Bad Religion Leaves Big Bruises: When Christians Threaten Health Care Reform

Peter Laarman — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 PST

Two strands of Christianity battle against a bill ensuring that all Americans are cared for. One prefers John Locke to Jesus while the other has its issues with women.

Escalating Afghanistan: What Did You Do in the Class War, Daddy?

Peter Laarman — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:01 PDT

Don’t the clergy have a duty to challenge the march of folly in Afghanistan and Pakistan?

Mormonism’s Black Issues

Joanna Brooks — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:00:01 PDT

While many Mormons would like to forget the Church’s history of discrimination against blacks, an Apostle’s recent statements comparing the post-Proposition 8 Mormon backlash to the Civil Rights-era harassment of black voters have brought that painful past back into the spotlight.

Prison as Resurrection

Caleb Smith — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:01 PDT

While it’s clear that prisons in this country are a disaster and a scandal, a new book delves into the system’s religious roots and the belief in the spiritual benefits of disciplinary isolation.

Killing One Primate to Save Another: The Ethics of Animal Rights

Arri Eisen — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:00:01 PDT

A disturbing story emerged this week of a scientist leaving his research out of fear for his and his family’s lives. What are our responsibilities in this area and what do our traditions have to say about it?

Jewish “Women of the Wall” Defy Law to Pray

Kelly Hartog — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 22:00:01 PDT

A powerful documentary, “Praying in Her Own Voice,” chronicles twenty years of struggle for religious equality at one of Judaism’s most sacred sites and asks: How can there be unity when half the population is silenced?

‘Soul Murder’ in the American Workplace

Peter Laarman — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 02:00:01 PDT

As the media yawns at the latest unemployment numbers, our columnist seeks religious leadership on the taboo subject of our dysfunctional relationship to work. For even if the economy recovers and “full employment” returns, we will still be encountering a workplace that remains a site of utter terror in some instances and a site of routine abuse and low-grade anxiety in others.

How Should We Speak of Unspeakable Evil?

Louis A. Ruprecht — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:00:01 PDT

Do we turn to the wrong institutions when we go to courts of law to attempt to enact forgiveness or reconciliation for genocide?

Afghan Idol: Can a Talent Competition Save a Nation?

Becky Garrison — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 18:00:01 PDT

An interview with the director of Afghan Star, a documentary that follows a tense but cathartic talent competition.

Why David Sometimes Wins: What We Must Learn From Cesar Chavez

Frederick Clarkson — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 00:00:01 PDT

A new book by veteran organizer Marshall Ganz tells the sometimes triumphant, sometimes cautionary tale of the rise and fall of Cesar Chavez’s Farm Worker Movement. While the story of the movement’s successes is well known, the reasons for its decline are more mysterious—until now.