Tag Archive for "Religion"

Posts Tagged Religion

Meet the powerful men trying to take away your birth control coverage

Meet the men behind the war on women. In an infuriating article, Laura Bassett examines the enormous political influence of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

A group of men with no real background in law or medicine, but blessed with a strong personal interest in women’s bodies, have quietly influenced all of the major anti-abortion legislation over the past several years. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops may be one of the quietest, yet most powerful lobbies on Capitol Hill, with political allies that have enabled them to roll back decades of law and precedent.

The USCCB became a major anti-choice voice on Capitol Hill during the debate over health care reform, when they not only lobbied for but actually ...

Meet the men behind the war on women. In an infuriating article, Laura Bassett examines the enormous political influence of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

A group of men with no real background in law or ...

By zerlina • 12 years ago

Anti-gay teachers and the limits of the First Amendment

In Union, New Jersey a teacher Viki Knox, disgusted with her school’s involvement in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender History Month took to her Facebook page to say the following:

Homosexuality is a perverted spirit that has existed from the beginning of creation. The word of God refers to it often. That’s if you believe the Word to be truly God’s intended blueprint for his people. I have friends and loved ones who are practicing/living as homosexuals. Yes I love can care about them. We hug and exchange gifts. We have family dinners. But how they live and their actions, behaviors -CHOICES are against the nature and character of God! Do I tell me so? Yes, of course. ...

In Union, New Jersey a teacher Viki Knox, disgusted with her school’s involvement in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender History Month took to her Facebook page to say the following:

Homosexuality is a perverted spirit that ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 12 years ago

Local clerk in New York refuses to sign gay marriage licenses

I have so little patience for this bullshit.

After New York legalized same-sex marriage last June, some local clerks resigned rather than have to sign marriage licenses for gay couples. But in Ledyard, a rural upstate town, the town clerk Rose Marie Belforti avoids committing that terrible sin by having her deputy sign all marriage licenses instead. She explains, “God doesn’t want me to do this, so I can’t do what God doesn’t want me to do.”

Now a lesbian couple who didn’t want to reschedule with her deputy (you know, since they already waited for a decade to be able to get legally hitched) is considering filing a lawsuit. If they do, the case could test “how the ...

I have so little patience for this bullshit.

After New York legalized same-sex marriage last June, some local clerks resigned rather than have to sign marriage licenses for gay couples. But in Ledyard, a rural ...

By zerlina • 12 years ago

Alabama tells offenders to pick between jail and Jesus

The small town Bay Minette, Alabama is giving non-violent offenders a choice: Either go to prison for your crime, or go to church every Sunday!

Church programs being used for paroles is not out of the ordinary. In the past, I’ve attended a church which doubles as a rehabilitation center and operates state licensed programs for recent paroles. There is nothing wrong with that. The paroles are not required to attend the church service-only meetings that are held on Saturdays, which are not religious.

Alabama, on the other hand, is requiring offenders an alternative to prison or paying a fine — attend church every week for a year and you can have your case dismissed. And ...

The small town Bay Minette, Alabama is giving non-violent offenders a choice: Either go to prison for your crime, or go to church every Sunday!

Church programs being used for paroles is not out of ...

By Jos Truitt • 12 years ago

What my Christian fundamentalist upbringing taught me about periods

A few recent readings and experiences have brought some of the ideology I grew up with as a Christian fundamentalist back into my mind. Specifically, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about conservative Christian attitudes towards menstruation.

I spoke on a panel this summer and got a laugh when I explained, “Personhood laws define the fetus as a person from the ‘moment of conception’, whatever that means.” Folks have been pointing out for a while that “moment of conception” is a pretty unscientific concept – conception is a process, not something that happens in a magic instant where a new human being is created and simultaneously imbued with a soul. Then I read this ...

By Chloe Angyal • 12 years ago

The Feministing Five: Vera Farmiga

Vera Farmiga is an Academy Award-nominated actress who is about to make her directorial debut with the movie Higher Ground, in which she also stars. Her portrayal of a hard-driving, brook-no-bullshit businesswoman in Up in the Air, for which she garnered an Oscar nomination and with which she nearly stole the show from co-star George Clooney, forced viewers to confront the question of what a female version of Clooney’s character might look like – and how our beliefs about gender, work and love might make us view that female version differently than the male version.

Higher Ground, will be released in theaters next week. Farmiga plays Corinne, a woman struggling with her Christian faith in the face of sickness, inequality ...

By Miriam • 12 years ago

Catholic university sues insurer for covering contraception

Duquesne University is suing Highmark Inc for improperly covering the costs of contraception.

Duquesne University on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Highmark Inc., claiming that the insurer improperly paid reimbursements for birth control and other medications and procedures that go against the school’s Catholic mission.

Filed in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, the lawsuit seeks damages of $1.75 million.

News like this reminds me not to be surprised that the coverage of contraception in the Health Care Reform law was ever even in question.

Duquesne University is suing Highmark Inc for improperly covering the costs of contraception.

Duquesne University on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Highmark Inc., claiming that the insurer improperly paid reimbursements for birth control and other ...

By Samhita • 12 years ago

Italy moves closer to banning face-coverings

Following in suit with Belgium and France, Italy passed a draft law yesterday that entertains the expansion of public safety laws that would ban women from wearing face coverings. It appears that using government to fight religious expression is a continuing trend in the European Union.

via Guardian UK.

The draft, which was passed by the constitutional affairs commission on Tuesday, would prohibit women from wearing a burqa, naqib or any other garment that covers the face in such circumstances. It would expand a decades-old law that for security reasons prohibits people from wearing face-covering items such as masks in public places.

Women who violate the ban would face fines, while third parties who force women to cover their faces ...