Medical Emergency: Catholic Hospitals Usurp Patients’ Rights
You can’t expect that every hospital will provide all of the medical services you’ll need. Some procedures are so specialized that you might have to travel to get them done. Conversely, some procedures are so... Read More
The Religious Right and the Tea Party: Marriage of Convenience or Just a Passing Fling?
I spent two weekends in September attending conferences sponsored by religious right groups in Washington, DC. They were nothing if not eye-opening. The first gathering was sponsored by a new group called the Faith &... Read More
Messin’ With Texas: What We Can Learn from theTextbook Debacle
Texas has been in the news lately, and not in a good way. Its State Board of Education, which is firmly in the grip of the religious right, just took a meat axe to statewide... Read More
Of Declarations and Tea Parties: A New Birth for the Religious Right?
Late last year a collection of far-right religious leaders gathered in Washington, DC, to unveil something called the “Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience.” Named for the borough of New York City where it... Read More
No License to Promote Religion: S.C. Judge Nixes Christian Auto Tag
When I was a kid, license plates in Pennsylvania were very simple. They were mustard yellow with blue letters and numbers. Then, at some point, a dramatic change occurred: the plates became blue with mustard... Read More
Invocation Irritation: What’s to Be Done about Government Prayer?
The town council of Newton, New Jersey, recently agreed to end a sixty-year tradition of opening its meetings with the Lord’s Prayer after a resident pointed out the obvious violation of church-state separation. When I... Read More
Day of the Undead: Religious Right Alive and Kicking in America
I spent two days in mid-September attending the “Values Voter Summit,” an annual event sponsored by the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, and other religious right groups. I go every year, and I’m... Read More