Hochschild comes across as something of a spiritual searcher in the January 7 article by Daniel Golden. Born to a Jewish father and a mother who was raised Lutheran, Hochschild found faith through his study of philosophy at Yale, where he was evangelized by an Episcopalian friend and later baptized. He'd signed Wheaton's statement when he was hired and kept his department chairman apprised as soon as he began to consider Catholicism; even after his spring 2004 conversion, he told his superiors that he remained comfortable with the college's statement of faith. Wheaton's president dismissed this as "quibbling" and terminated Hochschild; he also announced that the college needed to revised the pledge to make "more explicit its non-Catholic identity." Hochschild, once a shoo-in for tenure, had to take a pay cut and move his family halfway across the country to get a new job at a less prestigious school. Not coincidentally, his new college, Mount St. Mary's, is Catholic and has begun to ask candidates about their faith during the hiring process, too. It all reeks of a disturbing Balkanization. And it's far from uncommon. The Christian Medical and Dental Association, many of whose members were appointed by Bush to sit on scientific advisory committees, has a statement of faith so restrictive it conflicts with principles of sound science. The National Religious Broadcasters, an influential association of television and radio broadcasters whose annual convention President Bush regularly addresses, requires members to sign a statement of faith that clarifies exactly how sectarian their use of the term "religious" is. The home schooling movement, whose grass roots associations once comprised a mix of Leche League hippy moms, Jews, Catholics, and conservative evangelicals, is now dominated by large Christian organizations with quite restrictive statements of faith. What's most disturbing is that some organizations that receive federal contracts are applying narrowly written statements of faith to current and prospective employees. The Salvation Army dismissed 18 employees during 2003 and 2004 over their refusal to sign statements swearing to uphold certain Christian principles. One of those who lost her job was Anne Lown, a child of Holocaust survivors and a 25-year veteran of the Salvation Army. "The whole time I was there no one had asked me about my own religion," Lown says. "There was never any kind of litmus test." But as of fall 2003, employees were required to list every "church" they'd attended over the past decade as well as the name of their current minister; they also had to agree not to contradict any aspect of the Salvation Army's religious mission, which includes condemning sexual relationships outside of marriage, contraceptive use outside of marriage, homosexuality, abortion, drinking, gambling, smoking, and drug use as "unacceptable according to the teaching of Scripture." Social workers with the chance to place a child with a non-Christian family, or in the position of counseling troubled teens at risk for HIV and pregnancy, found their jobs at odds with the new requirements. In October, a federal district judge in New York decided that the agency had acted legally.
Jim Towey, Bush's director of faith-based initiatives, was ebullient on NPR after the decision. "This is going to send a resounding signal out there in America," he said. "Because here you have an organization, the Salvation Army, that got 95 percent of its money from the government to do its social service work, and the court held that they were allowed to hire on a religious basis....I think it's going to tell faith-based groups, Oh, we can do this work without having to secularize and sell our soul in order to provide a public service. It's a complete vindication of President Bush's Faith-Based and Community Initiative."
Statements of faith: the new restrictive covenants | 13 comments (13 topical, 0 hidden)
Statements of faith: the new restrictive covenants | 13 comments (13 topical, 0 hidden)
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Left Behind: Eternal Forces: Installments of Jonathan Hutson's Talk To Action expose series
on the "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" video game have been viewed by up to 1/2 million people. See our site section featuring Over 35 original articles covering the controversial "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" video game that has provoked a boycott by a coalition of religious groups and a letter writing campaign urging Walmart to stop selling the game. Media inquiries click here(image: detail from Francoise Dubois' rendition of the Bartholomew's Day Massacre reveals the actual nature of religious warfare)
Sarah Palin's Demon Haunted Churches - The Complete Edition
Contained in this story : --The 10 minute video documentary "Sarah Palin's Churches and The New Wave" (currently also titled as "Sarah Palin's Demon...... By Bruce Wilson (0 comments)
Palin: "A Natural Choice" for Catholics?
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Major Christian Organization Endorses the Military Religious Freedom Foundation
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Palin's Church Promotes Gay Conversion
The Associated Press reports that the Wasilla Bible Church where Sarah Palin is a member is promoting a conference on the crackpot notion of...... By Frederick Clarkson (0 comments)
Palin's Pastor: God "Is Gonna Strike Out His Hand Against... America
On July 20, 2008, the pastor of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's home church, Larry Kroon, delivered a sermon called "Sin Is Personal To...... By Max Blumenthal (1 comment)
Sarah Palin and the Servant Heart
<small>Senior Analyst, Political Research Associates (author info)</small>Sarah Palin's references to the Servant Heart comes from the idea that Jesus of Nazareth asked his...... By Chip Berlet (5 comments)
Short Takes: Sarah Palin Edition
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Palin's Churches and the Third Wave
Part Two This posting documents the extensive involvement of several of Sarah Palin's churches in the Third Wave Movement, also known as the New...... By Ruth (3 comments)
Palin's Churches and the Third Wave
Part One History and Theology of the Third Wave Sarah Palin has refused to acknowledge belonging to any specific denomination or any particular religious...... By Ruth (8 comments)
What is Dominionism? Palin, the Christian Right, & Theocracy
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EVENT CANCELLED Speaking in Philadelphia on September 27th
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Sarah Palin's Theocratic End Times - UPDATED
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Dobson and the Religious Right Rally for McCain/Palin
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At Palin Church, Jews For Jesus Head Says Terrorism vs Israel Is God's Punishment
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Theocrats to Pray for McCain's Death
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The problem with Sarah Palin
In light of John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin for Vice President, I feel compelled to write this letter. ...... By sirius (0 comments)
Future links to upcoming documentaries on Palin's Churches
Will live here, at this URL address. ...... By Bruce Wilson (0 comments)
Sarah Palin used AK tax dollars to fund dominionist churches
Over the past few days, I've done reporting on Sarah Palin's extensive dominionist connections--including the attempt to run her as a "stealth" dominionist candidate and her connections to some scary dominionist groups including not...... By dogemperor (1 comment)
Palin Steals Hockey Mom Joke from John Hagee?
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The Irony of Sarah Palin's "Choice"
Republican operatives and religious conservatives are ecstatic over Sarah Palin. Most of all, they are ecstatic that she is a "pro-life" mother who chose not to have an abortion after she found of she...... By tacitus (0 comments)
New revelations re "stealth dominionist" Sarah Palin
A few days ago, I wrote one of the first articles out there regarding Sarah Palin's VP nomination as a "stealth dominionist"--a "stealther" with extensive Assemblies connections (and to particularly scary segments of the...... By dogemperor (0 comments)
Sarah Palin: Dominionist Stalking Horse
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Richard Land Picks Republican Veep Candidate
Yesterday the media was all atwitter about Karl Rove's supposed Republican V.P. pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. However, it seems that instead SBC President Richard Land, well known among readers of Talk2Action for his...... By ulyankee (1 comment)
"Yes on 8" RSVP? Need your advice.
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Alabama PSC Cantidate Matt Chancey: His Views on Suffrage, Women, Marriage, etc.
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Jews and Christians Unite against the Empire of Neo-cons and 'Christian' Zionists
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Patriot Follows the Money and Exposes Foreign Agents
"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official."-Theodore Roosevelt ...... By eileen fleming (0 comments)
The Alleged "Church of Liberalism"
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Hope Never Dies for Extremists
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Catholic religious right wing: Legion of Christ
Frank L. Cocozzelli's weekly series of posts on "The Catholic Right" (listed here) includes quite a few posts about Opus Dei. There's another, similarly ultra-orthodox Catholic religious order he might want to examine in...... By Diane Vera (3 comments)
Prosyletization in Iraq: A threat to national security
As amazing as it sounds, dominionists may in fact be fomenting terrorism--not just the domestic terrorism like bombings of women's clinics we normally associate, but the very "Islamist terror bombings" that the GOP loves...... By dogemperor (0 comments)
Proselytization in Iraq: A minor history
The recent incident where a Marine was recently found distributing "Bible coins" promoted by a fundamentalist "Bible church" is, sad to say, far from the first incident of overt prosyletisation in Iraq. The truth...... By dogemperor (1 comment)
Source of "Bible coins" distributed by USMC in Iraq discovered
In what is--sadly--yet another case of the extent of which blatant prosyletisation is tolerated in the modern US military, a recent incident where members of the US Marine Corps were handing out coins to...... By dogemperor (0 comments)
What Does the Religious Right Fear the Most?
A poll that one of the giants on the right, Coral Ridge Ministries, sent to their members gives a revealing insight into their world view. ...... By John McKay (3 comments)
UK Abortion Limit Stays at 24 Weeks Despite Washington Think Tank's Tactics
IN GOD'S NAME is a revealing documentary about how the Alliance Defense Fund is using its tactics to try to restrict abortion in Europe as well as in America. Watch this trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeTfW8-dCNE ...... By TMurray (3 comments)
'Christians United For Israel' Joyfully Sing of Israel's Invasion and Destruction
An open letter, from Ray McGovern, a 27-year intelligence analyst with the CIA, to Admiral William J. Fallon, warns of an impending US attack on Iran. If such an event occurred, the resulting war...... By Bruce Wilson (3 comments)
The Petrification of John McCain
We are very pleased to welcome Frederick Lane as a guest front pager. He is the author of several books,most recently, The Court and the Cross: The Religious Right's Crusade to Reshape the Supreme...... By Frederick_Lane (3 comments)
More Biblical Precedent for Allowing Abortion
This is a follow up to my most recent diary entry. ...... By TMurray (3 comments)
John Hagee Says God Made AIDS and Bird Flu But Lord will Protect Him Personally
John Hagee claims 1) that he knows with absolute certainty the will of God (as he told a BBC interviewer in 2003), is 2) sure that he, John Hagee, has a place in heaven...... By Bruce Wilson (0 comments)
Biblical support for abortion, who knew?
It turns out that our present legal understanding of when a life is entitled to legal protection is consistent with the Old Testament Biblical understanding of when a fetus becomes a 'life' warranting legal...... By TMurray (2 comments)
2001 John Hagee Film Shows Gangsterish Rabbi, Foppish Catholic Priest In League With anti-Christ
The following somewhat satirical video is built around a brief excerpt from Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee's 2001 55-minute film "Vanished", which followed the prophetic, premillennial plot line of Tim LaHaye's and Jerry Jenkin's...... By Bruce Wilson (0 comments)
PBS "Carrier": A Mixed Blessing
Watching the PBS miniseries "Carrier" was a revelation, but not always a pleasant one... ...... By bughouse square (0 comments)
Will We Ever Learn?
Ever looked at something or did something which at the time seemed good and beneficial only to learn that it was not what you thought? If we could all have the opportunity to live...... By truthngrace (0 comments)
McCain-Endorser's Church Casts Out "Demon of Anal Fissures", Teaches Vomiting Evil Spirits
[NOTE: for a related story, see Mai Tai Dogs: Pics Show Bush Administration, McCain-Endorser Hagee Schmoozing at Chinese Restaurant] I have to admit, on one level it sounds more entertaining than a church full...... By Bruce Wilson (3 comments)
Bush 41 salutes Sun Myung Moon's effort to subdue the planet.
Sun Myung Moon's end time political front, the Universal Peace Federation had a summit from April 28 to May 2 in Washington DC. The participants took a tour of the Moon owned Washington Times...... By Lou (2 comments) More Diaries... |
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