Rap Sheet
Links on R&P from around the web
After Lecturer Sues, Hamline University Walks Back Its “Islamophobic” Comments
posted on January 24, 2023Vimal Patel of The New York Times reports that Hamline University apologized for calling a former lecturer “Islamophobic” after she showed a picture of the Prophet Mohammad in an art history class. Many Muslims believe that Islam forbids visual depictions of the prophet. The lecturer, Erika López Prater, was fired from her post after the incident and sued the school for religious discrimination and defamation. The university said in a statement, “In the interest of hearing from and supporting our Muslim students, language was used that does not reflect our sentiments on academic freedom. Based on all that we have learned, we have determined that our usage of the term ‘Islamophobic’ was therefore flawed.”
Religious Leaders Sue to Block Missouri Abortion Ban
posted on January 24, 2023Jim Salter of the Associated Press reports that a group of religious leaders filed a lawsuit last week “challenging Missouri’s abortion ban, saying lawmakers openly invoked their religious beliefs while drafting the measure and thereby imposed those beliefs on others who don’t share them.” The plaintiffs include 13 Christian, Jewish, and Unitarian Universalist leaders from across the state. Michelle Banker of the National Women’s Law Center, the lead attorney on the case, said, “What the lawsuit says is that when you legislate your religious beliefs into law, you impose your beliefs on everyone else and force all of us to live by your own narrow beliefs.”
Faith-Based Organizations Urge Biden Not to Enact “Asylum Ban”
posted on January 24, 2023Emily McFarlan Miller of Religion News Service reports, “A number of faith-based organizations and congregations are pleading with the Biden administration, in a letter sent Monday (Jan. 23) to President Joe Biden and other leaders, not to enact new immigration restrictions.” The restrictions would prevent immigrants who entered the United States illegally from seeking asylum. The letter read, “Our diverse faith traditions compel us to love our neighbor, accompany the vulnerable, and welcome the sojourner—regardless of place of birth, religion, or ethnicity.”
“Not a Real Schism”: Four Years Later, UMC Exodus Less a Gush, More a Trickle
posted on January 24, 2023Yonat Shimron and Emily McFarlan Miller of Religion News Service report that only 6.1 percent of United Methodist congregations have left the denomination since it approved a disaffiliation plan in 2019. Four years ago, the UMC’s internal disagreements over LGBT rights had seemed likely to create a schism in the country’s second-largest Protestant denomination. “You think of a schism as 50% or even 35% (split),” Scott Thumma, director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, told Shimron and McFarlan Miller. “This is not a real schism.”
The Father of the Abortion Pill
posted on January 18, 2023Pam Belluck of The New York Times profiles Dr. Étienne-Émile Baulieu, the creator of the abortion pill, mifepristone. Baulieu, a Jew, fled Nazi persecution during WWII and joined the French Resistance before becoming a doctor. His medication is now used in more than half of American abortions every year. “For his leading role in developing mifepristone, he has been hailed as a visionary by abortion rights supporters and vilified as an incarnation of Hitler by abortion opponents, a charge that he said he found especially jarring because he is Jewish,” Belluck writes. “Although he and the pill have become lightning rods, Dr. Baulieu speaks of the abortion debate without vitriol, cognizant of the complexity of the issue.”
The Southern Baptist Church Ignored Its Abuse Crisis. She Exposed It.
posted on January 18, 2023For Vice, Sarah Stankorb profiles Christa Brown, an activist for sexual abuse survivors in the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest evangelical denomination in the United States. Brown, herself a survivor of sexual abuse, has dedicated her life to working for reforms in the SBC, including a comprehensive database of abusers. She also identifies the theological roots that allow abuse to continue. Stankorb writes, “Women and children in SBC are taught to defer to men, particularly those in roles of authority, Brown explained, and to her mind, this has contributed to submission and obedience when those authority figures are bad actors.” The SBC has contracted an investigative firm to conduct a review of its executive board’s handling of past abuse cases.
A Lecturer Showed a Painting of the Prophet Muhammad. She Lost Her Job.
posted on January 18, 2023Vimal Patel of The New York Times reports that Hamline University fired adjunct professor Erika López Prater after she showed a painting of the Prophet Muhammad in her art history class. Many Muslims believe that Islam prohibits visual depictions of the prophet, so López Prater gave warnings to students before the class. The incident has sparked a debate about academic freedom and what constitutes Islamophobia. Mark Berkson, another Hamline professor who supports López Prater, said, “We were being asked to accept, without questioning, that what our colleague did — teaching an Islamic art masterpiece in a class on art history after having given multiple warnings — was somehow equivalent to mosque vandalism and violence against Muslims and hate speech. That is what I could not stand.”
Church Lays Benedict to Rest, if Not Its Divisions
posted on January 6, 2023The New York Times‘s Jason Horowitz reports, “The Roman Catholic Church on Thursday laid to rest Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in front of a fog-shrouded St. Peter’s Basilica with an extraordinary funeral presided over by his own successor, Francis.” He writes, “The unprecedented moment of Francis presiding over the final farewell of a conservative icon was the coda to a bizarre chapter in church history.” Benedict was the first pope to resign in six centuries, and some of his supporters lamented that his funeral did not do enough to honor his legacy and achievements.
“The Central Issue”: How the Fall of Roe v. Wade Shook the 2022 Election
posted on December 19, 2022Elena Schneider and Holly Otterbein of Politico report that abortion played a significant role in the 2022 midterm elections, after the June Supreme Court decision overturned Roe. Many swing voters were mobilized to vote, while some Republicans voted for a Democrat for the first time. Voters in some of the most hotly contested states ranked abortion as their most important issue, according to exit polls. Zack Roday, a Republican consultant, said, “In these true swing states, if abortion rights are dramatically threatened, it’s going to be really hard to win as a Republican in this new normal.”
At Hanukkah Reception, Biden to Condemn Rising Antisemitism
posted on December 19, 2022The Associated Press reports, “President Joe Biden is condemning growing antisemitism in remarks for a Hanukkah celebration at the White House that will include a menorah lighting and blessing.” The event will include speeches from a Holocaust survivor and Michele Taylor, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., who is also the daughter of Holocaust survivors. The event comes in the wake of a 34 percent increase in antisemitic incidents in the past year, according to the Anti-Defamation League.