Rap Sheet
Links on R&P from around the web
The Anti-Abortion Movement’s Gen-Z Victors
posted on January 25, 2022Christian Paz of The Atlantic reports that young activists who see themselves as part of the post-Roe generation have reinvigorated the anti-abortion movement. Gen-Z protesters turned out in large numbers at this year’s March for Life and imbued the event with their youthful passion. Their main rallying point was the pending Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which could reverse constitutional protections for those seeking an abortion. Patricia Reber, an older participant at the rally, said, “They’re the generation that’s going to save the babies.”
Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhist Monk Who Sought Peace and Mindfulness, Dies at 95
posted on January 25, 2022Matt Schudel of The Washington Post reports that renowned Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh has died at age 95 in his native Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, which he criticized, Thich Nhat Hanh “developed the concept of ‘engaged Buddhism,’ in which his faith’s teachings could be used to promote humanistic practices in education, health care and politics,” Schudel writes. “His ideas were not popular with traditional Buddhist monks, who typically stayed out of public life and practiced their faith in monasteries.” In a 2010 interview, Thich Nhat Hanh said, “When bombs begin to fall on people, you cannot stay in the meditation hall all the time. Meditation is about the awareness of what is going on, not only in your body and in your feelings, but all around you.”
Long Before Colleyville Synagogue Standoff, Texas Houses of Worship Were Preparing for Violent Attacks
posted on January 25, 2022Reese Oxner and Brian Lopez of The Texas Tribune report that Texas houses of worship were already increasing security measures before the recent hostage crisis at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville. They write, “Religious leaders in Texas, concerned about the violence and threats against places of worship in recent years, have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and countless hours on training, security and preventive measures in case of an attack.” Many congregations partner with local law enforcement while others use funds from the federal government to improve their security measures. Some object to the presence of police officers or firearms in their houses of worship, but many leaders see them as necessary precautions to ensure the safety of their congregants.
How Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories Contributed to the Recent Hostage-Taking at the Texas Synagogue
posted on January 25, 2022For The Conversation, Jonathan Sarna writes about the connection between the recent hostage crisis at a Texas synagogue and antisemitic conspiracy theories that have permeated culture for centuries. Sarna specifically focuses on the gunman’s belief that Jews are in control of the world, citing American propaganda from as early as the 1800s that espoused the same beliefs. He writes, “Precisely because they offer a simple explanation – ‘the Jews are responsible’ – and flatter believers into thinking they possess secret knowledge others lack, conspiracy theories […] are notoriously difficult to disprove.”
I’m Pro-Life. Here’s Why I Don’t Attend the March for Life.
posted on January 21, 2022For National Catholic Reporter, Kathleen Sprows Cummings explains why she does not attend the March for Life, despite the fact she is Catholic, pro-life, and attended the event as a teenager. Studying feminism and becoming a mother herself played a role. “Ultimately, though,” she writes, “it was the clergy sex abuse scandal that soured me on any characterization of abortion as the pre-eminent moral issue of our time.” She continues, “It’s these and other odious cases of clerical sexual abuse and its episcopal cover-up—and they are legion—that make it hard to take U.S. bishops seriously when they claim to care about children, born or unborn.”
Read at National Catholic Reporter
Court Won’t Stop Texas Abortion Ban, But Lets Clinics Sue
posted on December 14, 2021Mark Sherman of the Associated Press reports, “The Supreme Court on Friday left in place Texas’ ban on most abortions, offering only a glimmer of daylight for clinics in the state to challenge the nation’s most restrictive abortion law.” The Court allowed lawsuits by Texas abortion clinics to proceed but splintered on the question of who the suit should be filed against. The majority, which includes five conservative justices, ultimately settled on state licensing officials as the only allowable defendants for the suits. The Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents the abortion clinics in the lawsuit, said on Twitter, “The Supreme Court has essentially greenlit Texas’s cynical scheme and prevented federal courts from blocking an unconstitutional law.”
Josh Duggar’s Shame and Ours: Why Did America Fall in Love with a Family of Extremists?
posted on December 13, 2021Sarah Jones of New York magazine writes about Americans’ fascination with the Duggars, the reality TV family from 19 Kids and Counting, in the wake of Josh Duggar’s conviction for child pornography. She writes, “With the Duggars, devout Christians all, a missionary zealotry infested their performance. The family’s faith transmitted a powerful appeal.” The family was marketed as traditional and relatable, but their beliefs and practices were far from mainstream. She writes, “While the family performed for the camera, they involved themselves ever more deeply with the Christian right. Not content to limit the freedom of their children, they sought to limit the freedom of others.”
The Abortion I Didn’t Have
posted on December 7, 2021For The New York Times Magazine, Merritt Tierce writes about the abortion she did not have at age 19, and the complexity of loving her son and regretting the life she also didn’t have. Because of her evangelical upbringing, she and her family did not consider abortion an option. Later in life, she helped create an abortion fund, and she has been an activist for abortion rights. She writes, “A paradox here is that much of what informed my parents’ conviction that I should not have an abortion—though we never even talked about it—was rooted in religion, and yet having a baby when I did, the way I did, led directly to my departure from religion, and far more swiftly than anything else could have.”
Read at The New York Times Magazine
Biden, Harris, Emhoff Celebrate Hanukkah at White House
posted on December 7, 2021The Associated Press reports, “President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their spouses held a ‘family’ celebration of Hanukkah at the White House Wednesday, with the first Jewish spouse of a vice president, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, joining in lighting the menorah.” More than 150 guests were in attendance, including the Israeli ambassador to the U.S. In his speech at the event, Biden said, “Whether it’s in the temple of Jerusalem or the temple of our democracy, nothing broken or profaned is beyond repair, nothing. We can always build back better, perhaps build back brighter.”
How the Politics of Abortion Are Poised to Intensify
posted on December 7, 2021Lisa Lerer and Jeremy W. Peters of The New York Times report, “With the Supreme Court now looking likely to weaken or overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision on abortion, activists and both political parties are bracing for a new battle over one of the country’s longest-running cultural divides.” State legislatures will become increasingly influential if Roe is overturned or largely dismantled, leading activists on both sides to focus on local and state elections in the coming years. Mini Timmaraju, the president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said “Everything is on the table after this — constitutional amendments, ballot initiatives, expanding the court. For so long we’ve been on the receiving end of these fights. We’ve been triaging, triaging and triaging, and now we have to take a step back and think what is the long-term agenda.”