Rap Sheet
Links on R&P from around the web
Soldiers Who Urinated on Corpses, Burned Qurans Will Not Be Criminally Prosecuted
posted on August 28, 2012The U.S. military is disciplining soldiers “over two incidents that provoked outrage in Afghanistan early this year, one involving a video depicting Marines urinating on corpses and another over burned copies of the Quran,” but will not prosecute the soldiers, reports Phil Stewart and David Alexander for Reuters. Afghan President Hamid Karzai had called for a public trial for the soldiers engaged in the Quran incident, an act which he characterized as “inhuman.”
Is America Blessed by God?
posted on August 28, 2012At First Things, William Doino Jr. writes that American exceptionalism risks becoming American self-worship when it’s not coupled with Christian humility. Doino quotes Richard Land, who recently warned fellow American Christians: “We cannot assume ‘God is on our side.’ We are not God’s gift to the world. America does not have a special claim on God.”
Todd Akin and The Second Sex
posted on August 28, 2012At The New Yorker, Judith Thurman argues that America’s leading Republican politicians want set the clock back 40 years on women’s reproductive rights. “If politicians like Todd Akin and Paul Ryan prevail, it will be a crime again, under all circumstances, along with some forms of contraception that can spare women from a hard choice that they have to live with, one way or another, for the rest of their lives.”
8 Ways Faith Will Matter at The RNC
posted on August 27, 2012CNN’s Dan Gilgoff and Eric Marrapodi speculate about the role religion will play at the Republican National Convention (RNC) this week. One of the major questions yet to be answered is how Mitt Romney will handle his Mormon faith. Gilgoff and Marrapodi ask, “Will the Republican Party continue to studiously avoid one of its presidential candidate’s defining characteristics? Or will some convention speaker make a case for why Romney’s Mormonism is an asset? Will Romney himself mention his religion as he accepts his party’s nomination?”
Mike Huckabee Rallies Southern Baptists for Todd Akin
posted on August 27, 2012Mike Huckabee continued his defense of Missouri Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin, reports James Hohmann for Politico. On Friday, “Huckabee rallied hundreds of Southern Baptists on a conference call Friday night in support of Todd Akin,” who has come under fire from both Republicans and Democrats for his controversial remarks on abortion and “legitimate rape.” “This could be a Mount Carmel moment,” said Huckabee, a former Baptist minister and governor of Arkansas.
The Mormon Candidate
posted on August 27, 2012At The Los Angeles Review of Books, Laurie Winer places Mitt Romney’s run for the White House in the context of Mormon history, including Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism’s own presidential ambitions. “In 1844, Smith decided to run for President of the United States on an independent platform,” writes Winer. “He proposed a ‘Theodemocracy’—’There is not a nation or dynasty now occupying the earth that acknowledges Almighty God as their lawgiver.'”
Read at The Los Angeles Review of Books
Amish Face Ohio Trial in Beard-Cutting Attacks
posted on August 27, 2012“A breakaway Amish group accused of settling a score by carrying out hair-cutting attacks against members of their faith moved into the hills of eastern Ohio two decades ago following a dispute over religious differences,” reports John Seewer for the Associated Press. Seewer writes that schisms among the Amish are common. “Disagreements over church discipline and how to maintain their simple way of life amid the encroaching outside world have created dozens of splinter groups.”
Israel Breaks Silence over Army Abuses
posted on August 27, 2012The Independent‘s Donald Macintyre reports on new revelations from former Israeli soldiers regarding abuse the Israeli military carried out against Palestinian children. “Two months ago, a report from a team of British lawyers, headed by Sir Stephen Sedley and funded by the UK Foreign Office, accused Israel of serial breaches of international law in its military’s handling of children in custody,” writes Macintyre. “The report focused on the interrogation and formal detention of children brought before military courts–mainly for allegedly throwing stones.”
‘The New Normal’ Gets Boot from Utah Station for Gay Plotline
posted on August 27, 2012At The Huffington Post, Kiki Von Gilnow reports that the NBC-affiliate in Salt Lake City will not carry the new sitcom, “The New Normal.” “The station, KSL, which is owned by the Latter-day Saints church, refuses to air the show about two gay men who go through the highs and lows of parenting their new baby,” writes Von Gilnow.
Sufi Muslim Shrine Bulldozed in Libya
posted on August 27, 2012“Attackers bulldozed a Sufi Muslim shrine and mosque in the Libyan capital on Saturday, one day after hardliners razed a similar shrine and library elsewhere in the country,” reports Essam Mohammed for the Associated Press. This is the third such incident in Tripoli in recent months. “Libya is a deeply conservative Muslim nation, and Islamists were heavily repressed under longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, who was captured and killed in October after an eight-month civil war,” writes Mohammed. “Since then, there has been a string of attacks on shrines across the country belonging to Muslim sects.”