Rap Sheet
Links on R&P from around the web
Reality Check
posted on August 9, 2012At America Magazine, Mary Johnson and Patricia Wittberg use “data published the Official Catholic Directory” to describe the current status of Catholic nuns in America. Commentators “have made assertions about the demographics of religious life in the United States that are not based in fact,” write Johnson and Wittberg. “[M]isinformed statements create dichotomies that not only mask the complexity of religious reality, but are patently false.”
Leaving Om: Buddhism’s Lost Lamas
posted on August 9, 2012At Details, Joseph Hooper profiles three young Tibetan Buddhists who were raised as reincarnated Tibetan leaders before they left the faith. One such Tibetan, Gomo Tulku, who “spent his childhood being groomed to be a high-ranking lama,” has become an aspiring rapper. Hooper writes, “The problem is, these cosmopolitan tulkus, skeptical of the notion that they’re deceased lamas, aren’t sure they want the job.”
A New Generation of Sikh Americans Step Up
posted on August 9, 2012At The Washington Post, Valarie Kaur chronicles her experience as Sikh American coming of age “in the shadow” of the September 11, 2011 terrorist attacks. Kaur, a third-generation Sikh American, notes that “nothing could prepare us for the wave of hate violence against Sikhs, Muslims, Arabs and anyone else who looked foreign in the aftermath of Sept.11.” However, Kaur asserts, “I resolve not to forget the hope and possibility glimpsed in an emerging generation of Sikh Americans.”
Why Does the Left Wing Ignore Atheists?
posted on August 9, 2012At Salon, Adam Lee argues that liberals should be more quick to embrace atheists. According to a May 2012 Gallup poll, religious ‘nones’ have the “strongest propensity toward the pro-choice position of any major U.S. demographic (as distinct from political) subgroup.” On these important social questions, Lee writes, “Despite their shared belief in God, the religious left actually has less in common with the religious right than it does with progressive, nonreligious Americans.”
Coppins on Reid Source: ‘It Is Possible They’re a Mormon Democrat from the Bain Era’
posted on August 9, 2012In an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett, McKay Coppins discusses Harry Reid and Mitt Romney’s shared Mormon faith as well as their ideological differences. Reid, a Democrat and the Senate Majority Leader, recently accused Romney of not paying taxes for 10 years. Coppins says, “They really come from very different circles of the church. Mitt Romney was born in the church; Harry Reid is a convert.”
Pussy Riot Trial: Prosecutors Call for Three-Year Jail Term
posted on August 9, 2012Members of the Russian feminist punk band, Pussy Riot, were tried this week for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred after performing a ‘punk prayer’ against President Vladimir Putin in a Moscow cathedral,” Miriam Elder reports for The Guardian. Prosecutors “presented the women as dangerous feminists” and asked for a three-year jail sentence, writes Elder. Mark Feygin, the band’s defense lawyer, says a guilty verdict would signal that “Russia has no justice system … Nothing has changed from Soviet times.”
The Sebelius Nanny State
posted on August 9, 2012At Real Clear Religion, George Neumayr challenges Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ recent assertion that the newly implemented contraceptive insurance mandate gives women “control over their healthcare.” “No private employer impedes women’s ‘control over their health care’ by not paying for their sex lives,” writes Neumayr. “Only the Obama administration would be so crass as to cast the absence of free contraceptives and abortifacients as a form of oppression.”
Gunfire At Nigerian Church Kills At Least 19 People
posted on August 8, 2012On Monday night, gunmen “fired on a worship service in a church in central Nigeria, killing at least 19 people,” the Associated Press reports. Nigeria is a “nation often divided by religion.” According to the AP, “The attack comes as Nigeria faces continuing attacks from a radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram.”
Nuns Group to Meet in St. Louis Amid Criticism from Vatican
posted on August 8, 2012Roughly “900 Roman Catholic nuns will gather in St. Louis this week to discuss their future relationship with the Vatican,” reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Tim Townsend. During their annual assembly, the nuns will confer on how to respond to the Vatican’s censure earlier this year for having “radical feminist themes.” The nuns’ actions “could range from accepting the reforms to severing their official connection to the Vatican.”
Read at St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Sikh Temple Shooting Victims Described By Families And Friends
posted on August 8, 2012The Associated Press’ Gretchen Ehlke and Dinesh Ramde compile descriptions of the Sikh temple shooting victims as told by their friends and families. Amardeep Singh Kaleka says the time his father spent “in that struggle gave the women time to get cover.” Suveg Singh Khattra’s son says, “He don’t have hatred for anybody. He loved to live here.”