Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Hiatus
What's missing from this picture?
A Jewish newspaper removed the women, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, from thefamous Bin Laden picture because its views on modesty do not allow it to publish pictures of women.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
The End of Abortion Rights?
Dahlia Lithwick has an interesting essay in Slate about the Death of Roe v. Wade. She shrewdly points out that although numerous unconstitutional abortion regulations are being passed around the country, they remain unchallenged because pro-choice advocates fear that one of these cases will be used to allow Justice Samuel Alito the opportunity to provide the fifth vote that will overturn Roe, the case that recognized a woman's constitutional right to terminate her pregnancy.
What makes Lithwick's essay noteworthy is her guess is still that the Roberts court is as uninterested in overturning the law as its challengers are in forcing the issue. It does not want to be the court that makes abortion illegal, or all-but-illegal, in America. The backlash would be staggering. If pro-choice advocates don't challenge the abortion laws, however, then the Roberts Court gets its way: we have a legal system where Roe is on the books but meaningless because women lack access to abortion. Lithwick suggests that is an unacceptable state of affairs and that it would be better to put abortion laws to the test rather than to let the Court overturn Roe without really overturning Roe.
What makes Lithwick's essay noteworthy is her guess is still that the Roberts court is as uninterested in overturning the law as its challengers are in forcing the issue. It does not want to be the court that makes abortion illegal, or all-but-illegal, in America. The backlash would be staggering. If pro-choice advocates don't challenge the abortion laws, however, then the Roberts Court gets its way: we have a legal system where Roe is on the books but meaningless because women lack access to abortion. Lithwick suggests that is an unacceptable state of affairs and that it would be better to put abortion laws to the test rather than to let the Court overturn Roe without really overturning Roe.
Muslim Women Talk about Wearing the Veil--or Not
NPR has this interesting series of interviews of Muslim women discussing their attitudes toward the veil and reasons why they eventually decided not to wear it. It is a great opportunity to hear the voices of actual Muslim women instead of legislators.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Yemeni Women Protest
The women are protesting their president's comments that it is un-Islamic for women to join men in the demonstrations against his rule. The women went back out into the streets arguing that the president had misinterpreted Islam.
Catching up on Theologians in Trouble
Dr. Mary Hunt, a feminist theologian who is co-founder and co-director of Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER) and writer at Religion Dispatches, identifies some Catholic theologians in trouble.
Elizabeth Johnson, a distinguished theology professor at Fordham University, received a lot of media attention after her book, Quest for the Living God: Mapping Frontiers in the Theology of God (Continuum 2007) was condemned by the U.S. Catholic bishops because it “contaminates the traditional Catholic understanding of God.” More interesting than their conclusion was their decision not to tell Professor Johnson that she was under investigation or to ask her questions about her book before issuing their condemnation. This appears to violate the bishops' own norms for dealing with theologians.
Maryknoll Father Roy Bourgeois was excommunicated in 2008 for advocating women's ordination and now is being ousted from his religious order unless he recants his support for women's ordination.
Meanwhile 55 of 188 dioceses risk being out of compliance with the bishops' national policy to prevent sexual abuse of children.
Elizabeth Johnson, a distinguished theology professor at Fordham University, received a lot of media attention after her book, Quest for the Living God: Mapping Frontiers in the Theology of God (Continuum 2007) was condemned by the U.S. Catholic bishops because it “contaminates the traditional Catholic understanding of God.” More interesting than their conclusion was their decision not to tell Professor Johnson that she was under investigation or to ask her questions about her book before issuing their condemnation. This appears to violate the bishops' own norms for dealing with theologians.
Maryknoll Father Roy Bourgeois was excommunicated in 2008 for advocating women's ordination and now is being ousted from his religious order unless he recants his support for women's ordination.
Meanwhile 55 of 188 dioceses risk being out of compliance with the bishops' national policy to prevent sexual abuse of children.
Texas Republicans Reject Supreme Court Ruling
Mother Jones tells the story of Texas Republicans' continued opposition to Lawrence v. Texas, the 2003 Supreme Court decision that invalidated Texas' statute prohibiting gay sodomy. Despite the Court's ruling, the state law continues to identify "deviate sexual intercourse with another individual of the same sex" as a misdemeanor offense. Republicans are again resisting Democratic efforts to take the unconstitutional law off the books. Houston Democratic Representatives Jessica Ferrar and Garnet Coleman have introduced legislation several times over the last few years updating the penal code, but the Republicans have refused to cooperate. And it doesn't look like they will cooperate this year either.
Governor Rick Perry and the Republican Party's platform oppose Lawrence and want homosexual relations to remain illegal. Just a reminder that supporters of states' rights don't always support individual rights.
Governor Rick Perry and the Republican Party's platform oppose Lawrence and want homosexual relations to remain illegal. Just a reminder that supporters of states' rights don't always support individual rights.
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