Religious freedom has become the broad catchphrase in today’s biggest culture war issues. The Obama administration’s contraception mandate is the latest example, as the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on March 25 about whether corporations should be able to opt out of birth control coverage.
Many are reacting against paralyzing fears of ecological apocalypse by fostering new ways of spiritual thinking about the globe and new practices designed to protect the environment and to promote a heightened awareness of the earthiness of the divine.
Faith communities are offering prayers and scrambling to help as the Philippines reels from a typhoon characterized by some climatologists as the most powerful ever to make landfall.
The movement to bar any reference to Islam’s legal code, known as Shariah, from the American judicial system is moving ahead even as it faces legal challenges in the courts.
More than 30,000 Americans die each year from gun violence, yet gun control has not emerged as a significant agenda item for faith-based organizations seeking to affect public policy.
An aging population and the associated end-of-life challenges have combined to keep assisted suicide at the center of the nation’s moral concerns.
continue reading →
