Category: Challenges
Using Religion as an Excuse to Justify Harming Girls
April is always a busy time for me because it’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month. In addition to counseling survivors of sexual abuse, I have been working with an Interfaith Collaborative that engages... Read More
Medicine and Moral Conflict in Botswana
The ride from Gaborone to the hospital in Molepolole starts in the dark. By the time the sun rises, we are onto Donkey Road, a 40km drag that lives up to its name of scattered donkeys, pensively explo... Read More
Invoking the Unknown: Sectarian Invocations in Government Assemblies
As Esther Boyd discussed in her recent post, the Supreme Court’s Greece vs. Galloway decision upheld the constitutionality of sectarian prayers in legislative assemblies. Eric Rassbach, deputy g... Read More
Genocide and Others
After visiting the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem I must have been visibly upset. An Israeli woman who was part of our tour group, knowing my Jewish heritage, approached me to ask who in my family wa... Read More
(E)valuation – The Sacrifice of Erekh in Lev 27
In the sidra or section of the Tora that Jewish communities read this past week, Behuqotai, we find a curious description of an offering. Now, at the end of the book of Vayiqra (Leviticus) it shoul... Read More
Why bad things happen to good people: a Muslim evaluation
When it comes to theodicy, one cannot give a single answer that represents the absolute truth. Even if one were a theologian, one cannot simply claim that one knows why there is so much suffering in h... Read More
Opting Out: The Separation of Difference and Religious Freedom
Last week, religious freedom in the United States was at the center of two major court decisions, and the results have left many religious minorities feeling out in the cold. I am referring to the Sup... Read More
When did “never again” become “not again?”
I should be an optimist. Every movie and TV show shows the big guy as jolly, right? Furthermore, I’m a socialist who believes another world is possible through collective action, and a humanist ... Read More