Far too often, religious freedom an excuse for intolerance

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Episcopal priest Barbara Brown Taylor has it right: “Human beings never behave more badly toward one another than when they believe they are protecting God.” A case in point is the religious right’s reaction to The Equality Act, which proposes to give the LGBTQ community the same rights that straight people enjoy.

According to evangelist Franklin Graham, “The Equality Act is a threat to life as we know it ...

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Bishops wrongheaded to weaponize Communion

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Every day, someone in the Catholic Church’s hierarchy wakes up says, “What can we do today to show how out of touch we are with our people and lose more of them?” The current leader of that effort is José Gomez, archbishop of Los Angeles and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The conference is considering whether Catholic politicians, like President Joe Biden, should be denied Communion—the heart ...

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Affordable housing needs a whole new approach

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Mayor Andrew J. Ginther wants to fix our affordable housing problem – 54,000 central Ohio households spend more than half their income on housing – which disproportionately affects minorities.

Median household income for Black households in Columbus is $35,569, which is 40% less than that of white households, and nearly 40% of Black workers make just $15,000 or less a year, compared to 14% for white workers.

This problem didn’t happen by ...

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GOP’s 17 who stood against Trump deserve support

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This op-ed is for all the Democrats who criticized the 191 Republican representatives who did not vote to impeach Donald Trump and the 43 Republican senators who did not vote guilty. It’s easy, even justified, to say they acted cowardly and disregarded the plain facts, but we have since witnessed the wrath of the Republican Party.

For the 10 representatives and 7 senators who voted to hold Trump accountable, their state party organizations have either censured them or are planning ...

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Yep, people really said these things

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It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about ministers, lawyers or politicians, people say things that are either stunningly tone deaf or stunningly brazen or just plain dumb. Here are some examples.

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“It’s important that he thinks you’re hot.”

            –Pastor Stewart-Allen Clark, in his sermon at the First General Baptist Church in Malden, Mo., about how married women “let themselves go.” [March 9, 2021]  

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“Because it puts us at a competitive disadvantage relative to Democrats. Politics is a zero-sum game.”

            –Arizona Attorney ...

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Democrats can’t afford to take the Black vote for granted

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During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump asked Black Americans why they support the Democratic Party: “Look how much African American communities have suffered under Democratic control. . . . What do you have to lose by trying something new, like Trump? … You’re living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs. … What the hell do you have to lose?”

It was a brazen challenge. Of course, as it turns out, Trump did little to improve ...

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Promoting unity—one person at a time

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It’s time for the nation to heal and come together, President Joe Biden tells us.  We know from his inaugural address what we must avoid—”anger, resentment, hatred, extremism, lawlessness, violence, disease, joblessness, hopelessness.” 

And we’ve been told what we’re capable of doing—”We can right wrongs. We can put people to work in good jobs. We can teach our children in safe schools. We can overcome this deadly virus. We can reward work, rebuild the middle class, and make health care ...

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Let’s admit that state judges are politicians

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Let’s admit it. Like it or not, state judges are politicians, and their party affiliation should be shown on general ballots, just like it is for every other politician.

Party affiliation is not disclosed on judicial ballots because we like the fiction that judicial races are nonpartisan and, perhaps we’re even a little enamored of the idea that judges are above the political fray. It’s a quaint notion that doesn’t reflect today’s reality.

We just saw bare-knuckled attack ads in two races. Appellate ...

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