They come because most often they and their families are extremely poor, and they cannot find jobs in their native countries that pay a living wage. And that the U.S. has many more low-skilled jobs than there are Americans who are willing to take them. And many others come to escape death threats from drug gangs and other violent conflicts. Read more
People are inclined to defend institutions rather than persons, especially when the institution is long-lived, powerful, and beloved--such as, say, the British monarchy, or the Roman Catholic Church. People certainly do not want to admit that the institutions they feel warmly about are problematic, abusive, or racist. Read more
Do you feel that the work people are doing to recover from religious trauma is an attack on you because you enjoy your religion just fine, or have simply decided that not enjoying it is your duty? Do you feel you are better than these people because you have remained “faithful”? Read more
Unfortunately, I fear that as a collective society the pandemic has not sufficiently awakened us to how cruel and unsustainable our system is, even if it has shone a spotlight on how morally frail we are. I don't know what it's going to take to make us all pay attention, and I'm not sure I am ready to know. Read more
Right-minded folks should never have responded to slurs directed against AIDS sufferers, non-white children, and the disabled with anything other than disgust and horror. Read more
Religion ought to be, not a bulwark for oppressive powers, but a solace for the oppressed. It certainly should not be traumatizing wounded people further. Read more
Our entire conversation about abortion and life ethics needs to change from a culture-war melee to a serious conversation in which we take cognizance of all the difficult and intersecting moral questions we face when we consider any act of ending a life. Read more
We are still not willing to address with brutal honesty how gravely the church, our church, has erred. In each of the incidents that got me thinking about this, the theme of abuse was central--and the institutional church was the abuser. Read more
Trump’s anti-other rhetoric has had the effect of making hatred acceptable. He has created convenient scapegoats to blame for society’s ills: e.g., people of color, Muslims, immigrants. It’s not that such hatred is a necessarily new, but Trump seems to have fanned the flames. One no longer has to hide their ill will toward these scapegoats. Read more
In this case, the first and maybe most lasting images we got cast the “rioters” as confederate flag-wavers, young men in ridiculous costumes, role-playing nutjobs who are easy to dismiss. But it is absolutely essential to point out, as more and more reporting comes out from 1/6, that the makeup of this mob cut across every single swath of the white American population. These are your neighbors, your soccer moms, your businessmen, your firefighters, your state delegates, your Olympic champions, your bankers and professionals, your mayoral candidates, your fellow churchgoers, and most importantly, your cops and your service members. Read more
suspended in her jar
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