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         This web site first went online 1995-APR-09. It is now over 20 years old -- older than Google.com and Amazon.com.                  We welcome everyone ...

 whether you are an evangelical, secularist, other religious conservative, religious liberal, Deist, Wiccan, other Pagan, progressive, animist, theist, fundamentalist, Atheist, polytheist, secular humanist, Agnostic, etc.  Everyone should find their beliefs & practices accurately described here.

   Almost all other religious web sites explain only the beliefs of the webmaster or sponsoring faith group. We are different: we try to explain accurately the full diversity of religious beliefs, world views, and systems of morality, ethics, and values.  Finding stuff on this web site:    @import url(//web.archive.org./web/20160414064455cs_/http://www.google.com/cse/api/branding.css);                 Custom Search      You can use the navigation bar to the left << or try the search box above. ^^ This web site has over 7,000 essays.  Translate this page to other languages, from Afrikaans to Yiddish!  Page Translator:   This page translator works on Firefox, Opera, Chrome, and Safari browsers only. We are working on Internet Explorer.  After translating, click on the "show original" button at the top of this page to restore page to English.              

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   Current high profile topics in the U.S. -- with a religious component:

 Of the hundreds of religious topics saturating the news, the following appear to have the highest profile right now. It is interesting that almost all of the topics are related to human sexuality and/or gender:

     Same-sex marriage: What rights and protections should same-sex couples and their children have? Should they be allowed to marry, or be only registered in civil unions, or be allowed only to enter domestic partnerships, or be considered "legal strangers" -- merely as roommates? In mid-2013, the U.S. Supreme Court declared a major section of the federal Defense of Marriage Act to be unconstitutional. This required the federal government to recognize some same-sex marriages. Two years later, to the day, on 2016-JUN-26, the court ruled in the case Obergefell v Hodges that marriage by same-sex couple was a new civil right across the entire country: the District of Columbia, 50 states, and 4 of 5 territories. The territory of American Samoa has yet to decide whether it will recognize the Supreme Court's decision. There have been a dozen or so instances in the U.S. mainland where stores in the wedding business have refused to serve same-sex engaged couples. This has triggered Religious Freedom Restoration Acts in several states to guarantee the right of such businesses to discrimniate with impunity.      Abortion access: In what situations should informed women be free to choose to have an abortion: all, none, or some? What are the best ways to reduce abortions: by restricting access or by making childbirth more feasible, or by increasing contraceptive usage. Would educating sexually active youth in how to prevent pregnancy and STIs help or hinder?     Islamophobia: This involves fear, anger, hatred, discomfort, and/or discrimination directed against Muslims. Some target the 19 perpetrators of 9/11; some a group of violent radicals within Islam; some against all of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims.     Religious freedom:  This term has two very different meanings. In the past it referred to people being free to believe as they wish, assemble with others of the same religious tradition, engage in different religious practices, proselytize freely, etc. However, it is now often used to mean something very different: to use religious freedom to oppress, denigrate, and attack women and minorities -- particularly sexual minorities.      The fight against the HHS birth control mandate: A recent Health and Human Services mandate requires most employee health insurance policies -- including those used by Catholic hospitals, universities, agencies, etc. -- to offer free access to birth control to the employees.  The church feels that it is their religious right to fight its employees' access to contraception. Many of their Catholic and non-Catholic employees beg to differ. Numerous court cases are being fought. If the mandate survives, then there is likely to be a drastic reduction in unexpected, unwanted pregnancies, and thus a massive drop in the number of abortions.     "Federal Defense of Marriage act (DOMA):" This law originally prevented legally married same-sex couples and their children from obtaining any of the approximately 1,138 federal benefits, protections, and rights that were automatically given as special privileges only to opposite-sex married couples. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on 2013-JUN-26 that Section 3 of the law was unconstitutional. Same-sex married couples now have the same rights as opposite-married couples subject to some limitations. This ruling is expected to have a major long term impact on LGBT equality because of the majority opinion written by Justice Anthony Kennedy.       "Boy Scouts of America" (BSA): The BSA prohibited LGBT youth and adults from joining, and expelled any such persons when they were discovered within the organization. Delegates to their 2013 annual meeting voted to allow LGBT youths to join, but to expel them on their 18th birthday. Conservative religious denominations and parachurch groups are outraged that LGBT youths are allowed to join; some are organizing groups in competition to the BSA. 

     

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