Author: Kate Harveston

June 13, 2018
May 10, 2018

The religious right is at it again. This time, Republicans in Tennessee passed a measure allowing for the construction of a monument to the unborn “victims of abortion.”

What they should be calling it is a monument to the systematic oppression of women by a society that is still run unduly in large part by religious fanatics.

The Republican-led Tennessee House of Representatives already passed a bill, and the Tennessee State Senate added an amendment, sending the legislation back to the house before it went on to Republican Governor Bill Haslam. The proposal would raise private funds to erect what the Tennessee legislature is calling the “Tennessee Monument to Unborn Children, In Memory of the Victims of Abortion: Babies, Women and Men.”

April 11, 2018

If there are indeed multiple parallel universes all stacked on top of each other, there isn’t a single one in which support for President Trump is compatible with a modern understanding of civility.

Yet here we are, living in a country where more than 80 percent of white, self-identifying evangelicals chose Trump as the exemplar of their values and the savior of Christianity’s flagging dominance in American politics.

Among the several amazing feats of mental gymnastics Christians engage in to allow the inclusion of Trump into their ideological canon, the idea that vociferous support for him comes only from the fringes of their leadership is one of the most ridiculous. Donald Trump is as mainstream a Christian president as it’s possible to be. However, “no one upholds Trump as a moral exemplar,” wrote a breathlessly apologetic Marc Thiessen even before the Stormy Daniels interview aired.

March 14, 2018

Olympic athlete Aly Raisman may not have predicted being able to face down her abusive team physician and actually winning. Her moving speech, delivered at the trial of former team doctor Larry Nassar, has captured the world’s attention.

But even as Raisman was preparing to compete for gold, the story of another member of Team USA Gymnastics, Rachel Denhollander, was falling on deaf ears. Not in the Indianapolis Star, where Denhollander’s story would eventually be published, but inside the halls of an institution she thought would help her feel safe — her church.

No Sanctuary Here

February 6, 2018

Comedian Adam Ferrara has a very direct one-liner that he uses to define Catholicism: “Basically, if it feels good, stop.”

Depending on who you ask, Catholics may or may not qualify as Christians. The idea of preserving oneself, however, as a matter of faith, is present in both. The Bible says that “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.” A vessel that should remain pure to carry out the Lord’s work.

But as we know, many people of Christian faith practice some form of indulgence and don’t believe it to compromise their faith. So the fact that the Christian right takes such an issue with marijuana is a bit confounding.

Sin and Perception

January 8, 2018