In the News: End of Year Commentary on Religious News Stories (Uganda, Gay Marriage, Papal Pathology, Hobby Lobby, SSPX)

Good commentary from articles uploaded to Facebook feed by friends in the past day or so, and from blogs I read:

Jill Filipovic in The Guardian, "The Disgrace of Papal Blessing for Ugandan Homophobia":

But at the very least, the pope could refuse to bless leaders who want to murder gay, lesbians and transgender people for the simple crime of existing. 

"Gay people have a right to life and dignity, and I oppose their persecution. #uganda," he could tweet. 

And that's only 84 characters.

Jennifer Rubin in Washington Post, "On Marriage":

For all the time, money and energy spent on preventing gays from marrying, imagine if all those efforts were spent trying to encourage and improve the economics of marriage? Now that would be a joyous endeavor.

Colleen Baker at Enlightened Catholicism,  "For Me, A Christmas Gift from Richard Sipe":

It's not like this is the first time he has chosen the Christmas season to throw lumps of coal at gays.  I happen to find this obsession of his pathological and hugely polluting for the spiritual energy of the Church.  I have never found it edifying to work for any leadership that can't admit to their own pathology because that pathology always plays out in the collective work force. It becomes the unstated underlying motivation for too many dysfunctional decisions.  

Fred Clark at Slacktivist, "Hobby Lobby Takes Human Biology to Court, Loses":

What Hobby Lobby is seeking isn’t merely some legal permission to be exempt from providing health insurance. The corporation is seeking the “religious liberty” to redefine reality and to rewrite the laws of medicine, human anatomy, biology and chemistry. 

I don’t think even the Supreme Court of the United States has the jurisdiction to allow them to do that. I suppose the justices could join Hobby Lobby in pretending that emergency contraception is not contraception, but even a unanimous 9-0 ruling declaring it to have properties it does not, in fact, actually have would not alter the fact that this nonsense about “abortion pills” remains just that: nonsense.

Thom Curnutte at Faith in the 21st Century: "On TV, Electronics, and Skirts": 

God's blessing, apparently, may be gained once more by:  

• Censoring one's music
• Throwing out one's television
• Using the minimum of electronics (Except, of course, the internet to read this column, its "donation" button, and PayPal)
• Women wearing skirts instead of slacks   

Perhaps this will work for  Mr. Williamson and his disciples. I was raised in a faith tradition in which all of these precepts were observed (although more strictly in other oneness pentecostal associations). The fruits of such practices are observable, but not necessarily desirable.

And so it goes, as insightful people keep thinking, talking, praying while one year rolls towards another  . . . .