Religion, SF, and Other Speculative Fictions.


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Entries Tagged as 'Current Events'

…Yay?

May 2nd, 2011 · by xJane · 2 Comments

I know I’m the militaristic of the two of us here at MoF, but I find myself ambivalent at the recent news that Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has been killed by US forces (a week ago, whereupon they “took custody” of his body to make sure it was him). I have been told [...]

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Tags: Current Events · Death

Eight Things Barack Obama has Done to Make the World a More Peaceful Place.

October 9th, 2009 · by John · 59 Comments

There is a refrain I encountered over and over across the Internet and in the media today: it says that President Obama has offered nothing more than speeches and vision in the cause of peace. Now, I’m not arguing that he has done enough to merit the Nobel Peace Prize, but his administration has *taken [...]

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Tags: Current Events · Obama · Peace; conflict resolution.

Obama Wins the Nobel Peace Prize: He almost deserves it.

October 9th, 2009 · by John · 17 Comments

“Wow!” was my initial, unbridled reaction when I read about the Nobel committee’s selection of President Obama for the Nobel Peace Prize. I was in bed, reading the news on my iPhone, and leapt out to share it with the kids. Before I could say anything, I was greeted with, “Yeah, Dad, Obama won the [...]

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Tags: Current Events · Obama · Pacifism

Spark: Gay Legal Rights Upheld

April 13th, 2009 · by xJane · No Comments

Nationwide, Christians who refuse to provide services on the basis of gender orientation are losing legal battles.

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Tags: Activism · Christianity · Church and State · Current Events · Gay Rights and Queer Issues · Humanity · Justice · Links · Politics · Religion · Spark

“a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and […] values”

April 9th, 2009 · by xJane · 2 Comments

This is how our president defined our country yesterday. Explicitly denying that it was a “Christian nation” and explicitly stating that this fact is one of our “great strengths”. It’s nice to be reminded of this—and by someone so high in the administration! It is vogue for politicians to exclaim “God bless America!” Whether or [...]

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Tags: Activism · Atheism · Belief · Best · Blasphemy · Christianity · Church and State · Current Events · Dialog · Ethics · Getting over Religion · Gods · Justice · Politics · Reason · Religion · Skeptic

OMG, go watch Kings, now.

April 7th, 2009 · by xJane · 2 Comments

It’s got it all: atheism, spirituality, god, scifi, and good music!! Hulu’s got the first four eps up right now (and it doesn’t keep them forever), so go catch up. It’s too smart and too well written to stay on the air for long. It’s the story of Kings David and Saul transposed into a [...]

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Tags: Art · Atheism · Church and State · Creativity. · Current Events · Dialog · Fiction · Gay Rights and Queer Issues · Getting over Religion · Media and Design · Movies/Hollywood · Pacifism · Peace; conflict resolution. · Politics · Pop Culture · Religion · Science Fiction and Fantasy · Spiritual Progressives · Spirituality · Video · Web 2.0

Spark: an Interesting Discussion of Gender Roles

March 30th, 2009 · by xJane · No Comments

“Gender roles see a ‘conflict’ shift in work-life balance” at USAToday. Hat tip to @unapologeticfem (site) I’m not certain that anything in there is great news, but it does seem that there is some kind of cultural change at work, which is something.

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Tags: Current Events · Feminism · Gender · Goals · Politics · Pop Culture · Spark · Women

Sparks: Facebook/Social Networking

March 26th, 2009 · by xJane · 3 Comments

One of the many reasons I don’t post with my IRL name here (I won’t say “real”, since xJane is just as real in many ways) is because I am attempting to manage my image. In our internet age, I still find it to be very important to not ruffle feathers in a public way [...]

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Tags: Blogging · Culture Jamming · Current Events · Facebook · Feminism · Gender · Humor · Links · Media and Design · Obama · Personal · Photos · Politics · Pop Culture · Reason · Social Hacking · Social Web · Society · Spark · Web 2.0

Spark: Vermont Approves Civil Marriage

March 24th, 2009 · by xJane · 2 Comments

The Vermont Senate, finding (correctly) that Civil Unions for gay couples fall short of providing equal rights, voted overwhelmingly to approve Civil Marriage for gay couples. The matter still has to go before the Vermont House (and since I’m late to this, may already have gone), where it is expected to pass. The margin by [...]

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Tags: Activism · Best · Current Events · Feminism · Gay Rights and Queer Issues · Gender · Humanism · Humanity · Justice · Law · Links · Politics · Reason · Spark

Texas & England: Creationism & Its Dangers

March 19th, 2009 · by xJane · 13 Comments

Texas is reviewing its science standards, specifically with the desire to remove them altogether. Skepchick has a great discussion of exactly what this means, but here’s the short version: Texas and California’s choices for scientific textbooks drives the availability of textbooks nationwide because of their massive marketshare the Texas State Board of Education (TSBE) has [...]

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Tags: Activism · Atheism · Belief · Christianity · Church and State · Creationism · Culture Jamming · Current Events · Education · Ethics · Getting over Religion · Law · Media and Design · Politics · Reason · Religion · Science · Skeptic · Society · Web 2.0