Tikkun Daily Blog Archive (https://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/category/religion-2/page/24/)
Are campaign contributions simply legalized bribery? What does the Torah have to say about this and why should we care? What does bribery look like in this day and age? Is there anything we can do to change campaign finance laws?
During the 16-day government shutdown, Tea Party Republicans rose above, or somewhere beyond, earthly politics. Their aim was to stay true to their principles, to be faithful, not necessarily effective. At their meeting behind closed doors on Tuesday, House Republicans began not by calling themselves to order, but by singing all three verses of “Amazing Grace.” In other words, the shutdown Republicans were prophetic in their own way. By this, I don’t mean they accurately predicted a future state of being.
For preachers of the so-called “prosperity gospel,” business is booming. They even have their own cable reality TV show. What First Amendment-sound legal reforms might we consider to stand against the commodification of God?
Does Outrage Work?
When I consider how my own mind has changed, it was never because someone attacked and judged me harshly. It almost always arose from the surprising response of someone I respected. One example: I grew up literally and genuinely homophobic, one of those who are called “haters” though it was not true that I hated homosexuals.
Text:Jeremiah 29: 1-7; Luke 17: 11-18
In the first pages of Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, the reader confronts a Columbus quite different from the one we learned in school. Some may be aware that he sailed on condition of receiving a large share in the profits from his gold-seeking adventure, but everyone knows that early on October 12, 1492, a sailor finally sighted land. Columbus’ ship was met by Arawak Indians swimming out to greet the visitors. In his journal, the explorer wrote of these Indians:
They are well-built, with good bodies and handsome features. .
The bottom line is that we in this country, as well as in others with burgeoning Muslim populations, must start a dialogue, come up with solutions that allow us to move forward together and stop discriminating against each other based on labels. We cannot keep denying groups of people drivers’ licenses or student IDs or public services based on what’s on their heads or in their hearts. We must start talking, to figure out what can be done to balance safety and civil liberties, democracy and religion. Until we do that, we are not truly human beings, just labels.
Ian Hoffman gives a review of his experience at the Jewish Film Festival, and what the current shift in Jewish cinema could mean for the community as a whole.
Let us no more attend to what is missing when we do not forgive. Give attention rather to what is present when we do. To forgive is to correct the false impression that you- Christ in you- has been harmed, or ever can be.
In the struggle for workplace-related religious freedom, Muslim women have, perhaps unwittingly, blazed a new trail. While on the one hand the hijab makes them a target for unfair practices, it also becomes a beacon for the legal system to rally under. For most judges and juries, the fact that a woman would be fired due to her dress is such an obviously unfair concept that it begs retribution. And although the Abercrombie and Fitch lawsuit is arguably the most popular, it certainly isn’t the only one Muslim women have fought in recent times.
This week’s sermon by Stephen Phelps considers the word “salvation” and what it means to people today, since it isn’t uncommon for the word to be left out of many religious ideologues. Phelps argues that we must not leave it behind, as salvation is how we see in the dark, salvation is an eternal light shining through the enemy and the beloved, and it is a light from which we cannot be separated.