Credit: Brad Gregg We’d say that depends on the church. If it’s, say, Westboro Baptist, please direct us to the nearest detention facility. Muskogee County District Judge Mike Norman did not sentence 17-yearold Tyler Alred to attend a specific church. Alred is free to choose whichever place of worship he’d like, so long as he […]
religion
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Thou shalt not troll
Credit: Brad Gregg Members of the anti-abortion group, who describe themselves as modern-day abolitionists, took issue with the fact that a portion of the church’s donations go to Planned Parenthood (which, incidentally, does not provide abortions in Oklahoma). Mayflower lists 23 other organizations that receive church funds, including food banks and homeless shelters. Several figures, […]
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Rabbis making history
Vered Harris “I think the real story is that 100 percent of the city’s congregational rabbis are female,” said Harris, who joined B’nai Israel on July 1. “I celebrate the day that female rabbis aren’t a news story, though.” Harris will work closely with Jacobson. The two share many of the same goals for both […]
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Thou shalt erect it
Credit: Brad Gregg The county in far eastern Oklahoma approved the original request, made by former Poteau mayor Don Barnes, in April 2009. The plan was scrapped a couple months later when a federal appeals court ruled that a similar monument, at Haskell County’s courthouse in nearby Stigler, amounted to a government endorsement of religion. […]
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Capitol commandments
The monument is the result of a measure introduced by state Rep. Mike Ritze, R-Broken Arrow, and passed by the Legislature in 2009 allowing for a privately paid-for monument to be placed on public property outside the Capitol. Little fanfare accompanied the installation on the north side of the building, with about a dozen non-workers […]
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What separation of church and state?
Credit: Brad Gregg Last week, the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma released survey results of its “2012 Oklahoma Voter’s Guide for the Well-Informed Voter of Faith.” Of course, in this instance, “Voter of Faith” means follower of the one correct and true faith of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. (Catholics, Mormons, Unitarians or people […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Examining Islam
Can a case for democracy be made from a religious Muslim perspective? The question is particularly timely given the recent attacks on the Libyan embassy. Mustafa Akyol, a Turkish journalist and columnist, will address the question in a lecture Monday at Oklahoma City University. Akyol, the author of Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case for […]
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Man with a mission
<span style=" mso-ansi-language:EN-GB” lang=”EN-GB”> Brian McClaren Why did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha and Mohammed cross the road? There is no punch line. The question doubles as the title of the new book by evangelical author Brian McLaren. In 2001, he launched a revolution in evangelical culture with A New Kind of Christian, the first book […]
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Go ahead and blaspheme
Credit: Brad Gregg And you really wouldn’t think there’d be much of an appetite to do that here in the God-lovin’ buckle of the Bible belt. But Rep. Randy Grau wants to blow your mind. The Edmond Republican says he will work next legislative session to repeal a 112-year-old state law that makes blasphemy a […]
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Rising above messages of hate
An anti-Islam movie trailer recently posted to YouTube resulted in unfortunate and inexcusable acts of violence in parts of the Middle East. The film itself is a shameful and disgraceful take on the religion of Islam, and has caused pain in the hearts of the American Muslim community. As an individual who was born in […]