There has been a great deal of "unchristian" activity over the immigration issue lately. This has gone so far as to propose that religious and charitable organizations providing aid and comfort to those in need be prosecuted for a felony.

Other actions have included the forcible deportation of non-citizen parents when their children are citizens, denying health care and other social services to the undocumented, and prohibiting the granting of driver's licenses.

I don't plan to discuss the political (or even moral) aspects of these proposals, I'd just like to point those interested at a recent essay of mind dealing with the economic aspects of the immigration issue. Much of the resentment of immigrants is being stirred up by those who conflate economic and moral arguments. My essay is an attempt to at least set the record straight in the economic domain. I leave it others to discuss the moral and religious sides of the issue.

That was the message of a rather wealthy, influential conservative colleague of mine when he said, "The world would be a very different place if the Crusades had been successful."

His infinitely myopic display of cowardly ignorance was no doubt an attempt to summarize his feelings about MidEast-based terrorism. And by God, he couldn't have expressed himself with more clarity.

Not surprisingly the flatulent quote rings with the essence of yet another mentally dilapidated conservative who spoke lustfully of his Jurassic mentor:

"I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had of followed our lead we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."

-- Trent Lott at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party

From the Florida Sun-Sentinel, there's been yet another case of religiously motivated child abuse--this, too, being "deliverance ministry" related, and one that is all too common.  Your very author has been in a similar situation to what I am about to describe--and with less help from child protective services in my city.

I will warn that what I am about to post may be upsetting; if you were a victim of religiously motivated child abuse yourself, you're warned that the following may be triggering.

Of particular interest is a new article in the (Seattle) Stranger which involves yet another case of "moral refusal" involving pharmacists, the first time a women's clinic is filing malpractice claims to protect the rights of their patients to receive care...and some ugly confirmation of trends that I've noted in two previous articles in this series.

Here is a news report on a new survey of college student's attitudes:
Article

A few quotes and comments below:

Cross-posted in part from Blog from the Capital
The blogosphere has been notably quiet on yesterday's provocative  opinion published in the New York Times entitled "Christ Among the Partisans" by Gary Wills. The author of "What Jesus Meant" challenges any attempt to marshall the message of Christ into a political directive, saying that He was "the original proponent of a separation of church and state."

Wills harbors no marriage whatever between Christian doctrine and the actions of government. His Christ offers a radically personal relationship with the divine, and an anti-institutional contempt that borders on mockery.  

Most pointedly, Wills would seem to call into question the increasingly pious tone of political discourse over the last 25 years,  from the religious right's advancement within the Republican Party to the more recent determination among moderates and liberals to promote a different set of Christian priorities. Both efforts, he warns, misappropriates the fiercely unpredictable teachings of Jesus.

An excerpt and some questions below the fold...

I wish I had thought of framing the argument like this!!!

IN what may emerge as one of the salient issues of the 2006 campaign season, the NYT reports on a United Churches of Christ led complaint by a number of religious leaders accusing the IRS of favoritism in failing to investigate alleged church nonprofit tax code violations :

[ NYT story ] A group of religious leaders accused the Internal Revenue Service yesterday of playing politics by ignoring its complaint that two large churches in Ohio are engaging in what it says are political activities, in violation of the tax code.

In a letter to Commissioner Mark W. Everson, the clergy members cited reports of political events involving Fairfield Christian Church in Fairfield and World Harvest Church in Columbus and groups affiliated with them that have occurred or been disclosed since they raised the issue in January.

Dusting off an old idea that "I" used in the  past.

A number of years ago someone came up with the idea of a Day of Silence for Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgendered/Questioning youth to observe in their respective high schools.

It is being observed this year in thousands of high schools across the country on Wednesday, April 26, 2006, and is garnering more and more opposition from the Religious Right.

Talk to Action was nominated in several categories, but didn't win any Koufax Awards this year (wait 'til next year!) -- but many fine blogs and bloggers did.  

The Koufax Awards is an annual celebration of the progressive blogosphere.  It is offered in a spirit of mutual solidarity and as an opportunity to get to know the fine work of many others. The whole thing is managed on a shoe string and with great integrity and good spiritedness by the blog site Wampum.

Booman Tribune has a nice, easy to use run down of this year's winners.  

Here's a link to a frontpage story in today's Norman Transcript about "Fighting for the Rights."

The story is about a group that is working to put large bronze plaques of the Bill of Rights in a prominent place in area high schools.