Rejecting political pandering

It is very hard for local governments to resist religious pandering, especially when it is combined with patriotic pandering. All it takes is for one elected official to propose something like putting up the Ten Commandments or starting meetings with a prayer or the Pledge of Allegiance (with the words ‘under god’ added of course) and this puts other members in a bind. Even if they think the idea is stupid, offensive, or even unconstitutional, few want to speak out against it for fear of being labeled anti-religious or unpatriotic. This is why most such practices end up having to be litigated, wasting everyone’s time and money.
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God’s help no longer needed to sign up for the Air Force

As a result of the fuss about the person who was not allowed to re-enlist in the Air Force because he struck out the words ‘so help me God’ in the oath, the Air Force has reversed course and said that saying those words are no longer required, thus bringing it into line with the other military branches. The American Humanist Association had vowed to sue if the policy was not changed.
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The fallout from Hobby Lobby

The Hobby Lobby case, where the US Supreme court ruled that under some vaguely defined circumstances, owners of companies had right to impose their religious views as company policies as if the companies were individuals under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), was widely predicted to open up a Pandora’s box with others seeking similar exemptions from following the law because of their ‘sincerely held religious beliefs’.

And lo, what the prophets foretold has come to pass.
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Busybodies messing up people’s lives

A Catholic girls school has fired two teachers after being tipped off that they were a lesbian couple.

[Olivia] Reichert said she and [Christina] Gambaro were asked to resign after the school said in late July it received a copy of a mortgage application with the couple’s names. The couple had married in New York over the summer and the school said they had violated the moral contract faculty are required to sign as part of employment.

Note that these teachers were not publicizing the fact that they were lesbians. Some busybody had sent the school authorities the mortgage document. The firings have caused anger among students and alumnae of the school.
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The Thinking Housewife does not like Pope Francis

I decided to wander, as I periodically do, over to The Thinking Housewife to see what that homage site to the mores of the early twentieth century was up to, and found that they are very upset with Pope Francis, using language that is surprisingly harsh for such a genteel site. He is referred to as the ‘Argentine Bomber’, not a true pope (which they reinforce by putting “pope” in scare quotes), and even a ‘scandalous heretic’ because he did not use his trip to the Middle East to try and convert Jews and Muslims. The author has a truly novel view of religious freedom, saying “Religious freedom is no more a human right than walking down a street in the face of ongoing traffic is a human right. No one has the right to be wrong.”
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