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The Christian Right, Putting Religious Rights Over Human Rights

The Article: Beware: The Christian Right’s ‘Religious Freedom’ Wants to Elevate Religious Beliefs Above Human Rights—And It’s Working by Valerie Tarico in AlterNet.

The Text: Secular Americans and many liberal people of faith have been horrified by the Right’s most recent ploy: “religious freedom” claims that would give conservative business owners license to discriminate. Until Arizona made the national spotlight, the need for lunch counter sit-ins had seemed like a thing of the past. But in reality, advocates for religious privilege have been circling toward this point for some time.

As a legal and political tactic, Tea Party politicians and conservative church leaders have high hopes for their “religious freedom” push. What they want broadly is a set of cultural and legal agreements that elevate religious beliefs above human rights laws and civic obligations. They hope that securing sacrosanct religious rights for individuals and institutions will let them roll back rights for queers and women. They further hope that playing the religious freedom card will guarantee them access to government contracts and let them proselytize on the public dime.

Here’s the thing: for decades now, this strategy has been working.

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Neil DeGrasse Tyson On Science And Democracy

From Bill Moyers and company: Neil deGrasse Tyson about why science literacy is critical to the future of our democracy, economy and standing in the world. They also discuss the dangers created by those who would deny scientific fact and block important research.

This Handy Flow Chart Explains GOP Reactionary Remarks

I’d call it more linear (Obama does X, Republicans cry Y), but obfuscation of the point makes for great artifice.

Study Shows That Millennials Are Confused About, Well, Everything

The Article: Study: Millennials Deeply Confused About Their Politics, Finances, and Culture by Derek Thompson in The Atlantic.

The Text: Millennials—or Generation Y, which, by varying definitions, includes you if you’re somewhere between 14-34—are the subject of constant obsession and worrying from the managers trying to hire them, the marketers trying to sell to them, and the parents and grandparents trying desperately to get them to call once in a while using the “phone” feature on their smartphones.

So what can we possibly learn that’s new from Pew’s massive survey released this morning? Many things, actually—and mostly contradictions. Which is about right when you’re trying to sum up 85+ million people in a handful of adjectives.

This generation is getting totally screwed by the economy … but we’re the most optimistic generation in the country.

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