Mar 10, 2019
I read my presentation about Muslims in America, from colonial times to the present. (Image is the portrait by Charles Wilson Peale of Yarrow Mamout, a freed Muslim slave who was born about 1736 in West Africa and died in Washington, DC in 1823.)
Plus:
Monica Miller, whom I interviewed in show #268, has had her day in court! She argued before SCOTUS on behalf of the American Humanist Association that a giant cross-shaped war memorial is actually a Christian symbol and not a suitable secular monument. The Court will rule in June; meanwhile, you can listen to the oral arguments here.
The Southern Baptist Convention has responded to an investigative report showing 380 clergy and other church representatives have been accused of sexual misconduct in the last 20 years. The church seems to be taking the report seriously, and has promised to put measures in place to prevent and deal with such criminal behavior in the future.
The United Methodists have voted NOT to solemnize same-sex marriages and NOT to allow ordination of gay clergy. This decision will doubtless leave to many progressives leaving the church, perhaps to form their own new denomination.
A judge in New Jersey has ordered a new trial after a juror became upset that a Hindu defendant declined to swear in using a Bible. This further reinforces my long-held position that neither Bibles nor "so help me God" have any place in a courtroom or when public officals take an oath of office.
Theme music courtesy of Body Found.
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