Are Mormons villains, or just people with a different story about their identity? | openDemocracy

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Skye Jethani the Grace of Grit

Skye Jethani blog

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What John Updike Thought about the Afterlife

Lovely

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Hauerwas and the Abolition of War

Patrol

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Happy (Christian Liturgical) New Year!

narrative on the pp shooter

Ahhh, now we can all breath a sigh of relief. The priests of modern knowledge have established a narrative through which we can view the Planned Parenthood shooter. Finding the narrative, usually disguised as a “motive” is the first quest after the terrible news breaks.

Early contenders were “Crazy Christian Terrorist who hates abortion goes over the edge.” Nope. The most high profile victim (the cop) was a anti-abortion Christian pastor. (Although some more ideological news outlets are still pushing that angle.)

The gun angle is of course at hand but apart from “a rifle” no chatter about an assault weapon and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. It might have been a plain old hunting gun.

The mental illness angle is at hand, but no word of a treatment of mental illness, mostly just petty stuff like non-convictions of shooting a neighbor’s dog with a pellet gun and a peeping tom. WP goes with “alienation”. although reports from the ex wife are hardly horrendous.

We NEED a narrative. Why? So we can feel safe. “If I avoid abortion clinics I’ll be safe.” “If I avoid people with guns I’ll be safe (or if I have a gun).” “If i avoid people with “obvious” (visible) mental illness I’ll be safe (or if I get treatment).” “If I avoid people who look like they came from the Middle East…”

Anything but admit “The world is not really safe and I’m not really in control of my destiny”. That narrative cannot be breached.
Oh yeah, today marks the first Sunday of Advent. Happy Christian Liturgical New Year

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“The housing crisis is insane”: 6 cities where homelessness is out of control

http://www.salon.com/2015/11/28/the_housing_crisis_is_insane_cities_where_homelessness_is_out_of_control_partner/

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Ex-Wife Says Robert Dear, Suspect in Colorado Rampage, Showed Few Signs of Obsession

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/us/ex-wife-recalls-colorado-gunman-as-imperfect-but-a-good-man.html

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Bollywood’s Biggest Star Defies India’s Violent Bigotry

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/11/29/the-unbearable-intolerance-of-india.html

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Billionaires show that going to a top college isn’t very important

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/11/27/why-top-journalists-are-better-educated-than-billionaires/

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The Colorado Springs Killer

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/the-colorado-springs-killer-garrett-swasey-robert-lewis-dear/

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