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mostlysignssomeportents · 9 months

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The "religious liberty" angle for overturning the overturning of Dobbs

Frank Wilhoit’s definition of “conservativism” remains a classic:

There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.

https://crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/liberals-against-progressives/#comment-729288

Conservativism is, in other words, the opposite of the rule of law, which is the idea that the law applies equally to all. Many of America’s most predictably weird moments live in the tension between the rule of law and the conservative’s demand to be protected — but not bound — by the law.

Think of the Republican women of Florida whose full-throated support for the perfomatively cruel and bigoted policies of Ron Desantis turned to howls of outrage when the governor signed a law “overhauling alimony” (for “overhauling,” read “eliminating”):

https://www.orlandoweekly.com/news/this-is-a-death-sentence-for-me-florida-republican-women-say-they-will-switch-parties-after-desantis-approves-alimony-law-34563230

This is real leopards-eating-people’s-faces-party stuff, and it’s the only source of mirth in an otherwise grim situation.

But out of the culture-war bullshit backfires, none is so sweet and delicious as the religious liberty self-own. You see, under the rule of law, if some special consideration is owed to a group due to religious liberty, that means all religions. Of course, Wilhoit-drunk conservatives imagine that “religious liberty” is a synonym for Christian liberty, and that other groups will never demand the same carve outs.

Remember when Louisiana decided spend tax dollars to fund “religious” schools under a charter school program, only to discover — to their Islamaphobic horror — that this would allow Muslim schools to get public subsidies, too?

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/louisiana_n_1593995

(They could have tried the Quebec gambit, where hijabs and yarmulkes are classed as “religious” and therefore banned for public servants and publicly owned premises, while crosses are treated as “cultural” and therefore exempted — that’s some primo Wilhoitism right there)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-francois-legault-crucifix-religious-symbols-1.4858757

The Satanic Temple has perfected the art of hoisting religious liberty on its own petard. Are you a state lawmaker hoping to put a giant Ten Commandments on the statehouse lawn? Go ahead, have some religious liberty — just don’t be surprised when the Satanic Temple shows up to put a giant statue of Baphomet next to it:

https://www.npr.org/2018/08/17/639726472/satanic-temple-protests-ten-commandments-monument-with-goat-headed-statue

Wanna put a Christmas tree in the state capitol building? Sure, but there’s gonna be a Satanic winter festival display right next to it:

https://katv.com/news/offbeat/satanic-temple-display-installed-at-illinois-capitol-next-to-nativity-scene-menorah-decorations-snake-serpent-satanic-temple-springfield-christmas-tree

And now we come to Dobbs, and the cowardly, illegitimate Supreme Court’s cowardly, illegitimate overturning of Roe v Wade, a move that was immediately followed by “red” states implementing total, or near-total bans on abortion:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/15/paid-medical-disinformation/#crisis-pregnancy-centers

These same states are hotbeds of “religious liberty” nonsense. In about a dozen of these states, Jews, Christians, and Satanists are filing “religious liberty” challenges to the abortion ban. In Indiana, the Hoosier Jews For Choice have joined with other religious groups in a class action, to argue that the “religious freedom” law that Mike Pence signed as governor protects their right to an abortion:

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/21/legal-strategy-that-could-topple-abortion-bans-00102468

Their case builds on precedents from the covid lockdowns, like decisions that said that if secular exceptions to lockdown rules or vaccine mandates existed, then states had to also allow religious exemptions. That opens the door for religious exemptions to abortion bans — if there’s a secular rule that permits abortion in the instance of incest or rape, then faith-based exceptions must be permitted, too.

Some of the challenges to abortion rules seek to carve out religious exemptions, but others seek to overturn the abortion rules altogether, because the lawmakers who passed them explicitly justified them in the name of fusing Christian “values” with secular law, a First Amendment no-no.

As Rabbi James Bennett told Politico’s Alice Ollstein: “They’re entitled to their interpretation of when life begins, but they’re not entitled to have the exclusive one.”

In Florida, a group of Jewish, Buddhist, Episcopalian, Universalists and United Church clerics are challenging the “aiding and abetting” law because it restricts the things they can say from the pulpit — a classic religious liberty gambit.

Kentucky’s challenge comes from three Jewish women whose faith holds that life begins “with the first breath.” Lead plaintiff Lisa Sobel described how Kentucky’s law bars her from seeking IVF treatment, because she could face criminal charges for “discarding non-viable embryos” created during the process.

Then there’s the Satanic Temple, in court in Texas, Idaho and Indiana. The Satanists say that abortion is a religious ritual, and argue that the state can’t limit their access to it.

These challenges all rest on state religious liberty laws. What will happen when some or all of these reach the Supreme Court? It’s a risky gambit. This is the court that upheld Trump’s Muslim ban and the right of a Christian baker to refuse to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. It’s a court that loves Wilhoit’s “in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.”

It’s a court that’s so Wilhoit-drunk, it’s willing to grant religious liberty to bigots who worry about imaginary same-sex couples:

https://newrepublic.com/article/173987/mysterious-case-fake-gay-marriage-website-real-straight-man-supreme-court

But in the meantime, the bigots and religious maniacs who want to preserve “religious liberty” while banning abortion are walking a fine line. The Becket Fund, which funded the Hobby Lobby case (establishing that religious maniacs can deny health care to their employees if their imaginary friends object), has filed a brief in one case arguing that the religious convictions of people arguing for a right to abortion aren’t really sincere in their beliefs:

https://becketnewsite.s3.amazonaws.com/20230118184008/Individual-Members-v.-Anonymous-Planitiff-Amicus-Brief.pdf

This is quite a line for Becket to have crossed — religious liberty trufans hate it when courts demand that people seeking religious exemptions prove that their beliefs are sincerely held.

Not only is Becket throwing its opposition to “sincerely held belief” tests under the bus, they’re doing so for nothing. Jewish religious texts clearly state that life begins at the first breath, and that the life of a pregnant person takes precedence over the life of the fetus in their uterus.

The kicker in Ollstein’s great article comes in the last paragraph, delivered by Columbia Law’s Elizabeth Reiner Platt, who runs the Law, Rights, and Religion Project:

The idea of reproductive rights as a religious liberty issue is absolutely not something that came from lawyers. It’s how faith communities themselves have been talking about their approach to reproductive rights for literally decades.

The Clarion Science Fiction Writers’ Workshop (I’m a grad, instructor and board member) is having its fundraiser auction to help defray tuition. I’ve donated a “Tuckerization” — the right to name a character in a future novel:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/clarion-sf-fantasy-writers-workshop-23-campaign/#/

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/11/wilhoitism/#hoosier-jews

[Image ID: Moses parting the Red Sea. On the seabed is revealed a Planned Parenthood clinic.]

Image: Nina Paley (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Moses-Splits-Sea_by_Nina_Paley.jpg

CC0 1.0 https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en

—

Kristina D.C. Hoeppner (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/4nitsirk/40406966752/

CC BY-SA 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

#pluralistic #religion #frank wilhoit #petard #gender #religious freedom #1a #abortion bans #dobbs #roe

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horatio-fig · 2 months

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Headcanons I have about random Imperials based purely on ✨vibes✨

Thrawn - Puts both hands on the walls at urinals.

Eli - Always has a bruise in the shape of someones handprint on his ass.

Faro - Sniffs babies.

Pryce - Licks the inside of crisp packets.

Kallus - Pees in the sink.

Lyste - Thinks women poop babies out their butts.

Tarkin - Can’t rotate a PDF.

Krennic - Thinks Kit Kats are chocolate bars.

Ronan - Won’t shut up about his favourite podcast.

Deyja - His Doctor says he can’t have engery drinks anymore.

Gideon - Has never been to McDonalds and wants everyone to know it.

Yularen - Lactose intolerant (and deeply ashamed of this).

Dobbs - Doesn’t understand punctuation so always uses commas,

Enoch - Don’t bully him, he’ll cum.

#star wars headcanons #star wars imperials #thrawn #eli vanto #karyn faro #governor pryce #agent kallus #lyste #grand moff tarkin #director krennic #brierly ronan #Dayja Collerand #moff gideon #wullf yularen #dobbs #stormtrooper enoch

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siebedraws · 3 months

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Last September I DMd a really short campaign. To track initiative, I used a whiteboard and some magnets I made with player character portraits. This was an easy and visually engaging way to monitor combat while doubling as a little memento after the campaign.

Last week we started a new campaign, and though I'm not the DM this time around I offered to make magnets in the same vein as the last ones, which are the ones you can see above. Made some for the DM too. It's pretty much the first thing I've drawn in several weeks and has been nice to work on to ease me back into drawing and out of this art block pit I've been living in.

#curse of strahd #strahd von zarovich #dungeons and dragons #dnd #caelia #kaizen #nimnir #vallen #dobbs #hyrokkin #jan #portraits #portraits example 2024

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profeminist · 2 years

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Photo ID: Political cartoon showing a façade (fake front) to the Supreme Court of the United States, and behind the façade is a Christian church.

Cartoon by Michael de Adder

#scotus #stop forced childbirth #feminism #feminist #politics #political cartoon #political cartoons #supreme courts #dobbs

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xenofact · 11 months

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You deserve this!

Share this poster of "Bob" to bring good luck! Just seeing "Bob"''s face tilts the Luck Plane in their favor!

#subgenius #bob dobbs #church of the subgenius #bob #dobbs #dobbstown

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cary-elwes · 7 months

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#cary elwes #leather jackets #1992 #dobbs

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writersarea · 2 years

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This is your reminder that if you are going to protect, do so safely.

So here are some basic rules of thumb coming from several years of protesting:

Don’t talk to the police

Write the phone number of whatever your local legal group is that is helping with the protest on your arm

Let someone know where you’re going

ESPECIALLY IF YOU’RE GOING ALONE

Keep them up to date on when you get home

Have a plan to get home

Bring water, a face mask (we are still in a pandemic, and it’s good protection anyways), and a mini first aid kit if you have one

Do not wear your contacts, wear glasses. Much easier if things result in tear gas or other substances

Turn your finger print unlock off on your phone. Police can use that to get in, but they can’t make you give up your password

If you take pictures, keep them to yourself. Being identified is not always a good thing and can be really dangerous for a lot of people

Know who is organizing the event

Make a decision on where you draw the line for when to go home so that you don’t have to make that decision in the moment

These are just some basics. Feel free to add on, this is just what comes to mind right now. Stay safe, friends.

#protest #abortion #abortion is healthcare #abortion rights #protesters #roe #roe versus wade #roe v wade #roe vs. wade #roe vs wade #dobbs #safety

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demdelis · 4 months

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#abortion rights #abortion is healthcare #roe v wade #Dobbs

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rapeculturerealities · 11 months

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What It's Like to Have an Abortion Denied by Dobbs - In These Times

Lationna and Kendall looked into traveling to another state, but they didn’t have the money. The best option they could find was a clinic in Philadelphia, where the procedure alone would cost around $700, not including the hundreds it would take to get there and back. In the confusing aftermath of the verdict and the new bans, Lationna also feared if she left the state to get an abortion, she’d be arrested upon her return. (Mississippi’s ban charges anyone who performs an abortion in the state with a felony, although officials have said they won’t prosecute people who seek abortions themselves.)

Instead, Lationna had her baby at the end of January. That makes her one of the first people to give birth after being unable to end a pregnancy because of the new abortion bans that have been passed or gone into effect in 14 states since the Dobbs decision. (Five other states have banned the procedure after early gestational limits.) After a half-century of recognizing a constitutional right to abortion — even if access was spotty to nonexistent in many places — the United States has entered a new era.

Lationna found herself at a particularly cruel nexus: about to undertake having a child she hadn’t planned for in a state that ranks at the bottom of the nation in terms of the support it offers pregnant people and new parents. Even with a job, a partner and a family support system, Mississippi’s abortion ban put Lationna at extreme risk of poverty. She would face the added costs of caring for another child with no extra resources to do so. And she would more than likely be forced to put her life goals on indefinite hold.

Lationna’s story is a glimpse of things to come, on a massive scale, in our new, post-Dobbs America, foreshadowing the economic harm as yet untold numbers of people will endure and the dreams a new generation will be forced to put aside.

#Abortion #reproductive rights #reproductive justice #Dobbs #mississippi

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ermingarden · 2 years

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Overturning Roe will lead to an even more radical divergence in abortion access between liberal and conservative states. If you have some extra cash, now is a great time to consider donating to abortion funds, especially in those states where draconian abortion restrictions are poised to go into effect as soon as Roe is formally overturned. Here is a list of U.S. abortion funds by state compiled by the National Network of Abortion Funds.

#dobbs #reproductive rights #us politics

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