One less barrier to vaccination

One less barrier to vaccination

Gazette Column
Amid measles outbreak and emergency mandates, Vatican makes position change public For vaccination advocates, there’s bad news and good news. Let’s start with the bad. Although deemed eradicated in 2000, measles is making a record comeback in the United States. Health officials have, for the second week in a row, added dozens of new cases, bringing the nationwide total to 465 as of last week. Not only does this mark the highest number of cases in a five-year period, highly contagious measles is now present in a third of U.S. states, including Iowa neighbors Illinois and Missouri. More measles cases occurred in the first three months of 2019 than in all of 2018, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although 2014 remains the year since 2000 with the most…
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Local groups take aim at Islamophobia

Local groups take aim at Islamophobia

Gazette Column
Breaking through the noise of the 24-hour news cycle, where participants are more likely to yell than offer thoughtful discussion, isn't easy. But a dozen local churches, religious organizations and academics still are going to try. The stakes surrounding Islamophobia, they say, are too high - even in the city that is home to the Mother Mosque of America - to leave it to the talking heads. "I recently read a novel by Louis de Bernieres, ‘Birds Without Wings,'” said Charles Crawley, president of the Inter-Religious Council of Linn County. The book, set in Turkey in the early 20th century, documents how international events tore apart Christians and Muslims who lived together peaceably for centuries. "If we aren't proactive, the same thing could happen here, with national and international events…
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Lawmakers should end religious exemption

Lawmakers should end religious exemption

Gazette Column
Iowa lawmakers dispatched two proposals that would have allowed more parents to forgo required and necessary vaccinations for their children. That's good, but not enough. It's time to take a closer look at the state's lax vaccination rules. According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, more parents are seeking religious exemptions to vaccination requirements - four times the number from only 15 years ago. At the county level, the percentage of parents taking a religious exemption varies widely. In Buchanan County, for example, 356 religious exemptions were filed in a total enrollment of 3,515. Larger Linn County had 744 religious exemptions from a total enrollment of nearly 40,000. That's partly because state law doesn't require parents to cite specific religious teaching against vaccinations to claim the exemption. All it…
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Theology as advocacy on death row

Theology as advocacy on death row

Gazette Column
Intersections luncheon features former Wartburg professor A former Wartburg College professor returns to the Hawkeye State this week to tell the story of a friend and theology scholar who was put to death by the state of Georgia in September 2015. And she has some questions. Jennifer M. McBride was board of regents chair in ethics, assistant professor of religion and director of peace and justice studies at Wartburg, a college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America in Waverly. She now is associate dean of doctor of ministry programs and continuing education, and assistant professor of theology and ethics at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. McBride first met Kelly Gissendaner — at the time, the only woman on Georgia’s death row — while directing a theology certificate program for the Atlanta…
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Education is aim of ‘Know Your Neighbor’ religion series

Education is aim of ‘Know Your Neighbor’ religion series

Gazette Column
Can three community discussions on religion improve life in Cedar Rapids? Organizers hope so. “Hans Kung has a great quote about there being no peace without the great religions coming together. So, we need to start at that level,” Charles Crawley, president of the Inter-Religious Council of Linn County, said. The council worked with the Cedar Rapids Public Library for a series of three “Know Your Neighbor” events. Crawley says the idea was to work with the library on its mission to improve literacy by offering information that specifically addresses religious literacy and fosters community understanding. [caption id="attachment_1815" align="alignleft" width="400"] The first Know Your Neighbor religious discussion took place Monday, Jan. 8, 2018, before an overflow crowd at the Cedar Rapids Public Library. It was organized by the Inter-Religious Council of Linn County.[/caption]…
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American culture, not Congress, is changing

American culture, not Congress, is changing

Gazette Column
New cultural research shows bumpy paths forward for both dominant political parties and better explains why economics wasn’t the sole booster of Donald Trump’s rise to the White House. It also proves most Americans are right: Washington, D.C., and state legislatures are out of step with their constituents, just not for the reasons many think. The 2016 American Values Atlas, an annual survey conducted by Public Religion Research Institute, was released last week with some very interesting findings on America’s shifting culture. A few key points: • The share of Americans who identify as white and Christian no longer constitutes a national majority. • White Christians now make up only 43 percent of the U.S. population, a steep decline from four decades ago when the demographic was at 80 percent. •…
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Parenting a freethinker made easier

Parenting a freethinker made easier

Gazette Column
Two decades ago, as our family reeled from a full-term stillbirth, I grappled with ways to help our then 6-year-old daughter work through the grief of losing an infant brother. I searched for resources to offer reassurance and comfort, but there were scant few on the topic of death. And none I could find on stillbirth. So, we muddled forward with our own words. Was I saying the right things? Were there “right things” to be said? About a decade later, when a different daughter’s best friend died unexpectedly, I was given a book, “Parenting Beyond Belief,” edited by Dale McGowan. Suddenly I had a compass to help guide my child through grief, and advice on many other thorny topics. McGowan later co-authored a practical, companion book and, this past year,…
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Postcards offer love, bolster unity

Postcards offer love, bolster unity

Gazette Column
Hate crimes are on the rise in America, and religion-based violence leads the pack. As a May Senate Judiciary Committee hearing led by Sen. Chuck Grassley thoroughly detailed: Hate crimes against minority faiths spiked 86 percent in the past year — a low-ball percentage that only reflects what’s reported. “Religious hate crimes against Muslims are the fastest growing category,” said Grassley, an Iowa Republican. “Fear for practicing one’s religion should never happen in this country.” Religion-based violence touched the Midwest again last weekend when a bomb exploded inside the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in suburban Minneapolis. As people gathered for morning prayers, the explosion ripped through the local religious leader’s office. Furnishings were charred, windows shattered — but thankfully no lives lost. Only a week before, swastikas and messages warning…
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Atheist, humanist invocations planned at Iowa Statehouse

Atheist, humanist invocations planned at Iowa Statehouse

Gazette Column
This month the Iowa Statehouse moves closer to its “people’s house” nickname when first an atheist, and then a humanist, offer invocations from the well of the House chamber. The General Assembly has a long-standing tradition of invocations, which are brief meditations or prayers. It’s become routine for lawmakers to invite people from around the state to offer these morning speeches, marking a solemn beginning to the legislative work day. Throughout the years, a variety of religious and community leaders have spoken. Christian denominations hold the lion’s share of these appearances, but legislators also have heard from Jewish rabbis, Muslim imams, and one Wiccan priestess. And now two secularists will join their ranks. This Wednesday, Manchester native and atheist Justin Scott will lead the ceremony. Then on April 17, Roxanne…
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Wishing for less fear, more words

Wishing for less fear, more words

Gazette Column
Before your turkey leftovers can be turned into sandwiches and soup, the war of words begins. The cashier that wishes you a hearty “Happy holidays!” is a front-line soldier, as much in need of a fox hole as the bell ringer shouting “merry Christmas!” The supposed War on Christmas is the center of the dispute, forcing acquaintances to decide what, if anything, is appropriate to say. By wishing neighbors a happy holiday, we’re removing Christ from the celebration. By inserting Christmas, we’re making a religious assumption. [caption id="attachment_344" align="alignleft" width="640"] A poinsettia flower decorates a table. (Crystal LoGiudice/The Gazette)[/caption] What I’ve noticed this year — and maybe you’ve noticed it too — is that fewer people seem willing to cross the battleground. Instead of warm wishes, however contrived, people in…
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