Map of life expectancy at birth from Global Education Project.

Monday, November 21, 2005

Check this out

My old friend Frederick Clarkson and some of his colleagues, including other well-known writers and researchers such as Chip Berlet and Esther Kaplan, who have been vigilant observers and thoughtful critics of the rise of the religious right, have started a web site for learning and discussion about the Christian right and dominionist movements. They represent the common ground of liberal religious and non-religious people, and that means they aren't planning to revisit fundamental civil rights that some religious people oppose. The focus is more political than philosophical, although I expect that distinction will be a bit fuzzy. You can register for free and join the discussions.

The site is called Talk to Action. Here's their statement of purpose:

Talk to Action is a platform for reporting on, learning about, and analyzing and discussing the religious right -- and what to do about it.

There is an editorial framework for this site than that is different than you will find on other major blog sites, so please read this carefully: We are pro-religious equality and pro-separation of church and state. We are prochoice, and we support gay and lesbian civil rights -- including marriage equality. Therefore, debates about the validity of abortion and gay rights are off topic. We understand that some people who share our general concern about the politics of the Christian Right may not agree on all of these matters. That's fine. Anyone who agrees with the general mission of this site is welcome to participate -- but bearing this in mind. It is our intention to take the conversation forward, and not let it be held back by debating what, in our view are or should be, settled matters of human, civil and constitutional rights. Similarly, religious debates are off topic, especially debates between theism and atheism. Finally, we are nonpartisan. While political discussions are welcome, -- even central to the purpose of this site -- we do not wish the site itself to be a platform that is necessarily for or opposed to any particular party.

So give them a look. I suspect many of our readers will want to join in there.

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