Lauren Nelson is an advocate and aspiring ally focused on intersectional justice. When she's not gabbing on social media or chasing after her precocious seven year old, you'll find her researching and writing extensively on the subjects of politics, policy, culture, neurodiversity, and faith for The Friendly Atheist and Rethink the Rant.
Much has been said about the peculiar behavior of the Religious Right in this election. Given the racist beginnings of the voting bloc, it really isn’t all that surprising that they are increasingly swinging toward an unapologetic bigot. But while GOP strategists wring their hands over the obliteration of what they’d considered conventional electoral wisdom, they might be missing the point. Instead of worrying about how to consolidate the Religious Right behind a more palatable candidate, they should really be focusing on how to court those who aren’t religious. Read more
HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease, due in no small part to the fact that there are a slew of different strains, many of which do not generate any symptoms. So unless you’re getting checked on the regular, you could easily be passing it along to your partner(s) without realizing as much. That might not matter much in most cases, as the majority of HPV strains will go away on their own. Other strains, however, do come with major health risks. HPV 6 and 11, for instance, are responsible for 90% of genital warts cases. HPV 16 and 18, on the other hand, are responsible for more than 70% of cervical cancer. There’s not an app for that, but there are vaccines that were introduced about 10 years ago. Though they did not protect against all 100 HPV strains, Gardasil protected women against four particularly deadly strains while Cervarix protected against two. And wouldn’t ya know it, the use of these vaccines has produced some pretty fantastic results. So why is the Religious Right so opposed to girls getting vaccinated? Read more
Ted Cruz may have a scientifically punchable face, but that’s not the only reason to hate the guy. After all, his platform is even more odious than Donald Trump’s nonsense, and his drive to demolish the theoretical wall between church and state is unmatched. He’s the super villain Secular America decidedly does not deserve. So when folks on the Internet started floating the idea that Ted Cruz was secretly the Zodiac Killer, it seemed, on face, plausible. Sure, the murders began before Cruz was even born, but with a hypothetical soul that black, anything is possible, right? Plus, the similarities between the available composite sketches of the Zodiac Killer and Cruz will at least make you blink a couple of times. At first, the push was about quick laughs and the awesome possibility that we might one day hear Ted Cruz utter the words, “I am not the Zodiac Killer.” And then came the genius known as Tim Faust. Read more
Pope Francis pissed off no small amount of people last week when he appeared to critique Donald Trump’s wall proposal as being not particularly Christian. Conservative politicians across the board rebuked the religious leader, but some were more intense than others. Take, for instance, New Hampshire State Rep. Susan DeLemus. A Republican and avid Trump supporter, DeLemus had shared snippets of scripture on Facebook. When someone else brought up the recent comments from the Pope, her now-deleted response was definitive: Read more
Marco Rubio has fought hard to frame himself as a steward of conservative Christian values. He cares so much about the subject that his passion has overwhelmed his circuit board and caused him to glitch out. But a recent comment in Nevada may strike a blow to that image. Rubio was asked if he would make prostitution a federal crime, and his answer may not sit well with the Religious Right. Read more
