35: Keep Your Rosaries off my Ovaries

Keep Your Rosaries off my Ovaries

(00:00) Intro and T-shirts

(06:04) Grassroots Activism and “Cancel Culture”: Christophe describes his experience engaging in grassroots opposition to an ultra-conservative Board of County Commissioners in Sussex County, New Jersey. Christophe and Sean deconstruct the Conservative Political Action Committee’s (CPAC) 2021 theme: “Conservatism Uncancelled.” Christophe performs the short speech he delivered at the Board of County Commissioners meeting.

(33:08) Abortion and creeping theocracy: Christophe and Sean discuss the normalization of ultra-restrictive anti-abortion measures that South Carolina’s new “heart beat” law represents. Sean draws a direct causal line between the so-called “right to life” movement and the Right’s relentless drive to strip women of their agency. Christophe and Sean identify the near complete ban on abortion in Poland, and the fusion of church and state that precipitated it, as a cautionary tale - a preview - of the religious right’s aspirations.

(01:14:12) The Crisis in Myanmar: Christophe and Sean break down the events that led to the February 1 coup d’état that overthrew Myanmar's fragile, quasi-democratic government. Christophe and Sean identify and describe the complex character that is Ms. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi - the head of the National League for Democracy, the country’s leading civilian party, and the country’s de facto civilian leader since her election in 2015. The discussion serves as both a disturbing reminder of how fragile democracy can be and how difficult it can be to distinguish between heroes and villains.

(01:33:30) Outro

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Correction:

Abortion is not fully legal under Islam and is in fact banned in many Islamic countries. In the episode, we stated that Muslim women could get abortions. This is based on the Muslim teaching: "In Islam, the fetus is believed to become a living soul after 120 days gestation." Prior to 120 days, abortion is legal in some Islamic countries, with varying degrees of restriction.

Show notes:

Sussex commissioner cites false facts to push anti-hate resolution

Poland enforces controversial near-total abortion ban

As Poland's Church embraces politics, Catholics depart

Myanmar’s Coup, Explained

How a Human Rights Angel Lost Her Halo

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