Religious communities across the Lewiston-Auburn area have been working closely with social justice groups toward the overall goal of bettering their communities. Many of the secular organizations to which local religious communities contribute share similar values to those preached from the pulpit each week: notably nonviolence and solidarity with the oppressed. One does not have […]
Perspective
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About these essays
These pieces were written in a Bates Religious Studies course this past spring called “Religion, Violence and Nonviolence” that explored relationships among religious beliefs, violence and nonviolence in a variety of traditions and contexts, both local and global. As part of the course, students interviewed local community members involved in religiously based peace-building and social-justice […]
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The 'Florida' model for schools is in chaos
The K-12 education system in Florida — the one that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos likes to praise as a model for the nation — is in chaos. Traditional public school districts are trying to absorb the loss of millions of dollars for the new school year that starts within weeks. That money, which comes from […]
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Sessions has put Trump in a box
Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s bad week just got worse. And while his new problems would appear to threaten his job, they also put President Donald Trump in a box when it comes to his apparent desire to be rid of Sessions. The Washington Post reported that Russia’s ambassador has said he and Sessions discussed the […]
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Housing stipend for Congress? Here's a better way
Does anyone pity the poor congressman? He spends much of his life on the road, eating rubber chicken or repugnant local specialties, in between making a few speeches and shaking a whole lot of hands. And when he comes off the road, he generally does not go home to whatever fair district where he once […]
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A sensible middle ground on pay
There’s bad news from Seattle for advocates of a $15-an-hour minimum wage law. Turns out the measure’s costs to the city’s low-wage workers have outweighed benefits by 3 to 1, according to a new city-commissioned study by University of Washington researchers. The average low-wage worker has lost $125 a month because of the higher-wage decree, […]
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Calling me 'sweetie' won't help me save your life.
“Sweetheart, you’re too young to understand,” my patient — a man in his 60s, someone accustomed to commanding a room — barked at me from his hospital bed. Medical problems had recently upended his life, and he was having a hard time adjusting. “I can’t believe I have to talk about this stuff to a […]
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A mysterious underwater forest warns of Earth's rapidly changing climate
The discovery began with a rumor about a fishing “honey hole” somewhere off the Alabama coast where the red snapper was plentiful. By the time Ben Raines — an environmental reporter for the Mobile Press Register — heard about the location, the rumor had evolved. Apparently, a local dive shop owner told him, the fish […]
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Scontras makes Maine labor history an enjoyable read
“Time-line of Selected Highlights of Maine Labor History: 1636-2015” Author: Charles A. Scontras Publisher: Bureau of Labor Education, University of Maine, Orono, 2016 Price: $18.95 From colonial times to the present day, Maine’s working people have struggled tenaciously to obtain gainful employment, improve their working conditions and wages, curb economic and societal injustices, and expand […]
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Scientists just can’t stop studying falling cats
George Gabriel Stokes was a bushy-sideburned Irish physicist and mathematician who for half of the 19th century was the University of Cambridge’s Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, a position held at other times by Isaac Newton and Stephen Hawking. A theorem Stokes formulated is taught to math and physics students today. Stokes’ contemporary, James Clerk Maxwell, […]