Author: laurahaleywalker

Misreading Scrpiture: Non-Biblical Homophobia from the Westboro Baptist Church

two people holding pride flag

(2-minute read) On a recent road trip exploring around the beautiful State of Kansas, I passed through Topeka. There, I stopped to see a house, defiantly painted rainbow colors, situated across the street from the Westboro Baptist Church hate group. My impromptu visit felt timely [around the 20th anniversary of 9/11], given that the Westboro… Read More Misreading Scrpiture: Non-Biblical Homophobia from the Westboro Baptist Church

laurahaleywalker

The Misogynist Concept of Sexual “Reciprocity”

fist of crop man near helpless anonymous woman

(10-minute read) Our American culture privileges male sexual pleasure, with female sexual pleasure often no more than a sidebar discussion. Girls are conditioned to expect and tolerate discomfort in many domains: in clothing necessary to adhere to dress codes, in conversational interruptions, in our paychecks and career opportunities, in access to the means of reproductive… Read More The Misogynist Concept of Sexual “Reciprocity”

laurahaleywalker

Finding Home

After my mentally ill husband went missing and life abruptly unraveled, my dog and I became involuntarily homeless. We turned the resulting situation into a grand adventure! This adventure lasted for the next 28 months, during which time we called some 40-ish different places “home” across the United States (and a little bit of Mexico,… Read More Finding Home

laurahaleywalker

Atheist Grace

roasted turkey on white ceramic plate

(3-minute read) On Thanksgiving Day, Americans of diverse spiritual affiliations follow the tradition of saying grace: atheists who have never ascribed to supernaturalism, atheists who deconverted from a religion they are now pushing against, post-theists who reject the theist-atheist dichotomy, and theists of Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and other faiths. According to household… Read More Atheist Grace

laurahaleywalker

Suffering and its Discontents: Reflections on the Bronze Age Collapse

(8 minute read) Once upon a time, there was a super-regional trade network of specialized economies that supported widespread prosperity and prolific innovation and creative output. Then the climate shifted abruptly to cause drought and plummeting agricultural yields, stateless marauders suddenly appeared on the scene, and a sequence of earthquakes crumbled cities along a major… Read More Suffering and its Discontents: Reflections on the Bronze Age Collapse

laurahaleywalker

Legal Originalism

(16-minute read) Canonization of written law creates three problems over time:  social realities and ethical norms naturally evolve to be incongruous with a static legal code, new behaviors and technologies arise that weren’t contemplated by the original authors, and internal inconsistencies in the text come to light. The Hebrew Torah (“law”) exemplifies these problems:  Evolution… Read More Legal Originalism

laurahaleywalker

Paternalism, Autonomy, and Milk

bottle and glass of milk at home

(7-minute read) Liberal-minded people love to ridicule the internal inconsistency of right-wing social conservatives: conservatives’ defining values are limited government, individual liberty, and privacy . . . but nonetheless one of their core goals is federal government control over private medical decisions. They deify individual choice and (the myth of) meritocracy . . . but… Read More Paternalism, Autonomy, and Milk

laurahaleywalker