The 19th century sexual purity law that some want to revive | CNN

Reviving the Comstock Act has a practical dimension too. Until the late 1930s, anti-vice activists and postal inspectors used the statute to persecute a broad category of Americans writing and speaking about sex. That included publishers mailing editions of famous works of literature, from Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" to Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass." It also included anatomy texts, sex education materials and information about birth control. Even private love letters — or notes arranging dates — were sometimes seen as lewd. If conservatives revive the Comstock Act to stop abortion, there is no reason they couldn't bring the rest of the law to bear too, giving local efforts to criminalize speech about sex a major boost…

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/03/opinions/comstock-act-abortion-first-amendment-ziegler/index.html

Tucker Carlson Thinks We’re In An Atheist Theocracy (Hemant Mehta and Jessica Blumke, The Friendly Atheist podcast)

Jessica and I sat down to talk about several stories from the past week involving religion and politics. 
— Tucker Carlson says the Brett Kavanaugh backlash is due to an atheist “theocracy.” (4:40)
— Does Purity Culture explain why evangelical women still support Brett Kavanaugh? (11:06)
— Former Southern Baptist leader Paige Patterson is teaching a class on ethics for some reason. (14:58)
— Even Catholics are getting sick of Pope Francis. (19:52)
— In a letter, Albert Einstein called God a “product of human weakness.” (24:41)
— Ark Encounter does not make for an educational (or legal) field trip. (26:40)
— The “Nones” believe a lot of New Age nonsense. (30:02)
— The Jenga approach to religion. (34:17)
— Irish schools have an awful track record when it comes to religion. (37:55)
— The Trump administration will end visas for unmarried gay partners of diplomats. (41:48)
— Is “freethought” a good word for atheists to use? (47:30)
Interview:
http://friendlyatheistpodcast.com/2018/10/05/tucker-carlson-thinks-were-in-an-atheist-theocracy/

The Evangelical Church’s Sex Shaming Meets a Fiery Reckoning in This New Memoir - Mother Jones

Purity culture, which I've written about for Mother Jones over the past few years, is facing a growing challenge, as more and more women come forward to talk about how they've been harmed by the way evangelical communities emphasize sexual purity above all else.....
https://www.motherjones.com/media/2018/09/the-evangelical-churchs-sex-shaming-meets-a-fiery-reckoning-in-this-new-memoir-pure-linda-kay-klein/