This week, the government filed an emergency motion in the New York Archdiocese’s lawsuit against the contraceptive coverage mandate, requesting that the court halt proceedings and dismiss the case. The emergency is that the government is hemorrhaging money defending a regulation it will never enforce against the Archdiocese.

In one of the clinics where we work, a 16-year-old girl came in with a sprained ankle. She left with a prescription for birth control.

This turn of events is not as surprising as it seems: As family physicians, we treat the whole person. A quick update revealed that our 16-year-old patient had recently begun to have unprotected sex — and had no plan to get birth control. One of the reasons we love practicing family medicine is that we get to know our patients over time and provide the preventive care they need at every possible opportunity.

Katrina Hazzard-Donald’s Mojo Workin’: The Old African American Hoodoo System is a rich, academic study of Hoodoo, tracing the religion’s root back to the tribal people of Africa who were forcibly brought to America as slaves. They relied on their religious belief system, including charms and mojo bags to (successfully) protect them from often cruel masters. She follows Hoodoo through watershed changes in the cultural landscape of America which wrought significant changes in African American culture, society, family structure, and religion.

As I’ve said countless times before, the 2010 election saw a tidal wave of Teabaggers roll into our General Assembly in NC, and with the first GOP supermajority since Reconstruction, they’ve been hard at work since day one rolling back progressive progress in the state. In response to an ACLU challenge to prayer before Rowan County Board of Commissioners public meetings (97% of them open with Christian prayers, no less!), two lawmakers would like NC to establish an official state religion. It’s called the “Rowan County Defense of Religion Act.”

During this time of rebirth and renewal, these religious leaders remind us that we must strongly consider how our government conducts itself on behalf of our nation at home and abroad.

Just hours after Pope Benedict XVI announced his unexpected resignation, a bolt of lightning struck St. Peter’s Basilica.

Many say it’s a sign from God.

Pope Benedict XVII find it strange that Pope Benedict XVI chose a week that will culminate in a global strike to protest violence against women to retire. And for health reasons no less. Orange smoke and irony and all that. On Thursday of this week, all over the globe, people will gather and dance for One Billion Rising, a day dedicated to striking against violence against women. As Eve Ensler, the founder of V-Day which has organized the strike knows better than most, “violence against women is a global, patriarchal epidemic.”

A New Jersey Catholic school has banned swearing for female students — but not for the boys.

Millions of Americans willfully suffer under the illusion that religious faith brings health, wealth and- I kid you not- Super Bowl victories. A recent study by the Public Religion Research Institute found that one-third of the United States believes that God plays a role in determining which team wins the Super Bowl.

President Barack Obama’s inaugural address was the most inclusive speech a president has ever given. It was delivered on the 27th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and the President honored King’s legacy when he eloquently spoke of how the many U.S. liberation movements, both current and historic, are interconnected.

“We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths — that all of us are created equal — is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall.”

As an African American lesbian, whose identity is linked to all three movements, I felt affirmed. I applaud the president’s courageous pronouncement.

Some African Americans, however, felt “dissed” by the President’s speech.