Religion Dispatches
…s degrees of uselessness. There is a political angle to Obama’s support of Indonesia, as he attempts to set-up rival powers with China; Indonesia’s close relationship with Australia makes them a credible power center. Just as important, Obama recognizes that democracy is messy, painful, and not the same everywhere. Indonesia carved out its own understanding of democracy that recognizes its cultural past and desires for the future. There is a chall…
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…rica’s past. The organization, which champions faith and defends religious freedom, sent a letter to top publishing companies. Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, president of Interfaith Alliance, said: The Texas SBOE members certainly are entitled to believe whatever they want about our country and its history. The problem arises when their religious beliefs begin to essentially rewrite history for our children. Separation of church and state was a core t…
Read More…ownright bizarre things “Cussing Pastor” Mark Driscoll says, usually while promoting a new book, as well as the ensuing negative publicity and essays critical of Mark Driscoll, which somehow increase the popularity of Mark Driscoll’s new book. Mark Driscoll has a new book coming out, and with suspiciously good timing, he’s managed to initiate back to back controversies. First, he showed up at John MacArthur’s “Strange Fire” conference uninvited a…
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…It might as well be as old as Moses, given what a commonplace it is for right-wing Christians. The rest of it is a chestnut of its own. We ought to just be grateful that Lindell isn’t enforcing coronavirus rectitude with a hatchet. (Carrie Nation was also an unabashed self-promoter, by the way.) It’s a strand that goes back to Wesleyan perfectionism and Calvinist propriety, some of the deepest roots of American religion. It may look like faith se…
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…ong” for May and the Conservative Party to be aligning themselves with and promoting “an organization that promotes hatred, homophobia and misogyny born of religious fundamentalism and masquerading as religious freedom.” The UK’s general election will be held on June 9. Poland: Warsaw Pride parade draws crowd in spite of opposition from church, gov’t, nationalists A crowd estimated by organizers at 50,000 people and by police at 13,000 marched in…
Read More…mander of the local police subdistrict, told BuzzFeed News. (He, like many Indonesians, uses only one name.) Tegeswetan, like Indonesia as a whole, is overwhelmingly Muslim and they were worried, the local police’s public relations director said, that a same-sex wedding would create “social unrest.” “For a man to marry a man … is haram. Allah created only male and female.” Since that March day, this tiny village has been sucked into a moral panic…
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…These sentiments have been echoed on testimonials broadcast repeatedly on Indonesian television. The theme of these messages is that the nation has much to learn from his dedication to principle and simple lifestyle. This is often contrasted with the extravagance, corruption, and single-minded dedication to self-promotion of political and business elites. Even Islamist groups who normally denounce beliefs like Mbah Marijan’s as “unbelief” rushed…
Read More…said “publicly and definitely” that transsexual Catholics are ineligible. Indonesia: ‘When sexuality meets faith’ Diego García Rodríguez, writing in the current issue of Inside Indonesia, speaks with members of the Youth Interfaith Forum on Sexuality (YIFOS), which was created in the wake of two incidents in 2010. In one, a group of conservative Muslims occupied the hotel where an international LBGTI conference was scheduled, and in the second, c…
Read More…aria regulations imposed by the Aceh provincial government in northwestern Indonesia. Aceh is the only one of Indonesia’s 34 provinces that can legally adopt bylaws derived from Sharia… On September 27, 2014, Aceh’s provincial parliament approved bylaws that extend Sharia to non-Muslims, criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual acts as well as all zina (sexual relations outside of marriage). The criminal code permits as punishment up to 100 lashes…
Read More…d transphobia. The fact remains that there are prominent Muslim figures in Indonesia and overseas such as [Indonesian women’s rights activist] Dr. Siti Musdah Mulia and [Mayor of London] Sadiq Khan who strongly support LGBT+ rights.” Australia: Marriage mail ballot advances; Christian lobby, Muslim leaders urge no vote The long and ongoing political battle over marriage equality continues. Opposition leader Bill Shorten said he would hold Prime Mi…
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