Religion Dispatches
…most egregious racial terrorist acts.” In 1822, one of Emanuel’s founders, Denmark Vesey, was one of 35 black men hanged after “white residents of Charleston discovered that one of their worst fears had come true: a slave conspiracy to rise against their masters and slaughter all white residents was afoot in the city.” The church building was also burned to the ground. After last night’s murders, a YouTube user named Michael Adams has uploaded an…
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…d that long-time church member and class leader (and free person of color) Denmark Vesey had been preaching insurrection there. And now, in a distinctively American drama that never ends, the historic and brave Emanuel (“God with us”) African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston has been violated yet again, almost 200 years later, by murderous anti-black hatred. Very often shooting rampages in this country are described as acts of “senseless”…
Read More…moral evil — a perversion and an abomination in God’s sight — is now being promoted not only as normal behaviour, but as something everyone should accept as good,” Eden said. Basing his argument on “Holy Bible evidence,” the long-serving MLA’s motion was passed unanimously by the house, demonstrating Cayman’s majority view towards the advancement of legal rights for those seeking same-sex unions. Stating that homosexuality is a sin, MLA Alva Sucko…
Read More…okha, the reverend who works with churches and mosques throughout Kenya to promote acceptance of gays. He said he and fellow activists spend most of their time convincing families of LGBT individuals that “Having an LGBT child is not a curse from God.” Makokha said Muslims “are a bit radical when it comes to the dialog on sexuality and faith. The Koran says (homosexuals) should be stoned to death.” But unlike in Nigeria, Kenyan Muslims do not act…
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…And so we wait at the rope line. I recognize accents from the U.S. south, Denmark, the UK, Australia. Most are white, Western tourists. Some missionaries. A documentary film crew is here setting up a camera behind me that puts my iPhone to shame. Before us are pools of water, shrubbery, and larger bottles filled with a vegetable milk mixture. Suddenly, ten to fifteen baby elephants—the first group—come running down the hill for their food and bot…
Read More…herlands, follows several young men in Morocco, while Chuppan Chupai, from Denmark, follows four LGBT Pakistanis living under the country’s harsh laws against homosexuality. The New Black follows activists and clergy who are working within African American churches and communities to promote support for LGBT equality. Families are Forever is a short documentary about the journey of devoted Mormon parents to accept their young teen gay son. Follow…
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…ly unemployment) are hardly palatable, who can blame them? Statistics from Denmark and Sweden reveal what might never be politically correct among the United Saints of America—practical atheism abounds among churchgoing Christians and clergy. At the American Academy of Religion and Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting, many seminary professors congregate. In the bookstalls, tomes on the draw of atheism shine brightly. All we need is an ap…
Read More…mbers of civil society to follow up on recommendations as made by Ireland, Denmark and the Netherlands that Iran has partially supported. In addition, we call on all international organisations to press Iran to accept the remaining 102 recommendations, all of which reflect fundamental rights of Iranians.” The Baha’i representative to the UN in Geneva, said Iran’s response to the recommendations offered a “bleak outlook for Baha’is and human rights…
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…stay, that he did so against his obvious self-interest, in loyalty to the Code, might demonstrate, as Wallace puts it, that McCain is certifiably insane. But we also know… [F]or a proven fact, that he is capable of devotion to something other, more, than his own self-interest. So that when he says the line in speeches now you can feel like maybe it’s not just more candidate bullshit, that this guy it’s maybe the truth. Or maybe both the truth and…
Read More…gn an honor code,” Farris claimed. “[Homosexuals] could not sign our honor code,” Farris said, adding that he considers the actions of gay men and women “sinful.” “Part of the honor code is to be sexually pure,” he added. Baratko speaks to a couple of the bloggers, who say they were inspired by other blogs at conservative Christian colleges like Bob Jones University (BJUnity), and he asks about the challenges of coming to terms with one’s sexualit…
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