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Are Women “Secondary” in Catholic Church?

By Elizabeth Drescher

…h is out of touch, and as the religiously unaffiliated continue to grow in number, how women—the majority of active church-goers—experience the church is hardly a secondary concern. Gendered church language seems as good a place to start as any. The liturgies of most churches are lousy with sexist godtalk. This is the case well beyond the limited texts in which, arguably, tradition and aesthetics make make gender changes difficult. First on the li…

Bangladesh’s Atheist Blogger Still Wants to Talk

By Austin Dacey

…f’s story first came to me over the BBC World Service when the attack made international news. During his subsequent persecution by the authorities, he had been in communication with some of my colleagues and friends with the Bengali freethought website Mukto-Mona and the D.C.-based Center for Inquiry, with whose help we eventually connected. Although he said that there were some things he could not discuss, Asif embraced the opportunity to explai…

Global LGBT Recap: “Lavender Fascism,” Rage in India, Pope Francis Ousts Culture Warrior

By Peter Montgomery

Last week we inaugurated a regular feature recapping international highlights and lowlights in religion and LGBT advocacy. This week Russia and India are still in the news, along with Australia, Zambia, Ethiopia, the U.K. , and more. This week’s stories include more evidence that American LGBT rights advocates working overseas are finding their work made harder by anti-gay American religious activists encouraging other countries to resist moves t…

In Sexual Abuse Hearing UN Calls Holy See on Girls’ Reproductive Rights

By Angela Bonavoglia

…she asked. And that was not an isolated situation. As reported by Amnesty International, a media survey found that of girls raped who became pregnant in Nicaragua from 2005 to 2007, nearly 90% were between the ages of 10 and 14. Tomasi ignored the girl in Nicaragua, but addressed “the child forced to abort in Brazil.” Regarding the stepfather’s not being excommunicated for raping a child, he said, “The father should be treated like the mother and…

Global LGBT Recap:Culture War Exports, Mob Violence and Kidnapping as Weapon of Homophobia

By Peter Montgomery

…D.C. this week, Katrina Lantos Swett, Vice Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, mentioned the infamous anti-gay “propaganda” law as one of many repressive, anti-democratic laws that have been adopted in Putin’s Russia. She said that laws on “religious freedom” and “extremism” grant special favor to the Orthodox Church while giving the government wide latitude to discriminate against minority religions. That favored stat…

Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…as a timely reminder for the global audience of the Winter Olympics of the international pledge, that: “All human beings are born equal in dignity and rights.” NBC also used the Olympics as a hook to review the global anti-gay crusade being waged by American activist Scott Lively. It quotes him telling 1,000 Christians in Novosibirsk, the capital of Siberia, last August that there is “a war between Christians and homosexuals.” Uganda: Anglican Lea…

Publisher Withdraws History of Hinduism, Amid Protest

By Laurie Patton

…re respect for all world religions. Another way to tell the story: A major international publishing house with financial resources at its disposal has destroyed its own intellectual product in response to a Hindu group who appealed to a law that was written in the colonial era and enforced by the British. The reaction of the public has been swift and furious. Arundhati Roy has weighed in, as has the National Book Critics Circle. Several editorials…

Is Africa the Most Homophobic Continent?

By Darnell Moore

…relations are illegal in 36 of Africa’s 55 countries, according to Amnesty International, and punishable by death in some states. Now a fresh crackdown is under way. While it’s true that any country—whether Uganda, Nigeria, Russia or elsewhere—which legislates punitive measures against LGBTQI people ought to be on the receiving end of international ire and protest, it’s disingenuous to name the continent of Africa as the most homophobic. Countries…

Promise Keepers Launches Effort to Support Messianic Jews in Israel

By Sarah Posner

…anic Jews; Rick Ridings of Succat Hallel, a house of prayer modeled on the International House of Prayer in Kansas City; and Tom Hess, who operates the Jerusalem House of Prayer for All Nations on the Mount of Olives. “We have a list that keeps growing,” said Jesse. He said that Dan Juster, the director of Tikkun Ministries International who also oversees the activities of the Messianic Jewish Bible Institute in Israel, was trying to make the meet…

UPDATE: An Abrupt End to Quebec Separatist Plan to Ban “Ostentatious Signs” of Religion

By Jeremy Stolow

…sted that the bill was crafted to avoid ruffling the feathers of the large numbers of practicing Christians currently working in Quebec’s public sector—a less than insignificant number of which do happen to wear (typically small) crucifixes—and thus the visual code aimed its sights more narrowly on undesirable religious minorities, while at the same time allowing the government to proclaim the even-handedness of its approach. But whatever the act…