By Randall Balmer, Anthea Butler, Evan Derkacz, Jeff Sharlet, and Diane Winston
…ssed by the breadth of Edwards’ intellectual interests and announce him to New Yorker readers as a “new evangelical.” Lesser journalists would take note of Edwards’ emphasis on natural science, on Newton’s Opticks, and herald a trend in American evangelicalism as Christianity remakes itself for the bold new world of the 18th century. And all these stories would be correct; indeed, they are, more or less, correct when applied to American evangelica…
…uples. The third criterion Dr. King identifies is that “an unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal.” For same sex couples to have legal access just like heterosexual couples…
…on or any sexual practice.” If the Chamber of Deputies approves, the draft code will go before the Rwandan Senate most likely in early 2010. It’s not like this is shocking news on the continent where 38 of Africa’s 53 nations outlaw homosexuality, including Kenya where a homosexual act can land you in prison for up to 14 years. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg: Nigeria has a similar bill (to the Ugandan legislation) waiting to reach its stat…
…inline counterparts. So in 1954, Congress enacted the provision of the tax code at stake in Gaylor v. Mnuchin. A House committee said that the aim of the new subsection was to treat equally those ministers for whom churches provided housing and those who were paid housing allowances instead. The sponsor of the legislation, Illinois Democratic Rep. Peter Mack, justified the law in terms resonant of the fight against communism: Certainly, in these t…
…. So it’s more about representation and identity than it is about specific codes or laws.” Even though some political activists in Middle Eastern and North African countries promote “Islamic law” in reaction to the imposition of European-style government and legal systems on them, there is no single school of thought on what shari’ah, or divine law, is or means—and there is no single, accepted legal code. “If Islamic law were some book where you c…
…ssers-by scorn; a marked man at 30 paces. His weary face is on the evening news and in newspaper caricatures, which have depicted him in fishnets and heels. His name is now a label, one used to remind other gays that they are sinners and public offenders. Win or lose, Orozco’s fight for his fundamental rights and freedoms will follow him for the rest of his life. Americans and Europeans visit Belize for all the things that make “the Jewel” an idea…
…into force on 22 April,” the International Law Professor Blog reports. The new penal code has been condemned by the United Nations. England: Priest Defies Church Ban to Marry His Partner; University Bans Anti-Gay Muslim Speakers Last week Rev. Jeremy Pemberton, a priest with the Church of England, married his partner Laurence Cunnington in defiance of church rules forbidding clergy from even blessing same-sex unions. The head of the conservative…
…with the law, my parents sent me to a fundamentalist reform school in the Dominican Republic which practiced conversion therapy, recommended by James Dobson’s Focus on the Family. The reasons my parents chose to send me away are complicated, but basically amounted to my having different beliefs than they did, including the right to have autonomy over my body. When I refused to be beaten, my father equated my refusal with rebelling. My parents wer…
…in the region. Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama and the Dominican Republic are members of the Guatemala City-based body. Honduras’ general elections are scheduled to take place on Nov. 26. Jordany told the Blade that she will “hopefully” be among the Central American Parliament candidates who remain on the ballot. Chile: LGBT activist announces congressional run LGBT activist Luis Larraín announced a bid for a seat in the Chilea…
…for allegedly soliciting young boys for sex while he was ambassador to the Dominican Republic. The Diocese of Saint Paul-Minneapolis and Bishop John Nienstedt didn’t get serious about policing suspected abusers until a whistleblower from inside its own compliance office went public with accusations that the diocese had a “cavalier attitude” about protecting children. The Diocese of Newark allegedly failed to monitor a convicted abuser in violation…