Search for "World News The New York Times cleantalkorg2.ru Breaking News bbc news world Stories and Videos on News Mutual news word news word"

“Tonight I Am Ashamed to be a Baptist”

By Sarah Posner

…s statement sparked great controversy inside and outside the seminary. His words were true then, and perhaps even truer now. Such concentration-camp language is shameful, whether used in 1930s Europe or 2012 North Carolina. UPDATE: Perhaps Leonard might also have some words for the Family Research Council’s honoring another North Carolina pastor, Ron Baity, with its 2012 Watchman Award. Via Towleroad, Jeremy Hooper has compiled videos of Baity imp…

LGBT Christians Respond to Southern Baptists’ Call For Kindness, Understanding

By Mike Greer

…ty and Southern Baptist leaders develops in the coming months, if it does. Russell Moore may have not had this level of conversation in mind when he called for congregations and individuals to seek to understand who LGBT persons are and why they think the way they do. Now it’s up to him to demonstrate exactly what that process should look like and to enter into face-to-face conversations with those who have respectfully responded to his call for m…

Jesus Goes to the Dark Carnival: Hell House Gets a Makeover?

By W. Scott Poole

…use is less fantastical, more closely tied to the supposedly safe suburban world inhabited by the majority of the youths who attend them. It is that world of soccer moms and patriarchal traditions, youth groups and church activities, mission trips and Christian music, that offers safety and security. The message of Judgement House is that beyond this world, and beyond the simplistic theology they offer, lies nothing but madness, death… and hell. H…

Pro-Gay Marriage Mormon Keeps Faith Despite Church Pressure

By Joanna Brooks

…er people marriage?” Her two-minute video made the website, then the local news in Salt Lake City, and within days an official at LDS Church headquarters placed a concerned phone call to Melanie S.’s local clergy. Three times her bishop met with Melanie to discuss the video. Because she had affiliated with “Mormons for Marriage,” he questioned whether or not Melanie and her husband should be allowed to keep their temple recommends—certificates tha…

The Rabbis are Right to
Be Afraid

By Jay Michaelson

…think, though, the reason these stories strike a chord is that they remind New Yorkers like me that only a few miles from where I sit, people are living in a different century—and I don’t even mean the 20th. Here in Park Slope, there are more lesbians than coffee shops, and more coffee shops than trees. Yet a few blocks down in Crown Heights, or across the park in Flatbush, thousands of people have lifestyles and morals that wouldn’t pass the laug…

Catholics for Equality Decries USCCB Election as Yielding to “Increasingly Uncharitable Demands of the Pope”

By Sarah Posner

…office of the Knights of Columbus, most recently through the production of videos that demean and discredit gay and lesbian relationships, as well as single parent and extended family households. According to the statement, Kurtz’s report from the ad hoc Committee on Defense of Marriage, Kurtz “makes it clear that our bishops are waging a new political campaign to change the laws in our country,” similar to the battle over reproductive rights: The…

Vigil Planned in Wake of Suicide by 17-Year-Old
Gay Mormon

By Joanna Brooks

…like having sensitive matters publicized in an election year of unwanted scrutiny for the faith. The May 1 vigil is as true a picture of Mormonism as any you’ll find in a time of sensationalized campaign-related media coverage: aspects of Mormon doctrine and culture can create lethal circumstances for LGBT young people, and some Mormons are working hard to voice more affirming elements of the tradition. The pace of change is slow. Young people…

Conservative Republican Muslim Condemns Fox Report on Congressional Staffers as “Anti-Muslim Bigotry”

By Sarah Posner

…Awaki came, we would condemn that. If he came, it was years before anyone knew who he was and before he had an association with al Qaeda,” adding “it was not like he was invited after he went to Yemen and became an al Qaeda leader.” The reason why video of the events exist, Khan said, is that as a community the staffers decided the prayer events should be open to the public. Reporters from all over the world have attended the prayer events, he sai…

LDS Church-Owned Radio Station Stands By Rush Limbaugh

By Joanna Brooks

…No other religiously-owned or affiliated radio network in the country airs Rush Limbaugh—except the LDS-owned Bonneville International. In October 2010, LDS/Bonneville-owned KSL radio in Salt Lake City dumped political commentator Sean Hannity, a move some viewed as an effort to align programming with a recently adopted corporate mission and values statement including the following points: “I honor principles espoused by our owner in the products…

Facebook Doesn’t Kill Churches, Churches Kill Churches

By Elizabeth Drescher

…ust probably not on the John Paul II Facebook page. The page, which offers videos highlights from the life of John Paul II, has garnered an impressive amount of global traffic. Alas, the fact that more than 13,000 around the world “liked” the page in the first days it was up does not mean that it is enriching or extending relationships. It’s cool to see people offering shout-outs to the late pope in just about every language you can think of, and…