Religion Dispatches
…le more about my post yesterday on Terry Mattingly’s false story about the United Church of Church, I want to put on my churchman’s hat and reflect a bit. It’s often difficult for people to grok what congregational polity means to the UCC, among other denominations. It’s not just an organizational method: it’s a basic principle of our faith that we are allowed—and we allow others—to follow their conscience. Each community defines for itself how…
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…nce sparked by western intervention Amrou Al-Kadhi, an Iraqi living in the United Kingdom, wrote a column this month saying that deadly violence against LGBT people in Iraq had “escalated dramatically” since the Western invasion of the country in 2003. From his commentary in The Independent: Humanitarian reports estimate that between 2004 to 2009, 680 people have been murdered due to gender and sexual non-conformism. According to Amir Ashour, the…
Read More…ican megadonors Sheldon and Miriam Adelson bestowed an award on Christians United for Israel founder John Hagee. In his remarks, Hagee called President Barack Obama “the most anti-Semitic president ever.” Chemi Shalev reports more details: The other stars of the night were the ubiquitous Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam, whose generous contributions to ZOA have helped lift the organization out of the doldrums and into t…
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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…ent receive far too little attention). Lekus notes that recent progress in promoting LGBT human rights in Cuba “reflect a marked shift from the early history of sexuality & gender in revolutionary Cuba,” citing state persecution, including labor camps and expulsion. It remains to be seen which historical precedents will inform Cuba’s overall democratic transition and the inclusion (or lack thereof) of LGBT Cubans in that expansion of democratic ci…
Read More…nking about it” camp), how would you react to the claims made in Americans United For Life’s Planned Parenthood report? I mean, that’s one of the few undecideds, isn’t it? We know how the people with strong positions will react. The report will galvanize AUL’s constituency, while meanwhile Planned Parenthood supporters will respond with corrections and rebuttals. Some elected officials are counted in one of those groups, while others will watch to…
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…e claims in the court of public opinion as the suits go forward. Americans United for Life, one of the leading purveyors of the falsehood that the ACA funds abortion coverage, sent out a press release titled “Court Ratifies Landmark Anti-Life Healthcare Law.” In the statement, the group’s president, Charmaine Yoest, said the Court “failed to overturn an unconstitutional law that forcibly and unfairly intertwines all Americans and their hard-earned…
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…ntal way with the respondents’ right to form an association to protect and promote their interest,” Kirby said. The ruling is a challenge to an anti-gay agenda pursued by the government of President Ian Khama in Botswana, where engaging in homosexual acts remains illegal. Reuters’ Tisetso Motsoeneng notes: Homosexuality remains taboo in many African societies where some religious groups have branded it a corrupting import from the West. Nigeria pa…
Read More…arts to continue their heartless agenda. Even some anti-gay leaders in the United Methodist Church are looking toward these backward-leaning countries and their draconian laws and beliefs about homosexuality to keep that denomination from becoming welcoming to LGBT people. Recently, several regional UMC conferences have adopted resolutions saying that “the church is in error on the subject of homosexuality’s incompatibility with Christian teaching…
Read More…d that God called her to run for office to be a culture warrior. Americans United for the Separation of Church and State had the rundown: “I started praying about whether or not the Lord wanted me to run,” Kern said, according to a report in the Norman Transcript. “And the more I prayed, the more I felt He did…And so here I am, and I’m not the typical legislator. The Lord showed me right off the bat that I’m not supposed to be. As a matter of fact…
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