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Pope Francis Has Painted Himself into a Corner on Women Deacons

By Mary E. Hunt

…s” conundrum Parallel to the diaconal growth is the steady increase in the number of women engaged in ministries of all sorts. Whether in campus ministry or prison work, in parishes where they now outnumber priests in the U.S., in religious communities or religious education, women around the world do an increasingly large share of the Roman Catholic Church’s ministry without being ordained or having decision-making power. No wonder it occurred to…

Latina in America: What CNN Got Wrong

By Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado

…is the subject of many Latino/a campaigns demanding CNN fire him. On night number two, the United States’ “wet land dry land policy” for Cubans (who are allowed to stay in the U.S. if they touch dry land) was contrasted with Central American illegal immigrants, who are detained and often sent home. The privilege of being Cuban was contrasted to the marginalization of other Latin Americans attempting to enter into the United States. In this documen…

Debunking the Myth That Democracy Is “Incompatible” With Islam

By Asma Afsaruddin

…g no disjunction between religious beliefs and democratic principles. In a number of Muslim-majority countries, the preference was even stronger. In Jordan, for example, 54% of men and 55% of women want Sharia to be the only source of legislation. Interestingly, from a comparative perspective, a 2006 Gallup poll indicated that 46% of Americans say that they want the Bible to be a source of legislation. These findings corroborate earlier studies co…

Conservative Hardliners at Synod Prompt Question: “What Are We Doing Here?”

By Patricia Miller

…m the first small group discussions held this week indicate that a sizable number of bishops believe that the preparatory document is all doom-and-gloom and doesn’t do enough to celebrate the sizable number of Catholics who are successfully leading a traditional Catholic family life, reports John Allen: The synod’s final report ‘should begin with hope rather than failures, because a great many people already do successfully live the Gospel’s good…

Rites, Rituals, and the King

By Amina Wadud

…ong we sing to celebrate a human birthday, nor even the lullaby we sing to help our children sleep. This is the song we sing before that which is Owner, Maker and Ultimate Judge of even all our earthly kings, Allah. Not any old tune will do. What is more, one feature of ritual is that the “message” is not self encoded. That is why I keep making a distinction between this and what we mostly understand when we use the word prayer in English. Prayer…

Are Colored Eggs More
Easter-y than Cesar Chavez?

By Peter Anthony Mena

…, or persecuted. And heaven forbid any believer needs internet graphics to help bolster their faith. But hundreds of millions of Christians received the clearly intended message that Google doesn’t deign to wish them well on their sacred day. It would rather honor a liberal labor icon.” Fox News pundit Dana Perino tweeted: I thought the Chavez-google thing was a hoax or an early April Fool’s Day prank…are they just going to leave that up there al…

RDQuiz: Prosperity Gospel Self-Examination

By Jonathan L. Walton

…I have decided to offer this quick test. This examination, I believe, will help you determine whether or not you are a member of a prosperity church and whether your pastor is a prosperity preacher. Simply compile points according to each question that describes your congregation and/or pastor. Add up your total points at the end. The Prosperity Gospel Self-Examination Quiz: Does the name of your congregation end not in “Church” but in “Center” (i…

‘Manufactured’ Smear Campaign Attempts to Intimidate Church ‘Fasting From Whiteness’— It Didn’t Work

By Frederick Clarkson

…UCC churches that have been the targets of extremism. It’s been extremely helpful. I knew right away to take this very seriously. I knew right away to document every message that came in. I knew right away to contact both our local law enforcement as well as federal law enforcement in the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. I’ve learned a lot from this experience, and our work to help prepare other congregations will be much stronger bec…

U.S. Bishops’ 15–year Battle For ‘Conscience’ and Against Contraception

By Patricia Miller

…tive. While public health officials hailed this as a major breakthrough to help prevent unplanned pregnancy, the Catholic bishops were among the earliest and most aggressive opponents of emergency contraception. In an attempt to suggest that it would not be licit under Catholic doctrine the bishops drew on specious claims from far-right opponents of contraception that it might act as an abortifacient because it could prevent a fertilized embryo fr…

Dispatches from the Workplace: The Big Squeeze

By Kim Bobo

…nsions of decisions made in boardrooms across America. Third, each chapter helps shed light on relatively complicated matters by offering real life stories as examples and then drawing them out to help explain broader problems throughout society. The book begins with the stories of workers like Mike Mitchell, who was fired after being injured on the job in order to minimize worker’s comp bills, and Dawn Eubanks, who is required to work “off the cl…