Religion Dispatches
…Back from my Bloggingheads hiatus, I talk with Get Religion’s Mollie Hemingway about whether Mitt Romney’s plan to discuss his Mormonism tonight at the Republican National Convention benefit his candidacy: And we also discussed the significance of the fact that Barack Obama is the only Protestant on both presidential tickets: …
Read More…people for “therapies” that can destroy them psychologically, while buying tickets to Toscano’s shows might result in some good belly laughs, but no pressure to convert. What makes this story so shameful, though, is how the true message is completely glossed over in the pursuit of finding out who is “right” and who is “wrong.” Both Wyler and Toscano are Christian men who were given the message early on in their lives that being gay or lesbian was…
Read More
…sleek geometric buildings and greenery. The eating patio opens onto a huge swimming pool landscaped to resemble a small lake. The lush environs promise harmony, peace and tranquility. Unfortunately none of that was available on arrival. Coralling and cajoling students, even grownup ones, requires energy and the last bits of mine were drained before I “lost” the group at the Mumbai airport. After the nearly day-long flight, we still had a four-hour…
Read More
…ents, booked an on-campus venue, and began to advertise the event and sell tickets. Then, 11 days before the drag fundraiser was set to take place, WT President Walter Wendler, who has a record of inserting his right-wing Christian bias into his public roles, unilaterally canceled the performance via a pedantic email. Seidel tells the story of the drag show cancelation at West Texas A&M (clip=5.5 minutes): Much of the moralizing communique was cou…
Read More
…g black male.” For both McBath and Schenck, while there may be political answers to gun violence, their diagnosis of the problem is a spiritual and moral one. “It’s a spiritual and moral issue when people are dying needlessly the way they are dying, by fear and guns,” said McBath. Schenck compared it to a disease outbreak in need of a public health response—but a spiritual disease requiring a spiritual response. “It falls to the leadership of the…
Read More
…broad should receive the same benefits in that marriage. China: Targets of sweeping new censorship rules for online media include homosexuality The Chinese government imposed sweeping new censorship rules for online media; Reuters reports that homosexuality is among the topics that are no longer approved, along with “violence, drug addition, extramarital affairs and religious cults.” Under the new guidance, which comes into immediate effect, censo…
Read More…erendum petition were invalid, the petitioners no longer had the requisite number of signatures to place the referendum on the ballot. The subpoenas, served on pastors who are not litigants in the lawsuit, seek a broad range of documents and communications, including sermons, regarding their statements on homosexuality, the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO), and the petition process. Represented by the religious right legal firm Alliance Defen…
Read More
…Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton in September, received 10 Public Health Act tickets for organizing various anti-public health rallies in northern Alberta last year and revived her Twitter account, dormant since 2016, specifically in order to promote anti-public health events she organized and ran. But the story of Jericho is nothing to worry about. It’s only about divine massacre. Walls come crumbling down They know what they’re doing. One particip…
Read More
…is an example of American seduction. Hunter says in “U.S. Blues,” as if answering our question: “I’m Uncle Sam, that’s who I am, been hiding out, in a Rock and Roll Band.” All this critical awareness of duplicity, you see, is happening now as you and I become mesmerized by the environment. And at the end of “Candyman,” Hunter implicates the band and the audience: the seducer is the show and the seduced are all the rest. “If you’ve got a dollar bo…
Read More
…akes the bus because he got tired of the random stops and numerous traffic tickets he would get each month due to racial profiling. At 30 years old, he says he has been stopped or arrested for unjust cause more than 150 times. “If you’re a person of color in Missouri, it’s just part of the normal experience. You go five miles over the speed limit, you sit in jail for two weeks.” Masri, whose family is Palestinian and who spent some time living in…
Read More