Religion Dispatches
…cially when you have leaders like Ezra Taft Benson, who would eventually become president of the church, exhorting members in 1973 to live the gospel fully, and may we recognize the infallibility of God’s inspired word—whether by his “… own voice …” or the “voice of [his] my servants, it is the same.” (D&C 1:38.) (emphasis added) Part of the problem is that so many men make so many pronouncements in so many solemn assemblies. It’s not just that th…
Read More…eliefs to do it. The Seventh-day Adventist church is one of the largest protestant denominations in Uganda and has a growing number of new converts in East Africa. In 2010, in the heat of the “Kill the Gays Bill” media frenzy, the Vice President of the Seventh-day Adventist African Conference vocally supported the law in Uganda while it still included death for those convicted of “homosexuality” (he later said in a classic non-apology apology that…
Read More…on, Ed Kilgore at the Washington Monthly noted that, according to Arana, Klein “found Ambrosino’s background as a gay Christian compelling and is trying to cultivate ‘ideological diversity’ as well as gender and racial diversity at Vox.” Kilgore shot back: It kind of makes me crazy when someone appears to assume that only Christian conservatives are authentic religious voices, and that finding a gay conservative evangelical Christian strikes some…
Read More…ople.” Throughout our conversation, he returned to the Christian tenets of compassionate understanding and the belovedness of all people before God, indicating a sincerity that often goes unnoticed in a movement frequently characterized by its violent history. But it is precisely that violent history that has caused much of the concern over whether or not the campaign could result in the targeting of the named advocates, particularly from a group…
Read More…f a “Francis effect” and where it may be headed. FP’s Jean-Louis De La Vaissiere comments that while he has “blown a breath of fresh air through the Catholic Church,” he is “no revolutionary in terms of doctrine.” Still, he is the Pope, meaning that his words themselves can have a huge impact. In the words of AFP’s De La Vaissiere, “A theme this pope returns to repeatedly is that of mercy, which has had profound implications for the way issues suc…
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…a resentment over governmental policies that deprived him of his goal to become a Golden Gloves champ. And in both cases they turned to an extreme Islamic rhetoric to justify their acts. In the case of the Tsarnaev brothers, it was an ideological support for the separatist movement in Russian-controlled Chechnya. In the case of Omar Mateen, he claimed to be carrying out a terrorist attack on behalf of ISIS. But was he? ISIS is getting desperate. I…
Read More…ng to do with Daniels and everything to do with the events of last May. An online petition features footage of the Harvard protest and calls on Catholics to continue the fight against Satanism in Oklahoma City. An anonymous “exorcist” interviewed by aletiea.org explained: The answer is to do what folks did in Boston. Catholics must organize Eucharistic processions and holy hours, they must fast and pray fervently for the cancellation of this event…
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…eath along with the militants in their midst. Anti-Arab racist rhetoric is common in Israeli politics. Recent comments by a Member of Knesset and whip of the religious Jewish Home party – key members of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s governing coalition – were especially heinous. In a Facebook post published a month ago, Ayelet Shaked advocated for the killing of “the entire Palestinian people… including its elderly and its women… otherwise, more litt…
Read More…ue is that one of our mainstream political parties and a group with these heinous beliefs is sponsoring it.” The trip is being led by long-time evangelical operative David Lane, who is also organizing a domestic effort to recruit 1,000 pastors to run for political office. Lane is also behind the AFA-sponsored prayer rallies The Response, first hosted by former Texas Governor Rick Perry in 2011, and most recently by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal…
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…g capital punishment) for consensual same-sex relations, the international community has become more vocal in its opposition to human rights violations in Iran. During the second Universal Periodic Review of Iran by the United Nations Human Rights Council on October 31, 2014, at least ten countries—including Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Spain, Iceland, Denmark, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, and Luxemburg—made recommendations to the Iranian governm…
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