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As Gaza Burns, Jews Disagree, Protest & Pray

By Sam Kestenbaum

…n chairs and perched on tailgates. Someone is smoking a hookah. The Israeli-American can only speculate as to why they come. Because they are blood-thirsty? To pray for an end? To bear witness? It isn’t clear. After spending two hours watching his country bomb Gaza, he’s had enough. If called to join the other reserves in the ground invasion, he would load his weapon and fire it for the place he now calls home. But tonight he walks down the hill,…

We All Speak of “Conscience”—But Are We Talking About the Same Thing?

By Mary E. Hunt

…proaches to what forms a conscience, but there is still a rather strict one-to-one correspondence between input and expected result. The prevailing view is if one shapes a child in a faith tradition then one can expect to produce an adult who will act accordingly, though lots of evidence debunks that myth. The Conscience Monologues: Women Stories of Conscience within the Catholic Church, directed by Lindsay Porter and written by Liz Deligio and Ma…

Ugandan Anti-Gay Fallout: New Laws, New Violence, New Underground Railroad

By Peter Montgomery

…ng a discussion in which all three people supported marriage equality. Iran-in-Exile: Gay Imam Marries Lesbian Couple in Sweden, Documentary Kickstarter Campaign An Iranian lesbian couple was married by a gay Imam in Sweden during Stockholm Pride. The holy man, who is based in South Africa, is also gay and has become a household name among LGBT activists from Muslim countries. Speaking after the ceremony, Algerian-born Zahed told of his delight at…

Wesolowski Sexual Abuse Case a New Approach or Same Old Same Old?

By Mary E. Hunt

…tical policies to iron out. Supposedly this office of nuncio, dating to the 16th century, is the liaison between the Holy See (Vatican City State) and the local church. How odd that a Polish priest would be assigned to a Latin American country, though he had the same job in Bolivia before repairing to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and environs for another posting. All this leads me to wonder what could be done so readily in such disparate places. Conclu…

‘Open Mosque’ in South Africa Receives Threats; ‘Blood Test’ for ‘Degeneratism’: Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…said Bangladesh also objected to the ICPD proposal to provide children aged 12-13 years comprehensive sexuality education programs. “If we allow comprehensive sexuality education programs, then we have to teach our school-going children, with video presentation, how to have sex,” he said. According to Gay Asia News, 90 percent of the 155 million people in Bangladesh are Muslim, and same-sex relations are banned under the penal code “left behind by…

6 Overlooked Takeaways From a Reviewer of Controversial Texas Textbooks

By David R. Brockman

…history as a whole, it would be difficult to argue that it has had one-and-a-half times the impact of Islam, or more than twice the impact of Hinduism, or nearly five times that of Buddhism. Nevertheless, that is what the TEKS imply. Christianity is also the only religion for which the TEKS require a discussion of its major divisions (Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Protestantism). The TEKS do not require equivalent coverage of the major divisions in Bud…

At the UN, Conservative Christian Agenda Cloaked in Human Rights Language

By Austin Dacey

…six pre-adolescent children were declaiming a text that sounded very human-rights-ish, with articles—one for each youth—on protecting, respecting, and establishing a number of things. But if you had listened carefully, everything would have started to sound a bit off. The text being read was in fact not the 1989 human rights treaty but instead “A Declaration on the Rights of Children and Their Families: A Call From the Children of the World.” The…

Christians and Cage Fighting, From “Fight Church” to Mark Driscoll

By Jessica Johnson

…ame time, the directors’ presumably good intentions are indexed by the time-lapse close ups of violence in the cage. The pastors who promote MMA describe it as a “sport” through which to recapture man’s “God given attributes” of “aggressiveness” and “competitiveness”; the “strength to stand up to evil, wickedness, and unrighteousness”; a “warrior ethos”; and, the ability to “be prepared in advance” for a “battle out there” against an “enemy” that…

Bishops More Welcoming To LGBT, But Not to Women

By Patricia Miller

…address the bishops were advocates of natural family planning—just like in 1964, during the Papal Birth Control Commission. The difference is, in 1964, the Catholic couples were light years ahead of the bishops in their attitudes about contraception. Altough they had been selected because they were members of conservative family organizations, they told the bishops that natural family planning didn’t work and put extraordinary strain on marriages…

Synod ‘Fight for Soul’ of Catholic Church, Flap On English Translation of Key Report; Anti-Gay Law Advances in Kyrgyzstan; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ruth.” The truth, he added, is that homosexuality is wrong, and taking a so-called non-judgmental approach to it can only encourage its growth. “There is something worse than murdering a child,” Levin said. “Because, as the Talmud says, when you kill someone physically you don’t touch them spiritually. But when you lead a person into heinous sin, you kill them spiritually in this world and the next world.” All the hoopla led to a bit of bactrackin…