…herefore also from the national and international policies that impede the promotion of positive values.” On this marching route there has been complete consensus. Even the only bishop of black Africa who in recent months had spoken out in favor of “openness” to divorce, Gabriel Charles Palmer-Buckle of Accra, elected by the bishops of Ghana as their delegate to the synod, was found to be in agreement with all present in the defense of Catholic do…
…BT issues in the Western Hemisphere Hundreds of people from throughout the Western Hemisphere joined a conference in Tegucigalpa designed to bolster LGBT advocacy in the region. The Washington Blade’s Michael Lavers covered the conference. Randy Berry, the special U.S. envoy to promote global LGBT rights, spoke at the gathering that took place at a Tegucigalpa hotel alongside gay Peruvian Congressman Carlos Bruce, transgender Venezuelan National A…
…ween Russia and the West. Armed with family values, mixed in with the anti-western propaganda, the Kremlin attracts supporters who are not natural allies. Some are even ideological opponents. “We can see how many of the Euro-Atlantic countries are actually rejecting their roots, including the Christian values that constitute the basis of Western civilization,” explained the Russian President Vladimir Putin in a speech in September 2013. “We know t…
…r, Egypt’s media regulatory body issued an order prohibiting coverage that promotes or legitimizes homosexuality, which it labeled a “sickness and disgrace.” It also barred homosexual people from appearing in the media, unless it is to repent. The pro-government musicians union announced it would no longer issue permits to foreign performers unless they obtain security clearance. Kyrgyzstan: Russian-style propaganda law brings rise in rape and oth…
By Randall Balmer, Anthea Butler, Evan Derkacz, Jeff Sharlet, and Diane Winston
…But the center is an assertion, not a fact; an etiquette, not a place. Its code, its theology, is most fully embodied in Americanized Arminianism—a Protestant tradition of good works and propriety, “distinguished liberals” and polite realpolitik. “Arminian moralism,” notes historian Charles Sellers in his study of Finney’s age, The Market Revolution, “sanctioned competitive individualism and the market’s rewards of wealth and status.” It did not e…
…mmad and biased accounts of Muslim history, and these became rooted in the Western psyche. Later we Europeans told ourselves flattering tales about the countries we colonized and heaped scorn on their traditions in a way that has been profoundly damaging. But everybody is guilty of this. We are all far too ignorant of one another’s histories, and this is dangerous. History has become a weapon in many of today’s wars and conflicts. We use and abuse…
…institutions and traditions that this dispute did not sever the idea of a Western world altogether. Unlike Sunni and Shia identities, which emerged early in Islamic history and were carried very quickly across the world, Protestant and Catholic division took place in a relatively small corner of the world. Bloody, yes, but still Western European. But take another look. I don’t think the question is just asking me why Sunni and Shia are fighting,…
…lobe not usually associated with Orthodox Christianity, from Asia, Africa, Western Europe, and from North America. In and of itself, such a universal gathering represents a singular and significant event in the life of the Church demonstrating the new global reach of Orthodox Christianity. The council should focus the attention of the Churches away from solely parochial and local concerns to a broader perspective on Church life. Nonetheless, there…
…s’s Jovana Gec: Serbia’s powerful President Aleksandar Vucic nominated the Western-educated Brnabic for the post two weeks ago amid opposition from hard-line nationalists. Gays have regularly faced harassment and attacks in Serbia. Vucic’s move was widely seen as an attempt to calm Western concerns that Serbia is getting too close to Russia, including having enhanced military cooperation and ties, despite its proclaimed goal of joining the Europea…
…spirits, and moreover I was doubly skeptical of the notion that the modern Western world had lost its magic. I found myself shifting gears and looking at America and Europe through the eyes of an outsider—with the same sort of gaze often leveled at non-Europeans. When I did so I discovered that the sociological data suggested that the majority of Americans believe in ghosts or demons. Indeed, a surprising 73% of Americans have at least one paranor…
