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Obama’s Gay Marriage Support Shocks Black Church

By Anthea Butler

…s, stunted sexuality, homophobia, and sexual abuse are competing for issue number one in their churches; at many, they are tied at the number one slot. It is high time to for the leaders of the black church to ‘put away childish things’ and to engage in a real conversation about sexuality, same-sex marriage, and the homophobia embedded in the black church community. Pontificating and posturing props up preachers, and does little to edify congregat…

Prop. 8 Upheld: Bad Religion’s Comeback in the Golden State

By Peter Laarman

…core constitutional issues via plebiscite. In oral arguments earlier this year, Chief Justice Ronald George—the principal author of the first opinion affirming marriage equality—even said that Californians would have the presumptive right to abolish free speech rights, should that question be put before voters on a statewide ballot. What happened to send the justices into full retreat from their sound constitutional reasoning of May 2008? Bad rel…

In Russia It Is Now a Crime to Insult Someone’s Religious Feelings

By Chrissy Stroop

…lievers” could bring fines of up to 300,000 rubles (over $9000) or up to a year of imprisonment, or fines of up to 500,000 rubles (over $15,000)—or up to three years in prison if the act is carried out in a place of worship or a place otherwise set aside for religious rituals or ceremonies (as was the famous Pussy Riot “punk prayer”). This redaction was approved by Russia’s higher legislative chamber, the Federation Council, on June 26, following…

What Does the ‘Traditional Family’ Have To Do with Pussy Riot?

By Gillian Kane

…mpose its version of religious values and rights in secular settings. Last year at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Russian government proposed developing a resolution that would allow “traditional values” to trump human rights. This is a controversial topic to bring up in a UN human rights setting—especially when one considers that issues like female genital mutilation, marital rape, so-called “honor” killings and forced and…

Sister Rose and a Teenager’s First Headscarf

By Shabana Mir

…e witnessed her, the 30-something Anglo-Indian, verbally destroying the 15-year old who had no ammunition to fight back, no ready-made religious arguments to counter her attacks, no sarcasm to counter her sarcasm, no authority to counter her authority, and I had no veiled threats about General Zia’s Islamic government to protect myself. I had nothing, and she knew it. Until that day, I trusted my teachers as I trusted my parents. You do not prepar…

To One Early 20th Century Rabbi Skeptical of Zionism, Passover Isn’t Simply A Celebration Of Freedom — It’s Also A Warning

By Shaul Magid

…te a lengthy essay called Herut (Liberation) published in 1906, just three years after the Kishinev pogrom and a year after the first Russian Revolution in 1905. The violence spreading in Europe would eventually lead to World War I and the deaths of millions of civilians. This essay was also written shortly after the death of Theodore Herzl in 1904 and the rising popularity of Zionism, which Tamares was initially sympathetic to, having attended th…

Sheldon Adelson’s Long Game

By Sarah Posner

…nt (a story we know thanks to Vogel’s reporting, by the way): earlier this year Adelson chastized Chris Christie for using the term “occupied territories,” and extracted an apology from a man who hopes to be president of the United States. He can only do that because he has money. Will it influence the outcome of the election? Probably not. But it will dictate how candidates speak. Adelson’s money isn’t just about the world of Super PACs. As Haare…

The Unsung Speech at Notre Dame, A Postmortem

By Mary E. Hunt

…look at Notre Dame’s recipients from the award’s inception in 1883 to this year’s selection who no-showed, Mary Ann Glendon, includes politicians and military leaders, social justice stars and artists. Among the chosen are President John F. Kennedy, activists Dorothy Day and Sr. Helen Prejean, educator Sr. Ann Ida Gannon, Senator Mike Mansfield, actress Helen Hayes, the aforementioned Bernardin, jazz musician Dave Brubeck, actor Martin Sheen, Just…

The Idiot Play

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…we were in last April when the surge was announced. Sneaky, no? Bracket a year, or more, and call it a “surge.” The President constantly invokes support for the heroic sacrifices of our troops as a way to win the sympathy he can no longer garner himself. This too is falsifying and unfair. He is correct, all the generals are, to note that the military has performed heroically and with uncommon professionalism in a situation grown increasingly awfu…

For Some of Us, the Biggest Religious Event of 2016 Was the Gilmore Girls Revival

By Isabel Fattal

…eing me watch Gilmore Girls on the TV in our common room (it was the first year that my obsession overlapped with the airing of a new season, and so I was forced to turn to the larger screen) decided to watch a few minutes of the show; “I didn’t realize that the ‘Gilmore girls’ were a mother and daughter,” she commented. A chill ran down my spine at even that benign remark; hearing something about the show spoken aloud, outside of my own head, fel…