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Controversial LDS Conference Talk Edited for Publication

By Joanna Brooks

…over matters of rank, authority, and theology. Those who have watched LDS official discourse on homosexuality evolve since the 1980s felt that Elder Packer’s talk on Sunday represented something of a throwback, a departure from a slow movement towards acknowledging the feelings and experiences of LGBT people and those who love and serve them. The editing of Elder Packer’s talk appears to represent an effort to bring his message into harmony with…

DADT Repeal: The New “Religious Freedom” Issue

By Sarah Posner

…r troops’ religious liberties in unprecedented jeopardy. Indeed, the first official casualty of this hurried vote may well be the religious freedom of chaplains and Service members.” Blomberg continued, “We hope that our nation’s leaders will work to ensure that none of our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines are ever made to choose between serving their country or obeying their God as result of this damaging policy decision. And ADF stands rea…

The Book of Mormon, Dark Skin, and Racist Theology

By Joanna Brooks

…you’ll never hear that verse cited. And with good reason. The changing of official, Church-authored chapter headings in the Book of Mormon signifies a contemporary LDS decertification (from the top of the food chain in Salt Lake City!) of the arcane folk belief that dark skin signifies accursedness. I found that significant when I wrote about it last week, and I still do. Baby steps? Absolutely. Will the Church change the text of the Book of Morm…

Could The “Grand Old Party” Now Be The “Gay Old Party”?

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…staggering. For instance, the Montana Republican Party in June “adopted an official platform that keeps a long-held position in support of making homosexual acts illegal, a policy adopted after the Montana Supreme Court struck down such laws in 1997.” Reaction to such backward thinking is strong even in Montana: “I looked at that and said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’” state Sen. John Brueggeman, R-Polson, said last week. “Should it get taken ou…

The (Mostly Catholic) Anti-Abortion Roe v. Wade Schlep

By Mary E. Hunt

…t, LifeWatch, a group that has roots in the United Methodist Church but no official standing, sponsored a worship service before the march. Reports indicate that a mere seventeen people were in attendance, including some who are pro-choice. It was a day for papal flags, banners like “Archdiocese of Chicago,” handmade life-size crosses, and even a gold crozier that someone brought along to add gravitas, or maybe just in place of a cane. It was hard…

Possible Heir to Dalai Lama Cleared of Corruption Charges

By Tsering Namgyal

…phers, indiscriminately taking in whatever was fed to them by intelligence officials, police, and local politicians. Journalists seemed to become the medium through which any analyst and former official with a view on Tibet and China could fire a cheap shot. The Indian government’s assertiveness vis-à-vis China is refreshing (though achieving it at the expense of refugees and Buddhist monks who fled China at 14 to get an education smacks of bad ta…

Confession Fail: iPhone App Controversy Muddies the Sacramental Waters

By Elizabeth Drescher

…ich direction they go.” A kerfuffle this week over the introduction of an iPhone and iPad app with formal backing from at least one Roman Catholic bishop, Confession: A Roman Catholic App, has highlighted the degree to which such new spiritual technologies make it difficult for any of us to predict into what liturgical, theological, or spiritual ditch they might send believers. A more earnestly spiritual and sacramental effort, the Confession app…

Meet Wyoming’s Anti-Shari’ah Crusader

By Sarah Posner

…amic Relations, Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange wrote: the amendment conveys an official government message of disapproval and hostility toward [the plaintiff’s] religious beliefs, that sends a clear message he is an outsider, not a full member of the political community, thereby chilling his access to the government and forcing him to curtail his political and religious activities. Further, the Court finds the consequences – the condemnation – that pl…

An Interview from Tahrir Square

By Waleed Naif

…tivists, such as the organizers of the April 6th movement, but there is no official board, party or group that decides on behalf of the demonstrators. How would you present this revolt or uprising to American readers? First, I would like to stress that it’s a revolution, not just an uprising. I would also like to emphasize that politics in Egypt is no longer the simple binary of Government versus Muslim Brotherhood, but that there is a third way…

At National Prayer B’fast Obama Defends His Faith… Again

By Daniel Schultz

…course those who would not tell the truth about him,” said the White House official, who would not speak for attribution. “There are folks who have a misunderstanding of the president’s faith and who repeat that misunderstanding.” Joel Hunter, one of the president’s evangelical allies, is equally mild: “He needs to openly declare himself a Christian and not settle for people’s skepticism at that point,” said Hunter, who leads an evangelical church…