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Norwegian Catholic Church May Stop Civil Marriages; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…o be the birthday of the Khalsa Panth that was created by the tenth Sikh guru, Guru Gobind Singh in 1699…. “Sikhism is a forward thinking religion that does not discriminate against anyone, so why discriminate against people on the basis of sexual orientation?” Beesla said. The Hindustan Times notes that some orthodox Sikhs oppose homosexuality and that “the Sikh clergy in India had advised Canada-based Sikh lawmakers not to support a bill in supp…

The Flaws in the Latest Anti-Gay Islamic Theology

By Omar Sarwar

…gion’s framing of sexuality and sexual orientation is the exception to the rule of cultural relativism. The correctness of social constructionism is assumed rather than argued for, an assumption made all the more lazy by the simultaneous insistence on the objective normative truth of Islamic values and doctrines. Not to be outdone in logical rigor, Haqiqatjou merely asserts the validity of classical theological and juridical conceptions of what we…

The Higher the Dome, The Closer to God: “Megachurches” Explores the Arid Architecture of America’s New Sanctuaries

By Anita Little

…the idea of power being taken away from European churches because those structures seem to communicate power as well. Religion, to a certain extent, is about power, and those structures usually exude authority. There’s this book I’m reading called Blessed. It’s about the American prosperity gospel and how it started. The book talks about how, in earlier times, all agency was relegated to the divine. You can’t do anything on your own, everything i…

It’s Not Me, It’s You: Catholic Values Dumping Trump

By Patricia Miller

…from Trump. Evangelicals appear to be willing to overlook anything about Trump—the avarice; the divisive, cruel rhetoric; the affairs and divorces—in service of getting a candidate in the White House who has promised to appoint someone to the Supreme Court, “as close to Scalia as I could find.” This, presumably, would unleash some new conservative Golden Age and make genuflection before the Trump idol worthwhile. Catholics, on the other hand, eve…

Republican Candidates Face Mythical Gays

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…that book called “The Bible.” The military seems to be in the business of breaking that one on a fairly regular basis. I imagine if being “sinless” were a requirement for military service, then we wouldn’t have to worry about a defense budget since the military wouldn’t exist. Then, it’s Michele Bachmann’s turn. After being confronted by an 8-year-old boy (in South Carolina, no less) who told her his lesbian mommy didn’t need changing, she and he…

Things the GOP Won’t Like about Ron Paul

By Julie Ingersoll

…l liberties, and has mostly been ineffective. He is opposed to the war on drugs, argues that drug addiction in general should be treated medically not criminally, and favors legalization of medical marijuana. On the all-important social issues, Republican Party primary voters are not going to be happy with Paul. He opposes “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” arguing that gay or straight behavior in the military that is disruptive is grounds for dismissal, but…

Is It Immoral to Believe in Miracles?

By Noah Berlatsky

…cts and miracles differently. Unless you are very, very sure that your own worldview is not just true, but also likely to lead to joy and moral improvement for all human beings, it’s best to be cautious about how, and with what force, you impose your insights. Feyerabend linked that skepticism to a defense of pluralism. “In the years around 1964, Mexicans, blacks, Indians, entered the university as a result of new educational policies,” Feyerabend…

In Historic Vote, Presbyterians to Allow LGBT Clergy

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…as ministers, many churches pulled out of the denomination in protest. Fox News reports that “about 100 of the 11,000 [Presbyterian] congregations had already broken away ahead of the vote.” Adee doesn’t expect there to be a large exodus from the denomination after this ratification, mainly because of polity differences between the Presbyterians and the Lutherans. The ELCA made the change at a national meeting – but the Presbyterians were forced t…

Is the State a Religious Actor in Deeming Teen’s Crotch-Rubbing of Jesus Statue Illegal?

By Joseph Laycock

…cally harmed or defaced by the teen’s actions. The legal contexts of these stories are quite different: The statue of Satan was placed on public property without the city’s consent, while the kneeling Jesus statue was on private property. But sociologically it is striking to see one statue of a religious figure casually broken and thrown in a truck while another is protected as a “venerated object.” The juxtaposition of these cases begs the questi…

After the Trump Tapes: Evangelical Authoritarianism Revisited

By Chrissy Stroop

…lt, pundits are scratching their heads again. PRRI data gathered since the breaking of the Trump tapes scandal has white evangelical support for Trump holding at 65%, which would seem to indicate that reports that evangelical Trump support is “plummeting,” based on a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, are exaggerated at best. Of course, Christianity Today did publish a scathing takedown of Trump, although it painted Hillary Clinton in an equally negative lig…