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Pope Denounces Gender Colonization; Indonesian Court Considers Islamist Request To Criminalize Homosexuality; Egypt’s Grand Mufti Says No One Has Right to Harm Homosexuals; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ncis decries ‘ideological colonization’ on gender LGBT hopes for the who-am-I-to-judge Pope Francis sank a bit this week when the Vatican released the transcript of a meeting between the pope and bishops in Poland last week, in which Francis used harsh language to decry what anti-LGBT conservatives call “gender ideology.” From the transcript: I would like to conclude with this aspect, since behind all this there are ideologies. In Europe, America,…

Religious Opposition To LGBT Equality Softening

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…, show even religious opposition is softening. The UK-based religious think-tank Ekklesia is claiming that a growing number of Christian groups are now identifying as supporting gays and lesbians than in previous years. In a press release, Symon Hill, associate director of Ekklesia, noted that a welcoming religious presence has grown in gay pride parades around the world: The increasing Christian acceptance of same-sex relationships is highlighted…

Elaine Howard Ecklund Wants to Dispel Myths Surrounding Religious Resistance to Science

By Sammy Feldblum

…ing in terms of people appealing to religious resources for help with clean-up, for long-term financial help. And they’re attentive to what the academic community is saying, and how they could be even more effective in their effort. Do you think that Harvey moved the needle much on the conversation about the environment, about the climate, in Houston? God, I’d love to know that! If you find out, tell me. If anyone from your readership out there wa…

The War On Terror Is Over

By Mark Juergensmeyer

…tform for building a foreign policy in South Asia and the Middle East. Anti-Americanism is at an all-time high in Pakistan, and Obama has a fresh opportunity to rebuild the terms and image of US military presence in the region. The Muslim world is waiting for a US president who can stop treating them like enemies to be invaded but as potential friends. 2. Accept that America is the enemy because of what it does, not what it is. America and other W…

Census Reveals Gay People are Shockingly… Normal

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…. Even here in my own incredibly conservative state of South Carolina, the number of same-sex couples increased and a quarter of them are raising children. It’s those kinds of facts that have right-wing media like the Christian Post scratching their heads, with headlines like this that rival anything over at The Onion: “Gay Couples Spread in U.S., Behave Like Straight Couples” Um, yeah, well, duh. What exactly are gay couples supposed to act like?…

New Research Links Spiritual-Not-Religious to Mental Disorder

By Elizabeth Drescher

…y): “There ya go! Your fakey-fakey, sage-burning, labyrinth-walking, church-of-the-blessed-ME ‘spirituality’ doesn’t make you happy.” Throw in some (largely inconclusive) studies on prayer and healing, an the result seems fairly obvious: Traditional believers are happier, healthier, and a heck of a lot saner. So there! Not so fast. Like all research, the BJP study bears much closer scrutiny and, as its authors note, the relationship between religi…

YOU Are Spiritual But Not Religious: The Secret Spiritual History of the Choose Your Own Adventure Books

By Daniel Silliman

…panzees. Your encounters with these creatures, and with various other ne’er-do-wells, spins the book off into so many directions it’s hard to keep track of them. Depending on which choices you make, the House of Danger houses a counterfeiting ring, a secret organization for international peace, a paranormal hotbed of ghosts left over from the 1887 prison riot, or a spearhead of an alien invasion. Whatever happens, there’s never a dull moment. The…

UPDATED: Oklahoma Personhood Bill Not Dead…

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…tutional. (More on that in a moment.) They tried to assure everyone that SB-1433 wouldn’t threaten IVF or women with life-threatening pregnancies. But many Oklahomans, and more to the point many legislators, found such lack of clarity. Sen. Doug Cox, who criticized other members of the Public Health committee for their unwillingness to put their reassurances in writing, proposed a number of amendments. So did other legislators, such that by the…

Trump’s “Muslim Ban” A Gift to Terrorists

By Ali Olomi

…gside the history of coexistence is a history of intolerance. From the anti-Irish Catholic Know-Nothing Party, to the Asian Exclusion Act, to the internment of people of Japanese ancestry, this country has vacillated on the razor’s edge. The immigration policies of Donald Trump aim to return us to the darker eras of our history, consequentially erasing the history of vulnerable groups who are part of the fabric of this nation. Since the horrific e…

Religious Practices on Trial in Arizona: The Problem With “Experts”

By Johnny P. Flynn

…, admitted on air, was one sweat experience with her stepbrother or brother-in-law (she wasn’t sure how he was related), “step-brother” she added, “that’s it.” And the supposed kin by marriage was, “uhm” not an Indian. Got it. Indians can’t be experts. But one white lady in one sweat with someone who is somehow related to her is qualified to tell the world really how it is with Indian traditions. That is kinda, sorta how James Ray set up his spiri…