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Exodus Declares Opposition to Criminalization of Homosexuality

By Warren Throckmorton

…n the world. The statement is in response to reports that the board Vice-Chair of the Exodus board of directors, Dennis Jernigan, traveled to Jamaica in May to speak about his sexual reorientation. While there he spoke to several groups and appeared to support Jamaica’s laws which make homosexual conduct illegal. Jernigan’s trip and rhetoric are surprising given the fall-out over a similar situation 3 years ago. In 2009, Exodus Board member Don Sc…

What Should the Vatican Say to the (Last Generation of) Nuns?

By Peter Manseau

…rs of the religious communities that once built, staffed, and embodied the spirit of the Church in America. Coming as it does in the wake of the rebuke delivered last month to the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the censure of Sister Farley’s book Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics, is enough to make one wonder if there are doctrinal risks taken simply by being Catholic while female. It’s easy to understand the Vatican’…

Sacrifice, Suffering, and Rick Santorum

By Ivan Strenski

…cs of the season seems to demand a candidate’s show of meanness. A Kind of Spiritual Egoism? Isabella, aged four, as many may know, is the eighth Santorum offspring. She recently came down with one of those attacks to which Trisomy 18 children are chronically, and predictably, vulnerable. One can only commiserate with the Santorums in their time of sorrow, as I do. My quarrel, such as it is, is with the lack of responsibility shown by the Santorum…

ID, Please Come Out

By Paul Wallace

…mouth of a local politician. State Rep. Rick Brattin (R), the sponsor of HB 1227, wants ID to be taught alongside evolution in Missouri’s science classrooms. According to the Kansas City Star, Brattin says the bill is “not about religion.” Yet in the selfsame report he says, “I keep pointing to a Gallup poll that shows 90 percent of Americans believe in a higher power. And yet our schools only teach that we emerged from primordial ooze. I think st…

DNC Platform, Thy Name is Esther

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…p. It’s a vision that says everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone engages in fair play. It’s a vision that says we prosper when we realize that we are all in it together and stand united as a nation without dividing or excluding people. Does this not sound like Esther’s plea to the king on behalf of her people? She knew that speaking to the king could be the end of her individual life, but also knew that the risk w…

Retribution v. Reform in American Justice

By Jennifer Graber

…ut your topic? There are a couple issues I had to tackle head-on. Since the 1970s, Americans have witnessed the increasingly retributive spirit of this country’s prisons. It was imperative to show that while there have always been debates about reformation and retribution, the current environment is an historical anomaly. For people who had any knowledge of prison history, I wanted to deal with some false notions about Quakers and Calvinists. Some…

‘Let It Be Unto Me’: Akin, Rape, and the Early Church

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…pretive chasm” separating two versions of the same story; the first told in 1752 and the second in 1836. A monk is told to keep watch over the body of a girl whose family believes has recently died, but instead forces himself upon her sexually. In the morning, it turns out that she is not dead, but was just in a coma. In due course it becomes clear that she is pregnant. In the 1752 version it is assumed that the monk must have known she was alive,…

Four Reasons for Optimism in the Wake of Tragedy—Insights from a Sikh and a Unitarian Minister

By Erik Martinez Resly

…ave temple president Satwant Kaleka, the precocious young children of 9 and 11 years, Amanat and Abhay, who ran inside the temple warning of the arrival of the armed killer. This appears over and over again in Sikh thought and history: spiritual courage manifests itself in a time of worldly defeat, enabling one to transcend victimhood. Through his teachings, the fifth Sikh Guru, Guru Arjan, reminds us: ‘[A devotee] has no pain, she is totally at p…

How Sikhs Handle Hate

By Rajdeep Singh and Simran Jeet Singh

…ficial state letterhead as follows: “My response to your letter of February 19, 1976, is—kiss my ass.” Baxley’s response falls right in line with Sikh traditions. Sikhs of the 18th century banded together to resist bigots who terrorized and oppressed minority communities. Because Sikhs staunchly insisted on standing up against injustice and inequalities, the rulers of the day focused on persecuting Sikhs such that their numbers dwindled into the l…

A Muslim Eagle Scout on Boy Scouts’ Exclusion of Gays

By Asim Rehman

…the highest rank in scouting, and it’s proof that you know how to put the spirit of scouting into practice. So it was with disappointment that I learned of the Boy Scouts of America’s decision to deny membership to openly gay boys. Scouting taught me that even if we are each a little different, there is a place for us on the team, and we can work together to meet our goals. Unfortunately, the Boy Scouts of America believes that these truly Americ…