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Homosexual Thoughts and Feelings Not a Sin, Says New LDS Handbook

By Joanna Brooks

…to refer members to practitioners of reparative therapy such as Evergreen International. Reparative therapy has been discredited by scientists and professionals and, in some instances—including the electroshock aversion therapy prescribed by BYU-affiliated practitioners in the 1970s—exposed as abusive. 4. Adds the counsel that LGBT members who remain chaste should be “supported” and “encouraged” by Church leaders and be included in every dimensio…

Why All the Silly Devil Talk Should be Taken Seriously

By Ebony Utley

…a talented platinum-album-selling, award-winning woman who achieved a mass international following through dedication and hard work. Instead, she is a witch. [See also: “Lady Gaga’s Secret Religion.”] Finally, popular culture and the occult associations are a class issue. Jay-Z and Beyonce are a top-earning couple who made $122 million between June 2008 and June 2009. If they keep doing what they’re doing, their great-grandchildren will have old m…

Cuba Opens its Doors to the Catholic Church

By Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado

…blessed the cornerstone of the seminary, which was funded by a variety of international organizations, including the Knights of Columbus. Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega warmly greeted Castro at the inauguration, saying “In the name of the Church, I thank both the former president, as well as current President Raul Castro, who honors us with his presence, for the state’s support of this work.” The significance of Wenski, Castro, and Ortega together a…

Do Not Arrest the Pope: New Atheists’ Call for the Pope’s Arrest Isn’t Likely to Produce Justice

By Eric Reitan

…e Pope, launch their own civil action against him or refer his case to the International Criminal Court.” What will be the effects of these efforts? My answer, in brief: Nothing good. To see why, consider the following. What happens when you combine the Church’s self-understanding (as the vessel in which God has entrusted His revelation to the world) and a history of enormous privilege and prestige, with the rise of secularism and the concomitant…

Are They Jewish Bones? Battle for Separation of Synagogue & State in Israel

By Shalom Goldman

…his coalition’s Ultra-Orthodox constiuents, Benjamin Netanyahu (busy with international affairs in general and with the conflict with the Obama administration in particular) at first made a hasty and incautious decision that may have wide-ranging implications for all Israelis—and not only for those served by the staff of Barzilai Hospital. Then this week, in one of those sudden reversals of policy for which he is now known, Netanyahu told Deputy…

Controversial “Bishop of the Poor” Dies at 86

By Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado

…to do, and forget the flesh and blood individuals whose lives have been transformed and who deeply mourn the passing of religious leaders such as Ruiz; he not only lived with the poor, he learned their language (four Mayan dialects), and placed their struggles on an international arena. And yet I hope that ten years from now his advocacy will not be remembered as a relic of the past—a Church that once was—and instead that there’ll be an active rem…

Religion in Tension on World AIDS Day

By Susan Henking

…ltations on AIDS/HIV and Islam in South Africa sponsored by Islamic Relief International. The Sangha Metta Project brings Buddhist monks together to work on both prevention and care. And President-elect Barack Obama said in a 2006 speech to the Global Summit on AIDS and the Church, sponsored by evangelical Christian Rick Warren, that “Corinthians says that we are all of one spirit, and that ‘if one part suffers, every part suffers with it.’ But it…

Remembering Rumsfeld: The Defense Department Gospel and America’s Desert Crusade

By Nathan Schneider

…God” and “stand your ground.” (Typos aside, most passages are from the New International Version of the Bible, a popular evangelical translation.) But in the verse just before that, it’s perfectly clear that tanks are not the armor being discussed. “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood,” it says, “but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly r…

The Bible Says… and Other Myths About Scripture

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…ly helps, from running headers at the top of the page to chapter and verse numbers below. Imagine that: the common Protestant practice of “proof-texting” (citing one verse as a way to capture the essence of biblical truth) would have been impossible before the advent of the printing press, when Bibles first began to have section breaks, chapters, and verses (none of this earlier than 1560). Prior to that, people did not speak of verses; they spoke…

Catholic-Jewish Tension and the Rededication of Catholic Holocaust Memorial

By Benjamin Weiner

…yer for the repose of Jewish souls. A row of cameramen and photographers took images, and reporters filed stories with the international press….