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From Shofars to Hammers: The Spiritual Warriors of MAGA are ‘ReAwakening’ to Political Violence

By Mark Clatterbuck

…o thunderous applause. But underneath it all was a seething groundswell of spiritually sanctioned incitement to violence that was impossible to ignore. The spiritual leaders of this new religio-political movement are using increasingly violent rhetoric to direct an inspired army of God to wage war against all who stand outside their camp. I watched as 4,000 faithful warriors sprang to their feet with each call to arms, roaring their approval, hand…

Scottish Episcopal Church Angers Conservative Anglicans With Embrace of Same-Sex Marriage; and more in Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…Bulgarians because it is based on a “kukeri” mask, used to chase away evil spirits in a number of annual customs and rituals. This irked two of Bulgaria’s largest folklore groups, Gotse Delchev and the Bulgare ensemble, who wrote an open letter objecting to the use of traditional Bulgarian folk symbols in the Sofia Pride event. Eighteen embassies and a few representatives of international organizations had publicly supported the event. That stands…

Naked Jihad

By Kate Blanchard

…ld soon be feeling the need to leave her home country. Not surprisingly, a number of Western women felt moved to show their support for Amina. An international movement called Femen staged bare-breasted protests in European cities, in which the writings on their chests echoed Amina’s, along with “Freedom for women” and “Fuck your morals.” (Be warned: photos contain nudity and strong language.) But Femen did not have the last word. Almost immediat…

Evangelical Pastor Argues for Full LGBT Inclusion: “I Think It’s Inevitable”

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…of today. Then you turn to Paul’s letter to the Romans, especially chapters 14 and 15, to propose a way to live together in a “third way” and make the church not just “affirming” of LGBT people, but fully inclusive. I just assumed there was a well-acknowledged category of “disputable matters” (like those found in Romans 14 and 15). I grew up in the Jesus Freak movement of the ’70s. I was part of an ecumenical charismatic community where we disagre…

A Peek Inside the ‘Onion’ of Scientology

By Kristin Rawls

…n. If it is not, then we might legitimately ask the question of how kids of 12, 14, or 16 years old have been allowed to work 16- or 18-hour days, seven days a week. But if it is a religion, as it is right now, then the Sea Organization is protected as a religious order, and what goes on within that order is not open to the same level of scrutiny. Courts are generally loath to take Scientology on because [the Church] has a messy legal history. Th…

PCUSA’s Nod to “Traditional” Marriage Understandable, but Not Accurate

By William E. Smith

…t and change. Many of these developments, furthermore, continue to shape a number of the assumptions American Christians have about the nature of marriage. Consider the following examples of historical changes in Christian marriage and whether we can honestly still call today’s version “traditional.” 1) Were individuals always required to be conventionally alive? For the majority of the past two thousand years, Christian women could marry Jesus, w…

The Religious Right and the Tea Party on “Education Choice”

By Julie Ingersoll

…e open to anyone who wishes to attend, though there will be a limit on the number of schools (no more than ten in the next decade) and the number of students enrolled. Opponents see charter schools as quasi-privatized schools (and also fear that this is a first step toward further privatization). They see even these limited charter schools as a threat to funding for public education—especially in these difficult budget years where public education…

As Tensions Escalate in the Balkans, the West Could Hand Putin a Valuable Weapon

By Katherine Kelaidis

…ere the dominant ethnic group in the multi-ethnic Balkans. However, between 1299 and 1453, the the Ottoman Empire conquered much of the Orthodox Christian world—including the Serbian Empire—and the Albanians converted to Islam, greatly elevating their status in an empire in which Muslims were most certainly at the top of the pecking order. This is the origin of much of the anti-Albanian sentiment, not only in Serbia, but throughout the Balkans. It…

Catholic Sex Teaching is No Laughing Matter

By Marian Ronan

…s now comprise twenty percent of the population of the entire continent, or 185 million people. It would, of course, be unfair to blame increasing anti-gay violence in Africa entirely, or even primarily, on the Roman Catholic Church, given the pivotal roles played in this crisis by some African Anglican leaders and right-wing American evangelical groups. But does anybody doubt that the Vatican’s characterization of gay sex as pathological, deprav…

Five Social Media Trends that are Reshaping Religion

By Elizabeth Drescher

…based service (LBS) Foursquare reached a milestone over the summer, topping 10 million users—a 10,000 percent increase over its member base in 2009. While there are questions about whether all those members are active, and bigger ones about whether Foursquare will be able to hold its own against LBS applications now offered by Facebook (which just acquired LBS competitor Gowalla) and Google, it’s clear that the social practice of “checking in” whe…