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Argue-by-Number: A Suggestion for the Church

By Mark D. Jordan

…do, and they share only that one joke-book. But what explains the constant number-calling around homosexuality in so many American churches? Why do we rehearse arguments most anyone active in church has already heard dozens of time? Why do we behave like prisoners? I don’t think that long-term veterans of church debates have much hope that undecided people will be persuaded by the repetition. Most of us know that persuasion happens in other, more…

In the Aftermath of the “Himalayan Tsunami”

By Luke Whitmore

…government was proceeding with mass cremation in order to prevent the true number of deaths in and around Kedarnath from ever being known. One of the government organizations involved in rescuing survivors reportedly refused to assist with cremations. Even as the state government continues to conduct disaster relief there has been a wincing degree of political theater. A debate is developing about how the Badri-Kedar Temple Committee, the state go…

Yes, It’s Worse To Be Gay in Russia

By Chrissy Stroop

…yrics of the “Punk Prayer.” That resulted, some weeks later, in a panicked phone call from an administrator asking if I had taught Pussy Riot lyrics. The incident blew over, but the ban on LGBT “propaganda” was passed at around the same time. And I would be lying if I said I haven’t become at least somewhat more careful with what I say in the classroom since. Self-censorship is, I think, the way most LGBT Russians and their allies deal with the le…

“Giving Godhead”: A Bloody Vision of Religion’s Deepest Influence

By Spencer Dew

…leaf. Krieger is after the codes that get ingrained, that run in the background, that make us think a certain way about, say, virginity, or sovereignty, those triggers that flip circuits such that suffering immediately flashes in the backs of our mind as redemptive, death as sacrifice, and so on. Poison, she might say: brainwashing with a dirty sponge. Despite Simmons’s hagiographic comment regarding originality, the work of Giving Godhead is not…

Recovering From Rejection: The Second Coming of Ted Haggard

By Wendy Norris

…nks. You have to determine that on your own.” Haggard’s weekly Oval Office phone calls and grip and grin NAE photo ops with former President George W. Bush are now mere vestiges of an old life, prior to what he calls the “crisis.” At New Life, which Jeff Sharlet described as “not just a battalion of spiritual warriors but a factory for ideas to arm them,” worship services were extravagant multimedia, fog machine-choked productions, in which Haggar…

“You’ve Never Met a Muslim”

By Hussein Rashid

…pool. One of my neighbors sat on the steps sobbing as her toddlers jumped around. Her husband was on the top floor. “It’s ok,” I told her. “The towers were built to withstand a lot. He’ll get out.” I was wearing a bathing suit, a denim skirt and a Wonder Woman T-shirt that said, “You can run, but you can’t hide.” I wore that for the next sixteen hours as I ran away from the collapsing buildings with my toddler, trying to find my 4- and 6-year-old…

Swiss Priest Sacked for Blessing Lesbian Couple; Mormon Equality Advocate Excommunicated; Pope-Backed Anti-Gay Referendum Fails; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…th hate from politicians and religious leaders seeking political power and cheap popularity.” She and more than 130 volunteers then distributed the magazine across the country and into some unlikely hands, including to Uganda’s Parliament, president, and other politicians, as well as churches and media outlets. Nabagesera says Bombastic has been a “big hit,” allowing her to attract correspondents in every country across the African continent. She…

Clergy May Soon Find Taxes Soaring As Result of an Under-the-Radar Ruling

By Patrick Hornbeck

…best endowed financially, provide parsonages. But over time, an increasing number of clergy have made their own living arrangements. Churches found parsonages prohibitively expensive; congregants preferred to see their donations go toward services rather than clergy housing; and new religious ventures, especially the nondenominational and evangelical churches that began to flourish in the second half of the twentieth century, could not boast the h…

Vatican Reverses Anti-Liberation Policies in Mexico

By Ruth Chojnacki and Jennifer Scheper Hughes

…ate, an ancient institution revived by Vatican II. In 2000, 341 of Mexico’s 800 deacons served the Diocese of San Cristobal, the largest number of deacons in any Catholic diocese in the world. Vatican suspicion of Bishop Ruiz’s liberationist pastoral strategy resulted in a failed attempt to remove him in 1993. The deacon program came under particular scrutiny after the 1994 Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, with reports that Maya catechists defied th…

Malta Adopts Marriage Equality Over Objections of Catholics and Evangelicals; And More in Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…tiago Chile, where police arrested 35 people after clashes that broke out around the “Freedom Bus.” From the Washington Blade: Supporters and opponents of the “Freedom Bus,” which is part of a campaign that CitizenGO, a conservative Spanish organization, has launched with the support of evangelical and Catholic organizations, clashed near the presidential palace. Neo-Nazi groups are among those who reportedly took part in the protests. A number of…