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UPDATED: Oklahoma Personhood Bill Not Dead…

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…lly rewrite the Oklahoma legal code in ways that are controversial and alarming to many Oklahomans. Yes, well. For whatever reason, that amendment was not palatable to the groups backing SB-1433. Last night, Personhood USA posted a statement calling it “unforgivable” that Steele had not called for a floor vote on SB-1433 that day—the first day that it would have been up for a floor vote anyway, and for a bill that was already controversial. Meanw…

Does God Want Jeremy Lin to Win?

By Jay Michaelson

…whether in terms of kindness, or humility, or following their dreams, or any number of other positive values—just as it’s at its worst when it takes agency away. The particular myths that Tebow or Lin happen to believe in are secondary (and of course, I mean ‘myths’ in the sophisticated sense of stories that give meaning to human life, not false tales). What’s primary is that they believe, despite ample reasons not to do so, in the possibility of…

Rumors of the Suicide of the Liberal Church Are Exaggerated: A Response to Chris Hedges

By Mark Hulsether

…which start from a controversy about funding Union Theological Seminary in New York (UTS), then range widely to condemn liberal church leaders and valorize left-of-center activists—advance his agenda. Rather he offers an instructive example of an all-too-common genre: radicals who, in effect, echo right-wing talking points about the dysfunctions of the Protestant left: fomenting conflicts, exaggerating weaknesses, and presenting dilemmas in the le…

Is Twitter Doing Enough to Remove Extremist Content? An Ex-Employee Weighs In

By Sofi Hersher

…ociety— is the question of why Twitter isn’t doing more to combat the dissemination of extremist content. I don’t speak for Twitter, or claim to represent the company’s views, but this question (in conjunction with an assignment to present on the 2014 study “Tweeting the Jihad) has inspired me to take a closer look at this issue, and to offer a reflection based on past experience and current studies. The closest approximation to a central Twitter…

Pope Francis Praised for ‘Civil Unions’ Comment, But Justice Begins at Home—In the Vatican

By Mary E. Hunt

…n the new documentary “Franceso” directed by Russian prize-winning, Emmy-nominated director Evgeny Afineevsky. It reads: “Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or be made miserable over it. What we have to have is a civil union law—that way they are legally covered. I supported that.” I highly recommend the film—the theology less so, though it’s all wo…

Growing Catholic Resistance to Bishops’ Crusades

By Peter Montgomery

…nt to speak on women’s issues.” In Washington State, meanwhile, “A growing number of Seattle’s Catholic parishes are saying ‘no’ to Archbishop J. Peter Sartain’s offer that churches become signature gathering points for Referendum 74, the ballot measure to roll back Washington’s recently passed same-sex marriage law.” Notably, among the parishes declining to participate are St. James Cathedral, the seat of the archdiocese, and Christ Our Hope, a n…

Warships, Animals, Pubs Eligible For Blessings From Church of England, But Not Same-Sex Couples; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…Tomo slowly begins to understand her sexuality and comes to appreciate her new family. Ogigami celebrates traditional family values, yet undermines their inherent conservatism by indicating that blood relations or sexual orientation are not mandatory requirements when it comes to being a good mother. Taiwan: Documentary about woman’s relationship with lesbian mother wins a Teddy Hui-chen Huang’s documentary about her relationship with her lesbian…

Old Sins Cast Long Shadows: America’s Enduring Fascination with the Ten Commandments

By Jenna Weissman Joselit

…the biggest misconceptions about your topic? Some folks question whether anything new, or noteworthy, could be said about the Ten Commandments. Others take exception to the book’s emphasis on the quotidian uses to which Americans have put the Ten Commandments (“The Ten Commandments of Love,” anyone?). When it comes to matters of faith, or Moses or these ancient dos and don’ts, I’m not being disrespectful or even irreverent when I train my sights…

“Split at the Root”: Adrienne Rich and (Religious) Identity

By Ryan Harper

…ly manifest there. Like James Baldwin, one of her primary influences, she knew that victimizing groups were also their own victims, imperiled by the injustices they perpetuated and from which they benefited, consciously and unconsciously. They were in need of a redemption that required the constant witness of marginalized people. Like Baldwin, Rich realized that “oppressor” and “oppressed” were not simple, static, mutually-exclusive categories wit…

Mormonism’s “9/11 Mosque Moment”

By Joanna Brooks

…Mormonism’s “9/11 Mosque Moment,” reminding us of a time when the mayor of New York City (no Bloomberg, he) banned Mormon missionaries and when Mormon elders were tarred and feathered in the South. It’s a timely and necessary reminder. Because from the chatter around the Mormon blogosphere, I’m gathering that politically opportunistic anti-Muslim sentiment is simmering in the more conservative sectors of the LDS world. And whereas one usually he…