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

By Peter Montgomery

…an churches took their cues from evangelical US megachurches that since the 1980s have expanded their influence through campaigns against abortion and homosexuality, Kim said. South Korea is also home to many megachurches, including the world’s largest congregation of nearly 800,000. But their reputation has been tarnished by recent corruption scandals. “For them, the anti-gay campaign is another way to maintain their political influence in this t…

Vatican Reverses Anti-Liberation Policies in Mexico

By Ruth Chojnacki and Jennifer Scheper Hughes

…d resignations and retirements. Pope John Paul II replaced as many as 86 of 100 Mexican bishops in two years alone, between 1997-1998. In the most famous case, the indigenous-identified bishop Arturo Lona Reyes of Tehuantepec refused to tender his resignation. The same year, 1997, saw the closing of two Mexican seminaries that seemed to be sympathetic to the Chiapas rebellion. The Mexican pattern of closing seminaries and replacing bishops was rep…

Heterosexual Martyrs and Gay Saints: Did AIDS Coverage Clear the Way for LGBT Equality?

By Diane Winston

…gnored homosexuals (the straight world slowly adopted the term “gay” in the 1980s). In 1963, when the New York Times ran a front-page story on the growing presence of homosexuals in the city, the subtext was hostile, citing the “growing concern of psychiatrists, religious leaders and the police.” Soon afterward, when homosexuals organized protests against discriminatory employment practices, police entrapment, and raids on gay bars, the press paid…

Milquetoast Liberal Religion Won’t Challenge Conservative Values: A History Lesson

By Sheila D. Collins

…nomy in favor of the radical free market. It was this period—the end of the 1960s and early 1970s—when the business community embarked on a war of ideas to take back the country from the “radicals” who had been undermining faith in the free market. One of their targets for conversion was the country’s religious leadership. Using both the carrot (invitations to all-expenses paid weekend retreats where the values of laissez-faire were extolled) and…

Religious Exceptions Not So Exceptional According to New Study

By Patricia Miller

…2% of all private schools), 645 Catholic nonprofit hospitals, and more than 160 Catholic Charities agencies across the country.” While most Catholic health care institutions have accepted the accommodation, a number of the nation’s 260 Catholic institutions of higher learning as well as Catholic nonprofits are seeking a broader exemption that would in effect bar their insurers from providing contraceptive coverage as specified under the accommodat…

Pope’s US Visit Provokes Intense Attention; New Vatican Book on Man-Woman Complementarity & New Int’l Report on Christian Role Models for LGBT Equality; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…nity,” he said. Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda and publishable by up to 14 years in jail. A number of laws have attempted to punish homosexuality with more severe consequences including death, but those bills have folded under international pressure. While activists say the foundation of the bill is fundamentally discriminatory, they also say that successful lobbying campaigns have helped introduce possible amendments that strip the bill of it…

Unmasking the Intention Behind the “Unmasking” of Obama

By Nicky Loomis

…week, 13 percent of registered voters said Obama is a Muslim, compared with 12 percent in June and 10 percent in March. What’s more, the study found that only half of Americans polled know for certain that Obama is a Christian. The religious mudslinging becomes a political tool to disguise underlying racism towards the candidate—a tactic that Kristof calls an attempt to “de-Americanize” Obama. Journalist Marty Kaplan described this “de-Americaniza…

Pawlenty Stars in American Civil Religion: The Movie

By Michael J. Altman

…al purpose for our country to spread its influence around the world. In the 19th century, Manifest Destiny meant expansion out west. In the twentieth century, Woodrow Wilson used it to back up American intervention in WWI. While the term itself fell out of political usage, the myth expanded as America spread its reach to the moon, to Vietnam, and to the Middle East. If we are exceptional and if we work the hardest, than surely we deserve to grow….

Exodus “Ex-Gay” Ministry Closes Up Shop

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…aker for Exodus who has been with the ministry for ten years, since she was 17, says she understands that. “Time will reveal as we begin this new venture,” she told Religion Dispatches. “Alan coming out with this apology and this move is already an enormous step. We’re saying that gay people matter and where we’ve caused them harm we’re going to own that and work to end that pain.” When asked if a “safe and welcoming” place would include those…

ABC’s Good Christian Bitches Makes Feminists of Religious Right

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…an alert and is petitioning ABC to drop the show: Disney-owned ABC has no reservations about creating hate speech against Christians, but you can be sure they would never consider a show called “Good Muslim B-tches” or “Good Jewish B-tches.” With a title like “Good Christian B-tches,” you can imagine what kind of show it will be. Even if they change the title, the content will still mock people of faith. Okay, this is fantastic. I mean, how lovel…