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For Conservatives, the Future Looks Dim… and Gay

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…ble.” But those “moral objections” seem to be of less concern to a growing number of Americans: Just under half of Americans (45%) say they think engaging in homosexual behavior is a sin, while an equal number says it is not. Those who believe homosexual behavior is a sin overwhelmingly oppose gay marriage. Similarly, those who say they personally feel there is a lot of conflict between their religious beliefs and homosexuality (35% of the public)…

Religious Opposition To LGBT Equality Softening

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…nd other Christians marching together at Pride. In recent years, the small number of Christians who turn up to protest against Pride have been vastly outnumbered by the Christians participating in it. Hill also noted religious support in the UK last April for a new law “to allow religious elements in civil partnerships, while last year the Quakers became the first major Christian denomination to resolve to carry out same-sex marriages.” Even here…

Beloved Immortals: Science, Miracles and ‘Jellyfish Time’

By Beatrice Marovich

…The novelist Nathaniel Rich recently published a charming story in the New York Times about one such scientist. Japanese researcher Shin Kubota, Rich tells us, is the only scientist who maintains a captive population of the jelly called Turritopsis dohrnii, also known as the “immortal medusa” or, more simply, the “immortal jellyfish.” This species is able to—crudely speaking—reverse the aging process, returning to its earliest stage of development…

“I’m a Creationist,” Says Former Times Tech Writer, Heffernan

By Michael Schulson

…ming evidence for evolution. Science writer Carl Zimmer—who writes for The New York Times, as Heffernan did for years—engaged her in some Twitter sparring. To summarize: Heffernan was not raised a creationist. And her opinion about the world’s origins owes more to postmodernism than it does to John Whitcomb and Henry Morris. Heffernan describes learning about the Big Bang as a child, and then comparing it to the Biblical stories she knew. “I was……

Is It the Job of Religion Journalists to Define “Religion”?

By Ann Taves

…fectly reasonable) definition of religion. When Linker asks “why can’t the New York Times’ religion columnist define religion,” the answer I think is three-fold: First, Oppenheimer was writing as a journalist, who covers religion for the NY Times, much as journalists, such as Joe Palca, cover science for NPR. Just as Palca reports on research in the sciences that he finds interesting, so too Oppenheimer in the column in question was reporting on a…

Premature “Gay Marriage Defeated” Post Removed from National Review

By Peter Montgomery

…nd boasting about the coalition that had defeated marriage equality in New York. Strangely enough, no news outlets were reporting the defeat of marriage equality. A few hours after NOM’s claim, CBS news reported that negotiations over the scope of the religious exemption—reportedly the sticking point for a number of Republicans in the state senate—were still moving forward. Looks like NOM’s eagerness to declare victory got a bit ahead of the facts…

Muslim Boycott of Bloomberg’s Interfaith Breakfast

By Hussein Rashid

…is hosting his annual Interfaith Breakfast on Friday, December 30, and the New York Times is reporting that Muslim leaders will be boycotting the event. I do know that the request for a boycott was initiated by Muslim leaders, but was sent to leaders from several faith communities. I was invited to the breakfast and to participate in the boycott. Based on what we know, I find the spying program deplorable and the interfaith boycott important, but…

Catholic Priests, Celibacy, and the Marriage Loophole

By Sara Ritchey

…even more married Catholic priests in America,” as Mark Oppenheimer of the New York Times reported, suggesting that “married priests raise provocative questions for the Catholic Church.” Oppenheimer asked: First, are they doing as good a job as other priests? If the church has decided that celibacy confers certain gifts on priests, does it follow that married priests are worse at serving their congregations? Second, wouldn’t celibate priests be a…

Attacking Obama on Religion and Race? Worst Romney Strategy Ever.

By Joanna Brooks

The New York Times set a fire yesterday with its report that a GOP Super Pac developed plans to resurrect controversy over Barack Obama’s former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright in order to sabotage the Democratic National Convention in September and the Obama re-election campaign. A plan produced under the oversight of Republican strategist (and one-time Jon Huntsman guru) Fred Davis and funded by TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts threatened to focu…

On Rick Santorum’s Piety: “Torquemada Was, in that Sense, a Model Catholic”

By The Editors

Writing at the New York Review of Books today (in a post that deserves a full read), Garry Wills offers what should be the final word on Santorum’s backward-facing faithiness : Rick Santorum is a nice smiley fanatic. He does not believe in evolution or global warming or women in the workplace. He equates gay sex with bestiality (Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum). He equates contraception with the guillotine. Only a brain-dead party could think him a wo…