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A Love Letter to #Exvangelicals and Those Deconstructing Their Toxic Faith

By Andrew L. Seidel

…ho no longer believe. Two and a half years ago the Clergy Project surpassed 1,000 members, both former and active clergy. That’s right, the preacher in your pulpit might very well be an atheist who doesn’t know how to escape. The younger generation is even more open about questioning their faith and leaving Christianity behind. Whether it’s Rhett and Link, who used their platform to honestly discuss their deconstruction and deconversion; or Abraha…

Satanic Harmonies and Zoom Church: Readers Respond

By Daniel Schultz

…Assissi preached in the wilderness, or John Wesley and his followers held services in the coalfields. So why exactly would it be different in a Zoom service? That’s not a rhetorical question. A preference for in-person worship is understandable and not even necessarily wrong. A case can be made for it. My point is simply that Warren hasn’t made that case, either in terms of sociology or theology. Meanwhile, the argument she has made overlooks the…

Biblical Inerrancy’s Long History as an Evangelical Activist for White Patriarchy

By Stephen Young

…s of dominant masculinity against evangelical feminism starting in the late 1970s. Professor Elizabeth Flowers explains the situation as well: “gendered ideas about women” and “biblical inerrancy” were “inextricably intertwined.” And as 19th century pro-enslaving theologians like Robert Lewis Dabney illustrate, these connections between biblical truthfulness and patriarchy stretch back to the point where their history of brutal White Supremacy bec…

Mexican Marriage Marches Show Struggle Between Church and Secular State; Pro-LGBT Mormon Group Grows After ‘Apostate’ Declaration; Botswana Gives Anti-Gay US Pastor the Boot; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ic Church, which opposes such unions. Chile, which returned to democracy in 1990 after a brutal 17-year military dictatorship, is by many measures Latin America’s most economically developed country, but is less socially progressive than many of its neighbors. In 2004, it became the last country in the Western Hemisphere to legalize divorce, and it is one of the few that still outlaws abortions in all cases – something that center-left Bachelet is…

More Bleak Times For Indonesian LGBTs; South Africa Bans Extremist Anti-Gay US Pastor; Mexican Marriage Struggle Heats Up; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…attempted to enter the country he would be detained and deported. Hendrik Baird,GaySA Radio’s station manager, joined Gigaba at the press conference: Baird thanked Minister Gigaba “for taking this matter seriously and for coming to the right decision that is in the best interests of South Africa,” and for making “an important statement here today”. He added: “We vow to stay vigilant and to campaign against others who may want to follow in this gro…

The Theology of Westboro: The “World’s Meanest Church” Is More Than Picket Signs

By Rebecca Barrett-Fox

…g I cut out is nearly as good as Primitive Baptists of the Wiregrass South: 1815 to the Present by John G. Mathis or Predestination: The American Career of a Contentious Doctrine by Peter J. Thuessen, who present these ideas in a way far more engaging that I would have been able to do. What are some of the biggest misconceptions about your topic? Characters clearly based on Westboro Baptists show up a lot in our pop culture—in films ranging from I…

A Catholic Sister, a Buddhist Nun, and Two Rabbis: Friendship That Goes Beyond “Interfaith”

By Matthew Gindin

…ith the Divine, not just reading—the better it is for all of us. It’s that spiritual energy I’m interested in.” Ven. Pelyang came to Tibetan Buddhism after spiritual restlessness led her first to an Episcopal priest (who mentored her but advised her to explore her own Jewish roots), then to a Buddhist retreat center where she discovered the power of a still mind. When she later met and practiced with Tibetan Buddhist monastics, she had found her p…

Russia Expels Gay American Pastor, An Epidemic of Anti-LGBT Violence in Brazil, And More in the Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…church leaders launching campaign for ‘Bible-based values’ The Cayman New Service reports that a coalition of church leaders, including Anglicans and Seventh Day Adventists, “are putting aside their doctrinal differences and uniting on a campaign to promote what they see as the biblical basis for family life in the Cayman Islands in a stand against ‘alternative lifestyles’ and same-sex unions in particular.” The project, designed to “raise awaren…

Why Nobody Should Be Surprised That Pope Francis Made Problematic Comments About Judaism — And That He Remains Unapologetic

By Ilan Benattar

…promulgation of Nostra Aetate (“Our Time”) by the Second Vatican Council in 1965 was spurred in large part by criticism of official Vatican neutrality during World War II. At the time, it was hailed as a forward-thinking document which attested to deep introspection on the part of the Church. Nostra Aetate forms the additional reason why Pope Francis’s comments were surprising to so many, from scholars to Catholic theologians to Jewish leaders. We…

False Saviors: Trump, Cruz, and the Gospel of the Quick Fix

By Marcia Pally

…nted for 60% of employment in 1979 accounted for only 46% by 2012; and the number of persons not in the labor force is growing. While some are getting richer, the numbers tell us, middle income earners are hobbled by shrinking purchasing power, disappearing job opportunities, and increasingly out-of-reach education. This is problem enough for the many who work hard and can’t figure out why they’re “losing ground,” as Pew wrote. Add to that fears o…