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Is It OK To Use a Cellphone in Church? Pew Surveys the New Etiquette

By Michael Schulson

…ding whether it is “generally okay or not okay for people to use their cellphones…at church or [a] worship service.” A full 96% of those surveyed chose “generally not okay,” which was slightly higher than those who condemn mobile use in movie theaters. This finding indicates not only that the secular chambers of the cinema still don’t command quite the respect of Good Old Fashioned Faith—but also that the Pew methodology may be a bit out of whack….

Barbara Ehrenreich’s Bright-Sided Explores the Dark Side of Positive Thinking

By Michelle Goldberg

…od was no longer hostile or indifferent; he was a ubiquitous, all-powerful Spirit or Mind, and since ‘man’ was really Spirit too, man was coterminous with God… The trick, for humans, was to access the boundless power of Spirit and thus exercise control over the physical world.” From there, Ehrenreich shows how positive thinking evolved into a creed of capitalist motivation, largely by way of Norman Vincent Peale. She writes of the truly terrifying…

Global LGBT Recap: Culture War Claims More Victims

By Peter Montgomery

…ned a decree this week naming Dmitry Kiselyov a recipient of the “Order of Service to the Fatherland” for his contributions to Russia’s social and economic development, and “his services in the humanitarian sphere, strengthening the rule of law, protection of the rights and interests of citizens, and many years of diligent work.” Putin put Kiselyov in charge of a new government news agency created in December to tighten his control of the media. K…

“Profound Delight in Being”: Remembering John Hick

By Amir Dastmalchian

…in 1970s Birmingham, and even underwent a trial for heresy. On Friday, May 11, I attended a memorial service for Hick in Birmingham. In his later life Hick had become a Quaker and the service was held in the church center he frequented. The gathered sat in the U-shaped rows of the spacious hall, constructed in 1970, with bare white walls and high ceilings. The pipes of an organ dominated one corner of the room. The service followed the Quaker cus…

Catholic Bishops’ Religious Liberty Fight Enables Anti-Jewish Discrimination (Updated)

By Patricia Miller

…milies.” It’s not hard to extend the logic of the bishops and their social service agencies to the assertion that Christian social services agencies shouldn’t be “discriminated” against for refusing to work with those who don’t share their religious beliefs. Evangelical organizations like Miracle Hill, however, appear to be using the religious liberty argument developed by the Catholic bishops as cover for explicit evangelicalization in state and…

Identifying With God: Jay-Z’s Power to Profit

By Ebony Utley

…yone’s definition (including his own), he came of age with religion in the air. In his book Decoded, Jay-Z explains, “Church wasn’t a major part of my life growing up… But when you grow up in a place like Bed-Stuy, church is everywhere. So is mosque. So are a thousand other ways of believing.” Jay-Z alludes to cultural Christianity and cultural Islam—the experience of being surrounded by religion without embracing it as a ritualized practice. Ja…

Papal Retirement: A Matter of Conscience

By Mary E. Hunt

…y rectified the situation. But it is fascinating to note that many of those 118 cardinals who will elect his successor are not competent enough in the ancient language to understand, “Quapropter bene conscius ponderis huius actus plena libertate declaro me ministerio Episcopi Romae, Successoris Sancti Petri, mihi per manus Cardinalium die 19 aprilis MMV commissum renuntiare ita ut a die 28 februarii MMXIII, hora 20, sedes Romae, sedes Sancti Petri…

Challenge to ‘un-Africanness’ of homosexuality; LGBT Catholics in Africa face church cooperation with persecution; lesbian cartoon project debuts in bangladesh under shadow of violence; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…rger cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg were still safe. The Foreign Affairs report no longer explicitly state that these cities are safer and the Service must therefore now be more restrained, according to Dijkhoff. Sweden: Long waiting list for LGBT retirement home Thomson Reuters Foundation reports that there’s a long waiting list for Regnbagen (rainbow house), the country’s first LGBT retirement home, which opened in 2013. Sweden is ranked…

Prosperity Gospel Is Not the Only Problem with Joel Osteen’s Harvey Response

By Brie Loskota and Peter Gudaitis

…tary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD), associations that coordinate services across organizations. For instance, about two-thirds of the social service agencies involved in Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts were faith-based organizations, including both congregations and faith-based non-profits. Katrina revealed not only the shortcomings of federal, state and local government disaster response, but also faith-based organizations’ ability t…

A Resurgence of “Ex-Gay Therapy” Under Trump/Pence? ABC News Report Offers a Platform to Hate Group Rep. Peter Sprigg

By Sunnivie Brydum

…atment had on him—though it did not change his sexual orientation. “I spent 12 years suicidally depressed because of conversion therapy,” said Kendall. I lost my sense of place in the world, my family, and any stability in life. At age 16, I went to court to revoke my parents’ legal custody. Less than one year later, I dropped out of high school. The next decade was a struggle to survive; I was battling the disastrous damage conversion therapy cau…