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World Congress of Families Blessed By Georgian Orthodox Patriarch and George W. Bush; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…lation related to human sexuality for possible consideration using the new process.The proposal became known as Rule 44 simply because it was the last of 44 rules the commission proposed for conference business. General Conference delegates approved the first 43 rules, after their own ups and downs, late on May 10. Thus, an arcane procedural debate became, for many United Methodists, mainly about long-simmering differences regarding ministry with…

The Burning Houses of Worship We Missed

By Gordon Haber

…m China. It’s directed against the Uighurs, a largely Muslim Turkic group spread throughout Central and East Asia. More than 11 million Uighurs live in Xianjiang District of Western China, where officials have reportedly bulldozed over 800 mosques. Authorities have also detained hundreds of thousands of Uighurs in re-education camps. The scale of the suffering is difficult to imagine. In fairness, there’s been a lot of good reporting about the pli…

Did the Pope Embrace the Prosperity Gospel?

By Sarah Posner

…investigation, and used his connections to fight back, claiming that then-presidential candidate Mike Huckabee provided assurances he would “stand with” him. Copeland had long enjoyed relationships with Republican candidates, including former presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. The latter was told by a religious outreach advisor during his first presidential campaign that Copeland was “arguably one of the most important religious lead…

Boy Scout “Perversion Files” Raise Questions about Abuse in Mormon Contexts

By Joanna Brooks

…and leaders in addressing abuse—and even the excommunication of some victims and accusers. In 1995, the Church established stronger guidelines and new protocols for reporting abuse, including a 1-800 number for local clergy. …

Are Atheists Taking 1st Amendment Suits Too Far?

By Gordon Haber

…mates range from $700 to $800 million per year. But this is less about the principal than the principle. The FFRF believes that clergy aren’t paying their “fair share,” making life more expensive for the rest of us. Never mind that it works out to less than $2.50 per citizen. The FFRF has a good chance of winning. Although I’m no constitutional scholar, the parsonage exemption does seem to privilege one set of citizens over another. I find it hard…

Normalization is Control: Telling Stories to Survive

By Mariam Durrani

…find myself staring at a blank screen, trying to write a response to the representation, specifically the misrepresentation of Muslims, in American news media. Hoodfar’s statement that it wasn’t the fieldwork she chose, and yet she had to write about it, really resonates with me. How do I as an anthropologist who works with Muslim youth in Pakistan and the US make sense of this election and its implications for my participants, but also for myself…

What To Do When Fred Phelps Arrives in Your Neighborhood

By Susan Henking

…fact that our work lives are truly oppressive. Or, fantasy picketing could prime the pump of protest and change. Certainly the strategy of using umbrellas to hide the distasteful words of Fred Phelps (forcing him into his own tiny little closet) or the angels in Laramie, Wyoming that stood between those “God Hates Fags” signs and the funeral of Matthew Shepard are forms of fantasy picketing though a tad more literal than what I had in mind. This…

Colorado’s Personhood Initiative Fails—For Now

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…ever have happened and it was WRONG!” And if that rape or incest led to a pregnancy, I would probably ALSO think, at some point, “[Expletive deleted], that’s horrible and should never ever ever have happened and it was WRONG!”) But basically, at some point, I would suspend by focus only on the possibility that conception resulted from rape or incest, and notice the person who suffered the rape or incest. So is that woman “innocent,” on the perso…

Behind the Inclusive-Sounding Ads of this $100 Million PR-Blitz-for-Jesus it’s the Same Old Conservative Christian Fantasy

By Chrissy Stroop

…full, evangelical Christian family, tagged me in a Facebook post about the PR project. While my initial reaction was along the lines of “WTAF,” I soon found myself sucked in to investigating the bizarre phenomenon further. Stardust told me they had checked out the chat feature on HeGetsUs.com and described their experience as follows: “I asked some questions about how churches conceal abuse and was told multiple times to seek answers in the contex…

Fox Makes Mockery Of Promise To Rein In Beck’s Anti-Semitism

By Sarah Posner

…by many Jews and Jewish leaders about Glenn Beck’s constant and often inappropriate invocation of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany on the air. We were assured by Ailes and Cheatwood that they understand our concerns and would explain them to Beck. Two days later, I received a hand-written note from Glenn Beck, which stated: “Simon, Joel shared the details of your meeting yesterday. Please know that I understand the sensitivity and sacred nature of…