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Gambian Prez Rails Against Gay ‘Evil Empire’; Irish Priest Comes Out During Mass; Trans Talk on Tunisian TV Sparks Debate; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ansing, and Adam Bucko, a “mystic Christian” whose family fled communist Poland. Philippines: Pope’s Visit Excites Young Catholics A Bloomberg story on the excitement caused by Pope Francis’s visit to the Philippines this week included this: An April 2013 survey by the Social Weather Stations found that the number of Filipinos identifying themselves as Catholics fell to 81 percent from 88 percent in 1997 and one in every 11 Catholics has considere…

Are Evangelical Films Destined to Leave Secular Audiences Behind?

By Daniel Silliman

…ot an aggregate rating of 2 percent on Rotten Tomatoes—the studio started claiming secular bias and promoting fan reviews. Many evangelicals view cultural elites as condescending and hostile to begin with, so negative reviews met certain expectations. Even as fans of Left Behind talked about how great it was, however, the old divisions were apparent. There were those who talked about how the film is a great evangelizing opportunity. One woman repo…

The Faith that Faith Produced

By Haroon Moghul

…nd give him this book, to surprise him, too—in a good way. (I would accept Lakers tickets in lieu of apologies, but I think that particular era is done.) This whole book is a result of a profound evolution, and needs to be seen as such. American Muslims have gone through a lot over the last few decades. We were never the caricature Islamophobes made us out to be (our earliest heroes include Muhammad Ali, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Malcolm X), but we…

Global LGBT Recap: Mandela and Equality; Elton John Defies Russian Ban; Fake-Healing of AIDS

By Peter Montgomery

…man who was recently tortured and killed after he came out. US Embassy in Manila Issues First Fiancé Visa The US Embassy in the Philippines announced it had granted its first fiancé visa to a same-sex couple. Same-sex couples cannot get married in the Philippines, the announcement noted, but thanks to the Supreme Court ruling striking down the portion of the Defense of Marriage Act that limited federal recognition to marriage between a man and a…

Corporations Have Consciences and Contraceptives Are Cheap: Hobby Lobby at the Supreme Court

By Sarah Posner

…Unlike Catholic plaintiffs, Hobby Lobby seeks an exemption from covering ella, Plan B, and IUDs, claiming that they may cause an abortion. Scalia declared these methods “not terribly expensive.” But Verilla pointed out that the IUD, one of the most effective methods of birth control, is also one of the most expensive. (They can cost as much as $1,000.) As expected, the Court did not question in any depth the companies’ claim that these methods are…

The Brutality of Life for Syrian LGBTs; Saving the Anglican Church by Dissolving It; Backlash to Hindu Gay Wedding Ceremony in Indonesia; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…transition for LGBTs, others? Ian Lekus, writing for the Center for Transatlantic Relations, examines the situation of LGBT people in Cuba at a moment of potential democratic transition, placing the analysis in a larger context: As societies transition to democracy, it is inevitable that they wrestle with who truly counts in matters of political, social, and cultural inclusion. For LGBT people, it is increasingly clear that the strength of democra…

Sacred Texting: When Religious Writ Gets Wired

By Rachel Wagner

…e spiritually enriching? Is there a sense of religious community on a cellular phone? Tony Dokoupil of Newsweek asks: “[S]hould Jesus and Madonna (the singing one) go on the same iPod?” Later, he wryly observes that “downloading the Word through the same fiber-optic cables as the latest Korn album sounds like a bad idea, given that Roman Catholics dispose of holy water through special pipes to keep it from touching sewage.” The implicit question h…

Our Failure To Understand Ferguson: A Cognitive Explanation

By Andrew Aghapour

…tems adapted for life in small groups. It is psychologically difficult to blame large, abstract entities—like government agencies or corporations—in a meaningful or satisfactory way. Ideologies and conspiracy theories occupy this vacuum, but they offer coherence at the expense of nuance and accuracy. Corporations, prisons, tech giants, school systems, industrialized agriculture, state bureaucracies, insurance companies, and media conglomerates: th…

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

By Peter Montgomery

…c group Harkatul Jihad. They said he joined another militant group, Ansarullah Bangla Team, in mid-2015. Shihab, 37, was arrested in the southwestern district of Kushtia, Munirul Islam, head of a newly formed police counterterrorism unit, told a news conference. He did not give any further details. There have been a series of recent attacks targeting atheists, moderates and foreigners in Bangladesh. Only one of 15 such killings has been prosecuted…

LGBT Human Rights in UN Sustainable Development Negotiation; Swiss Bishop Says Speaking of ‘Family Diversity’ is ‘Attack on the Creator’; Canadian Food Bank’s Anti-Gay Dogma; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ll has suggested there is overwhelming resistance to repealing anti-sodomy laws. In late August, a young Jamaican gay rights activist who brought an unprecedented legal challenge to the anti-sodomy law withdrew his claim after growing fearful about possible violent reprisals. But Human Rights Watch has noted that there’s been a “groundswell of change” in the way Jamaica is responding to human rights abuses against LGBT people. In recent days, King…