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

By Michael Schulson

…e 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. I make that latter point based on my recent experiences in church—which are myriad, because while I may be a Jew, I am also a religion reporter. If you haven’t seen it yourself, trust me: people in the pews are constantly whipping out their phones in order to look up Bible passages, take no…

Vatican Considers ‘Disordered’ Language; HBO Doc on LGBT Persecution in Russia; Nigerian Bishop Shifts on Anti-Gay Law; Arson at ‘Open Mosque’ in South Africa; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…arriage equality in the U.S. also sends a message abroad, making Monday a good day for global human rights. The Russian government has kept up its demands that the U.S. return a gay teenager who is seeking asylum in the U.S. after coming to the country as part of an exchange program. The story made headlines when the Russian foreign ministry announced it was pulling out of a 21-year-old exchange program because the student had not returned to Russ…

Will Catholic Voters Support LGBT Rights in Washington State?

By Joanna Brooks

…and sent them to everyone on our email list. And I heard from people who stood outside mass to pass out our flyers and were asked to leave by the priest. But as they stood on the curb, they said 200 people rolled down their car windows and took their flyers and gave them thumbs up. They were very encouraged. It’s a strong campaign by the bishops. I wish they would put this money and energy into programs that would help the poor and homeless. Tell…

A Tale of Religious Tolerance… On Reddit

By Joanna Piacenza

…d and smiled for the camera. She then gently, with the patience of a preschool instructor teaching her students how to share, briefly describes Sikh beliefs that reject vanity in place of creating positive change: When I die, no one is going to remember what I looked like, heck, my kids will forget my voice, and slowly, all physical memory will fade away. However, my impact and legacy will remain: and, by not focusing on the physical beauty, I hav…

Global LGBT Recap: Nigeria Jails Gays, Russian Orthodox Spox Calls for Criminalization Referendum

By Peter Montgomery

…, a militant Islamic group active in the area, has “repeatedly attacked schools, churches, and government and military targets.” Says Reuters, “The radical Islamist sect says it is fighting to create an Islamic state in a country of nearly 170 million, split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims.” In Uganda, where a draconian anti-gay bill has also passed parliament, Amnesty International and other human rights advocates are actively tryi…

Holey Holey Holey: The Problem with a New Study Valuing Religion at $1.2 Trillion Per Year

By Michael Schulson

…o “[educate] the global business community about how religious freedom is good for business.” Melissa is an RFBF research fellow at the Newseum Institute. Their $1.16 trillion estimate is a staggering amount of money—something like 7% of the United States’ GDP. It’s also, on reflection, a somewhat silly figure. How do you possibly estimate the economic value of something as gigantic and amorphous as American religion? And even if you do pin down a…

Does Record Number of Religious “Nones” Mean Decline of Religiosity?

By Elizabeth Drescher

…e most likely to be found among Millennials (32%), GenXers (21%) and Baby Boomers (15%) have likewise grown among the population of Nones; Fewer than half (48%) of American adults say they are Protestant—the first time self-identified Protestants have fallen below 50% in Pew surveys; More than two-thirds of Nones (68%) believe in God, with more than half (51%) praying on a regular basis; Two-thirds of those surveyed (66%) say religion is losing it…

South Asian Religious Leaders Challenged to Take on Stigma and Discrimination: Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ge professor Omar G. Encarnación published an op ed piece on the London School of Economics’ European Politics and Policy blog arguing that western nations should reconsider their strategy of promoting gay rights abroad. He argues that while there have been notable successes, a strategy of “shaming” states that discriminate against LGBT people could be self-defeating and generate greater resistance to equality. He argues that western nations shoul…

How to Choose a Tour Company for Your Hajj

By Amina Wadud

…the way it goes. No, if I had my way I would call this entry: how not to choose a tour company. Really. The choice of the company I am working this out with is the result of one of those eeny-meeny-miny-mo Internet searches. It’s a business, after all, this: getting people to and from hajj. A simple Google search produces lots of choices. But then, how does one decide? Let’s start at the beginning. I first made my intentions to make the hajj while…

Who Is “Sam Bacile?”

By Sarah Posner

…ying) Muhammad. It makes them mad,” Bacile said. “But we have to open the door. After 9/11 everybody should be in front of the judge, even Jesus, even Muhammad.” Consider all the contradictions: small ones, true, like in one account he is 52 and in another he is 56. To the AP he is “a California real estate developer who identifies himself as an Israeli Jew” and to the Times of Israel he is “Jewish and familiar with the region.” And what about tha…