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U.S. Bishops Reject Pope Francis’ Priorities

By Patricia Miller

…tion. The 2007 edition, however, retained opposition to abortion and euthanasia as “foundational” issues for Catholics in voting. Several bishops perceived to be allied with Pope Francis complained this week that such a framework failed to reflect the pope’s broader array of social justice concerns. As Michael O’Loughlin reports at Crux, San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy, who was recently elevated by Francis, called the document “gravely hollow.” Mc…

When God and Gender Mix: New Book Examines the Southern Holiness Movement

By Colin Chapell

…lways want to include every interesting anecdote and vignette from their research. We spend so much time in the archives, getting to know our subjects, and often working with very, very personal letters, diaries and family papers. There were plenty of personal details that I thought could have added more “personality” to some of the folks that I talked about, but would have been distracting to the larger points that I wanted to make in specific ch…

Renovating Marriage, One Gay Couple at a Time

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…ld be better suited to mow the lawn, and the husband a better cook. But, research by scholars, especially gay ones, carries little weight with those who oppose marriage equality on religious grounds. For them, I point to a growing number of religious leaders who also understand that gays and lesbians can do a lot to “redefine” marriage in beneficial ways. Rev. Ed Bacon, who leads the 4,000 member All Saints Church in Pasadena, Calif., told Oprah W…

Pop Culture Yogi B. K. S. Iyengar Dead at 95

By Andrea R. Jain

…hich functioned as the center for teacher training, greatly augmented the number of yoga teachers who received official training in Iyengar Yoga and became the headquarters from which to disseminate the Iyengar system. Today, there are thousands of Iyengar Yoga teachers and millions of practitioners in over seventy countries across the world. Some yoga advocates and pop culture critics have suggested that popularized yoga reflects only the impuls…

Will Iowa’s Abortion Ban Respect Religious Freedom?

By Christine Ryan

…aw. Religious exemptions from abortion bans offer relief to only a limited number of individuals and can never be a comprehensive legal solution to the country’s reproductive health crisis. Nor should the right to control one’s body depend on proof of one’s religious commitments; reproductive freedom is a right that depends on one’s humanity, not one’s religious beliefs. That said, attacking the status quo incrementally proved to be a winning stra…

Mormon Rejection of Trump Embarrassing for Evangelicals?

By Neil J. Young

…or Trump, there’s no doubt it has occasioned spirited debate and real soul searching in evangelical circles. The anti-Trump evangelical movement has been robust and active for several months now, doing everything it can to undercut Trump’s standing among evangelical voters, rally behind his opponents, and celebrate any of his political setbacks. That’s why the near-total silence among anti-Trump evangelicals over his trouncing in Utah yesterday se…

American Christianity Is Changing Fast: Five Stories to Watch in 2016

By Richard Flory

…ken a much more adversarial stance to LGBT acceptance. However, increasing numbers of evangelical churches are accepting LGBT individuals as members. This development is not without its opponents, however. Many evangelical organizations—most significantly colleges, universities and seminaries—are mobilizing to retain their “religious right” to discriminate against LGBT individuals. More than 30 evangelical higher education institutions have petiti…

An Unholy Holy Week: Is the All-Male Rule of the Roman Catholic Church Self-Destructing?

By Anne Eggebroten

…a photo of Pope John Paul II as protest against child sexual abuse on Saturday Night Live. She and others have pinpointed one source of the problem: canon law, which does not require cases of abuse to be reported to the police. Instead, a culture of extreme secrecy has prevailed, codified in Vatican norms issued in 1962 requiring secret investigations and prohibiting any report to civil authorities. Will Pope Benedict XVI set in motion any change…

What Pence and Kaine Reveal About Divides in Catholicism

By Patricia Miller

…and the church insisted that Catholics opposed the decision, a significant number of Catholics similarly ignored them, having decided that on matters of sexuality the hierarchy wasn’t to be trusted? It’s that split within Catholicism that freed up Catholics to affiliate with whatever political party best met their priorities: social justice issues for left-leaning Catholics and sexual restraint, law-and-order, and a muscular national defense for r…

Holy Father, You’re Not Helping: The Problem with the Pope’s Plan to Consecrate Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

By Katherine Kelaidis

…Constantinople also demonstrate this problem. Which brings us back to Thursday’s consecration. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Virgin Mary was free from Original Sin, is not a doctrine shared between the Catholic and Orthodox churches. In fact, it’s only been an official part of Catholic teaching since 1854. While the Eastern churches agree with Catholics that Mary was free from personal sin, the fact that the Easte…