Search for "what airline has cheap tickets from sf to san diego phone number 1-800-299-7264"

Gambian Leaders Portray Anti-Gay Law as Defense of Islam, Ugandan Politicians as ‘Christmas Gift’; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…e majority of LGBTQ people in Africa live in extreme poverty. Finland: Thousands Quit Lutheran Church Over Pro-Marriage-Equality Archbishop Last Friday, lawmakers voted 105-92 to approve a citizens initative to allow same-sex couples to get legally married. Opponents used now-familiar rhetoric about children having a right to a father and mother. Kari Makinen, the Lutheran Archbishop of Finland, said last Friday that he supported the government’s…

Are School Districts Getting the Message on Government-Sponsored Prayer?

By Lauri Lebo

There’s an old joke in newsrooms that goes if you can find three examples of something, it’s automatically worthy of a trend story. And so, according to the rule, it’s too early to call this a trend. Still, it is interesting that two news stories came out yesterday about school districts ending government-endorsed religious observances because they recognize that they would probably lose a costly First Amendment battle. Could it be that in the wa…

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

By Brie Loskota and Peter Gudaitis

…religious literacy and competency to serve all Americans. To that end, thousands of emergency responders have taken a FEMA course we authored on the subject. Making sure congregations are prepared with practical knowledge and affiliation with VOAD or emergency management is critical because even the most well-intentioned people can take counter-productive steps in an emergency situation. Even with the desire and the theological inclination to open…

Normalization is Control: Telling Stories to Survive

By Mariam Durrani

…for myself, my family, and colleagues. So I’ve been trying to draft a short 800-word article for Religion Dispatches, as my attempt to make sense of this current moment, not because I chose this as an anthropological project, but here I am. Here I am listening to Trump’s transition team drop words like Muslim registry or that there is a precedent for internment camps in American history. The news that the KKK has been dropping their newsletter off…

Trump is Helping the Economy… The Apocalypse Economy

By Jonathan Root

…r part of his pitch. But it seems that Bakker is more willing to play partisan games this time around. Even his wife, Lori, has come out in support of Trump, claiming that he’s the best candidate for women. Apocalyptic preaching isn’t new, and Bakker is appealing to a very particular subculture. Still, his long career points to a market for these messages, and his invocations of the 2016 election point to the way that political unease can offer a…

The Fire This Time

By Anthea Butler

…holarship done this summer. Meanwhile, I try to hold it together to write a 800-word piece without crying and wanting to tear my hair out about the pain of my people. I’m not writing prophetic words to you anymore. You fix this shit. I’m done carrying the cross of America, its false promises of democracy and inclusion, the documents that excluded me and called my ancestors three-fifths of a person. You figure it out. I’m about comforting Black peo…

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

By Peter Montgomery

…adrennial General Conference in Portland, Oregon. From May 10-20, more than 800 delegates will debate changes to church policy, including several that seek to lift longstanding bans on LGBT ministers and same-sex marriages. This is the first Methodist General Conference since the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in 2015. LGBT-affirming Methodists have failed to change church policy, with the denomination’s numerical strength now in the south –…

Why Faith Needs Redemptive Struggle to Be Meaningful

By Liz Theoharis

…the divide-and-conquer strategy of the Pharoahs of our day, uniting to transform society for the benefit of all. Rev. Barber consistently emphasizes the sacredness of all life. He maintains that if we care about one death at the hands of a cop, then we have to care just as much about 2,800 deaths occurring each year due to lack of Medicaid expansion in North Carolina. He cautions us to avoid the path of political expediency and to envision and str…

Thoreau’s Ferocious Critique of Philanthropy Does Not Make Him “Selfish”

By Alda Balthrop-Lewis

…opic enterprises,” Schulz quotes it as evidence that “this thoroughgoing misanthrope did not care to help other people.” But her interpretation is too quick. And dismissing Thoreau on this point leaves us without the tools he provides for diagnosing some of capitalism’s deepest ironies. In Walden, an eight-paragraph critique of philanthropy follows this line, in which Thoreau suggests that there is a relevant distinction between “philanthropic ent…

Lifestyles of the Rich and Pious

By Patricia Miller

CNN’s Belief Blog has a great rundown of the lavish homes of American archbishops who haven’t gotten the memo from Pope Francis about a “church which is poor and for the poor.” CNN reports that “10 of the 34 active archbishops in the United States live in buildings worth more than $1 million.” The median home value in the U.S. is $174,200. Not surprisingly, that list includes some of the nation’s most outspoken conservative bishops—and allies of…