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Catholic Church Ordained Women Before, Can Do it Again

By Phyllis Zagano

…e trajectory of deacon-priest-bishop is relatively recent—only about 700 or 800 years in the long history of the Church. In fact, the earlier understanding is that the deacon would become a bishop! I sometimes wonder if the naysayers are more afraid of women bishops than of women priests. But, in modern times, we have reestablished the tradition of a diaconate lived permanently. All priests are also ordained deacons, and in the most formal of litu…

New Poll: Repeal DOMA

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…s, but the numbers [pdf] show that the sample actually skewed right. Of the 800 registered voters polled 38 percent were strong, weak, or independent-leaning Democrats with 41 percent identifying as strong, weak, or independent leaning Republicans. Conservatives outweighed liberals by 38 to 18 percent, and a full 74 percent of those polled identified as religious. Some 40 percent claimed the moniker of “born again,” and 33 percent said they attend…

What To Do When Fred Phelps Arrives in Your Neighborhood

By Susan Henking

…to mention avoiding the violence. And, of course, fantasy picketing gets around the many ways our culture has come to limit dissent in recent years: from World Bank protests in Seattle to campuses where what was once the civil disobedience of chalking sidewalks late at night has now become a sponsored student activity. I sometimes wonder, if our current norms around dissent had been as effectively internalized and as pervasive in the past, whethe…

Colorado’s Personhood Initiative Fails—For Now

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

Colorado’s fetal personhood ballot initiative petition failed to get enough valid signatures, and so the measure will not appear on the ballot, Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler announced this morning. According to the Denver Post, some of the signatures were deemed invalid, so the petition was found to have only 85,800 valid signatures—305 signatures short of the required 86,105. Jennifer Mason, speaking for Personhood Colorado, said tha…

US Archbishop and Vatican-Appointed “Overseer” Attends Annual Meeting of Women Religious

By Emily Baxter

…xemplified by the Nuns on the Bus and known for their work in communities around the country—who hold the grassroots power to bring politicians to task on justice issues from economic inequality to immigration reform. On the other side, stands a male hierarchy that has wielded conventional political influence and spent considerable money on issues from marriage equality to abortion. Uncomfortable conference rooms aside, it is possible to read betw…

Policing Academic Freedom: A Book, a Controversy, and the Ominous Aftermath

By Michael Jerryson

…radition through family and swamis, the Hindu communities I was a part of, trips to India, and my own reflective readings.” Shukla explains that “while there always have been and now are a growing number of scholars who are committed to presenting emic understandings of Hinduism, we find each year that the ‘in crowd’ created by Doniger at the AAR has yet to shift in terms of power and influence.” In light of this information, she reprimands the AA…

What Coverage of a Fatal Orthodox Baptism Reveals About Western Media

By Katherine Kelaidis

…mportant marker of Eastern Christian identity—particularly as increasingly numbers of Eastern Christians became the simultaneous targets of Western crusaders and Islamic conquerors. In this context, rigid adherence to liturgical customs became a means by which to assert and preserve identity in the face of colonization and oppression. Conversely, adherence to Christian practices abandoned by the Christian West—if not in the Middle Ages then certai…

The Right Questions Kamala Harris’ Blackness — Yet as Long as She Holds Any Power She’ll Always Be Too Black for Them

By Mary Rambaran-Olm

…ds to put more money into our education system. There is a valid critique around Harris’ race, similar to that of Obama’s. Like the former president, Harris is not a descendant of chattel slavery in the US and isn’t a generational African American. An interesting question would be to discuss what scares the US so much about a candidate who is a generational African American. And yes, there’s a valid critique of how her own upbringing and privilege…

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

By Peter Montgomery

…to counter attempts to embed or enhance discrimination wherever it occurs around the world.” Germany: Govt Will Annul 50,000 Convictions Under Sodomy Laws, Compensate Survivors The government announced that it will annul the convictions of about 50,000 men convicted between 1946 and 1969 under former laws banning gay sex, which dated to 1871. It will pay some financial compensation to those who are still alive. Russia: Who’s Killing Gay Journalist…

The Burning Houses of Worship We Missed

By Gordon Haber

…’s Kargilik Mosque. According to Radio Free Asia, the Chinese authorities stripped the 16th century building of its Islamic imagery and festooned it instead with banners proclaiming, “Love the Party, Love the Country.” The destruction and desecration of the mosques is part of a larger Chinese governmental effort to expunge Islam from China. It’s directed against the Uighurs, a largely Muslim Turkic group spread throughout Central and East Asia. Mo…