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

By Peter Montgomery

…We noted last week that gay Imam Ludovic Mohamed Zahed had married in Iranian lesbian couple in Sweden. Germany’s Der Spiegel published a profile of Zahed earlier this month. Born in Algeria, Zahed’s parents moved to France when he was a young child. When he went to school there for the first time, his teacher asked him if he was a boy or a girl. He was a delicate child, slender, shy and affable. Zahed recalls his father telling him he was a pans…

How to Choose a Tour Company for Your Hajj

By Amina Wadud

…limited number of hajjis permitted from that country in any one year. This number is set by hajj authorities in Saudi Arabia, because, in all fairness, there has to be a cap on how many Muslims converge on the place. Right now, it stands at around 3 million! Countries with large populations of Muslims have many more applicants than their allotted number of pilgrims. This means you have to put in your request well in advance, two maybe three years….

Who Is “Sam Bacile?”

By Sarah Posner

…d it. The Times of Israel says Bacile spoke from telephone with “a California number”: Speaking from a telephone with a California number, Bacile said he is Jewish and familiar with the region. Bacile said the film was produced in English and he doesn’t know who dubbed it in Arabic. The full film has not been shown yet, he said, and he said he has declined distribution offers for now. “My plan is to make a series of 200 hours” about the same subje…

Conservative Bishops Unhappy At Synod, But Ignore Walkout Call; Australian Religious Leaders Step Up Marriage Equality Opposition; Italy Debates Civil Unions; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ong after, the former acquaintance called to threaten Subhi from a Turkish phone number. Power noted that Subhi spoke at a recent UN Security Council Session, the first-ever dedicated to LGBT rights, which she said was an important precedent to set: But also, it allowed us to convey, in a single voice, and with the authority of the Security Council – which is the premiere global enforcement body for peace and security – it allowed us to convey tha…

Seeking Broad Appeal to US Christians, ‘God & Country: The Rise of Christian Nationalism’ Glosses Over Critical Context

By Chrissy Stroop

…istianity and more on the very real threat to our democracy from authoritarian Christians. Unfortunately, the WWJD invocation was a tell. At the end of the day, God & Country is more concerned with laundering the reputation of Christianity than it is with providing an honest historical and sociological accounting of how Christian nationalism both led to the January 6, 2021 insurrection and continues to threaten democracy. While it’s unlikely that…

Why the ‘Confession & Redemption’ Path is Unlikely to Help Falwell Recover from Sex Scandal

By Chrissy Stroop

…about the tasteless picture broke on August 7, Christian author and historian Diana Butler Bass tweeted, “Jerry Falwell Jr. will be back at Liberty,” suggesting he’d hire a ghostwriter “and publish a memoir about growing up under the shadow of his dad, how he never really knew Jesus personally, that he sinned, and then found true forgiveness for the first time in his life.” She added wryly in a second tweet, “if “Jerry” had been “Jenny” instead a…

70th National Prayer Breakfast Made ‘Cosmetic’ Changes, But Biden Delivered the Same Old Tone-Deaf ‘Unity’ Message

By Chrissy Stroop

…relic of early Cold War excess decades ago, was launched by the authoritarian Christian organization “the Family” in partnership with the Eisenhower Administration in 1953. Every sitting president has attended every year since. As I recently argued elsewhere: Although the breakfast is funded with private dollars and is not an official government event, the US president’s participation with senators and congressional representatives in a highly pu…

In Hamline Case, the ‘Free Expression vs. Religious Sensibilities’ Frame Obscures a Stark Reality About Higher Education

By Junaid Jahangir

…ng skills in an age of gross misinformation and information overload on social media, it’s paramount that academics are free to introduce students to pluralist perspectives on controversial issues. Otherwise, we risk slipping into a state where corporations and elite donors decide and dictate conversations. I want to emphasize that, unlike many who make the “free expression” argument, my concern isn’t that decisions are being dictated by sectarian…

Evangelicals Clutching Pearls Over Student Debt Relief: Lord Have Mercy!

By Peter Laarman

…ter that epitome of thrift and industry, good old Philadelphia Ben. McKibben’s gibe shouldn’t distract us, however. This is the dominant form of (American) Christianity today—both the social group and the publication that oddly still serves as its handmaiden….

The Same Toxic Christian Right Theology Supports Both the Online Bullying I Experienced and the Cruel Anti-Trans Policy in TX — And it’s Not Remotely Fringe

By Chrissy Stroop

…n incident of online bullying, something I and every vocal marginalized social media user with any visibility, along with every journalist who covers controversial topics—especially if the journalists are women—experience regularly. Such bullying shouldn’t, of course, be “normal,” but it is commonplace and not especially newsworthy. However, within the context described above, it may be illuminating to examine the bullying I recently experienced—p…