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Are Evangelical Films Destined to Leave Secular Audiences Behind?

By Daniel Silliman

…deeply divided on what a faith film should be. This, it would seem, is the site of a deep division within American evangelicalism. There’s a serious difference of opinion over what values should be paramount in making movies. Left Behind could have been the vehicle for showing how this problem could be solved, but it didn’t work. The fight that Lalonde had with authors of the book and that Lalonde had with fans of the movies who were anxious about…

Church and State in Japan: The Case of the Yasukuni Shrine

By Mark R. Mullins

…nd request that the ritual be conducted. In fact, however, Yasukuni Shrine officials contacted the Ministry of Health and Welfare—without consulting any families—to request assistance in the preparation of lists for all of the war dead so that enshrinement rituals could be completed. After the war, this ministry was responsible for veterans’ affairs, repatriation of Japanese from overseas, and the Yasukuni Shrine, which had been managed by the Arm…

Gay Men Detained and Killed in Chechnya, and More in the Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…e first European national leader who is married to a same-sex partner, was officially received by the Vatican during a meeting between the pope and EU leaders, news of which bothered some conservative Catholics. Some Catholic observers noted the contrast with the Vatican’s rejection of a gay ambassador from France. “They were welcomed by Bishop Georg Gänswein, Prefect of the Pontifical House and Personal Secretary of Pope Benedict XVI,” complained…

Marriage Vote ‘Transforms’ Not-So-Catholic Ireland; Activist to Malaysian PM – ‘Love Is Not Terrorism’; LGBTs Find Growing Acceptance in Colombia, Not At World Meeting of Families; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…Methodist church. He also reports on some of the LGBT-related items on the official schedule: Of the more than 70 speeches and presentations on the official Meeting of Families schedule, only one explicitly addresses gay and lesbian issues. It’s a joint presentation by a celibate gay Catholic, Ron Belgau, and his mother, Beverly Belgau, addressing how Catholic families can respond when a family member comes out as gay. Ron Belgau, who teaches at S…

The Collapse of the American Jewish Center

By Sarah Posner

…eaction, additionally, fails to reckon with countervailing evidence to the official Israeli narrative of the immediate causes of the current escalation. That includes evidence that the Israeli government knew the three Israeli students kidnapped in the West Bank in June had been murdered, but still ginned up emotions, in Israel and the diaspora, for a search the government knew was futile to find them alive. The Jewish Daily Forward’s J.J. Goldber…

Blinken and ‘Blinkered’: Two Oath-of-Office Stories Embody a Divided America

By Andrew L. Seidel

…iracy, had posted to social media calls for violence against other elected officials. In fact, one of her colleagues, Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), even announced today that she would be moving her office further from Greene’s due to safety concerns. Greene’s extreme positions and overwrought vanity—she is constantly filming herself—led CNN’s Em Steck and Andrew Kaczynski to rediscover her conspiracy-driven videos and social media posts, helping fuel ca…

Clashing human rights visions for LGBTs at United Nations; More Mixed Messages from the Vatican as Family Synod Begins; Timeline of Worsening Homophobia by Turkey’s AKP Party; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ive Constitution… Kenya: Human rights report say mob violence meets little official response PEMA Kenya and Human Rights Watch released a report this week saying that mobs in Kenya’s coastal region “have repeatedly attacked people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity” and that official response has been inadequate at best. “President Kenyatta recently described gay rights in Kenya as a ‘non-issue,’” said Lorna Dias, executive coor…

COVID-Denying Father Sergei is Just the Latest Example of the Russian Orthodox Church’s ‘Holy Man’ Problem

By Katherine Kelaidis

…father of the Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Tsarina Alexandra. He held no official position in the Orthodox Church, a fact that did not undermine his authority largely because of a long history of tolerance and even celebration of extra-eccesialstical holy men not only within Orthodox cultures, but also by the institutional church. The tsarina in particular attributed magical powers to the monk, believing he was responsible for keeping the hemoph…

United Methodists Elect 1st Gay Bishop; Canadian Anglicans OK Same-Sex Marriage

By Peter Montgomery

…ons and marriage equality, but based on the voter turnout the question was officially considered undecided. Mexico: New national LGBT movement launches Mexico as a new national LGBT movement, The Movement for Equality in Mexico, where religious conservatives are leading resistance to President Enrique Peña Nieto’s call for a constitutional guarantee of marriage equality nationwide. Among the principles and goals spelled out on the group’s website…

Rebuilding the Wall of Separation: A Progressive Discussion on Church & State

By Bruce Ledewitz

…s the framers were clearly not solely concerned with whether or not we had official federal or state churches, but first that the right of belief resided with individual citizens. The plumb line of this principle is clear. When Thomas Jefferson first proposed the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom in 1777, he stated that this right of individual conscience must be extended to everyone, including: “the Jew, the Mohametan, and the Hindoo.” Jeffer…