Religion Dispatches
…He said they “unanimously hate me” for saying that but, he proclaimed, “I welcome their hatred!” Republican governors rejected federal money for Medicaid expansion. The result? Harvard and CUNY researchers say the death toll from 25-state ‘opt-out’ may be as high as 17,100 annually; hundreds of thousands more will be harmed by depression, untreated diabetes, and skipping mammograms and pap smears. Who were the victims of these Republicans? Fast f…
Read More…ple and their families, Elke writes: “After Sean’s death we were no longer welcome at our church. Church friends stopped calling – they didn’t want to take sides! We do not belong to any church now.”David Gushee, a Christian ethics professor at Mercer University, recounts Elke’s story and some of the other heartbreaking stories of gays and lesbians crushed and torn by religious hatred in his review of the book in the latest issue of The Christian…
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…a story of a young bisexual woman who committed suicide due to not feeling welcome in the Church. While the story drew tears, sympathy, and calls for universal welcome, no concrete changes came as a result. And this young woman’s story is not unique. Reporter Simon Kent Fung’s podcast Dear Alana documents the life and death of Alana Chen, who committed suicide in 2019 at the age of 24 after a lifelong struggle, including conversion therapy facilit…
Read More…ent American Muslims. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community does not appear to be welcome under that umbrella. For example, polling and census data collected and analyzed by American Muslim organizations never includes the opinions of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Even Ahmadi Muslim mosques are not counted among the total number of mosques in America. As another example, when 86 Ahmadi Muslims were brutally massacred in twin bomb attacks in Lahore on M…
Read More…ion. The suit was settled.” The company also runs WinShape Foundation that promotes “traditional” marriage as well as a retreat center near Rome, Georgia. Gays and lesbians looking for a retreat should look elsewhere, however. In an email exchange with one gay blog, the retreat center made it clear that it defines marriage as being between one man and woman and gay couples would not be welcome. Boycotts of Chick-fil-A have been called for, but as…
Read More…ak a rule. The father pleads with the older brother to join the party — to welcome his wayward little brother back into the fold — but he refuses – believe that if God – or in this case his father – will welcome someone like that sinner into his house – then perhaps he wants no part of this. The parable doesn’t reveal what choice the older brother finally makes. The story ends with him left out on the stoop, deciding his fate. We have all been tha…
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…of the Catholic church, and ultimately we want a church where all will be welcome. We want a church that offers hope, not condemnation. Are there any groups doing similar work, or working against LGBT people? How that is playing out? There are other groups working on LGBT issues: Catholic Association for Lesbian and Gay Ministry is a national organization of people who minister in the Catholic Church to LGBT people. A new group called Catholics f…
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…we just see it as a possibility. But we may. And if we do, anyone would be welcome, so if people feel that they haven’t fit in other places and they fit with us, we would welcome them. I think the scripture that keeps coming to mind for me is where Jesus says, “come unto me all ye who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. I will give you rest for your souls.” I think that’s what I woul…
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…h a large banner reading “When did we see you a stranger and make you feel welcome?” The line is from Matthew 25, and the activists have also chosen Matthew 25 as their alias. The strangers being referred to in this action are the many undocumented Americans being targeted by the Trump administration. There are close to a million undocumented immigrants living in New York according to Pew Research, yet Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who is also the Archb…
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…ke computers, and computers start to seem more and more like human beings. Welcome to the future of theology. Or, more accurately, welcome to the theological past. While SES, an independent evangelical school in Matthews, N.C., claims to be the world’s only seminary to own a robot (and I can’t find any reason to doubt them, unless you count Siri on all those theological iPhones), the entanglement of robotics and Christianity has a longer history t…
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