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MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell Needs to Get a Grip on his Issues with Mormonism

By Joanna Brooks

…ent about Catholic attitudes towards LGBT equality, by concluding his five-minute segment with a diatribe against Mormonism. Citing recently-released statistics showing broad support for LGBT equality among American Catholics, O’Donnell went after political commentators who characterized “the Catholic vote” as conservative: “Every time you hear a pundit say that you hear someone who does not know what he’s talking about.” O’Donnell saved his s…

Olympic Committee Opposes Memorial for Israeli Athletes Killed in Munich

By Jay Michaelson

…traged “WTF” at the International Olympic Committee for refusing to hold a minute of silence in memory of the eleven Israeli athletes murdered at the 1972 Munich Olympics forty years ago. I have yet to hear any rationale for the IOC’s intransigence on this point. Whatever one thinks of Israel, Palestine, and the Israel/Palestine issue, what happened in 1972 was cold-blooded murder, even if it was politically motivated. This is a significant annive…

Why Are Muslims So Concerned with Muhammad?

By Haroon Moghul

…of Muslims,” that film that is supposed to offend me but, based on the 14-minute trailer, only embarrasses me… and leads me to ask two desperate questions: How is it that a $5 million budget can buy you so little? And, who produces a 14-minute trailer? That’s just offensive. In Islam, the Qur’an is the literal word of God, and Muhammad represents the embodiment of those words of God. If you want to know what Islam is in text, go to the Qur’an; if…

Excommunicated For ‘Grave Scandal’ of Ordaining Women

By Roy Bourgeois

…a 15-minute live interview about the SOA and U.S. foreign policy. With two minutes left and moved by the spirit, I recognized an opportunity to express my solidarity with women in the Church, so I said, “We have been discussing the injustice of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. As a Catholic priest, I want to say that there will never be justice in our Church until women can be ordained.” I had about another minute remaining and wanted to say…

What’s a Faith-Healing Congregation to Do When Measles Hits?

By Rob Shryock

…t cures diseases isn’t just faith, it’s ritual. It’s two-hour visions, two-minute communal prayers, and evocations of God’s word. It’s easy to see why even though EMIC is not directly “anti-vaccine,” an exceptional number of parishioners at EMIC reject vaccination. If the real way to cure yourself is by chanting, praying, and meditating, why bother going through all the unpleasantness of getting a needle stuck in your arm? As EMIC showed, even fai…

The Collapse of the American Jewish Center

By Sarah Posner

…Operation Protective Edge, particularly of women and children—coupled with minute-by-minute coverage on social and traditional media by reporters on the ground for major news outlets—have intensified the opposition. Jewish Voice for Peace, because of its rhetoric casting Israel as an aggressor, and because of its support for the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, has largely been vilified by Jewish organizations as…

Egypt Goes After Gays to Silence Islamist Critics; South Africa’s ‘Open Mosque’ is Closed; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…o Gay Star News, festival organizers said the event was also hit with last-minute cancellations from many venues. Speaking of Russia, American religious conservatives can’t seem to shake their love for Putin’s anti-gay policies. As Miranda Blue notes at Right Wing Watch, Austin Ruse, who heads the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM), was on the planning committee for the recent “pro-family” summit in Moscow. As we noted last week, t…

Vatican Council on Women Would Be Funny Were it Not So Insulting

By Mary E. Hunt

…nation, saying statistically women do not want it. I would love to see the numbers. Since when did the Vatican worry about public opinion? Until and unless this very obvious example of Catholic women’s inferiority and marginalization is resolved, the organization is on thin ice to claim moral authority on much of anything. On the substance of religion, the best these writers offer is a series of polite questions. By now several generations of Cath…

Mormon “Martin Luther” Causes Stir by Uploading LDS Church Handbook of Instructions to Internet

By Joanna Brooks

…, every phrase, every bit of punctuation—has been tracked on the Internet, minute-by-minute, by communities of LDS people and those who report on Mormon experience and issues. I’ve never seen anything like it before. Folks in some on-line LDS communities winkingly call it “Kremlinology.” (Not that the LDS Church is, well, the Soviet regime.) But a Church that prizes the opacity of its inner workings is experiencing an unusual level of uninvited t…

What Should Truly Disturb Us About Game of Thrones’ Child Sacrifice

By Jodi Eichler-Levine

…itory, punctuated by screams, the crackle of the flames, her mother’s last minute anguish, and painful reaction shots. For some critics, the scene defied language. At the New York Times, Jeremy Egner said: “Oh, man. I can’t even write it.” We wanted to avert our gaze. Even the camera had, after all. Some viewers have found many aspects of the show exceed their tolerance for viewing even virtual pain, reaching a “not-for-me” moment. Yet Bal’s inter…