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More Bleak Times For Indonesian LGBTs; South Africa Bans Extremist Anti-Gay US Pastor; Mexican Marriage Struggle Heats Up; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…marriage equality. A government note said the amendments would “include appropriate protections for religious freedom and conscientious objections.” Long-time marriage equality advocate Rodney Croome told Guardian Australia he was “deeply concerned” by the “undefined exemptions on the grounds of religion and to allow conscientious objection”. “I believe ministers of religion should be free to marry who they want, but the government’s proposal cou…

Conservatives Panic as Gay Marriage Looms

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…wrought. When Judge Vaughn Walker’s stay of his decision to overturn the approval of Proposition 8 (which outlawed marriage equality in the state in November 2008) expires this week, those who oppose such unions are now ominously warning that the ruling will “criminalize Christian beliefs.” Mathew Staver, dean of the Liberty University Law School and chairman of the Orlando-based Liberty Counsel told CNS News: For this judge to say that Christian…

New Challenges to Gay Marriage Bans From Within States & Denominations

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…eir own website), The Disciples of Christ voted at its general assembly in Orlando, Florida this month to affirm LGBT people as members and leaders in the denomination. On the heels of that move, 85 retired United Methodist clergy announced they would defy their denomination’s ban on performing same-sex weddings. “We will refuse to treat people as inferior, second-class citizens of God,” Fado said. The clergy could face revocation of their credent…

Mexican Marriage Marches Show Struggle Between Church and Secular State; Pro-LGBT Mormon Group Grows After ‘Apostate’ Declaration; Botswana Gives Anti-Gay US Pastor the Boot; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…t said. United Nations: UN LGBT Core Group holds high-level event; Chilean president promises marriage The UN LGBT Core Group, a network of equality-supporting countries, held a high-level meeting at the UN, which was addressed by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, Norwegian Prime Minister Ema Solberg, and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, reports Ashey Fowler for HRC. Bachelet announced that she would send a marriage…

“We (some of) the People” Florida Governor Rick Scott and the Tea Party

By Julie Ingersoll

…with faux old bridges and buildings; an idyllic center of insulated white privilege. The Orlando Sentinel describes it thus: Even the history here has a make-believe comfortable feel. A historical marker outside a grand old porticoed building identifies it as the former Grand Hotel, dating its history to 1855. But an employee of the real estate office there whispers, “Don’t believe everything you read. This was a vacant field seven years ago.” Th…

Christian Schools Invoke Religious Liberty to Reopen Despite Warnings of Health Experts

By Chrissy Stroop

…rnment can limit gatherings at churches to protect lives. In the 1944 case Prince v. Massachusetts, the Supreme Court stated that ‘the right to practice religion freely does not include liberty to expose the community…to communicable disease.’ Although I am not a constitutional law expert, this seems to me a compelling reason to consider the issue settled in favor of those who oppose “religious liberty” exemptions from public health measures like…

Beneath the ‘Wacky’ Paula White Video is a Dark and Deeply Undemocratic World Propping Up the President

By Frederick Clarkson

…otably Pastor Todd Lamphere, and her son, Pastor Brad Knight, engaged in imprecatory prayer against the “demonic confederacies” they believe were arrayed against them, and against Trump’s reelection. Peter Montgomery reported that Knight, who casts himself as a “warrior” in the mold of the biblical king David, and holding earthly authority due to his “apostolic mantle,” prayed for God to act—while blurring the person of Jesus and Donald Trump in h…

Florida School Prayer Bill Stalls in Committee

By Lauri Lebo

…in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Prayer is not banned from public school. Students are free to pray all they want, as long as it’s not disruptive to other students. Heck, I used to utter a little silent prayer before every trigonometry test. “Please God, don’t let me fail this.” (Didn’t help.) So why is officially sanctioned school prayer so important to some conservative Christians? Perhaps because it doe…

Global LGBT Recap: Nigeria Jails Gays, Russian Orthodox Spox Calls for Criminalization Referendum

By Peter Montgomery

…ti-gay (and anti-abortion) crackdown. Noting that anti-gay forces denounce pro-LGBT pressure from abroad, he notes, “The irony is that it is the new conservative vanguard—anti-gay, anti-abortion and pro–“traditional family”—that has most successfully cultivated the West’s financial and institutional support.” The church’s close ties with American evangelicals reflect a shift in policy. For much of the post-Soviet period, the Russian Orthodox Churc…

Hajj Journal: Door Number 89: The Door with No Name

By Amina Wadud

…rst floor and not be hassled. Yay! Clearly, I was celebrating prematurely. In all my attention to seeing women un-hassled in this section, I failed to notice that from this section, the Ka’abah is not visible. Now the words of my friend Zainah came back to me, “All our lives we pray, oriented towards the Ka’abah. We even have prayer rugs with it designed upon them. So of course when you are there you want to be able to see the real thing as you pr…