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Holey Holey Holey: The Problem with a New Study Valuing Religion at $1.2 Trillion Per Year

By Michael Schulson

…ite simply, an absurd exercise. So why bother with this kind of research, anyway? Do these numbers tell us anything useful? For one thing, a big economic impact number might jibe with the goals of the elder Grim’s Religious Freedom and Business Foundation. But more generally, as the Grims see it, their study’s intended message seems to be something along the lines of Hey, religion does good things! “A lot of the messages [about religion] that come…

Does Record Number of Religious “Nones” Mean Decline of Religiosity?

By Elizabeth Drescher

…an religiosity—about religion as it is lived in the United States today? A number of what I would see as problems in the Pew report suggest to me that our growing fixation with religion-by-the-numbers may be distracting us from richer, more nuanced understandings of American religious practice. Wanted: A Community that Doesn’t Share My Beliefs and Values Take the demographic category of “Nones” itself. The Pew report notes the difficulty with sur…

Malawi Catholic Bishops Call For Enforcement of Sodomy Law; Ukrainian Thugs Disrupt Equality Festival Opposed by Orthodox Church; Indonesian Islamists Continue Rhetorical War on LGBTs; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…T community. Businesses and municipal governments are leading the way in many countries. And in Japan, religious institutions “are more approachable than many people realize,” says the story. “Some temples and shrines openly welcome same-sex couples for wedding ceremonies.” For example: Kyoto’s Shunkoin Temple, which dates back more than 400 years, held its first same-sex wedding ceremony in 2010. “Buddhist doctrine isn’t incompatible with same-se…

Crisis in Sudan: ‘If the World Stands Idly By This Time, They Will Bring Genocide’

By Frederick Clarkson

…he residents of Kadugli, in the northern border state of South Kordofan, many Sudanese are finding themselves on the wrong side of disputed borders. There are, for example, many armed people aligned with the south’s Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) who live in and near Kadugli. This has allowed Khartoum to claim that they are fighting “rebels.” And while there is some truth to that, the regime is apparently using the wrenching transition to t…

A Matter of the Heart: Talking to Gay Christian Rocker Jennifer Knapp

By Kristin Rawls

…viewpoint that evangelicals are known for has been shifting for a while. A number of people are struggling with the fact that their churches haven’t looked very inviting to many people for a long time. There are young people who are saying that they view their tradition in evangelicalism as one that should be inclusive of LGBT people. That’s encouraging. Have former fans come back? Yeah, the grassroots fans that I’ve always believed held me up…

Report from Paris During COP21: Let Us Not Commit Global Suicide

By Donna Schaper

…et. The Kyoto Protocol, which commits industrialized countries to internationally binding emission reduction targets, was the first climate treaty to emerge from this process. It was passed at COP3 in December 1997 at Kyoto, Japan and came into force in February 2005 when a sufficient number of developed countries signed the agreement; the United States did not, hampering negotiations for the next decade. A successor agreement, involving all count…

The Religious Right’s Apocalyptic Visions of an Obama Presidency

By Bill Berkowitz

…orm abortions can no longer be licensed to deliver babies at hospitals in any state”; overall, “the number of abortions have increased dramatically.” Everywhere in America, men, women and children are likely to be confronted by, or exposed to, pornography. When the Federal Communications Commission lifted all “restrictions on obscene speech or visual content in radio and television broadcasts,” it freed television programmers to show “explicit por…

It’s Not Raining Eligible Muslim Men

By Shabana Mir

…bout the disproportionately large numbers of such women and the much lower numbers of truly eligible Muslim men. Many friends have wondered if “he” is out there at all. Many friends have asked me if I can introduce them to someone, and friends have asked me if I can introduce their friends to someone. I empty my pockets helplessly; there are few that I’d introduce to them with confidence. The “good ones” are married, engaged, or perpetually single…

Dirty Money in the Appalachian Church: Six Years After Deadly Coal Mine Disaster, Where Are We Now?

By Michael J. Iafrate

…’t be prudent” to speak strongly about these things. In a recent email and phone conversation, Fr. O’Donnell also dismissed any concerns about the influence of coal money on the public policy statements of the diocese. “It’s just a non-issue in such discussions,” he told me. “I’m flabbergasted the topic is even coming up.” Certainly a deeper and more sustained conversation is necessary. In order to yield fruit, such conversations require some degr…

Students at Conservative Catholic College Speak After Sudden Cancellation of Pro-Gay Speaker

By Rob Shryock

…hat the administration be informed in advance of the “general content” of any lectures held in the future. Providence’s student body has reacted with outrage. On Thursday, students flooded Providence College’s ’64 center for an open-forum/protest called “Fighting for Academic Freedom.” At the meeting, a number of LGBT students made clear that they were profoundly upset by the administration’s decision. One student noted that the college’s actions…