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Reading Beinart and Lerner as Gaza Burns

By Ira Chernus

…he [imagined] danger through aggression and power.” As Beinart argues, the number of American Jews who act out of fantasied oppression is declining. But their political strength remains much greater than their numbers. Yet curiously Lerner, the professional psychologist, downplays this and the other psychological wellsprings of support for militant Zionism. Instead he focuses time and again on compassion for the very real historical sufferings of…

Pope’s ‘Joy of Love’ Brings Little Joy To LGBT Catholics; Gay Atheist Malaysian Granted Refugee Status In Canada; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…s right in front of us, difference is on our iPads, in our laptops, in our phones. We hold a whole world of difference every time we open a phone. And the response to in the world around is at best insult, and so often violence, a reality which is the living experience of many you here. Welby also addressed a January gathering of Primates, which voted to suspend the Episcopal Church from questions on doctrine or policy for three years because of i…

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

…he Opera Theatre to be banned. The European Court of Human Rights has on a number of occasions found that the likelihood of counter-events does not justify restricting citizens right to peaceful assembly. The regional police also asked for the ban, although it is they who are obliged to protect all citizens exercising their right to gather. Indonesia: Anti-Gay Islamists Continue Rhetorical War On LGBTs Weeks of escalating anti-gay rhetoric in Indo…

70th National Prayer Breakfast Made ‘Cosmetic’ Changes, But Biden Delivered the Same Old Tone-Deaf ‘Unity’ Message

By Chrissy Stroop

…acent (and frequently complicit) New York Times to describe the NPB as “an international influence peddling bazaar.” Many commentators—including foremost expert on the Family, Jeff Sharlet himself—have noted that the changes to the event appear “largely cosmetic.” For some reason, President Joe Biden apparently thought it would be appropriate to make light of the controversies that forced the recent changes, addressing the guests gathered at the H…

Why Bill Maher Gets a “C” in My Introduction to Religion Class…

By S. Brent Rodriguez Plate

…pages I’ll confine myself to Religulous.) This is the kind of thing a fair number of my students, raised in the Protestant-dominated United States (even Catholics and Jews have assimilated this definition), come to university thinking about religion; the two key components of which are “belief” and “God.” Religion is some cryptic interior, individual thing that exists in one’s own head, and is only understood in relation to a God. I don’t blame my…

Don’t Blame Black Voters: The Obama Non-Effect

By Jonathan L. Walton

…nce of these demographics on the state electorate in relation to the small number of African Americans, it is inconceivable to argue that African Americans are to blame. The fault lines of a progressive coalition to resist Prop. 8 were seemingly regional and religious as opposed to racially determined. Do Black Folks Need an Elton John? Scapegoating black folks is descriptively flawed because it pits a racial group against a multiracial reality. B…

Tweeting ISIS Attacks: A Lesson in Not Learning a Lesson

By Haroon Moghul

…ca’s next President should keep in mind that transnational threats require international cooperation, and international cooperation requires respect. The Republican response here reminds me too much of our age of “Freedom fries” and condescending attitudes—remember “old Europe” and “new Europe”? The overwhelming majority of Muslims condemn and reject terrorism, but many Muslims are too busy fighting ISIL to offer their denunciations of extremism….

Obama’s Religion Ambassador: Inexperienced?

By Anthea Butler

…o discernible training in diplomacy, interreligious dialogue, or strategic international policy is disappointing. From my perspective, this appointment is an embarrassing, patronizing attempt to honor gender, black church tradition, and a reward to a political ally of the Secretary of State. As someone who has written about the civic engagement of African-American women in my latest book, Rev. Cook’s scattered resumé lacks the distinction of other…

Tony Perkins will Fit Right in at Religious Freedom Commission

By Caroline Matas

…religious freedom, which has focused exclusively on perceived domestic and international violations against Christians’ rights. Perkins has said that evangelical Christians “were tired of being kicked around by Barack Obama and his leftists.” “I think they are finally glad that there’s somebody on the playground that is willing to punch the bully,” Perkins said of Trump and his team in January. “Look, Christianity is not all about being a welcome…

Global LGBT Recap: Mandela and Equality; Elton John Defies Russian Ban; Fake-Healing of AIDS

By Peter Montgomery

…part of U.S. foreign policy. And in New York City on Tuesday, December 10, International Human Rights Day, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power met with an international group of LGBT rights activists at the U.S. Mission to the U.N. The gathering was described as a “roundtable strategy session on ways U.S.foreign policy can align more powerfully with LGBT communities globally to ensure LGBT rights are properly recognized and vigor…