Religion Dispatches
…ential material,” said Mpofu. “Oh yeah,” echoes Bourland. “In my heart, I just begin to pray, God, let this woman rise to this place that you want her to go,” said Mpofu. “Number one, she’s a Christian. Number two, she’s a woman.” Watch a short video montage of the conference here. —Ed….
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…ke Taiwan and Vietnam, which are considered relatively progressive when it comes to equality for the LGBT 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 yea…
Read More…ay, lesbian, bisexual or “unsure” of their sexual orientation. Researchers compared the number of “unhealthy days” reported by residents of each state, using the CDC definition of “the total number of days in the past 30 that people reported that their physical and mental heath were not good,” according to the press release announcing the study’s findings. The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System does include a question that allows participa…
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…will live in sub-Saharan Africa—a whopping 115% growth rate. However that number becomes a bit less impressive when you consider that sub-Saharan Africa’s general population is projected to grow at the rate of 131% and growth in the Muslim population of the region is projected at 170%. So while the global Christian population is shifting south, the Christian share of the population of sub-Saharan Africa may actually decrease. A Dawoodi Bohra woma…
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…modern adherents of just about every other religion, modern Mormons have become increasingly capable, if begrudgingly so, at ignoring uncomfortable statements, beliefs, and practices of past leaders when they clash with modern priorities. But the presence of a written revelation makes it a much more difficult issue. The document created to convert a single person in 1843, then, is the largest reason millions of members in 2020 are still forced to…
Read More…is bill such a precious gem is that it relies on creationists’ persecution complex and oft-repeated talking point that the science community discriminates against ID research. But as we all know, there is no such thing as ID research, which has not yet produced one single legitimate peer reviewed paper. But that doesn’t keep its proponents and gullible lawmakers from whining that science is mean to them. As NCSE points out, an example of this sup…
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…body that lives on a vast circulating flow of cash, and it is not a super-computer either. It is a complex and increasingly integrated human system that only works when there are clear rules, and clear accountability structures with which the rules may be enforced, offenders punished and wrongs redressed. This is what Brooks’s analytic categories seem to miss, and one senses, why he continues to write off populist rage as misguided, or irrelevant…
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…’d recommend that, but we could—because there’d be so relatively few of us compared to the number we have now. I’m trying to imagine what it would be like to be born on that planet: 200 years in the future. Only 100 million people. Well, I think it could be a wonderful life. You would have a lot of material goods. You could have cities, you could have towns, you could have outposts. But you’d have large areas of the world that were basically uninh…
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…avarice (or, I suppose, extreme coincidence) since, according to Bloomberg.com, it “doesn’t include Muslim-majority countries where [the] Trump Organization has done business or pursued potential deals.” There’s no evidence of any Syrian refugee committing a single act of terror in the United States, nor have there been any Iranian or Iraqi terrorists. Donald Trump’s list of banned nations is comprised of nothing more than the most vulnerable of…
Read More…of marriage equality and adoption rights for LGBT couples. According to Out.com, In 1989, Denmark became the first nation in the world to recognize same-sex unions, in the form of “registered partnerships.” Greenland also adopted the Danish civil union law in 1996, but didn’t follow suit when Denmark legalized same-sex marriage in 2012. Belize: Fight against sodomy law (and its US supporters) long and lonely Julia Scott, writing in the New York Ti…
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