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Maryland Governor says Support for Marriage Equality “Very Much Informed” by his Catholicism

By Peter Montgomery

…ce at winning, given the state’s Democratic leanings and promising polling numbers. O’Malley said that expansive religious freedom language in the law was important to its passage and in keeping with the traditions of the state of Maryland. The referendum language makes clear that the law protects clergy from having to perform any ceremony that violates their beliefs, guarantees each faith control over its marriage doctrine, and “provides that rel…

The “Marginalization” of Tim Keller: When Anything Short of Adulation Is Oppression

By Anita Little

…women and LGBTQ persons” was incongruous with the seminary’s values. In a phone interview, Calvo, who sits on the board of PTS’s Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Supporters, said that “there was a lot of anger, a lot of disappointment among women and LGBT students and faculty.” “I’m training in ministry because I believe that regardless of your theological position you are worthy of dignity. However, that doesn’t mean your exclusionary values…

Senator Ted Kennedy: A Catholic We Could Canonize

By Frances Kissling

…nity, he included women and the LGBT community. Ted Kennedy was one of only 14 members of the Senate to vote against the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. One never heard him utter a concern that religion would be threatened by gay marriage. He had no difficulty distinguishing between civil marriage and religious ceremonies. On the right to choose abortion, he was fully pro-choice. He supported the rights of women who got their medical care from the g…

Soldier Hot Line Draws Calls Over DADT Repeal

By Lauri Lebo

…far between. The New York Times builds its whole story out of a handful of phone calls and an email. But the article indicates that those who run the various nonprofits that help soldiers achieve conscientious objector status expect a floodgate of calls if Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is formally repealed. The good news is that the groups don’t think there is legal basis for the claims. In the “don’t ask, don’t tell” cases, Ms. McNeil concluded that there…

Aliens To Arrive in Alabama Today!

By Ben Brazil

…reacher William Miller proclaimed that Jesus would return between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844. When Christ did not appear, Miller and uncovered a mistake in his reasoning and offered a revised date: October 22, 1844. It became known as The Great Disappointment. Such are the risks of prophesying a specific date. Since their emergence in the 1950s, UFO-religions have also shown an apocalyptic bent, a tendency fueled by the threat of nuclear a…

Is Bart Stupak As Marginalized As He Claims?

By Sarah Posner

…bled the growing anti-choice contingent in the party. Stupak was elected in 1992 — before anti-choicers were explicitly sought out by the party leadership. According to the Times piece, “In the primary, he beat a candidate who supported abortion rights. But when he tried to hire Democratic political consultants for the general election, they refused — with expletives, he says — to work for a candidate with his views.” How times changed. Why? Relig…

The Rundown Truth: Scientology Changes Strategy in War with Media

By Hugh B. Urban

…ntologists, though the church’s war with the media continued throughout the 1980s and ’90s. A pivotal moment came in 1991 with the publication of Richard Behar’s scathing cover story on the Church of Scientology for Time magazine. With the unapologetic title, “The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power,” Behar’s article described the church as primarily a vicious, manipulative, money-driven “racket” that operates in a “mafia-like manner” even as it hide…

Black Masses Continue to Titillate Conservative Catholics

By Joseph Laycock

…der the guise of multi-cultural education. The black mass was cancelled and 1500 Catholics marched on Harvard Square. Conservatives have constructed a narrative of the event as a righteous defeat of the forces of evil. This narrative has inspired others to mobilize against self-declared Satanists 35-year-old Adam Daniels of Oklahoma City has been a leader for a string of short-lived Satanic groups including The Church of the IV Majesties and most…

Gay Black Church: An Interview with Bishop Yvette Flunder

By Lisa Webster

…about 6 years. And that’s when we started the Fellowship, which happened in 1999. It’s gone fast. Yes, all of a sudden we had 15, and then 20 and then 30. Like I said, we’re not unique. We’re just the place that left the light on for everybody else. The truth is we just needed to gather them. Because the same spirit of God that moved us to do this is the same spirit of God that has moved people to this all over this country and world. New theologi…

Denying Communion to Prochoice Politicians

By Frances Kissling

Julia Duin, religion writer for the Washington Times in a column on March 12 attempts to rekindle the dying embers of the 2004 election campaign debate about denying communion to politicians who disagree with the Vatican’s position on abortion. Duin speculates about the fate of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius soon to take up residence in the Diocese of Washington DC as HHS secretary. Sebelius a pro-choice Catholic has had the misfortune of livi…