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Gay Chutzpah: An LGBT Synagogue Thrives

…fy the participants in the ethnography hidden behind invented names. I was approached by congregants I had little communication with before, who suddenly discovered I was a “serious” guy. It seems some had been suspicious about the presence of an anthropologist among them, and I kept on a modest profile trying to avoid much attention. There were also a few who discovered earlier my ethnography about the Israelis in Queens (the “Yordim”) which was…

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Spiritual But Not Religious? Come Talk to Me

…l’s frustration with people who might use “spiritual but not religious” as code for “I don’t really think about religion at all because it’s boring or difficult or irrelevant to my pursuit of self-interest.” One statistician of religion suggests that America is well on its way to becoming a nation of “310 million people with 310 million religions,” each tailor-made to suit themselves. As someone who has made a career out of the life of the mind, a…

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Perry Thinks Palestinians Should Be Shafted, No Surprise

…, has called the settlements a “zoning” issue. For Perry to make political appearances with Danon is sadly not unusual for a Republican who has allied himself, as Perry has, with Christian Zionists like fellow Texan John Hagee. Danon, who has likened President Obama to Pharaoh, appeared via videotape at the inaugural Freedom Federation conference last year at Liberty University, saying, “we know you love us and want to commend you for unconditiona…

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#Occupy: A Deeper Form of Protest?

…linear terms that might make some sense. First, the objection: this never happens. Find me one example of when a short-term protest movement led to a long-term paradigm shift. Such shifts happen gradually, over time. “Occupy” movements are for short-term change. My prediction is that Occupy Wall Street will peter out once the snow starts falling in earnest. Bloomberg et al. just have to wait. No one’s going to camp out in Zuccotti Park when it’s t…

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Rome vs. the Sisters

…s dedicated to serving the needs of the sick and the poor, the new Vatican Code of Canon Law cloistered them all, imposing rigid rules that undercut their ministries. As the century moved on, however, relations between the Vatican and the sisters seemed to improve. In its effort to respond to the horrors of the twentieth century, the Vatican ordered the sisters to become better educated, to update their rules and habits, and to begin meeting toget…

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Mississippi’s Personhood Bill Makes God Look Bad

…ave endorsed the measure. It proposes to redefine the basic word “person,” applying it to fertilized eggs. The goal of this mischief, as many have noted, is to outlaw all abortions with no exceptions—even for rape or incest, or when a woman’s life is in danger. This would mean that, in Mississippi (or the several other states like Florida and Ohio that are drafting similar measures) it will be safer to be a fertilized-egg-person (FEP) than a woman…

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How Many Ways to be Mormon and Gay?

…e different organizations that serve LGBT/SGA Mormons to explore different approaches to LDS homosexuality: Affirmation, the nation’s oldest organization of gay Mormons, North Star and Family Fellowship. The Circling the Wagons conference will feature Jimmy Creech, a former United Methodist Church minister defrocked for marrying LGBT couples, as well as LDS LGBT ally Carol Lynn Pearson. Utah State University professor Renee Galliher will present t…

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How (Not) to Understand Romney’s Time as an LDS Bishop

…cigarette and a beer (both forbidden according to the LDS Church’s dietary code, “The Word of Wisdom”), more substantial coverage this week is focusing on Romney’s service as bishop of his LDS congregation in Belmont, Massachusetts in the 1980s.  On Monday, the Washington Post offered a revealing account of Bishop Romney’s interactions with Boston’s robust Mormon feminist community during tense years for the movement, when the LDS Church played a…

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Trump as GOP’s New Televangelist

…s for Ron Paul, whose campaign dismissed the Trump debate as “beneath the office of the Presidency and flies in the face of that office’s history and dignity.” Televangelists have offered presidential candidates many circuses, from Huckabee’s appearances on Copeland’s program, to Rick Perry’s prayer rally last August, to John McCain’s short-lived dalliances with Hagee and Rod Parsley. Trump’s indulgence is just the latest iteration of the same ven…

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Gingrich on “Teh Gay”

…the evidence I have is small, but I think it’s significant. In her recent appearance on the Rachel Maddow Show, Gingrich’s half-sister Candace Gingrich-Jones said that while her brother did not attend her wedding (since he was out of town) “they did send a gift.” As someone who has anti-gay siblings, I find this to be significant. The siblings that refused to attend my wedding never, ever sent a gift. Any acknowledgement of my marriage to my part…

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