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International Religious Freedom Battles Heat Up

By Sarah Posner

…placed to do the deed stealthily. He has his own close associations with a number of the Brotherhood’s top fronts and operatives in his home state of Illinois, in Washington and elsewhere across the country.” The “cromnibus” spending bill that passed this weekend included just a one year reauthorization for USCIRF, after a battle in the Senate over Durbin’s proposed reforms, which had included a proposed three-year reauthorization. USCIRF has clai…

Megachurch Pastor: We’re “American Al Qaeda” for Opposing Homosexuality

By Tom Bartlett

…emony. As political debacles go, this was junior varsity stuff—“over in a flash,” as Sarah Posner put it here on RD. In the Christian media, though, it had a somewhat longer shelf life. A couple of weeks later, an opinion piece in the Christian Post complained that critics of Giglio were guilty of the “very act of intolerance to [sic] which they have accused the pastor.” On his blog, Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Sem…

Obama and the Louie Giglio Controversy

By Sarah Posner

…hdrawn. Read more here. President Obama has tapped Louie Giglio, pastor of Atlanta’s Passion City Church, to deliver the benediction at his inauguration. Think Progress has found, not terribly shockingly, that the 54-year-old Giglio delivered an anti-gay sermon in the 1990s. You can read all the ugly details here. I say not terribly shockingly because even today Passion City describes itself as “conservative and evangelical,” and in the 1990s, thi…

Campaign Calls On Anti-Gay Leaders to “Repent”

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…ity in Maryland, and Bishop Eddie Long from New Birth Missionary Church in Atlanta, who has preached against homosexuality, but was sued in 2010 by several men in his congregation who alleged sexual abuse. Some lesser-known names on the list include Christopher Yuan, a young “ex-gay” man who tours the country preaching that even though sexual orientation is not chosen, the only acceptable way for gays to live is in celibacy, along with Wheaton Col…

Evangelical Writer “Struggles” after Chick-fil-A Outing

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…anymore. I grew up on Chick-fil-A and always enjoyed them as a teenager at Atlanta Braves games. When I was slimming down on Weight Watchers, Chick-fil-A was always my “go-to” healthy choice for low points and delicious food (the grilled chicken, not the regular sandwich, mind you). I will miss the chicken, but not the greasy aftertaste of bigotry… But, back to Merritt, there is so much to be sad about here. I’ve always been torn on the issue of “…

Why Republican Reaction to Marriage Equality Will Be More Like School Prayer Than Abortion

By Sarah Posner

…legal precedent; and the outcry over government overreach in the firing of Atlanta fire chief Kelvin Cochran (with more such outcries likely to come) are all examples of deploying religious arguments — that is, arguments for religious privileges or practices being exempt from the public and legal acceptance of LGBT equality. It’s worth remembering that the religious freedom argument was an intense motivator for white evangelicals in the 2014 midte…

Pat Robertson’s Women Warriors Leading Spiritual Warfare In Zimbabwe

By Sarah Posner

…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….

The Atheist Encounter with Christianity: A Failure to Disbelieve?

By Paul Wallace

…l I could no longer live with it. Then, one day while I was talking on the phone in a dark room, just like that, I shed my belief in a literal “first couple.” Strangely, I don’t remember who I was talking to or what the conversation was about, but all at once I understood and it felt great. Yet my childhood belief had provided protection for me and had given shape to my understanding of God and even of myself, and what did I have to replace it wit…

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…

Condemnation, Condolences in Wake of Orlando Massacre and More

By Peter Montgomery

…ew eggs at the 600 attendees of Baltic Pride in 2013. Lithuanian lawmakers last year postponed a vote on a new anti-LGBT law that emulates Russia’s ban on ‘gay propaganda’. The state’s Parliament had been due to vote on proposals that would introduce fines for any public display that “defies traditional family values”. Iraq: Exiled LGBT activist calls for more international support Attitude’s Chris Godfrey profiles Amir Ashour, an Iraqi LGBT-right…