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Six Overlooked Gems from the Future of World Religions Report

By Timothy King

…mptions researchers make about China hold huge implications for the global numbers. If researchers’ current models are correct, Christians would comprise about 31.4% of the global population by 2050. Similarly, if China turns out to be more like Japan—a deeply secular nation that is likely to grow increasingly more so—the Christian population worldwide would dip slightly, to 30.9%. But if China is more like South Korea—another largely secular soci…

How an 1843 Revelation on Polygamy Poses a Serious Challenge to Modern Mormonism

By Benjamin E. Park

…me, however, their silence was deafening, and it allowed the bill to pass. Mormonism has always been inseparably connected to these policies. Utah was granted statehood in 1896, only after LDS leaders promised to give up the faith’s controversial, yet defining, feature. And though the church took more than another decade to fully divorce itself from the practice, for much of the twentieth century Mormon leaders and politicians alike were unfailing…

Pence’s Religious Freedom Policy Made ‘LGBQ’ Hoosiers Sick—Literally

By Sunnivie Brydum

…st quarter of 2015, over 24% of LGBQ Hoosiers reported that they had 14 or more “unhealthy days” each month. By the end of the year, that number had jumped to nearly 60%. Heterosexual people in Indiana did not report any significant increase in the number of unhealthy days, and surrounding regions experienced no similar spikes among LGBQ or straight populations. That suggests that something insidious in Indiana was impacting LGBQ people. Of course…

Busy Days For ‘eBay of Prophecy’

By Bill Berkowitz

…who followed the ultra-costly battle over Prop. 8 are fully aware that the Mormon Church contributed very heavily—to the tune of approximately half of the $40 million that Team Yes raised (see Friday’s feature, Proposition 8, The Mormon Coming Out Party.) However, as journalist Max Blumenthal recently pointed out, the third largest private donor to Proposition 8 was Howard F. Ahmanson, heir to the Ahmanson banking fortune. Ahmanson is a longtime d…

UNESCO on Religion, Culture and SOGI in Asia; Orthodox Family Sues to Stop Cremation of Israeli Trans Woman; Struggles of Iraqi Queer Activists; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…wishes, but the judge delayed the order to give the family time to appeal. Mormon Church: Mass resignations after anti-gay policy change More than 1,000 Mormons and their supports rallied in a Salt Lake City park on November 14 as part of a campaign of mass resignations following the release of new anti-gay policies that prohibit the baptism of children of gay couples. Organizers told Reuters last Sunday that about 1,500 people had resigned. Churc…

The Best-Laid Plans of Mice and Humans

By Amina Wadud

…ill go to Mina, etc. There is still no address for the hotels, but a local phone number. There is also information about processing customs at Jeddah, meeting the tour guide, and information that says “the group” will proceed to Makkah—which means the first will have to wait for the last person, which is the beginning of feeling like you are a group. They even include suggestions to “get to know” your fellow travelers. I still had no idea what wer…

Lo and Behold, the Sacredness of the Internet

By Martyn Smith

…and its mysterious forces that might someday bring down the world we take more and more for granted (which feels like an updated form of spiritual warfare). When we collectively dream of a positive future for humanity it often begins to look like the interplanetary human existence proposed by Elon Musk. But does the story of the internet need to be told with all these religious resonances? A visit to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View,…

New Poll Reveals a Paradox in Evangelical Support for Donald Trump

By Daniel Schultz

…approve of him. Both numbers are much lower than any other segment. Furthermore, almost the identical number of Republicans and White evangelicals believe Trump champions their beliefs and have a favorable opinion of him. Given that, it’s easy to see who makes up Trump’s political base. So let’s assume that White evangelicals don’t think much of Trump’s personal piety. But they do trust him to advocate for them and their beliefs. Perhaps understan…

Conversion Story #643 (not a real number)

By Amina Wadud

…ropologically speaking, the gusto was taken out of that claim for origins. Mostly because when I discussed this amongst Muslims of generations, even my friends, I was surprised how many determined that by this fact of ancestral anthropology alone, then I was really Muslim. As one friend put it, “You are really one of us.” So I take another approach (no surprises there). I reason that if the prophet was already 40 years old before he received the f…

Is LGBT-Muslim Clash Aiding Rise of Right in Europe?

By Peter Montgomery

…eaders are ramping up a campaign against same-sex marriage, using their sermons in mosques across Australia to urge the Muslim community to vote no”: Sheik Muhammad Saleem, a spokesman for the Victorian Board of Imams, said they were running a social media campaign urging their community to vote no. “Like Catholic and Jewish people, we have always maintained marriage is between a man and a woman and that’s widely known to people,” he said. “This i…