Search for "= Jetblue Airlines Reservations 800-299-7264 Jetblue Airlines Official Site Jetblue Airlines Flights"

Time for Mormons to Come to Terms with Church History

By Joanna Brooks

…e of African descent. Controversial issues like these are not addressed in official church materials, and in many congregations, Sunday meetings reflect a highly orthodox, literal approach to Church doctrine and scripture. Even mentions of Smith’s polygamy have been scrubbed from Church lesson manuals, returning only in a newly released book on Mormon women’s history. The culture of shame and silence that surrounds these subjects within Mormon cul…

The Journalist and the Bishops: CNS Editor Fired For Tweeting Opposition to LGBT Discrimination

By Patricia Miller

…ence accused the bishops of succumbing to pressure from far-right Catholic sites like the Lepanto Institute, Church Militant, and LifeSiteNews, which accused him of having “an agenda that is in direct conflict with the teachings of the Catholic Church.” Spence voiced surprise that his Tweets caused a “backlash,” but shouldn’t have been. Across the country, conservative Catholic bishops have pushed employees of Catholic institutions to sign what ar…

New Poll Reveals a Paradox in Evangelical Support for Donald Trump

By Daniel Schultz

…e evangelicals said the federal government should declare Christianity the official religion of the United States. Far more (61%) said that Christianity should not be the official religion, but that government should promote Christian “moral values.” That was substantially higher than any other group. But promoting Christian values garnered majority support among every Christian demographic, except for Hispanic Catholics, who were equally likely t…

7 Women Scholars On the Gender Divide in Religious Studies, the Power of Mentors, and Leading While Female

By Rebecca Barrett-Fox

…e underlying argument you are making when you study lived religion is that official beliefs should not be taken as the measure of religiosity. That argument really is affected by gender because the people who see themselves as the arbiters of what counts as “right belief” have historically tended to be men. Women throughout history have forged an arena of religious practice that might not be considered orthodox. In some ways, the study of lived re…

Christian Pol, Attacked for Opposing ‘In God We Trust’ in School, Talks Church and State

By Frederick Clarkson

…hat. But this gets us to a knotty question: How should citizens and public officials approach competing faith claims about matters of public policy? JM: I don’t ordinarily talk about my religious faith when discussing political issues in the Senate. My religious faith shapes who I am and what I believe. But as a public official, I am accountable to the people I serve for the policies I support and the positions that I take. I am on the ballot, not…

The Brutality of Life for Syrian LGBTs; Saving the Anglican Church by Dissolving It; Backlash to Hindu Gay Wedding Ceremony in Indonesia; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…rts the Washington Blade, which noted, The report notes Gambian police and officials with the country’s National Intelligence Agency “promptly rounded up” dozens of people “on suspicion of their sexual orientation” last fall after Jammeh signed a law that imposes a life sentence upon anyone found guilty of “aggravated homosexuality.” Nepal: New Constitution offers explicit protection to LGBTs Nepal’s Constituent Assembly endorsed a new Constitutio…

Escorted Off House Floor for Reading Scripture in a Hoodie

By Sarah Posner

…hoodlums in this nation, particularly those who tread on our laws wearing official or quasi-official clothes.” At this point in his remarks, Rush took off his jacket to reveal that he was wearing a hoodie underneath it. He covered his head with the hood, violating a rule in Congress that prohibits wearing hats on the House floor. “Racial profiling has to stop, Mr. Speaker. Just because someone wears a hoodie does not make them a hoodlum,” Rush ad…

Mumbai, Five Months After: Searching for a Coherent Stance on Religious Violence

By Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad

…r, that traced the surviving man to a rural part of Pakistan. In Pakistan, official sources swung between denying any Pakistani role and arguing that the attackers, even if Pakistani, had been ‘non-state’ agents. Under intense pressure from Britain and America (both afraid that any confrontation with India would turn Pakistani military pressure away from the Afghan border), Pakistan agreed to arrest the leaders of the Lashkar-e-Taiba—the brutal mi…

The Mormon Version of Infallibility

By Holly Welker

…e the following statement on the board: The prophet cannot err when making official pronouncements of faith and morals. Go ahead: Like Stevens, ask a few Mormons you know if they agree with this statement. Chances are good that you’ll get results much like his: All but one man in the priesthood class said, “Oh, yeah. That’s true. That’s what we believe.” When, at the end of class, Stevens admitted that this was his paraphrase of the doctrine of in…

Why the King Hearings Should Matter to Mormons

By Joanna Brooks

…reover, LDS missionary efforts were resisted by law and by mobs in various sites of the nation at the turn of the century. European immigration by Mormon converts was enjoined, as well. Arguably, this was over more than the illegality of plural marriage. But LDS lawlessness in this one matter was always available to legitimize widespread legal and popular discrimination. This seems an essential distinction between the two groups; at least insofar…