Search for "Delta Airlines 1800-299-7264 Customer Service Center"

A Journalist in Church, Hiding in Plain Sight

By Andre Tartar

…as that feared moment of ‘the call,’ normally issued toward the end of the service by the pastor who, throwing his arms out, would ask: “Are there any among us here tonight who have not yet accepted Jesus Christ into their hearts?” Tears streaming down their faces, the spiritually lost would step up, experience a sobbing jolt as the pastor lay his hands on their heads, and receive their church membership slip. Unprepared to forsake what was a stil…

LGBT-Friendly Church is Not “Christian” Enough?

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…ver affirmed, which is one of love for self and others and a dedication to service in the world.” Well, suffice to say, I was informed that following Jesus’ teachings of love and service were not, indeed, enough to be considered a “real” Christian church. This infuriates me. As a member of a group of people who have been excluded, denied membership and generally shunned by Christian churches around the globe, to be summarily dismissed by a website…

Show Me the Way of the Hebrews: The Making of an African American Rabbi

By J. Lester Feder

…w looks like While working on my story for The Washington Post, I attended services almost every weekend for several months, more time than I have ever spent in synagogue. And I felt more at home in these services than I have ever felt at any other. Lasting two hours or more, so much time was set aside for discussion of scripture and tradition that it felt more like a study group than worship service to me. I didn’t feel expected to know the ritua…

The Deafening Silence of “Religious Freedom” Defenders on Trump’s Muslim Ban

By Sunnivie Brydum

…ian cases may ultimately be useful in establishing favorable precedents in service of conservative Christian interpretations of the law. So while groups like Becket and ADF pay lip service to “religious freedom for all,” their actions speak louder than any boilerplate rhetoric ever could. Organizations that fight tooth and nail to make sure Hobby Lobby employees don’t have access to reproductive healthcare (like Becket has), or who proudly challen…

The Pope and Social Media: A Digital Counter-Reformation?

By Elizabeth Drescher

…ighlighted the centrality of priests in leveraging new social media in the service of the Church, “P2Y,” a Vatican Web site directed to young people inverts the traditional hierarchy, inviting users to post the Pope’s message on their Facebook pages and to send it directly to their priests via Facebook, email, or, for the hopelessly disconnected priest, snail mail. “Who better than a priest, as a man of God, can develop and put into practice, by h…

Tainted Love: The Cost of Sojourners’ Refusal to Take Sides on LGBT Issues

By Jamie L. Manson

…iately forthcoming about our relationship if someone talks to us after the service. Regardless of what good work we do for the church, our efforts will be seen by many church people as tainted because of our loving, committed relationship. The congregants in my partner’s home church are extremely proud of the work that she is doing with the poor in New York City. However, if they knew she was in a relationship with a woman, they would cease to ta…

Paul Schrader’s “First Reformed” Depicts Death Struggle Between Hope and Despair

By Peter Laarman

…there. The text that Michael has instructed Toller to use at his memorial service is the very last message for humanity that the Hebrew Bible attributes to God. As the Book of Job draws to a close, God rehearses the mysteries and wonders of the natural world and rebukes Job (and by extension all of us mortals) for our presumption of knowledge and control: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? (etc.)” And, as he plots a consumma…

Will Internet Kill Mormonism Too? Or Just Missionaries?

By Holly Welker

…lly rode my bike at least ten to 15 hours a week. Admittedly, the Referral Center Mission in Provo was created in part to “accommodate injured or disabled missionaries who’d have difficulty marching through neighborhoods”—Ryan Tucker, the missionary featured in the story, has muscular dystrophy. But even missionaries with limited mobility can benefit from a change of scenery and interactions with human beings they can see, hear and touch, and they…

Pope’s US Visit Provokes Intense Attention; New Vatican Book on Man-Woman Complementarity & New Int’l Report on Christian Role Models for LGBT Equality; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…the refugees and migrants who have made their way to Europe — has opened a center for LGBT refugees in Berlin. Jovanka Todorović of Labris, a Serbian LGBT advocacy group, told the Blade that members of her organization have offered assistance to those who have passed through her country. The story notes that Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban said earlier this month that the refugees, a majority of whom are Muslim, “threaten Europe’s Christian…

Revelations from Family of Secrets (an addendum)

By Frederick Clarkson

…Champagne Unit” of the Texas Air National Guard in order to avoid military service that might send him to Vietnam; how he failed to fulfill that service; and how his failure was systematically covered-up and politically defused. Also covered are the allegations of how W. was an abuser of illegal drugs in addition to his apparently drinking problems as a young man. One important story from W.’s past that has long been rumored is confirmed in this b…