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A ‘Vows’ Piece in ‘The Times’ Shows How Doctrinaire Christian Celibacy Has Become Compared to its Ancient Roots

By Joseph Amar

…y. Ephrem reminded Covenanters that foregoing sexual intimacy was meant to free them from themselves, not create a privileged class of Christians. ‘Without good deeds,’ he bluntly affirmed, ‘sexual renunciation is worthless.’ Ephrem’s insights could be arrestingly prescient. He warned that if celibacy were to become institutionalized in the church, it could result in great harm. Ambitious churchmen, he said, might use it as a stepping stone to pri…

The Kids Are All Wrong: Texas Tosses The Enlightenment

By Burke Gerstenschlager

…r culture’s own post-Enlightenment understanding of self-determination and free will. Texas does not go back two hundred years to the Framers of the Constitution. It goes back 400 years to the Reformation itself, before democracy was even a modern concept. For a full decade, Texas students will not learn the distinct intellectual role the Enlightenment played in contrast to the Reformation. So much for the concepts of free will and self determinat…

Secularist Activists Are Being Murdered in Bangladesh: An Ongoing Crisis Causes Many to Flee

By Michael De Dora

…secular and democratic Bangladesh, where people have secure life and enjoy freedom of speech, freedom to publish, and freedom to express.” Still—what has he and his family lost? And what is Bangladesh losing as a result of this unchecked mayhem? Who Will Remain? As the attacks illustrate a deep problem in Bangladesh, these two stories illustrate a deeper success: since February 2015, more than a dozen writers, publishers, and activists—and, in som…

‘Putin’s Children’ Push ‘Traditional Values’ in Latvia; Jewish Reparative Therapy Group Finds ‘Haven’ In Israel; Sikh Activist in UK Supports LGBT South Asians; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ce laws which further restrict the human rights of their LGBT populations….Freedom of expression and freedom of association are integral in the fight for LGBT acceptance, but in many African states (and beyond) these fundamental human rights are heavily restricted…. Before the continent’s activists can bring about the decriminalisation of homosexuality, they must first secure a platform for discussing the issue free from persecution. In countries…

For International Human Rights Day, a Snapshot of LGBT Rights from the Vatican to Cape Town

By Peter Montgomery

…society as a whole.” Turkey: More analysis of European Human Rights Court free expression ruling At Article 19, Andrew Smith provides additional analysis of the recent European Court of Human Rights decision that the government of Turkey violated freedom of expression when it confiscated copies of a magazine published by LGBT advocacy group Kaos GL more than a decade ago. The finding of a violation is obviously welcome: to our knowledge, it is th…

HuffPo Columnist Tries to Link Darwin to Hitler

By Lauri Lebo

…for free. In exchange for all this unpaid content, columnists are largely free to write about whatever it is they like. Consequently, Huffington Post’s living pages have long been filled with various anti-science sentiments and new age woo, from vitamin cures to the “science of distant healing.” Most egregiously, it has provided a place for Jenny McCarthy and others to peddle ongoing claims about there being a link between autism and vaccine shot…

Why Atheists Should Fight For Establishment of State Religion

By Shanny Luft

…thrive because the First Amendment to the Constitution created a religious free market. What could be more palatable to conservatives than the fact that American religion is yet another success story for the free market? Now, Culture Warriors, listen up: a legislator in Louisiana just submitted a bill calling for public school students to recite the Lord’s Prayer alongside the Pledge of Allegiance. You can take your typical, predictable approach….

Why I Joined Over a Thousand Faith Leaders in Masterpiece Case Brief

By Marie Alford-Harkey

…that baking a cake for a baptism violated their beliefs. An individual is free to hold and to practice such beliefs, but they are not free to use those beliefs to claim a right to discriminate in the public arena. Same-sex couples have been granted access to civil marriage under the Constitution, and they must be allowed to exercise that right freely, including buying goods and services from businesses open to the public. The brief filed by Maste…

Is Cardinal Dolan’s Pro-Life Piece More Evidence of Pro-Catholic Bias from RNS Publisher?

By Evan Derkacz

…one agrees with him or not is beside the point. Anti-choice Catholics are free to argue goals and strategies, and a religion publication is free to host parts of that conversation. This is about context and consistency. It’s about the fact that Dolan’s piece is, in more than one way, suggestive of the very favoritism that Jones and Russell-Kraft document. First off, there’s history here between Rev. Reese and the Catholic hierarchy. Reese was onc…

More Bleak Times For Indonesian LGBTs; South Africa Bans Extremist Anti-Gay US Pastor; Mexican Marriage Struggle Heats Up; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…allow conscientious objection”. “I believe ministers of religion should be free to marry who they want, but the government’s proposal could mean civil celebrants, marriage registrars and wedding service providers like bakers and florists are all free to discriminate.” The Greek Orthodox Church of Australia is among those opposing marriage equality; a recent post on the marriage page of the church’s website explains why the author believes “saying…