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LGBT Editor In Bangladesh Murdered by Islamists—and More, In this Week’s Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…zaul Karim Siddique, a university professor, in northwestern Bangladesh. A number of other secular academics, writers and bloggers and members of religious minority groups have also been killed by Islamists in Bangladesh over the last year. An LGBT rights advocate in Bangladesh who asked the Washington Blade not to publish their name because of safety concerns said an Islamist group really wrote on its Facebook page that “it is high time to elimin…

Data-Mining The Denominations: The Southern Baptists in Four Charts

By Daniel Schultz

…se members. In 2013, the SBC claimed 15,735,640 members, and in 2014, that number fell by 236,467 to 15,499,173—that’s a 1.5 percent decline. However, on this stat alone, the claim could be made that churches are simply clearing out the cobwebs and tidying up their membership rolls so their numbers more accurately reflect their active members. The problem is, membership isn’t alone in its decline—it’s joined by baptisms and weekly worship attendan…

What Fidel Castro’s Death Means for LGBT Rights in Cuba and More, in This Week’s Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…d. Although Magufuli has not said anything publicly about homosexuality, a number of his appointees have made harsh remarks. Critics of gay rights say this nation — which has large numbers of Muslims and Christians — must protect traditional values. In an August speech, Paul Makonda, the regional commissioner of Dar es Salaam, the capital, threatened to arrest people who were linked to gay men on social-networking sites. “If there’s a homosexual w…

It’s Not Me, It’s You: Catholic Values Dumping Trump

By Patricia Miller

…on leads of any poll. Also, as Kilgore points out: National Election Study numbers show that Catholics in recent elections lean more toward Democrats (e.g., showing Obama winning the Catholic vote by 14 points in 2008 and 9 points in 2012) than do the less accurate exit polls [Washington Post writer Aaron] Blake cites, meaning Trump is already at a disadvantage with that demographic. So it’s not clear that Trump’s standing is as catastrophic as th…

Did SCOTUS Just Restore Sanity to Religious Liberty Debate?

By Patricia Miller

…stices—including all-important “swing” justice Anthony Kennedy—agreed with Washington State’s contention that the law offers sufficient protection for religious freedom because it allows individual pharmacists to decline to dispense emergency contraceptives as long as the pharmacy has another pharmacist on hand who will. According to Washington State, the law: … accommodate[s] individual pharmacists’ beliefs while fulfilling its mission of ensurin…

Jerusalem Countdown: Christian Zionists and the New Israeli Government

By Bill Berkowitz

…s movements in America. It hosts a yearly July Washington-Israel Summit in Washington DC, and a biannual solidarity summit in Israel. During an interview last year, Glenn Beck asked Hagee: “You had several meetings with fairly prominent individuals. You’ve met with Benjamin Netanyahu. Have you had enough conversations with these people to tell them that you believe that we’re living in the end times, and what is their reaction?” Hagee replied that…

Methodists Move Toward LGBT Inclusion

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…such as the District. The measure was not expected to pass by its sponsor, Washington’s Foundry United Methodist. The pastor there, Rev. Dean Synder, said the resolution was presented “as an occasion to have a conversation. This is very exciting, very moving.” The resolution must pass muster at the denomination’s General Conference next April in Tampa. Back in 2008, the General Conference rejected an attempt to remove a line from the Book of Disci…

Mass Conversion: Changing Churches to Stop the Church From Changing

By Elizabeth Drescher

…. Luke’s will no longer be under the authority of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington and parishioners will be educated according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church on doctrine and faith practice in general. Thus, the parish has begun to adopt Roman Catholic practices of praying the rosary and saying confession. They’ve even ordered a bigger, better statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM). But St. Luke’s will retain much of an Anglican liturg…

SCOTUS’ Bladensburg Cross Ruling Is a Church-State Mess

By Andrew L. Seidel

…ess many of these myths and lies in my book, including the same quote from Washington’s farewell address. “The Farewell Address conceives of religion and morality as two separate, distinct things—not as synonyms expressing the same thought, though Christian nationalists misread it that way.” And because we know that the founders treated religion and morality as separate, as Washington did here, we know that they did not use religion or religious p…

Rick Perry and the New Apostolic Reformation

By Sarah Posner

…h Campus Crusade for Christ founder Bill Bright to organize the April 1980 Washington for Jesus rally, which he credited with bringing out evangelical voters for Ronald Reagan. Gimenez subsequently organized hundreds of America for Jesus rallies as well as additional rallies in Washington, intended to spark an evangelical revival in politics. Gimenez talked about how Bright dismissed the supposed rift between charismatics and other evangelicals. “…