Religion Dispatches
…plugged-in lifestyle doesn’t really get at the heart of the issue. I think the Amish, of all people, have it right. It’s not so much about what you as an individual are doing or not doing, as the effect technology has on the community: Why not make life easier and just put [a phone] in the house? “What would that lead to?” another Amish man asked me. “We don’t want to be the kind of people who will interrupt a conversation at home to answer a tel…
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…ean: Court of Justice dismisses legal challenge to countries’ gay bans The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) dismissed a case brought by Jamaican activist Maurice Tomlinson challenging laws in Belize and Trinidad and Tobago that ban homosexuals from entering the countries, reports Rob Salerno at DailyExtra: Tomlinson’s case hinged on the fact that, as a citizen of a member state of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), his right to enter other member…
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…ualism is bad. Also, he notes but offers no explanation for the decreasing number of marriages in many countries. I am glad to see that in Section 34 he understands this basic fact of contemporary western culture: The ideal of marriage, marked by a commitment to exclusivity and stability, is swept aside whenever it proves inconvenient or tiresome. The fear of loneliness and the desire for stability and fidelity exist side by side with a growing fe…
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…y Project (U-RAP) said that activists “intend to appeal this ruling to the Caribbean Court of Justice.” Saudi Arabia: Police arrest 35 men Police in Riyadh reportedly arrested 35 Pakistani men they said were gathering in a public restroom south of the city. India: New report calls for decriminalization, so does gay prince The International Commission of Jurists published the in-depth report: “Unnatural Offenses Obstacles to Justice in India Based…
Read More…o Nazis and Communists. Last week British official released figures on the number of same-sex couples who got married between March 29 – the first day marriage was legally available in England and Wales, and June 30. Of the 1,409 marriages, 56 percent were to female couples. According to Gay Star News, about 120,000 people are in civil partnerships, which they will be able to convert to marriages beginning in December. Costa Rica: Survey Shows Spl…
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…age. His 2012 book, The Buddha Walks into a Bar, has sold widely. Over the phone, I asked Rinzler why he and Burrows had chosen to establish the studio as a for-profit company. “We really wanted to make sure we had all the resources we need for supporting people who are trying meditation for the first time,” Rinzler explained. Because they’re a business, there’s more professionalism. The teachers they’ve hired show up on time, and, as Rinzler put…
Read More…y LGBTQ faith-based organization in the region. It works primarily in Anglophone countries but has plans to expand further in Africa, with additional focus on Francophone regions. There is no group or organization in the region that addresses the needs of LGBTQ and MSM Muslims. Mambaonline.com published an interview this week with a lesbian couple whose marriage in December generated media coverage that led to both positive and negative responses,…
Read More…or a halachic document that cements some principles for the relationship.” Caribbean: World Congress of Families Holds Regional Gathering The U.S.-based World Congress of Families, which brings together social conservatives from around the glove, held a Caribbean regional conference in Barbados ast weekend. Among the speakers were WCF’s Theresa Okafor, National Organization for Marriage President Brian Brown, Focus on the Family’s Glenn Stanton, a…
Read More…hington DC planned a protest at the Kyrgyz embassy for Thursday afternoon. Caribbean: Women and Sexual Diversity Conference IGLHRC reports that the second Caribbean Women and Sexual Diversity Conference was convened in Surinam last week. Jamaican activist Paige Andrew reports on the event’s workshops and the need for additional research to support activism in the region, and she writes: The conference culminated with a pride march, which was a par…
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…ggerated statistic that counts all baptisms and births, but not the actual number of churchgoers), representatives of the religion—and representations of it—have managed to become fixtures in popular culture. I don’t have a complete explanation for this, but I would point first to the post-9/11 zeitgeist. In the last decade, there was a national and global debate about the place of religion in politics. Many looked to the American past to better u…
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