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Dirty Money in the Appalachian Church: Six Years After Deadly Coal Mine Disaster, Where Are We Now?

By Michael J. Iafrate

…statement on the issue of fracking, which is also affecting an increasing number of communities in the state, it has not publicized it widely either. The same reluctance to speak loudly and clearly can be seen in the Diocese’s response to worker justice issues. In 2013, during the Fairness at Patriot campaign, when church officials were asked why the bishop was not saying anything publicly in defense of the miners whose pensions and insurance wer…

The Atheist Encounter with Christianity: A Failure to Disbelieve?

By Paul Wallace

…l I could no longer live with it. Then, one day while I was talking on the phone in a dark room, just like that, I shed my belief in a literal “first couple.” Strangely, I don’t remember who I was talking to or what the conversation was about, but all at once I understood and it felt great. Yet my childhood belief had provided protection for me and had given shape to my understanding of God and even of myself, and what did I have to replace it wit…

Condemnation, Condolences in Wake of Orlando Massacre and More

By Peter Montgomery

…ings from Arab and Muslim governments with the countries’ legal regimes, a number of which punish homosexuality with death. A hacker identifying with Anonymous flooded some ISIS-related Twitter accounts with rainbow flags, gay porn, and fake “coming out” tweets. Mexico: Church driving down support for marriage equality; activists worry about threats In the weeks since President Enrique Peña Nieto announced plans to push for a constitutional change…

International reax to US Marriage Ruling; Official violence at Turkey’s Pride; Marriage Advances in Mexico Over Church Objections; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…dicted that 30,000 people would participate in the service, but the actual number appeared to number around 2,000. “Our prayers will open the sky and the homosexuals will fall, we will be blessed with victory,” said Lee Young-hoon, head of the leading organization in the anti-LGBT coalition. Mexico: Supreme Court embraces marriage, Church and some political officials resist As we have been reporting, the marriage equality movement has been movemen…

Former Navy Chaplain Worries Ending DADT will End “Gay Exorcisms”

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…being insubordinate” as he violated military regulations forbidding servicemembers from wearing their uniforms to partisan events. His discharge from the military has made him a hero to the religious right, a role he has embraced. His latest claim is that he conducted a “gay exorcism” on a lesbian servicemember, an incident he described on the David Pakman show: Klingenschmitt: As a chaplain I prayed with a young lesbian sailor who came to me and…

Navy Yard Shooting: Why It’s Not a Religion Story

By Michael Jerryson

…a’s anti-Muslim campaign, and; Thai Buddhist vigilante squads and Buddhist military monks engage in southern Thailand’s conflict. Although these tragic events are happening, they appear to have had no impact on initial popular associations of Buddhists. As Joshua Eaton notes in these pages, they lead journalists like Cuomo to falsely disqualify people like Aaron Alexis from their Buddhist identity because of their association with violence—a posit…

That Mercenary Feeling: What the Apparently Unlimited Use of “Contractors” Says About American Empire in Afghanistan and Iraq

By Peter Laarman

…ormed U.S. troops in Afghanistan but also that the ratio of contractors to military personnel there is the highest of any war in U.S. history. In a new study, the Congressional Research Service reports that contractors make up 65% of the Pentagon’s overall forces in Afghanistan over the past two years. And this is just for the Pentagon: the new CRS report does not address contractors working for the State Department or CIA in Afghanistan. Part of…

Christian-Bashing Air Force Officer Story is Just That

By Rob Shryock

…e Base’s Phillip Monk, who, according to his own testimony, stood up for a military trainer who had publicly announced his disapproval of gay marriage. His superior, who Monk notes is “openly a lesbian,” wanted the trainer punished, which led to a rift that eventually caused Monk to be “relieved of his position.” The story had everything: gay people oppressing Christians, as well as a man fired for simply, reasonably, defending his faith. It got e…

Is Alcoholics Anonymous a Religion?

By Galen Watts

…over time, and are employed for different social and political reasons. AA members who left a religious tradition but found a home in AA have their own reasons for calling AA a “spiritual” program, as do members whose secular humanism leads them to equate all “God” talk with “religion.” My aim is simply to make these assertions less self-evident. AA is not like every other treatment What we can be sure of, however, is that the Twelve Steps are not…

GTS Situation is Just a Typical Labor Dispute… But With Clergy

By Kim Bobo

…faculty that its concerns were not a priority. The board fired the faculty members when they replied. When the faculty members expressed concerns that they could not work with the dean, the board fired them. No one really believes that these faculty members had offered their resignations. For the Board President to suggest such is disingenuous. Replacement workers were hired. The Board of Directors brought in replacement workers to teach classes….