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Mormon Church Finally Notes Black Elders, Still Offers No Apology

By Darron T. Smith

…leased last Friday, which includes what RD’s Joanna Brooks calls “the most significant changes made to Mormon scripture since 1981,” acknowledges the existence of these men and their place with respect to Church liturgical rites. The statement also furthered the idea that nobody knows why the ban on blacks existed in the first place, concluding that “Church records offer no clear insights into the origins of this practice.” June 2013 will mark the…

In Defense of Clerical Celibacy, From a Protestant Liberal

By Kate Blanchard

…ego it for an entire lifetime. He also sees it as a sort of spiritual neon sign that attracts people who are uncomfortable with their sexuality, usually because it falls outside the one-man-one-woman pattern. “It’s a trap” for those who stray from cultural norms, whether gay men or pedophiles, “falsely promising some men a refuge from sexual desires that worry them.” Thus he concludes that celibacy is a large factor in the sexual abuse of children…

Marriage Equality Closer to Law in Illinois

By Peter Montgomery

…same-sex marriage. The bill now moves to the floor of the House. The state Senate passed the bill on Valentine’s Day and Gov. Pat Quinn is ready to sign it into law. See a synopsis of the hearing from Windy City Media….

Papal Retirement: A Matter of Conscience

By Mary E. Hunt

…is time for someone else to take over. I applaud his move and read it as a sign of hope in a dreary ecclesial scene. Speculation about his health is rampant. As with many elders whose offspring plot to take away the car keys, I suspect there was some backdoor lobbying to make this retirement happen. But I dare to hope that it was at least in part the considered judgment of an octogenarian who saw his predecessor propped up long after his prime and…

#PrayForBoston: Prayer as a Meme

By Elizabeth Drescher

…stry on the part of traditional religious leaders, it nonetheless seems to signal the enduring, if redefined, significance of at least the concept of prayer: the idea of a reaching out, however momentarily, however noncommittally, to an imagined digital cosmos and whatever greater power makes it hum for a blip of connection and solace. Perhaps, in aggregate, that spiritualized pause in the noosphere is not nothing, mere microblinks of expression c…

‘New Evangelical’-Progressive Alliance? Not So Fast

By Sarah Posner

…iring practices (and, like many of the HCSMs, it requires all employees to sign a Christian statement of faith). If the new evangelicals were to be part of a successful coalition to persuade Congress to pass, for example, meaningful legislation on gun control, immigration reform, or climate change, that would certainly be a positive development for evangelical political advocacy. But what sort of cracks would then develop? Will evangelicals, for…

New Zealand Passes Marriage Equality

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…had the most enormous big gay rainbow across my electorate. It has to be a sign. He also compassionately addressed those who expressed real concerns. We are allowing two people who love each other to have that recognized, and I can’t see what’s wrong with that for love nor money, sir. I just cannot. I cannot understand why someone would be opposed. I understand why people don’t like what others do. That’s fine. We’re all in that category. But I gi…

New Study: Three-Quarters of American Giving Goes to Religion

By Jay Michaelson

…hment. Maybe the secular social-justice commitments of American Jews are a sign of Judaism’s success. So, most religious people are equally generous; they only give more than non-religious people because they give to religious organizations; and they, like the rest of us, give to overwhelmingly religious organizations. For better or for worse. Like this story? Your tax-deductible $5 or $10 will help us pay writers, coders, interns, and editors. An…

Watching Preachers’ Daughters Right After the Boston Bombings While Teaching a Class on Augustine’s Confessions

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…Martin Richard’s gap-toothed grin, to the way his “No More Hurting People” sign was clearly carefully printed yet switched between upper and lower case, to the long eyelashes that his head had yet to really grow into… these are things I’ve seen in my own house, that I associate with one of the people I love most in the world. And, yes, God help me, the fact that Martin Richard is white, lives in the U.S., and speaks English makes it seem like “he…

What The Church Needs More Than a ‘Good Pope’

By Mary E. Hunt

…by Eucharist—is this interview simply a puff piece, a case of the Jesuits promoting their own and their own promoting Jesuits? Is it meant as a way to attract people back to a church that may have a kinder face but just as steely a heart? Is the good will it has engendered trustworthy? The Roman Catholic Church has been around for several thousand years for a reason. I hope this interview is a beginning not an end of a new moment. These serious…