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Church=State in Putin’s Orthodox Empire?; Evangelical-Orthodox Anti-Gay Alliance; Malaysian Court Protects Transwomen; Catholicism (Still) Declining in Latin America; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…obert Arida. He serves as pastor of the Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral in Boston, which has been praised on the Facebook page of the “Pro-Gay Orthodox Christians” network. “While the past cannot be ignored, it also cannot be the only point of reference for the Orthodox Christian,” wrote Arida. If church leaders do not acknowledge “that the Holy Spirit continues to work here, now and in the future, the past will easily be transformed into an oppre…

US Bishops Meeting: Pope Who?

By Patricia Miller

…immigration crisis. The bishops failed to elect Francis’ favorite bishop, Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley, to represent them at the next critical leg of the family summit. They are, however, sending the president and the VP of the bishops’ conference, as well as Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, who has been highly critical of efforts to modernize the church. Newly appointed Chicago Bishop Blase J. Cupich was selected as an alternate. An…

Eulogy, Corrected: Father Matthew Came Out as Gay 30 Years Earlier

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…year of his age. In fact, his notes for a kind of “flute music” (his Grecophone term for monastic solitude) were written quite a bit earlier. Here is what Michael Bever reminds me: My Song of Mercy was published in 1994 [I’m afraid that’s all I got right]. This publication included both Matthew’s longer exposition of his sexual orientation in “Flute Solo” and the renowned essay, “Celibacy and the Gift of Gay.” “Flute Solo” had been in informal ci…

Finding Noah’s Flood: A Misconception of Biblical Proportions

By Brook Wilensky-Lanford

…ing the Ark itself. As biblical archaeology watchdog Eric Cline wrote in a Boston Globe editorial in 2007, “When most archeologists and biblical scholars hear that someone has (yet again) discovered Noah’s Ark, they roll their eyes and get on with their business.” Finding evidence for an ancient flood is certainly possible. But the second misconception here is that Ballard’s evidence is anything new. Read closer and you’ll find that Ballard’s theo…

Cruz Backs Bishops on Religious Liberty Claims

By Patricia Miller

…ic schools. But in an indication of how the religious liberty issue crosses the political lines of the Francis papacy, the letter was also signed by two noted moderates: DC Archbishop Donald Wuerl, whose DC offices would fall under the law, and Boston Archbishop Sean O’Malley, who is considered Francis’ closest US ally. Of course, with Ted Cruz’s anti-immigrant language and disregard for the poor, it’s hard to see how Francis could approve of the…

Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination with the Afterlife

By Lisa Miller

…houris, dark-eyed women. We all know that Mohammad Atta, who flew American Airlines flight 11 into the Twin Towers on 9/11, was inspired by this promise. But among progressives, the sex promised to the righteous in the Qur’an isn’t sex as we know it, but something mysterious and sublime for which sex is a poetic stand-in. Second, what happens to our bodies in heaven? This is my favorite part of the heaven conversation. For if you believe in heaven…

Why Don’t Churches Have to Disclose Lobbying Activities?

By Sarah Posner

…ble in fear at the very thought of being seen as anti-religious,” says Rob Boston of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. Given the outcry about the USCCB’s role in the Stupak-Pitts amendment, though, the public might very well begin asking more questions about the special privileges granted to houses of worship. The USCCB was complaining about taxpayer dollars being used for something it finds morally objectionable. Yet taxpay…

Religious Differences Are Real (and Tolerance Can Be an Empty Virtue)

By Stephen Prothero

…nything you had to leave out? I am the adviser for the Sikh Association at Boston University, so I regretted not dedicating a chapter to Sikhism. I regretted it even more after I heard that the Republican gubernatorial hopeful Nikki Haley (who was raised a Sikh) was denounced recently as a “raghead.” There are likely 25 million or so Sikhs in the world, and from the start they have been engaged in a fascinating conversation with both Hinduism and…

OK Woman Politely Declines to Thank the Lord; Atheists Unite

By Becky Garrison

…he wasn’t a sheep. Vitsmun will be remembered—at least in the atheist moment—as the moment when the world has to face the fact we’re not this tiny percentage of people. I don’t think the numbers are growing. I think the numbers are now being counted right. Atheists aren’t afraid anymore to speak out.” But what will Wolf do next time?…

God Needs No Passport

By Peggy Levitt

…rs, I wrote about the cross-border ties connecting Dominicans who moved to Boston and their friends and relatives who stayed home. When I finished that project, I realized that religion played a central role in making transnational lives possible, and that the religious landscape changed dramatically in the process. This was something that migration scholarship had not really explored. What’s the most important take-home message for readers? God N…