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More Bleak Times For Indonesian LGBTs; South Africa Bans Extremist Anti-Gay US Pastor; Mexican Marriage Struggle Heats Up; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…allow conscientious objection”. “I believe ministers of religion should be free to marry who they want, but the government’s proposal could mean civil celebrants, marriage registrars and wedding service providers like bakers and florists are all free to discriminate.” The Greek Orthodox Church of Australia is among those opposing marriage equality; a recent post on the marriage page of the church’s website explains why the author believes “saying…

Tony Perkins: Atheists Can’t Be Chaplains

By Chris Stedman

…mplication is that explicitly nonreligious servicemen and servicewomen are free to consult with a religious chaplain. But for the same reason that a Christian may prefer a Christian chaplain over a Muslim or Jewish chaplain, nonreligious people should be free to seek out assistance from a member of their own community. As a Humanist chaplain, I frequently hear a version of Perkins’ argument (For more on what exactly I do as a chaplain, check out a…

McCullen v. Coakley and the Meaning of Protests

By Sarah Posner

…a young woman she cajoled away from Planned Parenthood with a promise of a free pregnancy test. The buffer zone cases really aren’t about free speech, they are about the evolving nature of protest in the anti-choice movement. In this evolution, the protest (“the act of objecting or a gesture of disapproval“) has been portrayed as “compassion,” with words that can only accurately be described as meddling portrayed as “caring.” But it is still a fo…

David Brat, Theological Conundrum

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker and Bridget O'Brien

…e explicit in their concern for structural justice and the failings of the free market system. Famously, Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium denounces those who “continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world” as expressing a “crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding eco…

Innocuous SCOTUS Ruling Opens Door For Discriminatory Religious Institutions to Access Public Funds

By Sunnivie Brydum

…onflict with their faith and the absolute expression thereof. “A decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of Trinity Lutheran puts the public coffers within handy reach of discriminatory religious institutions,” Herrin concluded. “That decision would diminish the meaning of Free Exercise Clause, move advocates for separation of church and state, including its funds, from the offensive to the defensive, and reify a culture of selective religio…

Anglican Bishops Punish Episcopal Church Over LGBT Inclusion; Secularization’s Role in Moving Latin America ‘Beyond Machismo’; Greek Orthodox Bishop Says Gays Deserve Respect; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ekim proclaimed before a huge audience. “because for the first time I felt free. In some countries it is so hard to be LGBTI, to be free. Love each other and accept each other because, at the end of the day, we belong to each other.” When he returned to Tetovo, he faced the stark contrast of cultural acceptance between the two countries: he was forced into hiding for a month as he and his parents received death threats motivated by anti-LGBTI medi…

Praying for a Victory: Packed Supreme Court Takes Up Yet Another Christian Nationalist Cause

By Andrew L. Seidel

…stitute, a Christian Nationalist legal outfit bent on redefining religious freedom under the First Amendment. The Institute’s goal is to morph the hallowed protection for religious freedom, the shield, into a tool to impose that religion on others, a weapon. The coach and the Institute aren’t seeking religious freedom, but religious privilege. They don’t want equal treatment (nobody else is allowed on the field to pray), but special treatment for…

Flagship Biblical Studies Group Faces Bitter Divide Over Statements on Israel/Palestine

By Seth Sanders

…tions. But recent events in Israel and Palestine may have broken open this united front for free speech. Across the nation, everyone from donors and trustees to teachers and students have urged schools to take a stand for either Israel or Palestine, while “free-speech advocates [claim] administrators should not say anything at all, as part of their responsibility to protect everyone’s First Amendment rights.” And now academic biblical studies—whic…

Bill to Stone Gays to Death Introduced in Kenya

By Peter Montgomery

…not specifically prohibit homosexuality. Buddhist teachings are relatively free of misogyny, homophobia and transphobia. The steps of the Eightfold Path to enlightenment speak about sexual activity. The second step states, “You must renounce all pleasures of the senses.” This is thought to refer to all forms of sexual activity, and imply complete celibacy. The fourth step prohibits “unlawful sexual acts”. Buddhist commentators usually interpret su…

Books Must be Hardbound, Quotes Whole, and Genitalia Scrubbed

By Joseph Laycock

…genitalia, they were told that any parody of religious art is offensive and cannot be displayed. The SBAS stall was then removed entirely from a student fair. Publically mocking religious truth claims probably isn’t very productive, and not all government institutions must be “religion-free zones.” But in a democratic society, the same rules must apply to everyone. These cases point to a pattern of de facto censorship of atheism. The good news is…