Religion Dispatches
…ding up to this year’s election.“ (For more on Pray the Vote, go here) The promo for Craig Detweiler’s new book Into the Dark reads: “Detweiler, a well-respected film expert and media spokesperson on Hollywood and Christianity, examines forty-five twenty-first-century films that resonate theologically—from The Lord of the Rings trilogy to Little Miss Sunshine—offering groundbreaking insight into their scriptural connections and theological applica…
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…inciple that imagining creates reality has captivated modern readers,” the promo copy explains. The publisher probably didn’t expect the book to resonate quite so uncomfortably with the political moment when they chose November 8th—Election Day—as its publication date. But indeed, Donald Trump’s distinctive style has roots in the spiritual tradition of which At Your Command and The Secret are both a part. Neville was just ahead of his time. Born i…
Read More…view LGBT people—as purely sexual beings. Foster’s screed is simply a long promo for a new ex-gay movie coming out, and the trailer, three-minutes of nauseating footage, centers around how each of these former homosexuals lived their lives in clubs, engaging in cheap, easy, and often public sex, or were sexually abused. For all the claptrap the religious right yells about how they don’t want to think of us “that way,” the trailer for the film is p…
Read More…rs who thinks she’s calling for a return to “our Constitution” while she’s promoting a religious test for public office. I asked if she had actually read the Constitution and she insists that she has, and then asserted that “Obama and his cronies are trying to change everything in it. Including any part about GOD & Country. He is not a Christian. He stated more than once that he was a Muslim.” Christine O’Donnell, as Candace so aptly pointed out,…
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…or added to the pressure to cancel the Massimadi festival, saying it would promote homosexuality and that impoverished Haiti had other priorities.” Australia: Poll confirms majority support for marriage equality, rejection of plebiscite A new poll released this week that most Australians support marriage equality but not the government’s plan to hold a national plebiscite on whether the law should be changed to recognize same-sex couples’ right to…
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…st interests of South Africa,” and for making “an important statement here today”. He added: “We vow to stay vigilant and to campaign against others who may want to follow in this group’s footsteps.” Baird also addressed the South Africans who invited Anderson to the country in the first place: “Your hatred has not gone unnoticed, but it has been ineffective. You should hang your heads in shame today, and should take a long and hard look at yourse…
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…off the southern tip of Spain. United Kingdom: Former Tory leader opposes ‘promotion’ of homosexuality in schools Lord Norman Tebbit, a former Conservative Party chair, spoke out against “promotion” of homosexuality in the schools, saying “I think it is damaging to children to introduce uncertainty into their minds.” Kenya: Activist profiled The Star’s Lydia Matata wrotes about gender non-conforming activist Joji Baro. China: Most LGBT people fear…
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…than their salaries might suggest. At issue is section 107 of the U.S. Tax Code, which contains two subsections pertaining to “the case of a minister of the gospel.” (The term was originally intended to refer only to ordained Christian clergy, but its meaning was later expanded by the Internal Revenue Service to include their counterparts in other religious traditions.) The first subsection, 107(1), allows a minister to exclude from taxable income…
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…warning on the website RadicalIslam.org, maintained by the Clarion Fund. “Today you can find closed communities of Radical Muslims across the United States promoting Radical Islamic ideology and living under localized versions of Shari’ah.” This view that shari’ah is a threat to the constitution, to capitalism, and to American liberty helps explain the rash of attempts to “ban” shari’ah in the states. Rep. Gerald Gay, the Wyoming legislator spons…
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…l Justice Reform “has lambasted the Aceh administration’s Islamic criminal code bylaw, or Qanun Jinayat, saying it could potentially provoke discrimination and over-criminalization of LGBT communities and other vulnerable groups.” The Aceh province is governed by the conservative Islamist legal code. Notes the Jakarta Post: Qanun Jinayat imposes criminal sanctions on both Muslims and non-Muslims found to have consumed liquor, dated in public or ca…
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