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Suicide Leads to Calls for Improved Treatment of LGBT Mormons

By Joanna Brooks

…s. But in the wake of Bryan’s death, many Mormons—LGBT and otherwise—are reflecting on the kind of support our communities are capable of offering gay Mormons who feel they can no longer hide their sexuality. I’ve heard LDS Church members ask whether excommunication is the best institutional response to gay Mormons in acute spiritual struggle or crisis. I’ve also heard Mormons reflect on how despite some signs of increased awareness and outreach b…

Refusing Religion, Claiming the Future: A Roundtable Discussion on “The Nones Are Alright”

By Peter Laarman

…pocrisy-plagued version of the black church that younger generations see reflected in their communities, as well as in the media, has led younger generations to rethink religion. However, according to the Pew Research Center’s 2007 and 2012 reports, black millennials ages 18-29 comprise 20% of historically black churches. This number is roughly comparable to that of the baby boomer generation. Thus, religious affiliation for young black adults doe…

Walking Dead and Zombie Ethics, or “Don’t Fight the Zombies. You Can’t Win”

By Kelly J. Baker

…le: these monsters are a five billion dollar industry. They appear in cell phone ads for Sprint, they chase runners in 5Ks, and they scare crowds at haunted houses and theme parks. With The Walking Dead and World War Z, zombies cemented their reign as the favored monster of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The zombie’s ubiquity begs for explanation, and there is no shortage of theories. David Denby, writing about World War Z …

“Even the Rich Suffer”: An Interview with Google’s Jolly Good Fellow Chade-Meng Tan

By Max Zahn

…y still doubles as his nickname: Jolly Good Fellow. Over the course of two phone conversations, RD asked Tan—who was, in fact, quite jolly—if mindfulness is a watering-down of Buddhism, whether meditation can truly save the world, and why he specializes in teaching rich people. You’re one of the only prominent advocates of secular mindfulness who is not white. What’s that like? Not only am I one of the only non-white people, but I’m one of the ver…

Mitt, the Marriotts, and Porn

By Joanna Brooks

…conservative and evangelical voters in Iowa, where the Marriott-porn issue flared up for a brief moment in July 2007. (Back then, Romney even came in for criticism from the LDS Church-owned Deseret News, in an editorial with the unfortunate title “The nasty taint of porn.”) I don’t buy it. Anyone who understands the traction of evangelical anti-Mormon sentiment knows that most evangelical voters will never vote for Mitt Romney, especially if the…

Departure of the Queen

By Amina Wadud

…itual practice and the option to pray there brings me joy and comfort. I reflect back to the height of the weekend when guests and locals overflowed in the mosque, even spilling out to a tent set in the yard out front. Perhaps what I am feeling is a loss from all this company celebrating this time with the Queen. She has not yet departed after all, and we are still honored by her visit. Perhaps it is the deafening silence of being so removed from…

This Narrative of Death that is So Powerful Among Us

By Daniel Schultz

…it is… I heard the story of this pastor that worked and worked to get the flag out of the sanctuary, and then ten years later came back for an anniversary and the flag was back in. He asked somebody about it and a layman said, “Oh, every time a new pastor comes, we organize a lottery about how long it will take him to get it out. Because as soon as he leaves, we’re going to put it back in.” Dan: John Thomas wrote this wonderful piece about saying…

Why We Can’t Afford to “Wait And See” How Trump Dismantles LGBT Rights

By Sunnivie Brydum

…over the past decade. That fact, combined with the increasingly apparent influence of Vice President-elect Mike Pence in making staffing decisions for the administration, means we can’t afford to buy the oft-repeated claim that Trump is actually the most pro-LGBT Republican president in American history. (And to be clear, that’s not a particularly high bar to clear.) Even so, I’ll admit that I don’t believe the president-elect gives much thought t…

What’s Islamophobia, and Do I Have It?

By Haroon Moghul

…tally, I see what you mean, because when I’m scared, I turn on the lights, phone a friend, or commit genocide. It is true that Izetbegovic was influenced by Islam; but, for him, Islam was no different than Catholicism was for many Poles, who reached out to a religious leader (the Pope) to advance a political agenda of liberation. Izetbegovic went to jail for his religiously-inflected activism, which isn’t surprising considering Yugoslavia was a Co…

How (and Why) A Determined Sit-In Worked

By Daniel Schultz

…The House GOP leadership played right into their hands by turning off the floor cameras, which made them seem anti-small-d-democratic, and by holding a vote to roll back consumer protections in the middle of the protest. Louie Gohmert screaming and pointing at his colleagues didn’t help much, either. Doesn’t Democratic fundraising off the sit-in prove they weren’t serious? No more than Republican fundraising off repealing the Affordable Care Act….