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Methodists Move Toward LGBT Inclusion

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…conference last month by Rev. Bruce Robbins, pastor of the Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church in Minneapolis. The statement gives a nod to the other denominations who are ahead of them: We are convinced by the witness of others and are compelled by Spirit and conscience to act. We thank the many United Methodists who have already called for full equality and inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the life of the Church…

Neither Radical Nor Secular: The West Struggles with the New Islamism

By Blain Auer

…independent Palestine, a political move that has further demonstrated the United States and Israel’s isolation from the rest of the world on this issue. In spite of the new dynamics of Middle East politics there still remain places like Yemen, Bahrain, and Syria where longstanding dictators have clung to power and utilized brutally repressive measures, intimidation, arrest, and killing to suppress individuals from organizing against the governme…

Catholic Church Campaigns Against Gay US Ambassador; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…hurch filled with intolerance and outright hate. The open disrespect for a United States ambassador is unchecked and unprecedented. The Washington Blade has more details about the campaign against Brewster: Nearly 32,000 people have signed the petition that a group of Dominican evangelicals posted to the White House’s website earlier this month. A group of Catholic bishops in the Dominican Republic have urged Medina’s government to formally compla…

Religious Right to Newsweek: ‘Woe to [You] for Even Printing This’

By Bill Berkowitz

…there is a ‘War on Christmas,’” read a recent press release from Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “[I]t is ironic to see these groups using a season dedicated to peace and understanding to foster conflict.” The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United, suggested that “The best holiday present we could get this year would be for the religious right to stop using Christmas as a club to bash others. The religious…

Sotomayor is Sworn in: Latina Wisdom Personified

By Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado

…ere is no church in Miami big enough to house her devotees. Hers is the story of a statue discovered by two indigenous men and an African slave, and later accompanying a slave community in Cuba. Her statue still remains in a shrine in Cuba, and a duplicate accompanied Cubans into exile here in the United States. She is the most powerful symbol of Cuban religious and cultural identity both on the island and in the Cuban Diaspora. Her face is brown….

Israel Votes to Limit Sheldon Adelson

By Sarah Posner

…o to close this loophole.” The anti-Adelson bill is like Israel’s Citizens United—in reverse. Although launched a few years before the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision, Israel Hayom is like a Citizens United effort, where a political advocacy group attempted (and ultimately succeeded) in circumventing campaign finance limits by portraying an anti-Hillary Clinton film as media subject to First Amendment protection, rather than independent political ex…

USA “Uniquely Blessed?” Depends on Your Definition

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…ed are hungry. While there are certainly hungry people in our country, the United States wastes more than 113 tons of food a day. We can’t exactly be called a “hungry” nation and therefore are not “uniquely blessed” in this category. Strike two for America. In Matthew 5, Jesus is emphatic that those who are “uniquely blessed” are peacemakers in the world. The United States has hardly sowed the seeds of peace anywhere in this world—launching pre-em…

Why the Methodist Effort to Discipline Sessions Is a Risky Business

By Daniel Schultz

…on of doctrines contrary to the established standards of doctrines” of The United Methodist Church. In their statement, the signers say they are “reticent” to bring charges against Sessions, but his unique role as a lay leader of the UMC and public face of the administration warrant the move. They object in particular to Sessions’ use of a passage from Romans 13 in defense of the policy, a citation the Rev. Susan Henry-Crowe, top executive of the…

Religion in Real Time on CNN’s “Believer”: A Conversation with Reza Aslan

By Kaya Oakes

…s who make the long, perilous journey from Latin America and Mexico to the United States, before they do so, they make a vow to Santa Muerte, make peace with Saint Death. They say to themselves, “I may not make this, there’s a good chance I may die on the way. If I make it to America, I vow that I’ll set up an idol or temple for Santa Muerte.” And that’s precisely why you see so many shrines in the southern United States—because the people who cre…

Global LGBT Recap: Culture War Claims More Victims

By Peter Montgomery

…come out publicly and are now vulnerable to having their lives destroyed. United Methodists: impact of shrinking U.S. share of global church Rachel Zoll of the Associated Press reviews the state of conflict in the United Methodist Church, where more than 1,100 clergy have pledged to defy the denomination’s stance against marriage for same-sex couples, and where church courts in the U.S. are defrocking clergy who do so. Zoll notes that repeated ef…