Search for "cheap airline ticket to boston phone number 1-800-299-7264"

RNC Takes America to Church, Mormon Style, as Rank-and-File LDS Step Up

By Joanna Brooks

…rved alongside Romney during his tenure as a bishop (or lay pastor) of his Boston area congregation. Bennett explained in plain language Romney’s responsibilities of an LDS bishop—not theology, not ritual, but rather practical service that ranged from counseling physically, economically, and spiritually distressed parishioners to “shoveling snow for the elderly” and folding chairs after church meetings. Next came Ted and Pat Oparowski, Mormons fro…

Hillary Clinton Won the Catholic Vote After All, So Dems Should Stay Pro-Choice, Right?

By Patricia Miller

…ggested Trump won the Catholic vote by 52% to 45%. Now, as you may recall, Boston College’s Thomas Groome argued in a recent New York Times opinion piece that Clinton’s loss of the Catholic vote constituted a “watershed” and he counseled the Democratic Party to stop being so abortiony to retake the Catholic vote. So, if Clinton actually won that Catholic vote, does that mean the Dems should double down on their pro-choice position? Of course, Groo…

South Park Meets the Sacraments at Class for New Catholics

By Zachary Leja

…he refers to are a real grievance. Shea tells me about a Jesuit priest at Boston College who would say to his students “Who is your God? I’ll tell you who your God is. Tell me what you spend most of your time with. That’s your God.” For Father Shea, the Holy Trinity has been replaced in the hearts of students by the secular trinity of shopping, computers and TV. But even Father Shea uses tech in his RCIA class. Damien thinks the use of the videos…

‘Manufactured’ Smear Campaign Attempts to Intimidate Church ‘Fasting From Whiteness’— It Didn’t Work

By Frederick Clarkson

…the UCC. He came to Oak Park from previous pastorates in Minnesota and at Boston’s Old South Church, whose origins date to the early days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. His Old South Church bio reports, “Three of John’s ancestors were tried as witches. Two were hanged. One was acquitted.” Some of the judges were members of the church. Historian Ola Elizabeth Winslow notes how far the church has come regarding “the slow emergence of certain Idea…

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?…

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…

A Queer Atheist In the Heart of Mormon Country

By Chris Stedman

…Utah Pride in preparation for my remarks this upcoming weekend as the 2013 Boston Pride interfaith speaker, I couldn’t help but reflect on what I learned during a recent visit to Utah. It was late in the evening when I arrived, and I knew I would be there for only 24 hours. I was met by Alasdair Ekpenyong, a college sophomore who stands at the crossroads of intersecting identities and convictions: black, LGBTQ-affirming, feminist, progressive, a l…

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…

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…

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…