Religion Dispatches
…lenty of desperation) when a steady stream of truck drivers with a regular paycheck are parked in a gravel lot waiting for days to resume their route? An informal economy springs up. In Kazungula it yields makeshift stands offering any kind of goods its citizens can imagine selling: “top off” cards to add minutes to cellphone accounts; dried, salted fish fanned out on tables; informal restaurants selling plates of kapenta or nshima to be washed do…
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…t generates not pity or sympathy for gays and lesbians, but empathy and compassion. Compassion, at its core, means to “suffer with.” If all Americans can be made to understand the suffering—the true suffering of real, living, breathing, human beings who happen to be gay or lesbian—then the issue of “rights” would be a no-brainer. We’d have equality in marriage, housing, and employment in an instant because it would simply be the right way to treat…
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…is certainly one of the most critical issues facing us today. To be sure, Paul did not anticipate the religiously complex world in which we live. His view was too simplistic to be adopted as is; it will require more theological reflection and development. But an understanding of redemption that envisions people coming together while maintaining their differences is certainly inspiring, and that the second most important person in the history of C…
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…ic.” It would appear that ignoring the depths of Driscoll’s depravity is a pastime with a past. Indeed, Hansen’s CT article makes nothing but passing reference to Driscoll’s theological conflict with McLaren and Pagitt. The CT profile, like the podcast, describes Driscoll emulating comedians like Chris Rock; his tone is dismissed as that of a “smart-aleck former frat boy,” a “sharp tongue” used in sermons and books as his “bad boy reputation” serv…
Read More…tter” issues of the religious right—same-sex marriage—had slipped from the number two position drawing the concern of a paltry seven percent of “value voters.” Does this mean that there is a sudden uptick of support for marriage equality among “value voters”? No. It certainly doesn’t mean that. The event was rife with anti-gay rhetoric including panels on how acceptance of homosexuality will threaten that precious religious liberty by “silencing”…
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…influence on U.S. laws. The only other groups that come anywhere near that number are Hispanic Protestants (78%) and Black Protestants (74%). White evangelicals are also the most likely to say that when scripture and the will of the people conflict, the Bible should win. Hispanic Protestants come in not far behind. Interestingly, White evangelicals are not the most likely to say that the Bible currently has a great deal of influence on U.S. laws….
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…my birth. Likewise I began to read about Islam. I knew I understood only a part of it from books alone. So I finally took myself to a mosque to investigate the other part: the lived reality. Although I had no intention at that time of becoming a Muslim, I think the fact that I already dressed covering my legs, arms, and hair was taken to mean otherwise. Once I pronounced the shahadah, the declaration of faith in only one God and the Prophet Muhamm…
Read More…Christ of Latter-day Saints, it’s pretty safe to assume that a significant number of “Concerned Citizens of the United States” are Mormon. But so too are a significant number of undocumented immigrants living in the American West. As we’ve reported here at RD, the Church’s strongest growth over the last decade has been among Latino populations, and almost 4.5 million Mormons worldwide are Spanish-speaking. Economic downtimes and anti-immigrant out…
Read More…he Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) shows that over the past decade, conditions have improved for the LGBT community in America. Two-thirds of the 36 benchmarks show significant advances, including sharp increases in the number of LGBT Americans protected by nondiscrimination and family recognition legislation at the state level. Less than one quarter of the indicators are negative, and four metrics show little change (either po…
Read More…e are asking for. Vatican: Tensions mounting as World Meeting of Families, papal visit, approach We reported last week that Catholic officials in Philadelphia were refusing to allow advocates for LGBT Catholics to use church facilities for events during the Pope’s visit to the city for the World Meeting of Families. This week, David Crary from the Associated Press reports: The World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, the central religious event…
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