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As Tensions Escalate in the Balkans, the West Could Hand Putin a Valuable Weapon

By Katherine Kelaidis

…enocide against Albanian Kosovars in the late 1990s. The fact is, a significant number of Serbs, and even a large number of others from traditionally Orthodox backgrounds, continue to harbor a great deal of anger about Western intervention in the Kosovo War, which they see as a failure by the West to comprehend the historical role-reversal that’s taken place, including the persecution of Orthodox Christians by Albanians and other majority-Muslim e…

Scottish Episcopal Church Angers Conservative Anglicans With Embrace of Same-Sex Marriage; and more in Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…a largely conservative Christian population, is similar, though not identical, to that in Cayman.” Panama: Lawyers for religious groups file opposition to marriage equality at Supreme Court Álvaro José López, who married his Panamanian partner in the U.S., has asked the Supreme Court of Justice to declare that the restriction of marriage to a man and a woman is unconstitutional. More than 145 lawyers have registered their support for the restrict…

The Religious Right and the Tea Party on “Education Choice”

By Julie Ingersoll

…e will be a limit on the number of schools (no more than ten in the next decade) and the number of students enrolled. Opponents see charter schools as quasi-privatized schools (and also fear that this is a first step toward further privatization). They see even these limited charter schools as a threat to funding for public education—especially in these difficult budget years where public education budgets are already being slashed. Proponents, on…

Pope Denounces Gender Colonization; Indonesian Court Considers Islamist Request To Criminalize Homosexuality; Egypt’s Grand Mufti Says No One Has Right to Harm Homosexuals; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…n reporting, religious and political figures have been engaged in a rhetorical campaign of homophobia since early this year. Now, Ali Kotarumalos reports for Associated Press that “Indonesia’s Constitutional Court is considering whether to make gay sex a crime after accepting a judicial review petition from Islamic activists.” As the story notes, “Indonesia’s image for tolerance and moderation has been tested this year by a campaign of denigration…

PCUSA’s Nod to “Traditional” Marriage Understandable, but Not Accurate

By William E. Smith

…lowing examples of historical changes in Christian marriage and whether we can honestly still call today’s version “traditional.” 1) Were individuals always required to be conventionally alive? For the majority of the past two thousand years, Christian women could marry Jesus, who (in most Christian theologies) cannot be said to be a regular human, since he is also fully divine, nor be considered alive in any standard sense of the word. During the…

A Peek Inside the ‘Onion’ of Scientology

By Kristin Rawls

…no help. He ultimately killed himself. It was different than the McPherson case because no one attempted to help. They wanted nothing to do with him. Do they let these people go because they fear legal trouble? Right, they don’t want legal trouble. See, Scientology is always supposed to “work.” It’s supposed to make you better. If you’re not better, if something goes wrong, they see that as your problem. It’s not their fault. They think you’ve c…

Evangelical Pastor Argues for Full LGBT Inclusion: “I Think It’s Inevitable”

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…of-hand dismissal of the book. Do you think the moveable middle of evangelicalism can use your book, especially its biblical exegesis, as a way to move toward acceptance for LGBT people? Evangelicalism is a very diverse, broad movement and there are many different expressions. I think, very shortly, there will be an expression of evangelicalism which will be inclusive of LGBT people. There are a number of evangelicals that are very open to this an…

Naked Jihad

By Kate Blanchard

…ld soon be feeling the need to leave her home country. Not surprisingly, a number of Western women felt moved to show their support for Amina. An international movement called Femen staged bare-breasted protests in European cities, in which the writings on their chests echoed Amina’s, along with “Freedom for women” and “Fuck your morals.” (Be warned: photos contain nudity and strong language.) But Femen did not have the last word. Almost immediat…

How Fitbit Helps a Conservative Evangelical College Monitor Students’ Bodies For Christ

By Jonathan Root

…ieve that ORU is infringing on students’ privacy. As it turns out, Fitbits can record calories burned during sex—which created a minor scandal in 2011 when users realized that their sexual activity could be discovered through a simple Google search. This puts ORU students in an awkward position, argues Keri Paul, since their university prohibits premarital sex. Is this the story, as the media narrative would have it, of a naive Christian college g…

The Internet Is Not Killing Religion, Religion is Killing Religion

By Elizabeth Drescher

…atistical association between internet use and affiliation “does not prove causation,” because he knows that people like me—“Someone who has taken an introductory statistics class” (But, ha!, some of us had to take it twice! So there!)—“might insist that correlation does not imply causation.” My statistically muddled insistence be damned, however, because Downey doubles down by arguing that “correlation does provide evidence in favor of causation,…