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Reports of the Death of ISIS Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

By Mark Juergensmeyer

…a small item obscured by more salacious reports related to Trump-dominated domestic politics. ISIS was over. But no one seemed to notice. Perhaps that’s because few people are persuaded that ISIS is really over. They know that pockets of ISIS control have survived along the Euphrates River border between Iraq and Syria, and that sporadic violence continues in formerly ISIS-controlled regions; that areas in both countries that have been liberated f…

Popesplaining: Women Remain “Strawberries” in Francis’s Book on Happiness

By Kaya Oakes

…y like America with such high divorce rates on the one hand and increasing numbers of people in interfaith and same-gender marriages on the other, very few of the families around us look a Christmas crèche. Strawberries on a theological cake Francis devotes an entire chapter to “The Blessings and Challenges of Womanhood.” His statement that “the role of women in the Church is more than maternal, more than being the mother of a family,” gets us off…

Conservative French Catholics a ‘Rightwing Patriarchal Bunch’?; Indonesian Prez Decries Anti-LGBT Discrimination; Romanian Prez Warns Against ‘Religious Fanaticism’; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…position has always been that foreign entities should not interfere in our domestic issues, especially those of a political or controversial nature,” the ministry said. “Foreigners will need a permit if they organize or participate in an event at the Speakers’ Corner, subject to assessment.” Sex between two men is illegal in Singapore and punishable with up to two years in prison, though the law is rarely enforced. The law, which dates back to the…

Don’t Ignore the Role of “Christian Values” in Conservative Conspiracy

By Carmen Celestini

…d nativism. A brief stock market crash, depression, a widespread fear of a domestic revolt due to unionism, and a rise in the feminist movement, combined with the dramatic increase of immigrants prior to WWI, served to create hostility against minority groups, and a call to stop the moral disintegration of American culture. In response, the era also saw and a surge in radical literature calling for a return to American values, traditional families…

Religious Freedom Org Sticking By Trump Clinging to SCOTUS Nominations

By Sunnivie Brydum

As growing numbers of career politicians and conservative pundits scramble to distance themselves from the ever-imploding presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump, the foul-mouthed businessman still has a few reliable allies going to bat for him. And although Trump has seemed, at best, lukewarm about defending against the supposed “attack” on “Judeo-Christian values” in this nation, evangelicals and self-appointed religious freedom fighters conti…

Is the Bible Too Holy to Be Tennessee’s State Book?

By Adam Shapiro

…eatened by religious influence or intolerance, but rather that religion is cheapened by engaging secular power. This approach allows Haslam and some members of the legislature (who wanted to hear the testimony of clergy) to oppose the bill and take a moral high ground with religious constituents, while justifying “voting against” the Bible. Ironically, while Haslam and other religious opponents to HB615 cite the opinion that the bill is unconstitu…

Same-Sex Marriage May Lead to Polygamy, But So What?

By William E. Smith

…claim on this front noticeably lacks solid supporting evidence. Obviously domestic violence, child abuse, and so forth must be steadily and consistently redressed and minimized whenever and wherever possible. But the legality of forms of marriage cannot rise or fall based upon them without any context. Polygamy and monogamy are both malleable social institutions shaped by history, culture, and circumstance. After all, to take just one example, th…

#BlackLivesMatterStill: We Cannot Let Anyone Else Define Our Movement

By Wil Gafney

Words are insufficient. Words—like horror, atrocity and domestic terrorism—are inadequate. Words—like sin, evil and blasphemy—are wholly lacking. “Violence is woven into the fabric of our country. Violence has been deployed against black folk from the moment we arrived on this continent — and for some even before that, the journey itself an act of violence.” Gun violence in America took an even more despicable turn last night. Five police officer…

The “Southern Cage”: How the Myth of the Redemptive Depression Keeps Blacks at the Margins

By Eric C. Miller

…s that directly affected black Southerners—like excluding agricultural and domestic workers from Social Security. “Black clergy hoped that federal programs would push beyond the regional constraints of Jim Crow, but feared that local administrators would find ways to deny assistance to African Americans. They were right on both counts.” In 1935, Roosevelt wrote letters to over 100,000 American clergy and asked for their thoughts about the New Deal…

LGBT Victories at Olympics, Struggles in Brazil; Catholic Bishops Organizing Anti-Marriage Equality Protests in Mexico; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ter the Anti-Homosexuality Act was passed (and before it was quashed), the number of cases of violence against LGBTI people increased, Jjuuko said. “Trans people are at particular risk of violence: they are the most visible.” Beatings had been becoming more infrequent, he said. HRAPF met with police on a local level and institutions, but then raids and crackdowns such as the Aug. 4 incident happen and Jjuuko realizes that, for example, “police off…