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Seeing the Future: Can Religion Evolve and Survive in a Changing World?

By Peter Savastano

…re not simply spun out of thin air. If the recent surveys, “Faith in Flux: Changes in Religious Affiliation in the U.S.” (2009), and the “2008 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS),” are any indication, the process Arasteh described in his two books may be an experience common to a growing number of Americans. As the surveys suggest, this process of growing beyond one’s inherited religious tradition has become far more prevalent, sometim…

Heterosexual Martyrs and Gay Saints: Did AIDS Coverage Clear the Way for LGBT Equality?

By Diane Winston

…to AIDS offers provocative possibilities as well as ways to chart cultural change. In 1981, for example, few Americans would have taken seriously the possibility of gay marriage—including many gays, who would have scoffed at the notion that mirroring what they saw as an inherently (hetero)sexist, monogamous lifestyle could be a milestone on their own path to liberation. What caused the change? AIDS for one, evolving religious opinion for another,…

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

By Peter Montgomery

…group, Archbishop Foley Beach, said: “Today’s decision by the Scottish Episcopal Church to change the biblical and historic definition of marriage has highlighted the need to respond to the cries and pleas of those Scots who today have been marginalised by their leaders. “The attempt to redefine marriage is not one that a faithful Christian can support.” … Many Christians who live in the global south, where the 80-plus million Anglican Communion i…

Pope Francis Has Painted Himself into a Corner on Women Deacons

By Mary E. Hunt

…s” conundrum Parallel to the diaconal growth is the steady increase in the number of women engaged in ministries of all sorts. Whether in campus ministry or prison work, in parishes where they now outnumber priests in the U.S., in religious communities or religious education, women around the world do an increasingly large share of the Roman Catholic Church’s ministry without being ordained or having decision-making power. No wonder it occurred to…

New Mormon Anti-Gay Policy Sparks Mass Exodus From Church; Christian AID Workers in Africa Refuse to Help Gay Refugees; Ukraine Rejects, Then Accepts EU-Required Gay Rights Law; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…olicy changes to “Handbook 1,” the guide for its lay leadership. Under the changes, same-sex couples who marry are apostates and are unwelcome in church congregations. Going further, the new policy states that the children of same-sex couples cannot be baptized in the church until they are 18 and then only if they disavow their parents. It was the gratuitously cruel and stigmatizing treatment of children that pushed me to disavow the church of my…

Warships, Animals, Pubs Eligible For Blessings From Church of England, But Not Same-Sex Couples; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…couples who married abroad. Kenya: Court orders registrar to register name change for five trans people A court ordered the Principal Registrar of Persons to register legal name changes for five transgender people. Peru: Marriage equality legislation introduced Marriage equality legislation was introduced on Valentine’s Day Japan: New film featuring transgender character ‘breaks boundaries’ in Japanese cinema A new film by Naoko Ogigami, “Close-Kn…

6 Overlooked Takeaways From a Reviewer of Controversial Texas Textbooks

By David R. Brockman

…ents from credentialed scholars. Sadly, in some cases, publishers actually changed their text to suit TTT, as when Pearson Learning (see page 16) removed from its world history text the factually correct statement that jihad “is most frequently used [by Muslims] to describe an inner struggle in God’s service.” In its place Pearson inserted more ambiguous wording: “For some Muslims, [jihad] means a struggle against one’s evil inclinations. For othe…

Single, But Married To Jesus

By Anthea Butler

…how I am a hater, please, please tell me how getting a husband is going to change this horrific situation for millions of black women in this country. As for CNN’s shoddy report, ignoring it is the best remedy, right along with Faux News. There are more important things to talk about, such as that eye-opening survey on black women’s net worth, and the fact that unemployment in the African-American community is 15.6% across the country. Why can’t t…

Pope Francis Praised for ‘Civil Unions’ Comment, But Justice Begins at Home—In the Vatican

By Mary E. Hunt

…fellow clergymen and forced several Chilean bishops to resign. Francis can change his mind which is hopeful with regard to other issues. Unless one knows better in advance, it would be easy to conclude from the film that there are just a handful of Catholic women in the world. Several have been tapped for Vatican posts; for example, Barbara Jatta, is the Director of Vatican Museums. But in extensive footage filmed around the world, a viewer can co…

Islamic Intellectual Leadership at a Crossroads

By Amina Wadud

…th, for both are part of my devotion to Allah). They do have a substantial number of women included, so I would not complain on that count. But, here’s the thing: there are no women under the category of Muslim intellectuals. Apparently women don’t think. So it is even harder to adjust to the loss of these three men whose intellectual contributions helped to shape the ways we think about and in fact live Islam today; both for women and for men. I…