Religion Dispatches
Editor’s Note: Welcome new readers! If you like this post sign up for RD’s daily email newsletter here. —- I no longer recognize marriage. It’s a new thing I’m trying. Turns out it’s fun. Yesterday I called a woman’s spouse her boyfriend. She says, correcting me, “He’s my husband,” “Oh,” I say, “I no longer recognize marriage.” The impact is obvious. I tried it on a man who has been in a relationship for years, “How’s your longtime companion, Jil…
Read More…y of prophetic millennialism. Beck, a convert to Mormonism, recalls the strident prophetic voice that distinguished Mormonism from 19th-century Protestant groups. Many Mormons have a long cultural memory of persecution. Though they may welcome their church’s modern emphasis on their similarities to other religionists, I believe there remains a longing in them for the ‘peculiar people’ identity conveyed by the divisive prophetic voice and the histo…
Read More…nd felt a great thrill at this discovery”—and we rush for the keyboard to report that a scientist did a bunch of research and is, like, majorly stoked. We can’t help it; it’s those coke-bottle glasses we’re issued when we get our “welcome to your culture” info packets. Not vision-enhancing, those specs. Seems to me, though, that this public exchange between Wieseltier and Luhrmann is worth carrying forward somehow. Look to these pages for more in…
Read More…quick cut away. Avert your eyes, people … the lesbians might kiss! You’re welcome here, just don’t do THAT! Oh, UCC … how you have disappointed me. Was the kiss in the original cut and then left out because someone said, “Oh, we can’t cross that line”? The UCC is the only mainline church to give its denominational support to same-gender marriage, but it’s too squeamish to show a lesbian kiss in their new ad? Punked, by my own denomination. Et tu,…
Read More…Tea-Party ideologues. (Not to mention a few liberals.) And that would be a welcome reminder indeed. Years ago, a high-ranking LDS Church official was reported to have compared working with Elder Boyd K. Packer to trying to “stage manage a grizzly bear.” In October 2010, after Elder Packer delivered a highly controversial and bruising talk on LGBT issues at the Church’s global General Conference, grizzly bears indeed may have been stage managed. Pa…
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…to reignite the culture wars in the name of religious liberty. In a video promoting the Declaration, Colson likened contemporary America to Nazi Germany, and “elites” and “intellectuals” to Hitler. For decades, PFM has placed its volunteers inside prison walls to minister directly to inmates. In addition to questions about the programs’ effectiveness, such partnerships with state institutions have drawn legal challenges. InnerChange, a PFM progra…
Read More…ture than in traditional religion. You would expect the group’s leaders to welcome the increased attention, but Barney Jones—Hughes’ primary victim—has reportedly stepped down as the Church’s leader. A WalesOnline report is vague about whether he has left the faith entirely or simply wants to avoid the limelight, but the Vader attack has clearly caused him to reconsider his role as a spiritual leader. The impact of the incident on the fledgling fa…
Read More…munity. That did not happen. [Rush transcript may not be verbatim] *** LI: Welcome to our show. RT: Thank you for inviting me. LI: You are a minister so I take it you follow the teachings of Jesus. RT: Yes, that’s true. LI: If Jesus were here today do you think he would counsel a woman to have an abortion? RT: Jesus always showed compassion to women. He acted with respect even to the ones who were accused of sexual impropriety. I’m sure Jesus woul…
Read More…econciliation” and “equip leaders.” The proposed criminalization laws are a manifestation of this homophobia. Even without criminalization laws, LGBT people suffer discrimination and violence, including the verbal violence of religious leaders that Warren continues to promote. In a way, you can understand Ssempa’s bewilderment: why is he cut off, but not Akinola or Kolini? Warren’s belated condemnation of the proposed law is surely welcome, but sh…
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…ue. He never replied. I’d like to state for the record here that I’d still welcome a direct response. I do not, however, expect one. Moore and his ilk have no interest in actually existing exvangelicals who see the systemic misogyny, anti-LGBTQ animus, and racism present in conservative, mostly-white evangelical subculture as a natural outgrowth of evangelical theology itself—or, indeed, of what Warren views as a more serious “orthodox” theology….
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