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Marriage equality and ‘the end of Catholic Ireland’; Gambian Prez vows to slit gays’ throats; Colombian govt affirms support for marriage and adoption; global LGBT recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ews of a speech he made last week on a nationwide agricultural tour. The 49-year-old president, who has ruled the country since 1994, was speaking during a tour stop last week in the country’s North Bank Region when he delivered his latest inflammatory comments. “If you do it [in the Gambia] I will slit your throat — if you are a man and want to marry another man in this country and we catch you, no one will ever set eyes on you again, and no whit…

Forced Cremation of Covid Dead in Sri Lanka Further Marginalizes Muslim Community

By Andrea Malji and Amarnath Amarasingam

…explanation given the recent history of the area: In September 2011, a 300-year-old Muslim shrine in Anuradhapura was destroyed. In April 2012, thousands forcibly entered a mosque in Dambulla and destroyed everything inside. In March 2013, a mob led by Buddhist monks attacked a series of Muslim owned businesses in the capital city of Colombo. In June 2014, several days of communal violence erupted after an altercation between a Buddhist monk and…

Before Black Twitter: How the Early Black Press Shaped American Discourse Around Race and Religion

By Benjamin P. Fagan

…on Earth, but to then apply that faith in black chosenness to a range of on-the-ground struggles for black liberation. So I hope that readers of the book not only come away with a better understanding of the contours of black chosenness, but also with a sense of how that idea has fundamentally shaped the fight for black freedom in the United States. Throughout the book, I also explore how black newspapers used black chosenness to engage with and a…

The Family Research Council’s Mistaken Identity

By Sarah Posner

…we have to pay attention to here are white supremacist groups. They’re anti-government and in most cases anti-abortion. They are usually survivalist type in nature, identity orientated. If you recall, Buford Furrow came to Los Angeles in, I believe it was 1999. When he went to three different Jewish institutions, museums, and then wound up shooting people at a children’s community center, then shooting a fellow penal postal worker later on. Matthe…

Satanic or Silly: Does Yale Press Censorship of Cartoons Insult Muslims?

By Daniel Martin Varisco

…ges. Muslims, like members of other faiths, express their displeasure in a number of ways over those who belittle their prophet. In 2008, for example, a petition was circulated online to remove a 17th-century Ottoman manuscript image of Muhammad from the Wikipedia article on the prophet. Despite accumulating over 455,000 signatures and the Wikipedia community’s refusal to remove the illustration, still no violent acts have resulted. Lost in the de…

How Not To Defend Atheism

By Vlad Chituc

…its methods” and “deserves to die” (also actual quotes). This sort of black-and-white dogmatism reduces my confidence in the few novel and interesting points Silverman does make about, for example, the general lack of oversight for religious nonprofits. Silverman is not even internally coherent in his views of religion. Religion “has no positive value” because those doing good in its name are just “using religion as an excuse to do good,” Silverma…

Hell, in Rob Bell’s Own Words: State of Belief Radio

By The Editors

…cription: “Rob Bell addresses one of the most controversial issues of faith-the afterlife-arguing, would a loving God send people to eternal torment forever…? Bell puts hell on trial, and his message is decidedly hopeful-eternal life doesn’t start when we die; it starts right now. And ultimately, Love Wins.” Pastor Bell I know you’re on a book tour right now, so thank you for taking out time to join us on State of Belief Radio. REV. ROB BELL, GUES…

Special Report: Have Evangelical Colleges Succumbed to “Theological Paranoia”?

By Chrissy Stroop

…the great questions of our time.” Giberson—now an Episcopalian and scholar-in-residence in science and religion at Stonehill College, a Catholic institution—has begun to express concern over a faculty “brain drain” from evangelical institutions. The Obama years have indeed been marked by an intense conservative crackdown on evangelical campuses, which has thus far proven impervious to the rise of alumni and student-led demands for change in the f…

Participant Discredits the Original Ex-Gay Study

By Warren Throckmorton

A participant in the first study to use the term “ex-gay” to describe gay-to-straight change has called the study into question. In 1980, E. Mansell Pattison and his wife Myrna Loy Pattison introduced the term “ex-gay” to the psychological literature via an article published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.* In that study, they claimed that 11 men participating in a crisis hotline at the Melodyland Christian Center, pastored by Ralph Wilkin…

Breivik’s Religious Pluralist Vision: A COEXIST Bumper Sticker Without the Crescent

By Michael J. Altman

…lobal Islamic Ummah.” While Breivik wants to ban race-mixing and limit the number of non-Europeans in his future Europe, he is quite happy to offer assistance “to our Buddhist and Hindu brothers if they request our help against Jihadi attacks or campaigns.” In the end, as long as everyone stays within their own ethno-religious territory, all is well. Fences make good neighbors in the wake of the clash of civilizations. Breivik hoped conservatives…