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Pope Backs Anti-Gay Referendum; Islamic State Executions Include Gay Syrian; ‘Conscience Clause’ Debated in Northern Ireland; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…pposing efforts by a radical cleric to open an Islamic youth center in the city, reports the National Post. Mr. Coderre, who met with spiritual leaders Wednesday in hopes of fostering dialogue in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris, said he will consult with borough mayor Réal Ménard about the plan. But Montreal’s mayor said he rejects Mr. Chaoui’s rigid views on democracy and homosexuality, and his suggestion that democracy and Islam…

A Brief History of Olympic Flames

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…ove every four years, that they could not and should not belong to any one city or nation. He called them “ambulatory” Games. And it was their very quality as a “moveable feast” that first generated the idea of the Olympic flame. It is a potent symbol, indeed, by far the most popular and recognizable ritual moment in all of the Games. Seven priestesses are appointed in Greece for each modern Olympiad. They gather in the heart of the excavated sanc…

25 Things You Can Blame Muslims For

By Haroon Moghul

…Arabic numbers are called ‘Indian numbers,’ and why, in the West, ‘Indian numbers’ are called ‘Arabic numbers.’ In India they’re just known as numbers. No matter what they’re called, I think we can all agree they make life a lot easier. 2. Coffee Muslims invented coffee, and coffee is a good thing, and no good thing ever dies. At best it goes cold. In fact, one of the reasons coffee took off is because religious Muslims preferred the beverage for…

A Tiny Little Mecca for
the West

By Haroon Moghul

…ric openness could be rediscovered, for its outlines still survive in this city. Most all its churches and synagogues still stand. And so I went back—the last thing I did with my free time. On Wednesday morning, after I woke up and showered, I went to Gazi Husrev Beg, climbed onto the patio and prayed. Behind me I could hear ablution fountains splashing, the sounds of a city waking up, a madrasa student practicing his lessons; and I didn’t want to…

Billy Graham, Most Famous Religious Figure of 20th C, Dies at 99

By Randall Balmer

…take three years, and several staff members would actually relocate to the city in order to coordinate the preparations in concert with local churches. In addition to Graham, the Association also sponsored a number of “associate evangelists,” including Howard Jones, Ralph Bell and Leighton Ford. The Association published Decision magazine, and Graham’s syndicated column, “My Answer,” appeared in newspapers across the nation. Politics By his own ac…

Civil Rights and Soul: Memphis 2010

By Lauri Lebo

…tricity.) But I digress. The final leg of my journey took me to Memphis, a city so filled with rich history (and terrific barbecue) that it would take weeks to properly explore. There I met a man, a sanitation worker, who marched with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the 1968 sanitation workers’ strike. Elmore Nickelberry, who at 79 is still making the nightly sanitation runs, driving a garbage truck through the city. I tagged along on o…

Beware of Yoga, Taking the Jesus Out of AA, Atheist Billboard Wars—The Sequel

By Michael J. Altman

…flag from a public Veterans Memorial. The ACLU of New Jersey is suing the city of Point Pleasant Beach over the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer at city council meetings. Oh, and by the way, Hitler invented the phrase “separation of church and state.” At least, that’s what Tea Party candidate Glen Urquhart claims. Could the coach’s Mormonism affect who plays quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles? Elsewhere in pro football, the Pittsburgh Steeler…

It’s Up to You, New York… To Oppose Islamophobia

By Randall Balmer

…rise to our better selves. It’s no accident that when Lyndon Johnson signed the Hart-Cellar act of 1965, which removed immigration quotas, he did so in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty. That legislation, more than any other factor, has literally reshaped the religious landscape of both New York City and the nation as Hindu temples, Sikh gurdwārās, Buddhist stupas and, yes, Muslim mosques now dot the countryside. In many respects, New York has…

Louie Giglio ‘White Blessing’ Incident Reveals Something Critical About Evangelical Efforts to Address Racism

By Jeremy L. Sabella

…white sensibilities (it’s worth noting that the leadership team of Passion City church is overwhelmingly white despite being headquartered in a predominantly black city). And while the thoughtful wording of the apology contrasted nicely with his earlier verbal carelessness, its emotionally effusive delivery focused attention on the affect behind the words. This replicated the centering of white feelings that routinely undermines substantive discou…

Anglican Bishops Punish Episcopal Church Over LGBT Inclusion; Secularization’s Role in Moving Latin America ‘Beyond Machismo’; Greek Orthodox Bishop Says Gays Deserve Respect; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…Latin American politicians of supporting gay rights. In 2009, when Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, a left-wing politician famous for his social liberalism, signed into law Mexico City’s same-sex marriage ordinance, he tuned a deaf ear to the Catholic Church’s threat of excommunication. That would have been unthinkable only a few years prior. Former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, today hailed as a gay rights heroine for her…