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More Bleak Times For Indonesian LGBTs; South Africa Bans Extremist Anti-Gay US Pastor; Mexican Marriage Struggle Heats Up; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…nt’s proposal could mean civil celebrants, marriage registrars and wedding service providers like bakers and florists are all free to discriminate.” The Greek Orthodox Church of Australia is among those opposing marriage equality; a recent post on the marriage page of the church’s website explains why the author believes “saying ‘no’ to same-sex marriage is a way of showing love, not rejection.” Hong Kong: Openly gay legislative council member re-…

Blasphemy and Betrayal: The Murder of Salman Taseer

By Anna Bigelow

…pulation traumatized by the upheavals of partition, “You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other places of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed—that has nothing to do with the business of the State.” Would that Jinnah had survived longer (he died in 1948) to secure that principle in Pakistani society. Instead, the now over sixty-year struggle to…

‘Cancel Culture’ Is as Old as Religion, And It’s Only a Thing Because of Who’s Doing the Cancelling

By Shaul Magid

…r even on your Facebook page, seems like protesting too much. That kind of freedom was never given, nor should it be foisted on, any community, publication, or platform. In addition, the “cancel culture” police seem to be playing both sides of the wager. That is, they decry being “cancelled” but maintain their state of privilege and thus use their “cancellation” as proof they’re saying something important. That’s because, ironically, the mere fact…

For International Human Rights Day, a Snapshot of LGBT Rights from the Vatican to Cape Town

By Peter Montgomery

…society as a whole.” Turkey: More analysis of European Human Rights Court free expression ruling At Article 19, Andrew Smith provides additional analysis of the recent European Court of Human Rights decision that the government of Turkey violated freedom of expression when it confiscated copies of a magazine published by LGBT advocacy group Kaos GL more than a decade ago. The finding of a violation is obviously welcome: to our knowledge, it is th…

Books Must be Hardbound, Quotes Whole, and Genitalia Scrubbed

By Joseph Laycock

…genitalia, they were told that any parody of religious art is offensive and cannot be displayed. The SBAS stall was then removed entirely from a student fair. Publically mocking religious truth claims probably isn’t very productive, and not all government institutions must be “religion-free zones.” But in a democratic society, the same rules must apply to everyone. These cases point to a pattern of de facto censorship of atheism. The good news is…

Gays Are Oppressing Christian Florists, and Other Dishonest Arguments

By Eric C. Miller

…s fellow citizens – citizens, it should noted, who want nothing more than “freedom for all.” But let’s be honest. The SBC does not want freedom for the LGBT community. As I’ve argued before, there is simply no way for conservative Christian advocates to make this claim unless they erase about 45 years of anti-gay antagonism. The issue does not exist in a vacuum; the slate is not blank. I tweeted this point to Walker, who didn’t take the bait. Stil…

The Battle for the Bible Against Christian Nationalism Seeks to Continue Historic Campaign

By Frederick Clarkson

…ory of recognizing that the state can use its power to take away religious freedom.” The kind of religious freedom the panelists discussed, of course, isn’t the Orwellian distortion posed by the Christian Right in both its Catholic and evangelical wings, in which religious freedom is invoked in order to justify the oppression of others, but the liberatory idea of religious freedom for all, including the non-religious, that traditional Baptists hav…

Secure Borders? Not a Chance, Senator

By Ira Chernus

…own spiritual/cultural values. Liberals see porous borders as a symbol of freedom: free movement, free choice, and the free creativity generated by the intermingling of peoples. To conservatives, the very presence of so many Illegal “aliens” proves that the borders they once imagined as the key to a safe, orderly life have long been crumbling around them. To give undocumented people legal status would be further proof that the nation’s walls and…

Bill to Stone Gays to Death Introduced in Kenya

By Peter Montgomery

…to call themselves NGOs and apply for development aid,credit schemes, tax-free status, and government funding even if they do not directly address social issues. In contrast, secular NGOs face far tougher restrictions by the Ugandan government and are prohibited from engaging in any political or advocacy-based issues. Most damaging, this charity model promotes the privatisation of social services for evangelical target groups over the right to he…

RDPulpit: EFCA Needed to Stop Employers from Bearing False Witness

By Kim Bobo

…. This fear has generated a tornado of employer opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act. For those who work for ethical employers or have never experienced this damaging practice wielded against workers, it is hard to understand all the dust thrown up by the tornado. Employer groups led by the Chamber of Commerce are in a tizzy, claiming the sky will fall if the bill is passed. Labor groups are united in their support for EFCA, believing it is…