Search for "VIPREG2024 1xbet welcome bonus promo code Montenegro"

‘Empty the Pews’ Chronicles the ‘Nurtured Insanity’ of a Fundamentalist Upbringing

By Frank Schaeffer

…and since I’ve been a bit of a pioneer in speaking out about leaving it, I welcome this book of essays. It heralds the arrival of the next wave of questioners I helped unleash by asking some questions of myself through my novels, nonfiction books, and media appearances. A large part of what Empty the Pews does is capture a generational exodus from toxic Christianity from the perspective of (for the most part) former believers. What is the usefulne…

Obama’s Gay Marriage Support Shocks Black Church

By Anthea Butler

…esents a de-evolution, but for many others the president’s declaration was welcome news. The National Action network posted a letter signed by Rev. Al Sharpton, Julian Bond, Melanie Campbell, and Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery embracing the decision, while Rev. Jamal Bryant, megachurch prosperity pastor, was vocal in his opposition: Our faith reserves marriage for a man and a woman. President Obama, as a product of the black church, is fully aware of that…

Finding Love—and Dogma—in Unexpected Places: Jeff Chu’s Gay Christian Odyssey

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…fear. One of my goals was to meet the members of Westboro as humans. Their welcome could not have been warmer. We had pizza with them. By “we,” I mean me and my photographer and videographer. (I called them my “human security blanket” because I didn’t want to go by myself.) It’s a little unnerving, the ease with which they used words that, to me, would be considered offensive—and just slipping in the word “fag” into every other sentence, that’s no…

Lesbian Rabbi to Lead SoCal Board, Includes Orthodox

By Benjamin Weiner

…ive themselves the latitude to rule ex cathedra that gays and lesbians are welcome, Conservative Jews (not to mention the Orthodox) must find some way to square this socially enlightened perspective with the book of Leviticus. When, two years ago, the Conservative movement did find a way to accept the ordination of openly gay and lesbian Jews as rabbis and cantors, and to condone commitment ceremonies (as opposed to marriages) it was through a tsh…

World Meeting of Families Again Positions Queer Catholics as Children

By Ashley O'Mara

…he audience at a talk that Fr. James Martin, SJ, gave on “How Parishes Can Welcome LGBT Catholics” at last week’s World Meeting of Families (WMF) in Dublin. It was only the second time that a presentation on LGBT Catholics headlined at the WMF, a triennial “congress” organized by the Vatican. But for queer Catholics like me, the painful irony of “There is only us” is that Fr. Martin’s talk focused on “them”—meaning the very LGBT Catholics he seeks…

The Problem with the Discussion of Race and the Tea Party Movement

By Julie Ingersoll

…ossible to distinguish, in language, between advocating lynching and being welcomed into the best country clubs. The only label we have is “racist.” So it sounds preposterous to some of us (with systemic views of racism) when someone says that the NAACP raising the issue of racism in the Tea Party “is racist.” It sounds ridiculous to them (with individual views of racism) when we say that current social problems in the United States are rooted in…

Tony Perkins Has A Point

By Lauri Lebo

…erence for our Savior, show clips of them. All of us can tolerate and even welcome discussion over religious differences. But when it comes to mocking the Person Christians believe was God in the flesh, the Savior of the world, under the guise of humor, we’re compelled to speak out. We ask that you please email Comedy Central’s parent company Viacom, and kindly ask them to not allow this show to make it onto their schedule. I never thought I would…

Furious, Shaking, and Nauseated

By Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado

…source for pastoral agendas, describing resident aliens as vulnerable and promoting a moral responsibility toward them. The concern for the survival of the vulnerable and the love of strangers found within this tradition make a significant starting point for an immigrant-friendly position. The gospels can be quoted in a similar manner. Matthew 25 is most-often cited as the foundation of compassion towards the immigrant, in particular when Jesus e…

Report From Paris: Who Is Naomi Klein, Religiously?

By Donna Schaper

…the invitation of Cardinal Turkson of Ghana, perhaps the next Pope, was a welcome surprise to her. Klein approaches the climate crisis morally; the Pope approaches them sacramentally. The two foundations need each other, or so I learned in seminary. Klein listens well to what happened in Copenhagen. The African nations walked out en mass. They were chanting, “2% is mass suicide. We will not die quietly.” She seems to actually care about the neigh…

Communion or Disunion?

By Mary E. Hunt

…tholic feminists worked the center aisle to assure everyone that they were welcome to receive Communion: “Marge would want you to do so” was their message. Many did. William Sloan Coffin, a well-known Protestant pastor found his way to the Communion line. The Presbyterian clergy colleague on my left and the Catholic pro-choice leader on my right went up the center aisle for Communion. No bells sounded, no lights flickered, no one was struck off th…