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UN Human Rights Council Creates LGBT Watchdog; Orthodox Council Affirms Traditional Teaching on Family; Pope Francis Says Church Should Apologize to Gays; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…nt for generating news with off the cuff remarks with reporters aboard the papal plane. Francis was asked about comments made a few days earlier by German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who said the Church had treated gay people in a “scandalous and terrible” way. Reuters reports: In the hour-long freewheeling conversation that has become a trademark of his international travels, Francis was asked if he agreed with recent comments by a German Roman Catho…

Rumors of the Suicide of the Liberal Church Are Exaggerated: A Response to Chris Hedges

By Mark Hulsether

…on its grave ever since. There is nothing new about this. UTS has sold off parts of its property several times in the past to stay afloat, and Columbia University has already taken over parts of its quadrangle. Will the current sale be enough to stop the bleeding? Maybe. This depends largely on the wider trajectories of liberal churches, as well as fine print to which Hedges and I are not privy. Is it a fatal compromise? I seriously doubt it. Is t…

UPDATED: Oklahoma Personhood Bill Not Dead…

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…future. Others, though, are breathing a sigh of relief. Atlee Breland, of Parents Against Personhood (and past RD contributor) told me that her organization is “so pleased that the Oklahoma Legislature chose not to pass personhood legislation. The extraordinary number of amendments to this bill makes it clear that the medical issues involved with infertility treatment, contraception, and pregnancy care are far too complex, and that medical decisi…

As New Poll Finds “Increased Xenophobic Streak,” Republicans Heighten Anti-Muslim Rhetoric

By Sarah Posner

…of moderate and liberal Republicans, 43 percent of Democrats, and 35 percent of independents reported being “very interested” in the 2016 campaign, compared to 61 percent of conservative Republicans….

Lessons from the Defeat of the Oklahoma Personhood Bill

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…ve mentioned before in my coverage of SB-1433, I live in Oklahoma and have participated, in a volunteer capacity, in efforts to keep SB-1433 from becoming law.] Archbishop Coakley of Oklahoma wrote this letter to all the priests in his diocese urging them to advocate for SB-1433 at Mass on the Sunday before the anticipated floor fight. Well, there was a fight, but SB-1433 was never heard, and now the deadline has expired. In the aftermath, it seem…

Ministries of Presence: A Report from Nepal

By Cathleen Falsani

…hoping to offer some kind of spiritual aid, solace, or direction to the Nepalese. In generations past, we might simply have labeled this cohort “missionaries,” visitors hoping to share their version of the gospel truth with the broken and brokenhearted. A Bible verse and hand prints of many of the more than three dozen children who live there decorates a wall at Mendies Haven, the orphanage outside Kathmandu run by Charles Mendies’ family for 60…

Mormons Prepare to March in Seven LGBT Parades this Weekend

By Joanna Brooks

…o friends and family, including Mormons in mixed-orientation marriages and parents of gay LDS children. Their telling of personal stories has an impact on close-knit LDS communities and kinship networks: when Mormons recognize how many families in their wards and stakes are grappling with LGBT issues, it makes it much more difficult for these issues to be framed in oppositional “us” versus “them,” “Mormons” versus “the world” terms, as it was duri…

The Harlot Shall Be Burned with Fire: Biblical Literalism in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

By Sarah Sentilles

…g the second, which is even more brutal, the discomfort in the theater was palpable. I was uncomfortable, not only because I was terrified by watching someone raped, but because it was unclear what I was supposed to make of the violence. It was unclear what kind of gaze the camera was asking me to assume. Yes, Dragon Tattoo makes it clear that rape is wrong. The film also makes it clear that Lisbeth resists, fiercely, as much as she can given that…

How a Ruling for Masterpiece Cakeshop Could Embolden White Nationalists

By Sunnivie Brydum

…ed on a highly effective framing of “religious freedom,” which painted any participation in or association with abortion as a heretical infringement on the “sincerely held religious beliefs” of true believers. “On the one hand, conservative Christians have managed to frame their opposition in a way that is compelling to a lot of people,” Wenger said. “They are making a kind of freedom of conscience claim for themselves, but it’s doing so in a way…

As Pat Robertson Retires, Here Are 10 of His Most Cringeworthy Moments

By Chrissy Stroop

…quite plausible story. In 1998, however, Robertson did have this to say to participants in Orlando’s Pride Festival, referring to rainbow flags: “I would warn Orlando that you’re right in the way of some serious hurricanes, and I don’t think I’d be waving those flags in God’s face if I were you.” In 2005, he also made some vague remarks on The 700 Club to the effect that legal abortion just might have something to with the prevalence of terrorist…