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Mexico moves toward national marriage equality; Greek govt announces civil partnership legislation; Pope warns against ‘secularism and relativism’; Global LGBT recap

By Peter Montgomery

…Blade’s Michael Lavers this week reported on LGBT pride events around the world, including the participation of U.S. diplomats in some pride celebrations: U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus John Koenig on June 7 marched in the second annual Pride parade in Nicosia, the capital of the island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, alongside his counterparts from Australia, Austria and the U.K. The U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominica…

Despite Conflation of Israel with Judaism, Anti-Zionism is More Kosher Than You Think

By Seth Sanders

…aeli flags near the ark of the Torah in synagogues across America and the world. This development was criticized by another Israel Prize winner, the chemist and theologian Yeshayahu Leibowitz, as being akin to the worship of the golden calf for which God originally threatened to permanently destroy Israel. It may be that a number of today’s Jews, religious and nonreligious alike, who see ongoing genocide in Gaza will view a violent nation-state as…

‘Heretics’ or ‘Atheists’? A Response

By Rachel Ozanne

…. Simply identifying as an atheist at first felt uncomfortable to me for a number of reasons. All of my family members remained Christian, so it was easier for me to tell them that I was “searching,” or at least agnostic, rather than atheist. Additionally, I wasn’t sure that the label applied to me. Finally, now, as a historian of religion, when I introduce myself to strangers, they inevitably ask me about my religious commitments. When I explain…

The Revolution Will Not Be Fetishized: Taking Resistance Beyond the Spiritual Industrial Complex

By Andrea R. Jain

…that guarantees both freedom of and from religion. Hence, I am certain the number of self-proclaimed “spiritual but not religious” people at the marches on January 21st was significant. But, more importantly, I wonder what those spiritual people will do now to resist the oppressive policies and efforts of the Trump administration? It is not enough to raise their signs at Women’s Marches, lower their bodies into downward dog at Lolë “peace” events,…

Single, But Married To Jesus

By Anthea Butler

…Having a husband meant that they could not give their ultimate all for the number one man on most African-American womens’ lips, and it’s not Denzel. It’s Jesus. For many women in churches like COGIC, being in love with Jesus means that most other men, whether desirable as a husband or not, stood in the way of the number one relationship. One person I interviewed even had a name for it: “being loosed” from your husband to do the Lord’s work. “Bein…

Ministries of Presence: A Report from Nepal

By Cathleen Falsani

…o see because one of the indictments against the church in the developing world has been so-called ‘rice Christianity,’ and to be honest, there was a lot of truth to that,” Mendies said. ‘I went for friendship’ Chris Heuertz visits with some of the younger members of his longtime friends, the Rai family, in Kathmandu on May 1, 2015. Photo by Cathleen Falsani. Chris Heuertz, co-founder with his wife, Phileena, of the Gravity Center for Contemplativ…

Mormonism’s “9/11 Mosque Moment”

By Joanna Brooks

…olleague Hussein Rashid pointed out in this must-read piece), Mormons, the number two most disliked religion in America, have no business contributing to public rage against the number one most disliked religion in America. Nor in trafficking in falsehoods like “Islam is an ideology, not a religion,” a line I’ve been hearing from a few Mormons in recent days. Islam is in fact a religion for which Mormon leaders from the time of George A. Smith…

3 Reasons Catholic Bishops Are Holding Their Tongues on GOP Health Care Debacle

By Patricia Miller

…not to … preventing birth.” But, as New York Times reports, under Trump a number of anti-contraception activists have been given prominent roles in the administration. They are moving not just to finalize a rule that would allow any entity to opt-out of the contraceptive mandate for any reason, which has long been on the bishops’ wish list, but have a history of attacking contraception in general. Katy Talento, who is now a White House domestic p…

Did North Carolinians Vote Against their Own Beliefs?

By Peter Montgomery

The most dispiriting number to come out of North Carolina today was the huge margin of victory for a constitutional amendment that, as Candace has noted, will not only forbid same-sex couples from getting married, but will strip couples of any legal protections that might have been offered through domestic partnerships or civil unions. The broad wording of the amendment is more evidence that anti-gay advocates are lying when they say they’re only…

Growing Up Gay in 666: Fred Phelps in Retrospect

By Scott Blaine Swenson

…ify hate and violence. And while the coincidence of being born under the “Sign of the Beast” in Topeka 666 is still a little unnerving, there are differing opinions about the number’s translation. Some theologians suggest the number should really be 616, in which case, all eyes on Peoria, Illinois….