Search for "cheap airline tickets from belgrade to new york phone number 1-800-299-7264"

A Peek Inside the ‘Onion’ of Scientology

By Kristin Rawls

…ional tools, and they fund the Church. The rules are bent for them. In the New Yorker piece on Paul Haggis, he tells this great story about how he always had doubts about Scientology and [whether] it worked—notably, once he got to the higher levels. He would talk to his auditor about them, and the auditor would allow it. That does not happen if you’re not a celebrity or otherwise big deal funder of the Church. My source, Kendra Wiseman has parents…

Two Women and a Mosque: A Convert Community Grows in Panama City

By Aliyya Swaby

…d advice from Prophet Muhammad. I grew up Muslim in a series of mosques in New York. As a child in Brooklyn, I was surrounded by families like mine: black, Muslim, converts. But when my family moved to the suburbs, that support system fell away. I had been taught repeatedly that Islam was colorblind, that everyone was born Muslim, that Allah was for everyone. But, a minority within a minority group, I always felt like I was living at the fringe of…

Turkish Police Move Against Activists Who Defied Pride Ban; And More in Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…hich included lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Catholics from around New York and the five dioceses in New Jersey. “I am your brother, as a disciple of Jesus. I am your brother, as a sinner who finds mercy with the Lord.” The welcoming of a group of openly gay people to Mass by a leader of Cardinal Tobin’s standing in the Roman Catholic Church in this country would have been unthinkable even five years ago. But Cardinal Tobin, whom Pope Fran…

Is Zionism No Longer Able to Offer Solutions to the Present Reality?

By Shaul Magid

…it enables liberal Zionists to remain “troubled and yet committed.” Not a new reality, a new story What Hartman is trying to do in his essay is make liberal Zionists relevant again; to make them part of a conversation that now largely excludes them. He argues that liberal Zionists should simply ignore the anti-Zionist “untroubled uncommitted.” While I disagree with his assessment that much of that group traffics in antisemitism (certainly some do…

Papal Retirement: A Matter of Conscience

By Mary E. Hunt

…ning. What is news this time around is that rank and file Catholics want a new Church, not just a new pope. We know that change is in the air because we put it there. Progressive Catholics all over the world are creating new forms of church since the old is so thoroughly discredited. No institution can withstand the onslaught of negative publicity that the Vatican earned over clergy sexual abuse and episcopal cover-ups without major changes. No hi…

RD News Round-Up—September 29, 2008

By Bill Berkowitz

…economic woes plaguing the state and the country if elected president,” OneNewsNow, a news service sponsored by the American Family Association, recently reported. Matthew 25 Network founder Mara Vanderslice “says her group is hoping to run its latest pro-Obama ad in Cleveland, Youngstown, Cincinnati, and Columbus, as well as in smaller locales such as Findlay and Mount Vernon. Salem Radio affiliate WFHM 95.5 ‘The Fish’ in Cleveland is already run…

Conservative Catholics Unhappy About New Book on LGBTs and The Church; and More in the Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…lled the paper’s staff “enemies of our faith and of our country.” In other news, Pink News reports that bloggers using the Live Journal platform are being forced to abide by Russia’s anti-gay “propaganda” law now that its servers have been transferred to Russia; a Russian media company acquired the service in 2007. Indonesia: Court shields local Sharia regulations; men face public lashing for homosexuality The Constitution Court ruled that the nat…

Is Eddie Long Preparing For a Confession?

By Anthea Butler

…sounds like someone trying to prepare their loved ones for some difficult news. Will New Birth congregants accept more revelations about their beloved “Bishop”? The people I encountered today were either sold out to Bishop Long, or looked a little stunned that they didn’t hear a strong denial. Doubt may begin to work on the hearts and minds of the faithful if the allegations mount, and the time to trial drags on. Finally, and perhaps most worriso…

Tibet is Burning: Is the Freedom Movement Entering a New Phase?

By Tsering Namgyal

…lence, but a commitment to action? Does the Tibetan movement have the potential, like other recent movements, to manifest itself in more aggressive forms? Or, has self-immolation become a new modus operandi of the Tibetan movement? Whatever the answers, it does seem that the movement for Tibetan freedom is indeed entering a new phase. …

Conservative French Catholics a ‘Rightwing Patriarchal Bunch’?; Indonesian Prez Decries Anti-LGBT Discrimination; Romanian Prez Warns Against ‘Religious Fanaticism’; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…otland: ‘Profound cultural shift’ behind embrace of gay politicians In the New York Times, Katrin Benhold writes about a “profound cultural shift” that has led to the country’s embrace of openly gay politicians, including leaders of three of the five major political parties, four government ministers, the secretary of state for Scotland in Britain’s government, and “the gayest Parliament in the world.” In the span of a generation, Scotland has she…