Search for "cheap airline tickets kyoto japan phone number 1-800-299-7264"

Snake-Handlers, False Messiahs, and a Few Great Souls: 14 Who Died in 2014

By Daniel Silliman

No other end-of-year list can hope to offer such profound juxtapositions: a groundbreaking female Mennonite pastor alongside an “immortalist”; the transcendent wisdom of a civil rights leader alongside one of the most hate-filled religious figures in contemporary memory. But here it is, a connect-the-dots portrait of a powerfully complicated American religious landscape, circa 2014. Vincent Gordon Harding Historian and theologian Vincent Gordon H…

Rage Against the New Age Machine: Three Days at the Osho International Meditation Resort

By Diane Winston

…ung) men and women from France, Italy, Germany, Russian, Israel, the U.S., Japan, Argentina and India. Some, like us, were there for a short stay, but others came to study at the multiversity for a week or even several months. Still others worked at the resort, supplying volunteer labor in exchange for courses. Seekers came to Osho to satisfy their spiritual needs. Most wanted to find their best self. My need, I realized as I yelled at the registr…

Pope Francis meets with bishop who blessed gay couple; Proposed NGO law in Uganda threatens LGBT groups, civil society; Interfaith sexuality organizing in Indonesia; global LGBT recap

By Peter Montgomery

…that the meeting represented “a turning point for global LGBT rights.” The Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia dedicates its latest issue to the theme, “Queer in Southeast Asia.” It includes articles on life for LGBT people in Myanmar, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand. NewNowNext.com highlights “Seven International LGBT Activists You Need to Know About.” Featured are Khader Abu Seif, a Palestinian living in Israel; Kasha Jacqueline Nab…

Beloved Immortals: Science, Miracles and ‘Jellyfish Time’

By Beatrice Marovich

…published a charming story in the New York Times about one such scientist. Japanese researcher Shin Kubota, Rich tells us, is the only scientist who maintains a captive population of the jelly called Turritopsis dohrnii, also known as the “immortal medusa” or, more simply, the “immortal jellyfish.” This species is able to—crudely speaking—reverse the aging process, returning to its earliest stage of development, and Kubota is the man who watches t…

World Congress of Families Blessed By Georgian Orthodox Patriarch and George W. Bush; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…residency was Rodrigo Duterte, a strongman mayor who has bragged about the number of extrajudicial killings during his tenure. Duterte has spoken in favor of LGBT equality and said he would consider legalizing marriage for same-sex coples. Cuba: U.S. Activists Join Mariela Castro For Pride Events Evan Wolfson, the American activists who master-minded the campaign for marriage equality in the U.S., joined other activists in Cuba for LGBT pride cele…

Pride Month & Prejudice; ‘Worrisome Time’ For LGBT People; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ciety,” he said. CNN traces the start of the backlash to early 2016 when a number of political leaders began making “unprompted attacks on Indonesia’s LGBT community.” It notes that conservative Islam is a growing political force, evident in the arrest and conviction of Jakarta’s Christian governor on blasphemy charges. The report says human rights activists have been disappointed by President Joko Widodo’s “lackluster” defense of LGBT people. Sal…

Saving Teens from Obama: When Bible Study Goes Wrong

By Vyckie Garrison

…waste American money to buy their expensive oil when we could have our own cheap oil?” “Why is he trying to make rich people poor?” “How is it right to punish rich people for working hard and realizing the American Dream?” It was late on a Friday night and I was tired, so I half-heartedly responded by explaining that there are other factors to consider in every charged question she’d been armed with. But I wondered, “Why the hell was the Salvation…

Burning Man: Religious Event or Sheer Hedonism?

By Lee Gilmore

…llar annual budget is funded almost exclusively by ticket sales, and these tickets are not cheap (ranging this year, for example, from $210-$300 depending on time of purchase). This pays for the basic infrastructure as well as expenses like a hefty per-person/per-day use fee charged by the Bureau of Land Management. In addition, a significant portion of each year’s budget is set aside to fund many of the large-scale art installations various parti…

LGBT’s, Opponents Prep for Vatican Synod; UN Rights Council Adopts LGBT Resolution; Brazil’s Evangelicals Eye Presidency; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…osta Rica, Cuba, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Montenegro, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, South Africa, Macedonia, the U.K., Venezuela and Vietnam voted for the proposal. Algeria, Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gabon, Indonesia, Kenya, Kuwait, Maldives, Morocco, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates opposed it. Burkina Faso, China, Congo, India, Kazakhstan, Namibia and Sierra Le…

Gambian President Threatens to Kill Asylum Seekers

By Peter Montgomery

…een the two worlds,” she said. Asia: IGLHRC Report on Anti-LBT Violence in Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka This week the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission released an in-depth report on violence against lesbian and bisexual women and trans people in Asia. Research teams working in five countries conducted 370 interviews, 230 with LBT people who had experience violence and the others with stakeholders such as l…