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Malta Adopts Marriage Equality Over Objections of Catholics and Evangelicals; And More in Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…f same sex ‘marriage’ was invited as a guest of honour to the Church of England’s July General Synod meeting. Although the Church of England’s legal position on marriage has not changed, its understanding of sexual morality has. Same sex relationships, which were described by Lambeth Resolution I.10 of 1998 as ‘incompatible with Scripture’ now receive approval at the highest level. For example, Vicky Beeching, a singer, songwriter and activist who…

Clergy May Soon Find Taxes Soaring As Result of an Under-the-Radar Ruling

By Patrick Hornbeck

…best endowed financially, provide parsonages. But over time, an increasing number of clergy have made their own living arrangements. Churches found parsonages prohibitively expensive; congregants preferred to see their donations go toward services rather than clergy housing; and new religious ventures, especially the nondenominational and evangelical churches that began to flourish in the second half of the twentieth century, could not boast the h…

Vatican Reverses Anti-Liberation Policies in Mexico

By Ruth Chojnacki and Jennifer Scheper Hughes

…ate, an ancient institution revived by Vatican II. In 2000, 341 of Mexico’s 800 deacons served the Diocese of San Cristobal, the largest number of deacons in any Catholic diocese in the world. Vatican suspicion of Bishop Ruiz’s liberationist pastoral strategy resulted in a failed attempt to remove him in 1993. The deacon program came under particular scrutiny after the 1994 Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, with reports that Maya catechists defied th…

Global LGBT Recap: “Lavender Fascism,” Rage in India, Pope Francis Ousts Culture Warrior

By Peter Montgomery

…e-sex couples who were married in other countries will be recognized in England and Wales as being married. (Marriage equality is expected to move forward in Scotland next year as well.) According to Gay Star News, the government is also working on plans that will allow married people wanting to change their legal gender, while remaining married, to do so. In contrast to last week’s news from Croatia, the progress in the UK illustrates the growing…

Global Precap: 5 Religion and LGBT Stories to Look For in 2015

By Peter Montgomery

…appeals in cases coming out of five states. Marriage equality came to Scotland at the end of 2014, joining England and Wales; marriage equality also spread in Mexico. In contrast, Slovakia’s lawmakers amended their constitution to ban marriage by same-sex couples. In 2015, marriage equality will become a reality in Luxembourg and Ireland is gearing up for a marriage equality referendum in May. In Chile, President Michelle Bachelet is a supporter…

Trans Protections in India and Malta; Death-by-Stoning Law in Brunei; Church-State Divides on Marriage

By Peter Montgomery

…id, “We don’t accept homosexuality…we hate it because Allah hates it.” Scotland: Congregations Leaving Church of Scotland Over Moves Toward Gay Inclusion The Church of Scotland voted last May to allow gay men and women to be ordained; legislation will be drafted this year and go to regional presbyteries before returning for final approval in 2015. But according to Pink News, some churches are quitting the denomination before next month’s General A…

Global LGBT Recap: Promise and Peril in the New Year

By Peter Montgomery

…establish Dwayne’s House, a permanent shelter for homeless LGBT youth. Thailand: New LGBT-Rights Political Party in the Works LGBT activists in Thailand are working to create a new political party this year, but say they don’t have time to have it up and running for upcoming elections. According to a December 29 story in the Bangkok Post, the party “will be named the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression Rights Party, or the SOGIE Rig…

The Sacred and the Dead: The Trouble with Sugar Magnolia

By Kaya Oakes

…camped in the parking lot behind my high school, and when they came to Oakland, they camped behind my mother’s office in the Oakland Public Schools building. A special series on religion and culture produced in collaboration with the Office of Religious Life at the University of Southern California Like a lot of Bay Area Gen X kids, many of my friends’ parents were of the original generation Deadheads, with deep ties to the band and its mobile su…

More Mixed Signals from Pope Francis; Church of England Wrestles with Rifts; Faith Groups Lobby Pro & Con on Irish Referendum; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…. Archbishop John Sentamu, who had participated in the ordination of Libby Lane as the Church of England’s first female bishop last month, was among those who exhibited this “gracious restraint.” Writes Reader: This is, so we are to understand from Sentamu, not to imply a theology of “taint” around women priests, although you could be forgiven for thinking that some kind of theological lurgy must still be lingering in the air. It is certainly rema…

Waiting for Lightning to Strike: A Wobbly Agnostic among the Atheists

By Carolyn S. Briggs

…now it’s nonsense. 2000 years of any day now.” Their advertising campaign plans include one in which aerial banners will be flown over all fifty states that read, “God less America” and “Atheism is patriotic.” And there are more plans, ambitious ones, especially for the coming largest secular event anywhere, ever. People applaud this news, a murmur through the convention hall, Blackberries and iPhones tweeting on all sides of me. “When you come o…