Religion Dispatches
…r children by forming a contract between themselves and their government designating each other as the guardian of the children they are raising together. Congratulations, North Carolina. Welcome to the 16th century. Take voter Joe Easterling’s twisted and tortured logic for voting in support of the amendment: “I know that some people may argue that the Bible may not necessarily be applicable, or it should not be applicable, on such policy matters…
Read More
…Citizens of the Christian Republic of Texas have taken the broadcast as a sign of the long-overdue apocalypse. Meanwhile, the Head Dawkins of the English Secular Atheist Community has announced that the “…discovery of alien life once-and-for-all disproves the idea of a creator god.” But Christians are left wondering whether the papal encyclical will explain how the crucifixion of Christ redeemed the Sagittarians, or whether they had need of their…
Read More…at 50 religious leaders, including the 21 who were on the Cathedral steps, signed reads: I, ______________, pledge and commit to the American people that I will uphold and defend the freedom of conscience and religion of all individuals by rejecting and speaking out, without reservation, against bigotry, discrimination, harassment and violence based on religion or belief. The event was hosted by the Cathedral and the Shoulder-to-Shoulder campaign,…
Read More…l worldview,” and that they testify to their own salvation. (Notably, in a sign of possible reasons for Trump’s decline, Bloomberg reports that likely Iowa Republican caucus-goers “remain uncertain about Trump’s Christian credentials. Only about a third consider him a committed Christian, while 28 percent say he isn’t and 40 percent say they’re not sure.”) Ben Carson has spent years burnishing his credentials as a religious right ideologue, and ha…
Read More…at the chance to celebrate with tens of thousands of people. They carried signs like “Stop the persecution of gays in the Arab world” and “Your life isn’t worth more than mine.” So it felt like a deep betrayal when local officials banned the march at the last minute and police turned tear gas, plastic bullets, and water cannons on participants. (Turkish LGBT activists are not sure why the event was shut down after years without incident, but it f…
Read More
…riage.” Kathleen E. Jenkin’s careful study of divorced Christians suggests significant unease, pain, and shame on the issue of divorce and remarriage among believers, and churches have responded in creative ways that provide both theological and practical avenues for divorced persons—as evidenced, for example, in new Catholic rules on annulments. Yet the dissonance is not fully resolved. For example, in online chatrooms and in advice columns, evan…
Read More
…in Germany when a Polish man tossed him something to eat while making the sign of the cross. John joined the Jesuits, engaged in study and formation, doing it all right until he fell in love. The rest is an important chapter in church history. Starting with his hallmark book, The Church and the Homosexual (1976), John was a public advocate in print and on the airwaves for opening discussion. He urged new ways of thinking religiously about same-se…
Read More…licenses is not in itself evil. Yet, while Kim Davis is still required to sign the name of her moral person to official documents, she still fears implicating her moral person in — what, to her, are — immoral acts. In this case, the problem that Ms. Davis had in signing the marriage licenses because they transgressed her conscience could be obviated by calling attention to the fact that it was not Kim Davis in person with a conscience and religio…
Read More…centage will likely drop later on, the paper notes. Still, the numbers are significant, said Stonewall Scotland director Colin Macfarlane. “The fact that nearly 500 same-sex couples have married since January shows just how important equal marriage is to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans people,” he told the Daily Record. “There can be no denying that the policy of equal marriage has been a huge success.” It will take at least two years to change…
Read More
…cheap. A package of 50 classes in the Hamptons (which includes early class signups) runs for $4,000. New York magazine interviewed one New York City rider who, by the magazine’s estimate, was spending more than $21,000 on SoulCycle each year. A single class, sans early sign-up perks, costs nearly as much as a month-long membership at my local YMCA. Meanwhile, back on SoulCycle’s website, instructors describe their work in frankly spiritual languag…
Read More