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Finding Love—and Dogma—in Unexpected Places: Jeff Chu’s Gay Christian Odyssey

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…fear. One of my goals was to meet the members of Westboro as humans. Their welcome could not have been warmer. We had pizza with them. By “we,” I mean me and my photographer and videographer. (I called them my “human security blanket” because I didn’t want to go by myself.) It’s a little unnerving, the ease with which they used words that, to me, would be considered offensive—and just slipping in the word “fag” into every other sentence, that’s no…

The Curious Case of Mormons and LGBT Rights

By Alan Michael Williams

…ge off the table, LGBT politics in Utah does not “advocate domesticity and promote consumption under the name of equality politics.” It engenders grassroots, cross-party dialogue that takes into consideration the needs of various households—single, gay, straight, and other. This community-based politicking was embodied by the 2009 “Common Ground Initiative” (CGI) formulated by Equality Utah. Although the CGI is no longer Equality Utah’s stated mis…

Four Changes Evangelicals Must Make

By Richard Pierard

…I, as a historian, am reasonably well-informed, and the opportunity was a welcome interruption from the incessant bombardment of election propaganda and the absurd claims so-called Christian politicians were then making. Once again, in the U.S. election campaign, our evangelicals—including among them many of “my” Baptists—were promoting a slew of “social issues,” but precious little “gospel.” Self-proclaimed and media-designated evangelicals…

New Pope, Old Message for LGBTs

By Peter Montgomery

…rio Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, seems likely to be a welcome progressive voice on economic justice issues and an unsurprisingly conservative voice on doctrinal and social issues. In Argentina, he was a strident but unsuccessful opponent of marriage equality for same-sex couples, which he reportedly called “a destructive pretention against the plan of God… a machination of the Father of Lies that seeks to confuse and deceive t…

Stephenie Meyer, Mormon Feminist?!

By Joanna Brooks

…s her a Mormon feminist! And to which, as a fellow Mormon feminist, I say: WELCOME, STEPHENIE! It takes guts for a Mormon woman to call herself a feminist. It really does. There are few religious communities in the United States where feminism is more hotly debated or purposefully misunderstood than in Mormonism, and few American churches have a stronger historical record of opposition to legal equality for women. There are plenty of people skepti…

Are Women “Secondary” in Catholic Church?

By Elizabeth Drescher

…der-biased religious tradition in the West, it seems worth considering how welcome women really are in Christian churches across the denominational spectrum. As mainline churches continue to decline in overall membership, Americans believe the Catholic Church is out of touch, and as the religiously unaffiliated continue to grow in number, how women—the majority of active church-goers—experience the church is hardly a secondary concern. Gendered ch…

Pope-lication

By Evan Derkacz

…pope. Should that happen, John Ortved’s cover letter is already written. A welcome puff of humor from McSweeney’s, Ortved’s letter begins with a gaffe that betrays his gender-inclusive liberal arts education: “Dear sir or madam, I am writing to apply for the position of Pope,” and dutifully includes relevant experience: As your website notes, the role of Pope includes “Guiding the College of Cardinals, and the masses.” Through my participation in…

Spiritual-Not-Religious or Just Lazy?

By Kate Blanchard

…ever doing enough. But while Daniel has not provided an obviously warm welcome for those who may be trying to figure out a way to be in religious community, it is possible to detect a bit of tenderness between the snarky lines. She admits to being someone who was never quite sure where she belonged; church, for her, provides a body of people who accept her. She tells a story of struggling with depression over a dying cat; church is where peopl…

Marriage Equality Vote Costs Conservative MP a Trip to Australia

By Peter Montgomery

…ed for Sydney, Australia in May. The letter telling Smith he was no longer welcome says the bill he supported “is at odds with the World Congress of Families’ definition of the natural family, marriage, and a child’s right to be raised by its mother and father.” The World Congress of Families is one vehicle by which American religious conservatives export their anti-abortion and anti-gay-rights ideologies (or as they would put it, their support fo…

The Year in Mormons: Top 7 Stories of 2012

By Joanna Brooks

…n from 21 to 19. The policy change, announced in October, was hailed as a welcome step towards leveling life expectations and opportunities for religious study and service among young Mormon men and women. And it resulted in a dramatic spike of new missionary applications from young Mormon women. (More here.) 3. Mormon athletes prove more popular than Mormon presidential candidate. That’s a hunch, not a scientific observation: we’re still waiting…