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Vick Redeemed by Record-Breaking Performance

By Anthea Butler

…ll the wrong he committed to pit bulls. Giving up his body to the pain, by running, passing, and strategizing his way into the record books, (bruised ribs and all), his penance is made pure in the eyes of the public because of the resulting touchdowns. That is, if one believes in penance. Judging from some of the commentary, prison isn’t even enough to garner forgiveness. Had the Eagles not taken a chance in signing Vick, I don’t think he would ha…

Islamophobia and Racism: Civil Rights at the Breaking Point

By Erik Love

…ing to read this rather depressing book, my intention is to show them the truth, no matter how unpleasant. I tried my best to deliver the truth as it was told to me by the dozens of advocates I spoke with, and as I saw it in the archival record. If I am even partially successful, then anyone who reads the book will want to learn more about what these remarkable advocates are doing. I hope some will get inspired to become more personally involved i…

High on Drugs: Breaking the Just Say No Addiction

By Gary Laderman

Forget the war on drugs. As Jimmy Carter recently argued in the New York Times, it is time to call off this wasted effort, heed the recommendations of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, and create more reasonable, empirically-based, economically beneficial rules and regulations. It is time to shift policies, attitudes, and responses in the face of a rampant hunger for drugs across all sectors of society. Let’s face facts: despite the vacuous s…

Frodo and Mormon Share Stage in South Park Mormon Musical

By Seth Perry

…esus, Moroni, and Mormon. To the assertion that some of these characters’ stories are true while others are definitely not, Parker and Stone’s answer has long been the same: no they aren’t, and it doesn’t matter anyway. Their combination of gently-mocking disbelief in, and appreciation of, Joseph Smith’s revelations are already well known from a 2003 episode of South Park, “All About the Mormons,” which ends with a teased Mormon kid defending his…

How Did the Buddha Become a Medieval Saint?

By Peter Manseau

…a trek through languages and across cultures, to become something at once new and not-new. “Our task,” the authors write, “will be to ask not how stories circulate among religions, but how religions circulate among stories.” This is a humble enough declaration, but its implications are profound. What if we have our textual understanding of how religion works precisely backwards, in thinking that religions make use of stories to convey moral lesso…

‘Imagine Better’: Can Harry Potter Change the World?

By B. Howell Belser

…, which held its fourth annual Quidditch World Cup on Nov. 13-14, 2010, in New York City. Potter fans are often passionate, creative, and imaginative, and no organization demonstrates this more clearly than the Harry Potter Alliance. The Harry Potter Alliance (HPA) was founded in 2005 by Andrew Slack, Executive Director, and Paul DeGeorge, of wrock band Harry and the Potters, as an organization whose mission is to draw on the language and lessons…

Greek Orthodox Bishop Says Spit on Inhuman Gay Scum: This Week’s LGBT Global Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…on. Famously, former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a crowd at New York’s Columbia University in 2007 that “in Iran, we don’t have homosexuals like in your country.” Feili was reluctant to talk about the threats against him back home, but said they began after the publication in Iran of a heavily censored version of his first book, a collection of poetry titled “The Sun’s Platform,” in 2005. Feili was blacklisted and has been banned fr…

New Mormon Anti-Gay Policy Sparks Mass Exodus From Church; Christian AID Workers in Africa Refuse to Help Gay Refugees; Ukraine Rejects, Then Accepts EU-Required Gay Rights Law; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…rds” against gays, and the time has come to respond. Referring to the 1969 New York riots that became a milestone in the American gay rights movement, he said, “The church needs a Stonewall.” Hong Kong: Catholic Bishop Defends Cardinal, Compares Homosexuality to Drug Abuse Bishop Michael Yeung Ming-cheung of the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong, defending a political letter from Cardinal John Tong opposing marriage equality and anti-discrimination pr…

Istanbul ‘Haven of Sorts’ For LGBT Syrians and Iraqis; Cayman Islands Affirm Marriage Ban with ‘Holy Bible Evidence’; No Room for LGBTs in Malaysia’s ‘Islam-Based’ Human Rights Policy; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…mosexuality has existed for centuries in every society and culture. In the New York Times, Andrew Siddons examines the plight of American Foreign Service officers whose same-sex spouses cannot get long-term visas in countries that do not recognize same-sex couples’ marriages. The story says, that about half of State Department positions “are effectively off-limits for Foreign Service officers who would want to move with their same sex spouses.” Va…

Vatican Enlists Allies Against Gay Marriage; Iranian Gays Pushed to Change Gender; And More in This Week’s Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…eh, Regional Program Coordinator for Middle East and North Africa spoke to BBC Newshour on Sunday about human rights violations in Iran. From Alizadeh’s comments: Last year the head of the Iran Human Rights Body who is the brother of the head of Iran’s judiciary Mohammad Javad Larijani had a speech in Geneva in which he publicly said that the right to life is not applicable to homosexuals. On Friday, he had a speech in Geneva again, during the uni…