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Lying About Our Religion, And Other Problems With Polling

By Michael Schulson

…But what CNN really meant was “When asked by a complete stranger, over the phone, to define their spiritual lives in a single phrase, one-third of those adults who responded to this poll (response rate: one in ten), and who fall within an arbitrarily-defined generational frame, declined to tell the aforementioned complete stranger that they were affiliated with any specific religious group.” These are not equivalent statements. For some reason, th…

“As Orthodox As They Come”: A Backstage Conversation With Rob Bell

By Andrew Aghapour and Michael Schulson

…re so fantastic—brought the idea that the whole thing is static. I think a number of people picked up over the past three hundred years that space is empty, we move things around in space, and there are levers and pulleys and buttons. I think for a number of people, atheism is simply the rejection of somebody sitting on a cloud somewhere with a beard who might intervene from time to time. I think quantum physics, the little I know, it just intuiti…

Global LGBT Recap: Nigeria Jails Gays, Russian Orthodox Spox Calls for Criminalization Referendum

By Peter Montgomery

…sion talking about the LGBT people being less than human. For example, the number two person in the state broadcasting company – actually now he’s the number one person – hosted a show devoted to the question of whether it was enough to protect our children to ban homosexual propaganda or whether more needed to be done. He argued that more needed to be done. He said and we need to outlaw blood and sperm donations by them. And if they die in car ac…

More Bleak Times For Indonesian LGBTs; South Africa Bans Extremist Anti-Gay US Pastor; Mexican Marriage Struggle Heats Up; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ushing rush of globalization, multiculturalism and women’s and gay rights… Moscow’s quest to gain control of churches and graves dating from czarist times and squeeze out believers who look to the Constantinople patriarch is part of a broader push by the Kremlin to assert itself as both the legitimate heir to and master of “Holy Russia,” and as a champion of traditional values against the decadent heresies, notably liberal democracy, promoted by t…

Predicting the Future of Religion: A Thought Experiment

By Ed Simon

…andeering theological language as he continues to consolidate authority in Moscow. Will the twenty-first century see the rise of a Russia emboldened by a mixture of Slavic nationalism and Orthodox mysticism? Does this signal the origins of a modern theocratic state with draconian social laws (such as Russia’s current homophobic statutes) at home and a belligerent foreign policy outside of its borders? The Pew Study indicates that the number of Jew…

Challenging Both Homophobia in Islam and Populist Bogeyman of ‘The Homophobic Muslim’; and More in Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…istan, had appealed for refugee status in Russia. ABC News reported that a Moscow appeals court has temporarily blocked his deportation, which followed a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights ordering an emergency stay. Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich profiled Armet Kolesov, a 23-year-old gay Russian violinist who lives in Chicago. This spring, a day after his birthday, Kolesov recorded a 15-minute message to young gay people in Russ…

Is Putin a ‘Real’ Christian? To Understand This Conflict We Need to Ask Different Questions

By Sarah Riccardi-Swartz and Robert Saler

…the latter of which is often expressed in its deep ties to the post-Soviet Moscow Patriarchate. In the study of religion, it’s long been common to question whether the categories of sincere or authentic religious belief are adequate for analyzing the complex motivations and actions of adherents or believers. When practitioners are public figures with global geopolitical aims, the classification of true religious subjectivity is often suspended in…

Staged Pussy Riot Trial Interrupted by Russian Authorities

By Chrissy Stroop

…en declared they would check the papers of every foreigner in attendance. “Moscow Trials,” consists of three parts, performed one per day from March 1-3. The first two parts, “Caution, religion!” and “Forbidden Art” apparently went off without a hitch, while the final installment, “Pussy Riot,” has been interrupted indefinitely. Ekaterina Samutsevich, who took part in the “punk prayer” in Moscow’s symbolically significant Cathedral of Christ the S…

Marriage Debate in Australia Shifts To Push For Religious Exemptions; and More in Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ence in Moscow earlier this month. Human Rights Watch has charged that the Moscow police have failed to “effectively investigate” the attack. Turkey: Recent bans on LGBT activity reflect growing religious influence, spur fears of more to come We reported last week on bans on LGBT activities by officials in Ankara and Instanbul. At Hurriyet Daily News, Serkan Demirtas calls the ban on LGBT events “a clear violation of the Turkish Constitution” and…

Russian Zombies Follow in Pussy Riot Footsteps

By Joseph Laycock

…city of Omsk. This echoes an incident last May in which a “zombie walk’ in Moscow resulted in arrests for public indecency. The world’s first zombie walk was organized by Thea Felds (aka Thea Munster) of Toronto, Canada, in 2003. In the last decade zombie walks have become an international phenomenon. Last November, nearly 10,000 people assembled in Mexico City to imitate the living dead, though Russia has attempted to suppress the spreading zombi…