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Indonesian Court Rejects Religious Conservatives’ Bid To Criminalize Gay Sex; More in Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

Costa Rican human rights and anti-torture activist Victor Madrigal-Borloz is the new UN Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. The first expert, Vitit Muntarbhorn, resigned for health reasons after his first year in the position, which was created over the intense opposition of anti-LGBT groups and nations. Also this month, the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights, Jordanian Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, described the g…

First U.S. Visit of the Virgin Mary Confirmed in Wisconsin

By Lewis Wallace

…, for one), the Vatican was happy to let the festivities continue. Vatican II removed a few legendary saints from the General Roman Calendar in the 1960s, but making saints like Christopher and Valentine less official did not constitute a prohibition on their veneration. Current examples of this hands-off approach abound. Since the 1980s, an apparition site at Medjugorje, Yugoslavia has been a source of concern at varying levels of church hierarch…

Life Imitates Satire Imitates Life: Rep. King Revives Manchurian Candidate

By The Editors

…mark made 12 years ago by neoconservative-friendly American Muslim leader, Shaykh Hisham Kabbani. In honor of this magic number and the hearings King will hold next month in order to address the “creeping threat of Sharia law,” RD presents the first edition of Life Imitates Satire Imitates Life. In this clip, from the Manchurian Candidate a Joseph McCarthy stand-in uses his own investigative tool to determine how many crypto-commies there really…

Not a ‘Weenie-A** Lodge’: James Ray Trial Begins

By Johnny P. Flynn

…James Ray, prosecutor Sheila Polk played tapes of Ray discussing with participants the sweat lodge they were about to encounter—some for the first time. This is not a “weenie-ass lodge,” Ray was heard to say on the tapes, a statement he apparently held fast to as one participant passed out and fell and burned his arm on the red-hot stones. Ray asked him to come back into the lodge to finish the sweat. The trial finished its first week on Friday i…

Welcome to the Shari’ah Conspiracy Theory Industry

By Sarah Posner

At last month’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a student from the group Youth for Western Civilization at Liberty University asked members of a panel titled “The Shari’ah Challenge to the West”: “Are we going to see a rise of Islamic Europe, and America just sits there on its own… are we actually going to win?” Another audience member asked, “what recourse does America have as a country… to deal with that problem with a complete…

Yet Another Survey Shows ‘Nones’ Growth at Record Levels

By Elizabeth Drescher

…lights the continuing growth in the number of Americans who indicate no religious affiliation, with a full 20% now answering “none” when asked “What is your religious preference?” Michael Hout and Claude S. Fisher of UCB and Mark A. Chaves of Duke drew on data from the most recent General Social Survey (GSS), which has tracked religious preference since 1972, when a mere 5% of Americans self-identified as religiously unaffiliated. The report reinf…

Sovereign Grace Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Just Got More Complicated

By T.F. Charlton

A number of developments in the lawsuit against Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM) have taken place since I first covered it for RD back in early March. On May 14, a second amendment was filed to the suit: [The suit] adds three new plaintiffs, making a total of 11. Five plaintiffs are now using their real names, and the rest are pseudonyms. It accuses church leaders of conspiracy, negligence, misrepresentation and intentional infliction of emotiona…

The Brutality of Life for Syrian LGBTs; Saving the Anglican Church by Dissolving It; Backlash to Hindu Gay Wedding Ceremony in Indonesia; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

Syria: ISIS not the only source of brutality against LGBTs Dan McDougall’s feature story in the Sunday Times of London Magazine examines the situation in Syria, “where gay people are being persecuted and murdered – and not just by Isis.” Writes McDougall: In recent months, the photojournalist Robin Hammond and I have interviewed gay citizens in Africa and the Middle East. Theirs is a narrative of great pain and desperate suffering. Here in the Mi…

Are Conservative Churches Really Winning by Being More Orthodox?

By Daniel Schultz

…over time because in part it’s only those churches that tend to create families that can be of size and carry on the Christian tradition. This harkens back to Dean Kelley’s 1972 book, Why Conservative Churches Are Growing, which argued that liberal denominations were losing a battle of ideas to stricter, more conservative communions. The new twist here is Eberstadt’s argument that “orthodox” churches are winning not by directly drawing converts f…

More Thoughts on Media Coverage of Liberal Religion

By Sarah Posner

…gh not conclusive) evidence that the media doesn’t cover liberal faithy political projects, Ed writes: I can hardly complain when secular media do no better than I do. But I would add that the publicity arms of non-conservative religious groups need to do a better job, too. I am sure my own small mainline Protestant church would have been happy to participate in the weekend events, had we known of it. So the circle of indifference towards the effo…