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The Year in Mormons: Top 7 Stories of 2012

By Joanna Brooks

…n, see here and here.) 2. LDS Church lowers the minimum age for missionary service for women 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 Mormo…

Is Joel Osteen, Success Mag Cover Boy, Really “God’s Best”?

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…y gospel of sorts that while it may leave people smiling at the end of the service, it has conveyed little to them about what God might define as true success. Even Barbara Ehrenreich in her new book Bright-Sided notes about Osteen’s message how, “God plays only a supporting role, and by no means an indispensible one, in the Osteen’s universe. Gone is the mystery and awe; he has been reduced to a kind of majordomo or personal assistant. He fixeth…

Will Catholic Voters Support LGBT Rights in Washington State?

By Joanna Brooks

…ery conservative parish—bishops have produced bulletin inserts after every service on Sunday for October, and the last one was the consequences of approving Referendum 74. The list of consequences was taken from the National Organization for Marriage. And I am sad to say that they were all untruths. We produced a flyer and factsheet and sent them to everyone on our email list. And I heard from people who stood outside mass to pass out our flyers a…

Mexico’s Religious Conservatives Seek Anti-LGBT Constitutional Amendment, LGBT Activists Defend Secular Government; Cash From Qatar Funds ‘Traditional’ Family Activism Worldwide; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…s complicated by interference from abroad. “We constantly have to confront American fundamentalists who have been perpetrating lies about the case,” he said. “They force us to mobilize even further with dialogue and engagement work in order to accept the decision.” For example, the Belize Prayer Network, a Dominionist organization affiliated with the National Evangelical Association of Belize (NEAB), has fervently opposed the ruling. It, in turn,…

Contrary to Popular Narrative the Supreme Court’s ‘303’ Decision Gutting Civil Rights Laws is not About an Individual Standing Up For Her Beliefs

By Andrew L. Seidel

…ation; to his insulting exchange with Justice Kagan about JDate, “a dating service, I gather, for Jewish people;” to his loathsome attempt at humor, “Maybe Justice Kagan will also be familiar with the next website I’m going to mention, AshleyMadison.com”—a website for those seeking extramarital affairs. The argument was unhinged because the case is untethered from reality. The opinion suffers from the same malady—it’s divorced from reality. And th…

NPR Largely Misses Critical Distinction on Religious Freedom vs. LGBTQ Rights

By Sunnivie Brydum

…ake for parties on each side. It’s not just about wedding cakes and church services. Illustrating that point, Gjelten then focuses on Catholic Charities’ decision to cease providing adoption services in Massachusetts, citing a sincerely held religious belief that barred the organization from placing foster or adoptive children with same-sex parents. As with most reports since 2006, echoing Catholic Charities’ own explanation at the time, Gjelten i…

New Report: White Evangelicals are America’s Most Anti-Trans Demographic, But Encouraging Data Overall

By Chrissy Stroop

…obby for. With respect to religious exemptions, the report notes that most Americans (63%) “oppose allowing small business owners to refuse service to LGBTQ people if doing so violates their religious beliefs.” By contrast, per PRRI: “white evangelical Protestants remain the only major religious group in which a majority favors religiously based service refusals, and their support for these exemptions is increasing. A majority of white evangelical…

How Indiana’s New RFRA Expands the Federal RFRA

By Sarah Posner

…w law was to permit businesses, like caterers and photographers, to refuse service to same-sex couples. After Elane Photography case, in which a photographer in New Mexico was found liable under the state’s anti-discrimination law for refusing to provide services at a same-sex ceremony, states began to see efforts to pass laws like the one Indiana enacted last week: Compare Indiana’s newly minted RFRA to the one assessed by the court in New Mexico…

Sarah Palin’s Freedom Cookie

By Anthea Butler

…s and people serving for the right reasons” is an important part of public service. When the school’s chancellor gave her the opportunity to announce her candidacy, the crowd cheered. Of course, she gave the good stock answer about needing to pray and consult her family, but that if she ran, she’d be “in it to win it.” The real takeaway from this speech is that it framed Palin’s worldview of American exceptionalism, Christian exceptionalism, and G…

Identity Theology: Political Correctness with a Halo

By Carlos Wilton

…ning bodies within the PCUSA may not categorically bar women from ordained service. In fact, The church’s 1990 Brief Statement of Faith declares that “the Spirit… calls women and men to all ministries of the Church,” elevating the ordination of women to confessional status. By contrast, when the PCUSA’s General Assembly voted to begin ordaining LGBTQ people several years ago, it spoke of the need to maintain safe spaces for conservative dissenters…