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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

…topped,” he added. …In the release he said it could not be ignored that “a number of individuals, international groups and governments are exerting pressure on our communities to accept sexual practices that have not been previously accepted in most Caribbean communities”. … Although the PPM government has made it very clear it has no policy plans to introduce gay marriage or any kind of legal protection for same-sex couples, the fear that it migh…

Yo, Gays, Stop Bogarting that Rainbow!

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…sbians give up their grip on the rainbow. Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse of the San Diego-based Ruth Institute [a project of the National Organization for Marriage] rightly argues that the rainbow is a sign of God’s covenant with man, and she says proponents of Proposition 8—California’s measure that passed in 2008 to define marriage as between a man and a woman—are the original “rainbow coalition.” “Proposition 8 was passed by a great grassroots coali…

The Truth in Transgender: Will the Episcopal Church Amend Its Rules?

By Elizabeth Drescher

…ll, a transgender woman and a recently ordained deacon from the Diocese of San Joaquin who is featured in the film puts it, “There comes a time in history when you’re called to make things happen. It’s not a matter of generating controversy. It’s a matter of all of us being fully who we are. It’s just that simple. Now is the time to act on that in the Church—to make a serious attempt to imitate Christ.” If the Episcopal Church decides to clearly a…

God is Not Interested in Religion

By Peter Laarman

…jurisdiction. A mix of fairly traditional Christians and a somewhat larger number of nature people (let’s just call them “pagans”—a perfectly good word) gathered high up in a canyon grove next to a roaring wild river, whereupon I shouted out a short sermon about how Christians really need to relax about contaminating the Easter rite with nature stuff, whereas nonbelievers might likewise relax about the bits of liturgical stuff that the Christians…

Women as Head Pastors Was Final Straw for Southern Baptist Convention — Not Scandal, Sexual Abuse, or Dalliance with Dictators

By Caroline Matas

…dy Wood. In his role as pastor of SBC-affiliated megachurch Echo.Church in San Jose, California, Wood was accused of an “abusive” fear-based leadership style by church staff and volunteers. Although a third-party investigation hired by Saddleback Church cleared Wood of the allegations on the basis of reviewed texts and emails, the investigation team reportedly did not speak with Wood’s accusers. Wood has also worked to disappear evidence that he i…

Quitting Religion, But Not the Practice of Prayer

By Elizabeth Drescher

…understand as having an enduring, if limited, significance. “Prayer” has a number of meanings for Nones, some of them recognizably religious, some of them, on the surface at least, not so much. At the more religious end of the spectrum is a man I interviewed last summer in Illinois who had been raised in a conservative Methodist church and who described himself as “an admirer of Jesus, but not a blind fanatic anymore.” He told me he used daily pra…

Indonesian Clerics Issue Anti-Gay Fatwa; Anti-Civil Union Peruvian Lawmaker Cites Hitler; Is Christianity more ‘un-African’ than Homosexuality?; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ica is a homogeneous entity. In reality, however, Africa is made up of thousands of ethnic groups with rich and diverse cultures and sexualities. As appealing as the notion of African culture may be to some people, no such thing exists. Moreover, even if we wanted to imagine an authentic African culture, like all others, it would not be static. African history is replete with examples of both erotic and nonerotic same-sex relationships. For exampl…

Public Shrines to Treason: Charlottesville and the Cult of Confederate Memorialization

By Spencer Dew

…or the removal of Confederate monuments took place Sunday in Baltimore and San Antonio, calling these memorials to white supremacism for what they were—and what the “Unite the Right” crowds reveled in their being. Just as no American, after Charlottesville, can doubt that the current US president remains deferential to an extremist white supremacist base that rallies in his name, so too no American can pretend Confederate memorials don’t serve as…

Israel-Hamas is Not a Religious War and This is Not Your Rapture

By Thomas Lecaque

…t-wing pastors in the movement, Pastor John Hagee of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, has a history of inflammatory statements on multiple topics. In a 2006 NPR interview with Terry Gross, he said, “those who live by the Koran have a scriptural mandate to kill Christians and Jews.” That rhetoric continues, both from Hagee, who was one of the pastors who spoke at the embassy christening in May 2018, and others—it is not limited to a handful of pu…

Church and State in Mexico: A Political Party Wavers on Women’s Rights

By Ruth Samuelson

…nce 2008, 17 states have passed similar measures—most recently in Baja and San Luis Potosi just last month. The wave of legislation began in reaction to a groundbreaking 2007 Mexico City law allowing abortions in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. But it swelled as PRI leaders, seeking to gain conservative support in the 2009 elections, began forming alliances with local church leaders. Undoubtedly, Mexican politics has become more religiously conse…