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Taking the Christ Back Out of Christmas: Secularizing the Season

By C. Joshua Villines

…stians. This seems obvious, but apparently it bears repeating: a season of welcome and sharing, regardless of the religious beliefs of those who observe it, is a good thing. This is why it seems nonsensical that some pugnacious conservatives want to insist that those around them ignore the long history of this season and portray it as explicitly and exclusively Christian. It is not, and should not be. Just as Christians need the imperatives of Adv…

Invoking God’s Name Like a Bludgeon

By Lauri Lebo

…e. The government has no business trying to convince you otherwise. You’re welcome to sit down. We invited you to stand, but no one made you. But if you do believe, I would ask you, personally and not on behalf of the government, to take a moment to thank Him, for the many gifts you believe you have received from Him, including the opportunity to pursue an education in a country explicitly founded on the belief that we are endowed by our Creator w…

“Ex-Gay” is Anti-Gay, Disguised as Compassion

By Tanya Erzen

…sment.” The difference is that Haffner believes the church must accept and welcome queer youth. Exodus Youth wants to help pastors and churches provide resources to keep young people from identifying as gay. Haffner cites a study that showed that 6 out of 10 mainline churches support LGBT rights. While this is an encouraging sign, her article neglects to mention that within Christianity, conservative and nondenominational megachurches increasingly…

Openly Gay Mormon Appointed to LDS Church Leadership Position

By Joanna Brooks

…lly-occurring human trait that is not abhorrent to God. Some congregations welcome participation by openly gay people who maintain chastity. Other Mormons, however, feel that it is unjust and impossible to expect gay Mormons to abstain from intimate relationships their entire lifetimes. The LDS Church’s recent investments in anti-marriage-equality campaigns like Proposition 8 have created deep divides in Mormon families and communities, giving tho…

The Curious Case of Mormons and LGBT Rights

By Alan Michael Williams

…ge off the table, LGBT politics in Utah does not “advocate domesticity and promote consumption under the name of equality politics.” It engenders grassroots, cross-party dialogue that takes into consideration the needs of various households—single, gay, straight, and other. This community-based politicking was embodied by the 2009 “Common Ground Initiative” (CGI) formulated by Equality Utah. Although the CGI is no longer Equality Utah’s stated mis…

How Much is a Google?

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…cision could be profound and far-reaching. And they extend well beyond the welcome revisiting of the fundamental question concerning the balance between the local and the global, the pull of economic necessity and the push toward human rights. The fact that the new electronic media are the site of this battle is the real story. From Athens and Tehran, to Beijing and elsewhere, a younger generation that has grown up with computers, and cellphones,…

Bless Your Heart! The Religious Right Tries to Be Civil

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…lity when I see it. In the toxic atmosphere of politics, this seems like a welcome change, but when you read deeper, you can practically hear both DeMoss and Davis ending each sentence with a half smile, a light touch, and a sweet, “Bless your heart.” DeMoss’ first example of the incivility he sees in the world concerns the vandalism of some churches and temples after California voters passed Proposition 8, banning marriage equality for gays and l…

A Revolutionary Plea in the Wake of Attempted Synagogue Bombing

By Hussein Rashid

…Muslim and American and have another reason to fear that they will not be welcome or may be targeted in retaliation. Reports say that the four suspects in the plot are angry about America’s actions in Afghanistan. They decided to bomb two synagogues in New York, since, according to one suspect, “the best target” — the World Trade Center — “was hit already.” The disturbing calculus of these men can only be understood in the context of hatred, igno…

God’s Heart Has No Borders

By Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo

…few take-home messages. First, immigrants are not the problem. The way we welcome immigrants to the nation—or fail to do so—is the problem. Welcoming and integrating new immigrants has caused much strife in our country in recent years, and I want readers to know that religion has the potential to lessen human conflict, suffering and exclusions. In fact, religious people have already been actively working to include immigrants in US society. This…

Hating God: The Untold Story

By Bernard Schweizer

…d him to do a guest stint at RD. He graciously accepted, and we’re glad to welcome him. ________________________ Just when you thought that “new atheism” marked a radical turn in nonconformist thought, along comes an even more rebellious concept of religious dissent: misotheism. What I’ve tried to do in my work is to take the lid off this simmering, largely repressed stew of blasphemy — and to do away, for good, with the false notion that atheists…