Religion Dispatches
…at they barely made a dent in the wider public consciousness. In addition, New Sanctuary’s focus was mainly on hospitality for immigrants who are here without documents; it did little to help the vastly greater number of immigrant community members today who were born in this country but who are still often treated as though they are here illegally. Here’s a proposition: if breaking the grip of plantation capitalism and its political enablers requ…
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…the politics of individual board members “play no role” in its decisions. News of the new venue came in a Jan. 15 email to members of Congress. Heitkamp and fellow board member former Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-IL) provided members with new details on the event and location. (Hultgren is a longtime Family insider who has met with anti-LGBTQ+ leaders on trips paid for by The Family.) In their email, Heitkamp and Hultgren announced that the NPB Foundat…
Read More…bout religion in the 2012 presidential race, it does provide some striking new data about perceptions of Mormonism among younger voters. Here are the familiar findings: About 40% of Americans are at least somewhat uncomfortable with the idea of a Mormon president. More Democrats (50%) report discomfort with an LDS president than Republicans (36%) or Independents (38%). About half of white evangelicals say we’re not Christian. Two-thirds of America…
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…from the show’s guests that reveal how their worldview has changed in this new era. Mahdia Lynn is a disabled bisexual transgender Shi’a Muslim woman. She is the Executive Director of Masjid al-Rabia, a women-centered LGBTQ affirming mosque, and is heavily involved in Chicago’s faith and justice communities, with a focus on police accountability, prison abolition, trans liberation and disability justice. This episode explores Mahdia’s life and wor…
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…cessary” mentality I didn’t know what to expect from a day-long meeting of new converts offering the faithful behind-the-curtain peeks at what they call the “abortion industry.” After making my way past tables of swag in the Crowne Plaza O’Hare Hotel’s lobby (rosaries, pictures of aborted babies and Romney campaign fliers), I caught the opening statements, hosted by the Pro-Life Action League, which was celebrating the morning’s “big win.” An appe…
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…phenomenon one of six outcomes along a spectrum, ranging, according to the New York Times “from outright rejection to more nuanced reasonings” (declaring, in other words, whether or not a Catholic is permitted to devote themselves to it or whether it challenges or contradicts the Roman Catholic faith). Those promoting the validity of a rejected event could face penalties from the Church. Of course, this isn’t the first time the Church has pulled r…
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…ok up ACT UP, thinking it was long gone—a relic of another era. No. ACT UP New York continues. (In fact, there are two places to check this out: here and here.) Public service announcements live on as well. (Have you watched any television lately?) Paradoxically, die-ins live on, a form of protest characterizing ACT UP and other activist actions (think of Stop the Church) and now defined in large measure as anti-war protest; though it continues to…
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…e Movement: Be open to the Spirit moving us in new ways. Recently I was in New York City to receive an award from a philanthropist. After I’d received the award, this 90 year-old elder’s son invited me to walk to where his dad was seated as he has some difficulty walking these days. But he insisted upon getting up and grabbed my hand with great passion. “I’m so glad to be giving my money this year to a Movement that I know is making a difference,”…
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…server with Ruth Hunt, a Catholic lesbian who heads LGBT advocacy group Stonewall. “I think at Stonewall we have often seen the idea that the faith community and LGBT community have to come to blows as something artificially constructed,” she said. ”There are many LGBT people of faith and many LGBT people have lots of friends and family in faith communities. To think in terms of binaries and opposites is not helpful.” Ms Hunt admitted she was surp…
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…ited by the Nunciature to greet him as he prepared to leave Washington for New York City. Such brief greetings occur on all papal visits and are due to the Pope’s characteristic kindness and availability. The only real audience granted by the Pope at the Nunciature was with one of his former students and his family. RD’s Anthea Butler summarized the situation as a Vatican Game of Thrones. Liberty Counsel has continued to insist that Davis met priv…
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