Religion Dispatches
…uncement did not alter their opinion of Obama. About two-thirds (68%) say this, while about as many say it made them view Obama more favorably (16%) as less favorably (13%). In other words, it’s a wash. Those Republicans weren’t going to vote for him anyway, and it doesn’t appear the impact on African-American perceptions of him matches the hype that Obama was going to experience a dip in support….
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…e compelled to perform or otherwise assist same-sex ceremonies, “religious freedom” will be the cover for pastors and their followers who are loathe to use the bigoted language of someone like Bryan Fischer but nonetheless are opposed to marriage equality. This isn’t the first time Hunter has raised “religious freedom” concerns. He did it in response to the Obama administration’s contraception coverage requirement under the Affordable Care Act as…
Read More…nt of Democrats would oppose a Mormon candidate, compared to 18 percent of Republicans (as though the question can be treated in the abstract when a particular Mormon, a Republican, is actually participating the race). He then meanders into half-cooked theorizations of what constitutes “anti-Mormon bigotry,” suggesting that “African-Americans, gays, and lesbians are more anti-Mormon” because they use “the church’s historic (and even present-day) i…
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…b Islamic nationalists in Khartoum are historically at odds with the Black Africans, including African Muslims. Ismail says that this history can be overcome so that one day everyone “can identify as Sudanese.” The authors of the Political Declaration do, however, want to continue the discussion. “We have not yet created the tools of making it operational, and to make it the rallying point,” notes Ismail. “But everyone agrees: It is the Bible for…
Read More…n the Church there was a restriction on the priesthood for male members of African descent. It is not known precisely why, how, or when this restriction began in the Church but what is clear is that it ended decades ago. Some have attempted to explain the reason for this restriction but these attempts should be viewed as speculation and opinion, not doctrine. The Church is not bound by speculation or opinions given with limited understanding. We c…
Read More…t The Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates continues to document police profiling of African Americans, and now Muslims. Essentially, the NYPD is getting further militarized, arrogating powers normally given to the FBI and the CIA. They’re even working with the CIA, in a move that barely skirts the law preventing the CIA from carrying out domestic spying operations. In fact, what the NYPD has been doing seems to be done without the necessary legal approval…
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…ty from Friday night, the warm and smiley openness, had vanished. Love and freedom were convenient catchphrases justifying the identification of nearly one-quarter of humanity with the demonic. It’s one thing to say that you’d like Muslims to convert to Christianity. Fair enough. Many Muslims want Christians to convert to Islam. It’s another thing to so brazenly misrepresent Islam. Conflicts in the past could be safely broached, but when it came t…
Read More…d to advance the BCI goals of providing faith-based sexuality education in African American churches and reducing unintended teen pregnancy in Black communities. In doing so, he has provided a valuable service to the Black Church. Religion in this country has become increasingly politicized and polarized. Reverend Harkins may help bridge this divide by bringing to this position connections with both conservative and progressive religious groups. O…
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…rong: there is nothing, for example, in the Book of Mormon that references African-Americans or legitimates the historical ban on black priesthood. People of African descent were ordained to the Mormon priesthood from the 1830s through 1880s, and although ordination was discontinued and institutionalized as a racist ban until 1978, but the Book of Mormon provides no direct rationale for LDS anti-black institutional racism. And no Mormon who unders…
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…e took on as a protégé “The Ugandan Giant” Kamala in order to convince the African “brute” that he was, in fact, a man, and not the animal that his previous manager had taught him to be. This “humanizing of the African savage” storyline was ostensibly to demonstrate the compassion of the good Reverend, but the entire angle was performed mainly for comedic effect: just as Kamala was a cartoonish stereotype not to be taken seriously, so too was The…
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