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Gun Ownership as Sin—A Strategic, Secular Proposal for Gun Reform

By Ira Chernus

…(with the notable exceptions of alcohol prohibition and, decades later, African-American civil rights). Today the descendants of the Social Gospel have even less power to influence political outcomes. Despite the growing public voice of progressive religion, that voice is still rather marginal when it comes to actually influencing public perceptions and wielding political clout. That’s a stark contrast to pre-20th century America, when nearly all…

‘Rome is Gay’

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…guard tower which may end up guarding a cemetery all over again. And tomorrow that same Pyramid will become the central symbol and staging area for an ancient-style Roman triumph celebrating a very modern kind of gay pride. And one day after that, some thousands of miles away, citizens in the United States celebrated something else with parades: their independence, their freedom from undue oppression and interference in their personal affairs. It…

Istanbul ‘Haven of Sorts’ For LGBT Syrians and Iraqis; Cayman Islands Affirm Marriage Ban with ‘Holy Bible Evidence’; No Room for LGBTs in Malaysia’s ‘Islam-Based’ Human Rights Policy; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…countries Pink News reports that the Ugandan Minister of State for East African Affairs, Shem Bageine, wants to ban people from countries with marriage equality from adopting children from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, the members of the East African Community. Mexico: LGBT activists stage kiss-ins as response to anti-equality demonstrations LGBT activists organized a kiss-in (besotón, literally big kiss) in front of churches arou…

Marriage Equality: No More (Word) Games

By William Myatt

…riend of mine linked to this article by Stephen Smith of the University of San Diego. In a nutshell, Dr. Smith’s article makes the point that the discussion on gay marriage has inappropriately focused on the issue of “equality” and should redirect its attention to the definition of “marriage.” As one can deduce from, say, the strategic placement of this link in paragraph 14, the implicit argument is that marriage is best defined as a one-man-one-w…

What If Animals Believe in God?

By Andrew Aghapour

…—but I would not want to be a dog or cat in many places in the world. Huge numbers, as we all know, are confined in shelters for long periods of time where they likely have rather poor qualities of life. Millions are killed. Humanity was [evolutionarily] shaped by dogs, and we find ourselves treating these animals in a disposable kind of way. When we start to think about it in this register, it’s not just about cruelty anymore. I think it challeng…

Sex and Civilization: The Body as Battleground

By Jay Michaelson

…A. Schwalm, Family Research Council Today, we often are told that the hysterical ravings of the New Christian Right (NCR) are a pathological homophobia, or perhaps a displaced and sublimated yearning for homoeroticism. Doubtless both play a role, but I want to suggest that homosexuality does threaten civilization, when viewed from a certain perspective, and that it has been seen this way since bicblical times. Let’s take a look. Power and oppressi…

#HijabiLivesMatter: The Burkini Ban, Black Hair and the Meaning of “Natural”

By Shaina Hammerman

…e French State is “neutral,” it sounds a lot like the way white skin in America has been normalized, while black and brown skin is marked. It may be useful—for Americans aiming to understand the problems in France and for French people seeking to gain perspective on their particular set of issues—to reflect on these recent debates in France in light of the ever-evolving Black Lives Matter movement. In France, these debates surround a series of ba…

Times‘ Cutesy Guide Veils Humanity of Muslim Women

By Mariam Durrani

…it as an educational and informative effort to help (again, non-Muslim) Americans understand these Muslims, it is, in fact, a sexist, Orientalist speculation about a thing the writer clearly doesn’t fully understand. Nowhere does it explain that veiling practices are multifaceted and deeply contextual (as Sarah Eltantawi has described here on RD). That, as Lila Abu-Lughod found in her work, for example, Bedouin women wear the veil in mostly rural…

Lesbian Nuns: Still Immodest After All These Years

By Susan Henking

…the vantage point of her retirement from Wesleyan as Professor Emerita. Susan Henking: As you know, I teach your 1986 book Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy and am amazed that the 25th anniversary of its publication is already upon us. In some ways, given that you were writing about the 17th century, 25 years is just a moment. Yet, much has changed in our views of sex and sexuality in the intervening decades. How does…

Arrest the Pope: New Atheist Effort to Seek Justice in Sexual Abuse Crisis Should Be Applauded

By Frances Kissling

…hurch gets much more support from the European states than it does from America. In a number of countries, Catholic schools are subsidized by the state and in some Catholic agencies even receive a defined share of taxes for overseas development projects. The European Union and the Overseas Development agencies also provide large amounts of money for Catholic projects in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. There have been sporadic attempts to cut off…