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Pro-Gay Marriage Mormon Keeps Faith Despite Church Pressure

By Joanna Brooks

…and within days an official at LDS Church headquarters placed a concerned phone call to Melanie S.’s local clergy. Three times her bishop met with Melanie to discuss the video. Because she had affiliated with “Mormons for Marriage,” he questioned whether or not Melanie and her husband should be allowed to keep their temple recommends—certificates that allow the most worthy and devoted Mormons to participate in the faith’s sacred temple rites. Nor…

To: Discovery Institute;
Re: Creationist Tactics Pre-Dating the Exposure of ID as a Fraud

By Lauri Lebo

…vented in the wake of Kitzmiller. What I wrote was that the proposed “critical analysis” and “academic freedom” legislation emerged after Dover; in other words, legislation after Kitzmiller now featured these code words prominently. Even West has to admit this is true, because the bills are based on sample legislation that the Discovery Institute wrote in 2008. West’s post opens with a few recollections of my coverage of the Dover trial commenting…

Joe Bageant, author of Deer Hunting with Jesus: 1946-2011

By Lauri Lebo

…that we were not allowed to do this. Me, timidly: ‘Why not?’ Mrs Roach: ‘Because only Catholics worship gaudy crosses.’ Bible School is sort of the gateway drug to getting saved, which ultimately everyone in my family did at some point. Getting saved was permanent in most people; temporary, in others. But getting saved was a rite of spiritual and moral passage for all. Inoculation with the goodness of Christ, however, didn’t have any effect with s…

Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don’t: The Problem of the Rape Exception

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…aped. Ah, gotcha! But since this Lying Lady Sex-Haver is thus far hypothetical, surely we can overlay other variables onto her life, right? Flesh out her character a bit more? What I mean is: we could say, hypothetically, that she needs an abortion in order to preserve her life, her mental or physical health, or her access to safe housing, but some law requires her to claim rape in order to get one because the lawmakers valued other things more hi…

ACLU and Thomas More Law Center Rush to Terry Jones Defense

By Lauri Lebo

…h says, “If the First Amendment has any meaning, it is that the government cannot suppress the free speech because it — or anyone else — disagrees with the speech.” The Thomas More Law Center has pledged to file a suit on Jones’ behalf. By the way, I’ve seen TMLC in action. Its lawyers defended the Dover school board in Kitzmiller v Dover. If Jones has any brains at all – and I’m not saying he does – he’ll get on the phone to the ACLU right now, b…

Abortion’s Not in Kansas Anymore?

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…ical policy guidelines are evidence-based and set the standard for quality care in North America. These onerous and wide-reaching guidelines from Kansas, on the other hand, aren’t based on evidence and impose unnecessary and unreasonable rules—like dictating room temperature and the size of the janitorial closets—that are clearly just there to make it more difficult for abortion providers to remain open and for women to access the abortion care th…

Presbyterians, Change Hearts & Minds, Begin Ordaining Gays

By MaryAnn McKibben Dana

…s, the campaign for 10A mirrored secular campaigns that advocate for political causes or candidates, although the “Holy Spirit factor” acknowledges a layer of mystery. More Light Presbyterians’ Adee sums up the ground game as follows: “We followed the example of the Obama campaign and ran a 50-state, all-173-presbytery campaign.” This included church-based phone banks; ads in national Presbyterian magazines; and letter-writing and story-telling ca…

Ralph Reed’s Group Goes after “Union Thugs” in Wisconsin

By Sarah Posner

…hristian Coalition: melding evangelicals with the tea party issues they’re already comfortable with, but maintaining their distinct identity as a voting bloc that pre-dates the tea party, and is courted as a separate group by Republican candidates. Who does this “pro-family” opponent of “union thugs” think has the best shot at the GOP primary? Reed told the Christian Post, “I think Michele Bachman is the total package.” And Rick Perry? “I don’t se…

Even Tougher Questions to Ask Mormon Presidential Candidates

By Joanna Brooks

…nti-marriage-equality campaign. High-ranking Church leaders even scheduled phone calls with individual members to make the ask in person. Did Church leaders solicit an individual contribution from you to the Yes on 8 campaign or any other anti-marriage-equality initiative? If so, how did you respond? How would you respond in such a situation? 2. Mormonism is an openly patriarchal religious culture—one of the most patriarchal modern cultures on th…

Suicide Leads to Calls for Improved Treatment of LGBT Mormons

By Joanna Brooks

…itute a threat to our religious freedom. But do any of these serve the thousands upon thousands of young Mormons who are coming to terms with their attraction to people of the same sex? Do any of these prepare non-gay Mormons to respond to gay sons and daughters, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, or fellow Latter-day Saints? How does it feel to be the LDS parents of a gay child in a culture where unthinking people feel they have divine sanc…