The 115 voting members of the College of Cardinals moved with great alacrity to send a signal that they meant to shake up the church. In a two-day conclave, a speedy election voted in Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, to succeed Pope Benedict XVI. And, at least for appearances sake, he became the first South American ever to grace the papal throne. In fact, he’s the first pope since 741 A.D. not to come from a European country. Continue reading
Out of the blue on Monday, Pope Benedict announced his retirement, giving as his reason, “In today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.” He is stepping down on February 28. Continue reading
Roman Catholic Bishop Daniel Jenky, of Peoria, Ill., ordered all parish priests in his diocese to read a letter to their congregations condemning Barack Obama. The letter, to be read the weekend before the election, declared that Obama and the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate had launched an “assault upon our religious freedom.” Continue reading
According to a 2010 census conducted by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, there are 150 million Americans who believe in some form of myth worship (religion) ranging from mainline Christianity to Tao. Continue reading
The message of Islam is first and foremost a message of Unicity of the Creator and by correlation Unity of the Creation. In that particular context, the unity of the believers and that of Muslims specifically. Continue reading
As ordained priest, theologian, psychotherapist and professor of psychology Dr. Daniel Helminiak noted in his book, What the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality, the literal approach to interpretation “cannot use the Bible to answer pressing questions of our day.” Doing so leads to cherry-picking and selective reading and a host of contradictions, not to mention actions that today would be seen as criminal. Continue reading
As a boy I went to Public School 18 on Leonard Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, which was just across the street from St. Mary’s Church and elementary school. It was convenient, my mother said as my father worked on dinner, to just cross the street on Wednesdays for religious instructions in preparation for my First Holy Communion and several years later, Confirmation, that is, being inducted into the Army of God. Continue reading
Two recent events brought the debate about civil equality back into the headlines and, once again, threaten to turn a country supposedly dedicated to human dignity and equal rights for all Americans into a state in which religious jingoism and biblical literalism attempt to dictate civil law. The observation was made by ordained priest, theologian, psychotherapist, professor of psychology, and author of What the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality, Dr. Daniel Helminiak, in a May 15, 2012, CNN article: Continue reading
I’d like all of you self-righteous anti-gay crusaders to look into the eyes of fourteen year-old Kenneth Weishuhn, Jr. Continue reading
In recent years, the religious right have moved even further to the right—to the fringes. Some have even expanded their war on women’s reproductive rights to where they are condemning contraception. They even held congressional hearings on the subject. This is despite the fact that 99 percent of American women who have ever had sex have used contraception, including 98 percent of Catholic women. Continue reading
It is a simple design, useful in the construction of grand buildings, or as a small platform from which to hang trouble makers. It has also become the world’s most recognizable religious symbol. Continue reading
The BBC reported Saturday that PM David Cameron has said that the UK is a Christian country “and we should not be afraid to say so.” Continue reading
The ferocity with which some oppose equal civil rights for gay and lesbian Americans can be perplexing. They certainly don’t have the best interests of their fellow citizens in mind, and it’s a real stretch to suppose that they truly believe they’re “doing God’s work” by working to hurt people they don’t even know. It seems are more like that they’re power-hungry megalomaniacs who will use any means to accomplish their personal goals. Continue reading
Bob Vander Plaats was in the forefront of the right-wing campaign to unseat three Iowa state Supreme Court justices up for reelection because they voted to uphold the state’s constitution’s guarantee of civil equality in relation to the civil institution called “marriage.” (The Iowa’s Supreme Court decision was unanimous.) He ran for governor of Iowa three times, and served as the Iowa state chair of Mike Huckabee’s 2008 presidential campaign. Continue reading
The Christian Right, apparently having learned nothing from George W. Bush’s disastrous reign, seems determined to appoint yet another political savior, this time in the form of Rick Perry, the Republican governor from Texas. Continue reading
I’ve been studying and writing about gay and lesbian issues since 2003. What got me started was then Senator Rick Santorum’s comments in an AP interview in which he compared gay sex to bestiality (among other things). Those comments made him the poster-boy for malicious theopolitical rants, an image he reinforced when speaking on the floor of the U.S. Senate during its debate of the Federal Marriage Amendment. With histrionic bravado Mr. Santorum proclaimed, “the future of our country hangs in the balance because the future of marriage hangs in the balance. Isn’t that the ultimate homeland security—standing up and defending marriage?” Continue reading
American Jewry won a victory last week: Yale University bowed to pressure—it is now starting yet another initiative to study anti-Semitism, after a decision to cancel an earlier programme had sparked criticism. Continue reading
Bryan Fischer is director of Issues Analysis for the American Family Association and host of the daily “Focal Point” radio talk program on AFR Talk (a division of the American Family Association). Continue reading
If you had asked any secular Egyptian about the Salafist movement two months ago, they would likely have told you that they know next to nothing about it. When former president Hosni Mubarak was still in charge it was banned, its members barred from worshipping in the country’s mosques. Continue reading
It didn’t come as a shock when Salman Taseer the governor of the Punjab province was assassinated by one of his own security guards on January 4, 2011. What was truly shocking were the bouquets offered to Taseer’s assassin from the so-called “true” believers—the sheer inhumanity of it and the disrespect to a man’s life! Salman Taseer’s “guilt” was clear to the assassin. Taseer may not have committed blasphemy but he was “guilty” of defending the Christian Asia Bibi who allegedly did so. The evidence against her is so blatantly cooked up that you would laugh if only you did not know that the joke would be such a cruel one. Continue reading
After reading Elijah Friedeman’s promising, but somewhat confusing article “Hey, let’s stop the gay-bashing” on the American Family Association website – home of Bryan Fischer, arguably T-H-E most disgusting, hate-mongering homophobe masquerading as a “Christian” – I decided to take some time off. Would Friedeman’s article have any effect on AFA and Fischer? Continue reading
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