ReligionDispatches - Dispatches From Sexuality & Gender

The Anti-Gay Highway: New Report Details Mutually Beneficial Relationship Between US Evangelicals and African Antigay Clergy

Kathryn Joyce — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:00:01 PST

A new report documents the trend of evangelicals like Rick Warren exporting sexuality issues to Africa, whose clergy, in turn, support the minority antigay view in mainline denominations, weakening them. The author of the report speaks with RD at length about what he found.

Stupak Forming Fault Lines in Left-Leaning Faith Groups?

Sarah Posner — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 PST

With left-leaning faith groups unable to agree on abortion issues, the religious right—with the help of anti-choice Democrats—were able to convince Democratic strategists that they spoke for people of faith. Will the inability to take a strong stance for women’s rights split religious coalitions?

Bad Religion Leaves Big Bruises: When Christians Threaten Health Care Reform

Peter Laarman — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 PST

Two strands of Christianity battle against a bill ensuring that all Americans are cared for. One prefers John Locke to Jesus while the other has its issues with women.

Are US Bishops Responsible for Anti-Abortion Amendment in Health Care Reform?

Frances Kissling — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:00:01 PST

As so many pundits ask whether it was the 11th-hour activism of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops that enabled the anti-choice provision to be inserted into the health care bill, our analyst explores a different possibility: Democratic strategy.

The Good Bishop Is Right—The Time for Church Debates on Homosexuality is Past

David Gillespie — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:00:01 PDT

Retired Episcopal bishop John Selby Spong has declared that he will no longer argue about the status of gay and lesbian people in the church. “There is no middle ground,” the bishop says, “between prejudice and oppression.” So much for “love the sinner, hate the sin.”

Mormonism’s Black Issues

Joanna Brooks — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:00:01 PDT

While many Mormons would like to forget the Church’s history of discrimination against blacks, an Apostle’s recent statements comparing the post-Proposition 8 Mormon backlash to the Civil Rights-era harassment of black voters have brought that painful past back into the spotlight.

Vatican’s Come-Hither to Anglicans: A Theological Scandal

Mary E. Hunt — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:00:01 PDT

While the Catholic Church is touting its warm welcome to conservative Anglicans, it’s also a simple union of those who reject gay and women’s ordination.

Slouching Towards Lake Wobegon; Searching for Meaning in the Google Cloud

Peter Laarman — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:01 PDT

Has the shift from sociability to social-networking left Garrison Keillor clinging to his Wobegone Lutherans of yesteryear? What of the glaring problems of those “simpler times?”

Lars von Trier is the Antichrist Best Film Director in the World

S. Brent Plate — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 09:00:01 PDT

In the great tradition of Socrates and Kierkegaard, Lars von Trier realizes that his role is to enable the audience to ask questions and confront themselves.

Tea Partiers and Religious Right Court at Values Voter Summit

Sarah Posner — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:00:01 PDT

Judging by this past weekend’s marquee event on the conservative calendar, the center of gravity is moving from religious right to Tea Partiers, from homosexuality to taxes. A closer look, however, reveals the growing symbiosis between the two.

Jennifer’s Body and Why I Like Buffy’s Body Better

W. Scott Poole — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:00:01 PDT

Has a hotly anticipated new horror film about a murderous cheerleader subverted the mythos of woman as the source of evil or just the opposite?

Animal Sacrifice and Sexuality in Santería

Nick Street — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:00:01 PDT

In the wake of a religious freedom victory, scholar Salvador Vidal-Ortiz discusses the concepts of “newborns,” “wives,” and the role of gays and lesbians in Santería.

Jewish “Women of the Wall” Defy Law to Pray

Kelly Hartog — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 22:00:01 PDT

A powerful documentary, “Praying in Her Own Voice,” chronicles twenty years of struggle for religious equality at one of Judaism’s most sacred sites and asks: How can there be unity when half the population is silenced?

Sex Comes For the Archbishop: Rembert Weakland’s Unflinching Memoir

Mary E. Hunt — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:00:01 PDT

Rembert Weakland is a Catholic progressive, a Benedictine monk, and a former Archbishop. His new memoir tells the story of a career marked by good work, pastoral advocacy, and the public scandal of a gay love life.

Conservative 'Cafeteria Catholics' Favor Opposition to Gay Marriage Over Health Care

Paul Gorrell — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:00:01 PDT

As the debate over gay marriage is reignited in New Jersey, the local Roman Catholic bishops threw themselves in with a zeal they have yet to display in the fight for universal health care, despite theological requirements that they fight for it. Are they acting like “cafeteria Catholics,” picking and choosing which parts of the Church’s mandates to follow?

Revisiting Hagar, The Woman Who Named God

Charlotte Gordon — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:00:01 PDT

An interview with the author of a new book that takes a critical look at the biblical tale of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar and sons, claiming that this story at the core of anxiety between religions isn’t exactly as it seems.

Transgender and Christian: Finding Identity

Jori Lewis — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:00:01 PDT

The idea of transgender Christianity shocks people on both sides of the divide: conservative religious reject any kind of gender variance and the LGBT community can be suspicious of organized religion. In all of this, trans-Christians are forging a new spirituality.

Seeing the Future: Can Religion Evolve and Survive in a Changing World?

Peter Savastano — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:00:01 PDT

Since the fall of Secularization Theory, which claimed that belief in God would slowly recede in the face of science and technology, we still must ask: Is there a future for formal, organized, institutionalized religion as we presently recognize it in rapidly globalizing, postindustrial and postmodern world? Here’s what religion will have to do for humans to survive and flourish.

“[I] Pray For Barack Obama To Die And Go To Hell”: The Story The Media Missed

Frederick Clarkson — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 01:00:01 PDT

When an Arizona man brought guns to an Obama speech the story went unnoticed by a media prone to seeing such people as lone nuts. A look at the sermons of his virulently anti-gay pastor who’s been praying for Obama’s death, however, reveals similarities to a far right theology associated with militias, radical prolifers, and proponents of theocracy.

Oh My God(dess)! Feminist Spirituality in the Third Wave

Mandy Van Deven — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:00:01 PDT

Feminists hate religion, right? Not necessarily. From Christian feminists participating in Wiccan rituals to Goddess worshipers honoring Jesus, the landscape of feminist spirituality is is not what it was in the ’60s and ’70s.

Senator Ted Kennedy: A Catholic We Could Canonize

Frances Kissling — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:00:01 PDT

Though he was never one to wear his religion on his sleeve, Sen. Kennedy’s liberal record of working for social justice falls squarely within the Catholic tradition.

On the ELCA’s Historic Shift to Include Gay Clergy: Reflections of a Self-Exiled Lutheran

Eric Reitan — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:00:01 PDT

Reflecting with mixed emotions his decision to leave the church of his childhood over its inability to accept gays, the author recalls his own words, that “Scripture calls us to look beyond Scripture, to God and to our neighbor,” and wonders whether he should return to the church; indeed, whether such a thing is possible.

Afghan Idol: Can a Talent Competition Save a Nation?

Becky Garrison — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 18:00:01 PDT

An interview with the director of Afghan Star, a documentary that follows a tense but cathartic talent competition.

Ryan-DeLauro’s Common Ground on Abortion is in Religious Territory

Sarah Posner — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:00:01 PDT

This week’s rollout of a congressional bill in support of abortion reduction has been given the blessing of religious leaders from across the spectrum; a rare show of agreement over one of the most contentious issues in American society. But what does it mean that religion has played such an important role in this conflict?

Episcopal Church Walks with American Clergy on Gay and Lesbian Equality

Robert P. Jones, Daniel Cox — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:00:01 PDT

Despite worldwide calls from conservative Anglicans that the American church is choosing to “walk apart” from the wider community, the numbers don't agree—at least not in America.