Donald Trump and his allies are widening their attacks on religious groups compassionate toward immigrants, refugees, the poor and LGBTQ people. The Catholic and Episcopal churches have faced the heat from the MAGA movement for some time and are again…
Trump issues two orders on education that get swift pushback
Amid the flurry of executive orders coming from the Trump White House, two issued Jan. 29 related to education, and both drew immediate fire from educators and church-state separationists. The first order, “Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families,” promotes…
Here’s why ‘pro-family’ groups are on board with Trump’s first days in office
“Pro-family” groups are praising President Donald Trump for issuing executive orders that support their conservative agenda: Recognizing only “two sexes: male and female” Terminating DEI programs in the federal government Withdrawing from international organizations that allegedly threaten U.S. sovereignty (the…
Silence is a dangerous thing
The year was 1967. The United States was in the middle of the Vietnam War. Many citizens wondered why troops were sent there and exactly why they were fighting. In this year, many Black and brown individuals raised their voices,…
Landmark study documents religious faith of LGBTQ Americans
Faith is vital to millions of LGBTQ Americans whose patterns of belief and practice closely mirror those of the wider U.S. population, according to a new study. “Religious LGBT adults, including those who are moderately or highly religious, are socio-demographically…
Anita Bryant, dead at 84, remembered for what she opposed
Upon her death at age 84, Anita Jane Bryant was remembered most vividly for her harsh stance against homosexuality in the 1970s and not for the successful music career that preceded her advocacy. A native Oklahoman, she won the 1958…
Study finds very few U.S. adolescents are prescribed puberty blockers or hormones
Less than 0.1% of teenagers with private insurance in the United States are receiving gender-related medicines, according to first-of-its-kind research from Harvard School of Public Health. The laws passed by Republican legislatures in half the U.S. states and the stream…
Despite Attacks, an Underground Church for L.G.B.T.Q. Africans Thrives
For nearly a decade, Kenya’s only church led and attended by L.G.B.T.Q. people has been chased out of one location after another. Vandals hit the first location, a center for sex workers, church members said.
What will it take for you to care about transgender people?
Of all the people justifiably living in fear of the incoming Trump administration, there is one group that stands out for its vulnerability and, to quote the late Tony Campolo, you don’t give a damn. Campolo was famous for the…
Burge: Evangelicals remain outliers in opposing both homosexuality and same-sex marriage
Evangelical Christians remain the lone outliers among Americans opposing both homosexual practice and same-sex marriage, according to social scientist Ryan Burge. In a Dec. 16 post on his “Graphs About Religion” Substack, Burge explores the question of whether there are…
The new battleground for Methodists is in Africa
Hope and jubilation were palpable at the United Methodist General Conference in Spring 2024. Conservative forces that had hammered away at the denomination for more than half a century had decamped, unfortunately taking with them more than 7,600 local congregations,…
How Richard Hays changed his mind
In 1996, New Testament scholar Richard Hays wrote his most influential book, The Moral Vision of the New Testament. Christianity Today placed The Moral Vision on its list of the 100 most important books of the 20th century. American evangelicals…