As public opinion moves toward supporting gay rights, especially marriage equality, the African-American community has been slower to get on board. While polls show a slight majority of Americans favoring same-sex marriage, just 30 percent of non-Hispanic blacks do; 59 percent are opposed, according to a 2010 Pew Research survey. There’s evidence that the divide between African-Americans and the gay community is narrowing, but activists say much more work needs to be done. More than three years after California voters... Read more

In a month when iconic spiritual leaders in the African-American community are honored across the nation, one group wants the world to know that church leaders don’t speak for everyone in the Southland. Members of Black Skeptics Los Angeles are calling for local “freethinkers” to participate in a national “Day of Solidarity for Black Non-Believers” aimed at promoting “community and solidarity among blacks in America who identify as non-believers”. The event set for Feb. 26 is part of an ad... Read more

n response to the request of several people wanting an explanation (religious, biblical or otherwise) on the video of the coronation of Bishop Eddie Long, we here at Rhetoric Race and Religion will collect responses and place them on our blog. If there are responses you find, please share them with us. Thanks By DeVona AlleyneUrban Faith Last week, the scandal-ridden Baptist bishop Eddie Long received a brief moment of good news when a visiting “rabbi” declared Long a Jewish... Read more

In response to the request of several people wanting an explanation (religious, biblical or otherwise) on the video of the coronation of Bishop Eddie Long, we here at Rhetoric Race and Religion will collect responses and place them on our blog. If there are responses you find, please share them with us. ThanksBy Carolyn Edgar, Special to CNN Now that Bishop Eddie Long has apologized to the Anti-Defamation League for aservice at his New Birth Missionary Baptist Church that purported to crown him a... Read more

In response to the request of several people wanting an explanation (religious, biblical or otherwise) on the video of the coronation of Bishop Eddie Long, we here at Rhetoric Race and Religion will collect responses and place them on our blog. If there are responses you find, please share them with us. ThanksOne of the top stories at my station this morning was the story of a Pastor, recently released from prison on sexual assault charges of two young girls,... Read more

In response to the request of several people wanting an explanation (religious, biblical or otherwise) on the video of the coronation of Bishop Eddie Long, we here at Rhetoric Race and Religion will collect responses and place them on our blog. If there are responses you find, please share them with us. Thanks By Janelle HarrisClutch Magazine When James Brown was gettin’ funky with it—I mean really ‘bout to break it down—he hunched over real exhausted-like and wailed some woeful... Read more

In response to the request of several people wanting an explanation (religious, biblical or otherwise) on the video of the coronation of Bishop Eddie Long, we here at Rhetoric Race and Religion will collect responses and place them on our blog. If there are responses you find, please share them with us. Thanks By PETER MANSEAUReligion Dispatches A few years back I worked at a Jewish cultural organization, and from time to time we had events that called for the... Read more

Bishop Eddie Long has apologized to the Anti-Defamation League over an incident in which he was wrapped in a Torah scroll and crowned “king.”As shown in a video that went viral, the televangelist was wrapped in a “Holocaust Torah” and crowned king during a recent ceremony at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, his suburban Atlanta congregation.“The ceremony was not my suggestion, nor was it my intent, to participate in any ritual that is offensive in any manner to the Jewish... Read more

ScheduleBoston University Photonics CenterApril 19 – 20, 2012 Thursday, April 19: 9:00 AM – 9:45 AM- Registration 9:45 AM– 10:00 AM- Welcome remarks by Linda Heywood 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM- Session I: Africa to Pre-Emancipation U. S. Linda Heywood and John Thornton, “The Abrahamic Religions in Pre-Colonial Atlantic Africa”Ras Michael Brown, “Beyond Conversion: Reconceptualizing Engagements with Christianity in African American Religion”Margaret Washington, “Movin’ with Spirit: The Sea Island Gullahs and the St. Vincent Shakers”Moderator Sylvia Frey11:30 AM – 12:15PM-... Read more

A new generation of young believers and pastors is making Christian tattooing more common than ever, though many tatted-up Texans will tell you it’s nothing new.Long before Justin Bieber showed off his Jesus tattoos, churchgoing bikers, cowboys, rappers and punk rockers had plenty of ink of their own, bucking the taboos of some buttoned-up Christian neighbors.At San Antonio’s Rise Above Ministries on Alamo Street downtown, it’s not unusual to see punk, rockabilly and hardcore churchgoers covered in tatts and piercings.... Read more