By FRANK BRUNI, New York Times Without drawing much attention to it yet, one of the leading groups promoting same-sex marriage has taken an interesting tack, one that implicitly acknowledges the complicated relationship between gay Americans and another minority group not firmly on their side. Two weeks ago the Human Rights Campaign inaugurated a new effort to move public opinion nationwide by unveiling a video testimonial, being distributed on the Internet for now, in whichCory Booker, the mayor of Newark, speaks up... Read more

Herman Cain broke into song at the National Press Club on Halloween, with a short rendition of Dottie Rambo’s “He Looked Beyond My Faults and Saw My Needs.” The song was the capstone of a busy day of “tap dancing” for Cain, who spent most of the day claiming his innocence in a sexual harassment suit bought by two former female employees of the National Restaurant Association. The suit, filed while Cain was CEO of the organization, accused him of... Read more

Host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined via Skype© by E. Patrick Johnson, author of Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South; an Oral History. A Professor of Performance Studies at Northwestern University, Johnson’s ethnographic work on this book evolved into a play called Pouring Tea: Black Gay Men of the South Tell Their Tales. Johnson shares his motivation to turn his book into a play, and also discusses how his journey through these projects helped... Read more

Howard University School of Divinity is again bringing high profile speakers, academics and performing artists from across the nation to spread the word during its 95th Annual Convocation next week, but this year something’s different. The message is being delivered through hip hop. Names of some of the guests are familiar – like syndicated radio talk show host Michael Eric Dyson, the man EBONY named one of the nation’s most influential African Americans, and the Rev. E. Dewey Smith, the singing pastor from... Read more

New statistics from the Episcopal Church show the group’s loss of more than 200,000 members and 300 parishes between 2006 and 2010, bringing membership to its lowest since the 1930s. In an Oct. 22 blog entry, commentator David Virtue noted that if the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion continues to lose active members at the present rate, then “in 26 years there will no longer be anyone attending an Episcopal church.” Virtue made his prediction based on figures showing... Read more

The Occupy Wall Street movement went Uptown on Friday night, as more than 100 people filled the second-floor sanctuary at St. Philip’s Church in Harlem for the first general meeting of Occupy Harlem. Unlike their downtown comrades, those in attendance were mostly black and Latino, save for a handful of whites who sat and listened intently, a few lifting their fists to shouts of “Power to the People.” This was a group of veteran activists and young turks alike, inspired by... Read more

By STEVEN GRAYTime Magazine Somewhat lost in the firestorm of sexual harassment allegations were Herman Cain’s comments on Sunday’s Face the Nation regarding abortion – chiefly, that Planned Parenthood clinics are intentionally placed in black neighborhoods to perpetrate genocide. They actually reflect a view that’s regaining traction among socially conservative blacks. Here’s Cain, a Baptist preacher, in an exchange with the host, Bob Schieffer: Read more here Read more

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With confidence and zeal, Ephren Taylor riveted audiences at mostly black churches with a list of his impressive accomplishments and an uncanny business sense. He had the blessing of top clergy as he gave financial seminars from the pulpit on Sundays, promising rock-solid investments — only many of the churchgoers said they haven’t seen a dime. Lillian Wells, 60, faces foreclosure as she sits in her home Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011 in Covington, Ga. Wells lost $122,000 in her life... Read more

Guy LancasterEncyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture Review Essay And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people, the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them (2 Nephi 5:1).... Read more