Recently, the global queer rights movement has been receiving a lot of attention in the media, both domestically and abroad. One of many recent incidents that has received a lot of press in the media is the anti-gay legislation, which was signed into law by Yoweri Museveni, President of Uganda. The anti-homosexuality bill which was signed into law criminalizes any individual who identifies as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, or Intersex (LGBTI) for willingly engaging in same-sex relations. After the bill... Read more

Some years ago, a long-time friend of mine was asked, at the last minute, to take part in a radio debate. At the end of the programme the producer thanked her for her contribution, and then made a memorable comment, “If you’d not been able to make it, the next person on our list was one of those awful evangelical people.” I grew up evangelical. I am an evangelical. That’s why I find this kind of story exceptionally painful to... Read more

On March 24, just a month after Ugandan President Museveni signed a bill making homosexuality a crime punishable by life in prison, Obama administration officials announced that they were increasing military aid to Uganda in its effort to quell rebel forces. Human rights groups criticized the move, arguing that the aid offered Museveni “legitimacy” after he supported a law that has been widely condemned for violating human rights. The same day, a State Department spokesperson quietly announced that the administration would also “demonstrate our... Read more

President Barack Obama’s seminal gay rights legislation has become the latest casualty of the Supreme Court’s decision to allow Hobby Lobby to deny their employees contraception on religious grounds. The Employee Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, was passed by the Senate last year, but it has stalled in the House in part because Republicans wanted greater religious exemptions. But the exemptions already contained within the bill, gay rights activists fear, provide a blue print for employers to discriminate against gays, lesbians, bisexual... Read more

by C J RhodesR3 Contributor *First Appeared on the C J Rhodes blog This week approximately 30,000 Baptists are in Atlanta for the 21stAnnual Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship (FGBCF) Conference. Founded in 1994 to give black Baptists “the right to choose” charismatic gifts, ordained women clergy, and episcopal leadership innovations, the FGBCF is a growing fellowship of 2,500 churches who seek to maintain a broadly Baptist identity while also augmenting traditional views on the Holy Spirit and ministry. Many... Read more

Samuel Holloway Bowers, the first Imperial Wizard of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Mississippi and the mastermind behind the slayings of three civil rights workers in Neshoba County, Mississippi, 50 years ago, did not fit the caricature of a backwards racist. College educated as an engineer at the University of Southern California and at Tulane University, associates described him as an ideologically driven strategist.  “He is very intelligent. I have no question about that,” Thomas Tarrants,... Read more

Emory University’s Candler School of Theology has received a $460,000 grant from Lilly Endowment to lead a study of the purposes of theological education in a time of significant change. “Theological Education Between the Times: Consultations on the Meanings and Purposes of Theological Education” will convene diverse groups of theological educators to reflect on the nature of theological education. Ted A. Smith, associate professor of preaching and ethics at Candler, will direct the project. “In the last few years it... Read more

by Andre KeyContributor to R3Read Part 1 here. Read Part 2 here.  Throughout the black religious cosmos, various traditions have removed whiteness from its hallowed perch. The most obvious is the Nation of Islam’s myth of Yacub, however, Black Hebrews have long identified whites in general (or Ashkenazi Jews in particular) as Edomites (the descendants of Esau, enemy of the Israelites), and Rastafarianism has long critiqued whiteness and western society as Babylon, the adversary of the saints of Jah.  The... Read more

The Supreme Court led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. showed again this year that it is playing a long game, writing opinions that move the law in small but steady steps in a conservative direction. At first glance, many of its decisions appear modest, and the justices themselves downplayed them as narrow and tightly targeted. But they also set the stage for broader rulings, and liberals voiced concern about their long-term impact. Many rely on well-established rights, such as freedom... Read more

San Francisco’s Archbishop Cordileone was met with strong opposition to his participation in the recent March for Marriage. In response he wrote a letter stating, “Please do not make judgments based on stereotypes, media images, and comments taken out of context. Rather, get to know us first as fellow human beings.” The question must be asked, are we as a Church getting to know our LGBTQ brothers and sisters, or do we make judgments based on stereotypes and media images? The media... Read more