The church always gets it wrong at first

It is clear that the issue of homosexuality is going to doom religions unless they learn to accept it. Some have re-interpreted their texts to accommodate the changes but this is not going to be easy for others (evangelicals, the Catholic church, and Muslims) to do because they have gone to the mat on this issue, to argue that it violates the very core of their religious beliefs. [Read more…]

The religious problem for the GOP

Much of the attention for the Republican losses in the last election has been blamed on the fact that its message has alienated minorities and this has serious long-term consequences given the changing demographics of the US. But Mark Silk points out that there is an another widening gap that should terrify the Republican even more and that is one that strikes at the core of its most loyal voting bloc, the religious voter. [Read more…]

The Vatican and same-sex marriage

In the wake of the approval on election day of three referenda in the US approving same-sex marriage and the defeat of one measure that would have banned it, and with Spain upholding its same-sex marriage law and France and the UK poised to introduce legislation to do the same, the pope has dug in his Prada heels and vowed to never stop insisting that marriage is only between a man and a woman, with a Vatican spokesman arguing, “If not, then why not contemplate freely chosen polygamy, and naturally so as to not discriminate, polyandry?” [Read more…]