Content about Human Rights

NEW YORK – Five congregations demonstrating a special enthusiasm and exemplary work for interfaith relations have been named "model interfaith engaged congregations" by the National Council of Churches.

In June, the NCC's Interfaith Relations Commission asked for nominations from its member communions and other communities affiliated with the Council of congregations that "have something important to share about interfaith engagement."

My parents are really religious. My pastor said being gay was immoral. I heard that God hates fags. My church took collections to stop marriage equality. They told me about Sodom and Gomorrah. They quoted Leviticus. They told me I was evil. They told me I was a sinner. They told me I couldn’t love God. They told me I could change.

Old age is not for sissies. The actor Bette Davis said that, I think. Neither is it for show-offs. I can testify to that.

I have a Mazda Miata, stick-shift, of course. I've bragged about it in these notes at least once before, called it my second middle-age crisis. My wife CP and I have a good friend, a handsome and talented young woman in her very early fifties, younger than our children. I rather proudly took her for a top-down spin in the Miata not long ago. 

There's lots of church-state intersection in Faith and the Common Good on this first official day of fall, so let's get right to it.

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A case involving the firing of a teacher with a disability from a religious school has gone before the U.S. Supreme Court in what many see as a test of the traditional "ministerial exception" regarding hiring practices for religious organizations.

Faith & the Common Good Sept. 7, 2011

What does it take to "make" a disciple of Jesus Christ? How does a disciple, or follower, of Jesus look, act and live in comparison to the world around us?

Toiling through the remaining "dog days" of summer seems a lot like following the Yellow Brick Road in L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz: hurricanes and earthquakes and heatstroke, oh, my! Herewith some gleanings from the parched and shaking landscape.

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Islamophobia reared its evil, ugly head in my backyard this week, in the form of an email from some church acquaintances calling people to stop a Muslim event scheduled at a hotel in a north Dallas suburb called Richardson.

What a joyous week it has been for gay and lesbian people and the many folks who love them!

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Rev. Amy DeLong of Osceola, Wis., will undergo a United Methodist Church trial starting June 21 to respond to a charge that she has violated church law by being a “self-avowed practicing homosexual” and officiating at a same-sex union. UMNS will cover the trial and will post coverage online at www.umc.org and on the UMNS Facebook page. Michele Virnig, director of communications for the Wisconsin Annual (regional) Conference, provided the information below.

What is a church trial?

In a historic move, the United Nations has endorsed the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender people for the first time ever. The resolution adopted June 17 has drawn praise from the U.S. government and criticism from some Muslim and African countries, according to Yahoo News.