In my city and perhaps most others, there are many churches that have no official policy of being welcoming to gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people. The general assumption, in the GLBT community, is that if we’re not issued an “official” welcome, that means that
There’s a seething anger not far below the surface of many people in America today. It’s ready to explode at the least feeling of being slighted. You see it when someone gets cut off in traffic, someone doesn’t like how someone looks at them, a
Listen to the podcast episode I don’t understand fundamentalists. I wish I did. It would make things a whole lot easier. If I understood them, I’d know how to talk to them, how to convince them that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people of faith
Read the related article The eleventh podcast, or “Godcast” from Whosoever: An Online Magazine for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Christians, is a special edition featuring the Soulforce Equality Ride stop at Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. In addition, Whosoever editor Candace Chellew
Garden of Grace United Church of Christ, Columbia, S.C. Readings: Jeremiah 31:31-34; John 12:20-33 Lest anyone believe the incredible notion that pastors are somehow perfect and have the secret to life, the universe and everything all figured out, let me begin by shattering that notion.
Read related articles The tenth podcast, or “Godcast” from Whosoever: An Online Magazine for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Christians, features our first update from the Soulforce Equality Ride with our Whosoever correspondent Mandy Matthias. We also talk with Dottie Berry and Roby Sapp about
Last November, the New Life Church, a model fundamentalist mega-church he had founded in Colorado Springs, ousted fifty-year-old Ted Haggard, its senior pastor. A darling not only of Republican Christianity (Haggard participated in regular conference calls with Bush), but of his own 14,000 member religious
At lunch the other day, I struggled through yet another challenging conversation with my good friend, the Church Lady. She doesn’t really look like Dana Carvey, and I’m sure she wouldn’t appreciate being satirized on Saturday Night Live. But she knows I’m writing this essay
As a woman Moderator of a very Twenty-first Century church, Metropolitan Community Churches, I felt enormous compassion and solidarity with Presiding Bishop (Primate) Kathleen Jefferts Schori as she recently traveled to Tanzania in her historic role as the first and only woman to serve as
Banners currently hanging from several Australian churches feature the words “Jesus Loves Osama” against a camouflage background. These splashy “advertisements” have been generating headlines, stirring the public, and drawing comment from political and religious leaders. Prime Minister John Howard claimed to “understand the Christian motivation”