Almost half a century before the Salem Witch Trials, the Colony of Connecticut executed the first person accused of witchcraft in America. This was a victim named Alse Younge about whom nearly nothing is known except her dubious place in history as a macabre footnote.
Let's just spell it out right at the start: Kola Boof is one of the great migrant writers of our time. Her Selected Writings, If My Father Dies I Give Birth to Him Again (edited by Mark Fogarty), underlines the Egyptian-Sudanese-American writer's literary achievements over a wide range of forms as diverse as poetry, memoir, and fiction, (both long and short form) and over a wide range of physical and emotional territory extending from her native Sudan to America, back to Africa, and then back to America again.
(CNN) – Kate Kelly, a lifelong Mormon who’s spearheaded a fight for equal opportunities for women in her church, was convicted of apostasy Monday and excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The verdict, decided by a panel of male judges who convened Sunday, came to her by way of an e-mail sent by her former LDS Church bishop in Virginia, Mark Harrison. Kelly described the verdict as “exceptionally painful.”
"When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know, the end result is tyranny and oppression no matter how holy the motives."
by Libby Anne cross posted from her blog Love, Joy Feminism
Evangelical teachings on repentance and forgiveness create a tremendous problem when it comes to rape or other forms of abuse. If you commit a sin and repent of it, God forgives you. I remember hearing Psalm 103:12 quoted constantly: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Of course, this was always said in a positive way—isn’t it awesome that God forgives us no matter what? But it doesn’t must mean God forgives us. It also means God forgives rapists, child molesters, and so on—fully and completely.
The test results do not prove that Jesus had a wife, only that the fragment of papyrus with the phrase, “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife,’” is most likely not a forgery.
Bob Jones University shut down a yearlong investigation into sex abuse complaints before a final report came out. They had really good reasons, we’re sure.
"Thousands of Saudis vented their anger online after staff at a Riyadh university barred male paramedics from entering a women's-only campus to assist a student who had suffered a heart attack and later died.
Amna Bawazeer, a Master’s student at the College of Social Studies at King Saud University in the capital Riyadh, suffered the heart attack at 11 am at the women’s college where she was finalising her course timetable for the second semester. However, when the ambulance arrived, the medics were not allowed to enter the college for two hours.
The university officials argued that the ambulance staff were males and could not enter the premises as the student was not covered and that no man could be allowed into the women’s college even though Amna needed prompt and vital treatment, local daily Okaz reported on Thursday."
Jesus Christ visits Sarah Silverman to discuss women's reproductive rights. For more information on how you can get involved, visit http://www.ladypartsjusti...
The Devadasi, a centuries-old caste of sacred temple priestesses, struggles to have it's own renaissance. One woman leads the way...
The origins of the practice are often disputed, but historians agree that in India by the 10th century this caste of sacred temple servants enjoyed great wealth & property as signs of respect & clout.
Considered married to the Hindu deities, the Devadasi were talented dancers, singers & even viewed as political advisors. At the core of Devadasi faith is the belief all men are incarnations of the male deities & so in addition to performing sacred temple ceremonies, Devadasis offered sexual services. In the act of making love, a man & a Devadasi enact the sacred marriage of god & goddess which therefore allows them to become divine themselves.
While searching through the attic of his father’s house, a son came across boxes of old items. The most interesting were piles of love letters sent from a man named Max. From 1913-1978, Max and Pearle wrote each other. All his letters begin with “My Sweet Pearle” and end with “Forever yours, Max”. These letters were supposed to have been burned when Pearle passed away in 1980, but the family didn’t honor those wishes, and one of the greatest love stories began to unfold.
In 1911, a woman named Pearle Schwarz met a man named Maxwell Savelle at the Country Club. They fell madly in love. Unfortunately, Maxwell would not convert to Judaism (his parents were Southern Baptists) and so they could not be together. They went their separate ways – Maxwell went into the Navy and Pearle continued to pine for him until she died. She never let go.
Blessed Angela of Foligno (1248 – 1309), a Franciscan tertiary, and Saint Catherine of Siena (1347 – 1380), a Dominican tertiary. They were Catholic holy women from medieval Italy.
These two women had mystical visions and practiced extreme mortification. While such behaviors may seem strange and somewhat detrimental to the modern feminist scholar, we must examine these behaviors from the context of the time period of Angela and Catherine. This paper will attempt to contextualize the actions and texts of both women, to show that though they appear on the surface to be the submissive ‘lambs’ of the Church which today’s feminists vilify, underneath the ‘lamb’s clothing’ of orthodoxy they are more akin to the ‘wolves’ contemporary feminists are seeking for inspiration. Angela and Catherine submitted to the Church by practicing imitatio Christi, becoming part of official orders as tertiaries and revealing their actions and visions to confessors.
In their behavior and writings, both women supported the ideals of the Church. This conformity allowed Angela and Catherine to avoid charges of heresy and to carve out a space for themselves within the Catholic Church. However, both women threatened to cross the line into heterodoxy with their critiques of the Church and the extreme degree to which they took their asceticism. In addition to their sanctity amongst the laity, both women were able to usurp some of the Church’s spiritual authority through their actions and texts. Thus, though both women wore the ‘lamb’s clothing’ of conformity, they were ‘wolves’ underneath.
I am a Religious Studies Student at Temple University, and the sacristan at St. Clement's Episcopal Church, an historic Anglo-Catholic Parish in Philadelphia. Politically I am a Christian Socialist with strong Distributist and Neo-Luddite tendencies. I live in South Philadelphia with my husband Xopher, who is a graphic artist. I'm always happy to discuss religion, progressive politics, or LGBTQ issues.
Archaeologists in Peru have discovered a tomb belonging to a pre-Hispanic priestess, the eighth in over two decades -- which they say confirms their belief that powerful women ruled the region 1,200 years ago.
Last week the delightful Vicky Beeching tweeted something about receiving abuse for having the audacity to advocate a feminist theological stance. His Grace pitched in, asking: "Who are these infallible zealots declaring that one may not be both feminist and Christian? Do they have idea of the meaning of either term?" This brought further censure and derision upon his own head. Perhaps a little clarification is required...
Xavier University, one of the oldest Roman Catholic colleges in the United States, will cut off birth-control coverage for its employees in July, a move that has divided faculty members and students on the Cincinnati campus.
The abrupt cancellation of insurance benefits at the Jesuit university in Ohio comes amid a furious dispute between the Obama administration and the nation's Catholic bishops over contraception. [MORE]
When non-religious people think about their own death they become more consciously skeptical about religion, but unconsciously grow more receptive to religious belief, new research suggests.
An opinionated woman obsessed with objects, entertained by ephemera, intrigued by researching, fascinated by culture & addicted to writing. The wind says my name; doesn't put an @ in front of it, so maybe you don't notice. http://www.kitsch-slapped.com
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