Gender and Sexuality

"Temporary Marriage in Islam is Sex for Hire": Fatemeh Fakhraie

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The GOATMILK DEBATES continue… The motion:”Temporary Marriage is a valid option for Muslims in the modern age”
AGAINST THE MOTION: “Sigheh Marriage [Temporary Marriage or Muta’a] is Sex for Hire”

Fatemeh Fakhraie
I support any way that two consenting adults can safely get it on. And so I don’t think sigheh marriage (temporary marriage also referred to asmut’a, or pleasure, marriage) is a bad idea. In a magical, lollipop-and-rainbows land. But in the reality where we all live?

Christianity

Bishop Gene Robinson Speaks: "The Greatest Coming Out Story Ever Told"

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In this last installment of my interview with Bishop Gene Robinson, we discuss interpreting collective story in an inclusive fashion culminating in Gene’s interpretation of Exodus as “The Greatest Coming Out Story Ever Told.” Feel free to check out the first two installments if you are so moved:
Morning Feature: Bishop Gene Robinson Speaks About Obama and “The Left”
Furthermore! Bishop Gene Robinson Speaks: From Tolerance to Empathy

LR: In organized religion, there seems to be a tendency to substitute a particular interpretation of a collective ambiguous story for the story itself. And often, the narrow interpretation excludes specific people from participating in the power structure. So as a bishop, you are now a participant in the power structure.

Christianity

Bishop Gene Robinson Speaks: From Tolerance to Empathy

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This diary is dedicated to Father Paco Vallejos, who has facilitated my own journey from tolerance to empathy. Several weeks ago, I interviewed Bishop Gene Robinson, a leader in the modern civil rights movement for Tikkun Daily. Bishop Robinson, who delivered the inaugural prayer, is the first openly gay Episcopal Bishop. You can read the first installment of my interview about Obama and “the Left” here. LR: My second question for you is a little bit more spiritual in nature.

Empathy

Bishop Gene Robinson Speaks About Obama and "The Left"

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A few weeks ago, the congregants of Temple Beth Shalom in Santa Fe were honored by a visit from Bishop Gene Robinson who delivered the evening’s d’Var Torah. Bishop Robinson is the first openly gay Episcopal Bishop. He was invited to Santa Fe as Grand Marshall of the Gay Pride parade. When Rabbi Marvin Schwab learned from a colleague at St. Bede’s that Bishop Robinson might be barred from speaking in an Episcopal Church, he invited him to deliver the Friday Night D’Var Torah at Temple Beth Shalom.

Buddhism

The Meaning of Bodhicitta, and Other Reflections from Femme Conference

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There are Buddhist prayers that say, “May I become a bodhisattva who is willing to stay in a hell realm for eons if it will help even one being.” Though Buddhism isn’t usually associated with the belief in hell, most Buddhist traditions in Asia speak of various heavenly and hellish realms of possible rebirth. An enlightened person who gave up the rewards of Nirvana to help people not just on earth but in hell would be an unselfish person of the highest order – a bodhisattva. Most of spiritual progressives, and a number of modern Buddhists, only ever use hell as a metaphor. This weekend at the third national Femme Conference in Oakland, a secular activist whom I greatly admire, Kate Bornstein, used the metaphor of hell in a way unexpectedly evoked for me the image of secular bodhisattva.

Gender and Sexuality

Can a Muslim Woman Marry a Jew? Or Other Non-Muslim? from The Goatmilk Debates

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“THE GOATMILK DEBATES” is an ongoing series featuring two debaters tackling an interesting or controversial question in a unique, irreverent manner. Each debater makes their opening argument. They can elect to post a rebuttal. The winner will be decided by the online audience and judged according to the strength of their argument. The motion: “Muslim Women Should Be Able to Marry Non-Muslim Men”

For the motion: Nadia B. Mohammad
Against the motion: May Alhassen
For the Motion – Nadia S. Mohammad – “Muslim women should be able to marry non-Muslim men”
When Huma Abedin, aide to Hilary Clinton, married Anthony Weiner, New York Congressman, it sent tongues wagging in the Muslim community.

Gender and Sexuality

“Muslim Americans Should Support Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage” – Michael Muhammad Knight for GOATMILK DEBATES

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“THE GOATMILK DEBATES” will be an ongoing series featuring two debaters tackling an interesting or controversial question in a unique, irreverent manner. Each debater makes their opening argument. They can elect to post a rebuttal. The winner will be decided by the online audience and judged according to the strength of their argument. The motion:””Muslim Americans Should Not Oppose Legalization Of Same Sex Marriage””
For the motion: Sabir Ibrahim [Read his post here] and Michael Muhammad Knight
Against the motion: Mahdi Ahmad[Read his post here] and Sister A. [Read her Opening Argument here.]

MICHAEL MUHAMMAD KNIGHT: FOR THE MOTION
First things first: this is not an attempt to reconcile the Qur’an, Prophetic tradition, or classical Islamic thought with the cause of LGBTQ rights.

Culture

Still Married!

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20 years and four months after our marriage in the First Presbyterian Church, and 2 years after the County of San Mateo issued our marriage license and the minister who had married us 20 years earlier got to sign our marriage certificate, a federal judge declared today that our marriage remains legal (we weren’t the plaintiffs in the case, but were married in San Mateo County during the brief window when California allowed gay marriage). And… he declared the ban on gay marriage passed by voters in California to be in violation of the United States Constitution. Pass the chocolate cake – it is time to celebrate… and get back to work after the frosting is gone because there’s a whole lot of work to do.

Christianity

The Catholic Crisis: Part II: When faith is challenged, Catholics must grow up

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Many years ago, when I was struggling to understand the smoke-and-mirrors world of corporate journalism, a Washington, D.C., veteran passed on to me a bit of wisdom:
When I was a reporter, an old PR pro once told me something. He said ‘You come to the press conferences and you listen, and the first mistake you make is that you think we’re lying. You discover we’re not lying. Then you make a greater mistake. You think we’re telling the truth.’

Buddhism

Nuns, Invisibility, and the Question of Buddhist Activism

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There is a huge movement going on in Buddhism today, one that could make Buddhism the only major world religion with gender equal access to ordination in nearly all denominations. All over the Buddhist world, women are battling for full ordination of nuns, something that is now only consistently available in one tradition and is hotly debated in the others. It’s also shockingly overlooked outside of these debates. Consider an audience member’s question during a wonderful presentation by David Loy and Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi at the recent NSP conference. A long-time activist who’d been involved in Buddhism for a decade and a half wondered why most Buddhists aren’t also activists.