Mormon mayhem * Pat Robertson’s advice * Union Seminary’s sin : Thursday’s Roundup

(RNS) The Mormons appear to be purging from within, an Oklahoma candidate is cool with stoning the gays, and Pat Robertson doesn't want a kid to get his dad "busted." All that and more in today's Roundup.

The Salt Lake Temple, also known as the Mormon Temple, worship site of the Church of Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah.

It’s Thursday, which my calendar says is one day away from Friday. So let’s get on with it and get closer to the weekend:

The Salt Lake Temple, also known as the Mormon Temple, worship site of the Church of Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Saltlaketemplehighsmith13507u.jpg)

The Salt Lake Temple, also known as the Mormon Temple, worship site of the Church of Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Saltlaketemplehighsmith13507u.jpg)

Rumblings in Zion

Two prominent reform-minded Mormons — one in favor of opening the priesthood to women, the other an advocate for gay Mormons — could well be excommunicated. Our own Jana Riess wonders if they’re coming for her next. “So be it,” she says.


While we’re talking Mormons, friends in Portland, Ore., are puzzled about why 15-year-old Jared Michael Padgett would have opened fire in his school. By all accounts he was a devoted Mormon “He was so dependable at church,” the AP reports, “that the bishop appointed Jared president of the deacons’ quorum.”

Appealing to a higher authority

The Southern Baptists wrapped up their annual meeting in Baltimore last night, and on the way out prayed for a “favorable, favorable” ruling for the Hobby Lobby folks in their challenge to Obamacare’s contraception mandate.

‘Cuz Leviticus never goes out of style …

Lovely, just lovely: A Tea Party candidate for a state House seat in Oklahoma suggests it’s totally cool to kill gay people, because that’s what they did in the Bible. Rest assured, though, that Scott Esk says he has no plans try to put it into law, but “I didn’t have a problem with it.” The Moore Daily has more here, and here.

Speaking of the Tea Party …

The libertarian Acton Institute looks into David Brat’s theology (he’s the guy who took out House Majority Leader Eric Cantor) and finds a few things to like. As we understand it, Brat is a Catholic with a degree from Princeton Theological Seminary, and is a disciple of the church’s conservative free-market wing.

Catch Lauren Markoe’s Twitter roundup of Jewish Republicans sitting shiva for Cantor’s career.

Today in Gay

Here’s something you don’t see every day: An Orthodox Jewish kid comes out as transgender (timed to a bar mitzvah, of course) and his parents are working to help her on the journey. In New Jersey, meanwhile, a judge ruled that a Jewish “ex-gay” group could be forced to pay the costs of un-doing the therapy given to four men trying to pray away the gay (“conversion therapy” is now banned under state law).

Speaking of, Reform rabbis have joined the United Church of Christ’s religious freedom challenge to North Carolina’s ban on gay marriage.


Texas Gov. Rick Perry says being gay is like being an alcoholic (which is actually not too far out of the mainstream of a lot of evangelical/Catholic/conservative theology.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations developed an advertising campaign for the District of Columbia metro system in response to anti-muslim ads run last month by another group. Image courtesy Ibrahim Hooper via the Council on American-Islamic Relations

The Council on American-Islamic Relations developed an advertising campaign for the District of Columbia metro system in response to anti-muslim ads run last month by another group. Image courtesy Ibrahim Hooper via the Council on American-Islamic Relations

The controversy on the bus goes ’round and ’round (sorry, I have twin 2-year-olds)

The ongoing spitting match between Pamela Geller and Muslim groups enters Round 3, with the Council on American-Islamic Relations coming out with its own D.C. bus ads — these ones feature a Christian, Jew and Muslim also saying they’re cool with the Quran.

Hello Gorgeous

And here’s what we LOVE about The Forward. They can find the Jewish angle on anything. Like the story of the strippers who drugged wealthy men and stole their credit cards. Marsi Rosen, enjoy your moment in the spotlight.

Things you probably shouldn’t say in public

Oh, Pat. You shouldn’t have. Really. So let’s say you’re a kid and your parents are arguing and your dad threatens to use a gun against your mom. What to do? “You don’t want to get your father busted, but you could,” says everyone’s favorite advice guru, Pat Robertson.

Chris Stedman asks a friend: “Do you think I’m going to Hell?” Find out how she answered here.


Manhattan's Union Theological Seminary, the country's oldest independent seminary, took steps Tuesday (June 10) to begin completely divesting from fossil fuels, the first known seminary to do so.

Manhattan’s Union Theological Seminary, the country’s oldest independent seminary, took steps Tuesday (June 10) to begin completely divesting from fossil fuels, the first known seminary to do so.

Dust off the sackcloth, ready the ashes

The good folks up at Union Seminary are pulling their investments (about $12 million) from all fossil fuel companies, saying it’s a “sin” to contribute to climate change.

Cue the Monty Python song

Italy’s Catholic bishops are not pleased with a recent court ruling that OK’s sperm donors. It’s too close to playing God, they say.

Ho hum

Not much new here, but FWIW: U.S. Catholic bishops, meeting in ‘Nawlins, are doubling down on opposition to gay marriage and abortion, casting both as generations-long fights that won’t be resolved with one court decision.

Not so ho hum

A shooting at a Catholic church in Phoenix left one priest dead and another wounded; for now, it’s been described as a botched robbery.

Barristers, benchers and lawyers, oh my!

More trouble for Trinity Western University in British Columbia, where the conservative Christian school is finding still more opposition from local lawyers. Fun fact: Attorneys in Canada are apparently called “benchers.” Who knew?


And with that, it’s back to work (for us, hopefully not for you). Make sure we have your email below so you can continue getting the Roundup every day, for free.

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