Religion

After hours of debate at the Minneapolis Convention Center, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) voted Friday evening to lift its ban on openly gay and lesbian clergy in committed relationships. Advocates on both sides made passionate pleas, with proponents saying the future of the church depends on a more progressive stance on homosexuality and opponents saying the decision could split the church.

Rep. Michele Bachmann told hard-right news service World Net Daily that she would run for president if “the Lord” called her to run. Bachmann, one of the most high-profile and controversial members of Congress, made a similar statement about her first run for Congress in 2006 in a speech at Living Word Christian Center.

The world’s largest professional association for psychologists released a report last week criticizing attempts to turn gay people straight. The American Psychological Association (APA) reports that such efforts — variously called reparative therapies, sexual orientation change plans or “ex-gay” movements — are ineffective and, at times, dangerous. Minnesota has several organizations that engage in ex-gay therapy, but even their leaders acknowledge that it doesn’t often work.

A group monitoring issues surrounding the separation of church and state is urging Attorney General Eric Holder to revoke an earmark to Minnesota Teen Challenge, a Christian chemical dependency treatment center based in Minneapolis. In a letter to Holder, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State argue that MNTC has used taxpayer money [...]

After a several-month hiatus, Katherine Kersten’s lightning rod-conservatism is back at the Star Tribune, and her edgy, faith-tinged opinion hasn’t failed to disappoint those looking for controversy.
Her Sunday-only column this week took aim at atheism and what she perceives as its detrimental impact on society. She argues that without faith in God, people have no [...]

Barack Obama’s administration signaled on Friday that it may rescind a policy of the Bush administration that allows health care providers to refuse care based on moral or religious convictions. The change has the potential to impact family-planning services, access to birth control, end-of-life issues and even gays and lesbians.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota filed suit Wednesday against Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy and the Minnesota Department of Education alleging a violation of the separation between church and state. TIZA was at the center of a media storm last year after the Star Tribune’s Katherine Kersten wrote an inflammatory commentary alleging religious instruction at the taxpayer-funded school. ACLU-MN investigated the allegations and in court documents filed in U.S. District Court said the Muslim organizations from which TIZA leases its space are illegally benefiting from the leasing arrangement.

While Catholic bishops and priests can hear confessions about sins as severe as murder or genocide, the Vatican’s 830-year-old Apostolic Penitentiary is “reserved for crimes which are viewed by the Church as even more serious,” writes the UK’s Telegraph. In Rome this week, this secretive “tribunal of conscience” held a two-day panel [...]

The state’s largest group dedicated to separation of church and state has joined a lawsuit to stop religious services at the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama. The lawsuit, now joined by Minnesota Atheists, is being initiated by Michael Newdow, a separation of church and state advocate.

At issue are the scheduled events involving the Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery, a prominent civil-rights pastor, and the Rev. Rick Warren, whose statements about same-sex marriage and abortion have created an uproar among progressives.

The Beliefnet forum, one of the largest religion-related discussion sites on the web, has conducted a post-election survey to gauge the values and motivations of believers who voted for Barack Obama or John McCain.
Here’s the eye-catcher: “Half of McCain voters believe Obama is or was Muslim, with 31.7% saying ‘He used to be Muslim and [...]