Jezebel: Church

How to Act at Someone Else's Church

Anna North — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:30:00 EST

Back in December, we offered some tips on going to a holiday celebration of another religion. But religious services of various kinds go on all year, and different rules apply when you're in church than when you're at a Hanukkah party. Herewith, some advice on going to someone's place of worship without making an ass of yourself. More »

Pastor Conducts a Bizarre 'Sexperiment' on the Roof of His Church

Cassie Murdoch — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:30:00 EST

This past weekend, a pastor in Texas brought a bed up to the rooftop of his megachurch and sat in it with his wife for 24 hours. The pastor, Ed Young, decided to do the stunt to promote a new book he has called Sexperiment: 7 Days to Lasting Intimacy With Your Spouse. Young swore it wasn't a gimmick and said he was simply doing it to spread a message: "Bring God back into the bed." I guess it's easier for Him to find the bed if you're up on the roof? More »

Churches Admit They've Lost 'War on Christmas' by Canceling Christmas Day Services

Erin Gloria Ryan — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:00:00 EST

Christmas falls on a Sunday this year, which, in my day, would've meant killing two birds with one stone and only having to go to church once this week. But not in 2011, The Year of the WTF. Rather than rolling out the red carpet for Baby Jesus's magic birthday, some churches are actually canceling or scaling back services on Sunday so that their parishoners and clergy can spend the day doing more Christmassy things like opening presents, eating, and watching Wal-Mart commercials with The Nutcracker Suite playing in the background. More »

Church Bravely Reverses Its Ban On Interracial Couples

Margaret Hartmann — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:30:00 EST

The racial views of the members of the Gulnare Free Will Baptist Church in Kentucky evolved about 60 years in the past week, and all it took was a massive outpouring of shock and rage from people around the world. Yesterday, a week after nine people voted to pass a ban on interracial couples at the church, the decision was nullified. Pastor Stacy Stepp says that in place of the proclamation pushed by his predecessor, the congregation passed a new resolution that welcomes, "believers into our fellowship regardless of race, creed or color." More »

Church Stands Up For What It Believes In, Bans Interracial Couples

Margaret Hartmann — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 10:50:00 EST

Apparently, Jesus has been horribly misquoted for roughly 2,000 years. While everyone thinks he was a fan of loving your neighbor as you love yourself, what he actually meant is that you should love your fellow man as long as his skin isn't a different color than yours. Thankfully, there's a small church in Kentucky that's stepped up to remind us that judging others can really bring a community together. More »

If You Haven't Been Making Out In Church, You've Been Missing Out

Cassie Murdoch — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 16:35:00 EST

One minister has come up with a novel way to both keep church from being boring and keep the spice alive in the marriages of his parishioners: have them make out in front of the rest of the congregation. Yes, these Sunday morning sexytimes are part of Pastor Maurice Johnson's sermon at Winners Church in Queens, or, as the New York Post classily calls it, "Our Lady of Spin the Bottle." More »

Everyone Is Having Sex In Cars These Days

Anna North — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:15:00 EST

A survey claims over half of adults have had sex in public, which is a lot less hot when you find out that most of them did it in parked cars. More »

The Catholic Church Has Been Quietly Selling Porn In Germany

Cassie Murdoch — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 16:20:00 EST

The Catholic Church is no stranger to preaching one thing and doing another. There are, of course, the recent sexual abuse cases, and who can forget the Crusades? Now we have a new—less egregious but still annoying—violation to add to the list! Here goes: It turns out that the Catholic Church in Germany owns a publishing house that sells pornography, and now that people have found out they're trying to claim it was all a big misunderstanding! Of course it was. More »

Why Would Anyone Become a Nun?

Erin Gloria Ryan — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:50:00 EDT

In Great Britain, more young women are getting thee to the nunnery — and not the way Shakespeare meant it. In recent years, the motherland has seen an upswing in new, younger entrants into religious orders. The Anglican Church has been ordaining women into the priesthood since 1971, and Anglican priests are allowed to marry. Why would a woman opt to forsake the possibility of a family or traditional service in the name of religious service when an alternative is available? More »

Presbyterian Church Ordains Its First Gay Minister

Cassie Murdoch — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 17:30:00 EDT

Yesterday the Presbyterian Church ordained its first openly gay minister, Scott Anderson, in Madison, Wisconsin. Anderson, who is 56, was a minister before but left the job in 1990 after he was rejected by members of his congregation in Sacramento, California. Despite his negative experience, he always remained active in the church. He began trying to return to the ministry five years ago, but had to wait until this July when the church's constitution was finally changed to permit openly gay and lesbian ministers. Anderson, who has been with his partner for 20 years, hopes his ordination signals that the church "will increasingly become a more constructive player in the wider cultural discussion about gays and lesbians." More »

Godless Heathen Women Skipping Church More Often Than Ever

Erin Gloria Ryan — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 14:01:51 EDT

If you're reading this, chances are you're not in church. And you're not alone. According to a recent survey that measured Christian churchgoing behavior among America's women over the last 20 years, we're all getting decidedly less godly. More »

Report Says 1960s, Not Celibacy, Made Priests Abuse Kids

Anna North — Wed, 18 May 2011 12:40:00 EDT

A new report claims that "social factors" — not forced celibacy — caused the upswing in abuse by Catholic priests in the sixties and seventies. But not everyone is convinced. More »

Nuns Vs. Goldman Sachs

Sadie Stein — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 18:15:00 EDT

Four orders of nuns that invest with Goldman Sachs are asking the board to review its "excessive" compensation policy — a policy that nearly doubled Lloyd Blankfein's salary in the past year. From their mouths to God's ears. More »

Marriage Is Not a Right, Says Pope

Lauri Apple — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 18:00:36 EST

Pope Benedict XVI doesn't think people can claim any "right to a nuptial ceremony." Also, he thinks better premarital counseling could help avoid a "vicious circle" of invalid marriages. Unsure on the first part, but minimizing risk sounds good. Thoughts? More »

Semi-Religious With Sandra Lee

Erin Gloria Ryan — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 17:05:00 EST

Albany, NY, January 2: New York's new Governor, Andrew Cuomo, center, leaves the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception after attending services with his girlfriend, Sandra Lee and his daughters. (Image via AP)

New Jersey Pastor Who Told Congregation that Facebook Encourages Adultery Has Had Himself Some Of That Adultery

Erin Gloria Ryan — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 16:50:00 EST

Mmm. Adultery to the tune of a three-way relationship with his wife and another male employee of his church. And it goes down nice and smooth. More »

Women Spend Three Years Of Their Lives In The Kitchen

Katy Kelleher — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 17:13:00 EDT

According to a study out of the UK, women spend three years of their lives cooking, which is more than double the amount of time men spend in front of the stove. But there is good news:

When Sex Offenders Go To Church

Sadie Stein — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 16:19:00 EDT

Churches have traditionally been places of sanctuary. But given the number of children around, some people are asking: should they be? More »

Tell Us: Can Love Conquer Wildly Different Religious Beliefs?

Anna North — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 12:05:00 EDT

A reader recently wrote us with a love dilemma. She's agnostic, he's "heavily Christian" — can their relationship work? You tell us. More »

Lady Gaga Calls The Ghostbusters; Barbara Hershey And Naveen Andrews Split

Hortense Smith — Sun, 30 May 2010 10:45:00 EDT

Lady Gaga has reportedly hired a team of ghostbusters to clear the air of "bad energy" before her concerts, because she's "convinced evil spirits are haunting her." [Mirror]

— Jessica Simpson

Dodai Stewart — Wed, 26 May 2010 18:40:00 EDT

while accepting an award at the Gracies (which honor women in radio and TV) on Tuesday. Also, she was "called to the ministry" at church camp when she was 13, telling her parents: "I can change the world. Somehow." [Us] More »

If You Can't Beat Them...Um, Beat Them

Sadie Stein — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:20:00 EST

Xtreme Ministries "is one of a small but growing number of evangelical churches that have embraced mixed martial arts...to reach and convert young men, whose church attendance has been persistently low." [NYT, Image via Fred R. Conrad/NYT] More »

"Don't Bring A Gun To A Snowball Fight" • Stolen Auschwitz Sign Recovered In Pieces

Margaret Hartmann — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:00:00 EST

• A Washington D.C. police office was caught on video this weekend waving his gun at a large group of adults having a snowball fight. When confronted, he said he drew his gun, ''because I got hit with snowballs.'' More »

Beatitudes

Sadie Stein — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:40:00 EST

Sister Maria Alfonsina Danil Ghattas, a Palestinian nun whose Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of Jerusalem continues her work of educating Arab girls, has been beatified. [MSNBC] More »

Desperate Times...

Sadie Stein — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 11:20:00 EDT

In a spirit of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em," the Church of England has instituted a "hatch and match" program in which unwed parents can get a wedding and christening in one, making everything, um, kosher. [DailyMail] More »

The Opposite Of TGIF

Anna North — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:20:00 EDT

Don't think of Chucky when you watch this video of the congregation laughing maniacally at their pastor's "joke." Anybody get it? We don't. [YouTube, via Lindsayism] More »

The Human Stain

Anna Holmes — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:10:00 EDT

[Denver, May 31. Image via Getty]

A Wedding Gown For The Birds • New Moms Using HIV Drug To Stop Lactating

Margaret Hartmann — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:40:00 EDT

• If you're getting married and have a spare $1.5 million, why not walk down this aisle in this wedding dress made with peacock tail feathers? • More »

Exorcising the Taint of Sex

Megan Carpentier — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 09:45:00 EDT

Earlier this month, the fuzz caught a rather drunk couple doing the deed in a confessional in a Catholic church in Cesena and officially rebuked them. To rid the Church of the stain of the sacrilege, the Bishop held a "Mass of Reparation" after the couple apologized and asked God for forgiveness. If there's a whole Mass to make up for people boning in a Church, it seems like it must happen a lot. The only place I ever had sex outside of a private home was in an law office file room, but I'm pretty sure we were bringing more positive vibes to that place than average. [Reuters, photo by John Keogh] More »

Church & Chong

Maria — Tue, 20 May 2008 15:20:00 EDT

It seems like almost every major religion in the world burns incense during religious practices and it turns out there may be a reason: it gets you totally stoned. Well, sort of. A chemical given off from burning frankincense can alleviate anxiety and depression, or, in the words of one doctor, it can "make you feel warm and tingly all over!" Right, well, we'll say this: Religion + "warm and tingly" is not an image we have any interest in further contemplating. [Science Daily] More »

Brigitte Bardot Is A Racist; Churchgoing Girls Are Apple Polishers

maria — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:30:00 EDT

• Sure, yesterday was Black Day, but it was also Cake and Cunnilingus Day! • A blind man stabbed his fiancee for not wearing her engagement ring. • Mothers experience less eating problems than their drunk and childless peers.• The "D.C. Madam" was found guilty of prostitutin'. • Famous Muslim-hater, Brigitte Bardot, is on trial again for racist slurs. • The girls involved in a playground beatdown of a 10-year-old girl may face expulsion from school. • Gay couples are having trouble obtaining divorces. • Saudi female students and housewives plan Olympic dreams with controversial basketball team. • Social Darwinism? Girls who attend church religiously, are (possibly) harder workers. More »