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Inspired
Inspired is the nation's leading public radio show about faith, ethics and spirituality. Each week we offer you analyses of the big headlines alongside lesser-told stories – those of Orthodox Jewish artists and African-American atheists, Muslim feminists and spiritual seekers. Through these stories, a rough sketch of our country’s religious landscape begins to emerge. It’s a marketplace of beliefs and ideas too complex for sound bites, and too important to ignore.
Religion and Gay Marriage: A Culture War Ignited?
The vast majority of American religious groups now support gay marriage, with a notable exception: Evangelical Christians, Orthodox Jews, Mormons, and other religious conservatives. More than 70 percent of white Evangelicals oppose it. Many worry that legal unions between two men and two women will upend centuries of marital tradition, and say there could be unintended consequences for religious liberty. Weihging in this week are Tom Gjelten, religion reporter for NPR; Mollie Ziegler Hemingway, senior editor for The Federalist and Rabbi Jay Michaelson, author of God vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality.
“It’s a Serious Sin:” An Orthodox Rabbi on Homosexuality
For more and more religious traditions, centuries of strict interpretations about homosexuality are changing. But one tradition that isn’t budging is Orthodox Judaism. In 2012, Maureen talked to a renowned Orthodox rabbi, Rabbi Meir Fund, who says the Torah’s passages about gay and lesbian behavior are unambiguous: “It’s a sin. It’s a serious sin.”
Conflicting Identities: Gay and Orthodox
In Orthodox Judaism, to be both actively gay and strictly observant or frum (pronounced “froom”), is a theological taboo. In 2012, producer Jon Kalish asked four gay and lesbian Orthodox men and women to share their stories. Deeply commited to their faith, they paint a picture of anger, confusion and shame, and many find themselves forced to live secret double lives.
