Anti-Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) activists meeting in Nairobi called for comprehensive legislation banning the practice, which removes part of all of a young girl’s genitalia, using, in part, this rationale: “‘It has no basis in any religion.'” While we’re centainly behind their efforts, such arguments make us nervous: if FGM could be tied to a religious tradition, would it be more acceptable? We’re reminded of Alice Walker: “Torture is not culture.”

Archbishop of Wales, Dr. Barry Morgan, has firmly aligned himself with the liberal side of the Anglican split, declaring that, with the great persecution homosexuals already face in the world, “‘We do not as a church want to do anything that adds to the suffering and marginalisation of such people.'” He continued, “‘The very meaning of incarnation is that this God of Jesus got involved in the mess of daily living not by being religious but by touching the lives of those excluded by religious and moral political authorities.'”