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The Reverend Irene Monroe

Oprah Hurts Obama - Inclusion By The Reverend Irene Monroe

BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member and Columnist, The Reverend Irene Monroe is an ordained minister, motivational speaker and she speaks for a sector of society that is frequently invisible. Rev. Monroe does a weekly Monday segment, “All Revved Up!” on WGBH (89.7 FM), on Boston Public Radio and a weekly Friday segment “The Take” on New England Channel NEWS (NECN). She’s a Huffington Post blogger and a syndicated religion columnist. Her columns appear in cities across the country and in the U.K, and Canada. Also she writes a column in the Boston home LGBTQ newspaper Baywindows and Cambridge Chronicle. A native of Brooklyn, NY, Rev. Monroe graduated from Wellesley College and Union Theological Seminary at Columbia University, and served as a pastor at an African-American church in New Jersey before coming to Harvard Divinity School to do her doctorate. She has received the Harvard University Certificate of Distinction in Teaching several times while being the head teaching fellow of the Rev. Peter Gomes, the Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church at Harvard who is the author of the best seller, THE GOOD

396 pieces

Commentary

The Right’s Bogus War on Christmas

By The Reverend Irene Monroe Editorial Board

What’s in a greeting? With Ramadan, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice and Christmas all going on this time of year, one would think that an all-inclusive seasonal greeting emblematic of our nation’s religious diversity would be embraced by us all with two simple words — Happy Holidays! However, the season’s greeting is the ongoing chapter in…

What's in a greeting? With Ramadan, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice and Christmas all going on this time of year, one would think that an all-inclusive seasonal…

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Cover Story

Election of Lesbian Episcopal Bishop Divides Race and Queer

By The Reverend Irene Monroe Editorial Board

On December 5th cheers reverberated across the country with the news that at the 114th annual convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles two women were elected as bishops- Rev. Diane Jardine Bruce of California, and Rev. Mary Douglas Glasspool of Maryland. While both elections bring their own controversy, Glasspool’s keeps the church’s issue…

On December 5th cheers reverberated across the country with the news that at the 114th annual convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles two women…

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Commentary

Please Remember My Sisters This Month!

By The Reverend Irene Monroe Editorial Board

Please remember my sisters this month! Why? December 1 is World AIDS Day and Black women are dying of AIDS. And is anyone doing anything about it? Right here in the nation’s capitol, the HIV/AIDS epidemic rivals that of many Third World countries. Washington D.C. affectionately dubbed as “Chocolate City” is approximately 60 percent of…

Please remember my sisters this month! Why? December 1 is World AIDS Day and Black women are dying of AIDS. And is anyone doing anything about…

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Commentary

Pastor Donnie McClurkin’s Gay Church

By The Reverend Irene Monroe Editorial Board

The Church of God in Christ (COGIC) is the largest African American and largest Pentecostal church in the United States. And as the largest denominational black church in the country it is also the loudest in rebuking homosexuality. With many of the gospel music industry mega-stars from the COGIC, the church’s charismatic worship style shouts…

The Church of God in Christ (COGIC) is the largest African American and largest Pentecostal church in the United States. And as the largest denominational black…

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Commentary

Will Rev. Bernice King’s Bully Pulpit at SCLC Bash Gays?

By The Reverend Irene Monroe Editorial Board

Rev. Bernice King has been bestowed the honor to be the eighth president and first women to head the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Co-founded by her father, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Rev. Bernice King may be a legacy pick for SCLC, but unfortunately, she will not be carrying on his legacy.…

Rev. Bernice King has been bestowed the honor to be the eighth president and first women to head the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Co-founded by…

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Cover Story

‘Child Witches’

By The Reverend Irene Monroe Editorial Board

This Halloween many American children will dress up as witches. And we’ll hear their laughter and see their smiles as they joyfully go from door-to-door trick-or-treating. But here and in some places across the globe, children would never pretend to be witches because the consequences are not only dire but they can also be deadly.…

This Halloween many American children will dress up as witches. And we’ll hear their laughter and see their smiles as they joyfully go from door-to-door trick-or-treating.…

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Commentary

Morehouse’s Non-Tolerance for Gays

By The Reverend Irene Monroe Editorial Board

Morehouse College has a problem with its dress-code offenders. These dress-code offenders wear baggy pants, du-rags, flash their “bling bling” like gold chains, and “decorative orthodontic appliances” like gold teeth, and tattoos, bringing too much of black urban ghetto life to an elite college that fashions itself as the paragon of black manhood. In Morehouse’s…

Morehouse College has a problem with its dress-code offenders. These dress-code offenders wear baggy pants, du-rags, flash their “bling bling” like gold chains, and “decorative orthodontic…

Continue reading 5 min

Commentary

Is Barney Frank Relevant?

By The Reverend Irene Monroe Editorial Board

Congressman Barney Frank has been for decades the iconic image of gay civil rights advocacy on Capitol Hill. For many years he was the lone voice and only openly gay congressman. And as a Massachusetts resident I was once proud to say, “Barney Frank has got my back.” But as one of the most vocal…

Congressman Barney Frank has been for decades the iconic image of gay civil rights advocacy on Capitol Hill. For many years he was the lone voice…

Continue reading 5 min

Commentary

Out of my Black Church, Into the Streets

By The Reverend Irene Monroe Editorial Board

I will not be in church this Sunday, but I will be in a place where my spiritual self will be fed. I will be participating in the National Equality March (NEM) this Sunday, carrying the banner of Faith in America, an organization that is working to stop bigotry disguised as religious truth. And no…

I will not be in church this Sunday, but I will be in a place where my spiritual self will be fed. I will be participating…

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