Wednesday, April 24, 2019

[clarity about church policies]


Church Clarity has a simple goal: make it clear what a church's policy is on things that matter to those who might attend. Here's how they put it on their homepage:
There are millions of churches around the world. They represent a wide spectrum of beliefs, which are translated into actively enforced policies. At the level of the local church, policies are often communicated unclearly, if they are disclosed at all...

Together, we're establishing a new standard for church policy disclosure:  We believe that churches have a responsibility to be clear about their policies on their primary websites. Following a simple, yet consistent method, our crowdsourcers submit churches to be scored on how clearly their website communicates their actively enforced policies. Once the information is verified by Church Clarity, it is published to our database.

Their current focus is on policies related to LGBTQ+. This is critical for LGBTQ+ people, especially if they get involved with a church on the basis of it appearing welcoming, only to find out later that there are policies which prohibit their involvement in leadership, or which prescribe discipline if they get married, etc.

They are currently accepting ratings for Canadian and American churches. Look them up and submit your church, especially if it is LGBTQ+ positive:

https://www.churchclarity.org

You can also sign up to be an advocate or use some of their resources (like the yellow image above) to help promote the site.

Church Clarity logo from www.churchclarity.org


Thursday, April 11, 2019

[gender in the City of Edmonton census]

The City of Edmonton recently sent out their census, and this is what the gender page looks like:


Nice to see that it more inclusive than it used to be, including not only transgender people but also two spirit!