Religion Dispatches
…the policy as we understand it today, or are in a longterm committed relationship with someone of the same gender, or are dating someone knew every night. Once that happens, we can begin to consider ourselves to be closer to emulating the true, unconditional love our Savior already has for all of us.” And when that happens, Jayce Cox and others like him will truly be able to come home….
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…n anti-marriage-equality bil and to call for hate crimes protections. El Salvador: Human Rights award nomination sparks threats against trans nominee Karle Avelar was nominated in April for the Martin Ennals Foundation’s human rights award, making her for first transgender woman to be considered for the award; since the announcement was made public, reports ElSalvador.com, Avelar has been subject to increasing threats. Nepal: Country’s advances on…
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…ermissible in the Pledge of Allegiance is because “there’s no coercion involved.” He says, we “have the right to worship according to the dictates of conscience regardless of what the majority says.” He says, “we have the right of conscience protected” and points to the Jehovah’s Witnesses rights not to participate in the pledge which he claims is protected “from the beginning in ’47.” (Its not “from the beginning”; the protection against being co…
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…re: A Reconsideration”: These ministers sometimes try to distinguish themselves from the gay-bashers by saying that even though sodomy is an abomination, Christians must be kind and merciful even to the most disgusting and shameless sinners. The gays and lesbians, however, persist in thinking that if the churches would stop quoting Leviticus and Paul on the subject of sodomy, would stop saying that tolerance for homosexuals is a mark of moral decl…
Read MoreThe Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is asking for help from the state’s Supreme Court in the constitutional challenge to Proposition 8. At issue, according to the Bay Area Reporter, is whether the organization that sponsored Prop. 8 has standing to defend it in court, a question of critical importance since state officials refused to defend the law on appeal from the district court’s ruling that it is unconstitutional. The issue of whether Protect…
Read MoreI almost feel sorry for David Bahati. Almost. The Ugandan Parliament member appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show this week to defend his “kill the gays” bill. Maddow set up the segment by recounting America’s long slide down the slippery slope of anti-gay rhetoric pushed by such religious right figures as Anita Bryant and Jerry Falwell. The thrust of the argument made against gays and lesbians in this country is that “they do not reproduce, so they…
Read More…onspiracy theorist Scott Wheeler, has purchased airtime in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Wisconsin, and North Carolina to broadcast its 25-minute “Breaking Point” political attack ad, starting last Friday. Using clips from Townhall.com, World Net Daily, Fox Business, CNSNews.com, and Glenn Beck, narrator E. W. Jackson invokes the boogeymen of ACORN, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the New Black Panther Party, Hamas, and Mao Tse-Tung to paint President Obama…
Read More“I Disagree With You but I’m Pretty Sure You’re Not Hitler.” This is one of the posters promised when Jon Stewart made his “big announcement” last night. Stewart and the Daily Show will host the “Rally to Restore Sanity,” 10.30.10 on the Washington Mall. In a hilarious parody of Glenn Beck, Stewart urges moderates to join him for “a Million Moderate March,” suggesting that a small minority of Americans have taken the public discussion hostage b…
Read MoreWhat can I say? I’m a tourist for these kinds of places. Before attending Ted Haggard’s church in Colorado Springs on Sunday, I visited the home of Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church last week in Topeka, Kansas last week. By the way, it’s been described by the media as a compound. It’s actually a city block of fenced-in homes in a rather nice residential neighborhood with lovely landscaping. It’s so nice that at first, I figured I was at…
Read MoreCalifornia’s Fair Political Practices Commission will likely fine the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints $5,538 for being late to report about $37,000 in non-monetary contributions to the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign of 2010. The FPPC inquiry was prompted in part by LGBT activist Fred Karger’s insistent allegations that the Church had misrepresented its contributions to the Yes on 8 campaign. A statement from the LDS Newsroom clarified…
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