AN INTERVIEW AND SOME INFORMATION ABOUT "THE FAMILY"

This interview with Jeff Sharlet is an eye-opener about The Family and their often gross distortion of the Gospel!

By the way, regarding the National Prayer Breakfast, that was founded by The Family, it would be wise to hear Jesus on this subject:

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you , They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. (Matthew 6:5-6)

It would be naive to think that The Family and its allies don't have a great deal of direct and indirect political sway both in the U.S. and most likely in other parts of the world as well.

Implications of groups like The Family for LGBT rights should become obvious and that's why, whether or not homophobic professing Christians are associated with this group or not, they are certainly on the same page as is this group and what it seems to represent, certainly regarding Gay civil rights, and many people in positions of political power are certainly influenced by the values of this group, as explicated in this interview!

All too often we have seen Christianity represented by mere thugs, often with smug, self-righteous, and sanitized rhetoric, who link what they call "Christianity" with Americanism, jingoism, capitalism, and militarism! And the gullible among us (and there are a lot of them) buy into this perversion hook, line, and sinker!

(In this connection, you might be interested in an article that I wrote concerning the enmeshment of most of the institutional Church with the Power Elite that is comprised of those who have positions in the highest places of the corporate, political, and military worlds, entitled, It's Not About Issues.)

When professing Christians seek to deny civil rights to others; when they seek to deny universal health care to others; when they transform the Gospel of grace (God's unmerited favor) into the worship of power; when they affirm or don't speak out against unjust wars; when they transform faith (trusting God over and above seen circumstances) into their own political machinations; when they demonize and bear false witness against Gay people; when their values are given credibility by others, whether or not they know of this group and those with whom they are directly or indirectly allied, the precipitous deterioration of our country and of the global community is certainly seen and is certain to even further deteriorate as time goes on.

That's one of the reasons I've always felt that the separation of Church and State is a myth in America, the very essence of "Christianity" has been perverted by ignorant and/or mendacious thugs, and I have long stated that LGBT people are the current canaries in the mine-shaft of society!

The way LGBT people are horribly treated; the way they and their love and sexuality and gender expression are denied dignity and equality that accrue to heterosexual citizens and citizens who can easily be compartmentalized into constructed binary boxes, shows those with eyes to see the poison gas emanating from those who would pervert Christianity, and all decency, to be in accord with their own prejudices.

Just one example: No other minority group would be allowed to suffer the indignity of having their civil rights be put up to a vote of the electorate! What do you think would be the result if a group sought to put on the ballot that African-Americans could no longer enter through the front doors of any public buildings? There would be justifiable outrage expressed, and it would come from virtually all quarters. However, when it comes to Gay people, the rules, rationalizations, and "justifications" become different, for some reason!

As I wrote above, no other minority group would allow itself to suffer the indignity of having its civil rights be put up to popular vote! This fact shows how the poison gas of others' ignorance and/or hatefulness and/or quest for political and "moral" hegemony in the name of "Christianity" has even influenced so many LGBT people!

This is a brief excerpt of the interview, an interview that I strongly urge you to read in its entirety:

And some of the, really the core rhetoric of The Family is this idea that most of us misread the New Testament, that Christ's message - the bottom line of Christ's message wasn't really about love or mercy or justice or forgiveness. It was about power. So Doug Coe, the leader of the group, tries to illustrate this, for instance, by saying, sort of posing a puzzle: name three men in the 20th century who best understood that message of The New Testament. And most people are going to say someone like Martin Luther King, or Bonhoeffer; or maybe they're more conservative, they're going to say Billy Graham. And Coe likes to give in answer: Hitler, Stalin and Mao, which just makes your jaw drop. And he will say - he's quick to say these are evil men, but they understood power. And that message recurs again, and again, and again in The Family.


When I was at the C Street house, I sat in on a session between Doug Coe and Congressman Tiahrt of Kansas. And Coe was encouraging Tiahrt to understand the message of Jesus by thinking about the model of power exemplified by Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot. There are so many examples of this, and I give several because I don't want people to think that I'm cherrypicking one bad choice of words. This is a core idea of The Family. There is actually video that �NBC News� found of Coe talking about the fellowship that he wants to model the things on is like that of the great friendship enjoyed by Hitler, Goebbels, and Himmler.

Now, he is not a neo-Nazi. What he is doing there is he's fetishizing strength. He is not looking to democracy, but this model of absolute strength, and that leads The Family into relationships with men like Museveni in Uganda. Before him, their key man for Africa was a guy named Siad Barre of Somalia, for whom Chuck Grassley became a kind of defacto lobbyist as the United States pumped up his military, which he then used to absolutely destroy his country to such an effect that Somalia has never recovered and today is a haven for al-Qaida, for terrorism, for piracy. It's a lawless nation. The Family says that's part of God's plan.

[For the full interview, see here.]

[Now, also please read The Secret Political Reach of "The Family".]

For a ten minute interview by Thom Hartmann with Jeff Sharlet about The Family, please seen the following video:

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PLEASE WATCH THIS BEAUTIFUL VIDEO ON THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

PLEASE WATCH THIS BRIEF AND BEAUTIFUL VIDEO TO UNDERSTAND THE ESSENCE OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.

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THE IGNORANT ATTEMPT TO "TRANSFORM" GAY PEOPLE

His [Phillip Lee] Way Out ministry contends in its brochures that its position comes from the authority of Scripture rather than social sciences and medicine.

The ''sexually broken'' can be transformed through close reading of Scripture and openly discussing temptations, the ministry contends.

"Since it is acquired it can be unacquired." Lee said. "And like I said, a lot of people have bought into the born-that-way theory. There's no Scripture to support that theory."

[For the full article, see here.]

How often we have heard from professing Christian homophobes that being Gay is "an inclination," "a life style," "a temptation," "a sin" by their referring to what they call "the authority of Scripture!" The fact is that that reference to, and interpretation of, Scripture is a lie perpetrated by the ignorant and/or the mendacious and/or the haters in the world!

I defy anyone to show me chapter and verse where same-sex love is condemned, or where same-sex marriage is condemned!

To resort to some Old Testament passages to support the specious argument that being Gay is destructive is terribly misleading, not only because Christians are not bound by the laws of the Old Testament, and that the context of these "clobber passages" are in the framework of a tribal society living on the edge that needs to propagate in order to survive, but that other cultural practices in ancient Israel are affirmed in the Bible that no sane person would currently adopt, such as stoning to death recalcitrant children, stoning to death those caught in adultery, and stoning to death those who work on the Sabbath. I'm not even going into such prohibitions listed in the Bible as the eating shell fish and the wearing of mixed fibers in one's clothes!

More to the point, the attempt to "transform," or in any way suppress, that which God has made is a sin in and of itself!

Being Gay is "acquired" the same way that being Straight is "acquired!" God made us in these ways, and it is a sin to thwart God's plan for any of God's children, for to do so not only does inexplicable harm to that person, but also thwarts the will of God and shows a definite lack of trust in God and in God's plan for each person's life!

Even secular psychologists affirm the possible danger that accrues to those who are the victims of attempts to change their sexual orientation, and Christians should know enough to agree with that affirmation as well, even on purely biblical grounds. Our sexuality is a wonderful gift from God, and that is true whether we were created to be Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, or Transgender!

The love story of David and Jonathan (1Samuel 18-20), and the story of Deborah (Judges 4-5), a Judge and fierce and well-respected warrior in Israel whom I have always considered to be Transgendered, shows that God mightily uses God's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered children for God's own purposes; God creates us the way God wants, and God doesn't make any mistakes!

For those who believe in "transforming" Gay people into something other than the way they were created to be by God is to show a decided lack of faith in God, and the Bible makes very clear that without faith it is impossible to please God! (See, for example, Hebrews 11:6.)

So, it is those who don't trust God and God's creative abilities, and who think that God makes mistakes, and who refuse to understand that God specializes in diversity, who are the real sinners!

And LGBT people who are comfortable in and with their own bodies, knowing that they are not some mistake, know that God created them just as God ordained from the foundation of the world (for example, see Ephesians 1:4), who are the ones who express their faith in God, and are thereby enabled to live the abundant life that Jesus promises all of us who abide in Him!

Please don't listen to ignorant wolves in sheep's clothing, be they clergy or not, who are seeking to thwart God's will for your life!

Put your full trust in God, and don't trust the rhetoric of others who may well have prejudices based on unresolved sexual conflicts in their own lives, thereby trying with all their might to suppress in you what they are often trying to suppress in themselves!

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THE BLIGHT OF MORAL COWARDICE

“The Vice Chancellor of City University London, Julius Weinberg, should resign. He is refusing to take any action after the Islamic Society hosted a fundamentalist preacher, Abu Usamah, who advocates the murder of gay people and of Muslims who give up their faith,” said human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.

Abu Usamah was recorded on Channel Four’s television documentary, Undercover Mosque, as saying: “Do you practice homosexuality with men? Take that homosexual man and throw him off the mountain....”

Another speaker given a platform at the same City University event on 4 November, Murthadah Khan, was also caught on the Undercover Mosque documentary calling Jews and Christians “enemies” and “filthy”.

[For the full article, see here

I strongly urge you to read the full article, as it not only shows the vile hatred that is spewed in the public arena but, more to the point of this post, shows the moral cowardice of people like the Vice Chancellor of City University London.

Having been a professor, and serving in assorted administrative capacities, for forty years, I've never ceased to be amazed at the moral cowardice of most faculty and administrators who inhabit universities!

As we see in the above cited article, even the most egregious, hateful, rhetoric is spewed without the Vice Chancellor condemning that rhetoric that affirms both hatred and hateful acts perpetrated against others in the name of "free speech."

As Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes succinctly stated, free speech does not entitle one to shout "fire" in a crowded theater!

"Fire" is being shouted by assorted homophobic (and other xenophobic) clergy who are given a platform that enhances their undeserved credibility to help cause untold harm, suffering, and even deaths to others, and they do so in the name of God, no less!

If we don't confront this hatred, be be that hatred expressed in rhetorical form or in actions, the bullies win!

As every schoolchild knows, when a bully confronts you, if you tolerate that confrontation, he/she will escalate his/her bullying. If you fight back, he/she is likely to climb back under the rock from which he/she emerged.

Bullies are basically cowards! So, in this case, we have one coward allowing other cowards to have their way, and the bullies win because of this lack of confrontation!

It is unfortunate that Christians are expected to be milquetoasts! We are, indeed, called upon to suffer all types of indignities for the sake of God!

The tragedy is that if we stand for the bullying of others, we are behaving diametrically opposite to what God expects of each of God's disciples, because we are allowing evil to prosper at the expense of others' well-being.

Turning the other cheek is relevant to one's own cheek! It is not up to us to turn the cheek of those who are being victimized, and that is what we precisely do when we keep silent amidst hate-speech and discrimination directed against others!

It is moral cowards like Weinberg seems to be who have allowed hate to prosper; discrimination to endure; suffering to escalate; suicides, assaults, and murders to occur!

I imagine Weinberg is not a Christian, but his silence amidst this atrocity mimics so much of what I have seen within universities and by clergy and their followers within churches that comprise most of the institutional Church!

Those who remain silent amidst the oppression of others leave a hateful legacy that further erodes the civility of society; escalates the hatred evinced by the bullies among us; terribly hurts our fellow human beings; despite rhetoric to the contrary, defames God!

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THE SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING A CHRISTIAN AND JUST GOING TO CHURCH

[Thanks to Jason Turner and Pete Zayonce.]

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INTERNATIONAL TRANSGENDER DAY

INTERNATIONAL TRANSGENDER DAY. ALSO SEE HERE.

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THE IRONY AND IRRATIONALITY OF MINORITY GROUP HOMOPHOBIA

This is how Bishop Harry Jackson [Pictured] spent his summer vacation: He hustled back and forth across the District rallying his faithful flock who oppose gay marriage. He leaned into microphones over at the Board of Elections and Ethics, quoting biblical verse, decrying those who would trumpet marriage between man and man, woman and woman.

He continued his protests when the leaves began to fall and the early darkness crawled across the sky. He heard amen this and amen that from the pulpit of his Beltsville church. They sent him out to spread their version of the Gospel, and off he went, hopscotching across the country. Sometimes crowds would gather around him like geese, in Denver, in Los Angeles, sometimes 10,000 at a time. He spoke to swelling groups of people who felt the same way he did about same-sex marriage: No, no, no.

He popped up on national talk shows. The conservative radio commentators ushered him into their studios.

[For the full article, see here.](Thanks to AmericaBlogGay.)

Bishop Harry Jackson is a man who, as an African American, has a legacy of grinding oppression and unimagined suffering relieved only by intensive civil rights agitation by those who endured what Martin Luther King called "a season of suffering." It was this "season of suffering" that enabled the Harry Jacksons of the world to have what credibility they enjoy, but by no means deserve to the degree that they seek to deny the same civil rights of which they were once deprived but that they now enjoy precisely because of that civil rights struggle.

Now, Harry Jackson, and those minority group members who agree with him regarding the minority group of LGBT people, is exhibiting what may be seen to be a version of what Vilfredo Pareto, a famous early twentieth century Sociologist called, "the circulation of elites," whereby a deprived group, once it gets some measure of power, then turns around and oppresses another minority group.

Jackson invokes the Bible and God to seek to justify his homophobia, his intense desire to prevent same-sex loving couples from benefitting from the institution of marriage, with all of the civil and sacramental rights that accrue to that institution. (In this connection, please read my October 21, 2009 post, The Danger of the Religious Right.)

The irony of a member of one minority group seeking to prevent full equality of another minority group, beyond invoking the Bible and God to justify that oppression, is seen when we read of many of the "justifications" used by professing "Christian" White Supremacists to maintain the institutions of Slavery, Segregation and Jim Crow laws that once were institutionalized in the U.S. Indeed, "...religious endorsement of Jim Crow went a long way to sanctifying segregation as a widespread social reality." (See here.)

It would be instructive for the Harry Jacksons of the religious world to learn from the following:

For centuries, Christian artwork had depicted Satan and his demons as black. In Christian literature, Satan was described as black, even specifically as an African, such as in Athanasius' Life of Saint Anthony and the medieval best-seller Voyage of Brendan. Not surprisingly, Christians decided that Africans and Indians were a lot closer to Satan than white-skinned Europeans and acted accordingly to protect themselves from the "pollution" of contact with dark-skinned peoples. Read historian Forrest G. Wood's The Arrogance of Faith for an in-depth exploration of the Christian origin of racism, slavery and segregation.

That's why defenders of slavery in the antebellum South repeatedly use the Bible and refer to Christian concepts in their arguments. Read The Ideology of Slavery, which reprints slavery defenses, edited by Drew Gilpin Faust, to see how devoutly Christian the defenders were. Defenders correctly note that the Bible repeatedly condones slavery, even commands it at times, and never condemns it. Even the Tenth Commandment condones slavery; so much for the Commandments as a source of moral virtue. Also read Proslavery, by Larry E. Tise, pages 116-120, for surveys showing the overwhelmingly Christian character of slavery defenses. In one survey of pro-slavery tracts, clergymen wrote more than half.

In the aftermath of the Civil War, it's no surprise that Sunday morning became the most segregated time of the week. Nor is it surprising that it was agnostics and atheists in various liberal movements who spoke out first against segregation and racism. That's one reason that white segregationists--clergy included--labeled the civil-rights workers "communists," a word they considered synonymous with atheism.

[For the full article, see here.]

Part of an Abstract of an article entitled, God, Preachers, And Segregation, reads as follows:

In 1965, transcripts were collected of 72 sermons on the issue of racial integration preached between 1955 and 1965. The sermons, all given by Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, or Episcopal ministers in the southern United States, were examined to determine the position advocated by the minister. The sermons deemed segregationist were then analyzed for recurring strategies used to defend the segregation viewpoint. The major arguments of the segregationists may be summarized as follows: (1) segregation is the divine will of God as expressed in the Bible; (2) desegregation leads to mixed marriages, which are undesirable; (3) segregation is a universal law of nature...(5) the motives of those who support integration are improper; (6) segregation does not necessarily entail discrimination....

So, the irony of the homophobic pronouncements of the religious Harry Jacksons of the world is that those pronouncements virtually mimic much of the rhetoric of the White Supremacist clergy that was used against their ancestors, and that helped to provide "justification" for the institutions of slavery and segregation in society.

As I wrote in an article, It's Not About Issues:

...we have the irrational and surreal phenomenon where we have people aligning themselves with the Power Elite by directly working against their own interests, so that we see the spectacle of some African American clergy willing to align themselves with the KKK to oppose same-sex marriage, as seen by Rev. Gregory Daniels who is quoted as having said, "If the KKK opposes gay marriage, I would ride with them."

The reactionary mind-set of the Power Elite has even infiltrated many other African American clergy and their gullible followers who should certainly know better, so that they perversely use the very same rhetoric, justifications for, and advocacy of, discrimination against LGBT people and their acquisition of full and equal civil rights that were once used against African Americans by the allies and members of the Power Elite, and they are now willfully blind to the fact that it was those "activist judges," "liberals," and courageous people, Black and White, which and whom they now roundly condemn, that made possible the end of slavery and segregation.

Unfortunately, appeals to rationality and to the essence of the Gospel message seems to have little, if any, influence on deeply prejudiced people, particularly if those people can get their fifteen minutes of fame, and acquire a great deal of power, prestige, and wealth by bearing false witness against Gay people, and preaching exclusionary rhetoric that appeals to people's prejudices and xenophobic feelings and unfounded fears.

It comes down to the fact that the rhetoric of the Harry Jacksons of the religious world are not merely bankrupt, but that there are all too many gullible people who take their rhetoric seriously, and thereby suppress and subvert the "season of suffering" that their ancestors endured; they also renounce the entire Gospel that they falsely say they preach, as well as they renounce the Prince of Peace, the very God, Whom they say they represent!

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PLEASE LISTEN TO THIS FIVE MINUTE SERMON

Bishop Yvette Flunder, Senior Pastor of City of Refuge, UCC published this brief video on Facebook yesterday, and I very much want you to see it and circulate it to all LGBT people and their families.

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SANITIZED HOMOPHOBIA THAT APPEALS TO "ITCHING EARS"

The Apostle Paul told his son in the faith, Timothy, the following: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." (2Timothy 4:3-4)

"Sound doctrine" in Christianity is the Gospel of grace, or God's unmerited favor bestowed on all those who trust God over and above seen circumstances! It's this Gospel that is at the heart of Christianity, as it reflects Jesus' life, ministry, and teachings! There is no other Gospel than the Gospel of grace that one appropriates through faith in Christ!

Rhetoric of legalism and perfectionism, the do's and don'ts that all too many clergy ram down people's throats in the name of the Bible, Christianity, and God is a perversion of the faith, does an injustice to Christians, to non-Christians who might wish to know more about Christianity, and to God!

Unfortunately, the sound doctrine of grace is rarely to be heard within most of the institutional Church, and those with "itching ears" who long for gurus to tell them what to think and how to live are in abundance to the degree that even megachurches exist where, as in the case of Joel Osteen, pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, has memberships as high as 40,000 or even higher.

And why not? Most people who attend most churches within the institutional Church are told what they want to hear by someone who presumes to know what God wants from others; what they say God wants usually reflects their own prejudices, so that someone like Osteen has the temerity to say that being Gay is "not God's best."

He doesn't say that being Gay is a sin, because he doesn't have to! The confident smile on his face and his sanitized rhetoric regarding this subject is sufficient to get this message across without his having to resort to virulent homophobic remarks, and thereby not risk offending even many of those who consider themselves to be "liberals."

No one asks him how he knows this seeming fact that being Gay is "not God's best," and how his oracular pronouncement on this subject jibe with the Gospel of grace; how his pronouncements jibe with the fact that Jesus never condemned same-sex love; same-sex love is never mentioned in the Ten Commandments; same-sex love is not condemned by any of the prophets.

Indeed, no one even thinks to asks such questions of him or of many other clergy because the constant inundation visited upon us by homophobic clergy has transformed a big lie into what is considered "the truth" in the eyes of gullible people who have "itching ears."

With a perpetual smile on his face, bespeaking to me a self-satisfied confidence in himself and his "knowledge" of "God's best," Osteen's smarmy rhetoric is difficult for me to bear or even hear, and it is, therefore, difficult for me to even watch him in action in the following video.

However, I did have enough stomach to listen to the following five minute video so that I could share with you what I consider to be the bankruptcy of so much of what purports to be "Christianity."

All too often there are clergy who equate and even enmesh "Christianity" with Americanism, jingoism, capitalism, and militarism, and do so in the name of God, and craft their messages so that people can leave church "feeling good," even amidst the injustices of life, and amidst the oppression of others for which these very clergy provide the principle "justifications." This is not the "Christianity" that I know and that I see in the Bible!

Here is the video with Joel Osteen: [Thanks to Gay Agenda.]

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TOWARD OUR FINAL AND BLESSED DESTINATION

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven....Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3,10)

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WHEN SEXUAL SUPPRESSION TRUMPS THE GOSPEL MESSAGE

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Wednesday that it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn't change a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care.

[For the full article, see here.]

The following is a slightly edited version of what I wrote to some friends of mine regarding this article:

This is my take on it: When people are forced to suppress sexual activity, a most primal urge, the frustration borne of such an unnatural yoke of bondage often manifests itself in self-destructive ways and also in ways that are often destructive to others. When that phenomenon is coupled with what I call "Genital Theology," where morality, Christianity, and religion are largely and falsely seen to be based on sexual matters; when such "theology" (be it in the RC Church or in reactionary protestant churches) is a money-maker that attracts true believers who are usually one-dimensional in their thinking, that mind-set takes on a life of its own.

And, therefore, these true believers can see no contradiction between professing to be "Christians" on the one hand and also hold deeply seated prejudices on the other hand. And they'll even hold the poor and children hostage to their one-dimensional thinking and prejudices, all largely based on their own sexual suppression, and see no contradiction between RC dogma regarding sexuality and caring for the poor that Jesus taught His disciples to do.

Moreover, having the temerity to seem to take the "moral high ground" deflects concentration from the RC Church's egregious sexual scandals and projects them, and blames them, on Gay people, further providing false justification for their prejudice against Gay people, which is often a projection of the self-loathing and frustration of many RC clergy as Gay and/or sexually confused and immature bureaucrats.

And, when obedience to that bureaucracy is inculcated into its clergy to the degree that it is through formation in seminaries and beyond, most (though by no means all) hold to the Vatican's party line.

[For an excellent letter to the D.C. archdiocese of the RC Church, see here.]

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EVIDENCE OF OBAMA'S CONTEMPT FOR LGBT PEOPLE

This link provides all the evidence we need to show the disdain, the contempt, that Obama has for LGBT people!

One more thing: Donnie McClurkin is the person Obama courted and used in his campaign.

In this connection, regarding Donnie McClurkin, you might be interested in my article, Self-Loathing, Being Duped, and Believing a Lie.

Also, The Miseducation of Donnie McClurkin, by Don Charles.

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THE COARSENING OF OUR SOCIETY AND HOMOPHOBIC CLERGY

The reason I'm linking to this article is that it highlights and reinforces the increasing coarsening of our culture that makes homophobic rhetoric, even the most vile and bizarre of such rhetoric, viewed as acceptable and even seem legitimate to many people within our society.

There are certain things that decent people don't do! Discussing one's sex life with one's spouse (or any other person, for that matter) in the public arena, divulging intimate details about the other person regarding the most intimate dimension of that relationship, is truly indecent and disgusting!

And if such betrayal and indecency is able to be leeched out into the public sphere, shame knows no bounds! We see such coarsening in all too many relationships, "religious" and political rhetoric, and much of what passes for "humor" and "commentary" in the media.

One only has to listen to most radio talk shows to see that coarsening of the culture and how it resonates with all too many gullible people who are unable or unwilling to allow their dark sides, dark sides we all possess to one degree or another, to become subordinate to the values that Jesus and other religious leaders have historically articulated. What makes this coarsening so egregious, beyond the obvious, is that hateful rhetoric, hatred and hate-mongering, are no longer on the fringes of many societal institutions but have taken center stage in much thought, words, and actions.

So, even the most reprehensible and irrational demagogic pronouncements from the pulpit regarding LGBT people is often seen by many as being consistent with biblical teaching, and with "conservative Christianity," when, in fact, such pronouncements are diametrically opposed to anything with which, Jesus, the Gospel, and Christianity have to do.

And, far from being "conservative Christianity," or "Bible-based," these pronouncements and often discriminatory actions by many clergy and their gullible followers represent another "religion" or world-view altogether! They have absolutely nothing to do with Christianity, and that fact must be hammered home every chance we get in any and every venue possible!

Since when can the life, ministry, teachings, and works of the Prince of Peace, the Embodiment of Love, the One Who tells His disciples to care for each other and for all of God's children be seen as being consistent with homophobic rhetoric and actions by those who have the temerity to call themselves "Christians"; be seen as being within the domain of "conservative Christianity?" Such a view is bizarre on its face!

Yet, that view is not often seen as being bizarre to the degree that our society has become increasingly coarsened!

And that coarsening is no better served than by homophobic clergy who falsely presume upon themselves, and pronounce themselves, to be arbiters of morality and yet bear false witness and defame God's LGBT children, and frequently do so to loud applause!

The indecency of such clergy mimics the indecency of any spouse who would divulge the sex life he/she had or has with his/her spouse! The only difference (and it's a big difference) is that the latter makes no assertion that he/she is taking the moral high ground, and is a representative of God on earth!

So, the tell-all spouse, as reprehensible as he/she is, is even more decent (and honest) than are homophobic clergy who presume to represent Jesus and yet who are ravenous wolves who lead gullible sheep astray and who have caused untold suffering to God's Gay children!

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A COMMENTARY BY DON CHARLES ON BISHOP JOHN SPONG'S MANIFESTO

Please read the excellent two-part post, You Can't Go Halfway, by my good friend Don Charles.

It deals with Bishop John Spong's essay, A Manifesto! The Time Has Come!

All Christians and all decent people should read both Spong's essay and Don Charles' two-part post.

It's important to remember that one can be a decent person and not be a Christian! However EVERY SINGLE Christian is a decent person, and if one is not a decent person, he/she is not a Christian!

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THE CHURCH OF UGANDA AND THE "ANTI-HOMOSEXUALITY BILL"

In April 2009, Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi said, "I am appalled to learn that the rumours we have heard for a long time about homosexual recruiting in our schools and amongst our youth are true. I am even more concerned that the practice is more widespread than we originally thought. It is the duty of the church and the government to be watchmen on the wall and to warn and protect our people from harmful and deceitful agendas."

[For the full paper, see here.]

In the above cited November 6, 2009 letter, the Rev. Canon Aaron Mwesigye of the Anglican Province of Uganda says this issue of increasing terms of imprisonment for Gay people is still being considered by the Church of Uganda so that The Church of Uganda is studying the proposed "Anti-homosexuality bill" and, therefore, does not yet have an official position on the bill.

This statement is profoundly offensive on its face! The Church of Uganda doesn't have an official position on imprisoning and depriving others of their liberties and freedom? What kind of "Christianity" does this obscenity represent? It's certainly not the Christianity of Jesus, of the Gospel of grace, of the Bible!

Some of the details of the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill are as follows:

Over recent months, there has been increased campaigning against homosexuality in Uganda, led by churches and anti-gay groups. The media have joined this campaign, and have publicly pointed to individuals they accuse of being gay or lesbian.

People suspected of being gay have faced death threats and been physically assaulted. Many have been ostracized by their families or faced discrimination, including dismissal from their place of employment.

This new draft bill includes a provision that could lead to the imprisonment for up to three years of anyone, including heterosexual people, who fails to report within 24 hours the identities of everyone they know who is lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, or who supports human rights for people who are.

[For the full article, see here.]

Also:

The bill criminalizes "promotion of homosexuality" in the form of funding and sponsoring LGBT organizations and broadcasting, publishing, or marketing materials on homosexuality and punishes these acts with a steep fine, 5-7 years of imprisonment, or both. Any person in authority who fails to report known violations of the law within 24 hours will also be subject to a significant fine and up to 3 years in prison – even when this means turning in their colleagues, family, or friends. More shocking, the bill claims jurisdiction over Ugandans who violate its provisions while outside of the country.

The bill effectively bans any kind of community or political organizing around non-heteronormative sexuality.

[For the full article, see here.]

And so the Anglican Church of Uganda is "considering" such a bill, and those who do so portray themselves as "Christians!"

And, where is the outrage by most of the institutional Church? Where are those who are Christians indeed who are called to speak out against such an obscenity? How is it possible to sing "Amazing Grace" and other such hymns and feel no cognitive dissonance in either their advocacy or silence when such a Bill is "considered" by professing Christian clergy?

Where are those professing Christians who say, "Enough is enough! Not in the name of Jesus, not in the name of God, will you slander God, the Gospel, Christianity, and us by your ignorant and hateful prejudices that spit in the very face of God?

Those in the world-wide institutional Church who remain silent in the face of such an obscenity, of the oppression of LGBT people in the name of God, are just as guilty of the sufferings, suicides, assaults, murders, tortures, and imprisonment of LGBT people (and those perceived to be LGBT) than are the thugs who call themselves "Christians," yet whose hearts are filled with the values and prejudices of the demonic!

The level of homophobia within the institutional Church, and clergy rhetoric and discriminatory actions in both the religious and civic arenas, should leave us no doubt that the demonic has strongly infiltrated the institutional Church!

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IT WASN'T GOD WHO TOLD HIM TO HATE GAY PEOPLE

No, it was ignorant, homophobic clergy who told him to hate Gay people!.

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LEAVE THE PLAINS OF HOMOPHOBIC CHURCHES AND PICK UP YOUR TENT AND MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND

A foundation that supports gay rights has delivered a petition to Mormon church leaders asking them to reconsider their policies and political activism against gay marriage.

[For the full article, see here.]

Part of the Petition reads as follows:

We believe that the time is right for healing over this issue to begin, for those on both sides to manifest forgiveness, magnanimity, and especially, love. We believe reconciliation requires us to strive for open hearts and minds so that we might live together in peace and mutual respect. It is long past time for those on both sides to begin treating one another with greater dignity, respect and understanding.

[To see the full Petition, see here.]

In conjunction with this Petition, there is a very compelling, heart-felt, video entitled, "Bring Them In From The Plains":



Over many years, ample evidence has been presented that homophobia that is linked with many clergy's interpretation of selected Bible verses that has been enmeshed, if not fused, with their views of Christianity and "morality," is not going to be swayed or altered by appeals to emotion or to reason. Indeed, their homophobia is not even going to be swayed by biblical exegeses refuting the interpretation of those same passages that homophobic clergy use to bear false witness and discriminate against LGBT people!

It's high time that LGBT Christians make a cold turkey choice, if they haven't done so already! Stay in denominations and churches that view you as objects of disdain and ridicule OR flee those toxic denominations and churches and not subject yourselves to such gross indignities visited upon you "in the name of God."

This choice hinges on at least two criteria:

1. The degree of self-loathing/masochism that you possess.

2. The degree of loyalty you have to an institution that disparages you and seeks to deny you full and equal civil and sacramental rights.

Bishop John Spong of the Episcopal Church, in his article entitled, "A Manifesto! The Time Has Come!," in part wrote the following:

I will no longer seek to slow down the witness to inclusiveness by pretending that there is some middle ground between prejudice and oppression. There isn't. Justice postponed is justice denied. That can be a resting place no longer for anyone. An old civil rights song proclaimed that the only choice awaiting those who cannot adjust to a new understanding was to "Roll on over or we'll roll on over you!" Time waits for no one.

I will particularly ignore those members of my own Episcopal Church who seek to break away from this body to form a "new church," claiming that this new and bigoted instrument alone now represents the Anglican Communion. Such a new ecclesiastical body is designed to allow these pathetic human beings, who are so deeply locked into a world that no longer exists, to form a community in which they can continue to hate gay people, distort gay people with their hopeless rhetoric and to be part of a religious fellowship in which they can continue to feel justified in their homophobic prejudices for the rest of their tortured lives. Church unity can never be a virtue that is preserved by allowing injustice, oppression and psychological tyranny to go unchallenged.

[For the full article, see here.]

LGBT people who choose to remain in homophobic denominations and churches must dig deep into their psyches and seek to discern why they choose to remain in those toxic institutions!

The spurious canard that "It's my church too," as I heard one Roman Catholic say on TV, is embarrassing on its face! You don't make the doctrines, you don't make the dogmas, you can't preach from the pulpit, you have no voice in the formal dimensions of that denomination or church to get your own theological and/or personal views across, you have no right to excommunicate anybody. It is clearly not your church too!

So, I consider the above mentioned Petition to the Mormon Church to be well-meaning but pathetic on its face!

People, particularly clergy, who misuse Scripture and distort the lives of LGBT people as part of their theology and rhetoric; who raise countless millions of dollars to deny one or more civil rights to Gay people; who discriminate against Gay people, have no right to be treated with any degree of deference, let alone given credibility by being given petitions appealing to their reason and/or emotions; they have no right to be given credibility by your presence and your money, or the presence and money of any decent person who professes to be a Christian.

Enough is enough! If the role of the LDS Church, the RC Church, and most churches within the institutional Church regarding Prop. 8 in California and the recent vote removing the right of same-sex marriage in Maine doesn't make you angry enough to remove yourselves from these toxic institutions, I don't know what will.

All decent people and LGBT people who attend homophobic churches must examine their hearts and try and discern whether inertia should overcome anger; whether loyalty to one's tradition should overcome exposing oneself to lies and hateful rhetoric; whether any degree or even vestige of self-loathing should overcome giving credibility to institutions that misuse the Bible; whether any taint of masochistic needs should overcome discrimination and oppression visited upon LGBT people "in the name of God."

To all LGBT people, and all decent people who call themselves "Christians," I ask that you examine your psyches and ask yourselves why you choose to attend toxic institutions that demean and hurt others, and that cause untold suffering by their rhetoric and oppression of others in both the religious and civic arenas.

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HOW CAN IT BE CONSTITUTIONAL TO PUT ANY GROUP'S CIVIL RIGHTS UP TO A VOTE OF THE ELECTORATE? A COMMENT BY DON CHARLES.

My friend, Don Charles, who blogs at Christ, The Gay Martyr. posted the following comment on gay.americablog.com that is well worth reading. As you know, I've always been against putting any minority group's civil rights up to a vote by the electorate, having any group's civil rights be beholden to the will and whim of the dominant group in society, and his comment beautifully hammers that point home.

What is both stunning and depressing is how many millions and millions of dollars are wasted on these hate campaigns. If you add up all the 31 pro-gay campaigns we have lost, both sides have flushed hundreds of millions of dollars." What's really stunning and depressing is the cluelessness of the so-called Gay community and its spokesmen, including otherwise intelligent folk like Joe Sudbay and John Aravosis. When and how did we become convinced that voting on citizenship rights was a sane thing to do? Who decided that knocking on doors and trying to promote compassion in the same way you'd promote a political candidate would work? You can't root out deeply entrenched prejudice that way, especially not when there's a preacher in a pulpit every Sunday morning undermining your efforts with hateful doctrine! We've once more allowed ourselves to be punked by the religious Right Wing. We've willingly let them trick us into playing a game they know we can't win. Like it or not, people, marriage equality is a fight for the courts, not for the ballot box! We do immeasurable damage to the US Constitution when we participate in and validate anti-Gay ballot measure battles! We help set dangerous precedents! This issue is bigger than marriage equality. It's about our very democracy, and how we unwittingly help our enemies to destabilize it. Our energy and resources should be going toward legal challenges, not futile campaigns like Proposition 8 and Question 1! When will we learn?"

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WHY ARE THE CHURCHES SILENT AMIDST LGBT OPPRESSION IN UGANDA AND ELSEWHERE?

The Ugandan embassies of France and the United States publicly condemned Uganda's proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill on Monday, but officials in the African nation plan to move forward with the discriminatory legislation....

The bill would amplify the country's antigay laws, including criminalizing any public discussion of homosexuality and penalizing individuals who knowingly rented property to a homosexual.

[For the full article, see here.]

I'm afraid that to ask the question posed by the title of this post is to answer it!

Most all of the institutional Church is patriarchal, heterosexist, bureaucratic, cowardly, and supports the status quo from which it profits by receiving its members' contributions in the collection plates that keep ministerial careers afloat!

There is nothing in Christian theology that supports discrimination of any kind, and to keep silent in the face of such discrimination, of such oppression, whether in Uganda, Jamaica, or anywhere else, is to support that discrimination and oppression, and makes those who remain silent just as culpable in the oppression, assaults, imprisonment, and murders of LGBT people than those who actively support these egregious acts!

And no disciple of Christ can either advocate discrimination, actually discriminate, or remain silent in the face of discrimination against LGBT people or against any other minority group!

So much of what passes for "Christianity" has been mere thuggery often couched in sanitized terms designed by many professing Christian clergy and their followers to seduce gullible people into buying into their homophobic prejudices by falsely appealing to such terms as "tradition," "traditional family values," "for the good of the children," "morality and decency," and "it's in the Bible."

And, sometimes the terms are not at all sanitized! For example, hear Bishop Isaac Orama’s getting caught saying that LGBT people are “inhuman, insane, satanic and not fit to live.” [See here.]

And hear Archbishop Peter Akinola:

Homosexuality and lesbianism, like divorce, breed a society of single parents which gives rise to a generation of bastards. And in the context of much poverty and lack of education, this further produces an ill-bred generation of hooligans, portending much terror to the peace and stability of the society. [See here.]

And hear our homegrown "religious" demogagues, the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, with Pat Robertson concurring, opining on why 9/11 happened:

Rev. Jerry Falwell: I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who try to secularize America...I point the finger in their face and say you helped this happen." [See here.]

And most all churches within the institutionalized Church remain silent amidst this oppression because their congregants are quite comfortable with their incestuous socialization, spending their time discussing building beautification programs, attending church regularly, and singing their pious hymns.

Indeed, most clergy within the institutional Church, by their homophobic rhetoric and frequently warped doctrines and dogmas that make that rhetoric sound "godly" to their gullible followers, have encouraged rank discrimination against LGBT people both in the U.S. and in places like Jamaica and Uganda.

Is it any wonder that the moral high ground in the struggle for LGBT rights is not taken by most within the institutional Church, but is taken by most who are outside that structure, many of whom are not even Christians? And this fact is a profound embarrassment to all Christians worthy of the name!

It is a tragedy when secular forces lead the way in condemning the oppression of LGBT people, and when professing Christians encourage discrimination and oppression of others by their rhetoric, by their actions, and by their silence!

In this most significant and crucial civil rights movement of our time, full civil and sacramental equality for LGBT people, Jesus tells all who claim to be His disciples, and who persist in remaining silent amidst the oppression of LGBT people, what Mordecai told his cousin (whom he raised when her parents died) Esther, when the Jewish people in Shushan, which was in Persia, were slated to be murdered:

For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? (Esther 4:14)

All Christians should meditate on Mordecai's admonition to Esther!

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ONLY A WARPED THEOLOGY COULD SEE SOME TYPES OF DISCRIMINATION AS BEING "JUST"

In an article entitled, "Churches Welcome Gay Bans" the following mind-blowing statement by Roman Catholic Cardinal George Pell appears:

"It is important to protect people from unjust discrimination but it is ridiculous to claim discrimination every time we show a preference for some people over others.

[For the full article, see here.]

If showing a preference for some people over others, and seeking to allocate dignity and rights based upon those preferences, isn't prejudicial and discriminatory, then I fail to see the very definition of "unjust discrimination" from any Christian (or any other rational) world-view!

Moreover, the very adjective Pell uses, "unjust," shows that he seems to see that certain types of discrimination can be "just."

And this is part of the heart of the problem of homophobia by many professing Christians when RC and other clergy advocate discrimination against one or more minority groups: they seem to feel that such discrimination and deprivation of civil and sacramental rights are "just!"

So we have self-professed representatives of the Prince of Peace, Who, told all who would be His disciples to love God and love and not judge others, advocating prejudice and discrimination, and further viewing such prejudice and discrimination as being "just" according to their warped theology.

And, of course, their view of "unjust" discrimination would entail anything that would offend a denomination's self-interest; the interests of such vulnerable people as foster children and recipients of charity, as seen in the above cited article, are being held hostage to anything that thwarts that warped view:

Charities and religious groups could discriminate against gay people or anyone else who might offend their values after a landmark decision quashed a finding in favour of a gay couple who wanted to become foster parents.

Both the Catholic and Anglican churches have praised the ruling and Cardinal George Pell said anti-discrimination cases threatened churches' ability to do charity work.

What an indictment against professing Christians who would sacrifice the vulnerable in society to their discriminatory dogmas; bear false witness and see nothing wrong with discriminating against God's LGBT children!

Let this sink in:

...and Cardinal George Pell said anti-discrimination cases threatened churches' ability to do charity work.

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SAME-SEX MARRIAGE RIGHTS IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

Scores of people cheered and waved signs as ministers and religious activists delivered speeches Sunday during a Freedom Plaza rally against same-sex marriage in the District of Columbia.

Chanting “let the people vote,” Bishop Harry Jackson, pastor of a church in Beltsville, Md., and Rev. Walter Fauntroy, Washington’s former congressional delegate, were among a series of speakers to call on the D.C. City Council to allow a voter initiative that seeks to ban same-sex marriage in the city.

[For the full article, see here.]

Same-sex marriage, despite much "religious" rhetoric to the contrary, is a civil rights issue! Indeed, LGBT rights is the major civil rights issue of our time!

To deny same-sex couples the civil and sacramental rights that accrue to heterosexuals who wish to make a lifetime commitment to each other is downright discrimination!

And for African-Americans who have a legacy of suffering unspeakable oppression in the U.S. to not understand this fundamental principle is amazing to me, and should be amazing to any rational person!

In the above cited article, Rev. Anthony Evans said, "...We were astonished to hear the chairman of the City Council not only willing to ignore God’s word but was determined to defy the teachings of Christ concerning marriage and defy God by declaring same-sex marriage as not a religious issue but a human rights one.”

Rev. Evans invokes "God's word" but fails to mention (or perhaps even see) Jesus' statement in the context of heterosexual marriage: "For there are some eunuchs , which were so born from their mother's womb...." (Matthew 19:12)

Rather than exegete the above passage here, which Faris Malik has superbly done, it must be emphasized that "God's word" by no means discounts same-sex marriage; same-sex marriage in no way "[defies] the teachings of Christ concerning marriage," and, contrary to Evans' assertion, the conferring of same-sex marriage rights is not a religious issue but is, in fact, a human and civil rights issue!

Same-sex marriage is a civil right, and our civil rights are not to be given or withheld by appealing to the Bible (or, more particularly, certain people's interpretation of selected verses of the Bible), but we are under the Constitution, the Judicial interpretation of which defines our civil rights; those civil rights are not to be up for grabs by the vote of the majority or by the assertions of any religious or secular leaders!

Shame on people like Rev. Harry Jackson and Rev. Anthony Evans who seek to deny the dignity and sanctity of marriage to others, bearing false witness against and discriminating against Gay people, while at the same time profiting from the legacy of civil rights activists that have enabled them to enjoy the liberation that they seek to deny to another minority group!

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A MUST READ: THE INVISIBLE MONSTER

On his excellent blog, Christ, The Gay Martyr, my good friend Don Charles has just written a two-part post entitled, The Invisible Monster that deals with discrimination against LGBT people in the work place; he uses some of his own experiences in his discussion

Two excerpts from his two-part post read as follows, and I strongly urge you to read both parts of his excellent post in their entirety:

If you're a perceptibly homosexual or transsexual person working in a heterosexist environment, it's best that you police your sense of humor. If you don’t, someone else will! Office humor is notoriously raunchy, but you must be extremely careful of what you say in jest. Any joke or humorous comment with even a hint of sexual connotation can and surely will be used against you. Remember what the heterosexist mentality dictates: LGBT folk should be viewed as purely sexual beings who can't help but act out inappropriately. Their uncontrollably prurient impulses must be kept in check!....

The worst thing about heterosexism on the job is that it's so damn hard to prove! Bigoted managers and administrators are smart enough not to call you a "tranny" or a "faggot" or a "dyke" to your face. Although you strongly suspect the motive behind what’s going on, you're hard-pressed to affix a label to the kind of harassment you're enduring. There's nothing concrete you can point to that screams "I hate Gay people" or “I hate transfolk” in such a way that an EEOC investigator could understand it....

What is particularly sinister about the kind of job discrimination to which Don Charles refers is what Sociologists call "Moral Alchemy." That is, "in-group virtues" are made by xenophobes to be "out-group vices" when discounted members of a minority group engage in the very same behavior that is strongly approved when a member of the dominant group engages in that behavior .

So, for example, if a Straight person seeks to better him/herself on the job, he/she is viewed as "a valuable employee." If a Gay person seeks to better him/herself on the job, he/she might well be viewed as a mere sycophant who is trying to be a rate buster who is trying to make other people look bad.

In other words, what is viewed as being a positive when a member of the dominant group does something, is frequently viewed as a negative when a discounted member of a minority group does the very same thing.

Moreover, there is discrimination visited upon discounted minority group members that are not easy to classify as "discrimination," save when it is members of that minority group that are uniquely treated in a discriminatory manner! And, particularly in a large organization, that proof is very hard to ascertain.

Don Charles concludes his post by asking: "Do you have a personal story of heterosexism and/or transphobia on the job? Please share it with me in my comments section."

I strongly urge you to take him up on his offer in the comments section of his two-part post, The Invisible Monster.

Your comments would help so many other people struggling with discrimination in the work place!

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OBAMA TO SIGN BILL WIDENING HATE CRIMES LAWS

At a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden Wednesday afternoon, President Obama plans to sign a bill into law that was more than a decade in the making. It is an update to the federal hate crimes statute that Congress initially passed in 1968.

For the first time, the law that had previously protected people from attacks motivated by race, religion or ethnicity will include gay, lesbian, transgender and disabled people.

[For the full article, see here.]

You can also hear the audio on the above site.

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PETITION FOR FULL EQUALITY

Please sign this Petition for Full Equality.

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ROMAN CATHOLIC HERESY AND SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

Bishop Richard Malone made this brief Youtube video affirming that only heterosexual marriage is to be recognized, to which I want to call your attention (Thanks to Pam's House Blend.):



Now, notice two major points:

1. He begins by saying, "We believe...." People believe a lot of things, and a lot of those beliefs are not necessarily true!

2. However, and even more egregiously, he states, ""Living a Christian sacramental marriage is a fundamental way of attaining salvation." Where did that idea come from? It's certainly bears no relationship to any Christian theology with which I am familiar! His statement is not only preposterous, but it is heretical!

The Bible teaches, particularly through the Apostle Paul, that God imputes salvation to us, and that imputation occurred before the worlds were even formed. (See, for example, Ephesians 1:4; Romans 8:29); the free gift of God's grace (unmerited favor) is appropriated by our faith (trusting God over and above seen circumstances). (See, for example, Romans 5:1-2)

Moreover, read Galatians 2:16: "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."

Gay Christians can and do trust Jesus! If one lives under the Law, the strictures of mere human beings, the yokes of bondage placed by such institutions as the Roman Catholic Church, he/she has nullified faith and thrown God's gift of God's grace back in God's face.

The Bible makes it clear that it is only by faith that we can please God (Hebrews 11:6), and not some man-made belief system that serves to justify organizational and individual prejudices for which there are usually financial, psychological, social, and political rewards to be garnered.

To even suggest that heterosexual marriage within the Christian tradition "is a fundamental way of attaining salvation," Bishop Malone is not only being heretical, contravening the Bible, but is grasping at false straws to make an argument in a way that merely shows his and others' desperation due to the bankruptcy of their prejudices against same-sex marriage.

And for him to pontificate that Gay people should not be discriminated against, also shows the Bishop Malones of the institutional Church world to be terribly naive or cynical in the extreme.

Gay people are discriminated against, and the RC Church is one of the major religious vehicles that provokes and seeks to justify that discrimination.

And, as we see in this brief video, that discrimination is based on false biblical exegeses, heretical theology, and just plain downright blind prejudice!

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ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGY SEXUAL SUPPRESSION IS OFTEN TOXIC TO OTHERS

I'm 5'6" tall and have never played professional basketball! What kind of credibility would I have in your eyes if I lectured you on the proper way to play professional basketball? Clearly, the answer is likely, "none."

Now, Roman Catholic clergy presumably do not engage in romantic/sexual relations, so why do people give credibility to those RC clergy who would dare teach us on the subjects of romance and sexuality?

Compounding this bizarre scenario where gullible people do take seriously the toxic pontifications of assorted RC clergy and the Vatican regarding sexual matters, is the fact that there is so much condemnation emanating from all too many RC sources regarding sexuality that they view as "normal" and also sexual expression that is, in their eyes, "disordered" or even "intrinsically evil."

So, we have the hateful rhetoric of the Archbishop of Guam regarding same-sex love and its protections:

Islamic fundamentalists clearly understand the damage that homosexual behavior inflicts on a culture. This is why they repress such behavior by death...It may be brutal at times, but any culture that is able to produce wave after wave of suicide bombers...is a culture that at least knows how to value self sacrifice.

[For the full text, see here.]

So, Gay people must suppress their God-given sexuality because of the "damage that homosexual behavior inflicts on a culture," damage that is elusive to any rational person. And this Archbishop's statement goes so far as to applaud Islamic fundamentalists who "repress such behavior by death."

And this egregious pronouncement is done in the name of "Christianity?" This is not any type of Christianity to which any Christian can relate!

Fundamentalists of any stripe, be it from the RC Church, the LDS Church, or from any denomination, church, or secular authority are birds of a feather who flock together. Hence, the Vatican holds its arms open to reactionary Anglicans, even going so far as to allow them to have their own liturgy and married clergy within the context of Roman Catholicism, some doctrines of which are antithetical to those of Anglicans and protestants in general.

Just as I wouldn't trust someone like me to lecture you on the finer points of professional basketball, I wouldn't trust presumably celibate clergy who (unless called by God to do so) suppress their God-given sexuality and seek to impose the warped values and questionable psychological dynamics they possess onto others who have no reason to see any contradiction between sexuality and spirituality.

The Apostle Paul said, "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." (Romans 8:6) I wholeheartedly agree with his statement!

That's why when those who succumb to enforced celibacy seek to impose their own sexual views and values onto others, they are projecting their preoccupation with sex borne of its daily suppression; their condemnation of others' sexuality and sexual expression is likely a projection of their own sexual frustrations borne of sexual suppression that is not healthy unless one is gifted by God to be celibate.

Moreover, by suppressing such a primal urge as sex, sex is what is largely thought about in that person's daily life, even more than when one is free to express him/herself sexually. We all think of sex quite frequently (Yes, even at my age!), but can you imagine the preoccupation with sex when one suppresses this very God-given primal urge?

Therefore, one is carnally minded particularly when one is forced to be celibate; the healthy integration of sexuality with one's spirituality allows one to live a full, abundant life that partakes of all of the gifts that God has bestowed on God's children! So, one can truly be spiritually minded when his/her sexuality is integrated into his/her life that, for the Christian or for any religious person, has been dedicated to God.

Moreover, to enforce celibacy, as occurs among RC clergy, contradicts the Apostle Paul's admonition:

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. (1Timothy 4:1-5)

Paul well knew, as do most of the rest of us, that carnality is borne out of repression and suppression, and that whatever God has created is good! And God created sexuality for our pleasure, as well as for procreation for those for whom that is possible. And no person or institution should be in the business of "forbidding to marry!"

Why would God make sexual activity so pleasurable if God wanted us to abstain from it, or restrict it to only one type of relationship that is not natural for a given person? For a heterosexual it is unnatural for him/her to want to marry someone of the same sex; for a homosexual it is unnatural for him/her to want to marry someone of the opposite sex. This is not rocket science!

Since God created Gay and Straight (and bisexual and transgender) people, God wants us to live abundant lives that only comes from living lives of authenticity that comes from partaking of the unique gifts, among them our sexuality, that God has conferred upon us.

And like being Straight, being Gay is a gift from God, and to deny that gift is to not only stunt the spirituality of that person but is tantamount to throwing that gift back in God's face.

The Archbishop of Guam, the Vatican, and all religious homophobes are advocating that others throw God's gift of sexuality back in God's face, and by so doing are helping to create lives of self-loathing manifested in untold suffering, suicides, assaults, and murders of LGBT people.

And this suppression of sexuality, the projection of one's warped views of sexuality onto others, and the condemnation of the sexual lives of Gay people bears no relationship to Christianity!

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FILM: THE MORMON PROPOSITION

The Mormon Proposition will explain once and for all just how the Mormon Church operates, and how they have led the fight against marriage equality all across the United States since Utah became the first state to ban same-sex marriage in 1995. 29 states have followed Utah's lead, and the Mormon Church has made sure of that.

The film also goes into great depth about how the Mormon Church has destroyed so many lives and families in its desire to impose its will on others.

Please tell the world about this incredible documentary. It is a film for all to see.

[For the full article, see here.]

[Also check out its website.]

What is the Mormon proposition? The film is expected to showcase the major gay marriage battles the Mormon Church has backed since Utah became the first state to ban gay marriage in 1995. And how church officials attempted to conceal their deep involvement in the issue. Is the Mormon Church the mastermind puppeteer of the anti-gay marriage movement?

In a blog post, [Director Reed] Cowan said the film had divided his family.

“My determination [to finish the film] has been tested. At this writing, I have lost communication with my sisters and my mother and my father. They are wonderful people and they are Mormons. The fear they have over what this film will say has worn thin to the point that our relationships are stressed and I fear broken forever,” he said.

The film is being considered for a Sundance Film Festival premiere in January.

This is the trailer from The Mormon Proposition:

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THE DANGER OF THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT

It’s sad, in this day and age, that people don’t study history, and people have never stopped giving to those who seek power and control. Of course, there are many who don’t want to take responsibility for their own lives, so this works for them. They financially support others (religious right leaders) who in turn excuse their lives from their actions by placing what happens in the hands of their “God”.

[For the full commentary, see here.]

Many people want to be told what to do and even what to think!

Indeed, many people go so far as to ideologically and financially support clergy who impose their prejudices onto their followers, frequently enabling those clergy to live lavish lifestyles, and who give their gullible followers permission to justify prejudice against a targeted minority group, and do so in the name of God.

By equating their own prejudicial and often self-serving interpretations of certain selected verses of Scripture, whether against women, African-Americans, or LGBT people, with what they say is "God's will," they are contravening two of the Ten Commandments: committing the sin of idolatry (equating the Bible with God) and bearing false witness.

Indeed, by elevating their own preconceived prejudices and xenophobia as Divine law, they are committing the worst kind of idolatry: idolizing of one's own prejudicial self-interests by equating those prejudices and interests with God's will, thereby worshiping themselves as god; they further compound their idolatry by condemning people whom God has made in God's image.

Adding insult to injury, they often ignorantly and/or willfully misrepresent what verses of Scripture they select to support their xenophobic claims, and they often lie about those whose civil and sacramental rights they seek to deny. In addition, they neglect far more weightier aspects and verses of Scripture that provide the very foundations of Christianity, the Christian life, and the Gospel of grace!

For example, when was the last time you heard a homophobic clergy person quote from "The Sermon on the Mount," Matthew 5-7? These verses come closest to revealing the heart of Jesus and His will for our lives than anything else in the Bible!

I also doubt anyone has ever heard a homophobic pastor quote from Matthew 19:12 where Jesus, when asked about heterosexual marriage, says: "For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb...." These eunuchs are undoubtedly God's LGBT children! (See here.)

We often hear from homophobic clergy that same-sex marriage presents a threat to the institution of marriage, a claim that is foolish on its face. It's divorce of heterosexuals that provides that threat and same-sex couples who seek to marry (or who are married in the handful of states where same-sex marriage is legal) can in no rational way be seen as being any kind of threat to the institution of marriage.

However, rationality plays no part in separating one from his/her prejudices, particularly when those prejudices are spoon fed by clergy as being "in the will of God."

And when clergy and other professing Christians remain silent amidst the oppression of LGBT people (or any other minority group), they are just as culpable in that oppression as are those who spew hateful rhetoric against God's LGBT children!

Moreover, financial, psychological, social, and political capital can be gained by creating "outsiders" to denigrate and even demonize! (I strongly suspect and suggest that if there were more money to be made by supporting LGBT rights many, if not most, reactionary clergy and politicians would be proudly marching in Gay Pride Parades!)

In this connection, I want to conclude this post by quoting a few excerpts from an article I wrote some time ago entitled It's Not About Issues, that I hope you will read in its entirety:

The same hatred shown toward African Americans in the justification of White Supremacy is the exact same hatred shown toward LGBT people and the justification of heterosexism! Some of the manifestations of that hatred are, of course, different, but the hatred and the justifications for that hatred are exactly the same!....

By portraying Christianity as being under attack, they are using the same rationale and tactics as was used by White Supremacists in creating an "enemy" so that they could portray themselves as victims of a grave threat that only by electing someone who had a mind-set like theirs, regardless of religious or spiritual commitment, could help remedy. Such a portrayal not only garners increased revenue for religious reactionaries, the handmaidens of the Power Elite, but helps enable them to ensure the status quo that they perceive will keep them in control and help keep the minority group(s) they despise under their thumb, so as to maintain their influence and control of most of the institutional Church, maintain what they tout as the moral high ground, and maintain their definition of "Christianity" in the public's mind....

What is important to them is to maintain their mind-set of exclusion of "the other," their constructed enemy, be that "other" African Americans, women, LGBT people, or whatever enemy they seek to construct so as to maintain both their hegemony in society, and to help assure that the existing social structure continues to favor them and their ideology, an ideology that has relatively little to do with their "Christian" profession, and certainly nothing to do with Christianity itself!

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LOVE AND BOLDNESS IN THE FIGHT FOR LGBT CIVIL RIGHTS

Sigmund Freud once remarked: How bold one gets when one is sure of being loved.

For close to 50 years, I've been blessed with unconditional love by the Light of my life, and it's been her love that has enabled me to live my life and to achieve any success I might have achieved.

As an invaluable co-worker with God, she has made possible every good thing that has ever happened in my life!

Only a profoundly good and intuitive person like my wife, Eileen, a saint if there ever was one, could have put up with a madman like me for close to half a century, and the following song by Jr. Walker and the All Stars states that feeling far better than I can.

I very much want same-sex couples to have the same dignity, legitimacy, rights, and joy that my wife and I have had, and for them to know that they are unconditionally loved by God and, hopefully, by other people in their lives.

I am absolutely convinced that LGBT people hold a special place in God's heart, and are among God's most wonderful gifts to society and to Christ's Church.

And that knowledge by LGBT people of God's (and, hopefully, others') unconditional love will yield the boldness necessary for us to fight like hell for full and equal civil rights for LGBT people and for same-sex couples, and empower us to never give up that fight until they shove six feet of dirt in our faces.

This song is dedicated to the Light of my life, Eileen:

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INTERVIEW WITH REV. PETER J. GOMES

Whether you are a Christian or not, this video of the interview with Rev. Peter J. Gomes, minister at Harvard University, is a wonderful explication of both the Bible as well as its relationship to God, Christianity, the spiritual life, and the stuff of life amidst which we all live.

Rev. Gomes is the author of several books, two of which I think are absolutely superb: "The Good Book: Reading the Bible With Mind and Heart"; "The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus: What's So Good About the Good News?" I strongly urge you to read both of these books!

Rev. Gomes is a gay Christian who is about the most thoughtful and erudite contemporary exponent of the Christian faith and the Gospel who will give you a perspective about the subjects with which he deals that you may well not have been exposed to before!

This interview occurred before Obama was elected President, and Gomes deals with the role of race and class in U.S. society, and predicted that "race" would be a significant issue that would have to be dealt with in every aspect of U.S. society should there be a Black President. One doesn't have to listen to too many reactionary radio talk shows to hear some of the hosts and callers talk about, "taking our country back" which, in my opinion, is often code for them wanting a white person back in the office of President.

I must say that I disagree with Rev. Gomes when he attributes equal authority to the Old and the New Testaments; advocates the relevance of the Law within the Old Testament.

I firmly believe that Jesus fulfilled the whole Law within Himself; His life, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven replaced the Law with the Gospel of grace (God's unmerited favor to those who trust God over and above seen circumstances.) that the Apostle Paul beautifully explicated, particularly in the Books of Romans and Galatians.

This is the video of the interview with Rev. Gomes that I urge you to see in its entirety:

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THERE IS NO ROOM FOR COMPROMISE WHEN IT COMES TO CIVIL RIGHTS!

In an article entitled, Solmonese Responds to Calls He Resign that appears in The Advocate, one commentator, Lonnie Lopez stated the case for aggressive grassroots activism very clearly:

As Howard Zinn put it: We are citizens. We must not put ourselves in the position of looking at the world from their eyes [meaning the politicians] and say, "Well, we have to compromise, we have to do this for political reasons." We have to speak our minds. This is the position that the abolitionists were in before the Civil War, and people said, "Well, you have to look at it from Lincoln's point of view." Lincoln didn't believe that his first priority was abolishing slavery. But the anti-slavery movement did, and the abolitionists said, "We're not going to put ourselves in Lincoln's position. We are going to express our own position, and we are going to express it so powerfully that Lincoln will have to listen to us." And the anti-slavery movement grew large enough and powerful enough that Lincoln had to listen. That's how we got the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th and 14th and 15th Amendments.

Some people want to believe that there is inherent justice in the world; some people believe that politicians have their constituents' best interests at heart; some people believe that administrators of Gay rights organizations are being as aggressive as they can in this civil rights struggle; some people believe that "the milk of human kindness" will eventually win out without aggressive grassroots and organizational activism to achieve equal rights; some people leave the fight to achieve equal rights for LGBT people to others; some people believe that Obama has too much on his plate to issue an Executive Order removing DADT and aggressively deal with Congress to remove DOMA.

There is to be no room for the allowance of second-class citizenship in any society, let alone the U.S. that boasts itself to be "the land of the free," and where "separate is not equal."

There is no "freedom" in any civil society when a minority group is deprived of civil rights that accrue to the dominant group!

If heterosexuals are allowed to marry, same-sex couples must be allowed to marry!

Heterosexual love is in no way superior to same-sex love, and that reality must be codified into law and, eventually, it will thereby be codified in the hearts of most people in society!

And without aggressive grassroots and organizational activism, there will never be federal recognition of same-sex marriage (and all of the other civil rights that are likely to ride on its coattails).

Had it not been for the organizational and activist skills of Bayard Rustin, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, A Philip Randolph, Fannie Lou Hamer, Thurgood Marshall, and others, we would still have segregation and Jim Crow laws!

And the fight for LGBT civil rights is no different, and no less important, than the struggle for African-American civil rights that occurred not all that long ago in the U.S.!

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WHEN IT COMES TO EQUALITY FOR LGBT PEOPLE, THE LDS CHURCH KNOWS NO SHAME

Just in case you aren’t familiar, the Mormon Church used to preach segregation. It was their firm belief that being a person of color was a punishment from God and people of color were lesser than white people…and that was up until 1978! It was in that year former President Jimmy Carter threatened the LDS church with taxation if they did not stop preaching segregation, and amazingly enough, God spoke to the elders, and within weeks of the taxation threat, told them being a person of color was no longer a punishment from God, therefore they should be accepted into the church.

Secondly, how is anyone, who enjoys full benefits of marriage, employment, housing, etc….you know, all the rights, liberties and freedoms offered to everyone in America except for those of us in the LBGT community, going to claim they are being oppressed…and compare their oppression to that of what people of color experienced during and prior to the Civil Rights Movement?

This statement [By Elder Dallin Oaks that he did not consider it provocative to compare the treatment of Mormons after the passage of Prop. 8 to that of blacks in the civil rights era.] is not only stupid and delusional, but it’s extremely disrespectful towards anyone of color, and it demonstrates the lengths people will go to in their attempt to prevent American citizens who are a member of the LGBT community from ever enjoying full equality and maintain our second class citizenship.

[For the full article, see here.]

At least one Mormon leader has the ignorance and/or temerity to equate anti-LDS backlash regarding their hateful animus against same-sex marriage and their strident advocacy for Prop. 8 with the way Southern blacks were intimidated during the civil rights movement.

If this isn't an outright disgrace, and if this isn't symptomatic of toxic religion and the attempt to brainwash gullible people into believing that the LDS Church is the "victim" in this backlash by decent people who demand equal rights for LGBT people and same-sex couples, I don't know what is!

The LDS Church and the Roman Catholic Church, along with most churches within the institutional Church, by their rhetoric and/or actions and/or silence amidst the oppression of our LGBT sisters and brothers, are a disgrace to God, to Christianity, and to biblical scholarship!

They must be called to account and confronted for the lies they perpetrate, and the untold suffering and damage they do to LGBT people and their families, and they must also be taxed!

They are spewing their hatred that often results in spiritual, emotional, and physical violence, and they do so with the benefit of tax-exemption.

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