Here's something from the news in Tennessee last week that clearly shows the hypocrisy and stupidity of the GOP's argument over transgender people using a bathroom. TWO PASTORS were arrested for Sex Trafficking with CHILDREN! Children are 100 times more likely to be abused by religious people than transgender or gay people. Just look at the scandals that rocked the Catholic church for decades from the U.S. to Europe. The Republican argument against transgender people is ridiculous. Instead, they should be worried about their huge voter block of "religious" people.
IN THE NEWS: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation: 2 Pastors Arrested, 32 charged for Sex Trafficking in Undercover Operation STORY FROM KTTN. http://www.kttn.com/tennessee-bureau-of-investigation-2-pastors-arrested-32-charged-for-sex-trafficking-in-undercover-operation/ What's interesting is that they list ALL of the names of the people arrested and what they were charged with... just click the URL STORY: A three-day operation by Special
Agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and detectives with
the Knoxville Police Department to combat human trafficking in Knoxville
has resulted in the arrest of 32 men and women on prostitution and
human trafficking-related charges.
The pastors arrested for trafficking children
Two of the men, including a
children’s minister, responded to ads for what they thought were girls
under the age of 18. The Knoxville anti-trafficking operation, called
“Operation Someone Like Me”, is the fifth operation of its kind in the
state between the TBI and partner agencies to help identify, investigate
and prosecute trafficking, and rescue victims.
Here's what the "Pastors" are charged with:
Zubin Parakh, 32, Oak Ridge, TN – Patronizing Prostitution, Trafficking
Jason Kennedy, 46, Knoxville, TN – Patronizing Prostitution, Trafficking
With the partnership including the
Knoxville Police Department, Community Coalition Against Human
Trafficking, End Slavery Tennessee, and Second Life Chattanooga, TBI
Agents and intelligence analysts embarked on an undercover operation to
identify potential victims of trafficking, arrest those seeking to
purchase illicit sex from a juvenile, and learn more about the specific
nuances of this type of crime.
“Finding these people who are trying
to buy Tennessee children is a priority for us,” says TBI Director Mark
Gwyn. “We want anyone responding to these ads to think there may be a
TBI Agent on the other end of it. We will do whatever we can to make a
difference in reducing the human trafficking that takes place in
Tennessee.” During the three-day operation, undercover Agents posted ads on Backpage.com.
During that time, more than 300 contacts were made to those ads. In one
ad the Agents posed as a juvenile girl. That ad received more than two
dozen contacts. “Human trafficking is a scourge on
society,” says Knoxville Police Chief David Rausch. “We will continue to
commit all the necessary resources and work alongside our law
enforcement partners to help protect our most precious resource, our
children.”
“We’re changing the conversation about
human trafficking,” says TBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Margie
Quin. “These operations are designed to identify and help victims of
trafficking, as well as take these predators off the street. With the assistance of nonprofit
agencies Community Coalition Against Human Trafficking, End Slavery
Tennessee, and Second Life Chattanooga, the undercover operation
conducted this week also identified potential victims of trafficking.
The women were offered services provided by the nonprofits that include
housing, counseling and addiction treatment. Three women took advantage
of those services and left the operation and were immediately placed in
safe houses. Last year, Governor Bill Haslam signed
legislation into law giving TBI original jurisdiction over
investigations of human trafficking. Additionally, the state legislature
approved funding for four Special Agents, who work exclusively to
investigate human trafficking cases and train law enforcement statewide
on recognizing and combating this type of crime. These four Special
Agents, who have now completed their fifth operation across the state,
have arrested or cited just under 100 individuals during that time. Last year, as part of its commitment
to address this issue, the TBI unveiled a public awareness campaign,
entitled “IT Has To Stop,” which includes online resources, public
service announcements, and contact information for nonprofits who work
with survivors of human trafficking. Visit www.ITHasToStop.com for more information. “OPERATION SOMEONE LIKE ME” STATS Since “Operation Someone Like Me” began in May 2015, there have been 98 arrests/ citations. The investigation was conducted in
Brentwood/ Clarksville, Jackson, Chattanooga (twice, once in conjunction
with Georgia Bureau of Investigation), Knoxville. As a result of “Operation Someone Like Me” this week in Knoxville, 32 individuals were arrested/ cited.
What a fascinating look at a decision made by two parents of two different religious backgrounds on how they raised their child to embrace only the good things that religions include, and exclude the bad. If ANY religion did that and included science, civil rights and equal treatment of all, then I think there really could be one world-wide "religion." - I wanted to share this because I thought it crazy when I first read it, UNTIL I read it. Then it made perfect sense. See what you think. Rob
Why I Rejected Religion and Instead Raised My Son on Star Wars
by Vishen Lakhiani May 4, 2014 http://blog.mindvalleyacademy.com/vishen-lakhiani/rejected-religion-instead-raised-son-star-wars
I raised my son without religion. It was by design. I was raised a Hindu
and my wife was raised Orthodox and Lutheran. But both of us slowly
outgrew religion as we got older and instead adopted practices and
beliefs consistent with our experiences in the real world.
And so when Hayden was born we didn’t bother with religion at all.
But we aren’t against it either. Because religion does have many
beautiful aspects. And one of the biggest is that it teaches life lessons through stories.
Problem is, it also conditions people to take those stories too
literally. This leads to all sorts of dumb ideas that have held humanity
backwards.
Crimes against apostasy, treating gay people like outcasts, violation
of women’s rights and even the act of not being able to enjoy a simple
ham sandwich. Second, religion isn’t yet hackable.
I can’t take the best of Christianity and combine it with the best of
Islam and Hinduism. And to do so would cause awkward glares. There is
much beauty in the teachings of Christ, the Sufism of Islam, the
Bhagavad Gita or the Buddhist teachings of the Dalai Lama. Yet humanity
has widely decided that religion should be absolutist.
In short, pick one and stick to it for the rest of your life.
Or worse – pass it on to your children through early indoctrination
so they have to stick to one true path for the rest of their lives.
Then repeat for generations.
I want to break this pattern.
So to avoid this with my son I decided to not teach my son religion
at all. Hayden understands Newton’s Laws, the rotation of the planet,
and gravity and electricity. At 6 he talks about atoms, DNA replication,
Elon Musk’s rockets and admires Edison and the Mars Rover. Yet he has
no idea what God is. This is by design.
Simply because we, as a human race, don’t know what God is. And I refuse to pick ONE definition.
Although I believe in God, I don’t think it’s right to teach this
idea to a child until he’s old enough to ask the right questions. It’s a
fine line between education and indoctrination.
So I believe that the only way to teach religion is to teach ALL religions.
And I will.
But only when Hayden is older and can make his own conclusions.
But this left a dilemma. How then do I teach Hayden morality and lessons in life?
I found the answer through Star Wars.
Recently Hayden and I sat through 12 hours and all 6 Star Wars
movies. It’s amazing how the mind of a 6 year old can get so engrossed
with George Lucas’ fiction. But an unexpected benefit was the life
lessons that I was able to share with Hayden via Star Wars.
Here are the top 10 things that any parent can teach their child from Star Wars
1. Star Wars teaches you to Trust Yourself
Luke: All right, I’ll give it a try.
Yoda: No. Try not. Do… or do not. There is no try.
[Using the Force, Yoda effortlessly frees the X-Wing from the bog]
Luke: I don’t, I don’t believe it.
Yoda: That is why you fail.
The message here is to truly believe in yourself. Simplistic, I
know. But Star Wars weaves the message into the story of Luke in such a
beautiful way. We take Luke’s struggles and eventual success as parable
for our own lives.
2. Star Wars teaches you to use the Power of Your Mind
Hayden was fascinated by the “Force”. I explained it to him in Yoda’s words:
“For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is.
Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us.
Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force
around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes.”
~ Yoda
We used the metaphor of the force to teach Hayden mindfulness
practices. I’d get him to close his eyes, relax and meditate. Sure he
couldn’t last 90 seconds but its a start. But when Hayden fell ill, we
used this same idea of the ‘force’ to teach him imagery therapy. He
close his eyes and we’d ask him to visualize his lungs getting better.
Hayden would do this every night before going to bed. There is a lot of
evidence that imagery therapy accelerates healing. And that
visualisation can help with goal setting.
3. Star Wars teaches you that We are all Connected
This is very similar to Pantheism, what Richard Dawkins calls “Sexed
up Atheism”. It’s the idea that all life is one and we’re all connected
and that harming other lifeforms is not optimal. This is a great way to teach a child the Golden Rule. That we should
not harm another because we’re all one. Even if you don’t buy the idea
of oneness – at least it trains a child to understand that all life is
special. It’s a great way to teach empathy and respect for the
environment, plants and animals.
Yoda: Ohhh. Great warrior.
[laughs and shakes his head]
Yoda: Wars not make one great.
4. Star Wars Teaches us to Trust our Intuition
I believe in human intuition – the idea that we can sometime’s
‘sense’ or ‘feel’ things outside normal physical lines of communication. The theme of intuition reoccurs multiple times in Star Wars. When
Luke loses his hand and is clinging for his life outside a rafter on
Cloud City, he uses his intuition to let his sister Leia know that he’s
in trouble. Kristina and I teach Hayden to “feel from his heart”. When his mom is
traveling, I ask him to feel in his heart how mom is doing. Is she
happy, or sad. Does she miss him. It does not matter if he’s right or
wrong. Because by doing this exercise he’s learning empathy – an
important skill.
5. Star Wars teaches you the Danger of Negative Emotions
I remind Hayden of this quote each time he loses his temper…
Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. ~ Yoda
Science has shown that negative emotions like stress can harm
performance and cause negative side effects to the human body. Likewise,
positive emotions like joy have huge impact on sleep, performance,
health and recovery. I found this to be a good way to teach Hayden to
identify good vs bad emotion and thus bring himself out of negative
states.
6. Star Wars teaches you that Women Kick Butt
Hayden’s at that age where he considers girl’s “icky”. He’s six and
will grow out of it. But I helped him see just how awesome women could
be by making him a fan of Princess Leia. Who can forget that that scene
where she strangles Jabba the Hut while sporting a golden bikini? Star Wars teaches you that women can be feminine and powerful and rule entire kingdoms with finesse.
Princess Leia: I don’t know who you are or where you came from, but from now on you’ll do as I tell you, okay?
7. Star Wars teaches you that Kids can do amazing things
Young Anakin Skywalker wins the pod racer competition. He also builds
his own robots. Ok true, he does grow up to be evil, but from a kid’s
point of view I think it’s awesome for Hayden to see another kid
accomplish things once reserved for adults.
“Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not.” ~ Yoda
8. Star Wars teaches you to reject “Absolutism”.
We’re often conditioned to live in a world of black or white. You’re
republican or democrat. Hardcore conservative or a soft liberal. We
connect blindly to our countries, religions, political parties and
cultural groups without releasing that the most brilliant solutions to
the world’s problems often lie in the center – within the shades of
grey.
“Only the Sith deal in absolutes.” ~ Obi Wan Kenobi
9. Star Wars teaches You to Always Be Growing and Learning
“We are never done with lessons. Not while we live.”Mace Windu Nuff said.
10. Star Wars teaches you to Question Your Parents
Star Wars teaches you that you don’t have to follow your parents
path.Luke rejects his father’s pleas to join the Dark Side. He sets out
on his own path. I want my son to know that I may be his Dad, and I will
give him advice and guidance and be there for him. But I’m also human
and may make mistakes or offer dumb advice sometimes. I want him to
question me respectfully. So we both grow. I did not write this article to slam organised religion. It’s written as an ode to Star Wars. But I did also write it to publicly ask questions that I feel should be asked. 1. Why do we insist on raising our kids with our religion?
We don’t pass on to our children the idea that they are Democrats or
Republicans. We don’t force our kids to take on our professions. Yet
from an early age we indoctrinate them with our religion. 2. Worse, we teach then absolutism by getting them to identify themselves with one particular religion. Why
can’t a child enjoy bible stories, celebrate Diwali and Hanukkah, AND
pray five times a day? Why can’t you be an evangelical and gay? Or be a
muslim but skip the fasting month of Ramadan? Be a Jew and enjoy a good
ham sandwich? I believe in God and hope that my son does too. But it has to be HIS decision. If I raised Hayden with an organised religion, I’d be exposing him to too much risk:
The risk of getting identified with one branch of ideas, rather than seeing the whole picture.
The risk of exposure to intolerance, guilt or fundamentalism.
The idea that he had to live his life, unquestionably based on the ideas from a 1000 year old book.
The risk of feeling guilt, shame or fear if he broke any one of the
hundreds of ‘rules’ that often make no sense but are blindly followed
generation to generation.
For religion takes itself way to seriously. And once you’ve been raised on religion, and had it drilled into you,
all your life from the time you learned to first speak to early
adulthood – it’s really hard to say“It’s just a book”. But with Star Wars, as Hayden gets older and realises that his Dad
was just a silly science-fiction geek, he’ll always be able to say…“It’s just a movie”. And this liberates him to forge his own life. His own beliefs and his own identity. Or in the wise words of Kahlil Gibran
“Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.”
Share this post with other parents whom you think might appreciate it. And debate in the comment section below.
When the heck is the IRS going to do its job and monitor and TAX churches that get into politics?
Here's an article about the Mormon Church, now joining the Catholic Church of Maryland to REPEAL the Gay Marriage law. How "caring" is that? Finally a law is put into place to provide safety, health and financial security for gay couples and these hateful churches want to remove it?
- THIS is why I left the Catholic church. It's a Hate Group. Pure and simple. How would these people like it if I voted to remove their Social Security, Medicare, Health care, disability?
- Rob
Members of the Mormon Church in Maryland are working to overturn the
state’s recently passed marriage equality law, according to an email
obtained by the Washington Blade.
In the message dated March 29 sent to D.C. and Southern Maryland-area
church members, the writer states that a coalition of
inter-denominational Maryland churches has joined to place a referendum
before voters in November on the marriage law before it goes into
effect.
“We need to collect approximately 200,000 signatures by the end of
May,” the email states. “We are looking for people to gather signatures
within the LDS community.”
For anyone that thinks that corruption never enters religious businesses, read this fascinating article from the Nashville Tennessean, about a multi-million dollar Christian broadcasting empire. - Rob
Trinity Broadcasting embroiled in family feud
Allegations of lavish spending, theft fly within Christian media power
Televangelists Paul and Jan Crouch, who transformed the former Twitty
City in Hendersonville into the Trinity Music City USA religious
entertainment complex, are no strangers to controversy.
The
couple, who own the multimillion-dollar Christian media empire Trinity
Broadcasting Network, fought an 11-year battle to avoid paying property
taxes on the entertainment complex after buying it in the mid-1990s.
As
that battle raged, a gay staff member alleged he had an affair with
Paul Crouch, and the Crouches ran into conflict with the FCC over rules
governing how many television stations they can own.
Now, they are being attacked by members of their own family.
Their
granddaughter, Brittany Koper, recently filed court papers in Costa
Mesa, Calif., that include allegations of $50 million in financial
shenanigans at the world’s largest Christian broadcasting network.
Her
suit was followed by another from a Koper in-law, who detailed opulent
spending at the network on items such as private jets, mansions in
California, Tennessee and Florida and a $100,000 mobile home for Jan
Crouch’s dogs.
The network has 78 satellites and more than 18,000 television and cable
affiliates and owns seven other networks, as well as its headquarters in
Costa Mesa in Orange County and the Holy Land Experience, a Christian
amusement park in Orlando, Fla.
FULL STORY: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120323/NEWS01/303230068/Trinity-Broadcasting-embroiled-family-feud?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|News|s
IN THE NEWS - I found this interesting. I thought people who worked for churches were usually not paid much so the funds would go to helping homeless, poor, uneducated, jobless, and emotionally distraught people. I thought about this, and realized the Evangelicals like the Falwell family also made 6 figure salaries, as friends who live in Lynchburg, Va. (where they live) tell us how they flaunt their sports cars, expensive jewelry, big houses, etc. - So, the Catholic church isn't doing anything the evangelicals have been doing for decades. Regardless, I personally think its wrong. - After all, priests and nuns take vows of poverty! - and I think the Evangelicals need to pay TAXES. Can you imagine the city/town improvements that can be made from taxes on multi-millionaires like the Falwell family??
Spirit of giving?: Boston Archdiocese defends six-figure salaries for top church employees James Eng, msnbc.com
The Boston Archdiocese is defending six-figure salaries paid to a growing number of church employees, saying the pay is commensurate with their talents and work duties.
The Boston Herald on Wednesday reported that the archdiocese’s latest annual report lists 17 “senior lay executives” who earned more than $150,000 last year. In 2006, only five employees were paid that much, according to the newspaper.
The Boston Catholic Insider blog reported similar figures for 2011 in a post last month titled “Bloated Payroll” but said just two employees were making $150,000 in 2006.
Topping the 2011 list was Mary Grassa O’Neill, superintendent of the archdiocese’s Catholic schools, whose total compensation topped $351,000, the Herald reported. The top archdiocesan lawyer earned $326,169, while the recently departed chancellor, the archdiocese’s top financial officer, grossed $276,486.
I recently wrote 2 letters that appeared in the local newspapers. - I know it's a tired subject to some, but now gay people in Maryland are fighting to keep the law that allows them to marry and enjoy the financial, health and welfare security and 1,138 benefits that straight couples enjoy. The law DOESN"T go into effect until January 2013. Why not now?
Because some African-American churches and the Catholic church, who are the most vocal opponents, are demanding their congregations get 50,000 signatures to put the law on the ballot in November. * NOTE: There are some churches that remain neutral, or refuse to rally against the law- THOSE I have respect for. Since WHEN does a Majority of people allow a Minority the same rights? Never. African-Americans were only granted equality by legislation. Every time equal rights for African-Americans were put to the ballot, voters said "No." The same thing is likely to happen with gay marriage, and these hateful religious leaders know that. I find it appalling. - Rob
LETTER #1: Some churches are behaving like bullies
Bullying is something we are trying to teach our children not to do,
yet some African-American and Catholic churches in our state are now
prime examples of bullies. The vitriol from some clergymen against gay
marriage is disgusting and hateful.
These “leaders” are
encouraging bullying against gay people. This is dangerous to teach
their congregations to hate and be intolerant. Put simply, it is
bullying. That is what it will lead to in schools, in our children, in
adults.
Gay marriage is now the law, and these churches are trying to take
away that right of security between consenting adults who don’t affect
these churches. They should instead teach acceptance and love, help the
poor and single-parent families, care for the elderly and jobless.
Churches should use their influence positively and help people instead
of hurting gay people.
Bullying is a serious problem and churches
should not encourage it, but they are doing so in their fight to
overturn marriage equality.
**************************************************** There was a response to this letter from a woman who said "Why not vote on it, and let the people decide the fate of gay marriage?" - Obviously, she doesn't know her history, so I wrote the Following letter:
LETTER #2: Majority Never Votes in Favor of Minority Equal Rights
In Cathy Bunge's letter to the Blade-News she asks "why not put gay marriage on the ballot and let everyone have their say?"
There are several reasons, Ms. Bunge: 1) It is currently the law. 2) It makes all of Maryland's citizens equal.
3)
Most importantly, it is historically proven in our country that the
majority never votes to allow rights for the minority. After the Civil
War, it took Constitutional amendment to abolish slavery. Whenever it went to a vote, the majority (white) population voted it down. In 1870, it took legislators to ratify the Constitution's Fifteenth Amendment
and finally prohibit denying a citizen voting rights based on race,
color or previous condition of servitude" (i.e., slavery). The white
majority refused
to allow it. Also, African-Americans finally gained legal equality and
justice in the courts (not by voters) as a result of the 1905
Niagara Movement of W. E. B. Du Bois. These are just three examples of
how voting on the rights of minorities does not work. Sadly, no majority
ever wants minorities to be equal. In short, equal rights historically
can never be attained by voting from the majority. That is why gay
marriage should never be a ballot question, especially if it has become
the law.
It's off to a flying start on a Monday - after a great weekend, I have to rant. I (Rob) want to know when churches are going to stop attacking gay marriage. They've got so many problems in their own institutions that they sweep under the rug, and use money and media to bully.
- Now, the Pope, a U.S. Cardinal, and a British Cardinal are all attacking gay marriage, and trying to influence the law and block equality to prevent gay marriages.
MY MESSAGE TO THEM: Get OUT of politics. Get OUT of Civil rights. STOP being bigots. Leave MY right to security and happiness alone!
:Please address and clean up all the corruption, pedophiles, and other problems in your own backyard. Please do something positive!
I find it appalling that these men deny themselves intimate loving relationships, yet lobby and campaign to block gay citizens from having them. Articles below.
*******************************************
Pope
denounces U.S. political push to legalize gay marriage
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Friday denounced the "powerful
political and cultural currents" seeking to legalize gay marriage in
the United States, where Maryland has just become the eighth state to
allow it. IN THE U.S.: NEW CARDINAL LEADING OPPOSITION TO MARRIAGE EQUALITY
Dolan
fought against gay marriage before it became legal in New York state
last June, and in September he sent a letter to President Barack Obama
criticizing his administration's decision not to support a federal ban
on gay marriage. One
leading opponent of gay marriage in the United States is New York
Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who was elevated to cardinal last month.
Let Gays into ‘Christian Marriage’ Says St Paul’s New Dean
The
new dean of London’s St Paul’s Cathedral has said that the Church of
England should embrace civil gay marriage.Rev Dr David Ison, bucking the
recent trend of aggressive attacks
over the plans from Church leaders in the UK, said the church should
welcome gay people and allow them to participate in what he termed “the
virtues of marriage” that are quite separate from the legal aspects. He
went on to distinguish that the Church should be thinking of allowing
same-sex couples to partake in ”Christian marriage,” rather than talking
about homosexual and heterosexual marriages.
You may recall that last month Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) and I sparred over same-sex marriage
on “Morning Joe.” You may also recall that at the end of the interview,
the show’s anchor, Joe Scarborough, asked me, “[W]ould you compare the
civil rights struggles of African Americans over 300 years in America to
marriage equity?” Without hesitation, I said, “Yes.”
“It’s an issue of civil rights, as you said. It’s an issue of
equality. It’s an issue of equal treatment under the law,” I said. “No
one is asking for special rights. No one is asking for any kind of
special favors. We’re just looking for the same rights and
responsibilities that come with marriage and also the protections that
are provided under marriage. In that regard overall we’re talking about a
civil rights issue and what African Americans continue to struggle with
is exactly what lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are
struggling with today.”
That didn’t go over so well with more than a few African Americans.
They don’t see the struggles as comparable, equivalent or even related.
Last Wednesday, @Brokenb4God tweeted to me, “@CapehartJ still can’t
believe u think the choice of being gay is congruent to the struggle of
blacks. Ain’t never seen no gay plantations!”
Clearly, she’s from the misguided pray-the-gay-away
cabal, so no need to address that. I’ll leave the cheap and provocative
“gay plantations” stink bomb alone, too, and get to my main point. What
links the two struggles is the quest for equality, dignity and equal
protection under the law. In short, gay rights are civil rights. It’s
that simple.
Bullying and murder
Both African Americans and gays have been targeted because of who they are. Tyler Clementi
jumped to his death off the George Washington Bridge after discovering
his roommate allegedly using a webcam to livestream his sexual
encounter with another man. The trial of that roommate, Dharun Ravi, is going on right now in New Jersey.
Clementi’s September 2010 suicide drew national attention to bullying
of young people, particularly gay teens. Back then I wrote about the
harrowing week that month when there were five reports of suicides
of young men and boys who felt they had no other way to end the
bullying, harassment or invasion of privacy they endured because they
were gay or perceived to be gay.
Seth Walsh,
13, hanged himself in his California back yard on Sept. 19. Rutgers
University freshman Tyler Clementi, 18, jumped off the George Washington
Bridge on Sept. 22. Asher Brown,13, from Houston shot himself in the head on Sept. 23. Raymond Chase,
19, from New York hanged himself in his dorm room at Johnson &
Wales University in Rhode Island on Sept. 29. The circumstances
surrounding the Sept. 30 death of a 14-year-old Indiana boy remain
unclear, but he has been included in reports on this sad issue.
There have been many more, too many more, since then.
Their deaths came 12 years after the horrific murder
of gay college student Matthew Shepard. At a bar in Laramie, Wyo., in
October 1998, Shepard met two men who said they were also gay. They
kidnapped, robbed and pistol-whipped him before tying him to a fence. He
died five days later. Shepard’s shocking killing came four months after
another murder that shook the national conscience. A black man named James Byrd
was kidnapped by three white men, chained to the back of a pick-up
truck and dragged more than three miles in June 1998. His decapitated
body was found outside the small town of Jasper, Tex. According to the
Jasper district attorney at the time, two of Byrd’s killers had racist
tattoos and were supporters of the Ku Klux Klan.
Both murders sparked a national debate on hate crimes that culminated in passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act,
which President Obama signed into law in October 2009. The bullying
that has gained national attention of late has the attention of the Obamas and the administration and pop icon Lady Gaga.
VIDEO INTERVIEW: John Lewis - You Cannot Tell People They Cannot Fall In Love
Rep. John Lewis from Georgia argues passionately against DOMA in the
debate over the legislation in 1996, as shown in the documentary "Tying
the Knot". Highly recommended.
Denied equal protection: the right to marry
Both African Americans and gays have been denied equal access to the
rights, responsibilities and protections the Constitution provides. Just
last week, Maryland became the eighth state in the country to legalize same-sex marriage. Washington State
joined the club on Feb. 13. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) vetoed a
marriage equality bill last month and called for a public referendum.
Putting the rights of a minority up to a popular vote is wrong,
un-American and immoral. And yet voters in New Jersey and Maryland very
well may do just that in November.
Meanwhile, in lawsuits across the country, lesbians and gay men are
fighting for legal recognition of their relationships by challenging
state laws that deny it and the so-called Defense of Marriage Act
(DOMA). Same-sex marriage was legal in California until voters passed
Proposition 8 in 2008. A challenge to that ban is wending its way
through the federal court system and is getting knocked as unconstitutional at every turn.
And those who are already legally married are demanding equal rights. Karen Golinski
was legally married to her partner of more than 20 years in California
in 2008. But when the federal employee applied for health benefits for
her spouse, she was denied thanks to DOMA. Last week, the U.S. District
Court for the Northern District of California ruled in Golinski v. Office of Personnel Management that Section 3 of the statute was unconstitutional because it violated her equal protection rights under the Constitution.
In this matter, the Court finds that DOMA, as applied to Ms.
Golinski, violates her right to equal protection of the law under the
Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution by, without
substantial justification or rational basis, refusing to recognize her
lawful marriage to prevent provision of health insurance coverage to her
spouse.
That’s a narrowly tailored argument the judge is making there. But
“as applied to Ms. Golinski” could be replaced by millions of other
names and “to prevent provision of health insurance coverage to her
spouse” could be replaced by any number of the 1,138 rights and benefits
denied to same-sex couples because of DOMA. And as I wrote last month,
the inability to file joint federal tax returns, and avail themselves of
Social Security survivor benefits or child tax credits compounds the income inequality and financial insecurity
of gay and lesbian families. All because the person they love is of the
same gender. This insecurity is exacerbated by the fact that you can
still be fired because of your sexual orientation in 29 states. That number goes up to 34 if you’re transgender.
VIDEO INTERVIEW: A Conversation With... Jonathan Capehart & Julian Bond
Washington Post editorial writer Jonathan Capehart speaks with former
NAACP chairman Julian Bond about the intersection of gay rights and
civil rights.
Black leaders
African American resistance to same-sex marriage and linking the quest
for it to the black civil rights movement emerged again in the push for
marriage equality in Maryland. But an excellent counter to that are
three black leaders who have been unashamed and vocal in their support
of gay rights and who see the struggle of lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender Americans as part of what they’ve fought for their entire
lives: equality.
Rev. Al Sharpton, long a proponent of marriage equality, lent his voice to the successful effort in Maryland.
All of us must fight for what’s fair and for what’s right....Maryland, the time is now. Let’s be fair. Let’s do the right thing.
When DOMA came up for a vote in 1996, civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) delivered an impassioned speech on the House floor before voting against the measure.
You cannot tell people they cannot fall in love. Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. used to say when people talked about interracial
marriages, and I quote, ‘Races do not fall in love and get married.
Individuals fall in love and get married.’ Why don’t you want your
fellow men and women, your fellow Americans to be happy? Why do you
attack them? Why do you want to destroy the love they hold in their
hearts? Why do you want to crush their hopes, their dreams, their
longings, their aspirations? We are talking about human beings, people
like you, people who want to get married, buy a house, and spend their
lives with the one they love. They have done no wrong.
VIDEO: The Reverand Al Sharpton supports Marriage Equality.
In a 2003 opinion piece
for the Boston Globe, Lewis wrote, “I have fought too hard and too long
against discrimination based on race and color not to stand up against
discrimination based on sexual orientation. I’ve heard the reasons for
opposing civil marriage for same-sex couples. Cut through the
distractions, and they stink of the same fear, hatred, and intolerance I
have known in racism and in bigotry.”
Civil rights icon Julian Bond told me during an interview
for the PBS program “In The Life” in 2008, “Black people, of all
people, should not oppose equality. It does not matter the rationale –
religious, cultural, pseudo-scientific. No people of good will should
oppose marriage equality. And they should not think civil unions are a
substitute. At best, civil unions are separate but equal. And we all
know separate is never equal.”
When I asked Bond what is the connection between the black civil
rights movement and its gay counterpart, he said it was the immutable
characteristics of the individuals involved. “You are what you are,” he
said, “and you cannot be discriminated against in this country for what
you are.
“And the fact that the black civil rights movement came to public attention before the gay civil rights movement, which is existing at the same time but I don’t think well known to people. . .
These draw from each other. And the gay movement draws tactics and
techniques and songs and slogans. As did the Hispanic movement, as did
the women’s movement.”
Men and women picket the White House on May 29, 1965, in a protest organized by the Mattachine Society of Washington
(
File photo - United Press International
)
The hard work of the late Frank Kameny and the late Barbara Gittings attest to Bond’s remarks.
“It’s not that these movements are taking from us because the black
movement took from other movements before us,” Bond continued. “We took
from the labor movement. And I never heard anyone from the labor
movement complaining about this. We ought to be proud of this and say,
‘Look what we did. We created a model that other people have
followed.’ ”
Black people led the way to this nation being more fair and
equitable. That some vigorously oppose LGBT Americans following in their
footsteps, seeing kinship in their cause, is dreadful. As Bond said,
“Black people, of all people, should not oppose equality.” And he’s
right.
As a former Catholic, I understand that the church is intolerant of gay people and does not want them to marry or have rights (except for some priests, some of whom I know that welcome everyone), but the following story is disgraceful. In short, during a mother's funeral, the priest learned that the daughter was a lesbian (and a Catholic) and refused her communion, AND didn't show up for the graveside part of the service!
- I had a different experience: When my dad passed in 2008, the priest KNEW that I had a partner, and Tom was with me. The priest didn't care. That's the way it should be. Tom didn't even go for the communion because he wasn't raised Catholic. - Also at my dad's funeral, my older brother, who is not and hasn't been a Catholic in over 25 years was given communion, no questions asked.
My point is, that this hatred and intolerance isn't rampant through the entire religion (aside from Rome and the Archbishops, etc.). Some priests understand that we are all people, we are all God's children, we are all deserving of RESPECT, especially at the funeral of a parent. I applaud them.
The particular priest in this instance should be tossed out of the church and given sensitivity training, and apologize. He should never do this again. He caused more Trauma to this grieving woman who was there to pay her last respects to her mother. It makes me mad to see this behavior, coming from people we are supposed to respect.
- I'm thankful for the priests that DO understand, and DO offer compassion and care to all people without exception. - Rob
THE STORY FROM WUSA-TV, Channel 9, Washington, D.C. Lesbian Denied Communion At Her Mother's Funeral (VIDEO: http://www.wusa9.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=1477352243001)
GAITHERSBURG, Md. (WUSA) -- It's been an extremely difficult week for
Barbara Johnson -- perhaps the most difficult week of her life.
It all started on Saturday at St. John Neumann Catholic Church in
Gaithersburg, where friends and family had gathered to say goodbye to
Barbara's mother, who died last week after a brief illness. Just a few minutes before the funeral began, Father Marcel Guarnizo,
who was presiding over the service, apparently learned that Barbara was
involved in a romantic relationship with another woman.
A lifelong Catholic and former Catholic school teacher, Barbara says
she hadn't even considered that her sexual orientation would be a
problem with Father Marcel until she stepped forward to take communion.
"He said, 'I can not give you communion because you live with a woman,'" Barbara says.
Though shaken by Father Marcel's actions, Barbara says she tried to
compose herself to give her mother the dignified funeral she deserved.
So a few minutes later, Barbara began her eulogy.
"At which time Father Marcel left the altar and didn't return until I finished my eulogy," Barbara says.
According to Barbara, things got even worse, because after first
refusing to give her communion, and then walking off the altar when
Barbara was giving her eulogy, Father Marcel refused to go with
Barbara's mother's body to the cemetery in Aspen Hill. Barbara says she
was told that Father Marcel had suddenly become ill.
In a written statement, the Archdiocese of Washington conceded that
Father Marcel had acted improperly, saying, "Any issues regarding the
suitability of an individual to receive communion should be addressed by
the priest with that person in a private, pastoral setting."
Barbara Johnson says she's satisfied with the statement, though she
adds that the damage done, both to her family and to her mother's
memory, could never be repaired. "We don't get a do-over. This was her one moment to pass from this earth," Barbara says.
I (Rob) just read this article: Birth-control rule riles religious leaders, GOP. They say insurance mandate is unjust, infringes on rights.
I say TOO BAD. These religious hospitals are businesses and NOT religious institutions. Churches are ALREADY EXEMPT.
- I want to hear from our female friends on their opinions of using birth control. What do YOU think?
Why don't these politicians ask WOMEN?
DID YOU KNOW: CBS News reported that 98% of Catholics AGREE to use birth control.
Besides- the people that work in these "religious" hospitals DON'T NEED TO USE birth control if they don't want it. It's just that it needs to be made available. Period.
Conservative Republicans and Some Churches (Sadly, the Catholic Church that I USED to be a part of and have now gone OVER the political fence to Conservative wackos) have gone TOO FAR. It seems that the GOP and churches would rather give people NO health care and see them suffer and die- as a crowd in one of Ron Paul's gatherings yelled. That crowd chanted"let people die!"
On another note- There are more than enough children around without parents. - Go watch Judge Judy for a couple of days. People on there have 2,3,4,5,6, 7 children with DIFFERENT fathers!!! These kids are sentenced to a life of poverty. Birth control is a good answer in my opinion.
I would like to Hear from friends and find out how many of you used birth control or believe in it.
WASHINGTON — Angry Republican lawmakers and
religious leaders say they’ll fight a controversial federal
requirement that church-affiliated employers offer benefits covering
birth control.
TN Republican Sen. Lamar
Alexander this week signed onto a bill by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of
Florida that would exempt employers from providing health-insurance
coverage for contraceptive services if they oppose such services on
religious grounds.
Here's a VERY important piece of history that everyone needs to read- especially people who are trying to force the entire U.S. to adhere to their Religious views, by imparting them in Federal Legislation. Thomas Jefferson was strongly for keeping church and state separate. Read the information below, which includes information from USConstitution.net (where you can buy a copy of the Constitution). - Rob and Tom
Jefferson's Wall of Separation Letter
Thomas Jefferson was a man of deep religious conviction —
his conviction was that religion was a very personal matter, one which the
government had no business getting involved in. He was vilified by his
political opponents for his role in the passage of the 1786 Virginia Statute
for Religious Freedom and for his criticism of such biblical events as the
Great Flood and the theological age of the Earth. As president, he discontinued
the practice started by his predecessors George Washington and John Adams of
proclaiming days of fasting and thanksgiving. He was a staunch believer in the
separation of church and state.
Jefferson wrote a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association
in 1802 to answer a letter from them written in October 1801. A copy of the
Danbury letter is available here. The Danbury Baptists were a religious
minority in Connecticut, and they complained that in their state, the religious
liberties they enjoyed were not seen as immutable rights, but as privileges
granted by the legislature — as "favors granted." Jefferson's reply
did not address their concerns about problems with state establishment of
religion — only of establishment on the national level. The letter contains the
phrase "wall of separation between church and state," which led to the
short-hand for the Establishment Clause that we use today: "Separation of
church and state."
The letter was the subject of intense scrutiny by Jefferson,
and he consulted a couple of New England politicians to assure that his words
would not offend while still conveying his message: it was not the place of the
Congress or the Executive to do anything that might be misconstrued as the
establishment of religion.
Note: The bracketed section in the second paragraph had been
blocked off for deletion in the final draft of the letter sent to the Danbury
Baptists, though it was not actually deleted in Jefferson's draft of the
letter. It is included here for completeness. Reflecting upon his knowledge
that the letter was far from a mere personal correspondence, Jefferson deleted
the block, he noted in the margin, to avoid offending members of his party in
the eastern states.
This is a
transcript of the final letter as stored online at the Library of Congress, and
reflects Jefferson's spelling and punctuation.
****************************************
Mr. President
To messers Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins, & Stephen S.
Nelson, a committee of the Danbury Baptist association in the state of
Connecticut.
Gentlemen
The affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation which
you are so good as to express towards me, on behalf of the Danbury Baptist
association, give me the highest satisfaction. my duties dictate a faithful and
zealous pursuit of the interests of my constituents, & in proportion as
they are persuaded of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them
becomes more and more pleasing.
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies
solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his
faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions
only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of
the whole American people which declared that their legislature should
"make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church
& State. [Congress thus inhibited from acts respecting religion, and the
Executive authorised only to execute their acts, I have refrained from
prescribing even those occasional performances of devotion, practiced indeed by
the Executive of another nation as the legal head of its church, but subject
here, as religious exercises only to the voluntary regulations and discipline
of each respective sect.] Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of
the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere
satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all
his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his
social duties.
I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection &
blessing of the common father and creator of man, and tender you for yourselves
& your religious association assurances of my high respect & esteem.
As a scientist (meteorologist) and someone who has been following the latest research into the cosmos, including Stephen Hawking's research, I found this interview fascinating. It's an interview conducted by author and philosopher Sam Harris (a famous author in his own right) with Lawrence M. Krauss about his findings and recent book "Everything and Nothing."
I plan on reading this book and learning from it... Krauss' findings parallel those of Stephen Hawking.
- Rob
Lawrence M. Krauss is a renowned cosmologist, popularizer of science,
and director of the Origins Project at Arizona State University. He is
the author of more than 300 scientific publications and 8 books,
including the bestselling The Physics of Star Trek. His interests
include the early universe, the nature of dark matter, general
relativity and neutrino astrophysics. He is also a friend and an advisor
to my nonprofit foundation, Project Reason. Lawrence generously took
time to answer a few questions about his new book, A Universe from Nothing.
***
One of the most common justifications for religious faith is the
idea that the universe must have had a creator. You’ve just written a
book alleging that a universe can arise from “nothing.” What do you mean
by “nothing” and how fully does your thesis contradict a belief in a
Creator God?
Indeed, the question, “Why is there something rather than nothing?”
which forms the subtitle of the book, is often used by the faithful as
an unassailable argument that requires the existence of God, because of
the famous claim, “out of nothing, nothing comes.” While the chief
point of my book is to describe for the interested layperson the
remarkable revolutions that have taken place in our understanding of the
universe over the past 50 years—revolutions that should be celebrated
as pinnacles of our intellectual experience—the second goal is to point
out that this long-held theological claim is spurious. Modern science
has made the something-from-nothing debate irrelevant. It has changed
completely our conception of the very words “something” and “nothing”.
Empirical discoveries continue to tell us that the Universe is the way
it is, whether we like it or not, and ‘something’ and ‘nothing’ are
physical concepts and therefore are properly the domain of science, not
theology or philosophy. (Indeed, religion and philosophy have added
nothing to our understanding of these ideas in millennia.) I spend a
great deal of time in the book detailing precisely how physics has
changed our notions of “nothing,” for example. The old idea that
nothing might involve empty space, devoid of mass or energy, or anything
material, for example, has now been replaced by a boiling bubbling brew
of virtual particles, popping in and out of existence in a time so
short that we cannot detect them directly. I then go on to explain how
other versions of “nothing”—beyond merely empty space—including the
absence of space itself, and even the absence of physical laws, can
morph into “something.” Indeed, in modern parlance, “nothing” is most
often unstable. Not only can something arise from nothing, but most
often the laws of physics require that to occur.
Now, having said this, my point in the book is not to suggest that
modern science is incompatible with at least the Deistic notion that
perhaps there is some purpose to the Universe (even though no such
purpose is manifest on the basis of any of our current knowledge, and
moreover there is no logical connection between any possible “creator”
and the personal God of the world’s major religions, who cares about
humanity’s destiny). Rather, what I find remarkable is the fact that
the discoveries of modern particle physics and cosmology over the past
half century allow not only a possibility that the Universe arose from
nothing, but in fact make this possibility increasingly plausible.
Everything we have measured about the universe is not only consistent
with a universe that came from nothing (and didn’t have to turn out this
way!), but in fact, all the new evidence makes this possibility ever
more likely. Darwin demonstrated how the remarkable diversity of life
on Earth, and the apparent design of life, which had been claimed as
evidence for a caring God, could in fact instead be arrived at by
natural causes involving purely physical processes of mutation and
natural selection. I want to show something similar about the
Universe. We may never prove by science that a Creator is impossible,
but, as Steven Weinberg has emphasized, science admits (and for many of
us, suggests) a universe in which one is not necessary.
I cannot hide my own intellectual bias here. As I state in the first
sentence of the book, I have never been sympathetic to the notion that
creation requires a creator. And like our late friend, Christopher
Hitchens, I find the possibility of living in a universe that was not
created for my existence, in which my actions and thoughts need not bend
to the whims of a creator, far more enriching and meaningful than the
other alternative. In that sense, I view myself as an anti-theist
rather than an atheist. FULL INTERVIEW: http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/everything-and-nothing/
I'm a simple guy who enjoys the simple things in life, especially our dogs. I volunteer for dog rescues, enjoy exercising, blogging, politics, helping friends and neighbors, participating in ghost investigations, coffee, weather, superheroes, comic books, mystery novels, traveling, 70s and 80s music, classic country music,writing books on ghosts and spirits, cooking simply and keeping in shape. You'll find tidbits of all of these things on this blog and more. EMAIL me at Rgutro@gmail.com - Rob
