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POPSWhere The Preaching Goes Too Far There is no war on evangelical Christians here and they are not being thrown to the lions. As this article states, they are childishly chafing against societal shifts. They don't want to see civil rights for us all because they believe God discriminates and it's their view of religion/politics or the highway. They will always find "token" gays to mimic their views because those poor souls think loving their oppressors will win them approval. But spreading these views to parts of the world with less freedom is downright dangerous and unconscionable.
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POPSWhy Is The Catholic Church Firing Women? "In the last 30 years there’s been a dramatic expansion of the body of teachings to which Catholics must assent wholly to remain in good standing. As Horton pointed out, “They speak a great talk of justice for the world, but in their own church they don’t recognize it.”
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POPSLatin America Ends Year With Major Advancements In Gay Rights
With the debacle in the Middle East brought about by the previous administration, serious questions are emerging that the U.S. now lacks the ability to project power on the international stage. Now, with Mexico City's decision on Monday to approve gay marriage, it appears that local governments in two countries steeped in conservative, Catholic tradition - and allegedly not as progressive as the United States - have taken a far more expansive view of human rights and equality than the U.S. If the U.S. cannot project military power, and we can't seem to get a grip on human rights and equality in a way that two Latin American cities have done, what can we do in this country anymore? I am ending the year on a pessimistic note, but it seems to me that the only thing we are good at anymore is consuming anything and everything we're told to, polluting the environment and yet denying the very existence of global warming, cheating the most vulnerable among us, and
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POPSI Can Find A More Worthy Charity "But think about those numbers, think about the power of the Salvation Army. It is a massive Christian evangelical organization — with a quasi-military structure and raising $2 billion a year — and it promotes discrimination against gays and lesbians in its employment policy; at local levels of government, going so far as to threaten to close soup kitchens in New York if the city enacted domestic partnership legislation; and at the national level of government, including negotiating with the Bush administration to guarantee that faith-based groups could discriminate against gays and keep their federal funding. We can find charities more deserving of our dollars and our volunteer time."
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POPSFreedom of Association is Alive if not Well On first blush I have to agree with the opinion, but then I remember that parties in lawsuits are able to get quite a bit of information via the discovery process. I wonder if it would have been possible to gather the requested information in a way that did not disclose protected information (names) but gave the litigants access to the content.
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POPSAnti-Gay Ugandan Bill raises questions of human rights As activists within the country are speaking out, the proposed law has incited widespread international criticism. Despite the fact that anti-gay sentiment in Uganda has been stoked by US Evangelical leaders, dozens of American Christian leaders signed a joint statement (see PDF) condemning the law
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POPSAn Eventual Reality Every person is entitled to explore and express their sexuality with another consenting adult without the burden of shame. But the "normal" process of exploration is inevitably influenced by our culture--a culture that is laden with negatively towards homosexuality. The good news is that as people become more educated and tolerant of differences in other's, our society slowly changes. However, some conservative Republicans would have us believe that young people are foolish and "will get with the program" and become bigots eventually. Well, it's complete hogwash and I don't buy it and I don't think most Americans do either. Googlet said in a comment on one of my clips that we probably won't see gay marriage accepted in my lifetime. That's ok--attitudes are slowly changing and it's so encouraging.
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POPSAn Afrian Tragedy Certain African countries are at the receiving end of international scorn for their homophobic views. And rightly so. It is difficult to fathom how, in the 21st Century, this type of backwards thinking could exist. Shame on them.
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POPSUganda Anti Gay Bill This bill is what the Defense of Marriage act would be if the U.S. Christian Right really got its way. This Bill aims at strengthening the nation’s capacity to deal with emerging internal and external threats to the traditional heterosexual family. A person who purports to contract a marriage with another person of the same sex commits the offence of homosexuality and shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for life. Definitions of “sexual orientation”, “sexual rights”, “sexual minorities”, “gender identity” shall not be used in anyway to legitimize homosexuality, gender identity disorders and related practices in Uganda. read this craziness in full @ clip source
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POPSUganda Debates Proposal "David Bahati, the legislator sponsoring the bill, said he was encouraging “constructive criticism” to improve the law but insisted strict measures were necessary to stop homosexuals from “recruiting” schoolchildren. I feel that the bill is good and necessary, but I don’t think gays should be killed. They should be imprisoned for about a year and warned never to do it again. Homophobia is rife even in more tolerant African countries." Wow, it's encouraging that some think gays should not be killed, eh? Ignorance, ignorance, ignorance. "Frank Mugisha, a gay Ugandan human rights activist, said the bill was so poorly worded that someone could be imprisoned for giving a hug. “This bill is promoting hatred,” he said. “We’re turning Uganda into a police state. It will drive people to suicide.”
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POPS Heterosexual NY Woman Selling Her Right to Marry on eBay (con't) --- you can just do it! Because you can! Come on, it's cool to get married, and think of the pictures you'll have to show people of this person that they will definitely think is so wrong for you and probably is! But heavens to BETSY, do NOT marry someone of the same gender because that would be a mockery of the institution of marriage.
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POPSThe Rachel Maddow Show: U.S. Ties to Ugandan Anti-Gay Bill In a moment, we‘ll speak with Jeff Sharlet who has written extensively about the secret of Evangelical religious organization called The Family. We first started discussing The Family on this show when it emerged as a player in, not two, but three Republican sex scandals - those of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, Nevada Senator John Ensign and the alleged sex scandal involving former Mississippi Congressman Chip Pickering. Jeff Sharlet is now reporting that there aren‘t just ties between American Evangelical Rick Warren and the “kill the gays” bill in Uganda. He reports that, in fact, the president of Uganda and the legislator who introduced the “kill the gays” bill are more than just supported by American Evangelicals. They are both members of The Family.
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POPSUS Lawmakers Behind Ugandan Push to Execute Gays "It's not abnormal for foreign heads of state, like Museveni, to have ties to American politicos. But he's deeply routed in a secretive organization that promotes hatred under the guise of loving Jesus. And the very people — America's elected officials who believe in human rights — we would expect to pressure Uganda's lawmakers not to make such a bill law are turning out to be its biggest supporters."
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POPSBigotry on Display I read the entire document yesterday and found it to be riddled with false information, barely disguised hatred, and blatant prejudice. If this represents the thinking of religious leaders today than it's a sad commentary indeed.
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POPSBecoming Evil: Accomodating Hatred And Violence
*Graphic Photos Warning* Although this article is 2 years old, it succinctly sums up the situation as stated in the title. Excellent reading. Commentary on Ann Coulter-isms follow: "And on March 3rd, they got to hear Ann Coulter, one of the headliners say: "Those few abortionists were shot, or, depending on your point of view, had a procedure with a rifle performed on them. I'm not justifying it, but I do understand how it happened.... The number of deaths attributed to Roe v. Wade about 40 million aborted babies and seven abortion clinic workers; 40 million to seven is also a pretty good measure of how the political debate is going." Coulter says that she isn't justifying violence -- but she is. She implies that seven deaths as against forty million means that the murders of doctors not only somehow rights the balance -- but are not nearly enough for anyone to make a fuss about. Her meaning is clear, even as her practiced rhetoric leaves her room for denial."
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POPSU.S Christian Right Pushes Death Penalty For LGBTs If they can't legally kill non-heteros and their friends in the U.S., they'll try to see that it happens somewhere else. More from yhe article, below: " The speakers were Don Schmierer, a board member at Exodus International; Scott Lively, president of Abiding Truth Ministries and author of a book that equates Nazism and homosexuality; and Caleb Lee Brundidge who works at the International Healing Foundation which ostensibly "cures" homosexuals. "They told us all things are going wrong because the family is being neglected. Not having more children is one of the things that they said are going wrong. Homosexuality is a way of stopping us from having more children," said Senyonjo. "The law forces Ugandans to spy on each other because you can be punished if you don’t report suspected homosexuals to the police," said Senyonjo. The problem of patriarchy is even more urgent than addressing fundamentalism in the church, Oberholzer told IPS. "LGBTI rights and women’s rights go hand in
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POPSA boy and his flag This kid is incredible! If he represents our future, I'll be one happy person! I wonder what would happen if we ALL did this ... we could finally change this country for the better!
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POPSWhat does it mean to be an American? This 10-year-old boy gets it More: After asking his parents whether it was against the law not to stand for the pledge, Will decided to do something. On Monday, Oct. 5, when the other kids in his class stood up to recite the pledge of allegiance, he remained sitting down…Each day, the substitute got a little more cross with him. On Thursday, it finally came to a head… Will was sent to the office… At the end of our interview, I ask young Will a question that might be a civics test nightmare for your average 10-year-old. Will's answer, though, is good enough — simple enough, true enough — to give me a little rush of goose pimples. What does being an American mean? “Freedom of speech,” Will says, without even stopping to think. “The freedom to disagree. That's what I think pretty much being an American represents.” Somewhere, Thomas Jefferson smiles.
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POPSA quiet voice for gay marriage Many of these former spouses -- from those who still feel raw resentment toward their exes to those who have reached a mutual understanding -- see the legalization of same-sex marriage as a step toward protecting not only homosexuals but also heterosexuals. If homosexuality was more accepted, they say, they might have been spared doomed marriages followed by years of self-doubt. "It's like you hit a brick wall when they come out," Brooks said. "You think everything is fine and then, boom!" Carolyn Sega Lowengart calls it "retroactive humiliation." It's that embarrassment that washes over her when she looks back at photographs or is struck by a memory and wonders what, if anything, from that time was real. Did he ever love her?
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POPSCarrie Prejean Goes Down. Literally! Of course, all of this should have little effect on her career. If anything it will add fuel to it with the way Americans are infatuated with hypocrites and fallen angels. Vivid Entertainment Group, which specializes in adult films, made an offer of a million dollars to Prejean back in May to make a movie for them. Seems she might be a natural. This could only raise her value in the porn market. Practice makes perfect. I'm curious as to how all the rightwing Prejean backers will spin this and find a way to blame this on everyone but Prejean. I might even turn on Fox News to check it out. With Prejean's looks and attitude, she may end up with her own show over there since credibility isn't a factor in Fox's hiring practices. And for those of you who don’t remember who actually won the Miss California Pageant, her name is Tami Ferrell from Malibu. How soon we forget those with actual morals.
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