Sunday, January 31, 2010
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
The Catholic Church - The Ultimate Intrinsic Evil
Is securing a safe environment and enjoying the freedoms that are shared by most Americans an “intrinsic evil”? Is sharing your life with the person you love an “intrinsic evil”? Is having hospital visitation rights with the person you spent your entire life an “intrinsic evil”? Is providing financial security for a surviving life partner an “intrinsic evil”? Is being who God created you to be and “intrinsic evil”?
Or would abusing one’s authority by cajoling children to have sexual relationships be more likely defined as intrinsically evil? Would covering up those intrinsic evils also constitute an intrinsic evil? Would shipping off the one who did the covering up to a foreign land to avoid prosecution, and honoring them with a plum position, be considered an intrinsic evil as well?
It seems as though the term “intrinsic evil” flows easily from the tongue of those who accuse the innocent and thus encourage violence and degradation toward those who are innocent. This they do while participating in the most evil practices that are a true threat to the public good and human decency and their targets are the children.
Of course there really is nothing written in the Bible about sexually abusing children. Oh it talks about their monetary value and how many goats or sheep a daughter is worth but nothing about protecting them from Priests. Hence, sexually abusing them and the cover up are probably not seen as “intrinsically evil” by the Catholic Church. Indeed, the protection of children from these kinds of criminals is civil law, not a religious law.
The Catholic Church is raising the stakes to defeat the Gay Marriage initiative that was passed in Maine and the efforts to secure equal rights in New Jersey. They will join together with other fundamentalist, so called Christians, to actively work in denying American citizens the opportunity to secure the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
This once more proves that the wealthy, elites of this Country can get away with criminal behavior with a simple slap on the wrist and still have a powerful and influential voice in denying the rights and freedoms of minorities.
It never ceases to amaze me that there are still gay men and women who attend Catholic services and place money into Catholic collection baskets knowing that their money will be used to deny them of their rights, that my dear friends is indeed an intrinsic evil.
Or would abusing one’s authority by cajoling children to have sexual relationships be more likely defined as intrinsically evil? Would covering up those intrinsic evils also constitute an intrinsic evil? Would shipping off the one who did the covering up to a foreign land to avoid prosecution, and honoring them with a plum position, be considered an intrinsic evil as well?
It seems as though the term “intrinsic evil” flows easily from the tongue of those who accuse the innocent and thus encourage violence and degradation toward those who are innocent. This they do while participating in the most evil practices that are a true threat to the public good and human decency and their targets are the children.
Of course there really is nothing written in the Bible about sexually abusing children. Oh it talks about their monetary value and how many goats or sheep a daughter is worth but nothing about protecting them from Priests. Hence, sexually abusing them and the cover up are probably not seen as “intrinsically evil” by the Catholic Church. Indeed, the protection of children from these kinds of criminals is civil law, not a religious law.
The Catholic Church is raising the stakes to defeat the Gay Marriage initiative that was passed in Maine and the efforts to secure equal rights in New Jersey. They will join together with other fundamentalist, so called Christians, to actively work in denying American citizens the opportunity to secure the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
This once more proves that the wealthy, elites of this Country can get away with criminal behavior with a simple slap on the wrist and still have a powerful and influential voice in denying the rights and freedoms of minorities.
It never ceases to amaze me that there are still gay men and women who attend Catholic services and place money into Catholic collection baskets knowing that their money will be used to deny them of their rights, that my dear friends is indeed an intrinsic evil.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Health Care for Profit is Immoral
I decided to clean out our file drawers and review what was left of the Health Insurance nightmare that we experienced when we moved to Florida. Make no mistake; Florida is a Southern State, South Carolina and Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama where the Civil War is still being fought.
Apparently Florida, like these other Southern States, takes pride in keeping it citizens ignorant since it ranks close to last, along with these other Southern States in education performance. That, of course, serves the State’s ruling Republican Party well, ignorance and misinformation is a keystone to Republican thought, a thought process that has seen political victories because of this program of ignorance along with intolerance.
This ignorance and misinformation is not only for the young and undereducated children of Florida, it is a scare tactic that Republicans use on the most fragile Americans, our elderly. And who gains from ignorance and intolerance? The answer is simple, unscrupulous Corporate America.
So I cleaned out the drawers and found the reasons for being denied Individual Health Insurance by those companies who now claim they want to insure the once “uninsurable” those folks 50 plus not yet on Medicare, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida is my primary target. They refused, or should I say denied, health insurance to my partner because he was truthful on his application and told them he was treated for a fever blister, he also told them that he asked for a prescription of Viagra and thus the suggestion that he had some type of malfunction “in that area” and the fever blister thingy, he was denied.
For me, I never wanted to move to Florida and came here with controlled Blood Pressure, but the move here and the stress of leaving friends and family apparently took that body function over. So I was initially denied by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida as well.
So there we were both generally healthy citizens left without healthcare insurance yet both having their employers and ourselves paying thousands, no, hundreds of thousands, of dollars to Health Insurance companies over the years only to be tossed away to fend for ourselves.
I did finally get a Health Insurance policy from Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida and at first the premiums and deductibles were reasonable but then they escalated out of sight.
There are two truths that I will take to my death bed that I will never be able to prove, the first is that Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida profiled my partner and me as “gay” presumed us to be an HIV/AIDS risk thus came up with the scam “herpes/fever blister” denial for my partner. The second is the next time I applied to Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida and was accepted I was covered by the Veteran’s Administration and they continued to increase my premiums and my deductibles. In other words, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida knew that the VA would be the first payer and they could just continue to increase the premiums and deductibles and while I paid their premiums neither I nor the VA got anything from them, nothing.
Health Insurance for profit is immoral, pure and simple, it is the snake in the Garden of Eden, and it’s the modern day sword that hangs over the Damocles of our Democracy. Health Insurance reform is the Pandora’s Box that has been opened and the Republican Party and their Health Insurance Company “providers” are doing everything they can do to deny the health and welfare of American lives.
Apparently Florida, like these other Southern States, takes pride in keeping it citizens ignorant since it ranks close to last, along with these other Southern States in education performance. That, of course, serves the State’s ruling Republican Party well, ignorance and misinformation is a keystone to Republican thought, a thought process that has seen political victories because of this program of ignorance along with intolerance.
This ignorance and misinformation is not only for the young and undereducated children of Florida, it is a scare tactic that Republicans use on the most fragile Americans, our elderly. And who gains from ignorance and intolerance? The answer is simple, unscrupulous Corporate America.
So I cleaned out the drawers and found the reasons for being denied Individual Health Insurance by those companies who now claim they want to insure the once “uninsurable” those folks 50 plus not yet on Medicare, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida is my primary target. They refused, or should I say denied, health insurance to my partner because he was truthful on his application and told them he was treated for a fever blister, he also told them that he asked for a prescription of Viagra and thus the suggestion that he had some type of malfunction “in that area” and the fever blister thingy, he was denied.
For me, I never wanted to move to Florida and came here with controlled Blood Pressure, but the move here and the stress of leaving friends and family apparently took that body function over. So I was initially denied by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida as well.
So there we were both generally healthy citizens left without healthcare insurance yet both having their employers and ourselves paying thousands, no, hundreds of thousands, of dollars to Health Insurance companies over the years only to be tossed away to fend for ourselves.
I did finally get a Health Insurance policy from Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida and at first the premiums and deductibles were reasonable but then they escalated out of sight.
There are two truths that I will take to my death bed that I will never be able to prove, the first is that Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida profiled my partner and me as “gay” presumed us to be an HIV/AIDS risk thus came up with the scam “herpes/fever blister” denial for my partner. The second is the next time I applied to Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida and was accepted I was covered by the Veteran’s Administration and they continued to increase my premiums and my deductibles. In other words, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida knew that the VA would be the first payer and they could just continue to increase the premiums and deductibles and while I paid their premiums neither I nor the VA got anything from them, nothing.
Health Insurance for profit is immoral, pure and simple, it is the snake in the Garden of Eden, and it’s the modern day sword that hangs over the Damocles of our Democracy. Health Insurance reform is the Pandora’s Box that has been opened and the Republican Party and their Health Insurance Company “providers” are doing everything they can do to deny the health and welfare of American lives.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Spitting on the Dead – A New Republican Strategy
I was a Michael Jackson fan but not necessarily an avid fan. I was a fan of Frank Sinatra, never really liked Elvis, loved the Beatles and for some unknown reason I am currently a big fan of Lady GaGa and always a fan of Madonna. All of these folks are or were great talents of their time. I can remember seeing the Ed Sullivan Show when they refused to show Elvis gyrating his hips. There were rumors that Frank Sinatra was involved in Organized Crime, ok guys, I said rumors, and I don’t know anything. The Beatles led a cultural revolution, throughout the world, not to mention that they produced some interesting music that seemed to reinforce the use of illegal drugs. No matter, these men and women are great artists but it appears that some people in our society have no clue about what artistic expression is all about or for that matter the hard work that goes into creating these great art works.
Enter United States Representative Peter King, Republican from New York. Now I have to admit I was annoyed that every time I turned on the news since he died it was all about Michael Jackson, however, it was news and apparently important to millions of people. But, Peter King was upset, apparently he is running for a US Senate seat in New York and decided to pull out the obnoxious Republican spin and take it over the top and diminish Michael Jackson, his fans and for that matter all compassionate humankind.
If I were inclined to ever vote for a shamed, diminished and obnoxious Republican it would be the cheating Sanford from South Carolina or the “shoe tapping in the men’s room” Larry Craig or the Baby Diaper Senator Vitter from Louisiana, but I would never, ever, vote for a man, Republican or Democrat, who smears the legacy of a great artist. Perhaps King does not understand that this artist has a family who loves him, perhaps this King person has no idea what it means to Mr. Jackson’s fans that he is now gone, perhaps this King person is the typical idiot that Republicans have been offering to American society for far too long and I think the majority of America has said, enough.
Mr. King, promoting your candidacy for the US States Senate on the back of the death of Michael Jackson and introducing your obnoxious YouTube Video while his family and fans are in mourning has come to be what most Americans understand the Republican Party to be, scum.
Mr. King, Michael Jackson has done more to make the world a better place than you, so shut up, get back to your job and maybe, maybe someday when you do something really good for the people and not the lobbyist, the press will speak well of you.
Enter United States Representative Peter King, Republican from New York. Now I have to admit I was annoyed that every time I turned on the news since he died it was all about Michael Jackson, however, it was news and apparently important to millions of people. But, Peter King was upset, apparently he is running for a US Senate seat in New York and decided to pull out the obnoxious Republican spin and take it over the top and diminish Michael Jackson, his fans and for that matter all compassionate humankind.
If I were inclined to ever vote for a shamed, diminished and obnoxious Republican it would be the cheating Sanford from South Carolina or the “shoe tapping in the men’s room” Larry Craig or the Baby Diaper Senator Vitter from Louisiana, but I would never, ever, vote for a man, Republican or Democrat, who smears the legacy of a great artist. Perhaps King does not understand that this artist has a family who loves him, perhaps this King person has no idea what it means to Mr. Jackson’s fans that he is now gone, perhaps this King person is the typical idiot that Republicans have been offering to American society for far too long and I think the majority of America has said, enough.
Mr. King, promoting your candidacy for the US States Senate on the back of the death of Michael Jackson and introducing your obnoxious YouTube Video while his family and fans are in mourning has come to be what most Americans understand the Republican Party to be, scum.
Mr. King, Michael Jackson has done more to make the world a better place than you, so shut up, get back to your job and maybe, maybe someday when you do something really good for the people and not the lobbyist, the press will speak well of you.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Health Insurance
All my life I worked for companies that offered excellent health insurance. When I left the last major employer I worked for I was able to use “COBRA” and when the eighteen months was over I was able to convert to an Individual Policy, which was fine until I moved to Florida. My insurer, US Healthcare, did not offer individual policies in the State of Florida so I had a choice, I could continue to maintain a permanent address in Pennsylvania or seek health insurance in Florida. Of course, maintaining an address in Pennsylvania would have been tantamount to Insurance Fraud and being a law abiding citizen that was not an option.
To complicate things my life partner was also on my Health Insurance policy so when we moved to Florida we were both in jeopardy of losing our health insurance. So we did what most people would do, we applied for health insurance first with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida. We were both denied, me because of high blood pressure which was being treated, and my partner because he had once indicated that he had a “fever blister”. While I would never ever be able to prove it, in my heart I am certain that we were profiled as being gay, since we applied together, and in the eyes of Blue Cross/Blue Shield a certain indicator of a potential risk that they were not willing to take.
Then we took another route and applied with “Golden Rule”, separately and were accepted. At the outset the premiums were reasonable but accelerated faster than the Space Shuttle. I then reapplied to Blue Cross/Blue Shield, separately, and somehow slithered into their program which again was reasonable initially but like “Golden Rule” they accelerated the premium as well as the deductible, so I eventually had to join the other forty million Americans and just do without health insurance.
I guess the reason I felt compelled to write this is because there was a Blue Cross/Blue Shield advertisement on DIGG. I went to the advertisement to check it out and they were offering pretty much the same rates that they offered me a few years ago, the same rates that after six months went up, up, up and up and the deductible also went up, up and up until I could no longer afford them.
When I was in my late twenties, thirty plus years ago, the Vice President of Human Resources for the company that I worked for, SUN Oil Company, gave a talk about the issue of health care. He was not much older than me at the time but when I look back I think that this was a man of vision, unlike many of the men and women who today, occupy the Halls of the United States Congress.
Once and for all, with the Republicans or not, we need a “ONE PAYER” system in the United States that in time will take the profit out of life and death.
Bart
To complicate things my life partner was also on my Health Insurance policy so when we moved to Florida we were both in jeopardy of losing our health insurance. So we did what most people would do, we applied for health insurance first with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida. We were both denied, me because of high blood pressure which was being treated, and my partner because he had once indicated that he had a “fever blister”. While I would never ever be able to prove it, in my heart I am certain that we were profiled as being gay, since we applied together, and in the eyes of Blue Cross/Blue Shield a certain indicator of a potential risk that they were not willing to take.
Then we took another route and applied with “Golden Rule”, separately and were accepted. At the outset the premiums were reasonable but accelerated faster than the Space Shuttle. I then reapplied to Blue Cross/Blue Shield, separately, and somehow slithered into their program which again was reasonable initially but like “Golden Rule” they accelerated the premium as well as the deductible, so I eventually had to join the other forty million Americans and just do without health insurance.
I guess the reason I felt compelled to write this is because there was a Blue Cross/Blue Shield advertisement on DIGG. I went to the advertisement to check it out and they were offering pretty much the same rates that they offered me a few years ago, the same rates that after six months went up, up, up and up and the deductible also went up, up and up until I could no longer afford them.
When I was in my late twenties, thirty plus years ago, the Vice President of Human Resources for the company that I worked for, SUN Oil Company, gave a talk about the issue of health care. He was not much older than me at the time but when I look back I think that this was a man of vision, unlike many of the men and women who today, occupy the Halls of the United States Congress.
Once and for all, with the Republicans or not, we need a “ONE PAYER” system in the United States that in time will take the profit out of life and death.
Bart
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Go Fetch
Go Fetch
My partner and I have been together for forty years and were thrilled that Barack Obama was elected President over John McCain. Of course election night was bitter sweet since the California H8 and the Florida Amendment 2 poisoned our celebration.
I totally understand that there are a lot of things on the President’s plate. The war in Iraq, Afghanistan the nut case in Korea and the election in Iran, but sorry, that is part of the job. In the meantime our community is told to wait. Wait for Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and the Defense of Marriage to be rescinded, oh and by the way here is a bone to chew on, a “memorandum” blessing Federal employees only and only while Obama is in office, go fetch.
OK, so the President does not agree with “Gay Marriage” and apparently we now understand that he does not agree with equal rights for all GLBT Americans other than Federal Employees and only while he is in office.
OK, I get it now, it is not about the promise of “Hope” for everyone it is all about the promise of “Hope” for Obama, the politician.
So here is the thing I would suggest every GLBTA person do, and that is not give to either political party but only to “trusted” GLBTA organizations.
The Democratic Party and Barack Obama is failing us and we should no longer support those who participate in diminishing our dignity.
My partner and I have been together for forty years and were thrilled that Barack Obama was elected President over John McCain. Of course election night was bitter sweet since the California H8 and the Florida Amendment 2 poisoned our celebration.
I totally understand that there are a lot of things on the President’s plate. The war in Iraq, Afghanistan the nut case in Korea and the election in Iran, but sorry, that is part of the job. In the meantime our community is told to wait. Wait for Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and the Defense of Marriage to be rescinded, oh and by the way here is a bone to chew on, a “memorandum” blessing Federal employees only and only while Obama is in office, go fetch.
OK, so the President does not agree with “Gay Marriage” and apparently we now understand that he does not agree with equal rights for all GLBT Americans other than Federal Employees and only while he is in office.
OK, I get it now, it is not about the promise of “Hope” for everyone it is all about the promise of “Hope” for Obama, the politician.
So here is the thing I would suggest every GLBTA person do, and that is not give to either political party but only to “trusted” GLBTA organizations.
The Democratic Party and Barack Obama is failing us and we should no longer support those who participate in diminishing our dignity.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Open Letter to CNN
Dear Sirs,
It has always been my choice to look to CNN for accurate and responsible and non-biased news reporting. I love the sophisticated reporting of Candy Crowley, the great Christiane Amapour, Michael Chance and many others. I have always enjoyed and appreciate responsible opposing opinions offered by your guests however, as a Vietnam Veteran I am insulted that you have chosen to give Liz Cheney a voice on your broadcasts. Indeed I am hurt that you have diminished all the great reporters and opinion people by giving equal voice to her tirades.
I am not sure what her credentials are other than having been the daughter of a powerful Republican and Vice President, having a law degree and thus being the recipient of favors in the past administration. Her assignment to the State Department I am sure was nothing more than nepotism, which is ok, because that happens all the time in all disciplines. That does not, however, make her an expert in anything as she has so willfully proven in her appearances on CNN. Her opinions carry no more weight and possibly a lot less weight than my grand nephews and nieces.
While it has not yet been totally established that the Bush Administration was irresponsible, delinquent and cavalier regarding the events of September 11, 2001, I would like to remind you that the evidence is substantial that similar to the war in Vietnam the war in Iraq was a “war of choice”. While America has lost four thousand plus soldiers and many thousands of life changing wounded, the Iraqi people have lost tens of thousands and tens of thousands more suffered life changing wounds. I know Iraqi lives are not so important to what we have come to understand as “Flag Waving Americans” but this atrocity was promoted, justified and initiated by the past administration for apparently no reason other than revenge.
Liz Cheney is an embarrassment to the integrity of CNN, if I wanted my home to be invaded by hypocrisy and unchallenged lies I would gladly change the channel to Fox News. What I expect from CNN is a responsible discussion of the issues. I don’t think the daughter of a man who, in a perfect world, would be in jail awaiting trial for war crimes, fits that mold. If it is important for CNN to get Dick Cheney’s point of view than Dick Cheney should be the person who comes onto the shows and questioned. But then I guess it should come as no surprise that Mr. Cheney, who said "I had other priorities in the '60s than military service." when he was before the Senate for confirmation as George Bush 1’s Secretary of Defense would remain the coward that he is and hide behind his daughters skirts.
I have to assume that CNN has chosen to no longer be a truly “fair and balanced” “NEWS” outlet and has decided to sink to the level of the FOX News interpretation of that slogan. It is good that in most circumstances your anchors announce the upcoming interviews. When I hear that Liz Cheney is one of the guests I can turn the channel. I will encourage all the families and friends of those who lost soldiers in Dick Cheney’s war to do the same.
Bart Coyle
It has always been my choice to look to CNN for accurate and responsible and non-biased news reporting. I love the sophisticated reporting of Candy Crowley, the great Christiane Amapour, Michael Chance and many others. I have always enjoyed and appreciate responsible opposing opinions offered by your guests however, as a Vietnam Veteran I am insulted that you have chosen to give Liz Cheney a voice on your broadcasts. Indeed I am hurt that you have diminished all the great reporters and opinion people by giving equal voice to her tirades.
I am not sure what her credentials are other than having been the daughter of a powerful Republican and Vice President, having a law degree and thus being the recipient of favors in the past administration. Her assignment to the State Department I am sure was nothing more than nepotism, which is ok, because that happens all the time in all disciplines. That does not, however, make her an expert in anything as she has so willfully proven in her appearances on CNN. Her opinions carry no more weight and possibly a lot less weight than my grand nephews and nieces.
While it has not yet been totally established that the Bush Administration was irresponsible, delinquent and cavalier regarding the events of September 11, 2001, I would like to remind you that the evidence is substantial that similar to the war in Vietnam the war in Iraq was a “war of choice”. While America has lost four thousand plus soldiers and many thousands of life changing wounded, the Iraqi people have lost tens of thousands and tens of thousands more suffered life changing wounds. I know Iraqi lives are not so important to what we have come to understand as “Flag Waving Americans” but this atrocity was promoted, justified and initiated by the past administration for apparently no reason other than revenge.
Liz Cheney is an embarrassment to the integrity of CNN, if I wanted my home to be invaded by hypocrisy and unchallenged lies I would gladly change the channel to Fox News. What I expect from CNN is a responsible discussion of the issues. I don’t think the daughter of a man who, in a perfect world, would be in jail awaiting trial for war crimes, fits that mold. If it is important for CNN to get Dick Cheney’s point of view than Dick Cheney should be the person who comes onto the shows and questioned. But then I guess it should come as no surprise that Mr. Cheney, who said "I had other priorities in the '60s than military service." when he was before the Senate for confirmation as George Bush 1’s Secretary of Defense would remain the coward that he is and hide behind his daughters skirts.
I have to assume that CNN has chosen to no longer be a truly “fair and balanced” “NEWS” outlet and has decided to sink to the level of the FOX News interpretation of that slogan. It is good that in most circumstances your anchors announce the upcoming interviews. When I hear that Liz Cheney is one of the guests I can turn the channel. I will encourage all the families and friends of those who lost soldiers in Dick Cheney’s war to do the same.
Bart Coyle
Monday, June 1, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Let Freedom Ring
It was almost forty years ago that I was standing on a street corner outside a bar talking with some friends, hand on hip, and was told I shouldn’t have “hand on hip”, I could be arrested for being gay or to use the more clinical term, homosexual.
I was twenty one and had just returned from serving my Country in Vietnam. A few months later, celebrating my twenty second birthday at the same bar, I happened to meet the person with whom I would spend the rest of my life. He too had just recently returned from Vietnam in service of our Country.
We spent our lives in suburban Philadelphia going to work every day, worked hard, paid our taxes, and did our best to be good citizens. In later years we sheltered my mom until she died and were able to give her a home that she never would have had if not for the generosity, patience and understanding of my life partner.
We were always burdened by the fact that as much as we tried, some of the legal contracts that we made to protect each other could be broken by a distant “blood” relative. It never occurred to us that in our lifetime some folks, just like us, would have the protection of the State.
We know, of course, from the mean spirited vote that occurred in Florida in the past election that it is unlikely that we will have those protections in our lifetime in Florida. But the wonderful news from Iowa makes us realize that truth and understanding is taking hold in our Country, the Country that we both served in war. Ignorance and intolerance is diminishing, at least in the Heartland and maybe someday it will reach into the South.
I was twenty one and had just returned from serving my Country in Vietnam. A few months later, celebrating my twenty second birthday at the same bar, I happened to meet the person with whom I would spend the rest of my life. He too had just recently returned from Vietnam in service of our Country.
We spent our lives in suburban Philadelphia going to work every day, worked hard, paid our taxes, and did our best to be good citizens. In later years we sheltered my mom until she died and were able to give her a home that she never would have had if not for the generosity, patience and understanding of my life partner.
We were always burdened by the fact that as much as we tried, some of the legal contracts that we made to protect each other could be broken by a distant “blood” relative. It never occurred to us that in our lifetime some folks, just like us, would have the protection of the State.
We know, of course, from the mean spirited vote that occurred in Florida in the past election that it is unlikely that we will have those protections in our lifetime in Florida. But the wonderful news from Iowa makes us realize that truth and understanding is taking hold in our Country, the Country that we both served in war. Ignorance and intolerance is diminishing, at least in the Heartland and maybe someday it will reach into the South.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Religion and Republicanism Are Losing the Future
Wayne Besen - Weekly Columns
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Religion and Republicanism Are Losing the Future
by Wayne Besen
In pandering to the fanatical and the fearful -- both religion and Republicanism may have compromised their future.
First, the Republican Party seems in an awfully big rush to implode with Rush Limbaugh as its mercurial mouthpiece. The GOP's other savior, Michael Steele, is just a big mouth who seems more suited to Limbaugh’s talk show gig than chairman of the Party. The GOP's first African American leader, Steele, promised a "hip hop makeover" that would attract even "one armed midgets." It is Steele, however, who is the incredibly shrinking chairman, with his promised "Big Tent" turning into a circus act.
This carnival of "conservatives" has led the once-mighty Republican Party to O.J. Simpson-like popularity levels. An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll this past week put Republican approval at just 26 percent, compared to Barack Obama's 68 percent.
The state of the modern GOP was best captured on CNN's D.L. Hughley Show, when the host interviewed Frank Schaeffer. A former member of the Religious Right and author of Crazy For God, Schaeffer said the GOP had created a "hard-assed neo fascist kind of direction in America."
He went on to say, "The Republican base is now made up of religious and neoconservative ideologues and the uneducated white underclass with a token person of color up in front of the TV to obscure the all-white, all reactionary, all backward, and there is no global warming, rube reality."
The Republicans Schaefer is referring to have lately come out of the woodwork in Utah, where State Sen. Chris Buttars called GLBT advocates, "the meanest buggers". A right wing organization, America Forever, placed full-page ads in the Salt Lake dailies comparing gay men and lesbians to "druggies" and "hookers." Of course, Utah Republicans might know about these things. A new study reveals that the conservative state leads the nation with 5.47 Internet pornography subscribers per thousand.
Similar to the Republican Party, religious organizations have catered to the crazies for far too long. The "ex-gay" organization, Exodus International, is a perfect example. It travels the world to proclaim its "love" for homosexuals. Yet, a Board member, Don Schmierer, spoke at a Ugandan conference that pledged to "wipe out" gay practices. Schmierer joined Holocaust revisionist Scott Lively to urge Uganda to continue its persecution of gay people, including life prison sentences for the "crime" of homosexuality.
Last week, the Vatican defended the excommunication of a 9-year old Brazilian girl's mother and doctors, who helped abort the pregnant child's twins. The procedure was recommended because delivering these babies might have killed the 80-pound girl. The local Archbishop, Jose Cardosa Sobrinho, justified this despicable decision by saying, "God's law is above any human law."
Such transparently vindictive versions of "love" is why Christianity has lost followers in Europe and is now draining them in the United States. A new survey by researchers at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. documents that the percentage of Americans identifying as Christians has dropped to 76 percent of the population, down from 86 percent in 1990. Fifteen percent of Americans now say they have no religion at all.
It may be that socially conservative churches and their anti-gay pastors are directly responsible for much of the erosion of Christianity. Sure, their mega-churches may be growing. But, for every new person they attract, they likely turn off ten others to all religion with their vituperative sermons.
Focus on the Family's "ex-gay" road show, Love Won Out, is a perfect example of how the radicals are ruining the image of Christianity. The conference may lure a few self-loathing dupes who briefly claim they have "prayed away the gay." But, for every temporary convert (It rarely, if ever, lasts a lifetime) they turn off thousands of gay people to all religious belief. How does Focus on the Family justify this as a "win"?
Even as the Religious Right rapidly contracts, conservatives are foolishly demanding that Republicans veer further right. Come to think of it, Rush Limbaugh may be the perfect leader for a party intent on alienating the majority while talking endlessly and aimlessly to itself.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Religion and Republicanism Are Losing the Future
by Wayne Besen
In pandering to the fanatical and the fearful -- both religion and Republicanism may have compromised their future.
First, the Republican Party seems in an awfully big rush to implode with Rush Limbaugh as its mercurial mouthpiece. The GOP's other savior, Michael Steele, is just a big mouth who seems more suited to Limbaugh’s talk show gig than chairman of the Party. The GOP's first African American leader, Steele, promised a "hip hop makeover" that would attract even "one armed midgets." It is Steele, however, who is the incredibly shrinking chairman, with his promised "Big Tent" turning into a circus act.
This carnival of "conservatives" has led the once-mighty Republican Party to O.J. Simpson-like popularity levels. An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll this past week put Republican approval at just 26 percent, compared to Barack Obama's 68 percent.
The state of the modern GOP was best captured on CNN's D.L. Hughley Show, when the host interviewed Frank Schaeffer. A former member of the Religious Right and author of Crazy For God, Schaeffer said the GOP had created a "hard-assed neo fascist kind of direction in America."
He went on to say, "The Republican base is now made up of religious and neoconservative ideologues and the uneducated white underclass with a token person of color up in front of the TV to obscure the all-white, all reactionary, all backward, and there is no global warming, rube reality."
The Republicans Schaefer is referring to have lately come out of the woodwork in Utah, where State Sen. Chris Buttars called GLBT advocates, "the meanest buggers". A right wing organization, America Forever, placed full-page ads in the Salt Lake dailies comparing gay men and lesbians to "druggies" and "hookers." Of course, Utah Republicans might know about these things. A new study reveals that the conservative state leads the nation with 5.47 Internet pornography subscribers per thousand.
Similar to the Republican Party, religious organizations have catered to the crazies for far too long. The "ex-gay" organization, Exodus International, is a perfect example. It travels the world to proclaim its "love" for homosexuals. Yet, a Board member, Don Schmierer, spoke at a Ugandan conference that pledged to "wipe out" gay practices. Schmierer joined Holocaust revisionist Scott Lively to urge Uganda to continue its persecution of gay people, including life prison sentences for the "crime" of homosexuality.
Last week, the Vatican defended the excommunication of a 9-year old Brazilian girl's mother and doctors, who helped abort the pregnant child's twins. The procedure was recommended because delivering these babies might have killed the 80-pound girl. The local Archbishop, Jose Cardosa Sobrinho, justified this despicable decision by saying, "God's law is above any human law."
Such transparently vindictive versions of "love" is why Christianity has lost followers in Europe and is now draining them in the United States. A new survey by researchers at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. documents that the percentage of Americans identifying as Christians has dropped to 76 percent of the population, down from 86 percent in 1990. Fifteen percent of Americans now say they have no religion at all.
It may be that socially conservative churches and their anti-gay pastors are directly responsible for much of the erosion of Christianity. Sure, their mega-churches may be growing. But, for every new person they attract, they likely turn off ten others to all religion with their vituperative sermons.
Focus on the Family's "ex-gay" road show, Love Won Out, is a perfect example of how the radicals are ruining the image of Christianity. The conference may lure a few self-loathing dupes who briefly claim they have "prayed away the gay." But, for every temporary convert (It rarely, if ever, lasts a lifetime) they turn off thousands of gay people to all religious belief. How does Focus on the Family justify this as a "win"?
Even as the Religious Right rapidly contracts, conservatives are foolishly demanding that Republicans veer further right. Come to think of it, Rush Limbaugh may be the perfect leader for a party intent on alienating the majority while talking endlessly and aimlessly to itself.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Child Abuse in a Different Form
In Brazil a nine year old girl is brutally raped and impregnated by her step father. The pregnancy was discovered when the nine year old child became sick and her mother took her to a clinic. This nine year old baby was carrying twins and the doctors advised that her life was in danger. The correct and only decision that this child’s mother could make was to end the pregnancy. As a result, Archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho with the blessings of the Vatican by way of Cardinal Giovanni Battista, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, excommunicated the nine year old, her mother and the doctor who performed the abortion. Archbishop Sobrinho’s statement on the subject "The law of God is higher than any human laws, "When a human law — that is, a law enacted by human legislators — is against the law of God, that law has no value. The adults who approved, who carried out this abortion have incurred excommunication." Really? That may be the law in Vatican City but it’s not the law in free and diversified nations. I think the Church needs to give it up, too many people in history have died as a result of their “Human Laws” made in the name of God. I may be mistaken but I have never seen a Bishop walk on water, perhaps a little light footed, but never the water thing. I am just wondering how long people are going to allow Catholic Bishops the authority to abuse children and women. If the average Joe or Mary covered upped a crime against a child they would never see the light of day, but in the case of a Catholic Bishop he gets sent to a cushy job in Rome. I hope that that this nine year old girl’s mother, the girl herself and the doctors who served her make use of this great gift of excommunication by the Catholic Church. James Joyce once wrote that “There is no heresy or no philosophy which is so abhorrent to the church as a human being”. Indeed, the more educated the human being the less tolerant one has for religion’s hypocrisy.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Republican Violence
The violent nature of the Republican Party and their minions is coming to the surface. First we have Congressman Pete Sessions suggesting that Republicans should be more like the Taliban then we have Rush Limbaugh praying that President Obama fails and now we have Rupert Murdock’s New York Post publishing one of the most disgusting and violent cartoons I have ever seen. Not only is the cartoon offensive to the President it is offensive to Police Officers who are depicted shooting a monkey and stating that “They’ll have to find some else to write the next stimulus bill”. In my mind there is no mistake that the New York Post is promoting the assassination of the President. If the average citizen had in any way suggested this kind of behavior during the Bush Administration they would have had the FBI ringing their door bell.
It would be a good thing for any company who receives tax dollars from American citizens to think twice about advertising with any of Rupert Murdock’s media outlets. It would be an even better thing if these mobsters were prosecuted for anti-American activities.
It would be a good thing for any company who receives tax dollars from American citizens to think twice about advertising with any of Rupert Murdock’s media outlets. It would be an even better thing if these mobsters were prosecuted for anti-American activities.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
An Open Letter to the American Bishops
An Open Letter to the American Bishops
on the Issue of Homosexuality
In 1974, the delegates of Dignity’s first national convention requested in a letter, that a dialogue be opened between the American bishops and the members of the Catholic gay and lesbian community. With very few exceptions that letter was ignored.
Now, nearly thirty years later, once again I call upon the American bishops to open that dialogue.
For over thirty years, I have ministered as priest and psychotherapist to lesbians and gays. I helped found Dignity New York to provide a safe and loving community within the Catholic Church for gay people. This June will mark the twenty-fifth year I have given retreats for lesbians and gays, at Kirkridge, an ecumenical retreat center.
I have written three books on gay spirituality: The Church and the Homosexual, Taking a Chance on God, and Freedom, Glorious Freedom. I also published an autobiography on my own spiritual journey as a gay priest. As a result of my experience, I have come to the conclusion that what is at stake at this point in time is not only the spiritual and psychological health of many gay and lesbian Catholics and other lesbian and gay Christians. What is at stake is your moral authority to teach on this issue.
In the past, when you undertook a listening process to hear what the Holy Spirit was saying through the People of God, you won our respect. We respected you when you made your statements on the economy, on nuclear warfare and, especially, your aborted effort to draw up a letter on the role of women in the Church. You listened carefully to what women had to say and, and drew up your statements responding to what you heard from women. These actions gave us gay and lesbians reason to hope that the Holy Spirit would lead you into a spirit of willingness to listen to us gay and lesbian Catholics.
What is at stake now is your own moral authority! Unless we gay and lesbian Catholics receive the message that you take us seriously and are willing to listen carefully to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you through our lives and our experience, your judgments on homosexuality will be, for the most part, ignored and you will lose what authority you have left to deserve to be listened to with respect on this issue.
I have never heard the same level of courage from the American Bishops in dealing with the Vatican as that shown by the Major Superiors of Religious Men in response to the egregious document issued by the Congregation for the Defense of the Faith, entitled, “Some Considerations Concerning Homosexual Persons.” [NOTE: It’s actually not clear to which document McNeill is referring. It could be either the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s 2003 document, Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons, or its 2005 document, Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with Regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in View of Their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders. Then again, McNeill may be referring to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops statement, Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination:
Guidelines for Pastoral Care.]
[The Major Superiors of Religious Men write:] “We view (this document) as a hindrance to the Church leaders of the United States in this most difficult and sensitive area of human living. . . . We are shocked that the statement calls for discrimination against gay men and lesbian women. We find the reasoning for supporting such discrimination to be strained, unconvincing and counterproductive to our statements and actions to support the pastoral needs and personal dignity of such persons. Far from a help to the Bishops and other religious leaders in the United States Catholic Church, the statement complicates our already complex ministry to all people.
“Moreover we find the arguments used to justify discrimination based on stereotypes and falsehoods that are out of touch with modern psychological and sociological understandings of human sexuality. We regret such actions by the CDF and we reaffirm our support for the human rights of all our brothers and sisters.”
As a gay Catholic theologian and psychotherapist, I am fully aware of the enormous destruction recent Vatican documents have caused in the psychic life of young Catholic gays, and of the violence they will provoke against all gay people. I find myself in a dilemma: what kind of faith and trust can I place in a teaching authority that I see clearly acts in an unloving, hateful and destructive way toward my gay family and is more interested in defending its institutional interest than it is in truth and justice?
In the name of the thousands of gay and lesbian Catholics and other Christians to whom it has been my God-given privilege to minister, I make this statement:
At this point, the ignorance and distortion of homosexuality, the use of stereotypes and falsehoods in official Church documents, forces us who are gay Catholics to issue the institutional Church a serious warning. Your ignorance of homosexuality can no longer be excused as inculpable; it has become of necessity a deliberate and malicious ignorance. In the name of Catholic gays and lesbians everywhere, we cry out “Enough!”
Enough! Enough of your distortions of Scripture. You continue to claim that a loving homosexual act in a committed relationship is condemned in Scripture, when competent scholars are nearly unanimous in acknowledging that nowhere in Scripture is the problem of sexual acts between two gay men or lesbian women who love each other, ever dealt with, never mind condemned. You must listen to biblical scholars to find out what Scripture truly has to say about homosexual relationships.
Enough! Enough of your efforts to reduce all homosexual acts to expressions of lust, and your refusal to see them as possible expressions of a deep and genuine human love. The second group you must listen to are competent professional psychiatrists and psychotherapists from whom you can learn about the healthy and positive nature of mature gay and lesbian relationships. They will assure you that homosexual orientation is both unchosen and unchangeable and that any ministry promising to change that orientation is a fraud.
Enough! Enough of your efforts through groups like Courage and other exgay ministries to lead young gays to internalize self-hatred with the result that they are able to relate to God only as a God of fear, shame and guilt and lose all hope in a God of mercy and love. What is bad psychology has to be bad theology!
Enough! Enough again, of your efforts to foster hatred, violence, discrimination and rejection of us in the human community. We gay and lesbian Catholics pray daily that the Holy Spirit will lead you into a spirit of repentance. You must publicly accept your share of the blame for gay murders and bashing and so many suicides of young gays and ask forgiveness from God and from the gay community.
Enough, also, of driving us from the home of our mother, the Church, and attempting to deny us the fullness of human intimacy and sexual love. You frequently base that denial by an appeal to the dead letter of the “natural law.” Another group to whom you must listen are the moral theologians who, as a majority, argue that natural law is no longer an adequate basis for dealing with sexual questions. They must be dealt with within the context of interpersonal human relationships.
Above all else, you must enter into dialogue with the gay and lesbian members of the Catholic community. We are the ones living out the human experience of a gay orientation, so we alone can discern directly in our experience what God’s spirit is saying to us.
And for the first time in history you have gay and lesbian Catholic communities of worship and prayer who are seeking individually and collectively to hear what the Spirit is saying to them in their gay experience - what experiences lead to the peace and joy of oneness with the Spirit of God and what experiences lead away from that peace and joy!
God gave you the commission of discerning the truth. But there is no mandate from Jesus Christ to “create” the truth. We pray daily that the Holy Spirit will lead you to search humbly for the truth concerning homosexuality through dialogue with your lesbian sisters and gay brothers.
The only consolation I can offer gay and lesbian Catholics in the meantime is the profound hope that the very absurdity and hateful spirit of recent Vatican documents will lead gay Catholics to refuse them and recognize the contradiction of their message and that of Jesus who never once spoke a negative word concerning homosexuals.
I work, hope and pray that lesbian and gay Catholics and other gay Christians will exercise their legitimate freedom of conscience, discerning what God is saying to them directly through their gay experience. I hope, too, that they will be able to de-fang the poisons of pathologically homophobic religion, accepting the good news that God loves them and accepts them as gays and lesbians and refusing to be caught in the vortex of self-hatred vis-à-vis a God of fear.
I believe that we are at the moment of a special “kairos” in this matter. The Holy Spirit is “doing something new.” I was recently the guest at a gay ecumenical community that established homes for adult retarded people in the city of Basel in Switzerland. The extraordinary spirit of love and compassion that permeated that community was a foretaste of what lies in the future. I believe there is a vast reservoir of human and divine love that has remained until now untapped because of prejudice and homophobia. The Spirit is calling on you to help release that vast potential of human and divine love through your action sat this national conference.
Please be assured that the actions of Soulforce and Dignity at your national conference are based in profound respect and love. We pray and hope that the same Holy Spirit who has graciously liberated us who are gay to self-respect and self-love will liberate in you, our Catholic leaders, a profound love for your gay brothers and lesbian sisters and melt away all prejudice and judgmentalism in your hearts. May you make us welcome as full members in your family in Christ.
May God bless your efforts!
Sincerely in Christ
John J. McNeill
on the Issue of Homosexuality
In 1974, the delegates of Dignity’s first national convention requested in a letter, that a dialogue be opened between the American bishops and the members of the Catholic gay and lesbian community. With very few exceptions that letter was ignored.
Now, nearly thirty years later, once again I call upon the American bishops to open that dialogue.
For over thirty years, I have ministered as priest and psychotherapist to lesbians and gays. I helped found Dignity New York to provide a safe and loving community within the Catholic Church for gay people. This June will mark the twenty-fifth year I have given retreats for lesbians and gays, at Kirkridge, an ecumenical retreat center.
I have written three books on gay spirituality: The Church and the Homosexual, Taking a Chance on God, and Freedom, Glorious Freedom. I also published an autobiography on my own spiritual journey as a gay priest. As a result of my experience, I have come to the conclusion that what is at stake at this point in time is not only the spiritual and psychological health of many gay and lesbian Catholics and other lesbian and gay Christians. What is at stake is your moral authority to teach on this issue.
In the past, when you undertook a listening process to hear what the Holy Spirit was saying through the People of God, you won our respect. We respected you when you made your statements on the economy, on nuclear warfare and, especially, your aborted effort to draw up a letter on the role of women in the Church. You listened carefully to what women had to say and, and drew up your statements responding to what you heard from women. These actions gave us gay and lesbians reason to hope that the Holy Spirit would lead you into a spirit of willingness to listen to us gay and lesbian Catholics.
What is at stake now is your own moral authority! Unless we gay and lesbian Catholics receive the message that you take us seriously and are willing to listen carefully to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you through our lives and our experience, your judgments on homosexuality will be, for the most part, ignored and you will lose what authority you have left to deserve to be listened to with respect on this issue.
I have never heard the same level of courage from the American Bishops in dealing with the Vatican as that shown by the Major Superiors of Religious Men in response to the egregious document issued by the Congregation for the Defense of the Faith, entitled, “Some Considerations Concerning Homosexual Persons.” [NOTE: It’s actually not clear to which document McNeill is referring. It could be either the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s 2003 document, Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons, or its 2005 document, Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with Regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in View of Their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders. Then again, McNeill may be referring to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops statement, Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination:
Guidelines for Pastoral Care.]
[The Major Superiors of Religious Men write:] “We view (this document) as a hindrance to the Church leaders of the United States in this most difficult and sensitive area of human living. . . . We are shocked that the statement calls for discrimination against gay men and lesbian women. We find the reasoning for supporting such discrimination to be strained, unconvincing and counterproductive to our statements and actions to support the pastoral needs and personal dignity of such persons. Far from a help to the Bishops and other religious leaders in the United States Catholic Church, the statement complicates our already complex ministry to all people.
“Moreover we find the arguments used to justify discrimination based on stereotypes and falsehoods that are out of touch with modern psychological and sociological understandings of human sexuality. We regret such actions by the CDF and we reaffirm our support for the human rights of all our brothers and sisters.”
As a gay Catholic theologian and psychotherapist, I am fully aware of the enormous destruction recent Vatican documents have caused in the psychic life of young Catholic gays, and of the violence they will provoke against all gay people. I find myself in a dilemma: what kind of faith and trust can I place in a teaching authority that I see clearly acts in an unloving, hateful and destructive way toward my gay family and is more interested in defending its institutional interest than it is in truth and justice?
In the name of the thousands of gay and lesbian Catholics and other Christians to whom it has been my God-given privilege to minister, I make this statement:
At this point, the ignorance and distortion of homosexuality, the use of stereotypes and falsehoods in official Church documents, forces us who are gay Catholics to issue the institutional Church a serious warning. Your ignorance of homosexuality can no longer be excused as inculpable; it has become of necessity a deliberate and malicious ignorance. In the name of Catholic gays and lesbians everywhere, we cry out “Enough!”
Enough! Enough of your distortions of Scripture. You continue to claim that a loving homosexual act in a committed relationship is condemned in Scripture, when competent scholars are nearly unanimous in acknowledging that nowhere in Scripture is the problem of sexual acts between two gay men or lesbian women who love each other, ever dealt with, never mind condemned. You must listen to biblical scholars to find out what Scripture truly has to say about homosexual relationships.
Enough! Enough of your efforts to reduce all homosexual acts to expressions of lust, and your refusal to see them as possible expressions of a deep and genuine human love. The second group you must listen to are competent professional psychiatrists and psychotherapists from whom you can learn about the healthy and positive nature of mature gay and lesbian relationships. They will assure you that homosexual orientation is both unchosen and unchangeable and that any ministry promising to change that orientation is a fraud.
Enough! Enough of your efforts through groups like Courage and other exgay ministries to lead young gays to internalize self-hatred with the result that they are able to relate to God only as a God of fear, shame and guilt and lose all hope in a God of mercy and love. What is bad psychology has to be bad theology!
Enough! Enough again, of your efforts to foster hatred, violence, discrimination and rejection of us in the human community. We gay and lesbian Catholics pray daily that the Holy Spirit will lead you into a spirit of repentance. You must publicly accept your share of the blame for gay murders and bashing and so many suicides of young gays and ask forgiveness from God and from the gay community.
Enough, also, of driving us from the home of our mother, the Church, and attempting to deny us the fullness of human intimacy and sexual love. You frequently base that denial by an appeal to the dead letter of the “natural law.” Another group to whom you must listen are the moral theologians who, as a majority, argue that natural law is no longer an adequate basis for dealing with sexual questions. They must be dealt with within the context of interpersonal human relationships.
Above all else, you must enter into dialogue with the gay and lesbian members of the Catholic community. We are the ones living out the human experience of a gay orientation, so we alone can discern directly in our experience what God’s spirit is saying to us.
And for the first time in history you have gay and lesbian Catholic communities of worship and prayer who are seeking individually and collectively to hear what the Spirit is saying to them in their gay experience - what experiences lead to the peace and joy of oneness with the Spirit of God and what experiences lead away from that peace and joy!
God gave you the commission of discerning the truth. But there is no mandate from Jesus Christ to “create” the truth. We pray daily that the Holy Spirit will lead you to search humbly for the truth concerning homosexuality through dialogue with your lesbian sisters and gay brothers.
The only consolation I can offer gay and lesbian Catholics in the meantime is the profound hope that the very absurdity and hateful spirit of recent Vatican documents will lead gay Catholics to refuse them and recognize the contradiction of their message and that of Jesus who never once spoke a negative word concerning homosexuals.
I work, hope and pray that lesbian and gay Catholics and other gay Christians will exercise their legitimate freedom of conscience, discerning what God is saying to them directly through their gay experience. I hope, too, that they will be able to de-fang the poisons of pathologically homophobic religion, accepting the good news that God loves them and accepts them as gays and lesbians and refusing to be caught in the vortex of self-hatred vis-à-vis a God of fear.
I believe that we are at the moment of a special “kairos” in this matter. The Holy Spirit is “doing something new.” I was recently the guest at a gay ecumenical community that established homes for adult retarded people in the city of Basel in Switzerland. The extraordinary spirit of love and compassion that permeated that community was a foretaste of what lies in the future. I believe there is a vast reservoir of human and divine love that has remained until now untapped because of prejudice and homophobia. The Spirit is calling on you to help release that vast potential of human and divine love through your action sat this national conference.
Please be assured that the actions of Soulforce and Dignity at your national conference are based in profound respect and love. We pray and hope that the same Holy Spirit who has graciously liberated us who are gay to self-respect and self-love will liberate in you, our Catholic leaders, a profound love for your gay brothers and lesbian sisters and melt away all prejudice and judgmentalism in your hearts. May you make us welcome as full members in your family in Christ.
May God bless your efforts!
Sincerely in Christ
John J. McNeill
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
The Vatican Support of Hatred and Laws to Imprison and Kill GLBT People Continues in the name of Jesus Christ
Today, December 10 the United Nations celebrates the 60th anniversary of Human Rights Day and for the first time in its history the UN General Assembly will consider, this week or next, the issue of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights.
There are 86 countries in the world (nearly half the countries on earth) that still have a total ban on gay men and a smaller number also have a ban on same sex between women, the penalty for being gay in these 86 countries range from a few years to life imprisonment. In a least seven of these counties the sentence is death.
The Vatican, while not able to vote, is very influential at the United nations and they have vehemently opposed the Declaration calling for the global decriminalization of homosexuality being presented by the French and fully endorsed by the 27 nations of European Union.
The Vatican is using a convoluted argument to justify its opposition to this declaration. Archbishop Migliore while referring to the Catechism’s passage on “unjust discrimination” also suggests that outlawing discrimination through a United Nations declaration would pressure states which do not recognize same-gender marriage to change their laws.
The Director of Vatican radio, Father Frederico Lombardi defended the archbishop’s remarks saying “no one wants the death penalty or jail or fines for homosexuals”. Really?
It has been suggested to me that the Catholic Church is against Capital Punishment under any circumstances but that is not totally true. Referring to the same Catechism, paragraph 2266 and in a later revision paragraph 2267, the Church “does not exclude recourse to the death penalty”
In other words, in order to protect society from “behavior harmful to people’s rights and to the basic rules of civil society” the Vatican can safely, in accordance with its rule book, defend its opposition to this proposed UN declaration and thus endorse the laws which deny basic Human Rights to a group of people that it feels is harmful to civil society, that being gay men and women who want to live peacefully and legally with their chosen life partners.
I know of no person who would act to deny any church or church leader the right to lead their flock in accordance with its rules. However it is a sad commentary that instead of supporting this UN declaration that would enhance the dignity of millions of people worldwide, the Vatican instead chose to stand on the side of tyranny.
There are 86 countries in the world (nearly half the countries on earth) that still have a total ban on gay men and a smaller number also have a ban on same sex between women, the penalty for being gay in these 86 countries range from a few years to life imprisonment. In a least seven of these counties the sentence is death.
The Vatican, while not able to vote, is very influential at the United nations and they have vehemently opposed the Declaration calling for the global decriminalization of homosexuality being presented by the French and fully endorsed by the 27 nations of European Union.
The Vatican is using a convoluted argument to justify its opposition to this declaration. Archbishop Migliore while referring to the Catechism’s passage on “unjust discrimination” also suggests that outlawing discrimination through a United Nations declaration would pressure states which do not recognize same-gender marriage to change their laws.
The Director of Vatican radio, Father Frederico Lombardi defended the archbishop’s remarks saying “no one wants the death penalty or jail or fines for homosexuals”. Really?
It has been suggested to me that the Catholic Church is against Capital Punishment under any circumstances but that is not totally true. Referring to the same Catechism, paragraph 2266 and in a later revision paragraph 2267, the Church “does not exclude recourse to the death penalty”
In other words, in order to protect society from “behavior harmful to people’s rights and to the basic rules of civil society” the Vatican can safely, in accordance with its rule book, defend its opposition to this proposed UN declaration and thus endorse the laws which deny basic Human Rights to a group of people that it feels is harmful to civil society, that being gay men and women who want to live peacefully and legally with their chosen life partners.
I know of no person who would act to deny any church or church leader the right to lead their flock in accordance with its rules. However it is a sad commentary that instead of supporting this UN declaration that would enhance the dignity of millions of people worldwide, the Vatican instead chose to stand on the side of tyranny.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Catholic Priests Should be Outed
The post election statement by the Catholic Bishops regarding their victory stated that their support for amendment 2 “was not motivated by discrimination or animosity towards gays and lesbians. Contrary to what may have been stated in the media, this amendment does not change existing laws or ordinances. It does not prevent cities or counties from passing ordinances allowing people in other living arrangements to obtain health or other benefits”. Indeed, it does not change existing laws but it opens those laws to be unconstitutional in the State of Florida
Well, I am a patient and generous person when it comes to viewing the other perspective, at least most of the time, in this case the Catholic Bishops simply lied. They knew what happened in Michigan when a similar amendment was approved by the voters of that state. That information was made available to them via media statements, editorials, commentaries and pleading letters to the editors, yet they, the Catholic Bishops, vehemently dismissed this information. Domestic partner benefits were taken away in Michigan, people lost their health care benefits and there is now besides all the psychological pain and suffering Catholic Bishops have imposed by their pedophile priests, real blood on their hands.
So now it begins, David Caton, the homophobe extraordinaire from Brandon has begun his Crusade to deny our community hard fought basic Civil Rights. He could have chosen a law suit, which was the downfall of domestic partner benefits in Michigan but he decided to go the route of “petitioning the people”, the same people who the Catholic Bishops convinced, their “sheep”, via their pulpits to continue this agenda of hate. Trust me, the Catholic Bishops and their gay priests will be on board for this, there is nothing worse than a homophobic homophobe. I am thinking it is probably a good time to start announcing those names. After all, this is a war, a cultural war and all is fair.
I can think of no greater insult to the cause of Jesus Christ than those who think they have moral leadership while diminishing the lives of many millions of humans who have already come to full life. The hottest place in Hell is preserved for those who promote ignorance and participate in spiritual violence.
Well, I am a patient and generous person when it comes to viewing the other perspective, at least most of the time, in this case the Catholic Bishops simply lied. They knew what happened in Michigan when a similar amendment was approved by the voters of that state. That information was made available to them via media statements, editorials, commentaries and pleading letters to the editors, yet they, the Catholic Bishops, vehemently dismissed this information. Domestic partner benefits were taken away in Michigan, people lost their health care benefits and there is now besides all the psychological pain and suffering Catholic Bishops have imposed by their pedophile priests, real blood on their hands.
So now it begins, David Caton, the homophobe extraordinaire from Brandon has begun his Crusade to deny our community hard fought basic Civil Rights. He could have chosen a law suit, which was the downfall of domestic partner benefits in Michigan but he decided to go the route of “petitioning the people”, the same people who the Catholic Bishops convinced, their “sheep”, via their pulpits to continue this agenda of hate. Trust me, the Catholic Bishops and their gay priests will be on board for this, there is nothing worse than a homophobic homophobe. I am thinking it is probably a good time to start announcing those names. After all, this is a war, a cultural war and all is fair.
I can think of no greater insult to the cause of Jesus Christ than those who think they have moral leadership while diminishing the lives of many millions of humans who have already come to full life. The hottest place in Hell is preserved for those who promote ignorance and participate in spiritual violence.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
The Final Screwing of America - George W. You Could Have Used Some Lubricant
One would have thought that George W. Bush would have made some last minute attempt to save the image that he tried to create for Middle America. You know, the folks who thought him to be a God while all the time he was screwing them into poverty. The Middle, Middle Class who work hard every day at jobs which offer little reward other than a salary, health benefits and a small pension. Tedious jobs that go nowhere, have no personal reward other than providing shelter, place food on the table and fund the education of children.
Now G.W. and his Senate friends, friends who supported the bail out of their rich Wall Street comrades, are refusing to support an initiative to support the US Automobile Industry. Why? Very simple, they want to break the Unions, in this case the UAW.
I love it when College Professors complain that a UAW worker without a College education makes more money than they do. One complaint suggests that Auto Workers make 148,000 a year and college professors make 78,000 plus 27% in benefits. He doesn’t break down the benefit part of the UAW worker but he extracts that from the College Professor’s. He also says nothing about the paid Sabbatical time that College Professors get nor the fact that College Professors are doing something that they want to do, not something they have to do in order to secure their families. Keep in mind, a college graduate, or Professor, could always apply for a job building cars if their object was simply to make money. No one asked them to choose to be a College Professor, that was their choice.
But I digress, I was talking about G.W. Bush and how he screwed America. Do you remember Enron? Ken Lay was a big G.W. supporter. The fall of Enron should have alerted all American’s to the coming disaster. Enron was a company that had no production; it created nothing but speculation and caused a major energy problem in California. To be sure America, from Ronald Regan, Bill Clinton and G.W. we have persisted in selling off our manufacturing capabilities in the name of “Globalization”. That theory works for everyone except the soon to be gone American Middle Class.
The American Middle Class has become a victim of Capitalism. Capitalism as it is practiced in America today will reduce the American people to third World status.
George W. Bush has succeeded where Ronald Regan had failed, he has destroyed the American Dream.
Now G.W. and his Senate friends, friends who supported the bail out of their rich Wall Street comrades, are refusing to support an initiative to support the US Automobile Industry. Why? Very simple, they want to break the Unions, in this case the UAW.
I love it when College Professors complain that a UAW worker without a College education makes more money than they do. One complaint suggests that Auto Workers make 148,000 a year and college professors make 78,000 plus 27% in benefits. He doesn’t break down the benefit part of the UAW worker but he extracts that from the College Professor’s. He also says nothing about the paid Sabbatical time that College Professors get nor the fact that College Professors are doing something that they want to do, not something they have to do in order to secure their families. Keep in mind, a college graduate, or Professor, could always apply for a job building cars if their object was simply to make money. No one asked them to choose to be a College Professor, that was their choice.
But I digress, I was talking about G.W. Bush and how he screwed America. Do you remember Enron? Ken Lay was a big G.W. supporter. The fall of Enron should have alerted all American’s to the coming disaster. Enron was a company that had no production; it created nothing but speculation and caused a major energy problem in California. To be sure America, from Ronald Regan, Bill Clinton and G.W. we have persisted in selling off our manufacturing capabilities in the name of “Globalization”. That theory works for everyone except the soon to be gone American Middle Class.
The American Middle Class has become a victim of Capitalism. Capitalism as it is practiced in America today will reduce the American people to third World status.
George W. Bush has succeeded where Ronald Regan had failed, he has destroyed the American Dream.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
