Comment Leads To Action?

Jul20 by D Gregory Smith

Last week I posted a video of human rights activist Mitchell Gold taking on smug Christian fundamentalist Peter Sprigg. Got quite a lot of hits, and some interesting comments. One of the comments, from reader Teresa, got me thinking. I’ve edited it for ease of reading (not content) and added hyperlinks to the text she refers to:

I clicked on the Faith in America link and came across this great document, “A Report by Faith in America: Addressing Religious Arguments to Achieve LGBT Equality.”

I found this in the document.

“In 2006, the organization began a series of four-week educational campaigns in a number of communities across America with print newspaper ads, billboards and radio ads with polling conducted prior to the start and several weeks after each campaign – which had closed with a community meeting to discuss religion-based bigotry toward the LGBT community. Polling in each campaign showed positive movement in acceptance levels.”

How do we go about doing this in Montana before the next legislative session?

How indeed?

I think it’s very important to remember that unchallenged religious views are among the most damaging forces to human equality. Many of the fundamental negative things people believe about gay people aren’t scriptural- they’re anecdotal, anti-scientific, anti-experiential and don’t hold up under scrutiny. And I’m sick of people hiding behind Christian belief in order to promote their intolerance.

Maybe it’s time to challenge them on a broader level in Montana.

Anybody own a billboard?

Rick Perry + Crazy Christianists = Scary

Jul17 by D Gregory Smith

Since it’s Sunday- and most of us spend some time reflecting spiritually on Sunday- I couldn’t help but share the following article about Rick Perry, the current Governor of Texas. It comes from the Texas Observer:

A little-known movement of radical Christians and self-proclaimed prophets wants to infiltrate government, and Rick Perry might be their man.

Oh, it gets stranger.

The movement is called the New Apostolic Reformation. Believers fashion themselves modern-day prophets and apostles. They have taken Pentecostalism, with its emphasis on ecstatic worship and the supernatural, and given it an adrenaline shot.

The movement’s top prophets and apostles believe they have a direct line to God. Through them, they say, He communicates specific instructions and warnings. When mankind fails to heed the prophecies, the results can be catastrophic: earthquakes in Japan, terrorist attacks in New York, and economic collapse. On the other hand, they believe their God-given decrees have ended mad cow disease in Germany and produced rain in drought-stricken Texas.

Their beliefs can tend toward the bizarre. Some consider Freemasonry a “demonic stronghold” tantamount to witchcraft. The Democratic Party, one prominent member believes, is controlled by Jezebel and three lesser demons. Some prophets even claim to have seen demons at public meetings. They’ve taken biblical literalism to an extreme. In Texas, they engage in elaborate ceremonies involving branding irons, plumb lines and stakes inscribed with biblical passages driven into the earth of every Texas county.

If they simply professed unusual beliefs, movement leaders wouldn’t be remarkable. But what makes the New Apostolic Reformation movement so potent is its growing fascination with infiltrating politics and government. The new prophets and apostles believe Christians—certain Christians—are destined to not just take “dominion” over government, but stealthily climb to the commanding heights of what they term the “Seven Mountains” of society, including the media and the arts and entertainment world. They believe they’re intended to lord over it all. As a first step, they’re leading an “army of God” to commandeer civilian government.

In Rick Perry, they may have found their vessel. And the interest appears to be mutual.

I always thought Perry was a loose, secessionist cannon. But now, I just think he’s a loose, crazy christianist secessionist cannon. And the goofy theology driving some of these fringe groups is becoming more and more pervasive. Like I said: scary.

But really, y’all need to read this for y’selves. Full, fascinating story here.

Mitchell Gold takes on Peter Sprigg

Jul15 by D Gregory Smith

From Faith In America:

… longtime LGBT advocate and Faith in America Founder Mitchell Gold disarms one of the most vitriolic voices within the anti-gay religious industry. This is how we confront religion-based bigotry toward the LGBT community and the hostility the Religious Right and its anti-gay organizations promote toward our community.

Watch as Mitchell takes on the semi-psychotic hysteria of Peter Sprigg. Mitchell’s reasoned, measured and firm responses are just one of the reasons that this guy is one of my heroes.

Kathy Goes To SF Pride

Jul11 by D Gregory Smith

Kathy (and message)

My friend Kathy is on a crusade- to let all LGBT persons know that not all Christians are out to hurt them- and I heartily support her work. This kind and loving woman is a fantastic ally of our community, and I’m very happy to help her in any way I can.

This week she’s posted about her experience in San Francisco at Gay Pride- and it’s a great read.

Excerpt:

For four years, I’ve been going to San Francisco Gay Pride wearing a printed shirt that says “Hurt by Church? Get a Str8Apology Here.” Accepting and affirming churches are present. They host booths and walk in the parade, but I walk around with a big target on my front and back inviting conversation. The idea came to me one day on a hike while I was wondering, “How I could make my experience of serving with a church in SF more meaningful?”

Last weekend, I went to SF Pride again. It’s never easy. Even I, who can engage a deaf, mute rock, can still be intimidated. The gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community has been told by Christians that it is too far from the reach of God, unless, of course, they get rid of their non-hetero sexual orientation. I go to these events carrying the message that God is sexual orientation and gender identity neutral God who loves them. Just as He loves straight, go-to-church-every-Sunday, Bible-reading me.

Read about her adventures- and the amazing people she meets- here. It’s inspiring.

Monday Weirdness 5/6/11

Jun6 by D Gregory Smith

Because you needed to know:

The severed head of the patron saint of genital diseases is off to Los Angeles – after it was sold at a County Meath antiques auction.

Photo Courtesy The Irish Times

An unnamed Californian phone bidder successfully won the head of St Vitalis of Assisi for $5,000.
The bizarre item sold in Duleekis reportedly the head of 14th-century Italian saint who became a hermit in later life after years of promiscuity as a youngster.

Following his death in 1370, the Benedictine monk became known as the patron saint of those suffering from genital disease.

The skull of the saint, enshrined in an antique glass case, had been on display in the hallway of a period mansion in County Louth for many years.

Weird. That’s all I’m going to say- too many things crashing together in my head…
Full story here.

Limitations of Clergy Sexual Abuse Report

May25 by D Gregory Smith

I haven’t gotten through the report itself yet, but there has been some welcome clarification on one point:

The researchers conclude that there is no causative relationship between either celibacy or homosexuality and the sexual victimization of children in the Church. Therefore, being celibate or being gay did not increase the risk of violating children. So, blaming the clergy abuse crisis in the Catholic Church on gay men or celibacy is unfounded.

Psychologists (and LGBT persons) have realized that this was the case, and despite their protestations, certain bishops and Cardinals have placed the responsibility for the sex abuse scandal squarely in the laps of gay priests. Not so. Completely refuted and repudiated.

Hopefully, for the last time.

Yeah, you’re right. Religious homophobes are unlikely to let this go….

The NCR has an excellent synopsis- and gives a critical eye:

Release of the John Jay College study on the causes of sexual abuse by Catholic priests signals the end of the U.S. bishops’ five-year, $1.8 million inquiry into the institution they govern and the priests in their charge. But the new study hardly quiets the fundamental questions that have dogged the church and its leaders since the crisis was first publicized in the mid-1980s.

The conclusions of the study were immediately challenged by victims of abuse, their advocates, and those who maintain an enormous archive of documentation related to the scandal. Among the reasons they say the report should be approached with caution or skepticism:

Questions persist about the reliability of the basic data that underpins both the most recent study, as well as one on the nature and scope of the scandal that was released in 2004, because the researchers relied principally on reporting by bishops. The reliability of such reporting is called into question on a number of fronts and was most recently challenged by a grand jury report that claimed that officials of the Philadelphia archdiocese had not reported dozens of credibly accused priests. Doubts about the reliability of the numbers were even given credibility by one of the John Jay researchers in a recent interview.

The conclusion that priests’ behavior was influenced by and reflected turmoil in American culture during the 1960s and 1970s is called into question, or at least qualified, say experts, given revelations of similar widespread scandals in the United Kingdom and several European countries. The dimensions of the scandal in those countries surfaced in recent months, at a point when the John Jay researchers were concluding research on the U.S. church.

The lack of any in-depth look at institutional dynamics, particularly clerical/hierarchical culture, an element some think is integral to understanding why and how abuse of children was covered up and tolerated for so many years.

Beyond the limited dimensions of the study — it covered the years 1950 through 2010 and concentrated on the behavior of priests — questions persist about the bishops’ role in protecting perpetrators and shuffling abusive priests.

Read the full story here. And when you hear that this crisis was precipitated by gay priests- you can comfortably tell anyone spreading this lie that they’re full of shit.

What’s Gay About The News

May16 by D Gregory Smith

A couple of things.

On the one hand, Don Lemon, CNN weekend anchor and brave human being, has come out as a gay man.
Entertainment Weekly:

CNN’s weekend anchor Don Lemon reveals that he is gay in his new memoir, Transparent. “I abhor hypocrisy,” Lemon told theNew York Times. “I think if you’re going to be in the business of news, and telling people the truth, of trying to shed light in dark places, then you’ve got to be honest. You’ve got to have the same rules for yourself as you do for everyone else.”

Lemon admitted he is scared by peoples’ reaction, but that CNN has assured him of their support. “I think it would be great if everybody could be out,” he said to the paper. “But it’s such a personal choice. People have to do it at their own speed. I respect that. I do have to say that the more people who come out, the better it is for everyone, certainly for the Tyler Clementis of the world.”

Like I said, brave. Lemon, also a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, will no doubt become a more active voice in the LGBT community- as well as a sign to other human beings that being gay is not an obstacle- and that we have nothing to fear from the truth of who we are.

Next comes a poll from Fox News affiliate WACH in South Carolina. The poll, which attempts to gauge the pulse of its readers on the topic of the Presbyterian Church’s inclusion of openly gay clergy is clearly Fair and Balanced:

Oh, Lord.

“Sins, sinners, sinfulness- love the sinner, hate the sin”- the patronizing terms many evangelical/fundamentalist christians use to describe people they hate, is just one of the ignorant ways that keep them from facing the reality of human sexuality.

And Fox News seems to be contributing to that ignorance.

Again.

But the commenters are taking them to task. Which I love. Go ahead and read the story and comment. It’s getting interesting.

Catholics Becoming Protestants

May5 by D Gregory Smith

Jesuit Thomas Reese, former editor of the magazine America– and someone I respect greatly, is sharing some of his concerns about the “New Exodus” in the Catholic Church.

Any other institution that lost one-third of its members would want to know why.

And why not the Catholic Church?

…the U.S. bishops have never devoted any time at their national meetings to discussing the exodus. Nor have they spent a dime trying to find out why it is happening.

Thankfully, although the U.S. bishops have not supported research on people who have left the church, the Pew Center has.

…One of the reasons there is such disagreement is that we tend to think that everyone leaves for the same reason our friends, relatives and acquaintances have left. We fail to recognize that different people leave for different reasons. People who leave to join Protestant churches do so for different reasons than those who become unaffiliated. People who become evangelicals are different from Catholics who become members of mainline churches.

An excellent article- well worth the read. If you’re like me, you may recognize many people you know, or even yourself. Full article here.

Update: This may also be part of the reason.

Answering Hate With Love- And Sense

Apr13 by D Gregory Smith

Dr Michael Brown, an ex-heroin-shooting Jewish rock drummer turned Christian theologian, has a thing about The Gays. He’s written a book called “A Queer Thing Happened To America- and what a long, strange trip it’s been”.

I don’t read anti-gay Christian books. It’s completely humiliating for me. But my friend Kathy does- and she crafts excellent responses to them. She takes apart Brown’s book. Excerpt:

Dr. Brown writes: “Is it so hateful to believe that homosexual practice is harmful and that change is possible? (If a doctor takes issue with you or me being overweight, do we brand him or her an anti-fat, hate-filled bigot, or do we recognize that the doctor is expressing concern for our well being? Isn’t the doctor trying to be helpful rather hateful?)

That analogy falls apart quickly. When you suggest that an overweight person cut back and deny themselves excess calories, they get healthier. When you tell a gay person to deny their sexual orientation, that is when you get all the symptoms from shame to depression to addictions to suicide at the extreme.

Amen. Read her entire response here.

Presbyterian Pastor Stops Preaching Against Gays

Mar28 by D Gregory Smith

Excellent Story from Salon.com:

A recent poll shows a huge shift in American attitudes toward gay marriage, from a 32 percent approval in 2004 to 53 percent today.

I am one of those people who changed their minds.

In 1989 when I was ordained as a minister to serve a small church in North Carolina, homosexuality was an invisible issue. Gay rights were barely on the radar of mainstream churches. The idea of an openly gay pastor was beyond the pale.   I knew there were “gay churches,” of course, but I did not believe one could be a practicing homosexual and a Christian. The Bible was straightforward on this issue. It all seemed incredibly obvious to me.

But over the next five years, homosexuality not only became an issue — it became The Issue. Sides were drawn, and those of us in the middle were pulled to either end. I was a biblical Christian, of the “hate the sin, love the sinner” crowd. And so it seemed clear that I could not fully accept, ordain and marry gays. If I was going to be forced to choose a side, that was mine.

The truth is, I was put out that this was an issue. Feeding the hungry, preaching the gospel, comforting the afflicted, standing up to racial intolerance — these were the struggles I signed up for, not determining the morality of what adults did in their bedrooms.