the rix mix

My trusted online friend Fran linked to series of paintings of the American Jesus that are at once really funny  but deeply disturbing. I always listen to Fran even when she going right over my head.
When I was young, as with a lot of protestants, Jesus was too human. That's important because the humanity, the human face, is the spiritual evolution in Christianity  allowing the Easter story to mean what it means. God is humanly comprehensible. The face is every human being, not the guy in the paintings. If you are of a Franciscan temperament, you include the face of the sparrow.

 Later, Jesus became a kind of intellectual exercise I went to whenever it interested me. As my body began reminding me  of my mortality  more than  my intellect did,  Jesus became more elusive & paradoxical.  But elusiveness & paradoxes can stir me up, intrigue me & disturb me, & I chase after them. I think Jesus is being the kind of Jesus I need right now. He has my attention & he's keeping it. He's still human but he's also being spirit, & you feel spirit & even channel spirit but you can't get hold of it.  "How  is it," this spirit seems to ask me, "that I know every subatomic particle in your body, & their history from the beginning of time, & your true name, & you don't know any of these things, much less where every sparrow falls? Yet I remain just as human as you are." He's not an so much an American Jesus as a Jesus who  know how to slip  between the second & third lines of  a haiku.

So what's the real deal from Jesus? It's that the abyss isn't necessarily there. It wasn't there when I was 13 &  looking at the dark winter sky on a bad night in my home & thinking, in some way,  "People die, & you don't get to say goodbye or find out who they really are."   It wasn't there when I was 25 & staring  into  one  believing I had come to the end of art. & it's not there now. But I still see it.

Labels: blogging against theocracy, Mahalo, religion

It's a lot more difficult to be an atheist in America than to be Christian. For right wing Christians, being Christian would be only half the fun if they couldn't play the victim.

I reside in one of the most solidly Democratic areas of America & you probably couldn't be elected here without having some religion. On your website if not on your campaign literature. Preferably Christian or Jew, although a Hindu would be electable in a few places.

South Carolina Valedictorian, Rips Up Speech and Recites Lord’s Prayer He had a right to do it, but was inexcusably rude. A teenage hissy fit.  For his audience it was  like chanting "USA USA" at a NASCAR race. It is, after all, Pickens County South Carolina.

Labels: blogging against theocracy, religion

Newark archbishop allows priest who admitted groping boy to continue working with children  

. 

 He [Fugee] has attended weekend youth retreats in Marlboro and on the shores of Lake Hopatcong in Mount Arlington, parishioners say. Fugee also has traveled with members of the St. Mary’s youth group on an annual pilgrimage to Canada. At all three locations, he has heard confessions from minors behind closed doors. 

What’s more, he has done so with the approval of New Jersey’s highest-ranking Catholic official, Newark Archbishop John J. Myers.

My attitude toward American RC Bishops ranges from indifference to contempt. Sometimes one of my Catholic friends mentions an  o.k. one.  Myers is not o.k.   Aloof, isolated, autocratic, inclined to speak to the hoi polloi through his cathedral office mouthpieces, this is not his first pedophile cover-up scandal. But it is showing some endurance in local media, & is slowly going national  The Star-Ledger called for his resignation in an editorial,  an unusual  act for a newspaper (although I'm sure it's happened elsewhere).  Parishioners at the church where Fugee was assigned are outraged, as are  the vast majority  of Jersey Catholics polled on this. Catholic politicians are calling for Myers to step down. Except our Governor, who says it's political "grandstanding." He will soon perceive the error of that statement.

I think Myers can be pushed or removed from office this time, if media stays on the story,  if pressure from New Jersey Catholics is relentless (following through on  threats of withholding tithes), & some of his fellow Bishops in Jersey continue refusing to support him. There's a new Pope. Eventually he'll hear about it, if he hasn't already.  Pope Francis can make an   example of Myers if he truly wants to  set himself apart from his two predecessors:  Esto termina ahora. This ends now.

Labels: blogging against theocracy, in the news, New Jersey, religion

Mass gay weddings expected in Washington state 

OLYMPIA, Washington (Reuters) - Washington state will usher in same-sex marriage on Sunday as hundreds of gay and lesbian couples exchange vows in mass weddings on the first day they can legally tie the knot — and the biggest party will be in Seattle. 

Washington, Maine and Maryland became the first U.S. states to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples by a popular vote, with the November passage of separate ballot measures that marked a watershed moment for gay rights. 

Washington's law went into effect on Thursday, when hundreds of couples lined up to apply for marriage licenses, and the first legal same-sex weddings are due on Sunday after the expiry of a three-day waiting period required of all marriages. 

Diane Butzberger and Amanda Russ of Tacoma plan to be among the first of 140 couples to get married at Seattle's City Hall on Sunday morning in a feted mass celebration.

Dear Nitwits of America:

I'm sorry you lay awake night after night imagining what "those people" are doing. I'm sorry you're in emotional turmoil all day,  appetite ruined, your marriage & relationships destroyed.  I'm sorry you're a bigoted idiot with no gay or lesbian friends you can be happy for & with.

Labels: blogging against theocracy, in the news

White House is holding a Public poll to initiate and implement a law against the disrespect of Prophets of major religions i.e. Prophet Mohammad PBUH, Prophet Jesus A.S and Prophet Moses A.S. Please sign this petition ASAP , as they required 25,000 signatures till 17th October.

WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:
outlaw offending prophets of major religions
To enact a law that prohibits any action or literature that offend prophets of major religions: - Moses - Jesus - Mohammad Such acts offend billions of people, and cause unrest in the world. Furthermore, acts like this contradict the essence of coexistence and peace among humans. Labeling these acts as freedom of speech is similar to labeling murder as freedom of expression! We all know the chaos such acts can cause, but it's difficult to answer the question: What do they contribute to our nation, or humanity in general?

The wording seems to ask that prophets themselves be outlawed. To clear up the another obvious misstatement, The White House is not "holding a public poll." The White House hosts the poll on a page where anyone or any group can initiate a poll. Apparently, if a poll receive enough votes within a certain period of time, some minor functionary at the White House reads it, sends it up the chain, & a bureaucrat submits a public response. It's how the White House beer recipes went public.

This poll taps into my personal fears that no extant form of Islam, even moderate factions, can really handle our First Amendment, given Islam's absolute need to defend the character of The Prophet absolutely, at any cost. Some idiot in America insults the Prophet, 10,000 Muslims riot in Pakistan & 100 Muslims are accidentally  trampled to death,, which incites even more rioting,   Death  fatwas are issued.

 A 14 year old girl just survived a fatwa assassination attempt by the Taliban. She didn't even insult The Prophet. She had the unmitigated gall to insist she had a right to an education. Which the Taliban considers an insult to Prophet Muhammad PBUH. So what offends the prophets & who decides what offends them?

 In America  (we have critics & mockers of all religions here) - we can only condemn their statements & request that they cease - Muslims decide it ought to made against the law.  Criticize The Prophet, pay a fine or go to jail. & just to show how fair they are, they're willing to extend the law to insults against Moses & Jesus. Why stop at them? There are so many other revered religious figures.  Why are only the three major Abrahamic faiths worthy of such protection?

Jews don't  lose sleep over insults to Moses, Abraham, of any other  prophet or patriarch. What keeps Jews awake are Holocaust deniers, threats to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth, & the naked hatred of Jews - all Jews - taught & encouraged throughout too much of the Islamic world.

American Christians don't get bent all out of shape by insults to Jesus. One insult is calling him a prophet rather than the Son of God or simply Jesus of Nazareth.  He is either the Messiah or he is not, no in-between status.   Jesus is rarely insulted; it's pretty obvious that Christianity's  violence, excesses & prejudices don't originate with Jesus.  Christianity's  doctrinal foundation is the Son of God  humiliated unto slow death in a public crucifixion - it doesn't get much worse than what happened to Jesus, who then triumphs over  death in his resurrection.  Christian martyrs historically are of a different order than  current radical Islamic martyrs.  Quite simply, Christians do not believe they  go to heaven by committing suicide to kill non-Christians, or other Christians..  Although certain Christians in America are  busy denying civil rights to homosexuals, undermining women's rights,  mocking science, & attempting to subvert  public education, they go nose-to-nose arguing  with atheists & generally seem to grasp that in suppressing the First Amendment rights of others, they might  risk their own rights.  Instead, they buy up radio stations. build megachurches, write & publish  top selling books of religious propaganda,  & use their constitutional rights to full advantage by spreading the crazy idea that they are the victims rather than the people in control of one of America's two major political parties.

I often enough  sympathize with the purpose of laws constricting free speech, but I rarely support the passage of those laws.  If insulting the Prophet causes Muslims to commit murder, maybe it's time for Islam to change & stop committing murder in the  name of The Prophet. . Because you won't get away with murder using that as a defense  in The United States of America.

Labels: blogging against theocracy, religion

Taliban shoot 14-year old human rights activist

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Taliban gunmen in Pakistan shot and seriously wounded on Tuesday a 14-year-old schoolgirl who rose to fame for speaking out against the militants, authorities said.

Malala Yousufzai was shot in the head and neck when gunmen fired on her school bus in the Swat valley, northwest of the capital, Islamabad. Two other girls were also wounded, police said.

Yousufzai became famous for speaking out against the Pakistani Taliban at a time when even the government seemed to be appeasing the hardline Islamists. The government agreed to a ceasefire with the Taliban in Swat in early 2009, effectively recognizing insurgent control of the valley whose lakes and mountains had long been a tourist attraction.

The Taliban set up courts, executed residents and closed girls' schools, including the one that Yousufzai attended. A documentary team filmed her weeping as she explained her ambition to be a doctor.

"My friend came to me and said, 'for God's sake, answer me honestly, is our school going to be attacked by the Taliban?'," Yousufzai, then 11, wrote in a blog published by the BBC.

"During the morning assembly we were told not to wear colorful clothes as the Taliban would object."

The army launched an offensive and retook control of Swat later that year, and Yousufzai later received the country's highest civilian award. She was also nominated for international awards for child activists. Since then, she has received numerous threats. On Tuesday, gunmen arrived at her school and asked for her by name, witnesses told police. Yousufzai was shot when she came out of class and went to a bus.

Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said his group was behind the shooting. "She was pro-West, she was speaking against Taliban and she was calling President Obama her idol," Ehsan said by telephone from an undisclosed location.

"She was young but she was promoting Western culture in Pashtun areas," he said, referring the main ethnic group in northwest Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. Most members of the Taliban come from conservative Pashtun tribes.

Doctors were struggling to save Yousufzai, said Lal Noor, a doctor at the Saidu Sharif Teaching Hospital in the Swat valley's main town of Mingora. (Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Robert Birsel)

I realize it might be boorish to place this in a partisan context, but when a courageous, young Pakistani woman risks death calling President Obama her idol, our president is doing something right. It's probably not just the President, but also the two strong women with whom he is associated: His life partner, Michelle, & his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.

I'm hardly in full accord with Obama's Afghanistan policy, the surge or the withdrawal timetable. But it was the Cheney/Bush administration that put Afghanistan on the backburner & invaded Iraq just as we had driven the Taliban from power & sent their broken, humiliated remnants fleeing into the hills. We didn't finish the job, which was to eliminate Bin Laden, quickly hand over Kabul to whatever inevitable corrupt regime was coalescing there, & get the hell out.

Under Cheney/Bush, America did project to Muslims around the world, a very diverse population by no means represented only by Iranian radical Shiites or Saudi Wahhabi fundamentalists, that American power was indeed waging a war on all of Islam. They obliterated whatever good will had been generated by President Clinton's defense of the Bosnian Muslims, & global sympathy for the United States following the 9/11 attacks. Obama was stuck with that, tried as best he could, given the pressures upon him, to allow the Arab Spring to follow whatever course of self-determination people in the Arab world were choosing for it. One young freedom-loving voice in non-Arab Pakistan admired him.

Mitt Romney can never inspire young people in the same way, here & around the world. He has allied himself with the American Taliban.   He has gathered around him the same "nation-building" neocon lunatic ideologues that gave us weapons of mass destruction in Iraq & changed their tune only after it was exposed as an evil lie. In league with the corporate- war profiteers these neocons are at this very moment conspiring a war against Iran as one of Mitt's first acts of "foreign policy."

Labels: blogging against theocracy, in the news, war more war

Had Domino's Pizza  made a decent product when Tom Monaghan owned it, I would've stopped patronizing the company when I found out Monaghan had extreme religious views & backed them financially. Monaghan sold his company to Bain.

The owners of Chick-fil-A oppose more than marriage equality; they're against every extension of rights to LGBT. Every single one. Rights to family status in hospital visitation by gay & lesbian partners? Yep, that one too.  Cruelty. They would if they could refuse to hire LGBT & non-Christians. I'm not exaggerating.   Geezer founder S. Truett  Cathy & his sons Dan   & Donald “Bubba” back up their beliefs with their fortunes.

It's unfortunate that a few individual Chick-fil-A franchisees here & there support LGBT rights & place signs to that effect in their stores.  But they are "operators" not "owners," sending  a lion's share of their profits to the home office.   Chick-fil-A owns the restaurant & pays the rent. Sorry, folks, you don't get a bye.

The Chick-fil-A slogan is "Eat mor chikin," a plea made by anxious cows. Chick-fil-A unleashes its corporate lawyers on anyone, any business using the two words "Eat more" for promotion. Doesn't have to be "Eat mor."  Does seem a stretch for trademark infringment.  Common sense tells us "mor" & "chikin" are the trademark words.  Even Hershey won't fight  Chick-fil-A  to offer the "Eat-More" bar now sold only by Hershey Canada, I've had one, it's a very good  candy bar,  would sell well in the United States.

One guy is standing up to Chick-fil-A,  a small time Vermont entrepreneur named Bo Muller-Moore.  Bo  home manufactures an "Eat more kale" tee shirt, which he sells online & at flea markets.  Hardly anyone outside of Vermont had heard of him until he received a cease-&-desist letter from Chick-fil-A. Bo refused to cease & desist.  The international exposure of Chick-fil-A's owners as homobigots  also brought Bo's battle into the spotlight.

Government has no right to deny Chick-fil-A the right to open & operate restaurants. It can make certain the restaurants are up to codes & obeying  legal hiring practices. But where Chick-fil-A operates restaurants inside private colleges & other institutions, it certainly can be shown the exit when the current contract ends. I doubt the one at New York University in Greenwich Village  will survive.

If you're  "Christian" like Sarah & Todd Palin, be aware that enthusiastically supporting Chick-fil-A because of the owners' anti-LGBT activism goes well beyond what your literal reading of scripture requires. If you think LGBT ought to be stripped of all their civil rights & driven back into the closet,  then "Eat mor chikin" served with a side of hate & bigotry.

Labels: blogging against theocracy, human rights, in the news

From a column by Melinda Henneberger:

On Wednesday, the Vatican announced a crackdown on American nuns, charging the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which represents most of the country’s 57,000 women religious, with falling prey to “radical feminism’’ and falling out of step with church teaching on women’s ordination and homosexuality. The response from the general public was enormous and overwhelmingly sympathetic to the sisters. The forced reform immediately sparked online petitions, tributes and T-shirts that say, “I’m with her.”

Whenever one thinks Roman Catholic Bishops can't do worse damage to themselves, they find another way. How could they underestimate the high regard & affection of American Catholic laity for the declining, aging population of Sisters in religious orders? Or don't they care? Probably a bit of both. The only real "authority" the Sisters have is moral, which is exactly that constituent of power the Bishops have lost. So the Bishops use the power they do have to accuse the Sisters of being morally in error. It's a comedy as written by Dante Alighieri: priests sluggishly pushing boulders inch-by-inch up the mountain of Purgatory, yelling accusations at the Sisters as the women march past them on the way to Paradise.

Of course, I'm not familiar with Catholic feminist theological arguments for the legitimacy of female ordination. Ordained protestant pastors, female & male,  are merely  protestants with specialized training;  they have no supernatural powers not hypothetically available to every Christian, & among those metaphysically turning wine  into blood isn't on the list.  But now, through the sophistry of the Vatican's greatest male minds, a married Anglican priest may  repudiate Anglicism & through the mystery of Catholic sacramental ordination become a married Catholic priest among celibate, unmarried priests.  Yet the Pope can confidently assert woman will never be priests. Stranger things have happened in the 2000 years Christians have been waiting for the end of time, which is what the Pope means by never.

Labels: blogging against theocracy, religion

Mrs. Dill:  Robert, it's your turn to read the psalm today.

B but I ss tutter Mrs. Dill.

Bobby?

You you nn know what hhhhappened last time.

You'll do better this time. You may read Psalm 117, it is very brief. I've bookmarked the page. 

(Bobby whispers in ear of friend sitting in front of him) Jeffie, what I'm gonna d do this is the lllast tttime I'll hhhave to rrread it.

(Bobby goes to front of room, picks up Bible & opens it.)

Sa sa psalm one sevenTEEEEN

P praise the lllLORD, all you nay nay nay nay nay nay nay nay nay nay nay nay nay nay nay nations;

extol him, all y you pee pee pee pee pee pee pee pee pee pee pee

(class starts snickering.)

Mrs. Dill: Robert, are you serious?

I ssstutter Mrs. DDDill.

Alright, continue.

I sss start again.

Ppraise the lllLORD, all you nay nay nay nay nay nay nay nay nay nay nay nay nay nay nay nations

extol him, all y you pee pee pee pee pee pee pee pee pee pee pee
PEOPLES! 

(several students applaud)

For gggggRATE is his la la la la (sung as music notes) la la la la la la la la la la love
t t t t toward us,

(Door at back of room opens, tall, frowning,  elderly gray haired woman enters, the feared Principal Miss Titus)

an the fa fa fa fa

Miss Titus: Sorry to interrupt Mrs. Dill, a word with you please?

fa fa fa

Hold on Robert.

(Miss Titus & Mrs. Dill confer at the side of the room in whispers, Miss Titus shows Mrs. Dill a sheet of paper.)

Mrs. Dill: You mean that atheist woman won?

Miss Titus: Yes, I'm afraid so.

Mrs Dill says loudly: Oh thank you Jesus, Mary  & Joseph & all the blessed saints in Heaven.

Robert, Bobby, you may take your seat now.

B b but I havea  another llline ttto go,

That's alright sit down. Class, we'll go right to Arithmetic this morning. Take out your workbooks.

Bobby smirks at Jeffie.  Jeffie, smirking,  raises hand.

Yes Jeffrey?

We got the psalm, how come we don't say  the Lord's Prayer no more?

Labels: blogging against theocracy, education, poem, religion

Judge refuses to drop charges against U.S. Catholic bishop


(Reuters) - A Catholic bishop in Kansas City must stand trial on charges that he failed to report a priest found with pornographic pictures of young girls on his Church computer to police, a judge said on Thursday.


Bishop Robert Finn, head of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, faces one misdemeanor charge that he failed to tell authorities that Church officials had found disturbing pictures of unclothed little girls that appeared to have been taken by a popular local priest, Father Patrick Ratigan.

Finn's defense sums up why we detest these men. With divorce, birth control, abortion, LGBT rights, Catholic moral law takes precedence over civil law. The Church has its own rules. But charged with failure to report to police child pornography found on a priest's computer, this is what Finn claimed:

Missouri statutes requiring clergy, school teachers and others to report suspected child sexual abuse were "vague."

also, Bishop Finn

had no duty to report the situation to authorities, because he was not the "designated reporter" within the diocese and could rely on someone else within the diocese to notify authorities.

The judge tossed out those grounds for dismissal. Finn was trying to claim that  weak civil law took precedence over his Christian moral obligations.   I suppose Finn believes only  God & The Pope have the power to punish him.

Except for a few isolated, courageous voices among the Bishops, here & recently in Ireland, these clerical executives seem to have little or no sense of the evilness they have permitted & covered up.  It reaches all  the way to  Pope Benedict XVI. Why is that so?  Why are  they not  grief-stricken & shamed? Why are they not engaging in extreme expressions  of atonement? These morally corrupt Bishops should be crawling on bloody knees & hands to Shrines of the Blessed Virgin,  resign their offices, & retire to austere & silent cloistered monasteries, never to show their faces again.

Lawsuits by victims of perverted priests have emptied the coffers of Archdioceses & in some places bankrupted them. Hundreds of schools & parish churches are closed. Some deserve to be shut down, but in no instances does the  Church admit it is due to the cost of pedophile priests.  But laity connects the dots. Only ultra-conservative Catholics, like those represented by Rick Santorum,  defend the Bishops. They want to return the Church to the era before Pope John XXIII & Vatican reforms.*  For them, if Father O'Malley in Going My Way was raping altar boys, just quietly transfer the Singing Priest from St. Dominic's to St. Mary's, & if Ingrid Bergman notices, she's just a nun, she can be sent to Borneo.

*Some Catholic conservatives  blame Vatican II reforms for the child abuse.  But systemic abuse in Ireland - including what amounted to child slavery - has been traced back long before Vatican II.  The Church hierarchy longs for the days when it operated in secrecy, was immune from civil law, & it was almost unheard of for laity to criticize or question priests, who were dictators in their realms.

Labels: blogging against theocracy, in the news, justice, religion

Sen, John F. Kennedy's Address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, 9/12/60, is required reading in both great American oratory & First Amendment writing.

I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accept instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials, and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.

What little I recall of the 1960 presidential election: First, grownups of my parents' generation were excited by it; a win by either Kennedy or Nixon would mark  a passing of the torch to a new generation. Second, there was already a general air  of sleaziness about the Kennedy men's personal lives, although adults didn't discuss the rumors in front of children. But it was there.  Third, there was an uneasiness among many protestants regarding Kennedy's Catholicism. It wasn't so pronounced  in my town; just something picked up from wisecracks of other protestant kids I figured they picked up from their parents.  My Republican dad, an ex-Catholic (raised strictly), so detested J.F.K. as a person & politician that I doubt religion even figured into it. He certainly  had no qualms voting for Catholic Republicans. But it surely meant more in the protestant South & Midwest farm states.

Kennedy's speech pretty much settled the matter of Roman Catholics in American public office.  In response to Kennedy's campaign,  the Vatican made an important change to its official view of church/state separation (from disapproval to alright for a Democracy; a key adjustment that eventually made it possible for the United States to open diplomatic relations in 1983, although Baptist  Harry Truman had wanted to do it in 1951).

We've since had a Roman Catholic candidate, John Kerry, & a Greek Orthodox Catholic candidate, Michael Dukakis, neither of whom lost due to their religions. Vice President Biden is Roman Catholic.  Six Supreme Court justices are Roman Catholic or were raised Catholic.

Rick Santorum, a Roman Catholic whose run for the presidential nomination as a candidate soliciting votes of conservative protestant Republicans seeking to erode church/state  separation was ironically made possible by John F. Kennedy, says this great speech made him want to "throw up."

Would Santorum take orders from the Pope?  His reaction makes me wonder about it. It's clear Santorum doesn't like secular laws contrary to Catholic doctrine.  Never mind required  health insurance coverage for  contraceptive methods.  What about the public availability of contraceptive devices & medications, including those Trojans on display in 7-Eleven? The Roman Catholic Church is against artificial insemination, also covered by many insurance plans. Marriage equality? Maybe Santorum wants to restore so-called "sodomy laws" that made heterosexual oral sex illegal.
***
Santorum backed away from the "throw up " statement but not from opinion attached to it.  He thinks there's some terrible threat to religious expression in America.  Has there ever been more religion in American political discourse? Have the  religious beliefs of presidents & presidential wannabes ever been more scrutinized & more important? What major religion in America is suffering more suppression than Islam? Every Muslim in America is still expected to apologize for 9/11 as a precondition to expressing a public opinion on anything else. "I'm sorry for the terrorist attacks, I condemn them, & would you please fill the pot hole in the street in front of my house?

Labels: blogging against theocracy, religion, sex with a Republican, THE election

Discrimination against same-sex marriages cannot be tolerated in our society as a matter of law

By Robert Menendez

Since my vote in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act 15 years ago, like tens of millions of Americans, I have reflected deeply and frequently about this issue. During this time, I have engaged in discussions about the issue of marriage equality with friends, family members, colleagues and of course, the people I serve in New Jersey. I have heard and listened to many different views.

But for me, this comes down to an issue of fundamental fairness. For me, this comes down to the principles I learned as the child of immigrants and that I cherish as an American: that we believe in equality for all people under the law.

So today, I am announcing my support for the Respect for Marriage Act, which repeals DOMA and ensures that all lawfully married couples — including same-sex couples — receive the benefits of marriage under federal law. 
***
No American should have to wait outside a hospital room while a loved one suffers inside. No American should lose inheritance simply because the federal government does not recognize the couple’s marriage. No child should feel that his or her parents are somehow less equal under the law than a best friend’s parents. 

This kind of discrimination cannot be tolerated in our society as a matter of law, and it should not be tolerated. Two people who want to be committed to each other should be able to enter into marriage, and they should receive the benefits that flow from that commitment.

What took him so long? His daughter & son agree Wicked, the long-running gay allegory musical, is his favorite Broadway show.

Senator Robert "Bob" Menendez is a fairly good senator;  New Jersey doesn't have a tradition of electing great &/or colorful senators. Our governors tend to be characters. The guy Chris Christie beat, Jon Corzine, was the first outright boring elected governor we've had since I was a kid.  Menendez is a polished, urban politician, & if he comes across as sort of a stiff, I have seen a You Tube video of him dancing the salsa with an attractive young woman at a campaign event. There are over 1,500,000 Latinos in Jersey (well, we ain't California), most of them legal,  giving him an almost untouchable base in any race against  the country club candidates  Repugs tend to run for the office.

On the whole Menendez is one of the more liberal members of the senate, so far as he's given an opportunity to be safely liberal. Over the years as a congressmen & senator he's tended to duck some issues by  not co-sponsoring progressive  legislation (so he isn't  on-the-record  if the bills never come to a vote) or casting a "safe" vote, as he's done with anti-flag-burning laws & DOMA. He's vocally against giving Cuba any slack, although his parents fled fascist Batista, not commie Castro.  Of course, he accepts plenty of moola from the finance, insurance and real estate industries.  A reform Democrat  he ain't. Voters  don't pay  much attention to the fine print legislation that benefits big business. He's up for reelection in 2012 & it won't do to attach himself to Barack Obama's coattails. New Jersey is more   Clinton territory. Barack can draw &  impress a crowd here, but Jersey Democrats go nuts when Bill or Hillary show up for an event. They are money-in-the-bank at fundraisers.

So what changed Menendez on DOMA? No doubt he's sincere. The urban Latino & African-American Democratic base in Jersey is at best generally indifferent to gay rights. But the suburban middle class part of the party, as well the much-coveted independent, educated suburban women, are  long past debating gay rights. Jersey's most prominent gay rights organization, Garden State Equality, can channel a lot of support, monetary & practical, into local races. The GSE chairperson, Steven Goldstein, is very outspoken about who he likes & doesn't like & knows how to get media attention. If you're a Democrat, you gain nothing by getting on Steven's sh*t list. No conservatives will change their votes to you, but many Democrats will decide not to give you money & will skip over your name on Election Day.

Republicans can't win statewide in Jersey running on conservative social values. Not even pro-life, anti-marriage equality Chris Christie did it. He put those positions on his campaign resume & then ignored them except when speaking to Repug audiences, making his successful campaign for governor about the only issue that uniformly gets suburban voters riled up: property taxes. Those suburban independent women actually like Gov. Baggy Pants. 

It won't be easy to beat Menendez. Being "liberal" isn't the kiss-of-defeat in Jersey. You can call Menendez a boss, an insider, a deal-broker, a professional politician, & he's all of those. But he comes across as a serious, studious, wonky person; he's all of those too. I'm glad he came around on marriage equality.  His daughter, Alicia, makes talking head appearances as a political commentator on cable networks. I think she had much to do with  changing her dad's mind.


(You can argue that all Broadway musicals except La Cage Aux Folles are gay allegories, & the spirit of La Cage is like  Charley's Aunt & Some Like it Hot in its cross-dressing mistaken identity plot.)

Labels: blogging against theocracy, in the news, justice, New Jersey politics

The Learning Channel's "All-American Muslim," a reality show focusing on a group of Muslim families in Dearborn, Michigan, has been a target of the Shariah panic industry ever since it started airing. On Friday, hardware retailer Lowe's pulled their ads from the show in response to a protest campaign from the Florida Family Association.

The Washington Post published the FFA's statement on why it objected so vehemently to the show.

"All-American Muslim’ is propaganda clearly designed to counter legitimate and present-day concerns about many Muslims who are advancing Islamic fundamentalism and Sharia law," the Florida group asserts in a letter it asks members to send to TLC advertisers.

The Florida friggin' Family Association? Lowe's is afraid of the Florida friggin' Family Association?  Who are they? 100 idiots, 10 asshole committee members, & a website?

We non-Muslim Americans, because we're so influenced by Saudi Arabia's fundamentalist Wahhabi Islam & utterly freaked by Shiite Islam (which are  enemies to each other, btw),  buy into a monolithic Islam in which all  Muslims practice their faith  the same way, interpret the Koran the same way, & are raised to hate The Great Satan United States even when they are born here, & they all  want laws in America to permit the stoning of female adulterers.   If you believe this, you must believe all Jews are ultra-orthodox Zionists, Roman Catholics are privy to a secret Papal agenda,  the Dalai Lama is the king of Buddhists, & Fundamentalist Protestants want to take over the American government. O.K., that's a trick statement. Fundamentalist protestants do want to take over the government. But not all fundamentalist protestants. Only the ones in groups like the Florida Family Association, which has as its agenda a form of Christian sharia & includes suppressing freedom of religion & speech  for American Muslims,  as well as insisting that criticism of Fundamentalist Protestantism constitutes  criticism of  all Christians, since they, like religious fundamentalists everywhere,  practice the only legitimate form of the religion.  Maybe the Southern Baptists want to stone female adulterers, I haven't looked at their website recently.

Labels: blogging against theocracy, religion

Matthew 22:17, the famous "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's" encounter, is not about paying taxes. Jesus is saying, "I'm trying to explain something important & all you do is show me your stupid money."

The Synoptic Gospels have many stories like this.

"I'm trying to explain something important & all you do is ask me how to join the club."

"I'm trying to explain something important & all you do is ask me what the rules are."

"I'm trying to explain something important & you think children can't understand it."

"I'm trying to explain something important & all you do is demand I perform miracles."

"I'm trying to explain something important & you think I'll be annoyed because you didn't do  a good job arranging the cookies on the tray."

"I'm trying to explain something important &  you're pissed off because I didn't tell you first." 

Jesus looks at a Roman coin & the guy with his face  on the coin thinks putting his face on the coin proves he's divine. But Jesus, who has an inside knowledge of such claims, knows that every individual person on the planet is more precious to God than the whole freakin' Roman Empire.

"Go away," Jesus says to the bigshots with the trick questions, "you don't get it, don't bother me with this bullcrap."

 Of course, Jesus made particular claims for himself & his mission.  But his refusal to be distracted for long by politicians, ideologues, snobs,  celebrity mongers, sightseers, & scripture-quoting savants is typical of great spiritual teachers.

Labels: blogging against theocracy, love, Mahalo, religion

The House reaffirmed "In God We Trust" as the national motto for - what? - the third or fourth time? Keep trying to flush out the godless liberals. My congressman, one of the most liberal in the House & in a safe seat, just goes "Yeah yeah" & votes yea for stuff like this.  I wish I could find the  transcript of Representative  Trent Franks'  speech; the excerpts I've read are incomprehensible, like a third grader forced to give an oral report on theology.

This used to be "ceremonial deism, " or what I call the "granite gods." It's the religion of American monuments, centered on the Mall in Washington with smaller temples in every city & town, & approved by the Supreme Court. We've always had it, but it took on a settled  shape in  the decades after the Civil War when thousands  of commemorative statues were constructed & dedicated, Memorial Day was created, & Lincoln's brilliant Old Testament-flavored  oratory had  influenced  the hack speeches of local politicians.  American composer Charles Ives captured it perfectly 100 years ago. It was the religion of solemn public occasions when I was a kid,  acknowledged quickly at government meetings, Little League award dinners, etc.,  & I'm  comfortable enough with it.

But since the rise of the protestant right in the Seventies, "ceremonial deism" has become increasingly specific - narrower -  by implication. You could practice American Ceremonial Deism without mentioning Jesus. Lincoln's speeches weren't Christian. In fact, Lincoln became the deified American Savior who died for our sins of slavery & war.  We built him a magnificent temple. Pull out a penny if you have one handy.  Now a considerable portion of the Christian Right / Republican base  won't even let "In God We Trust" encompass that most American of religions, Mormonism.  If Mitt Romney says he trusts in God, he's expected to explain how  his God is the same as Michelle Bachmann's or Rick Perry's God.

The best Ceremonial  Deism tried to leave wiggle room for atheists, agnostics, non-Christians, & enthusiastic  First Amendment advocates.  But if  you're  the kind of person who mumbles "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, or stands but doesn't sing "God Bless America" during the 7th Inning Stretch,  just because it makes you uncomfortable, now you'll get a nasty look from the fundamentalist standing next to you. That person wishes you weren't permitted to vote.

Labels: blogging against theocracy, in the news, religion

The protesters were out at last night's Union NJ Board of Education meeting, for & against Viki Knox, the high school teacher who posted vicious, religious-based homobigoted statements on her personal Facebook page. The gray area of free expression in this matter is that she used  her FB page to communicate with her school prayer group. Does that mean she was speaking in her capacity as a teacher & advisor rather than as a private citizen? I'm inclined to think it does, but I wouldn't want to have it tested in court.  Our conservative, Roman Catholic governor found the remarks "disturbing." However, I suspect Knox belongs to the variety of protestantism that considers the Pope the Whore of Babylon or some Beast from the Book of Revelation. The Star-Ledger published a a strongly-worded editorial on Monday calling for her dismissal. But the newspaper isn't responsible to the property taxpayers of Union NJ who would have to foot the bill for the lawsuit Knox would certainly bring against the Board.

Since Knox considers anyone supportive of LGBT rights to be her "enemies," then she should be confronted by those "enemies" in her own school, the students & teachers. This meeting should take place in private. Her mind won't be changed - reason won't have any effect on her beliefs. If she's a hero at her church, so be it.  She should be made to look at photos of lynchings, old ones of African-Americans & more recent ones of gays like Matthew Shepard. She  must be reminded, graphically, that violent words can have violent consequences. She must be told that from now on she will be under a microscope; every word she says in school,  every interaction with a gay teacher or student, every FB post will be  noted & recorded. Every meeting of her prayer club, since it is open to all students, will be monitored. Rather than turn her into a martyr (& possibly opening up a lucrative public speaking career), let her choose to become a  pathetic figure wandering the halls of Union High School.  The teacher union has to take her side,  but few members will respect her. Her student devotees will come & go, they can  provide her support & solace.

Labels: blogging against theocracy, in the news, religion

I keep reading how Romney is supposed to "explain" his religion to evangelical Repugs. Explain what? He's a Mormon. Go read the Wikipedia entry. What, if he keeps explaining it at some point he'll turn into a  Southern Baptist? The Constitution prohibits a religious test for holding office, so the Christian right does the screening.

Someone  told me her Southern Baptist grandparents poured a little bit of milk in their root beer because they thought the carbonation was too stimulating. In lifestyle, there's isn't much difference between stricter Southern Baptists & Mormons. But Mormons wouldn't put milk their non-caffeine  carbonated beverages. They don't strike me like that. Some Southern Baptists wanted to boycott Disney World when Disney  allowed informal "gay days" & recognized the domestic partnerships of its employees. Mormons spend millions  opposing marriage equality, but Its hard to imagine them boycotting amusement parks.

Years ago I worked for a Mormon-owned print shop chain in NYC, Somewhere in my book boxes are several hundred pages of instructions for Mormon missionaries that read like they were written by behaviorists from  the Brigham Young University psychology dept., & probably were.    A slick Mormon missionary is always two steps ahead of the mark. Since the most susceptible mark is a confused,  under-educated person with  personal issues, those conversion techniques are hard to resist. The young male duos in the white shirts & ties show up with their complete media indoctrination package on the second  home visit & don't leave without pushing hard for a baptism date.

But what major Mormon politician has ever  been accused of using an elected office to proselytize? The Church of Latter Day Saints consider Mormon politicians themselves to be advertisements for the faith. Same as evangelical Christians regard favored evangelical politicians.  Many evangelicals believe Mormonism a dangerous Christian heresy, therefore Mitt Romney is a heretic. Mitt was born a Mormon.  Mormonism competes directly with evangelical missionaries around the world.  Religion writer Karen Armstrong says Mormonism isn't Christianity, but the 4th major Abrahamic religion. I'm inclined to agree. Mormons themselves prefer we believe they're protestants. Nonsense. But it's grown beyond a "cult."

Mormonism is a strange thing. Totally American. I don't buy anything about it  except that I have some regard for the structure of the church community. If  Mormonism had been birthed 2000 years ago, the Christian story would be no less incredible than Joseph Smith's tale of digging up golden plates, translating the contents with a "seer stone" as The Book of Mormon,  then conveniently handing them back to an angel.

I used to smoke pot & visit  the Mormon headquarters in New York to see the diorama of dummies with talking lips projected on to their faces. One of the scenes was a perfect Mormon family!

Romney is every bit as dull as he seems. By his own account, he lived in France for two years as a young Mormon missionary & sampled virtually nothing of the culture. Had no interest in it.  Never even went to the Louvre.  The only similar story I've read  is that of Wendy's founder Dave Thomas, skipping weekend passes while stationed in Germany with the Army, spending his free time experimenting with burgers in the mess hall. Yes, he really did.

Labels: blogging against theocracy, religion, THE election

Serve Time In Jail...Or In Church?

BAY MINETTE, Alabama --

Non-violent offenders in Bay Minette now have a choice some would call simple: do time behind bars or work off the sentence in church.

Operation Restore Our Community or "ROC"...begins next week. The city judge will either let misdemenor offenders work off their sentences in jail and pay a fine or go to church every Sunday for a year.

If offenders elect church, they're allowed to pick the place of worship, but must check in weekly with the pastor and the police department. If the one-year church attendance program is completed successfully, the offender's case will be dismissed.

Bay Minette Police Chief Mike Rowland says it costs his department about 75 bucks per inmate per day. Rowland says the ROC program will be cost-effective and could change the lives of many people heading down the wrong path.

So far, 56 churches in North Baldwin County are participating in ROC.

Rowland says the program is legal and doesn't violate separation of church and state issues because it allows the offender to choose church or jail...and the church of their choice.

This is so wrong, so blatantly unconstitutional. The offender is given a choice only between church or jail. What if you have no church?  What if your religion is not represented? What if you're an atheist?  What if you're a wiccan solitary?  What if the offender is me, or you, &  we know it's nuts & wouldn't happen where we live?  Maybe ... just maybe .. it could pass constitutional muster if community service was the third option. The "state" is saying you observe an approved religion for one year or go to jail. Your case will be dismissed only if you go to church. But don't think this is some new right wing religion idea. It's the way these people are,  a small town in Alabama. But it's still so wrong that the first person to challenge it will find the ACLU paying legal costs. The town of Bay Minette, if it's too stubborn, will spend  thousands of dollars of taxpayer money defending this ridiculous policy, & lose.

Labels: blogging against theocracy, religion

I don't get this.  For the past year, national polls measuring views on full marriage equality, when the choices are simply yes or no, come up about evenly divided. Northeast & West Coast are more in favor than South & Midwest.  But when there are three choices; full marriage equality, domestic partnerships / civil unions,  or no recognition,  around  a whopping 70% of Americans favor some kind of legal recognition for gay & lesbian couples. The hinge remains the word marriage.  In Michigan, the legislature is acting against the preferences of a large majority of its constituents.

 Michiganders & Americans support basic legal rights & protections for same sex couples. Approving a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man & a woman, as Michigan did,  doesn't change that. A lot of straight people, mainly over the age of 40,  have problems applying the word  marriage to same sex couples.  Michigan voted against gay marriage, not against civil unions, & if they were polled today  it's  what the polls would indicate.  Most Americans by large margin  want same sex couples recognized in some way  as legitimate households, if not as husband & husband or wife & wife.  True, Michigan has some very rural districts. In New Jersey, I doubt if  any Republican has been elected to the statehouse with a mandate to roll back Jersey's civil union laws (despite what a few of them may believe), as he or she did not win  election  based on that issue.  I suspect the same applies for most Republican legislators in Michigan.  A large majority of Jerseyans support our civil union  legislation, & there's been remarkably little complaint about it.  It went into effect, we accepted it.

If there's a problem in Michigan defining a domestic partnership, if the state civil service commission  has defined it in such a way that it  could result in an abuse of benefits by couples that are not really committed "partners," the state legislature should deal with that matter & tighten the eligibility requirements with some stronger contractual standards, not use it as an excuse for homo-bigotry.

Unless The United States morphs into a theocratic police state, always a possibility if we stay on the road we're traveling,  the next few generations of Americans  will be repealing all these anti-marriage equality laws & amendments, except  in Mississippi.

Labels: blogging against theocracy, religion, sex with a Republican

This use of religion in politics is a source of cynicism. It should raise alarms when the views of the Almighty conveniently match our most urgent political needs. A faith that conforms exactly to the contours of a political ideology has lost its independence. Churches become clubs of the politically like-minded. Political dialogue suffers, since opponents are viewed as heretics. And when religion becomes too closely identified with a detailed political platform, both are quickly outdated. Despite William Jennings Bryan’s best efforts, who now recalls God’s view of bimetallism?   - Michael Gerson

On the evidence, it's ludicrous to believc you have to believe in the Christian or Jewish deity to be morally qualified to hold elective office in America.

Politics is, as has often been said, the art of the possible. Which means it relies upon flexibility, compromise, change, cooperation. Religion often asserts not only what seems impossible (supernaturally, historically, scientifically, & in expectations of  human behavior), but in its stricter forms asserts it dogmatically, no debate, no compromise, no on-going revelation. In orthodox Christianity, revelation is closed, done, written, the revelation succinctly stated in several creeds. Of course, reason tells us this revelation, unbelievable as it sounds, & a matter of faith & even suspension of reason, says nothing specific about the debt-ceiling. In fact, it says nothing about democratic government, big versus small government, government programs,  Nor do the books that contain the revelation have anything to say about these. They have plenty to say about morality & ethics,  but even there we find contradictions, paradoxes, difficult parables, & "laws" we now consider unnecessary to obey if not outright barbaric.

How much does fundamentalist Christianity, the ultra-literalist manifestation of the faith  least open to differences of interpretation, to variety, contribute to the current  sorry condition of politics in America? It's sadly ironic that people who do not hold fundamentalist religious beliefs have applied its stubborn certainty to their political views. They definitely know what Jesus would do about the debt ceiling; he'd do whatever they'd do.

(Fundamentalists resist climate change science because they can't accept the eight known glacial cycles that have occurred during the developmental period of the modern human over 800,000 years, during which the most recent Wisconsin maximum glacial advance 20,000 years ago & subsequent retreat established widespread human presence & culture in the Americas before the time the Bible says  God created the universe. This makes them allies of the oil interests, which have to disprove major human-influenced climate change in order to preserve their power & profit. )

Labels: blogging against theocracy, religion