The Gaytheist Agenda

And to think I just finished eating before reading this…

Women preachers are urging followers at one of Britain’s most influential mosques to kill homosexuals and view all non-Muslims as “vile”, according to an investigative documentary by Channel 4. The London Central Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre is one of the most respected centres for moderate Islam in western Europe.

The report that these extremist preachers have held study circles there and are teaching followers a hard line version of the faith followed in Saudi Arabia, known as Wahhabism has come as a surprise. Undercover reporters from Channel 4’s Dispatches recorded the lectures in the women’s section of the Mosque ordering women to murder gays and ex-Muslims.

This is a center for moderate Islam? What do they teach in the radical centers?

An unnamed Saudi woman is seen mocking other religions - labelling Christianity as ‘vile’ and an ‘abomination’. Another, known as ‘Angelique’, claims Britain is a ‘land of evil’.

What, are they holding her there under duress? Why doesn’t she leave if it’s such a ‘land of evil’?

The investigators attended lectures for two months at the mosque, which had promised a clean up after another Dispatches probe just 18 months ago exposed it for spreading extreme Islamic views. During one sermon, a woman called Um Amira says: ‘He is Muslim, and he gets out of Islam.

what are we going to do? We kill him, kill, kill.’ In the programme, to be screened on Monday, she adds that women adulterers should be stoned to death and people who have sex before marriage should get ‘100 lashes’.

This makes our own fundies look fairly rational by comparison. That’s rather frightening. Sadly I doubt anything will change even after this second attempt to clean up the mess there.

 

Yes, I know I promised wedding photos but they haven’t come in yet so I’m doing things a bit out of order here. Suffice it to say Sapphocrat and I are happily married and we had a fabulous honeymoon. We started off at Holly’s Place, a beautiful retreat at South Lake Tahoe.

We had a cozy cabin with a private patio. Most nights we grilled on our personal BBQ grill (roasted veggies are the best) and watched DVDs we borrowed from the community room on the premises. A couple of times we paid late-night visits to the lovely hot tub, which remains open 24-hours-a-day. There’s nothing like soaking under the stars while surrounded by gigantic pine trees.

Both of us devoured Rosemary’s Baby, I for the first time and my wife for a repeat read. I then moved on to And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic, 20th-Anniversary Edition while she began The Burnt House.

Amidst all of this we did manage to make it down to the lake. It’s positively stunning. Word to the wise; avoid Reagan Beach as it’s dirty and smelly. Stick to the main beach though it’s more crowded and touristy.

We spent our last two nights in Reno at the Peppermill casino and hotel. I did some shopping and reading while my wife gambled, and we enjoyed some delicious food and coffee at the Peppermill’s various restaurants.

On the way home we stopped by Donner Memorial State Park to tour the museum and park. Read a bit about the Donner party here. Below is a photo of me in front of the Donner monument. The stone base indicates the depth of the snow that winter in 1846, just to give you some perspective.

Needless to say we both wish we could have had a longer honeymoon but of course we had to return to reality. One thing we did determine was that we’re going to spend less time attached to our computers and more time doing other things. Our time spent “unplugged” was very precious indeed.

 

I’ll be away for a while. I have a wedding and honeymoon to attend to. Check back in about a week and a half for pictures and details. In the meantime enjoy the many excellent links on my blogroll to the right.

 

This is a must-read article by Carol V. Hamilton. I discovered it on George Mason University’s History News Network. I’ve excerpted some of the finer parts, and you can go here for the entire piece. (BTW, the answer to the question is yes.)

 

…..
The third branch of American Christianity insists upon the letter of the Hebrew scriptures and the New Testament. Its adherents typically describe themselves as “Christian” (rather than “Congregationalist” or “Presbyterian”). Its institutions often describe themselves as “nondenominational.” This third branch seems untroubled by the doctrinal and behavioral differences between Jesus of Nazareth in his benign and tolerant moods and the despotic God of the Old Testament—that jealous and demanding deity who tormented Job and ordered Abraham to kill his son. Yet even in its seemingly unqualified admiration for the Old Testament, Christian fundamentalism studiously ignores certain Bible stories, such as the ones about the relationships of David and Jonathan and of Ruth and Naomi.

…..
This third branch of Christianity poses a serious threat to our political well-being. Authoritarian, narrow in its scope, rigid in its attitudes, and tautological in its thinking, evangelical fundamentalism has been making war on the founding ideas of the United States. Its belief in submission to authority puts it at odds with a democratic republic. Its hostility to intellectual inquiry—by its very nature an interrogation of authority—causes it to wage war on scientific research and modern medicine. Its valorization of ancient codes of behavior inspires its attacks on feminism and gay rights. Its revisionist attitude toward history—denying the deism, skepticism, and Masonic associations of certain major Founders—is dishonest.

Fundamentalist Christianity is essentially anti-modern. It holds that truth became manifest two thousand years ago, and everything since—Copernicus and the solar system, the work of Galileo and Michelangelo, the scientific discoveries of Newton, Bacon and Locke, Wollstonecraft and the rights of women, the abolition of slavery, Darwin and Wallace, anesthesia, vaccines against smallpox and polio, progress in civil rights and social justice, the invention of the automobile, bicycle, telephone, airplane, radio, television, computer—is of no consequence. Even though most fundamentalist Christians (unlike the consistent Amish) enjoy the advantages of modern discoveries, inventions, and medical care, they do not acknowledge human ingenuity. (If pressed, they will say God is responsible for all material forms of human progress.) The highest achievements in mathematics, music, painting, sculpture, and literature are of no compelling significance or interest. Evolution is “just a theory” —like gravity?—and a blasphemous one at that.

…..

Its anti-intellectualism makes fundamentalist Christianity not only intolerant and judgmental but also tautological and superstitious—inclined to the kind of circular logic that attributes divine motivation to carefully selected natural disasters while ignoring the innumerable tragedies and disasters that are not amenable to such interpretations. It believes in a divinity that controls every aspect of life, does everything for a (good) reason, and punishes those who disobey ancient prohibitions.

Its insistence on the inferiority and subordination of women, an attitude it shares with other religious fundamentalisms, is undemocratic and anti-modern. And its obsession with salvation and the afterlife makes it indifferent, or even hostile, to modern innovations for the general good and modern notions of social justice when those conflict, as they often do, with ancient traditions. Many of its members hope for an apocalypse in their own lifetimes, much as credulous peasants did as the year 1000 approached.
…..
Fundamentalists will insist in their blog posts (see the “On Faith” section of the Washington Post) that all you have to do is “read” the Bible—an assertion that ignores the multiple translations the Bible has undergone, both into English and into different idioms of English. For decades literary scholars have argued about interpretations of poems by Yeats; for centuries they have disputed the nuances of sonnets and soliloquies by Shakespeare. Well-educated theologians in Catholicism and the mainstream Protestant denominations know very well that religious scholars have quarreled over interpretations, with some of them risking excommunication or death, yet fundamentalists believe in a single, transparent, unambiguous, and universal Biblical text.

Even more disturbing is the fundamentalist belief that the Bible is the only book you need to read and study. It contains all the answers to every conceivable question. Fundamentalists may attend schools that feature a “Christ-centered curriculum” or be home-schooled in a way that prevents exposure to any subject or argument that conflicts with their 2000-year-old worldview. They may attend “universities,” (a misnomer) whose curricula conform to the views of people who died two millennia ago—back when it was common knowledge that the earth was flat and that the sun rotated around it. Such an education is guaranteed to prevent students from encountering the skeptical views of Jefferson, Freud, Darwin, Frazer, Malinowski, or Mark Twain.

One sign of their ignorance is the popular claim that our legal system originates from the ten commandments. As Bill Maher points out, a number of the commandments don’t correspond to law at all. Actually, the law is probably more involved with property than justice. We don’t arrest people who exclaim “My God!”, fail to buy a gift on Mother’s Day, or covet their neighbor’s Mazeratti. And like other bodies of human knowledge and creation, the law is an ongoing process of arguments, counter-arguments, decisions, appeals, and new decisions. In referring to the legal system, American fundamentalists give no credit to the contributions of Emperor Justinian, Alfred the Great, Henry II, Edward I, and various rebellious nobles, assertive merchants, and unruly peasants.
…..
Fundamentalist Christianity possesses no such intellectual curiosity, depth, or complexity. Instead, it concerns itself with the moral conduct of American citizens—morality as defined by Biblical precepts and taboos. In so far as it takes any interest in science, fundamentalist Christianity is defensive, attempting either to reconcile the Bible with, or to subvert, science. Its main preoccupations appear to be the control of female sexuality and reproduction (no birth control, no possibility of abortion), the criminalization of homosexuality, access to government funds for its “faith-based initiatives,” and the injection of a primitive Christianity into all aspects of the public sphere, from government ceremonies to first-grade classrooms.
…..

Much more at the above link, and well worth the full read.

This has nothing to do with LGBT issues or atheism but it piqued my interest nonetheless. It’s a MoJo photo essay on phone sex operators. They’re the real, live people you reach if you call those 1-900 numbers advertised on late night television. However don’t look if you want to keep alive the illusion that you’re talking to the svelte, doe-eyed blonds from the advertisements.

 

I knew it was only a matter of time before the bigot brigade got their feathers ruffled over PG&E’s decision to donate $250,000 to the campaign to defeat Proposition 8. Of course in addition to rending their garments they’re making fools of themselves. But I repeat myself.

Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families, says no public utility should be allowed to take such a position. “They provide power — gas and electricity. They should not be taking positions against ballot measures,” he emphasizes. “That’s like a quasi-government agency taking positions against ballot measures, which is illegal.”

He adds that the money contribution would also seem to make PG&E, which services a large part of central and northern California, “the homosexual marriage utility.”

Churches continuously illegally take positions on elections and that’s fine. But suddenly a utility taking a position on a ballot measure by making a donation is an affront to his values? Thomasson needs to get over himself.

At any rate I welcome the bigots to do what they always do when a company supports equality. Boycott. Come on. I dare you. Boycott PG&E.

Regardless, Thomasson says it is clear business owners and voters must make a decision. “It’s time for businesses to take a stand. It’s either yes or no for natural marriage,” says the pro-family leader. “The voters need to take a stand — yes or no for Proposition 8.” And businesses, he adds, need to take a stand — with their dollars — for the amendment.

Interesting. First Thomasson rants because PG&E chose to donate to the No on 8 campaign, then he claims that businesses need to take a stand. Would he please make up his mind? Of course I know what the thinly veiled message is; businesses need to come to our side, or else.

But as McDonald’s and PG&E are proving, the bigots really don’t have so much bargaining power any more. And that is a very, very good thing.

 

The contested 43-foot cross will stay atop Mt. Soledad in San Diego despite a efforts to have it removed.

…..
“The court finds the memorial at Mt. Soledad, including its Latin cross, communicates the primarily nonreligious messages of military service, death and sacrifice,” wrote U.S. District Judge Larry Alan Burns in his decision filed Tuesday. “As such, despite its location on public land, the memorial is constitutional.”
…..
“If you want to put a cross on your front lawn . . . we will be the first to defend you,” said David Blair-Loy, legal director of the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties. “When the government is sponsoring and endorsing the preeminent symbol of one religion, that’s when we have a problem.”
…..
The cross is also displayed “along with numerous purely secular symbols in an overall context that reinforces its secular message,” the judge said.

Although walls with other religious symbols, such as the Star of David, have been added to the Mt. Soledad display, they are dwarfed by the large cross, Blair-Loy said. “It is a 43-foot cross on one of the highest points in San Diego,” he said. “If the cross is not a religious symbol, I don’t know what is.”

Why is it so many people attempt to claim giant Christian crosses and even Nativity creches are secular symbols? Furthermore, where does the judge get the idea that because the cross is displayed with secular symbols it “reinforces” it’s secular nature? If I put up a Star of David, a pentacle and a Crescent Moon, then surrounded them with myriad secular items would that make them all suddenly secular? If someone, such as PZ Meyers, were to take one and hold it hostage or desecrate it, I doubt people would be calling it a secular symbol then.

But of course it’s only a secular symbol when it suits the needs of people who want to skirt the law.

 

There are numerous groups across the nation that bill themselves as Pro-Family. Groups such as Focus on the Family, American Family Association, Family Research Institute, Traditional Values Coalition and others claim that purpose. Ostensibly they’re fighting for the so-called “traditional” family, that being a Christian heterosexual couple and however many children they have (the more the better, of course). Of course one thing all of these groups have in common is their radical anti-gay agenda.

Take a look at any of their websites as linked above and you’ll see that they all have anti-gay propaganda, though some are more subtle about it than others. They couch their hatred in sweet sounding terminology and pretend they’re doing it all because they have a deep and abiding Christlike love for LGBT people. They’re trying to save us from hell, after all.

But there’s no love behind what they’re doing to us in California. No doubt many of you have heard of Proposition 8. In case you haven’t, here is the text of it again:

Changes California Constitution to eliminate right of same-sex couples to marry. Provides that only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.

Fiscal Impact: Over the next few years, potential revenue loss, mainly sales taxes, totaling in the several tens of millions of dollars, to state and local governments. In the long run, likely little fiscal impact to state and local governments.

Well, Focus on the Family has been pouring a great deal of money into the efforts to get Proposition 8 passed. So far they have donated $400,713.74. I kid you not. Nearly half a million dollars to eradicate marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples in just one state, and it’s only August second. Who knows how much more they will have poured into the effort before November?

I really have to ask how many actual Pro-Family efforts Focus on the Family and other such groups have contributed to. Have they donated to any shelters for homeless families (like the one I worked in many years ago), food pantries, community centers, after-school programs or any other programs designed to actually help the families they claim they’re supporting? Have they offered even a fraction of what they spend on their anti-gay efforts to help families? Or are they, as I suspect, focused on keeping gay people from having equal rights while using the “pro-family” label as a front.

Of course they’re more than welcome to enlighten me as to how vast their contributions to actual pro-family causes are (with appropriate documentation, of course, since I’m not inclined to take them at their word for obvious reasons). But I doubt any of the organizations will rise to the challenge, primarily because they have no ammunition.

 

Another day, another hate crime against a transgender woman. From The Advocate:

A Colorado man is accused of fatally battering a sex partner with a fire extinguisher after discovering that his companion was a transgender woman.

Allen Ray Andrade, 31, faces several charges, including second-degree murder, in the death of Justin Zapata, 20, who was known as Angie Zapata. The victim’s bloodied, battered body was discovered in her apartment by her sister on July 17.

Weld County district attorney Ken Buck said Wednesday that he is considering filing first-degree murder charges and may prosecute the death as a hate crime.
…..
Andrade told investigators that he met Zapata through MocoSpace, a social network designed primarily for cell phone users, according to an arrest affidavit released by Greeley police. The two met July 15 and spent the day together.
Andrade told investigators that Zapata performed oral sex on him but wouldn’t let him touch her, according to the affidavit.

He said he also spent the night at Zapata’s apartment, but in separate beds. The next day, Zapata left Andrade alone in her apartment, and Andrade noticed several photographs that led him to question Zapata’s gender.

Andrade confronted Zapata when she got back. He grabbed Zapata’s crotch area, felt male genitalia and became angry, the affidavit says. He told investigators that he took a fire extinguisher off a shelf, struck Zapata twice in the head, and thought he ”killed it.”
…..
Andrade told investigators he covered Zapata with a blanket and started gathering evidence he thought might link him to the crime when he heard gurgling sounds and noticed Zapata was sitting up. That’s when he picked up the fire extinguisher and hit her again, police said. He left the scene in her car.
…..

Standard way to dehumanize any transgender person. Call him or her “it”. How any of the bigots still fail to see why we’re so disgusted with them? Are they that obtuse? More likely they just don’t care. Such is the depth of their hatred.

May Allen Ray Andrade rot in prison for the rest of his life assuming he’s found guilty, which it sounds like he is.

 

My better half has crafted an incredible post addressing the recent shooting at the Unitarian Universalist Church and many more things. It’s well worth reading so pay a visit to the Lavender Newswire and check it out. While it’s intended as a message to the RRRW I believe others will gain benefit from it as well.