The Gaytheist Agenda

Absolutely beautiful. By Frank Schaeffer , via The Brad Blog.

Woe to you American Christians! You say I’m the “son of God” and yet you bully the defenseless in my name.

Do you understand the parable of the Good Samaritan?

Let me refresh your memory…
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In case you missed the point of that parable as I’m quoted as telling it in the book of Luke it was that the theologically correct evangelical born-again “saved” passed by on the other side of the road when confronted with a human being in need. It was the “unsaved” theologically incorrect foreigner, today’s equivalent of your atheists or Muslims or gay men and women, the unloved and the outcast, who stopped and did my Father’s will and took care of the injured man.

Put it another way: Did you miss the point when I said that those who come to me saying “Lord, Lord we followed you and believed correctly” are the very ones that I will cast out of the Kingdom of Heaven, since they did not care for the least of these, the downtrodden, the poor and the oppressed?

Did you get it when I said that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to the humble, and the outcasts; those who mourn and to the poor in spirit? Gay couples are who are being denied their civil rights are such as these. What are you doing to defend them?
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Who will qualify for calling themselves my sons and daughters: The meek who mourn or the proud who say: “Lord, I thank you that I’m not like these gay men and women and these illegal immigrants, and these lazy poor people who deserve no health care and these Muslims?”
You hypocrites! Don’t you get it?

You say you take everything in the Bible seriously and yet you ignore all the many verses about divorce and somehow paper that over because a majority of America buys into divorce now and you don’t want to lose your congregations. And half your pastors and religious leaders are divorced and remarried. But you stick it to gay men and women because they are a minority and easy to pick on! Why wax moralistic about one thing you call sin (though I have no problem with divorce per se) and yet stick it to a minority?
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You judgmental holy rollers are like banks always making a mistake in their own favor! Why do religious so-called conservative Americans always pick on the little guy, the disenfranchised, blacks, Hispanics, immigrants, pregnant women, gay people? I’ll tell you why!

Because you are bullies!

You are the Pharisees passing by on the other side of the road, those who are so sure you’re saved because of some nonsense that you believe in my name.
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Wrong!

You American Christians utterly defaced the name of Christianity with your racism, your slavery and your bigotry against women. And now you’re doing it again in your war against gay men and women and in your war against the poor who have no health care. Some of you even have had it as part of your wicked program to reestablish the Biblical law demanding death to gay people that I clearly showed must be broken by the greater law of love. Well, as you judge so you will be judged. Good luck with that!

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You hypocrites and liars! You say you’re preaching my gospel when my gospel never was about correct belief or correct behavior. My gospel was about not judging others, making room for everyone at the table, loving your neighbor as you love yourself. If gay men and women are your enemy then, as you know, I commanded you to love them! And if they are asking to be allowed to marry I commanded you to give to him who asks of you! Besides, you don’t own America. This is a democracy and yours is just one opinion.

How did it come to this?
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You are like the Pharisees I used to know and who strained out the least gnat of others’ so-called misbehavior while turning a blind eye to their own wickedness, hypocrisy and lies. Remember my sayings about taking the beam out of your own eye before removing the speck from your brother’s?

Quit worrying about gay people and start to worry about your so-called churches, those ash heaps of stinking bigotry and hate. The way you hate your first black president is all I need to know about you. So stop worrying about other people’s “sins” and start worrying about all the lies you are telling your children in my name!
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Do you really think I’m on the side of those who hate the “other”?

You are killing me again!

The point is to have a chance to sanctify love in every generation.

If I walked here on Earth again with you, you’d kill me again, just as you are going to kill all that is good in my name, just as some of you are praying for the death of your president who you even call “Anti-Christ.”

Let me tell you who is Anti-Christ: Christian “saved” America. Depart from me!

Please come up with a new name for whatever you are. Drop the word “Christ” out of your name. You’ve destroyed my reputation.

Sobering and Haunting.

This past week while rambling around the Internet I discovered three things I really wanted to share.

 
Empowering Spirits Foundation

Proud Hearts Reach Out
Join Us October 10th-11th!

The Empowering Spirits Foundation will hold its Proud Hearts Reach Out events in conjunction with Coming Out Day in numerous cities nationwide. The events are designed to allow LGBT individuals to work side-by-side with non-LGBT members of society in an effort to open up communication between both sides. ESF has partnered with MyOutSpirit.com and the various other organizations.
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Foundation Beyond Belief

Foundation Beyond Belief is a new 501c3 charitable and educational foundation created (1) to focus, encourage and demonstrate humanistic generosity, and (2) to support a nationwide education and support program for nontheistic parents.

The Foundation will highlight ten charitable organizations per quarter–one in each of ten areas (health, poverty, environment, education, human rights, and more). Members join the Foundation by signing up for a monthly automatic donation in the amount of their choice, then set up personal profiles to indicate how they would like their contribution distributed among the ten categories. Maybe you’d like to give 25 percent each to human rights, poverty, education, and the environment. We’ll distribute it accordingly. By year’s end, you will have helped support a dozen organizations in the areas you care most about.
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Carefully selected for impact and efficiency, the beneficiaries may be founded on any worldview so long as they do not engage in proselytizing. At the end of each quarter, 100 percent of the donations will be forwarded and a new slate of beneficiaries selected.
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The Devilfinder Search Engine

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DevilFinder Technology
With DevilFinder you can get at least 300 Total results from a single search query. How do we do this?, How is this possible??… Leave the thinking up to us. Just Relax and search all you want. With DevilFinder Technology anything is possible…

DevilFinder is Good for Websites
With DevilFinder search results your website is more likely to show up as opposed to being buried by google results due to the listing being in page number #8 or so. DevilFinder gives more exposure to low-ranking websites than other search engines out there!
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DevilFinder Does NOT Collect any Search Data from visitors.
We do not collect or track any information about what you searched for or where you clicked or go during your visit, unlike “Yahoo” or other popular search engines. No cookies or Javascript that invades your privacy. The only information we store is how many hits we get a month and any hacking attempts made on our servers.
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Let DevilFinder Send You To Hell
Now that you know who we are, Please let us send you to hell by searching for something. It could be anything like “Devil” or “Finder” or “Hell” or even “Evil”.

Could you live on $4.00 worth of food each day? The average food-stamp recipient in California gets $4.00/day in benefits, so they’re forced to make do with that. In fact more than 35 million people a year live on the paltry allotment provided by food stamps.

The Hunger Challenge, which runs from September 20-26 this year (sorry, I discovered it a bit late) challenges people to try living on just $4.00 worth of food/day.

To provide tangible assistance, just donate or volunteer to help hungry individuals and families. If you don’t live in the San Francisco area you can always help people near you by locating a food bank in your area.

I’ll give the challenge a try and I encourage others to do the same. Share your experiences with the world via your Blog or other venue. Maybe we can raise awareness and achieve something good.

 

Here are all the things I’ve had sitting around in my temp folder but haven’t gotten around to blogging about in depth:

 
Healthcare reform, poverty and privileged whiners.

Insurance Companies
Insurance companies are working hard to prevent healthcare reform because they don’t want their profits to be impacted. Do you know how much their CEOs make every year?

 
The brutal truth about America’s healthcare
No, we don’t have “the best healthcare system in the world”.

 
The ‘Me-First, Screw You Crowd’ Are No Longer Hiding Their Antics
Indeed. They’re proudly beating the poor with their hardcover copies of Atlas Shrugged then laughing as they bleed to death in the street because they have no health insurance.

 
Is It Now a Crime to Be Poor?
Yes it is. Republican Jesus said “Go forth and multiply your wealth, and screw the poor for they are unworthy.”

 
Squeaking by on $300,000
She wears Armani suits, pays $200 for a visit to her colorist, $500/month for her gardeners, $35,000 a year in property taxes (on her three acre N.Y. estate), $40,000/year for a nanny, etc, etc. My heart is not breaking because she’s finding it difficult to “squeak by” on $300K a year. Maybe she needs to just live a less lavish lifestyle.

 
Religion, atheism, etc.

Why Religion is the Enemy
Homophobia, misogyny, slavery, miscegenation, and more all have their roots in religion.

 
Mama, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Social Scientists
According to a recent study one’s choice of college major could affect their religiosity. Those who studied the social sciences and humanities were likely to be less religious by the end of college than those who studied business, economics, education or clerical fields. It must have been majoring in Psychology and minoring in Sociology that did me in….

 
Two related stories:
Afghan Husbands Win Right to Starve Wives
And,
Brutal Law Strips Afghan Women of Rights — Where’s the Outrage?
But they’re just enacting laws that are in accordance with their “deeply held religious beliefs” so it’s all good.

 
LGBT

The Christian Medical & Dental Associations - another group, another batch of lies
There is a significant danger when religious dogma trumps accepted science and professional obligations to patients.

 
What if it was a gay world?


 
The Golden Girls on Gay Marriage


 
Miscellaneous

Students With Disabilities Face Corporal Punishment At Higher Rates
Why corporal punishment is still legal I’ll never know, but the fact that some people feel it’s appropriate to utilize it on disabled children sickens me.

 
The Pledge of Allegiance
An informative and intersting history of the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

Homelessness has long been a problem in the US and it’s only been increasing according to recent reports. What is more disturbing is that the number of homeless families is also rising. I worked in a shelter for homeless families many years ago and was deeply affected by all I saw there. I still try to do what I can by donating to local shelters and food banks as well as giving a few dollars here and there to people on the streets. Were it that I had the resources I’d do much more. Sadly some choose to pass judgment on and blame the victims rather than work to eradicate the problem. But every so often someone comes along and sets such callous people straight in a most amazing rant:

I’ve seen quite a bit of ranting lately and over the years about how homeless people should not have any kind of indulgences whatsoever because of their social status. This is often spoken of in the form of drugs (alcohol and tobacco amongst them), but also extends to outrage over some ‘bum’ having a laptop computer or a cell phone, perhaps an instrument or a piece of jewelry. Because they’re supposed to be working towards a home, they’re supposed to not spend one thin dime on any indulgence or trinket that they may be able to afford despite their social position.

This is utter nonsense, and yes, I will tell you why.

First off, I have had an ongoing challenge with people who wish to sling insults and make assumptions about people they’ve never met in a situation they have no frame of reference, through personal experience, to judge. Try it. Let’s see how it’s done, you superhumans, seeing as how you know what this whole thing is about, and we’re too stupid to figure out for ourselves. Try it.’
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I cannot believe that people think that this ‘lifestyle’ is easy because all of a sudden rent is not in the picture. Do you think that every babbling dirty person on a bench started out that way? Many did - it’s an acknowledged fact that when a mental patient, who has no family to take them in, who’s insurance or state benefits has run dry, will get unceremoniously dumped on the street - and not just any street, often the hardest streets in America and elsewhere. Take a foot tour of Skid Row in downtown LA, I dare you. This is where people who are mentally unbalanced are left to fend for themselves, whether man or woman, young, middle aged or elderly.

But that’s the people who were mentally ill when they hit the streets - as common are those who have been driven insane by having to live like an animal, hunted like a dog by the police and whatever street thugs might be in the area, treated like an insane person by social workers and volunteers who assume we’re all cut from the same cloth. How long could you last in such a situation before breaking down? Lack of sleep, lack of community, lack of basic freedoms, lack of privacy, lack of the most basic forms of respect. Seemingly the entire world telling you at once what a piece of shit you are to not have a home, regardless of what circumstances actually put you there. How long, you worker bees whose only identity is the cog in the machine that they represent and the pittance you receive for your slavery?
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Yet they have a shower to use any time they want, the respect of their fellow humans (a thin veneer, perhaps, but respect all the same), security, employment (or unemployment!), in other words, none of the assaults on the mind and soul that the person on the street has to endure every day. But those in the trenches should have no such rights - I believe many would say that such people have no rights at all, such is the power of the Money Cult that we have built in this society. If you’re not contributing to the GDP, you shouldn’t exist, seems to be the attitude.
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Many people seem to think this whole issue of homelessness is some kind of easy problem, that it’s just lazy people who don’t want to work, that it’s always someone else’s burden to shoulder, and I think some of you who think this way had better wise up, because you’re next. And while it’s a shame, I’ve heard many stories of people who committed suicide rather than get tossed into the street like an animal with their possessions scattered to the wind. I feel bad for them, but that should say something about how ‘easy’ this life is. Any one of us who have lived to tell our tale are very lucky to be able to do so, because not everyone makes it.
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Homelessness is just a symptom of the sick and depraved society that we live in. And by sick and depraved, I’m not talking about Rap or Rock and Roll, Drugs, Atheism or Paganism, or a lack of ‘family values’ (which is code for ’shut the fuck up, get in line, and do what we tell you’) - its that we’ve dehumanized ourselves to the point where good people get tossed away like used toilet paper every day, and we do nothing. These are our brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, our lovers, our friends, our teachers, our elders. All for losing at a rigged game. All for the love of money, the true god of the vulgar. Everything must have a dollar value attached to it, there is no sense of the value of anything anymore if it cannot be sold for profit.
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And this will not change until we stop looking at the Symptom and fix the Root Cause of it. Attaching a profit motive to every aspect of life, from family, friends, lovers, home, food, the things we must have in order to live, bankrupts us all. There is no reason for 25,000 Americans to have the combined wealth of the other 99% of the nation in their hands, while we are left to starve, fight, and die in the street for a crust of bread.

No good, true, or just reason, anyway.

I’ve long believed that most “pro-life” people care only about the fetus. They’re passionate about “life” so long as that life is, or is potentially, in a woman’s uterus. But actual born life is nothing but a burden to them, and they’ll be darned if a single dollar of their tax money is going to one of those (enter disparaging term here). A stunning example of this is Missouri State Representative Cynthia Davis. Davis’s June Newsletter essentially blames poor people for being poor, spews the standard RW line that the government (taxpayers) shouldn’t have to support them, and claims that going hungry is a good thing (it’s motivating!) and that children should get jobs if they want food.

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Anyone under 18 can be eligible? Can’t they get a job during the summer by the time they are 16? Hunger can be a positive motivator. What is wrong with the idea of getting a job so you can get better meals?

Tip: If you work for McDonald’s, they will feed you for free during your break.

Never mind about the fact that it’s utterly impossible for every 16-17 year old to get a job. What does Davis suggest for the children who are under 16? Should they panhandle on the streets so she doesn’t have to give up a few pennies more in taxes? Or should they just go hungry all summer so they’ll be really, really motivated when school re-opens in September?

While nobody is disputing the benefits of nutritious food, why the presumption that parents are not providing nutritious food for their children? Even if they are not, who created a new rule that says government must make up for any lack at home? The problem of childhood obesity has been cited as one of the most rapidly growing health problems in America. People who are struggling with lack of food usually do not have an obesity problem.

Why is Davis linking hungry children and obese children? Oh, that’s right. She’s one of those RWers who assume if you’re poor it’s because you’re lazy, and you sit around the house stuffing your face with bon-bons all day.

They are using a “crisis” to create an expansion of a government program. Parents naturally love their children and enjoy caring for their children just as much as ever during an economic downturn. Most parents put their children first, even ahead of themselves no matter what. If parents are laid off, that doesn’t mean they stop feeding their children, at least not any of the parents I know. Laid off parents could adapt by preparing more home cooked meals rather than going out to eat.

Again Davis is blaming the victims and making baseless presumptions. Why does she assume parents of hungry children are eating out rather than preparing meals at home? And where does she think these laid off parents are going to get the money to prepare these meals at home? There’s a reason people are relying on food kitchens, government food programs and the like. Many laid off people are struggling to pay their rent/mortgage, utilities and other critical bills. Afterward they have little or nothing left over for food. They’re not eating at soup kitchens because they think it’s haute cuisine. They’re doing it because they’re desperate.

Who’s buying dinner? Who is getting paid to serve the meal? Churches and other non-profits can do this at no cost to the taxpayer if it is warranted. That is what they did when Louisiana had a hurricane.

Under the “Faith Based Initiative” churches and other religious organizations get government funding (taxpayer money) for their programs. So there is a cost to the taxpayer for what they do.

When churches offer a meal, they can serve the individual with a sense of love and caring for those less fortunate. Government cannot match that. Bigger governmental programs take away our connectedness to the human family, our brotherhood and our need for one another.

There are human beings working in the secular and government-run charities just like there are in the religious charities. They’re often as loving and caring for the people they provide services to. Sometimes they’re more caring and loving because they don’t provide proselytizing and moralizing the way some religious charities do–often as a condition for receiving services.

And who is Davis to speak of loving and caring for “the less fortunate” when she’s spent her entire newsletter tearing them down? Typical RRRW hypocrisy. I really have to ask….does the RRRW attract people who have congenital flaws in their hearts and minds, or does being a RRRWer cause the damage to hearts and minds?

 
That’s the end of my rant on Cynthia Davis, who has a heart-shaped hole in her heart. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t direct you to this one at Zaius Nation.

 

Some facts about world hunger:

* More than 840 million people in the world are malnourished — 799 million of them live in the developing world.

* More than 153 million of the world’s malnourished people are children under the age of 5.

* Six million children under the age of 5 die every year as a result of hunger.

* Malnutrition can severely affect a child’s intellectual development. Malnourished children often have stunted growth and score significantly lower on math and language achievement tests than do well-nourished children.

* Lack of dietary diversity and essential minerals and vitamins also contributes to increased child and adult mortality. Vitamin A deficiency impairs the immune system, increasing the annual death toll from measles and other diseases by an estimated 1.3 million-2.5 million children.

* While every country in the world has the potential of growing enough food to feed itself, 54 nations currently do not produce enough food to feed their populations, nor can they afford to import the necessary commodities to make up the gap. Most of these countries are in sub-Saharan Africa.

* Most of the widespread hunger in a world of plenty results from grinding, deeply rooted poverty. In any given year, however, between 5 and 10 percent of the total can be traced to specific events: droughts or floods, armed conflict, political, social and economic disruptions.

Even within the US, a supposedly first world industrialized nation, hunger and poverty are pressing issues. Hunger is a reality for approximately 1 in every 8 US citizens.

* In 2007, 37.3 million people (12.5%) were in poverty.
*In 2007, 7.6 (9.8%) million families were in poverty.
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*In 2007, 13.3 million (18%) children under the age of 18 were in poverty.
*In 2007, 3.6 million (9.7%) seniors 65 and older were in poverty.
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* In 2007, 36.2 million Americans lived in food insecure households, 23.8 million adults and 12.4 million children.
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*In 2007, households with children reported food insecurity at almost double the rate for those without children, 15.8 percent compared to 8.7 percent.
*In 2007, households that were more likely to experience food insecurity were households with children (15.8%), households with children headed by single women (30.2 percent) or single men (18 percent), households with incomes below the poverty line (37.7 percent), Black non-Hispanic households (22.2 percent) and Hispanic households (20.1 percent).
*In 2007, 6.5 percent of households with seniors (1.7 million households) were food insecure (low food security and very low food security), a statistically significant increase from 6 percent (1.5 million households) in 2006.
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*In 2007, food insecure (low food security or very low food security) households were 17 times more likely than food-secure households to have obtained food from a food pantry.

 
There are ways to help.

-Donate money, food or other goods to a food pantry/food bank, or other organization that provides aid to the hungry. A list of suggested organizations is at the bottom of this post.
-Volunteer your time at a shelter, food pantry or other such organization.
-Play Free Rice. For every correct answer 10 grains of rice are donated through the UN free rice program. You increase your vocabulary knowledge and hungry people get free rice.

 
Suggested organizations:

Feeding America (Formerly America’s Second Harvest)

Oxfam America

Action Against Hunger

The Hunger Project

 
Related posts:

Next on The Homosexual Agenda: Hunger in America.