The Gaytheist Agenda

This is the sort of thing that really gets to me.

Sophie Lawrence died a cruel and vicious death for no other reason than the fact that she looked different. Her boyfriend Robert Maltby barely survived his own beating at the hands of the teenage thugs Brendan Harris and Ryan Herbert. Ryan Herbert was so proud of himself he rapped about his deed and posted it on YouTube.

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Miss Lancaster, 20, a distinctive figure in multi-coloured dreadlocks, facial piercings and dark clothes, was set upon as she begged a gang of drunken youths to stop beating her boyfriend, Robert Maltby, 21, in a savage and unprovoked attack.

The five-strong gang acted “like a pack of wild animals” as they first kicked and stamped Mr Maltby, an arts student, also dressed as a Goth, late on a Friday night last August in a skate park in Bacup, Lancashire. As Miss Lancaster was kneeling down cradling her boyfriend’s head several of the gang turned on her.

Brendan Harris, 15, of Bacup, was found guilty of her murder at the end of a two-week trial at Preston Crown Court. A second youth, Ryan Herbert, 16, has already pleaded guilty to the charge. Three other teenagers have admitted causing grievous bodily harm to Mr Maltby.
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Michael Shorrock, QC, for the prosecution, had told the jury: “These five teenagers, acting like a pack of wild animals, savagely and mercilessly attacked and beat unconscious, first Robert Maltby and then, as she tried to rescue and help him, his girlfriend.

“This defendant, together with another young man, attacked her and beat her into unconsciousness. It would appear that Mr Maltby and Miss Lancaster were singled out not for anything they had said or done but because they dressed differently.”
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Hopefully those boys will be put away for a good long time. Anybody who would severely beat two people with no provocation, killing one in the process, just because they look different, is not fit for society.

Detectives were highly critical of the boys’ parents, who appeared to have no control over them and allowed them to be drunk outside the house so late at night. They were also dismayed when Herbert’s mother was seen laughing and joking with her son while he was in custody.

She was probably the one who taught him to behave that way. Children don’t pull racist, homophobic and other hateful spew out of thin air and it certainly isn’t inborn. They typically learn it right at home.

Sophie Lawrence and Robert Maltby committed the “crime” of looking different. For that Robert took a severe beating and Sophie paid with her life. No doubt some would cheer the notion of shaming, shunning or even using corporal punishment against those who don’t fit their cookie-cutter model. But that’s not the sort of world I want to live in.

 

I do mean some Christians, of course. They get in an uproar if anybody question or challenge them when they aggressively proselytize. They cite the First Amendment/Freedom of Religion to defend their hateful tirades against LGBT people. They become agitated when others proclaim that they don’t want to hear, for the tenth time, what the Bible says about situation XYZ. “Why are we being silenced?” they cry.

You’d think such people would be open, therefore, to a marketplace of ideas where all are free to speak their minds. Of course you’d be dead wrong. The people who scream loudest about having their right to speak their minds and so on are often the ones who are first to throw tantrums when others exercise theirs. Case in point, the reactions to a bus ad campaign currently running in Scotland, England and Wales. The ad reads, “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life” .

Needless to say the professional reactionaries are having the vapors over it. Apparently while Christians are allowed to express their opinions and thoughts all they want, atheists are not.

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But organisation Christian Voice has complained to the Advertising Standards Authority saying they break rules on substantiation and truthfulness.
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No, it doesn’t. The ad says there’s probably no god. Given that there’s no empirical evidence whatsoever for any deity ever dreamt of in the course of human history, that statement is in no way false.

But Stephen Green, national director of Christian Voice, said: “There is plenty of evidence for God, from people’s personal experience, to the complexity, interdependence, beauty and design of the natural world.

People who have schizophrenia have plenty of evidence, at least in their own minds, for what they experience via their hallucinations and delusions. That doesn’t make it real, merely a manifestation of their brains. And the natural world is indeed complex, interdependent and beautiful but that doesn’t mean “godidit”. It might behoove Green to pick up a science book once in a while.

“But there is scant evidence on the other side, so I think the advertisers are really going to struggle to show their claim is not an exaggeration or inaccurate, as the ASA code puts it.”

How amusing that he’s claiming we have no evidence. But then if you consider his notion of evidence, all we’d have to do is say we felt the non-existence of god and that would qualify. Case closed.

Then there’s Ron Heather, a bus driver from Southampton. He refuses to do his job because he’s in such a tizzy over the bus ads.

Ron Heather, from Southampton, Hampshire, responded with “shock” and “horror” at the message and walked out of his shift on Saturday in protest.
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Mr Heather told BBC Radio Solent: “I was just about to board and there it was staring me in the face, my first reaction was shock horror.

“I felt that I could not drive that bus, I told my managers and they said they haven’t got another one and I thought I better go home, so I did.
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If Mr. Heather is so easily offended by differing viewpoints perhaps he should retire and confine himself to his home. To expect his employer to coddle him because of an ad that’s on the outside of the bus he drives (one that simply suggests god doesn’t exist) is outrageous.

Of course this is happening in the UK. I can only imagine if this were attempted in the US. Were the ads to even be approved (which they likely wouldn’t), they’d probably meet with immediate virulent protest, be quick removal, and possibly even vandalism. Sadly those who scream loudest about having their beliefs and opinions heard refuse to give others the same respect. It’s truly a one-way street with them.

 

Last year Lillian Ladele decided to refuse to do her job as registrar because she hates gay people. Of course she used the tired “deeply held religious beliefs” excuse. When she was fired she sued for religious discrimination since being fired for insubordination was apparently an infringement of her “deeply held religious beliefs”. The tribunal that decided the case found for Ms. Ladele and she was to receive a settlement.

Flash forward several months and to Ladele’s chagrin, the appeals tribunal reversed the decision.

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“The allegations were that there had been direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment.

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“The EAT held that the Tribunal had erred in law and that on the evidence adduced before the Tribunal there was no proper basis for a tribunal concluding that any of these forms of discrimination had been established.”

The appeal was upheld and the EAT substituted a ruling that there was no discrimination.
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Good for them. If only the US would follow suit and stop allowing people to use their “religious beliefs” to selectively refuse to do their jobs and engage in overt bigotry toward others.

The Christian Institute, a fundamentalist group that often intervenes to try to stop gay people being treated equally, had financially backed Ms Ladele.
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“If this decision is allowed to stand it will help squeeze out Christians from the public sphere because of their religious beliefs on ethical issues.”

No, it will simply remind them that when they’re hired to do a job they can’t pick and choose what they’ll do and who they’ll do it for. Nobody else would get away with such nonsense so there’s no reason for them to do so. If anybody were to refuse to serve Christians because it violated their sensibilities or principles you can bet the roof would be blown off with the collective cry of “Christian Persecution”. But when they’re doing the persecuting it’s OK because they’re doing it in the name of their religion.

They need to drop the double standards and duplicity or deal with the consequences.

 

I previously brought you the story of Graham Cogman, the homophobic UK police officer who used department computers to send anti-gay e-mails to coworkers. Though Cogman tried very hard to pretend he was another victim of religious persecution, it didn’t work and he was fired.

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An internal police tribunal this week found Cogman guilty of failing to comply with a lawful order over the use of police computers and with failing to treat a colleague with respect and tolerance.

“The outcome follows a thorough investigation with evidence presented to a misconduct panel of three, two of whom were independent of the constabulary,” said Deputy Chief Constable Ian Learmonth.

“This officer’s behavior fell well below what we expect of our people. We require an absolute commitment from all our staff to treat colleagues with politeness, tolerance and respect, regardless of their beliefs, race, age, gender or sexual orientation.”

Gogman has not said if he will appeal.

I’m sure he will appeal. No doubt with a fresh barrage of complaints about how his “religious beliefs” were violated because he wasn’t allowed to force them on everyone at his workplace.

 

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.

 

I’m so used to them being far more progressive than us, but it seems even they have their share of homophobic nitwits lately, as evidenced by Lillian Ladele, and now Graham Cogman. He’s a police officer who (like many of his ilk) believes his “deeply held religious beliefs” give him the right to be a complete bigot, as well as an impenetrable shield from criticism for doing so.

Graham Cogman, a constable with 15 years experience, is taking action against Norfolk Police as he claims he was victimised for refusing to wear a pink ribbon on his uniform to mark a “gay pride” event, and for questioning the force’s stance towards gay men and lesbians.

The 49-year churchgoer, who circulated emails to officers quoting the biblical stance on homosexuality being a sin, claims he is being singled out because of his beliefs. The force has responded by saying it will not tolerate any “homophobic behaviour”.
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His complaint stems from a circular email sent to officers in early 2005 encouraging staff to wear a pink ribbon on their uniforms during Gay History Month.

After receiving the email, PC Cogman sent a reply to his fellow officers featuring biblical quotations about homosexuality being a sin. He objected again the following year when a similar email was again sent to officers.
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Cogman isn’t being victimized here, he’s pretending to be a martyr. His department was asked to voluntarily wear pink ribbons in support of gay pride month. He could have simply chosen not to, but instead he chose to use the department’s e-mail system to circulate anti-gay propaganda. He’s not an innocent victim here, and he is not being targeted for what he claims.

“The blatant support for homosexual rights in Norfolk Police makes being a Christian officer extremely difficult,” he said.

“I am not undertaking this action lightly but I have to make a stand when things become so blatantly biased against me just because I hold a faith.”
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No, you hold a bigotry that you hide behind a faith. It’s hardly the same thing. But then again people like you have a hard time discerning the difference, sadly.

 

Yet another homophobic bigot has refused to do her job because of her “deeply held religious beliefs”. She even took the matter to court…and won.

Lillian Ladele, 47, can expect a large payout from Islington Council after she was bullied and threatened with the sack for asking to avoid civil partnerships because of her deeply-held religious beliefs.
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The ruling that employees should not be required to act against their consciences has implications for the 18,000 same-sex ceremonies conducted nationwide each year and could encourage other registrars with strong religious beliefs to take a similar stance.
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After the ruling, Miss Ladele spoke of her relief: “I am delighted with the decision. It is a victory for religious liberty, not just for myself but for others in a similar position to mine.

“Gay rights should not be used as an excuse to bully or harass people over their religious beliefs.”
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Now why is it that any time you attach “deeply held religious beliefs” to something you can get away with it, even if it would otherwise be considered unacceptable? Would I be able to claim “deeply held religious beliefs” any time I don’t want to deal with certain groups at work, for example? Or is it only certain classes of people against whom one is legally allowed to have “deeply held religious” intolerance toward?

Rod Liddle says it a little more bluntly:

Crucial to its judgment was Ladele’s “Christian faith” which, she insisted, precluded her from giving a professional blessing to sodomites. I don’t know what would have happened if she had told the tribunal that she wasn’t a Christian or a Muslim or of any other faith but just hated poofs. Probably she’d have lost.

Of course she would. But cloaked in the guise of “deeply held religious beliefs” homophobia sounds righteous. Just over half a century ago racism sounded just as righteous, as did opposition to interracial marriage. Times may change, but the modus operandi of bigotry changes little, if any.

 
Hat tips to Ebon and The Freethinker.

 

It’s bad enough when the RRRW has to stick their noses in everything that goes on here, but it goes beyond the pale when they push their homophobia into the lives of our neighbors across the pond. Heinz corporation had this wonderful ad depicting family life where the parents just happened to be two men.

Apparently the folks at American Family Association have decided that even in foreign nations they get to define what a family is, and what goes into commercials. After receiving 200 complaints Heinz pulled the commercial from the air. Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out appeared on CNN to defend the ad.

 
From the Truth Wins Out Blog:

The Headline News segment included Randy Sharp of the AFA, who claimed that the ad promoted a homosexual lifestyle: “What does mayonnaise have to do with homosexuals and their lifestyle?” Sharp claimed that 70,000 AFA supporters in the United States disagreed with the ad.

How is it that 70,000 American AFA supporters in the US even saw the ad to determine that they disagreed with it? I smell BS.

Business marketing analyst Dan Hill said Heinz was right to pull the ad. Hill said:

“In business you can never afford to forget that the bottom line is that ‘family values’ means ‘my family, not your family,’ and I think in the UK most households have traditional family structures.”

Well, perhaps Heinz could rely on “traditional families” to buy their products then since they’re obviously not opposed to throwing us aside to cater to them (which is par for the course really). There are plenty of other brands out there.

 

Let this story put that misconception to rest. Be aware it is but one of many. From The Atheist Blogger:

 

For those who aren’t already aware, I’m a first year Computer Science student at Royal Holloway, University of London. I live in halls, in a flat with 7 other people. Most, if not all of them are from a Christian background and would call themselves Christians, however the fact that I am openly atheist has never discouraged them in any way. Of course the same could not be said for other inhabitants of the halls, as I would find out within the first few weeks of term.

I’d met a fellow atheist in the neighbouring flat, and we had both decided that the university needed an “Atheist Union” of sorts to oppose the active Christian Union. We drafted up some posters explaining our cause and purpose, and began sticking them up around campus, mainly in the vicinity of our halls. After a few days, 3 of them had been torn off the wall and ripped into pieces. Evidently, I thought, there were some people who really didn’t like atheists. So I reprinted them with a message that tried to get through to their sense of reason. I wasn’t imposing on their beliefs, so why should they impose on mine?

The posters stayed up a few more days…before being ripped down again. I gathered up the pieces, stuck them back together, and decided to display them on my door, as a kind of “shrine” dedicated to my futile efforts to reason with these people. One of the posters I found still intact, but with the words “Pricks” and “Nobs” (British slang for the word “penis”) written across it.

Nevertheless, I managed to build up a small gathering of atheist and agnostic students after we changed our name from “Atheist Union” to “Atheist & Agnostic Alliance” (for an awesome alliteration). Things were going well, until a few weeks ago, when the vandals struck again…only this time they attacked my door.
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Read the rest of the story here.

 

It’s always interesting to see how opinions and perceptions change over time. From the TimesOnline:

A poll by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation uncovered a widespread belief that faith - not just in its extreme form - was intolerant, irrational and used to justify persecution.

Pollsters asked 3,500 people what they considered to be the worst blights on modern society, updating a list drawn up by Rowntree, a Quaker, 104 years ago.

The responses may well have dismayed him. The researchers found that the “dominant opinion” was that religion was a “social evil”.

Many participants said religion divided society, fuelled intolerance and spawned “irrational” educational and other policies.

One said: “Faith in supernatural phenomena inspires hatred and prejudice throughout the world, and is commonly used as justification for persecution of women, gays and people who do not have faith.”
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The findings contrast with Rowntree’s “scourges of humanity”, which included poverty, war, slavery, intemperance, the opium trade, impurity and gambling.

Poverty and drugs remain, but are joined by issues such as family breakdown, young people’s behaviour and fears over immigration.
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“Britain has had it with religion,” he said.

Being a woman, lesbian and atheist I can’t say I disagree much with their perceptions. Religious beliefs are the most significant reason I don’t have my full Civil and Human Rights. It is because some people think their religious beliefs trump my Human/Civil Rights that I am treated as a second-class citizen though I am a law-abiding, tax-paying adult. And it is through (certain) religions that people are taught to hate and seek to harm me and others like me simply because I am a lesbian and atheist.

No, I’m not a hater of religion or those who ascribe to religion. I’m merely tired of being a victim of those who think their religious beliefs trump the rights of everybody and everything, and I know I’m not the only one. It would be nice if religious adherents were to consider how their actions affect others, and practice The Golden Rule every now and then. That’s in the Bible and is also found in myriad other religions and philosophies. Just imagine how much nicer life would be if everyone live by that one simple rule.