Jim Seaman – web log

There is more and more evidence that my thinking on this one isn’t far from the truth … The most vocal homo-phobes (mostly republican) have a lot of skeletons in their very dark closets.

These closet-cases are hypocrites. A few examples:

Just in the last few days this one has come out … State Sen. Roy Ashburn, a California Republican and former State Assemblyman, is a father of four. He is a proud anti-gay lawmaker, voting against things like knocking down Prop 8, recognizing out-of-state gay marriages, and even creating Harvey Milk Day. Mr Ashburn is also a patron of Faces, a gay bar in Sacramento, where he was arrested on DUI charges after leaving the venue, with another man in his car.

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The Church of Sweden has formally agreed to recognise same-sex marriages and conduct gay weddings and blessings. The Lutheran denomination said that it would begin marrying same-sex couples on 1 November 2009.

The change comes after the Swedish parliament legalised same-sex weddings earlier this year, changing a law permitting legal unions but not formal marriage. The church board voted 176-62 in favour of the change. Sweden’s Lutheran Church split from the state in 2000 but remains the country’s largest religious community.

“It is a question of being human. One of the Bible quotations central to the Lutheran tradition is, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’,” Archbishop Anders Wejryd said in September 2009 on Swedish public television. “This means that as Christians, we have a responsibility to think independently on the basis of what we believe is good for love, fidelity and equality, at all times.”

As I see yet another church giving support to gays I recognize that it isn’t a religious thing when people reject gays or even gay marriage – it is strictly them trying to justify their bigotry.

From the news wires this morning:

DALLAS (Reuters) – The largest American Lutheran denomination cleared the way on Friday to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve in ministry, ending a policy that had opened leadership posts to them only if they remained celibate.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America also encouraged its congregations to find ways to support or recognize members in “accountable lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships.”

Remember the Quakers? – you know … Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn for the religious freedom of the Quakers a few hundred years ago. Well they are still around in various parts of the world (including here in North Carolina) and they are making news on the gay marriage front!

In Great Britain, the Quakers have come out in favor of gay marriage. For decades they have recognized gay unions and performed ceremonies of religious blessings for them. Now they want to take it one step further.

The Quakers plan on formally asking the government to change the country’s laws to allow them to perform same-sex marriages. The British already recognize same-sex unions but do not call it marriage and do not grant same-sex couples the same rights as those enjoyed by male-female marriages.

So different from here in the United States where most religious organizations are the ones fighting against same-sex unions. It’s nice to see a bit of sanity.

While making use of Google to find a reference to the original Batman TV show I happened to run across the Landover Baptist Church’s discussion forums. If you have any sense of humor at all, please spend some time there!

Some background info about the link given above: Landover Baptist Church article at Wikipedia

Former Senator for North Carolina, Jessie Helms died today. For many years, this man was supposedly represented North Carolina in the US Senate. He was actually NC’s longest serving Senator. His stances against anything remotely liberal (or even moderate) earned him his nickname of Senator No.

He was another one of those who believed that AIDS was God’s punishment for gays. His beliefs and actions in the US Congress did immeasurable harm to hundreds of thousands of people. His backwards positions earned him the well deserved hatred of the gay community throughout the entire United States.

He made his home here in Raleigh and I happen to know that, after his retirement, his beliefs regarding AIDS moderated considerably. I don’t know if his beliefs actually changed or if he simply dropped a political front that he may have had surrounding himself. At any rate it was too little, too late.

Over two years ago I wrote a blog entry on this subject and observed that throughout history the United States has been slow to grant basic rights to its citizenry. Since that blog entry on the subject, still more countries throughout the world have recognized the rights of their citizens to marry whomever they wish. Meanwhile, United States citizens are forbidden this basic human right.

To date, the following countries have recognized the rights of their citizens and now permit various forms of unions between two people of the same sex. The rules vary from country to country and range from total equality with heterosexual couples to various forms of civil unions:
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Just heard it on the news. Jerry Falwell was found dead. I have to admit that I am very happy that this bigot who hid behind the cloak of Christianity is gone. His Moral Majority was neither moral nor a majority of people.

Some of his more infamous quotes:

AIDS is not just God’s punishment for homosexuals; it is God’s punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.

The idea that religion and politics don’t mix was invented by the Devil to keep Christians from running their own country.

The Bible is the inerrant … word of the living God. It is absolutely infallible,without error in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as well as in areas such as geography, science, history, etc.

The Jews are returning to their land of unbelief. They are spiritually blind and desperately in need of their Messiah and Savior.

Billy Graham is the chief servant of Satan.

The ACLU is to Christians what the American Nazi party is to Jews.

AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals. To oppose it would be like an Israelite jumping in the Red Sea to save one of Pharoah’s chariotters.

If you’re not a born-again Christian, you’re a failure as a human being.

And not the one that you may be thinking of … I stepped out of that one many years ago! The closet I am referring to is the one where I have been hiding my feelings about religion. It is a subject that I have been fuming over for many years now and I’m tired of being silent.

For the most part, mankind has given up his beliefs in ghosts, in witchcraft, in leprechauns and in mythical beasts like dragons and unicorns. All of these have been relegated to the category of “superstitions”. The ancient gods of Mount Olympus in Greece (Zeus, Apollo, Hades and Poseidon) – The gods of Rome (Apollo, Cupid, Jupiter, Mars and Venus) – The gods of the Norsemen (Thor, Odin, and Loki). All of these were gods – just as real as the god of the Jews, Christians and Muslims – and due just as much (or little) respect and adulation.

If you have bothered to read this far you have likely figured out that the closet to which I referred is the atheism closet. The place where everyone hides their doubts about religion. And we ALL have them! I’m not about to try to write a treatise on this subject and my beliefs, it wouldn’t serve any good purpose. Suffice it to say, I accept the label of “atheist”.
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Today I saw a bit on the news about gay adoptions. It was fairly well balanced but it never came out and said something that should be said. The news did say that about 50% of the kids that are eligible for adoption never make it into a permanent home. They get bounced around in the system til adulthood.

How can anyone think that this is better for a child than being raised in a permanent loving environment? Even if that environment is the home of 2 gay men or 2 gay women it is better for a child than the alternative of a childhood of not being wanted by anyone! I maintain that a gay couple can raise a child as well as a male and female husband and wife but, even if you can’t believe that yourself you should at least be able to recognize and admit that a gay couple would do a better job than the “system”!

When there are no longer children that no one wants, then they can limit adoptions by Gays.

Yesterday another one of those religious nut cases performed an act of terrorism. This time, it was right in my backyard. A Muslim drove an SUV through a large group of UNC students on campus. He claimed he did it to avenge the American treatment of Muslims. 22-year-old Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, a native of Iran, graduate of UNC and general nut case was arrested on campus just minutes afterwards.
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The recent flap over a collection of cartoons that were originally published in Europe supposedly depicting the Prophet Muhammad and Islam in an unflattering light is well summed up with the above political cartoon.

For those wondering what the whole mess is about, the original cartoons may be seen here: http://www.faithfreedom.org/Gallery/Mo_Cartoons.jpg In my book, they are absolutely nothing to get excited about. Even more images of Mohammed can be seen by clicking on this link: http://www.zombietime.com/mohammed_image_archive/
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