Black pastor rips hypocritical churches for doing to gay people ‘what slavemasters did to us’

A Georgia pastor is making waves after being caught on video unloading on what he called the hypocrisy of condemning LGBT people by Christian churches.

Pastor E. Dewey Smith of the House of Hope, Greater Travelers Rest church in Decatur gave an impassioned sermon, posted to YouTube on Thursday, in which he slammed church leaders for judging gay people but “you change wives like we change underwear.”

“‘These folks are an abomination, they are nasty,’ tell you what you do then. Go find every song that’s been written by a gay person for the last 100 years and don’t sing it in church,” he said, as the church congregation cheered him on. “Let’s see how many songs you can minister on that Sunday.”

He went on to criticize the habit of picking and choosing which parts of the Bible to adhere to, based on what is socially advantageous or convenient, but ignore it when it gets in the way of business.

“We demonize and dehumanize the same people that we use and we don’t say nothing about the gay choir director because he’s good for business” Smith said. “As long as the choir sound good, I ain’t saying nothing about his sexuality. We have done what the slave master did to us. Dehumanize us, degrade us, demonize us, but then use them for our advantage.”

Watch Smith’s sermon here, via DP People’s YouTube page:

Wisconsin Church Responds To LGBT Discrimination With Messages Of Love

When her close friend received a second homophobic note left anonymously on his car windshield, the Rev. Laura McLeod used preaching power to respond to the acts of hate with an outpouring of love. Members of her church, Delavan United Church of Christ Congregational in Delavan, Wis., overshadowed the hurtful words by writing nearly 40 "love notes," delivered to McLeod's friend Paul Dombrowski in one joyful bundle.

"When I heard about the second hate note left on Paul's windshield, I knew that I had to respond," said McLeod. "That Sunday, I told our congregation about it and invited them to respond to hate with love."

Dombrowski is an openly-gay elementary school teacher, and has been one of McLeod's best friends since high school. He received the first hate note on his car in September 2013, and the second last week, which were clearly written by the same person. He says he received both messages at a time when he was beginning to tire of 'fighting the LGBT fight,' and while he tried to not let the notes affect him in a negative way, the most recent was more hurtful to him than the first one.

"The content of the notes didn't really bother me. What bothered me was that someone had enough hate inside them and felt they had the right to put them on my car - twice," said Dombrowski. "The second note that happened last week hit me a little harder for some reason. Perhaps it was the time of year, or the fact that they did it again." 

McLeod shared the incidents in her sermon the following Sunday and invited her congregation to trump the negative notes with words of support and encouragement, which were to be mailed to Dombrowski at his home in Illinois. "You are loved just as you are," said one note. "Know you are loved, and not just by your local supporters," read another. "You are a wonderful person and God loves you," still another of the notes said. The letters - written on pink paper similar to what the hate notes were written on - offered Dombrowski thoughts of hope and acceptance, and were delivered to him on a day when he was feeling particularly low about the incidents, he said.

"This was an outpouring of love from people I really didn't know - it was truly amazing," Dombrowski said. "These notes were from people who 'walked the walk and talked the talk.' They went out of their way to say what happened was wrong and unacceptable. There aren't many people who would take the time to do that." 

UCC Congregational became Open and Affirming in May 2014. Dombrowski and his husband, Joe, served on a panel to help the church with the ONA process, and McLeod officiated the couple's civil union in 2011 and their wedding in June 2014 - the day after same-sex marriage became legal in Illinois. Dombrowski has been a vocal advocate for LGBT rights and marriage equality in other ways as well. He and his husband were advocates for same-sex marriage in Illinois, he worked to get the play "The Laramie Project," about the murder of gay student Matthew Shepard, produced at his local high school, and he wrote an op-ed about his hate note experience for "The Windy City Times," an LGBT newspaper in Chicago. 

For McLeod, the effort of both Dombrowski and her congregation in the fight for equality is what being church is all about.

"I'm extremely proud of my dear friend Paul and of my congregation who did the right thing in standing against hate," said McLeod. "We are just a little church in small-town Wisconsin, but they are brave, bold people of Christ."

10 Christians who proved to be real Christians by supporting gay rights

The golden rule of Christianity is ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself’.

Even though Jesus said absolutely nothing about gay people (seriously), and was far more interested in people being good to one another, a lot of people forget that.

Some religious people still continue to use the Bible as a way of propagating their hate, their unease, their ignorance.

But there are some who have realised that you can be both religious and support LGBTI rights.

1. Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton has said anti-gay Christians who use the Bible to spout idiotic views are the real 'sinners'.

When she was asked this year how she appeals to both Christians and LGBTI people, she said she doesn’t judge anyone.

‘As far as the Christians, if people want to pass judgment, they're already sinning,’ she said.

'The sin of judging is just as bad as any other sin they might say somebody else is committing. I try to love everybody.'

2. Barack Obama

Who knows if the multitude of wins in 2014, the flood of US states that succeeded in legalizing same-sex marriage, would have happened without the spark that began with Barack Obama?

For in May 2012, the Christian president became the first sitting Commander in Chief to publicly support same-sex marriage. He said he had ‘evolved’ on the issue, in thanks to his children Malia and Sasha.

With DOMA, Prop 8 and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell struck down since that moment, what will happen in the future?

3. Vicky Beeching

British Christian singer Vicky Beeching, a darling of the American Bible Belt, risked everything by coming out in August.

She said she wanted to become an advocate for gay rights within the church.

And in one of her first missions, she made headlines by coming to blows with US pastor Scott Lively, currently on trial for crimes against humanity for his alleged anti-gay actions in Uganda.

When he asked her whether she cared what ‘God thinks’, she said: ‘I do and that actually why I am taking this step today so young people don’t have to listen to the kind of teaching you peddle, because it damages people.’

4. John Pavlovitz

This Christian pastor hit the headlines in 2014 when he revealed what he would say to his children if any of them were gay - he would love them just the way they are.

‘I won’t pray for them to be made ‘normal’. I’ve lived long enough to know that if my children are gay, that is their normal,’ he said in a viral blog post.

‘I won’t pray that God will heal or change or fix them. I will pray for God to protect them; from the ignorance and hatred and violence that the world will throw at them, simply because of who they are.’

5. Jennifer Hudson

Jennifer Hudson says she owes a lot to her faith in God, overcoming family tragedies and awful moments to become stronger.

But she also owes a lot to LGBTI people, with her saying that she wouldn't have had a career if it wasn't for learning her performance skills in gay clubs.

‘I’d have these amazing drag queens style me up and down, honey,' she told Pride Source.

‘They would be up there lip-synching and then I’d get up and sing for real – some Whitney Houston or some old-school Shirley Murdock – and I would make all the money. That was like my training, basically.’

She later performed marriage equality anthem Same Love at the VMAs in 2013.

6. Frank Schaefer

Frank Schaefer was a Methodist pastor who worked for over a decade until the day he was defrocked for officiating his gay son's wedding.

While he was eventually allowed to return to work, he said he didn't care because he knew he did the right thing. His love for his son and God's command to love everyone trumped over supposed church doctrine.

‘I love him so much and didn’t want to deny him that joy,’ he said

7. Kristin Chenoweth

Singer and actress Kristin Chenoweth, who made her name in musicals like Wicked and shows like The West Wing and Pushing Daisies, is as Christian as they come.

Raised by Southern Baptists, she was asked in a interview what she thinks of Christians who use the Bible as a tool for their homophobia.

‘I think it is very anti-Christian of them. It is the antithesis of what I believe. It is the antithesis of what you should believe if you believe in Jesus. It’s not what he taught, it’s the opposite of what he taught,' she said.

‘If Jesus was to walk the Earth today, or Buddha or anybody, they would be horrified. Those people saying they’re doing it in the name of God? No no no no no.

‘I have had a lot of flack from my community, from the Southern Baptists. It’s important to say it, as a Christian person. It’s important for me to do it.’

8. Pope Francis

When you talk about Pope Francis’ history with gay rights, it seems important to mention his predecessor (still alive, but retired) - Pope Benedict XVI. He considered homosexuality to be a ‘defection of human nature’ and a threat to ‘justice and peace’.

That is why when the current leader of the Catholic Church says ‘Who am I to judge gay people?’, it changes lives.

Admittedly yes, it’s unlikely he will be marching in a Pride parade or blessing a same-sex marriage anytime soon, but we’ve made progess. We’re no longer living in a world where Catholic leaders seem so...aggressively hostile, and that can only be be attributed to one man.

9. Sister Simone Campbell

Sister Simone Campbell is, and we hope she doesn’t mind us saying this, kind of a badass.

She and a group of US nuns were reprimanded by the Vatican after they went on a nine-state bus tour in 2012 to speak out on LGBTI rights and the much needed modernization of the Catholic Church.

‘The Catholic hierarchy has done very poorly at engaging the issues of sexuality, period—their own, or anybody else’s,’ she said in an interview with Believe Out Loud.

‘I have said that what we need is a real spiritual renewal among our leadership because for me, following the gospel means be not afraid—welcome everyone, hug them, welcome them close, and live and love.’

10. Ty Herndon

Christian country singer Ty Herndon took the biggest risk of his career when he came out as gay in November this year.

Dreaming about being a country singer since he was six, he was at first a gospel singer before he picked up the guitar.

A few years later, a number one single in What Mattered Most, and two marriages to women, he realised he could finally be open about who he is.

‘It’s my life, it’s what I do, it’s who I am, and I went to great lengths to cover up that fact to be a country star,' he said.

'But I get to be free today.’

Read what this pastor says to Christians who spread gay hate to children

BY JOHN PAVLOVITZ

Love doesn’t always look like love.

When I published this blog a few weeks ago promising to love my kids if they were gay, I was fully prepared for waves of both support and hostility.

What I was not prepared for in any way, were the literally hundreds and hundreds of people who have reached out to me personally, to thank me for bringing some healing and hope to their families.

Parents, children, siblings, and adults have confided in me (some for the first time anywhere), telling of the pain, and bullying, and shunning they’re received from churches, pastors, and church members – from professed followers of Jesus.

Scores of people from all over the world have shared with me their devastating stories of exclusion and isolation, of unanswered prayers to change, of destructive conversion therapies, of repeated suicide attempts, and of being actively and passively driven from faith, by people of faith.

This is the reality of church theology on homosexuality.

This is the cost of our religion to the LGBTI community. More accurately, it’s the cost of our religion to LGBTI human beings. This is the painful collateral damage that comes when we see principles and ignore people; when we refuse to give them the dignity they deserve.

Apparently love does hurt; really, really badly.

The most common defense I’ve heard over the past 14 days from Christians who believe that being gay is both chosen and sinful, has been some variation of the supposedly well-meaning: ‘Well, we’re just loving people by being honest with them, by giving them “the Truth”. Telling people the truth is loving them.’

Really? The truth?

Are you sure you want the truth?

(I so want to quote Jack Nicholson right now).

I have a crammed, bursting inbox of ‘truth’ for you if you’re interested in reading, Church.

It’s full of vile profanity, and utter contempt, and crude jokes, and physical violence, and white-hot fear. It’s packed with school hallway harassment, and city street beat-downs, and church shunning, and workplace hazing, and brutal self-harm, and all sorts of perpetual, personal terrorism.

And none of it looks a thing like love to me.

It certainly doesn’t look like love to the sweet, 12-year old middle school girl in your church whose been repeatedly told she’s an abomination; that God already despises her.

It doesn’t look like love to the devastated parents who have watched their son hang himself because he was assured by his Christian schoolmates he’s better dead than gay.

It doesn’t look like love to the devoted, faithful Christian schoolteacher who has lost her life-long career for no other reason than her relationship status.

It doesn’t look like love to the 60-year old Christian man who has prayed his whole life to be ‘fixed’, and who God has refused to, yet is still an outcast in his family of faith.

It doesn’t look like love to the gay couple having their heads smashed-in by professed ‘Christian’ strangers while walking down the street.

It doesn’t look like love to the family of a transgender high school junior, who can’t find a church family that will welcome them or include them or acknowledge them.

And I’m totally comfortable believing it doesn’t look like love to Jesus either.

The real problem with so much Christian theology toward the LGBTI community, is that it seemingly works fine from a distance, for someone firing-off scripture passages or religious phrases. It just often falls apart for them when trying to translate it to actual human lives and within authentic, caring relationships.

When you have the guts and the decency and the compassion to crawl out from behind computer keyboards and plasma screens; from radio show phone calls and bullhorn shouting, you end up standing face-to-face with beautiful, wounded, scarred people with real stories, and you realize something’s wrong here.

Something’s badly broken.

This, is not what Christ’s love looks like.

Jesus’ love, even if it came with hard words, somehow always seemed and felt like love. People were seen. They were heard. They were touched. They were left with more dignity than when they started. I’m not sure LGBTI people can say the same about their encounters with most Christians.

Can they say it about you?

So many believers want to make this all about sin; about the theology of homosexuality that they’re claiming to be defending, but it really isn’t. Regardless of where you stand theologically as a Christian, this is about treating all people, like they are made by God and in the image of God.

Jesus’ command to love God and love others as we would desire to be loved; that is theology too. In fact, he said it was the greatest portion of it; our most pressing personal moral responsibility. You wanna argue that? Argue with Jesus.

Church, the blood and the bruises of the LGBTI community are on your hands and mine as believers, as long we allow any Christian to dehumanize them in the name of loving them.

However we want to frame it or justify it, the net result of our religion to so many gay people, is that entire families are being torn apart, sent to the shadows, and horribly mistreated in the name of Jesus.

Real flesh-and-blood people are going through uninvited, individual Hell every day at the hands of people who claim Christ. The Church’s treatment of the LGBTI community people has been downright sinful, and it’s killing our testimony to the world.

We’re making it virtually impossible for gay people to exist in our churches. Then we feel justified in damning them for walking away from God when they leave. The truth is, so often they aren’t turning away from God, they’re just removing themselves from harm’s way.

We are losing credibility to those outside the organized Christianity, not because we’re ‘condoning sin’, but because when the rubber meets the road, we really don’t know how to ‘love the sinner’ in any way that remotely resembles Jesus, and our ‘God is love’ platitudes ring hollow.

Church, this is our legacy that we are building in these days to the LGBTI community and those who love them, and I assure you it’s not legacy of love.

I don’t know what the answer is for you, and I can’t tell you how your theology gets expressed in the trenches of real people’s lives. I only know that we as Christ’s Church can do better, regardless of our theological stance. We have to do better.

This is where our faith is proven to be made of Jesus-stuff, or not.

This is where the love of God we like to preach about, is either clearly seen or terribly distorted.

Read Pavlovitz’s post below, and check out his blog at johnpavlovitz.com. - See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/read-what-christian-pastor-promises-do-if-his-children-are-gay270914#sthash.BFPdHXQY.dpuf

Check out John Pavlovitz’s blog at johnpavlovitz.com.

New Corpus Christi Documentary Spreads Message of Inclusive Love

If a work’s success is measured by its ability to remain relevant, inspire others, and create dialogue, Terrence McNally’s play Corpus Christi is successful indeed.

The play — especially its nontraditionally cast production by Los Angeles theater group 108 Productions — is the subject of a new documentary, Corpus Christi: Playing With Redemption, and the force behind the I Am Love Campaign, an effort to end religion-based bias against LGBT people and advance understanding between LGBT and faith communities.

“The LGBT community is on this incredible verge of total equality within this country,” says James Brandon, who with Nic Arnzen is codirector and coproducer of the documentary and cofounder of I Am Love. “It feels like right now this community is on the verge of total acceptance. But religious dogma seems to be the block for many people.”

The campaign is dedicated to bringing down that block, which loomed even larger when Corpus Christi made its world premiere at the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York City in 1998. McNally’s play depicts Jesus, here called Joshua, and his followers as gay men in 1950s Texas. The acclaimed playwright, a four-time Tony-winner, now says he was actually surprised it was controversial.

“I really thought that it would be seen as a play, a serious play, a meditation on spirituality,” he says. But it became the target of protests and threats, and the theater canceled and then reinstated the production. “The controversy in New York, I felt, was a very false controversy,” McNally says, ginned up by antigay Catholic activist and gadfly William Donahue. Donahue, he says, spread rumors that the play contained nudity and explicit sex — which it does not and never did — and then claimed to have pressured McNally into excising those elements.

Since then, the play has had numerous regional productions, and the one documented in the film put a distinctive stamp on the show. This production originated in 2006 at the Metropolitan Community Church in the Valley, a largely LGBT congregation located in L.A.’s North Hollywood neighborhood.

Here’s the Amazing Response to Rainbow Flags Being Stolen From This LGBT-Friendly Church

It all started last summer, when thieves stole a rainbow flag from the First Church Congregational in Rochester, N.H., during the week of Fourth of July.

Rev. Eliza Buchakjian-Tweedy, the first woman to be senior pastor at First Church, hung another one and went on with her life.

Established in 1731, the First Church Congregational in Rochester decided in 2002 to be “open and approving,” meaning it would welcome LGBT members.

The next day, the church replaced the flag. It disappeared the following evening.Then, on July 18 of this year, the flag was stolen again, the Rochester Times reported.

Buchakjian-Tweedy reported the crime to local police. Then she put out the word on Facebook and to friends and other clergy that (possibly anti-LGBT) thieves were stealing rainbow flags.

The response has been “extraordinary,” Buchakjian-Tweedy told the Rochester Times. Supporters sent First Church dozens of rainbow flags, garlands, and banners.

So what should the church do with all the rainbow stuff it’s collecting?

Buchakjian-Tweedy says she plans to cover the church with flags, and she will not let these petty crimes intimidate her, according to an email posted on Mombian, a blog for lesbian mothers.

“We are expecting vandalism. But this is more important. Being a safe place, including our conviction that God’s love encompasses all people—no asterisks, no exceptions—is worth a little annoyance,” she wrote.

By hanging the flags, “we are saying to the LGBT community, who are often silenced and bullied and told they are unlovable in the eyes of God, that they are worthy of love and are beloved,” Buchakjian-Tweedy told the Rochester Times. “The flag is for kids who are alone and might attempt suicide and for people who have been rejected by their families and their churches.”

The Rochester Times also published an op-ed on July 31 condemning the theft and saying that whomever is responsible is “guilty of hate crimes and of besmirching the Constitution of the United States...and is very much at odds with the Live Free or Die philosophy that is a mark of the true New Hampshire resident.” 

First Church is a United Church of Christ, which has encouraged "welcome, inclusion and justice" for LGBT people since 1969. Earlier this year, the church sued North Carolina over its ban on same-sex marriage.

Traditional Marriage

69 Religious And Civil Rights Groups Ask Obama To Exclude Religious Exemptions From Executive Order Banning LGBT Discrimination

Sixty-nine religious and civil rights organizations have signed a letter asking President Barack Obama not to exempt “religiously affiliated contractors” from a planned executive order protecting LGBT employees of federal contractors.

Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, American faith leaders and 140 religious leaders have asked Obama for “a robust religious exemption” stating “it would be wrong to require [religiously affiliated federal contractors] to violate those legally protected convictions in order to be eligible to receive federal contracts.”

The aforementioned letter against religious exemptions — signed by the American Civil Liberties Union, GetEQUAL, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), PFLAG, the National Center for Transgender Equality and National Gay and Lesbian Task Force — reads in part:

“Religious freedom is one of our most cherished values, a fundamental and defining feature of our national character. It guarantees us the freedom to hold any belief we choose and the right to act on our religious beliefs within certain limits. It does not, however, provide organizations the right to discriminate using taxpayer dollars. When a religiously affiliated organization makes the decision to request a taxpayer-funded contract with the federal government, it must play by the same rules as every other federal contractor. 

Indeed, taxpayer-funded discrimination, in any guise, is antithetical to basic American values. Polls consistently show that Americans overwhelmingly understand and agree that when tax dollars are in play, discrimination is wrong. If an organization requests and receives government funding, it should not be allowed to discriminate against qualified job applicants based on who they are or what their religious beliefs may be. Yet, exempting religiously affiliated organizations that contract with the federal government from prohibitions on discrimination by federal contractors would do just that.”

Chris Geidner from Buzzfeed Politics adds that the letter also asks Obama “to reverse a Bush order that expanded the religious exemption under the existing federal contractor order… [which] permits religiously affiliated organizations that receive government contracts to discriminate in hiring based on religion.

Such religious exemptions are what compelled the National Gay and Lesbian Task forced to drop its support for the current Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).

Religious Progressives Must Pick Sides in Equality Fight

Early this month, just before the Independence Day holiday, Sojourners founder Jim Wallis -- an internationally-known theologian, bestselling author, self-proclaimed "prophet," and one of the most influential figures in progressive Christianity -- added his voice to the chorus of faith leaders weighing in on President Obama's promised executive order that will ban federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT people in the workplace.

Wallis's voice wasn't added to the conversation on purpose, though; his views were revealed by BuzzFeed, which obtained a draft of a letter Wallis had penned to the President and was circulating among other religious leaders in the hopes they'd sign on.

So what is Wallis's position on the issue? The words of the draft letter speak for themselves:

We believe that change in our churches is necessary in regard to welcoming LGBT persons and are committed to working on that. But we believe that government action in making those changes would be very counter-productive to our goals of change.

In particular, we are concerned about the real danger of handing the "tool" of religious liberty (a very legitimate issue) over to those who would use it against the LGBT community and your administration in pursuing equal protection. Faith-based organizations that have been trying to work on these issues internally would strongly react to the state telling them they must change their current beliefs publically--or no longer be eligible for federal contracts. Change is coming on the inside, but those changes could easily be reversed if they were perceived to be forced by the government...

How I Went From Rejecting My Gay Son To Loving Him Unconditionally

At the beginning of his second year of college, my son Nick told me he was gay, and that he didn‘t believe same-sex relationships were sinful. I am embarrassed and ashamed to say that I reacted horribly. I made him feel ashamed, unloved, and rejected.

I said things a loving mother never should, and I will deeply regret it for the rest of my life.

You will probably be surprised to hear that today Nick and I have a wonderful relationship. How did it happen? Well, it is hard to tell that part of the story because it wasn’t linear. I can’t remember the order of all that happened but I will attempt to tell you some of the things that helped us move in the right direction.

One thing that helped the process along was that Nick continued to fight for the relationship. Even when he was angry and hurt, he always said he wanted a relationship with our family and me. He wasn’t always kind and loving—he made mistakes just like we all did, but he never gave up.

My turning point came to me one day as I was reading a blog comment written by a gay man to someone saying he didn’t want to be friends with people who thought it was sinful for him to have same-sex relationships, because he was tired of being treated like he was “less than other people” and "a second rate citizen"—it struck me then that if I were in his shoes, I would probably feel the same way.

I realized it took a lot of love and grace for Nick to want to keep having a relationship with me, knowing I was judging him.

Within a day or two, I found an opportunity to let Nick know I recognized how much grace and love he was showing me, and how much I appreciated it. I told him I was not only thankful, but I was, as his mom, proud of him.

Mr. President, Discrimination by Any Other Name…

July 4, 2014

Dear President Obama,

I certainly don’t have the kind of influence and power as the ministers who recently wrote you about their concerns over not being allowed to discriminate against LGBT folk, but since I am a citizen, I do believe my voice matters as much as theirs. I thank you for taking the time to listen to it and to consider my words.

Like many of them, I am an ordained minister (Presbyterian Church, USA), but I am not in agreement with them. In their letter to you they say, “We must find a way to respect diversity of opinion.” I disagree with them, because I have cause to believe that extending equality to all people is not something about which we get to have an opinion — or at least not an opinion that should affect policy. That which gives me “cause to believe” is the Constitution.

As it turns out, my religious holy texts also encourage me to see all people as being created equally in the image of God.

And while I do not support the setting of policy based on one religion’s beliefs, I do find it comforting to see the Constitution reiterating this basic humanitarian perspective: We all deserve to be treated equally under the law.

The authors of the letter also said, “Americans have always disagreed on important issues, but our ability to live with our diversity is part of what makes this country great, and it continues to be essential even in this 21st-century.”

Yes, we have always disagreed on important issues — like slavery and women’s rights, just to name a few. I, for one, do not believe we should allow those kinds of “disagreements” to dictate access to equality for anyone. We’ve seen how that works before, and we’ve seen the lingering, generational effects of laws that accommodate those “disagreements.” (And it’s not pretty.)

It also turns out that my religious texts encourage me to stand up for justice by speaking out for those whose access to equality is being limited, but they have very little interest in the question of same-sex relationships. On the other hand, the Christian scriptures practically get pedantic in talking about extending love, justice and grace to all people.

It’s difficult to trust the judgment and the intent of those who wrote you when they say, “We have great appreciation for your commitment to human dignity and justice, and we share those values with you,” while, in the same breath, saying it is essential that they be given an exemption from extending human dignity and justice to a specific group.

As one of my personal heroes, the Rev. Dr, Martin Luther King, Jr., once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

This is one of those shifting lines in the sands of equality. The recent Supreme Court ruling on the Hobby Lobby case has already to begin to blur that line in a way that has the potential to pull this nation backwards in its movement towards improved equality— back to a time when access to power entailed being white, male, straight, rich and Christian. I implore you, Mr. President, do not let the line be further blurred.

I applaud you for your intent to take a clear stand on all forms of discrimination. Congress had an opportunity to do the same and chose to allow discrimination to continue in the hiring practices of federal contractors. The exception that Rev. Rick Warren and his co-signers are asking for quite simply allows one group to actively discriminate against another. It really is not as complicated an issue as they would like others to believe. It would be yet another step backward in American history, back to a time when discrimination and injustice were thought permissible by means of divine judgment.

Back to a time when you could not have been President. Maybe that is what they want.

This is not a question of religion, nor should it be. This is a question of basic human dignity and basic human rights. This is a question of continuing to become a nation of true freedom and true justice, the principles that we celebrate on the Fourth of July.

This is a question of continuing to bend the arc of the moral universe towards justice. It does not bend easily. It does not bend un-aided, but it does bend and we must be its guide and protector in the face of such needless, relentless opposition.

Peace,

Rev. Mark Sandlin

Peter LaBarbera: Masculine Gay Men Are Fake, Because Masculine Men Are Not Gay

Anti-gay activist Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH), claims gay men cannot be masculine, because “masculine men do not have sex with other men.”

LaBarbera made his comments during an interview with former Infowars reporter David Ortiz.

Ortiz asserted that “you cannot be a masculine nation and support homosexuality.”

“The moment you cave in to moral relativism, where it's not about values, it's about love, you open up a whole other Pandora’s Box,” Ortiz said. “Why can't a man sexually relieve himself next to you on a bus stop as long as he's not groaning, as long as he cleans up after himself? Hey, you're getting in the way of his sexual freedom. How dare you? Why are you so anti-sexual freedom?”

LaBarbera meandered back a bit, saying he agreed with the nation's “masculinity crisis.”

“I'm writing a story about this huge event in Chicago called International Mr. Leather, where all these guys dress up as tough guys. To me it's like faux masculinity,” LaBarbera said.

“It's fake masculinity. And tough guy, homosexual masculinity, it's not the real deal. Masculine men do not have sex with other men,” he added.

YEAH TELL THAT TO THESE GUYS!

Gay Couple Kicked Out of Mississippi Restaurant on 'What Would You Do?'

ABC News' John Quiñones took his "What Would You Do?" hidden cameras down to Vicksburg, Mississippi. As you may recall, Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant recently signed a bill into law allowing business to discriminate against gays based on religious beliefs.

Quiñones placed a gay couple in a Mexican restaurant to see the reactions they would elicit in various scenarios after it became clear to other customers that they are together. The show even went so far as to kick the couple out in order to see what would happen.

While most of the reactions are infuriating and disgusting, Quiñones does end up finding the sane and humane soul among them.

The Problem of Fake Christians

By: Hrafnkell Haraldsson

Fake Christians are a pest. I’m talking about the alleged conservative Christians of the Religious Right. I've even call them that myself, but over the years, I've become convinced that they are not Christian at all. They are as murderous as any conservative Christian in history, but those Christians at least pretended Jesus mattered to them.

I suppose we could call them something other than fake Christians, or I suppose you could still make an argument that they’re just another of a myriad forms Christianity has taken over the two millennia of its existence. I call them fake Christians for one simple reason: you can’t have Christianity without Christ, and these people have removed Jesus from the equation. To listen to them, you would no more know Jesus had existed than George W. Bush. 

They focus instead of cherry-picked Old Testament passages that make the Bible out to be one long anti-gay diatribe. What it is, in actuality, is one long anti-Gentile diatribe. The Old Testament takes everything Gentiles (Pagans) saw as holy, and made it wicked. Old Testament Judaism is a rejection of Paganism. It is not a rejection of “homosexuality” which, in any event (along with “Caucasians and Byzantines), did not even exist in people’s minds until the 19th century. 

Now they claim to be the true form of Christianity, but as I've said before, Jesus exists only in weaponized form, as a name to beat others with. They don’t care about what he taught, or what he said. Jesus said to love. They hate. Jesus said to turn the other cheek. They attack. Jesus said to pray in private. they pray publicly. Jesus said to forgive. They plot revenge. Jesus loved the poor. They worship Kochs. 

What’s funny is that they obsess over Satan without even talking about Jesus. Jesus thought there was a Satan, though in the Old Testament Satan is just a servant of YHWH. 

GOP Education Candidate Wants to Teach ‘Scientific Theory of Intelligent Design’ to Children

Sharon Few, a Republican who hopes to become the top education official in the State of South Carolina, wants to have a form of creationism taught in schools.

Few, one of eight Republicans campaigning for the Superintendent of Education, said during a primary debate on Tuesday that she believed “intelligent design” — that is, creationism in a clown suit — should be taught along with evolutionary theory. No word on whether she thinks that we should teach the Earth is flat and whether or not we should teach the stork theory of sex ed (which would actually be an improvement). During the debate, Few said:

In regard to the evolution issue, I have to say that that is one of the problems with our education system today, and it is one of the problems that has been brought to light through the problems with the Common Core standards. Children are not receiving an objective education.” 

“There is plenty of science and research behind the theory of intelligent design, and yet it is not allowed in the classroom. There is no reason why the scientific theory of intelligent design should not be taught in the classroom alongside the theory of evolution, and that way children would receive an objective education and they could also — for Christian children — could point to their God though the theory of intelligent design. Children need to have an objective education.

She needs to look up the definition of “objective” — “objective” does not mean “whatever I agree with.”

You can watch Few in the video below.

Virginia Court Official Tells Atheist Couple They Have No Right To Get Married Because They Don’t Believe In God

Marriage is a right that belongs to any consenting adults. But an over-religious court official in Virginia has a message for atheists and any other non-Christian: you have no right to get married if you don’t believe in God.

Bud Roth is a court appointed officiant in Franklin County, Virginia. He performs wedding ceremonies for couples who go to the courthouse to get married. Atheists, however, have no right to get married as far as he’s concerned.

When Morgan Strong and Tamar Courtney contacted the county courthouse to seal their love for each other after six years together, they were directed to Roth. Roth refused to perform the ceremony at the courthouse and only agreed to marry the couple if they tied the knot at his church. A deal was struck and the cost and date were set. Strong and Courtney would go through the legal part of the ceremony at Roth’s church. That’s when the whole situation turned ugly.

Roth asked the couple about their religious beliefs and upon hearing that he would be performing a ceremony for an atheist and an agnostic, turned the couple away. Why? Because they “didn’t know where God was.” That’s right, Roth refused to marry the couple out of sheer religious bigotry. Disappointed, Morgan and Courtney decided to discuss the situation with Roth and they kindly recorded the conversation.

Upon asking why Roth denied them their right to wed, he replied:

“Because she’s agnostic and you’re an atheist. I will not marry you. You don’t believe in God… I just don’t marry anyone who does not believe in God [or] believes that there is a God someplace. So I’m not going to talk the issue over with you and I’m not going to argue about it, okay? I’m just not going to marry you. Correct?”

The couple contacted the county clerk, who was floored by their story. She suggested they contact the judge who appointed Roth in the first place. So they wrote a letter to Judge William Alexander who didn’t see any problem at all with a court officiant refusing to marry a couple simply because they don’t share his religious beliefs. The judge referred the couple to the other court appointed officiant who agreed to perform the civil ceremony this coming Monday.

But this incident raises serious concerns. First, a civil servant is supposed to serve the public. That means anyone. As long as a couple has a marriage license, there shouldn’t be any problem. Second, religious discrimination is wrong no matter the venue, but for it to occur at a courthouse by a court official is totally unacceptable. People go to get married at a courthouse to avoid religious pomp and circumstance and because it’s quicker. They don’t go there to have religion shoved down their throats. That’s why my wife and I married at a courthouse. Not because we didn’t believe in a god, but because we didn’t want religion to dominate our day.

Roth was wrong to refuse to perform the ceremony just because Morgan and Courtney don’t share his beliefs. He was also wrong to require them to get married at his church. He’s a COURT-APPOINTED OFFICIANT, for crying out loud! He’s a courthouse employee. Therefore, anyone who wishes to marry at the courthouse should be married at the courthouse. Even if he’s the one asked to perform the ceremony. He’s paid by taxpayers to do this task. He’s not paid to drag couples to church or to refuse to marry a couple because of his own religious beliefs. Separation of church and state is clearly being violated here by both Judge Alexander and Roth. If Roth were a private citizen, then he could refuse to marry anyone. But in this case, he’s NOT a private citizen. The people of Franklin County, Virginia should be embarrassed and outraged by this and they should demand a change be made. Because once religious discrimination infects our courts, anyone is at risk to have their rights and freedoms trampled on by self-righteous pricks in the name of Christianity.

Iowa Funds Christian-Themed Park with Taxpayers’ Money

There isn’t a better way to sum up the Right’s view of Christianity than the phrase “theme park.” So it’s only fitting that the Vision Iowa board of directors would want to build a theme park, called “The Shepard’s Garden” — another extremely fitting name, given all the sheep that will be getting fleeced. There’s just one catch: Vision Iowa is getting a grant from the state of Iowa, to the tune of $140,000, to build the park.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has sent a letter asking that the grant be rescinded, and Tina Hoffman, the spokeswoman for the Iowa Economic Development Authority, which oversees Vision Iowa, said that they’re “conferring with legal counsel.”

According to the Sioux City Journal:

Hoffman and Garry Smith, chief fundraiser for The Shepherd’s Garden, have said the grant would pay only for green space at the park and not for any of the Christian features.

A fundraising brochure describes the park, under construction at the corner of Sixth and Jackson streets, as a “location for outdoor events and Christian displays” and says the project was inspired by “concern over the retreat of Christianity from the public square.” 

Smith, of Sioux City, has said The Shepherd’s Garden board did not try to hide the religious aspect of the $810,000 park but separated out those elements on its grant application.

Smith added “We are moving forward. I am hoping this is a nonissue.”

“Retreat of Christianity from the public square?” What planet are these people living on?

Catholic School Apologizes For Removing Yearbook Picture of Female Student in Tuxedo

The Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep school in San Francisco has apologized following outcry over the school’s decision to remove the yearbook photo of senior student Jessica Urbina because she was wearing a tuxedo rather than the mandatory dress for female students.

The Advocate reports:

The removal of the photo was widely criticized as the news spread. Urbina’s fellow students united to support her by creating a social media campaign and participating in a demonstration Friday, which saw hundreds of students wearing ties to school protesting the school’s decision. “I’ve cried multiple times, overwhelmed with all this support,” Urbina told the Chronicle.

The backlash prompted the school to issue an official apology Monday from president John Scudder Jr. and principal Gary Cannon, who applauded the students for their support of Urbina. “Given the nature of this specific case,” the administrators said, “we believe that decision, while conforming with our policy, was wrong.”

School officials say the dress code will soon be updated to no longer require female students to wear dresses in an effort to be more sensitive every student’s gender identity, but they realize they “still have much growth to achieve.”

The administrators added, “As a school, we must better learn how to support our students who are navigating issues of gender identity.”

Franklin Graham: Don’t call me ‘homophobic’ just because you’re going to hell

Franklin Graham spoke at the Family Research Council’s Watchmen on the Walls conference last week where he told the assembled pastors that they needed to be willing to have their heads chopped off for speaking the truth that gays are bound for hell.

“Are we going to be cowards because we’re afraid?,” Graham asked the crowd. “Could we get our heads chopped off? We could, maybe one day.  So what? Chop it off!”

Watch:

Virginia Republicans Ban Opening Prayers from Pagans, Polytheists at Public Meetings

The Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors in Virginia has landed themselves in hot water recently when they recently prohibited prayer invoking “neo-pagan, polytheistic, pre-Christian deities” that don’t fall under the purview of “the Judeo-Christian tradition.”

The limitation was set into place after denying the request that a Wiccan’s invocation be added to the list of prayers. They denied it based on the above stipulations; that is, the invocation is neo-pagan, polytheistic, pre-Christian and outside this mythical “Judeo-Christian” mystery religion. In response, the ACLU and Americans United sent a letter to the board stating that all of the various faiths must have an opportunity to pray at the beginning of meetings in order to be compliant with the First Amendment.

Revered Barry Lynn said in the letter that, “the First Amendment requires governing bodies to allow everyone the chance to deliver prayers before official meetings. If they don’t, then what they’re doing is unconstitutional.”

ACLU of Virginia Executive Director Claire Guthrie Gastañaga added that:

Under our Constitution, we stand before our government as equals, regardless of religion. Chesterfield County may not make theological distinctions among its residents.

What the board of supervisors is proposing is blatant discrimination. They were likely among the ones most pleased by the unconstitutional Supreme Court ruling that allowed prayer in the first place; it’s time for everyone with a non-”Judeo-Christian” faith to stand up and make the theocrats regret they even wanted it by demanding equal time. Especially neo-pagan, polytheistic, pre-Christian religions that fall outside of the purview of their mythical “Judeo-Christian” faith.