LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY breezyg)

I've been reading this community for a while, and I figure you're the people to ask.

I'm out searching for some information for a coworker of mine. What organizations/individuals would be the type to protest against an event whose proceeds go to LGBT causes? One that includes artistic 'desecration' of christian themes?

Anything you could give us would be great. We're just trying to gauge what we could potentially be up against.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY brigidsblest)

(I've got the code in here for an lj-cut, but it's not working, and I don't know why. Weird.)

God said it. I believe it. That settles it." This familiar bumper sticker slogan appears to sum up the Religious Right's decision-making process on matters of heated public debate.

But when policies involving human biology and behavior are being hammered out, faith alone isn't always sufficient to win over voters and decision-makers. At such times, a bit of scientific evidence comes in handy, and some of the Religious Right's operatives aren't too choosy about where they get it.

( Continued... )

The story can be found at: http://www.alternet.org/story/24000/ ; the comments to the story are just as interesting.

(Crossposted at my own journal).

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY juno_domina)

LOL- I didn't expect to be posting here very often, but here's another thing from 'The Age' (Melbourne newspaper). Evidently, our Education Minister Brendan Nelson (famous for raising our HECS fees - ie. the amount we pay for courses, subsidised by the government, and also introducing legislation to make Student Unionism voluntary- meaning most students won't pay, and we'll lose the majority of our services), has decided that it will be fine to teach intelligent design as part of school syllabus.


INtelligent Design an Option

This is what I meant by the influence of American politics on Australia, given that it seems to be following from similar calls (and decisions) in the States. I don't have a huge stance against teaching 'intelligent design', just so long as it is taught within the Religous Studies syllabus, not that of Science.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY swisscelt)

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/11/hyatte.details/index.html

Here's the story in a nutshell: A woman helps her convict husband escape from authorities in Tennessee. They head out of state, finally ditching the vehicle in a Kentucky suburb of Cincinnati. From there, they take a cab to a Columbus hotel (115 miles away), telling the cabbie that they're on their way to an Amway convention. "They didn't strike me as the Amway type because to be honest they weren't very pushy about their product and I've dealt with them before so -- that was my only real suspicion," said the cabbie, Mike Wagers, who called local police upon returning to the Cincinnati area.

Guess Amway is good for something after all. ;-)

Update: WCPO in Cincinnati has more, including video of a news conference with the cabbie. The fare, in case you were wondering, was $185.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Religious Right Watch reports on exclusivist prayer at public committee meetings:

The Atlanta-Journal Constitution is running a story concerning an American Civil Liberties Union suit in filed in federal court in Atlanta, Thursday that--according to the article--seeks to "end prayer that references one religion over another during Cobb [County] commission and planning commission meetings."

The prayers are said by the commissioners themselves, invoke Jesus, and are voluntary.

This is a tricky issue insofar as the debate about sectarian prayer in civic contexts is not necessarily a debate about the Christian Right or dominionism. Issues of local culture and simple tradition are involved often, and individuals uttering such prayers are not always Christians with effectively Christian supremacist or dominionist worldviews, goals, or intentions.

Nonetheless, the dominionism and public prayer debates are never mutually exclusive, either. Once a governmental proceeding includes public prayer, voluntary or not, and especially if the prayer is sectarian--that is, aligned with a specific religion--then religion and the state have become mixed, and a host of questions arise: should we allow prayers from other religions? if so, which ones--Islam, Wicca, Mormon, Jewish? if not, then are we being discriminatory? what if no one's complained yet? what if someone does later? what about a moment of silence? what about a prayer that strives (though it will fail in this goal) to be applicable to all religions? what about a deistic prayer (besides, no Hindus live in the area...right?), etc., etc., etc.

Shockingly often what is lost in all of those questions is the simple fact that all potential substantive controversy could be done away with if the prayer simply didn't occur.

No state prayer; no problems. Period. It's that simple.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY seshen)

The Christian Nation Myth

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

from The Guardian

Unholy strictures

It is wrong - and dangerous - to believe literal truth can be found in religious texts
Karen Armstrong
Thursday August 11, 2005

Guardian
Human beings, in nearly all cultures, have long engaged in a rather strange activity. They have taken a literary text, given it special status and attempted to live according to its precepts. These texts are usually of considerable antiquity yet they are expected to throw light on situations that their authors could not have imagined. In times of crisis, people turn to their scriptures with renewed zest and, with much creative ingenuity, compel them to speak to their current predicament. We are seeing a great deal of scriptural activity at the moment.( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY deridetenebras)

A truly pathetic site maintained by dominionists.

It covers a variety of issues, including:

1. The False Green Gospel: Environmentalists are all pagans.

2. The Feminist Movement: Feminists are all pagans, lesbians, or "unstable women who are quilt ridden because of their sins, torn by lust".

3. The Impact of Feminism on the Family: Feminists are to blame for "Rampant illegitimacy and sexual disease, widespread divorce, and a generation of unloved, undisciplined, and uncared-for kids."

4. The Clinton Legacy: Bill Clinton is to blame for "The demise of morality, the loss of our freedom, the crime in our streets, the poverty in the inner-cities, the war zones in our homes and the violence of our children"

5. War on Christianity: Compares the brutal persecution of Christians in countries like Egypt, Pakistan, and China to the "persecution" of Christians in America

6. Christians in Politics: "Led by the ACLU, new agers, one-worlders, feminists, homosexuals, liberal churches, and godless politicians, an all out War on Christianity has been declared."