LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY stray_girl)

Just set up a new community smashedbox "Discusions from the edge" everyone welcome. Who wants to be the first to post?" (please read the profile info)

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY nagisa_kaworu)

Montgomery, Alabama) Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is asking supporters for a Christmas gift of cash to help his campaign for governor.

Moore is facing off against Gov. Bob Riley for the GOP nomination.

In an e-mail sent to supporters and signed by Moore's wife Kayla, she asks for donations and says that her husband is opposed by people who want to promote gay marriage and who "fear nothing more than the emergence of a powerful national spokesperson for Christian conservatism.

"And make no mistake: If elected governor of Alabama, my husband will be that spokesman!" she wrote.

"I know I am asking a lot especially right in the middle of this Christmas season when your focus is on family, friends and loved ones," the e-mail reads. "But, I can think of no better time than this Holy Season to begin our campaign to return morality to our country and God to our public square."

In 2003 Moore was removed as Chief Justice after the state's nine-member Court of Judicial Inquiry found he had violated judicial ethical standards for defiance of a federal judge's order to move a Ten Commandments monument he had installed in the rotunda of the state courthouse.

Moore has a long record of anti-gay rulings.

More Moore here: http://www.365gay.com/Newscon05/12/122105moore.htm

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY britzkrieg)

An anti-gay marriage petition circulated in Massachusetts has received a record number of signatures. But are they all legitimate?

Supporters of the ban said their effort shows that gay marriage is still a burning issue among thousands of voters, and legislators should pay heed.

"The people have not just spoken, they have shouted to let the people vote on the definition of marriage," said Kristian Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, which spearheaded the signature drive...

Opponents of the ballot question say the eye-popping number of signatories does not reflect a tidal wave of support for overturning the Supreme Judicial Court's landmark 2003 ruling that declared same-sex matrimony legal. Rather, they said, it shows that paid signature-gatherers were particularly effective at tricking unsuspecting voters into signing a petition they didn't support.

"This is a groundswell of fraud and deceit, not of voter insistence," said Arline Isaacson, cochairwoman of the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus.

Hundreds of Bay State residents complained to gay organizations and state officials this fall that they were duped into signing the antigay marriage measure when they thought they were backing a proposal to allow supermarkets to sell wine. The state Senate this year passed a bill outlawing paid signature-gathering, but the measure sits in the House with little prospect of success.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY kiji_kat)

Texas District Adopts Disputed Text on Bible Study
By BARBARA NOVOVITCH
Published: December 22, 2005

ODESSA, Tex., Dec. 21 -Trustees of the Ector County Independent School District here decided, 4 to 2, on Tuesday night that high school students would use a course published by the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools for studying the Bible in history and literature.

The council is a religious advocacy group in Greensboro, N.C., and has the backing of the Eagle Forum and Focus on the Family, two conservative organizations.

( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY kalibex)

'Jews for Jesus sues Google over blog'

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY thoth_moon)

( CNN interviewed Brian Welch )

. . . Giving it some consideration, I think it's cool that he managed to clean up his act and it's fine if religion was his means to do that, but that other stuff . . . well, people like him kind of disgust me, in a way. You know what I'm saying?

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY ammitbeast)

Sam Harris, author of the book The End of Faith will be on KQED-fm (88.5, I think) at 2 a.m. on the morning of Fri., 12/23/05 (about two hours from now as I post this). KQED-fm is a radio station in the San Francisco Bay Area.

I heard this lecture, which closely follows his book, while driving home from work tonight. He speaks about the dangers of religious fundamentalism and religious moderation -- Harris feels the latter apologizes for fundamentalism and provides a buffer against rigorous intellectual challenges aimed at religious extremists. He also speaks a bit about dominionists.

I'll post the name of the lecture series later when I can gather that information. The lecture may be available as an audio stream, podcast, etc.