The site for ranting and reporting by John Masters
This Category is to cover those stories related to issues of sexual orientation.
United Methodist Bishop, J. Michael Lowry of the Central Texas Conference, recently addressed a gathering of the United Methodist Scholars for Christian Orthodoxy Conference at Armstrong Chapel United Methodist Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has put his address, “In a Mirror Dimly”: The Future of the United Methodist Church”© on his website as a four part posting. This is Part 2 of a four part series.
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I’m getting tired of hearing about and talking about public restrooms. I don’t particularly like having to use them, but I’m sure thankful they’re there sometimes. I suspect most folks feel the same. But alas, the public restroom is under attack. Where once one could go for some semi-private release, it’s now a place where evil-doers and gender-obsessed perverts lurk.
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So Mike Huckabee’s latest rant against the Black Man in the White House. President Obama has nominated Eric K. Fanning as the Secretary of Army. What has the Huckster’s knickers all in a wad? The fact that Under Secretary Fanning happens to be gay…because, clearly, Rev. Asshole doesn’t think gay people should have jobs.
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In the previous century, America, through public and private cooperation and investment built an unrivaled infrastructure. We became the country that invented the things of a new and exciting world, and we built those things. We put in place a social safety net. We weren’t perfect, but we tried, and We looked to the future with excitement and anticipation, but today, we seem to be in a rush to go backwards as far and fast as possible. We fear everything, and demand absolute security, and think it can be found in some nostalgic past.
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Scott Lively is an attorney who heads up something called the “Abiding Truth Ministries.” He’s risen to some prominence lately by taking his message of hate and bigotry towards LGBT people international. He found an especially receptive audience in Ugandan government officials, and helped pass anti-gay legislation which called for the death penalty for homosexual acts. His latest screed on World Nut Daily uses the same tired claims.
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Bill Donohue, for those of you who don’t know, is the head, and as best anyone can tell, only employee or member of an organization called, “The Catholic League.” Bill is claiming that American gay rights activists are seeking to “criminalize the Bible,” based on a situation where a Swiss group has filed a complaint (in Switzerland) against a Catholic Bishop in Switzerland (those facists Swedes).
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It worries and embarrasses me the idiocy I see in too many of our elected officials, and making it worse is the knowledge we elect them, and keep re-electing them. Evangelicals and Conservatives, especially Republican conservatives seem to try to out-stupid each other, and the rhetoric has simply crossed a line, especially on the gay marriage issue. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa[they should be really proud]) provides a ton of grist for the stupid mill, and I think his latest, were he anyone else, would qualify him for a Baker Act petition.
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Recently, a small church in Michigan, Cassopolis United Methodist, had their church Pastor, Rev. Benjamin Hutchison, taken away from them. Was it because of poor attendance, hardly, he had quadrupled the membership since being appointed. He saved the church from dying according to many members. His crime, he was in a long-term committed relationship with another man. Just after that, nearly 30 United Methodist pastors joined in a celebrating a wedding ceremony for Rev. Hutchison and his husband, and now, to further hammer home her distaste for love, Bishop Deborah Lieder Kiesey has picked out nine of them for prosecution under church law. Here’s my letter to Bishop Kiesey:
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It’s time we had a little talk, you and me. I know this whole idea that gay people (and all the LBT rest of them) might be starting to get some equal rights bothers you tremendously. I can’t figure out any sort of leap of logic that makes this such a big issue for you, unless, of course it somehow affects you directly. At some point, you’ve got to meet God halfway. You can’t create him in your image, nor imbibe him with your character flaws. If God hates all the same people you do, you have created a god in your own image, and are not worshiping the God of Abraham.
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Based on a comment in response to a Facebook post, ” There are those who think it is a side effect of some childhood immunizations or combinations thereof.” This has to be one of the most unique I can think of. Let’s start with a number of problems with this, from the most recent working back into time.
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It seems the Commission on the General Conference for the United Methodist Church, meeting last month, decided to hold the first quadrennial General Conferences outside the United States . The original choice had the GC going to Zimbabwe in 2024, and the Philippines in 2028. Fortunately, an ever-present advocate for LGBT people within the Church was there, and raised a few concerns, including the fact that Amnesty International has declared Zimbabwe one of the most dangerous countries for LGBT people. The years were switched.
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