The site for ranting and reporting by John Masters
A general category for things related to our society and how we interact with one another.
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.
Read moreYes, this is a bit behind, but I had to make comments about some of the discussion points put forward
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Unfortunately, as gay people are less afraid to hide in a stifling closet, and are demanding that they be accorded the same rights as every other American, the heads of the leaders of the evangelical branch of the christian right are exploding. They are ratcheting up the rhetoric to a disturbing level, and some of their language is most certainly designed to evoke a violent response by unstable people who follow them. So, I’d like to drop them a note.
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But at the end of the day, with or without these RFRA laws, you still have the same religious freedoms you have had since the Republic was founded. You can pray to whatever God you choose, or you can choose to not pray. You can go to whatever house of worship you wish on whatever day you’d like, and you can crawl into the pulpit and preach the ugliest and nastiest things your sad little heart can drum up about people you don’t like. So Mike, stop with the lying about the need for these laws. The only thing you’re trying to do is get special rights to take your particular from of hatred and bigotry into the public square, and you’re finding that Americans are finally less and less tolerant of your intolerance. I know it’s hard to take now, but in the end, America, and even you, will be better for it.
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We’re starting to see the backlash against LGBTQ people as the likelihood of nationwide marriage equality increases, and LGBTQ people achiever equality under the law. One of the main ways the Christianists are trying to keep us in our place, is to pass these bogus, and clearly unconstitutional, religious liberty bills. We saw how cowardly they are in Oklahoma this week.
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This week’s crazy has been especially over the top, especially with Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore trying to stand in the courthouse doorway, and more Christians believing that only they can defend God (shhh, apparently he can’t take care of himself).
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It will come no surprise that members of the Georgia legislature have introduced model legislation similar to that introduced in other legislature where marriage equality has either passed or been instituted by judicial action. This one of those “Religious Freedoms” bills designed to allow “christians” to discriminate against anyone they don’t like…because, you know…who would Jesus hate. In this instance, a group of religious leaders in Georgia have banded together and issued a letter denouncing the bill, and explaining that no one, besides certain Republican members of the legislature has actually asked for the bill. I was heartened to see that a number of United Methodist pastors from Georgia had signed the letter. But as usual, the Methodist Episcopacy was missing in action.
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The story is based on a recent action by the City of Atlanta in which they fired Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran for the publication of a religiously themed book, and how it was distributed within the department. The book included some pretty strong anti-gay comments, so of course the main characters in anti-gay, inc. are all grifting on Cochran’s martyrdom. I’d like to offer some reminders to these staunch defenders of “free speech.”
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Boy oh boy, did I get a surprise phone call Monday. I live in Tampa, just south of Pasco County, and Monday morning I faxed a letter to Paula O’Neil, Pasco Clerk of Court concerning their discontinuing performing marriage ceremonies in deference to the bigotry of some of her assistant clerks. You can read the letter here.
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Same-sex marriage has arrived in Florida a midst great wailing and gnashing of teeth. While arriving sooner than expected, it wasn’t an easy delivery thanks to the political aspirations of our twice married and living in sin Attorney General, Pam Bondi. However, some Court Clerks are doing all they can to prove that, despite having to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, they still hate gay people as much as ever. This seems especially true of Pasco County Clerk, Paula O’Neil.
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