Organized Religion

Religion And Prejudice: Again Evident In Reaction To Boy Scout Decision to Admit Gay Youths

The news that the Boy Scouts Of America will allow gay youths as members is a half step, as it still bans gay youths once they reach 18, and gay scout leaders, and that will have to be adjusted over time.

But it is extremely disturbing to see Religion being utilized to promote prejudice, bias, hate and discrimination against gays, as if they choose to be gay!

So we see the Mormon Church, the Catholic Church, and evangelical Christians employing very “Unchristian” values, and also Orthodox Jews and Orthodox Muslims, refusing to recognize how many of each religious group are gay, including some of the protesting leaders, who are “in the closet”, and are true hypocrites!

And it is disturbing that one family, as an example, with five sons, is removing all of them from scouting, as, supposedly, the children asked to be removed, and if that is so, that means they have been taught to hate and to despise gay people, when they will have to cope with plenty of them over a lifetime!

And who can be sure that some of these kids, or others, are secretly gay, and totally paranoid and fearful of being found out, and might cause them to commit suicide because of their guilt and their burden that they know they will NOT be accepted by their own parents and other family members?

This is all very sick and disturbing, but after all, we all know that elements of organized Christianity were infamous for nativism, racism, sexism, and antisemitism in american history! So what else is new?

Fortunately, the number of young people who accept gays is a clear majority and growing, and organized religion is losing adherents rapidly, so when the more devout and older bigots in society pass from the scene, we will have a much more tolerant and open minded society, free of their prejudice, hatred, and bias!

Republicans Double Down On Anti Gay Stand: Long Range Move To Oblivion!

The Republican Party’s National Committee has decided that they will double down on their anti gay stand, just at a time when the nation is rapidly accepting gays as equals in every way, including the civil right to marry.

This is a losing proposition, as within the next ten years, the GOP will look like a dinosaur culturally, as the nation is moving away from narrow mindedness, prejudice, discrimination, and the bullying that goes on, encouraged by lack of concern for and respect for the rights of those with a different sexual orientation. And gay marriage is being considered right now by the Supreme Court, and no matter what they decide in June, the momentum is with movement in that direction.

Senator Rob Portman of Ohio and Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois are the only two sitting GOP Senators who have endorsed gay marriage, although former Senators Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Dan Evans of Washington, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Larry Pressler of South Dakota, Lowell Weicker of Connecticut, and Olympia Snowe of Maine have also backed gay marriage.

A number of College Republican groups, and s few Republican members of the House of Representatives. along with prominent former Republicans Governors, including Jon Huntsman, Tom Ridge, Jesse Ventura, Tom Kean, James Thompson, William Weld, and Christie Todd Whitman have also supported gay marriage.

Additionally, many other non elected Republicans have signed statements calling on the Supreme Court to accept gay marriage as constitutional everywhere in America!

When we look back by 2025 to 2030, the Republican Party will have paid a heavy price for their refusal to adjust to changing times, and to their decision to allow organized religion to dictate social policy, in a nation that is based on the Founding Fathers’ promotion of the separation of church and state!

Under 30s In This Decade More Socially Liberal, More Democratic

Those citizens under 30 years of age now, and throughout this decade, are emerging as much more socially liberal and Democratic than many realized.

Under 30s now have no problem with gay marriage, immigration reform, more gun regulations, preservation of abortion rights, and tolerance toward the growing diversity of America’s population.

They are far less religious in a traditional sense, and are more likely to vote Democratic now and in the long term, and young women, particularly, are thrilled at the thought of having a woman President in Hillary Clinton or someone else, as an example of massive social change similar to the election of Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.

This spells gloom and doom for the Republican Party if they do not “get their act together”, so to speak!

Imagine, 37 percent of the electorate in 2020 will be under 30, meaning born after 1990!

The Most Victimized Group In American Society: Single Mothers

When one looks at American society today, it is clear that it is single mothers who are the most victimized group in America.

Single mothers exist in such large numbers because the concept of being married before having children has long been played down as an ethical and moral standard.

Conservatives, Republicans and highly devout Christians and Jews also preach that every time a fetus is conceived, the mother should carry through to term, which often leads to poverty and deprivation for the child and the mother.

Of course, also there are women who are abandoned by their boyfriends or their husbands, or are divorced or widowed, leaving them with the total task of bringing up their children.

And statistics show the following realities:

Single mothers have triple the poverty rate of the rest of the population.

One fourth of all mothers are single women at one time or another.

Half of all children will spend some time in a single mother household.

Single mothers have the highest rate of low wage employment.

Single mothers have the highest wage gap.

Single mothers have the lowest net worth and the highest chance for bankruptcy.

Half of all households since the year 2000 are led by a single mother.as the breadwinner.

All this is reality as conservatives and Republicans look to do the following:

Slash welfare programs; cut enforcement of child support; limit child tax credits; work against protection of women from sexual and emotional abuse; and overall, blame single mothers for all the wrongs of society!

So, in other words, make sure you have all pregnancies go to term, but do not expect government to assist in making life easier for single mothers, god forbid! And do not promote birth control, as that is against the natural order of things, interfering with God’s Plan!

Expect single mothers to pay child care costs, clothing costs for work, transportation costs to get to and from work, and blame them when their children may turn out to have lack of supervision, which may lead to membership in gangs and other socially unacceptable activities, which may lead to crime!

And of course, single mothers are often subject to violence and abuse themselves, as there is no sense of honor or respect for the amazing job that 99 percent of these single women of any race accomplish, despite an anti women attitude by so many politicians and conservative ideologists!

Until this major social ill is confronted and dealt with through compassion and reaching out, the plight of single mothers and their children will continue to be a serious crisis in America’s future!

The Founding Fathers And Religious Intolerance

Having spent the past few days touring Presidential homes of the Founding Fathers in Virginia, it becomes ever more clear how they viewed organized religion.

All of the great Founding Fathers were born of the Christian faith, one sect or another, but all were skeptical of organized religion, being very educated and learned about the history of Christianity, which had included mass murder, bloodshed, violence, and holy wars against Islam, and promotion of antisemitism against Jews.

So George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe all were not regular church goers, and in many respects were Deists, having given up on organized religious trappings.

The Adamses, John and John Quincy, also had similar views, as did Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton.

If they had been here in today’s world, witnessing the bias, prejudice, and hate promoted by SOME Christian groups in the name of Jesus, they would be totally disgusted for sure!

Rush Limbaugh’s Attack On Government, Media, Academia, And Science: The Promotion Of “Know Nothingism”!

Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, the largest, in all ways, of windbags, who loves to divide America, on the road to further enrichment of his massive fortune, is at it again, but what else is new?

Limbaugh now claims that America has four enemies within its midst: the federal government, the news media, the academic community, and the field of science!

Limbaugh has no problem with the hypocrisy of organized religion; the corruption of Wall Street and the massive corporate influence; the massive rise in the national debt under George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and others in the past three decades; and the tremendous costs of constant warfare overseas in the past decade, and its effect on military personnel’s physical and mental health.

Limbaugh is disturbed if the government does anything to deal with the disaster visited upon the middle class and the poor by the events of the past decade. He is also upset that the news media have the gall to expose the evils and problems that exist, due to the deleterious influence of the Republicans in the past ten years. Of course, academia is seen as evil because it actually promotes knowledge, learning, interpretation, analysis, thinking–all characteristics which Rush Limbaugh lacks! And rather than look at science as something to be respected, instead Rush promotes corporate greed which undermines the future of our environment and planet long term.

Rush Limbaugh is an extremely obscene individual who revels in promotion of ignorance, prejudice, narrow mindedness and hatred, and is only out for his own aggrandizement! When will his audience wake up and realize the truth, and that he has no concern for those who listen to him, except to glorify his own ego and enhance his own fortune?

Will people ever learn and see the truth? One would hope so!

Return From Vacation To Horrible News! Mitt Romney, And The Ugandan Catholic Bishops!

Having just returned from vacation in Charleston and Savannah, and only having contributed one entry about the Wisconsin recall election results while on vacation, the author returns to horrible news, making one wonder about humanity!

Mitt Romney has made it clear that if the Supreme Court rules against the Obama Health Care law later this month, he will not protect the millions with preexisting conditions, who would, effectively, left out of health care by such an action.

Romney has also made it clear that he feels the message of Wisconsin is that the American people do not wish to fund more jobs for badly needed teachers, firefighters, and police officers, an unbelievable conclusion based on one state’s results, and a slap in the face of the American people, and the honorable professions that are so essential to the nation, and are being treated as if they are “servants” who can be hired and fired as Mitt Romney loves to do with everyone, due to his obscene wealth, greed, and selfishness!

Mitt Romney is becoming worse by the day, a true monster who comes across as the worst GOP nominee in American history, with his lack of humanity or concern for the needs of the American nation!

The thought that this man without a conscience could actually become President is totally sickening!

But then, the news gets worse, as we learn that in Uganda, the Catholic bishops are endorsing legislation to kill gays or put them in prison for life, a bill already promoted by the evangelical Christian movement, and setting up a situation that would lead to a Holocaust not that different than the one in World War II against gays, as well as Jews and other groups, which was ignored by the then Pope Pius IX!

Pope Benedict XVI needs to condemn this endorsement immediately, and crack down on the Catholic bishops of Uganda, but will he? He is condemning the “radical” statements of nuns who are promoting a open mindedness on many issues within the Church, so can one be assured that he will take steps to crack down on the hate of the Ugandan Catholic bishops?

This is just more proof how organized religion has lost its humanity, and is about to make gays the new victims of a modern day Holocaust in the name of God!

This news about Mitt Romney and the Ugandan bishops is enough to make one wish to go back on vacation, and shut out the cruel world we live in!

Organized Religion, Parenthood, and Gay Rights: Time To Do What A Jew Named Jesus Would Advocate!

Today is Mother’s Day, and in five weeks, it is Father’s Day.

Today also is the first Sunday since President Barack Obama declared support of gay marriage, part of his continuing agenda to promote legal rights and human rights for people who are lesbian, gay, bi sexual and transgender.

And what do we already see occurring?

We see hate, discrimination, prejudice, bias, anger, fury and narrow mindedness emanating from many Catholic Mormon, and evangelical Christian pulpits as priests, pastors, and ministers declare “war” on gay Americans, and use the Bible to back up their campaign, rather than demonstrate humanity, open mindedness, understanding, tolerance, and acceptance of people who are different than they are.

Instead of promoting compassion and acceptance, we see the issue of gay rights being used as a political football by the haters, and this sadly includes many moms and dads who will refuse to accept their children who are gay, will throw them out of the house, will banish them from family gatherings, will declare them “dead” rather than understand that they have feelings and desires to love someone of the same sex, and wish to be understood and accepted for who they are.

The question anyone with an open mind has is how can men and women reject their own children, provoking depression and suicide in many cases?

And how can those who claim to be spokesmen for God advocate hate and violence against people who would certainly find it easier to deny their own sexuality if they could, but face constant repudiation by religious leaders who are true hypocrites that set out to divide people and deny that these people’s loves are based on their natural, innate selves?

The sad reality is that ANY clergyman or parent who rejects people of GLBT orientation is promoting the kind of hate which makes a mockery of parenthood and of organized religion!

These are not “good Christians” or any other faith, and should be denounced for what they are, peddlers of hypocrisy, who should be called to account and rejected by all decent people!

Just a reminder: Jesus, who these haters say they follow, was a Jew, and his people, the Jews, have faced prejudice and hate from Christian groups throughout history by those who profess to believe in Jesus. Time to stop the phoniness of what these people preach and follow the true, compassionate views of Jesus, which includes acceptance of LGBT orientation!

Health Care, Women’s Health Rights, And Churches And Synagogues

The Obama Health Care legislation has come under attack on a new front: that hospitals and universities and other institutions connected to religious groups, other than actual church or synagogue properties, are being required to provide contraceptive and abortion services to women who work for those institutions, outraging the Catholic Church, Orthodox Jews, Mormons, and Evangelical Christian groups that oppose such practices.

An exemption for churches and synagogues has not been enough to appease these religious groups, and it threatens the support of these groups for the Obama re-election campaign, but if the Obama Administration abandons the rights of women of all religious persuasions and denies them such services, they could also lose support among women who want these services covered.

It is clear that a majority of Catholic women ignore the teachings of their own church, while it is not clear that the same is true for Orthodox Jews, Mormons, and Evangelical Christians.

So this presents a quandary for Obama, and is being called an attack on religion, rather than an issue of an attack on women’s health and basic human rights to control their own bodies. Rather than have to follow the teachings of groups that are dominated by men, many millions of women want to determine their own futures, and not be controlled by their employers as to what health coverage they have.

The likelihood is that Obama will cave in on this to the religious groups, but a true profile in courage would be to make it clear there is religious freedom in this country, but it should not dictate health services available to women in the name of religious liberty.

One does not have to accept contraceptives or pursue abortion, but women should have the freedom, no matter what their religion or no religion, to pursue their own freedom, separate from organized religious institutions trying to control their destiny. They should not be required to quit their employment to have freedom of choice.

Religion And Same Sex Marriage: Not Uniform In Opposition!

The general impression that most Americans have is that all organized religious groups condemn the idea of same sex marriage, but nothing is farther from the truth!

Certainly, in a broad sense, the following groups DO oppose gay marriage with great vehemence: Evangelical Christians, the Catholic Church, Mormons, Orthodox Jews, African American Protestants, and Hispanic Pentecostals.

However, at the same time, the following groups often support the concept of gay marriage as legitimate: Mainline Protestant groups, including Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Methodist, United Church of Christ, and Lutherans, although all have splits on the issue; some rebel Catholic groups; and Reform Judaism.

It is clear that clergy were intimately involved in the passage of gay marriage in the New York State legislature, convincing a few Republicans to switch over to support, which would make the difference between victory and defeat.

Religious groups are divided on the subject, so one cannot say that those who speak for God are uniformly opposed, and progress has been made over the past decade in changing many religious groups to have an open mind and a tolerant view of promoting commitment and love outside the mainstream!