All I have to say is finally. It appears as if gay marriage will once more be legal and valid in California. Sure it’s only one state, but then there is what I like to call “California Syndrome”. It seems like when big events like this are passed in California, many other states follow suite soon after. I hope this trend will continue with the overruling of Prop 8.
Barring anything catastrophic, the way will be cleared for same-sex marriages on August 18. Personally, I just don’t see this getting overturned as an article I read said:
Legal standing, Ms. Cooper explains, dictates “you have to be directly affected by the outcome.” According to Walker, the backers of Prop 8 – the “proponents” – have not demonstrated that.
“If anyone is going to be ordered to implement Prop 8, that would have to be the state of California, and the governor and attorney general have made it clear that they have no interest in enforcing Prop 8,” says Cooper.
Essentially it comes back to one of my favorite rebuttals against those who oppose equal rights. If you don’t like gay marriages, nobody is forcing you to have one. Honestly, I fail to see how two women getting married would destroy somebody else’s marriage.
So the front seat of the White House briefing room is up for grabs and the two contenders are for FOX News or NPR. There really isn’t a choice there. FOX is not news. It is more like the GOP’s lurking tentacle/appendage masquerading as a legitimate institution for the distribution of news. Political site MoveOn.org has setup a petition to help ensure the seat goes to a deserved and of course actual news outlet: NPR.
According to a press release sent to me by the American Atheists, an atheist advocacy group has encouraged gay priests to “resign from the church and reject the Vatican’s repressive teachings on homosexuality”. I have to say I agree.
The report also claims that as many as 60% of Catholic priests are gay.
This comes following an expose by the Italian weekly news magazine Panorama titled “Good Nights Out For Gay Priests.” Investigative journalist Carmelo Abbate who spent time undercover filming and interviewing gay clerics who often flaunted their lifestyle, and even hired male escorts for private parties. Panorama’s expose seems to confirm a 2000 study by Father Donald Cozzens whose book, The Changing Face of the Priesthood suggested that as many as 60% of American Catholic priests were gay.
The president of American Atheists, Ed Buckner agrees.
Dr. Ed Buckner, President of American Atheists, said, “In an institution where men and women are treated as equals–as human beings!–double lives (hypocrisy) aren’t necessary. These men should choose integrity, honest lives, not continuing support for unsupportable, irrational dogma that misleads millions and expands human suffering rather than easing it.”
That makes sense. I understand many priests are proud to be spreading the word of God and all, but they don’t need the Vatican to spout their nonsense. I’m not suggesting that they should leave their religion all together, but at least should distance themselves from this horrible organization.
Have you guys heard about this yet? Visit GodBlock.com, bu here’s their description:
GodBlock is a web filter that blocks religious content. It is targeted at parents and schools who wish to protect their kids from the often violent, sexual, and psychologically harmful material in many holy texts, and from being indoctrinated into any religion before they are of the age to make such decisions. When installed properly, GodBlock will test each page that your child visits before it is loaded, looking for passages from holy texts, names of religious figures, and other signs of religious propaganda. If none are found, then your child is allowed to browse freely.
While I’m not 100% certain this is legitimate, it may surprise some of you to know I disapprove of this. I abhor censorship of any kind. Why shouldn’t a child have access to information from all religions and be allowed to make a choice for themselves? While it’s an entertaining concept, I’m not a big fan of it. I also don’t exactly see it even being necessary anyway. Perhaps once it’s actually available I’ll install it and see what it does though.
I thought this was worth sharing: I actually think Obama is going to make good on his LGBT promises. It’s about time too. It doesn’t matter who you love, in the end you should have the right to be happy. It sure is nice to have a level-headed and open-minded leader in charge.
As I read Pharyngula today, I noticed an article about Australia’s PM Julia Gillard. I could really care less that she isn’t married and has a boyfriend ect. The interesting news was her response to a question on a radio show:
This morning during a Melbourne radio interview, the new Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard was asked point blank:
“Do you believe in God?”
Her reply:
“No I don’t, John”
Interesting. Now while an atheist doesn’t necessarily make a superior leader, it does give me hope for humanity. Australia’s citizens apparently don’t really care about a secular leader though:
A Nielsen Poll last year found three-quarters of Australians do not care whether political leaders believe in God or not.
I’m now wondering when America will get its first atheist President. Hmmm… Perhaps I should hit the campaign trail.
For some unknown reason, God unleashed his rage upon a statue erected in His one and only son’s image. A 6-story tall statue of Jesus was struck by lightning and completely obliterated.
six-story statue of Jesus Christ was struck by lightning and burned to the ground, leaving only a blackened steel skeleton and pieces of foam that were scooped up by curious onlookers Tuesday.The “King of Kings” statue, one of southwest Ohio’s most familiar landmarks, had stood since 2004 at the evangelical Solid Rock Church along Interstate 75 in Monroe, just north of Cincinnati.
The lightning strike set the statue ablaze around 11:15 p.m. Monday, Monroe police dispatchers said.
They are going to rebuild it though, but instead out of something fireproof. Although that kind of reminds me of a quote by Doug McLeod “I still say a church steeple with a lightning rod on top shows a lack of confidence”.
Remember that teacher who got fired for joining Atheist Nexus? Well she did.
Nurre was suspended by Monsignor Kevin McCoy and later fired by the school board for violating a policy that prohibits employees from advocating “principles contrary” to the teachings of the church.
St. Edmonds took the “appropriate action,” Kristie Arlt, spokeswoman for the Sioux City Diocese, said of the math teacher.
“The main thing is that she stated she didn’t believe in God,” Arlt said. “It’s pretty hard to put that same teacher in front of students in a Catholic school system.”
I have trouble seeing her as a complete and total victim here. I don’t think the school was wrong in this decision. Think about it. It is a private, Catholic School. Obviously they can organize it however they want and if I had an “atheistic” school I wouldn’t want a Creationist in charge of my Science Dept. It is kind of a wishy-washy situation anyway though, but in the end a private organization can do whatever they want. Perhaps she should try teaching at a public school instead.
You may have noticed I added a page on the header bar titled “billboard”. If you visit frequently or happen to follow me on Twitter you are probably aware of my campaign. I am trying to bring a billboard to Atlanta, GA to promote atheism in a positive light. It was inspired by the whole bus ads over in Europe, but I can’t do a bus ad here. Either way, I need to raise $4000 to get this going. Which is quite a sum of money. I’ve got $630 already though. Even if you do not live in Georgia, this will be beneficial to you. I figure Atlanta is pretty much as Southern ignorant as it gets and I’d like to change that. My hope is that after this campaign awareness will increase and getting funding for subsequent ones will be much, much easier. I’ve setup a site for this called AtlantaAtheistAd.com, so please visit if you have the chance.
Well Pastor Jeff Owens is a real class act. Here is a real loving set of things he recently uttered:
We need to stop burning flags and start burning fags. We need hunt-a-homo week. We need to take ‘em all out and shoot ‘em with a scatter shotgun
Are you fucking serious? Really? How could anybody say something like that? More importantly, how has any member of the lgbt community ever caused harm upon him? I highly doubt they have. If you don’t like the idea of a gay marriage(or abortion) simply elect to not have one. Your bigoted bullshit should not be allowed to control the choices available to other citizens of this country. If you are a Christian and he does not represent your beliefs, speak up! If you don’t this asshole is speaking for you. His congregation sure does seem to agree, and I’d embed the YouTube video but it appears to have been pulled. Update: Here’s the video
