Pope Francis-Liberal?

I'm not a Catholic, but as a Christian in the Baptist tradition and a student of history I acknowledge the large role and influence the Roman Catholic Church and its leader can have on world affairs, politics and social justice issues.

I was born during the reign of Pope John XXIII who died on June 3, a day short of me turning 13 months old.  Pope Paul VI was the one whose reign covered much of my childhood and teen years.  He succeeded the late John XXIII a few weeks later and died when I was a junior in high school.   I watched the all too brief 33 day reign of Pope John Paul I in which the conspiracy theories are abundant about his death.  He was followed by the man who held the papacy longer than anyone in my lifetime in Pope John Paul II.   He was followed by one I grew to loathe for pimping that anti-trans doctrine in Pope Benedict XVI and I cheered when he resigned.   

So now we have Pope Francis running thangs in the Roman Catholic Church.   He has been its history making leader since March 13 as the first pope from the Southern Hemisphere, The Americas, South America, Latin America, and the first Jesuit priest to ascend to the papacy.

I remember having the conversation with Rev. Carmarion Anderson during the BTMI Advocacy Conference which was going on when Francis became pope.  I stayed at her house for two days of it before heading to the hotel.  One of our conversations when I was chilling at her place was about the new leader.   

While I expressed my wait and see attitude about Pope Francis, she was encouraged by what he had to say concerning refocusing the Roman Catholic Church on being concerned about the poor and inequality than their war on contraception and LGBT people. 

In the months since that conversation with Carmarion I've noted that Pope Francis ditched much of the trapping of the extravagant papal lifestyle of his predecessor.  I've gleefully noted the increased unhinged complaints and attacks from conservafool pundits aimed at this pontiff. (which is always a good sign), especially after he called out trickle-down economics, global capitalism for its greed, called for better interfaith relations with Muslims, and being concerned about income inequality.

"Just as the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say 'thou shalt not' to an economy of exclusion and inequality," Pope Francis wrote. "Such an economy kills."

While I like what I see so far concerning Pope Francis, the jury is still out on just how liberal he is. 

I've always believed and my personal faith is in the thoughtful Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. mode  I like religious leaders who are social justice oriented and who speak truth to power.  I tend to have respect for religious leaders in that mold who stand up for working class people, society's downtrodden people and who aren't 'scurred' to speak moral truths that piss off friend or foe.

Whether Pope Francis is that type of pontiff and continues to be one during his papal reign remains to be seen.
    . 

2009 Miss Tiffany Winner Detransitions To Become A Monk

Back in May 2009 I wrote about Sorawee 'Jazz' Nattee becoming the latest person to wear the Miss Tiffany's crown and become Thailand's representative in the upcoming Miss International Queen Pageant that November.   

Nattee ended up not placing in that Miss International Queen competition won by Ai Haruna of Japan but did finish third in the pre-pageant competition.    

The interesting news that came out of the Land of Smiles ironically right about the time the Miss Tiffany pageant is held in Thailand is that the now 24 year old Nattee traded her crown for the orange robes of Buddhist monkhood.

Since only males can become Buddhist monks, that meant Nattee had to detransition to do so. 

The international trans community has been hearing about disturbing cases in Thailand in which families who are majorly resistant to their trans children transitioning to live as women or their gay ones being forced to become monks.

According to Nattee, this isn't what's happening in his situation.  ‘It’s not that I’ve become a monk to run away from problems, but I’ve studied dhamma for two years and now know what it truly is.’’ 

Nattee also said in the Bangkok Post article he was doing so to repay his parents.

Genital surgery is optional for a contestant in the Miss Tiffany's and Miss International Queen competitions, and according to Nattee's family the only surgery Jazz had at the time of competition were breast implants..

Nattee removed the implants and took the ordination name of Phra Maha Viriyo Bhikku as he entered a monastery in his home southern Songkla province. He didn't hide the fact that four years ago he was wearing the Miss Tiffany's pageant crown.

"I want to be a monk for the rest of my life and I’m ready to leave my worldly possessions behind,’’ Jazz said after becoming a monk at Wat Liab

I and everyone else in trans world hope that Nattee freely made this decision and wasn't pushed into it by his parents or other outside influences.   If it's what Jazz truly desires and made the conscious decision to do so, then best of luck in his life and spiritual journey.

But if he didn't, I definitely along with people in Thailand won't be surprised to see the return of Jazz

Faith-Based Bigots Still Trying (And Failing) To Come Up With An Anti-Trans Doctrine

Since they are losing the marriage equality war, the faith based bigot are now trying to pivot and focus their time an efforts on attacking transpeople. 

However, they have one major problem when it comes to trying to use the Bible as a weapon against us.  They don't have a handy go to scripture to bash us with like they do with Deuteronomy 22:2 to bash gay and lesbian people.  

So what the conservafools have tried to do is create one.   You'll note that when they trot out these anti-trans talking points they will not quote any Biblical scripture to back them up because frankly much of what the Bible has to say on our issues is in large part trans friendly.

One of their current ones in addition to their standard 'God doesn't make mistakes' and  variation of it is this faith-based bigoted assertion that transpeople are 'rebelling against God' when you alter your body or undergo a gender transition.

Matthew 19:12 and Jesus himself blows that lie up

For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. [KJV]


On top of that, Pat Robertson has inadvertently undercut their intended message and efforts to pimp the transsexuality is 'rebelling against God' lie by saying on multiple occasions that transsexuality is not a sin. 

So yeah, it's almost too easy for us to feed our opponents misguided words back to them.  I can easily point out that anyone who has had a tummy tuck, breast augmentation, pierced their ears or other body parts is also 'altering their body' and by their hypocritical conservastandard is 'rebelling against God.. 

And yeah, guess they forgot about Exodus 20:16 in the process of coming up with this crap.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

But back to discussing their faith based crap.  

They have tried and failed twice in terms of using the Good Book as an attack weapon against much needed human rights laws, and it's up to the trans community and our allies to make sure that the faith based bigots spectacularly fail once again.   

Pat Robertson Has Another Broken Clock Trans Moment

You longtime TransGriot readers know I have gleefully pointed out that televangelist Pat Robertson, who has a long history of uttering racist and anti-gay remarks has actually said that 'transsexuality is not a sin'

Well, duh.  And nope, it's not April 1. 

Pat made that comment during a October 5, 1999 broadcast of his 700 Club show and has had other broken clock TBLG moments as to when this show happened a he was asked a question last year about Christians bullying BTLG kids that he had a surprising answer to.

And now, here's another broken clock Pat Robertson trans moment that comes in response to a question during his 'Bring It On-Line segment from David

"I work with two people who have decided that they are females. I know what the Bible says about homosexuality, but is it wrong to refer to them as females since they have had their gender status changed in the eyes of the law?"




Surprise surprise, Pat says NO.   While he take a swipe as SRS and transition as 'radical' and dangerous', he basically echoed the 1999 comment in saying transsexuality wasn't a sin. 

Better get busy people copying this before they delete the video along with the transcript of his remarks from the 700 Club website.
 

Disciples Of Christ Church Officially Welcomes TBLG People To Its Churches

During the time I was a Texan in Exile in Louisville, Edenside Christian Church, the one I attended from 2001-2010 and was a proud member of was part of the Disciples of Christ (Christian) Church denomination.

I was even prouder to 'slliiiiiiide into Edenside' after the congregation voted in 2008 to become an open and affirming church. 

So I was ecstatic to read that at the recent yearly Disciples of Christ meeting that took place July 13-17 in Orlando they passed Resolution GA 1327 that stated:

“The General Assembly calls upon the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to affirm the faith, baptism and spiritual gifts of all Christians regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, and that neither is grounds for exclusion from fellowship or service within the church, but we celebrate that all are part of God’s good creation.”

One of the sponsoring churches for this resolution was our larger and down Bardstown Road neighbor in Douglass Ave Christian Church. 

Translation: If you're a trans, bi or same gender loving person, you are welcome to attend, participate in and become a member of a Disciples of Christ congregation.

There was a July 19 letter from Rev Dr Sharon Watkins, the General Minister and President of the Disciples of Christ Church in the United States and Canada clarifying the intent of this resolution. 

*It is not a statement of “unwelcome” for Disciples who did not support the resolution. All who confess faith in Jesus Christ are welcome. All means all

*It is not a policy change. The congregation where you worship and serve will not be requested to establish (or change) a policy on gay or lesbian persons in the life of the Church. The region where your congregation is affiliated is not required to change its policies on ordination. Your pastor is not required to bless same-gender marriages.

*It is not a theological mandate. It does not say that we have the same biblical understanding of sexual orientation or gender identity. Disciples, prayerfully and with biblical study and other research, come to their own understanding on these matters.

Rev. Watkins' letter goes on to say:  It points out that within the broad membership of Disciples, among the many congregations in covenant with each other, there have always been gay and straight, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender persons who participate fully in the life and leadership of the church. It urges us to treat each other with gospel hospitality as we seek to understand each other better.”

And that's a point I think we can all agree on.   But this is also wonderful news to a TBLG community that has seen far too many efforts by religious denominations to exclude, dehumanize and denigrate it instead of opening their church doors wide to embrace them as fellow human beings and brothers and sisters in Christ.

Italian Cardinal Gives Communion To Trans Woman At Funeral-Wingers Trip

With Pope Francis running thangs in Vatican City, is the hate on transpeople doctrine injected into the Roman Catholic church by Paul McHugh during the tail end of Pope John Paul II reign finally at an end?

As evidenced by Damian Garcia having to skip his Albuquerque Catholic high school graduation because of his transphobic archbishop was witness to, the jury is still out on that.

But on the other side of the Pond there was an interesting development taking place at the funeral of TBLG rights advocate Fr. Andrea Gallo, who passed away on May 22 at age 84 in his hometown of Genoa.  

Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the Archbishop of Genoa was seen giving Holy Communion during the televised ceremony to two transwomen.  One of the transwomen in question was none other than Vladi Luxuria, who has the distinction of being the first trans parlimentarian in Europe and the second on the planet after New Zealand's Georgina Beyer.   She held that seat until the Italian elections of April 2008. 




And to the Christo haters, your problem with Vladi getting communion is?

God made transpeople, too.  Y'all need to stop tripping.


Of course the right wing Christohaters went apoplectic about it, but for the rest of us trans peeps around the world who are more than a little sick of the hate on trans people doctrine that been coming out of their mouths, the Catholic Church since 2003 and has trickled down to the flock, it was an interesting breath of fresh air that bears watching.

Indonesia's Trans Muslims

Here's a documentary focusing on our Indonesian trans sisters.   They have been catching hell there lately, and the anti-trans attitudes whipped up by fundie Muslims  even affected a 2010 international trans conference held there.   The anti-trans hatred is felt even more keenly by our Indonesian trans sisters who are Muslims who simply want to be themselves and practice their faith.

Preach, Rev. Tweed!

This is a message faith based homophobes and transphobes here in the USA, Bermuda and the rest of the world definitely need to hear. 

Bermuda has recently tabled an amendment to its 1981 Human Rights Act that would add sexual orientation (but not gender identity) as a protected class against discrimination on the island. 

Predictably Bermuda's faith based haters let fly on Friday with a statement that is purported to express the position of the AME church about the pending legislation, but upon further review it was determined that the statement was unauthorized and does not represent their official position on the 2013 Human Rights Amendment.

“The AME Church opposes legislation that threatens the traditional family structure and erodes Bermuda society as a whole. This amendment does both.

“Since the Bible is clear that a relationship involving sexual intimacy is to be between a man and a woman within the bounds of marriage, legislation that endorses homosexuality violates God’s Word and gives up a Christian’s conscientious obligation to obey it.

“The AME Church believes that all people are made in God’s image, including those affected by same sex attraction. The Church will defend human dignity because of the Church’s commitment to godly principles. However, the AME Church unapologetically resists this amendment and appeals to those of like-mind to do the same.”

On Sunday Rev. Nicholas Tweed, the pastor of St. Paul AME Church in Hamilton blasted that statement from his pulpit and told his congregation in his sermon that it is unchristian to deny people their rights as human beings..

“The last time I checked, I don’t recall Jesus saying that some sin is better or more acceptable than other sin,” said Rev. Tweed. “I don’t recall Jesus saying it’s okay to lie but for heaven’s sake, don’t be lesbian.

“I don’t recall a text saying it’s okay to drink and be a whoremonger, just don’t be gay.”

The AME church also has a long history of social justice activism, and Rev. Tweed's father, the Rev. Dr. Kingsley Tweed was one of the leaders of a 1959 movie theater boycott that ended formal segregation in Bermuda 

According to the Bermuda Royal Gazette, Rev Tweed's sermon also contained some pointed criticisms of the May 16 national gathering for prayer.comments of Bishop Lloyd Duncan of the New Testament Church of God,   Duncan implored the Government “to exercise biblical caution, and spiritual restraint,” referring to its intention to prohibit sexual orientation discrimination as saying it would be a “lethal mistake.”

Rev. Tweed said: “We can see the irony of our discomfort. For example this past week, we saw celebrated a great gathering which declared to Bermuda that we were united in prayer. But the irony is that everybody wasn’t invited. I didn’t see no Muslims there, I didn’t see any Buddhists there or folks that may practice other religions that have an equal place in the social fabric of Bermuda

“In other words, it was a loose conglomerate of folk that at least in theory share the same point of view. And then the same folk that gathered together to declare the sins of their fragmentation and disunity were the same folk that used the opportunity designed to bring us together, to drive the nails and wedges of deeper fractures in our community by sending a message to say that we don’t believe that everybody ought to be included or protected by the Human Rights bill.

“The criteria for being protected is not really whether you are black, white, gay, straight, transgender, crossdresser; the criteria is if you are human, you ought to be protected and as folks that have been the victims of over 300 years of discrimination, it's a strange irony that we cannot get together even with the folks that was discriminating against us and talk about who shouldn’t be in.”

Preach Rev. Tweed, preach!

Rev Sally McClain Retires

Those of you who have been long time readers of TransGriot know that the blog not only started in Louisville, but through May 2010 chronicled some of my Bluegrass State life as a Texan in exile.

One of the people that I talked about in various blog posts who was a big part of my Louisville life and  my evolving faith journey was my pastor at Edenside Christian Church, the Rev. Sally McClain.  

I first met her approximately 48 hours after arriving in Louisville in late September 2001.  I was still reeling emotionally and depressed about my move from Houston, the series of seismic level events in my life starting that February which precipitated my relocation.  I was also spending a lot of my time in my new locale pondering my future and my 40th birthday that was a mere 8 months away.  

Dawn had me hop in her car and took me to meet the pastor of her church and at the time I didn't know anybody yet in Da Ville besides the Fairness peeps, my housemates, and my new next door neighbors.

When I walked into Sally's office, it did wonders for my mood that day.   You gotta love a pastor that has a stuffed Cartman doll on her bookshelf and who Dawn nicknamed 'Mustang Sally' because at the time she took over the leadership of Edenside she was driving a Ford Mustang.  

A few days later after visiting her Edenside office the Louisville AIDS Walk happened, and I joined the Edenside crew as we walked from the Belvedere starting point in downtown Louisville across the Clark Bridge to Indiana and back.  

I had so much fun that day with the folks there I started attending Sunday services at Edenside since the Highlands neighborhood in Da Ville that surrounded the church reminded me a lot of Montrose.

Edenside eventually grew on me until I joined the church a few months later in 2002.  You have to love a church like Edenside that in addition to being actively involved in the Highlands neighborhood and the Louisville community, hosted art shows in its building, hosted a concert by one of our members who was a jazz vocalist, had an HIV/AIDS memorial service and has the Louisville Scottish Association Bagpipe band pop in from time to time.

And oh yeah, did I forget to mention a certain DJ spinning Christmas tunes with soul as part of our church's contribution to the Bardstown Road Aglow event the first Saturday in December that kicks off the holiday season in the Highlands? 

She also led by example.  She's on the advisory board for the WHAS-TV Crusade For Children, one of the major charity fundraising events in the area.  Before I left for Texas she'd become a regular panelist on WHAS-TV's The Moral Side Of The News. 

As the Cartman doll on her bottom bookshelf demonstrated, Rev. Sally also has a wicked sense of humor she''d unleash at times. As a proud UK alum during basketball season no Louisville and Indiana fan in our congregation was safe whenever they lost their annual games to the Cats.

I loved the fact she could say in a 20-30 minute sermon what it would take most Black minsters 45 minutes to an hour to dramatically pontificate on.  I also loved the fact my Louisville church later officially became an open and affirming one.

I also loved the fact Edenside services started at 10:40 AM, included weekly communion and we were done by 11:45 AM.  Most times I was back home by noon unless we were having a post service church dinner or event.  

Yesterday the retirement service was held for Rev. Sally at Edenside.  We tried to arrange it so I could come to Louisville and 'sliiiiide into Edenside' for this event as a surprise for her but it didn't work out. 

Then again, the news of me being back in Jefferson County wouldn't have stayed a surprise long either.

With all the stuff I been juggling lately I didn't think about simply writing a statement about what my time at Edenside meant to me that pretty much coincided with Sally's tenure at the church for Dawn to read until it was way too late to do so.. 

She not only helped me start to get over being depressed about being there but helped me get acclimated to life in Kentuckiana as a member of Edenside.   I got the chance to find my speaking voice again as a worship leader and meet some new people who became my friends during the what turned out to be eight years I lived there.  Her sermons got me thinking about a lot of social justice issues that fueled my activism while I was there and sometimes fueled my social justice during my Texan in exile days.

And it was a two way street.  I was the DJ for her son Derek's wedding.  I also gave her the advice after she asked my opinion about her first Moral Side of The News telecast to be fearless in making her points.  As the only female panelist on the show at the time, the boys ganged up on her during her first appearance.    

Just as things changed and time moved on after I left Houston, the same is true for my 105 year old church.   Some of the members I met when I arrived in 2001 and later joined the church have either moved on, moved out of state like I did or are not in this plane of existence.  Edenside's building is unfortunately for sale as well and Sally is retiring.

But the 1000 miles between me and Edenside didn't keep her from checking on me from time to time or sending me her and the Edenside family's condolences when my father was gravely ill last March and eventually passed away.

Congratulations on your retirement, you've earned it.  While I'm sure the Edenside church family will miss you doing those weekly thought provoking sermons, spending quality time with the grandkids and getting to travel for stuff other than church related events will be a bonus.
 
And I'll not only stay in touch, but give you at least 48 hours warning the next time I'm headed to the Louisville area.

Reconciling Ministries ChurchQuake Scholarships For LGBTQ Kids Of Color

One of the wonderful people I got to meet during last year's GLAAD National POC Media training event last summer was Dr. Pamela Lightsey.

She is one impressive woman on many levels.  She is the Associate Dean of Community Life and Lifelong Learning and Clinical Assistant Professor of Contextual Theology & Practice at Boston University.  In addition, she is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church and is the Co-Chair of the American Academy of Religion's Womanist Approaches to Religion & Society Group. 

The UMC's Reconciling Ministries seeks to 'mobilize United Methodists of all sexual orientations and gender identities to transform the Church and the world into the full expression of Christ's inclusive love'. 

I'm definitely down with that program as a 'Big C' Christian, and Pamela sent me this information about their upcoming 'ChurchQuake' national convocation taking place the weekend of August 30-September 2 in Chevy Chase, MD.    

Reconciling Ministries is offering 4 full scholarships for "ChurchQuake" to LGBTQ young adults who identify as persons of color and wish to participate in this event.  United Methodist affiliation is not a prerequisite though UMC members will be given primary consideration for the four available scholarships .

If you wish further information about the Church Quake scholarship opportunity, you can phone Dr Lightsey at 617-353-3051 or fax her at 617-353-3061.

Pope Benedict XVI Resigning

In a announcement that was a shock to the 1.2 billion people who are Roman Catholics around the world and will set off celebrations for those of us who aren't, Papa Nazi Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would resign the papacy on February 28.   He cited his advancing age (85) as a reason to become the first pontiff in 600 years to step down while in office.

Never been a fan of this pontiff because of his open hostility to trans people and the increasing Paul McHugh introduced trans hate injected into Catholic doctrine during his term that has filtered down to the rest of the cardinals and the flock.

That Vatican trans hate has led to a major spike in anti-trans bigotry and anti-trans violence in many predominately Roman Catholic nations in Latin America and eastern Europe .

So I will be deliriously happy along with many of us in the trans community and our LGB allies to see him go.

The question will become as we get closer to his February 28 resignation date is who takes his place as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church?

We'll also be asking ourselves in the international trans and SGL communities will the next pope be better or worse than the person who preceded him? .

Malaysian Islamic Court Rules Against Transwomen

I wrote about the four Muslim trans women in Malaysia who were challenging Section 66 of the country's Islamic criminal code that bars Muslim men from dressing or posing as women.  

Section 66 of the state's Islamic Criminal Code states that “any male person who, in any public place wears a woman's attire or poses as a woman shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding RM1,000 ($325.USD) or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or both.”

That section of Islamic law has been used by fundamentalists (surprise, surprise) to harass transwomen living in that country. and the four Muslim transwomen challenged it on the basis they have a medical condition, it was in violation of their federal constitutional rights as Malaysian citizens and Section 66 did not apply to people diagnosed with gender identity issues.

“The undisputed medical evidence shows the applicants are biologically male but psychologically female. Thus, it [the law] is not applicable to them.” said lawyer Aston Paiva

In the October 11 ruling that has alarmed people in Malaysia,  High Court judge Datuk Siti Mariah Ahmad dismissed the Section 66 challenge by the transwomen, stating Muslims cannot be exempted from Sharia legal provisions.  She also ruled that Part II of the Malaysian Federal Constitution - which guarantees Malaysians fundamental liberties such as equality before the law, freedom of religion, and which prohibits slavery and enforced labor among others - is exempted by Section 66 of the Negri Sembilan Syariah Criminal Enactment 1992, according to lawyer Aston Paiva, who represented the transsexuals.

There was also some transphobia at play here. 

Thilaga Sulathireh, an activist who helped them bring the case to court, said the judge refused to overrule the ban. Malaysia has a dual-track legal system with Sharia courts administering certain matters for Muslims.
"The (judge) said they are born male, they are still male and so the law applies to them... She said cross dressing is condemned in Islam," she told AFP.

Civil liberties lawyers in Malaysia are concerned that the ruling against the four transwomen is only the latest case in a troubling trend in which Islamic law is supplanting the Malaysian Federal Constitution as the country's supreme law.

“Islam is the religion of the Federation, but that does not mean that 'Islam', or what the authorities deem as 'Islam', supersedes other Constitutional provisions,” Civil liberties attorney Syahredzan Johan said.

It's another legal blow that Muslim transwomen have taken in this conservative nation's courts.   Last year another High Court refused to grant a name change for 26 year old  post operative transwoman Aleesha Farhana.  She died  weeks later from a heart attack   

The transwomen are disappointed and distraught over this ruling, but are considering appealing it..
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The Black Church Isn't 'Uniquely Homophobic'

And I and many African descended Christians, cis, gay and straight are getting fed up with that far too often projected lie being aimed at an institution that is the centerpiece of our culture.

That distinction based on the overwhelming mountain of evidence is white dominated fundamentalist churches and right wing Christian denominations who have had a foaming at the mouth hatred of GLBT people and pimped it since the 70's for fun, profit, political power and influence.

It wasn't Black churches who spent $28 million dollars like the Mormons and Catholic Church did to finance the 2008 Prop 8 campaign in California.   

When it comes to pimping faith based homophobia and transphobia, no one excels at it better than white fundamentalist churches.   They not only are the architects and primary catalysts for many of the anti-TBLG human rights petitions and referenda, they finance them, provide the foot soldiers for the petition drives and campaigns and vote overwhelmingly to restrict and deny human rights coverage to others.

And as a group of white North Carolina ministers were prime examples of, persist in spewing hate speech from their pulpits. 

As people like Rev Al Sharpton, Bishop Yvette Flunder, Rev Dr. William Barber and a long list of pastors are emphatically demonstrating, that 'uniquely homophobic' meme aimed at the Black church is questionable 

Organized Religion Isn't The Problem

One of the things that pisses me off as a liberal progressive Christian is hearing atheists and agnostic people on the left gleefully bashing religion.  It occurs every time some negativity makes the news concerning one of the world's religious faith traditions not living up to the lofty goals and ideals of it.  

Yes, they deserve to be called out on it when the fail to live up to the tenets of those faith traditions and it bugs me what so called Christians do in the name of my faith. 

But organized religion isn't the problem. It's the fundamentalist 'my way or your going to hell in the express lane' extremist strains of it that is the problem.

I'm more than a little sick of atheists, especially those on the liberal-progressive political side knee jerk bashing religion. You're failing to take into account that it's because of people like Dr King fortified by their religious faiths they have the human rights coverage they do today.
To give a knee jerk blanket condemnation of religion is disrespecting the work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa and countless other men and women of good will and various religious traditions who were motivated by the positive tenets and commandments of their respective faiths to do good for humanity and advance human rights.

And remember, some of these people not only gave their lives, but withstood beating, jail time and and hardships to do so based on their unshakeable beliefs that all humans are created equal.

It's not a smart political play to cede religion to our right wing opponents and make it easier for them to cast liberal progressive values as 'anti-religious', 'evil', and claim in their propaganda outlets that we have 'declared war on their faiths'.   All we are doing is pointing out their hypocrisy and demanding they live up to the values they claim to represent instead of using religion as a means to political power and justify greed is good Ayn Rand style laissez fair capitalism. 

Your over the top remarks bashing faith because of you personal issues with it makes their propaganda plausibly true to the unwashed Fox Noise watching masses and the persuadable folks in the middle.  

So I repeat, organized religion ain't the problem.   Focus your anger on the folks misrepresenting religion to pimp conservative policies and not your liberal progressive allies who are motivated by the tenets of their respective faiths to also work for the successful enactment of liberal progressive policies that benefit us all.

Bible Quotes Conservafools Need To Read

Since it's Sunday, time to have some church up in TransGriot this morning.

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. Proverbs 29:2

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.  Mark 10:25

For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. 
Matthew 19:12

Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.  Isaiah 56:3

For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;  Isaiah 56:4

Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.    Isaiah 56:5

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Exodus 20:16