JMG HomoQuotable - Andrew Sullivan

"Many evangelicals loathe my use of the word Christianism, rather than Christianity, to describe the fusion of political power and religion to police the moral lives of others. They recoil at the echo of Islamism - although we know many Islamist parties, as in Turkey or Indonesia, that do not engage in terrorism, but merely believe in the fusion of church and state as emphatically as older American evangelicals do.

"That's why it's revealing to see a major figure in the American Christianist movement, Pastor David Dykes, - he opened the 2008 Congress with a prayer - openly advocate the execution of gays, and criminal penalties for exercise of free speech in defense of gays, in Uganda. If these people could, they would do the same here. The constitution protects us - especially our right to speech. But what these theocrats want is as undeniable as it is repellent in a free or humane society.

"More to the point, here is an alleged Christian demanding that those on the margins of society not be embraced, as Jesus practised, but be executed, as Jesus' Roman executioners did. It doesn't get more anti-Christian than that. To even associate the word Christianity with these sentiments is an attack on Jesus Christ." - Andrew Sullivan, reacting to this Box Turtle Bulletin story.

Labels: Africa, Andrew Sullivan, Christian Love, Christianists, David Dykes, gay death penalty, HomoQuotable, religion, Scott Lively, Uganda

posted by Joe

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Hostilities aren't stilled through hostility, regardless. Hostilities are stilled through non-hostility: this, an unending truth. - Dhammapada, 1, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Being Liberal / FB:

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 17, 2012

Pure Freedom

The practice of generosity is the practice of freedom, and it carries with it all the joy and pleasure that are associated with liberation. Indeed, there may be no greater sense of fulfillment in life than the simultaneous feelings of human interconnection and pure freedom that arise from an authentic act of selfless generosity.

- Dale S. Wright, “The Bodhisattva’s Gift”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through December 19th, 2012
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Via Real Truth Now / FB:

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 16, 2012

Surviving Destruction

The source of forgiveness lies in the realization that we are not solely products of what was done to us, the realization that there is something essential within us that is not necessarily tarnished by calamitous experience.

- Mark Epstein, “Beyond Blame”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through December 18th, 2012
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Via Path To Peace & Happiness / FB:

“May the blind see the forms, May the deaf hear sounds. May the naked find clothing, The hungry find food; May the thirsty find water And delicious drinks. May the poor find wealth, Those weak with sorrow find joy; May the forlorn find new hope, Constant happiness and prosperity. May the frightened cease to be afraid And those bound be freed; May the powerless find power, And may the people think of benefiting one another”

― Śāntideva

Via JMG: Gay Marriage Comes To The Caribbean

The tiny Caribbean island of Saba has legalized same-sex marriage.

Two men were recently married in Saba, marking the first ceremony of its kind in the region and setting off a frenzy of calls from gay couples in other Dutch Caribbean islands seeking to marry, said Julietta Woods with Saba’s Civil Registry office.”People keep calling me every second,” she said by telephone this week. As part of the Netherlands Kingdom, the islands of Saba, Bonaire and St. Eustatius have to recognize same-sex marriages. While Bonaire and St. Eustatius have balked at the idea of legalizing such unions, the idea has been embraced in Saba, long considered a gay-friendly destination. “We’ve seen it as a human rights issue,” said Saba council member Carl Buncamper, who is openly gay. “It is important to give the partners equal rights when it comes to inheritance and other benefits.”

The Netherlands became the first nation in the world to legalize same-sex marriage in 2001.

Labels: Caribbean, marriage equality, Netherlands

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Petition Of The Day

The text reads:

The goal of this petition is to force the Obama Administration to produce legislation that limits access to guns. While a national dialogue is critical, laws are the only means in which we can reduce the number of people murdered in gun related deaths. Powerful lobbying groups allow the ownership of guns to reach beyond the Constitution's intended purpose of the right to bear arms. Therefore, Congress must act on what is stated law, and face the reality that access to firearms reaches beyond what the Second Amendment intends to achieve. The signatures on this petition represent a collective demand for a bipartisan discussion resulting in a set of laws that regulates how a citizen obtains a gun.

Sign the petition.

Labels: Connecticut, gun control, petitions, White House

Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 15, 2012

Removing Hindrances

With proper motivation, prayer becomes an important component of our practice because it helps to remove obstacles—counterproductive circumstances, imbalances of the subtle energies in the body, confusion and ignorance in the mind. Even in listening to the teachings, we may mentally edit what we hear, adding more to them than is being said or ignoring certain aspects. Prayer offsets these hindrances.

- Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, “Prayer”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through December 17th, 2012
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