Mr Savage's
apology did not stop the outrage machine. Some seem to have taken particular
delight in hurling Mr Savage's epithets—bully and basher (of Christians and
Christianity, rather than gays)—back at him. The American Thinker harrumphs,
"Evidently, bullying is one of those things that is defined by the
'victim'." Well, yes: in fact it is. Bullying is the strong picking on the
weak, not the other way around (the other way around is satire). One could make
the argument that in the case of Mr Savage's speech, he was the strong one, and
the high-school students were "victims", but that would be weak tea
indeed. Mr Savage is one person, not a movement, and of course those students
whom he gave the vapours were free to leave. Not everyone has such freedom. Gay
teens, not Christian teens, kill themselves at higher rates than the general
populace. Nobody calls Christianity an abomination. One blogger accused Mr
Savage of "Christian-bashing" for pointing out the Bible's position
on slavery. A writer for a Focus on the Family site said that "using
profanity to deride the Bible...is obviously a form of bullying and
name-calling." In fact it is neither: Mr Savage, however intemperate his
language, was arguing, not name-calling. That is a crucial distinction, and one
that too often eludes the showily devout. If the Bible is in fact the word of
God it can survive a few arguments about context and application.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma May 2, 2012
Maintaining Not Knowing Mind
As
soon as we think we know something, then we become rigid and
unresponsive. You know the famous phrase: 'For the beginner there are
many possibilities, but for the expert there are few.' Maintaining a
mind of 'not knowing' allows us to respond to situations with openness,
freshness, and joy.
|
- Gerry Shishin Wick Roshi, "Give and Take: On Studying Koans"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
This began as a post on a Baha’i Facebook group
This
began as a post on a Baha’i Facebook group in reply to a post from my buddy R who said:
So deeply ingrained is
this prejudice. This essay should have national task forces spearheading
community discussion and deepenings like lives depended on it.
So deeply ingrained is this prejudice. This essay should have national task forces spearheading community discussion and deepenings like lives depended on it.
I replied:
Well, if this was a serious, real religion… it would… this is all a demonstration to me that there is something inherently not right in the Bahaí Faith… and it breaks my heart, and to be honest it is why I have left it behind me.
There seems an unreal need to not want GLBT people… the need to hold the line against GLBT people, to shun, to ignore us… it so really sad.
At best people make excuses, we are a young religion, etc… but to me, the way in which the vast, overwhelming majority of Baha’is will not stand up for their glbt children, friends and colleagues, but so passively accepts this homophobia tells me, at least, that this may not be what I had thought when I enrolled so many years ago…
This Faith was once about tolerance, justice, love… where has it gone? Why this silence from the vast heterosexual majority? Why this need to condescendingly tell gay/lesbians over and over again what the “rules” state, without any compassion… thanks ever to Sonja… but to me, it all seems lost… it is so obvious to the greater non-Baha’i progressive community that the Baha’is are a very conservative and homophobic lot.
Any of us on this forum know of and see other religious communities who are doing a far better job at inclusiveness than any Baha’i community. Where as they all have the same sad teachings on homosexuality… they seem to enable places for GLBTs to feel welcomed, and do not treat them as diseased.
The Catholic gay folks I know do not live in fear of any removal of rights when you get married. The Buddhists I know do not exclude you, indeed do not care at all, they just enjoy your prescence. There are dozens of examples of communities in a diversity of spiritual beliefs that are far more advanced… what gives?
Really… there are, what, 6 million Bahaís in the world, and all we have are a very small handful of safe, progressive, tolerant postings on blogs?
This religion is so small, so insignificant; it makes me wonder why they even care if I am gay or not. Yet they use what little energy and meager resources to hound out GLBT’s… Where I ask, where are the soldiers of light in this fight?
This religion offers no hope or refuge for anything or anyone if it can’t do a better job with its GLBT friends, children and colleagues… this to me and many, many others is the canary in the mineshaft… no LSA’s or NSA’s or administrators OPENLY saying that enough is enough to the the world to our communities?
I see really nothing that we can be hopeful about here… sorry… just a few feeble hopes… but nothing from the leadership, telling the entire world that this homophobia must stop… Not even one community standing up for GLBT people! Nada!
I just read replies on various sites and it’s depressing – the homophobia tolerated – and the gays asked to leave. Meanwhile the rest of spiritual humanity has moved along… and the Baha’is remain insignificant and backward.
Shame!
a version of this is posted at: http://justabahai.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/on-the-psychopathology-of-homosexuality/
Via Gay Politics Report:
Bill seeks to end Social Security discrimination against same-sex couples
Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., has introduced legislation that would grant same-sex couples the same Social Security benefits now available to opposite-sex couples. A rally in support of the measure at the U.S. Capitol last week drew support from celebrities, including actor George Takei, who played “Mr. Sulu” in the original “Star Trek” television series. Washington Blade (4/27)
Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., has introduced legislation that would grant same-sex couples the same Social Security benefits now available to opposite-sex couples. A rally in support of the measure at the U.S. Capitol last week drew support from celebrities, including actor George Takei, who played “Mr. Sulu” in the original “Star Trek” television series. Washington Blade (4/27)
Via Gay Politics Report:
- “It Gets Better” founder apologizes for remarks to teen journalists
Openly gay sex columnist Dan Savage apologized for using profanity in characterizing a walkout by some high school journalists who were upset by a speech in which Savage criticized Bible-based justifications for hatred and bullying of LGBT people. Savage later said he shouldn’t have called the protesters names, but rejected charges that he engaged in an anti-Christian tirade. “I did not attack Christianity. I attacked hypocrisy. My remarks can only be read as an attack on all Christians if you believe that all Christians are hypocrites. Which I don't believe,” Savage wrote. Advocate.com (4/29), The Stranger (Seattle) (4/29)
JMG Quote Of The Day - Maureen Dowd
"Even
as Republicans try to wrestle women into chastity belts, the Vatican is
trying to muzzle American nuns. Who thinks it’s cool to bully nuns?
While continuing to heal and educate, the community of sisters is aging
and dying out because few younger women are willing to make such
sacrifices for a church determined to bring women to heel. Yet the nuns
must be yanked into line by the crepuscular, medieval men who run the
Catholic Church. How can the church hierarchy be more offended by the
nuns’ impassioned advocacy for the poor than by priests’ sordid
pedophilia? How do you take spiritual direction from a church that seems
to be losing its soul?" - Maureen Dowd, on the Vatican's order to punish nuns that don't publicly oppose gay marriage.Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma May 1, 2012
Finding Your Place
When
you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the
fundamental point; for the place, the way, is neither large nor small,
neither yours nor others’. The place, the way, has not carried over from
the past, and it is not merely arising now.
|
- Eihei Dogen Zenji, "Finding Your Place"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Via AmericaBlog Gay:
Dan Savage
has apologized for using some harsh language when referring to the
Bible's provisions calling for the murder of gay people and the endorsement of
slavery. Understandable since Dan has been pro-gay and anti-slavery all
his life.
The question remains, is it ever okay to say that the
Bible's provisions endorsing the murder of gays and the enslaving of blacks
(and others) to be "bullsh*t""? And if not, why not?
Surely no one thinks the Bible got it right on
slavery? Nor on its admonition to stone gays to death. What other
word to use for anything, even a holy book, that endorses slavery and the
murder of an entire people? Let me walk you through what 15 different
English language versions of the Bible have to say, supposedly, about
homosexuality:
New
International Version (©1984)
"If a man lies with a man as
one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They
must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
New Living Translation (©2007)
"If a man practices
homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman, both men have
committed a detestable act. They must both be put to death, for
they are guilty of a capital offense.
English Standard Version (©2001)
If a man lies with a male as with a
woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be
put to death; their blood is upon them.
New American Standard Bible (©1995)
If there is a man who lies with a
male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable
act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is
upon them.
GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
When a man has sexual intercourse
with another man as with a woman, both men are doing something disgusting
and must be put to death. They deserve to die.
King James Bible
If a man also lie with mankind, as
he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they
shall surely be put to death; their blood [shall be] upon them.
American King James Version
If a man also lie with mankind, as
he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they
shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be on them.
American Standard Version
And if a man lie with mankind, as
with womankind, both of them have committed abomination: they shall
surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
Bible in Basic English
And if a man has sex relations with
a man, the two of them have done a disgusting thing: let them be put to
death; their blood will be on them.
Douay-Rheims Bible
If any one lie with a man se with a
woman, both have committed an abomination, let them be put to death:
their blood be upon them.
Darby Bible Translation
And if a man lie with mankind, as he
lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they
shall certainly be put to death; their blood is upon them.
English Revised Version
And if a man lie with mankind, as
with womankind, both of them have committed abomination: they shall
surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
Webster's Bible Translation
If a man also shall lie with
mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an
abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall
be upon them.
World English Bible
"'If a man lies with a male, as
with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall
surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
Young's Literal Translation
And a man who lieth with a male as
one lieth with a woman; abomination both of them have done; they are
certainly put to death; their blood is on them.
Via AmericaBlog Gay:
There's a story in today's New York Times about
Britain's spy agency, MI6, and how a top young spy recently died under unusual
circumstances. The article, "Theories and
an inquest after a spy's death," is behind the pay firewall,
and it seems like some awfully thinly veiled homophobia. Let me walk you
through it.
The Times
refers to the agents possibly "sexual misadventure" - meaning, one
theory is that he died during a somewhat unusual sex act that involved stuffing
him in a small duffel bag. Now here's some of the proof from the Times that the
guy might have been sexual misadventurous:
1. He was a
bachelor. (i.e., he was gay?).
2. He went
to transvestite performances (uh, otherwise known as drag).
3. Visited
sites on the Internet dedicated to bondage. (ooh, crazy).
But here's
my "favorite" part of the story.
"MI6
and other spy agencies in Britain... are no strangers to scandals that have
involved the sex lives of some of their greatest talent."
The article
then goes on to list several men who were gay. The first, Alan Turing, was
basically pushed into suicide by British intelligence simply because he was
gay. How exactly is that a "sex scandal"? A bigoted homophobic witch
hunt, yes. Sex scandal, uh not really.
The next
example they give is just as weird. Several English spies fled to the Soviet
Union in the 1950s, and a number of them, according to the Times, "had
homosexual liaisons as young men."
Again, yeah
- who didn't have homosexual liaisons as young men?
The entire
article strikes me badly. If you dare risk one of your ten articles a month,
take a look. I think it's poorly written and poorly edited. Being gay isn't a
scandal, and it most certainly is not a sex scandal. And someone needs to get
out more if they think going to a drag show is evidence of sexual misadventure.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Via JMG: Editorial Of The Day
From the New York Times:
North Carolina already has a law barring same-sex marriage, but the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature is not satisfied. It devised a measure to enshrine this obvious discrimination in the State Constitution and placed it on the ballot of the state’s May 8 primary election — a test of tolerance versus bigotry that ought to be watched closely nationwide. [snip] Opponents of marriage equality have never been able to show any evidence that any harm is caused to heterosexual marriages by granting all American adults the right to marry as they choose — because there is no such evidence. With little more than a week to go before the May 8 contest, and early voting already under way, North Carolinians need to consider whether they really want to inflict this gratuitous bigotry on their fellow citizens and their children.Read the full editorial.
JMG Quote Of The Day II- John Shore
"What
immediately became a meme amongst those criticizing Dan is that those
who walked out of his talk felt bullied by him. But that’s impossible.
People get bullied because of who they are: how they look and act, what
they say and do. Perceived as being in some critical way weak or
lacking, victims of bullies are selected for persecution; they are
pulled from the pack before being pointedly and repeatedly victimized.
The people who walked out during Dan’s talk were not separated from
their peers by anyone. They were content to do that themselves. They
were not frightened or cowed. They were offended. They felt that by
disparaging what amounts to their God, Dan had transgressed beyond their
capacity for toleration. And they were pleased to show their
intolerance of Dan’s words by protesting against them in the manner they
did. Theirs was not an act born of suffering. It was a proud show of
disdain." - Christian author John Shore.Via JMG: North Carolina's New Lunch Counter?
Copyranter points us to the website Every 1 Against 1, where you can download anti-Amendment One images to post on your Facebook profiles and elsewhere.
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma April 30, 2012
Every Situation, An Opportunity
Spiritual
practitioners thrive in unpredictable conditions, testing and refining
the inner qualities of heart and mind. Every situation becomes an
opportunity to abandon judgment and opinions and to simply give complete
attention to what is.
|
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Via Follower of the Buddha / Facebook:
Namo Buddhaya Namo Dharmaya Namo Sanghaya སངས་རྒྱས་ཆོས་དང་ཚོགས་ཀྱི་མཆོག་
Via JMG:
Today's Silly Lie From NOM
This weekend NOM posted the above story to their blog and Facebook page: "Clarence and Mayme Vail just became
Guinness World Record holders for the longest living married couple —
83 years and counting! So what's their secret?" Bolding is mine because
Clarence and Mayme have both been dead for years. That's their secret! (Via JMG reader Robert)
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