The Vatican took the unusual step of commissioning the surveys ahead of a major meeting of bishops that Pope Francis has called for October to discuss family issues. The poll was sent last year to every national conference of bishops with a request to share it widely among Catholic institutions, parishes and individuals. This week, German and Swiss bishops reported the results: The church's core teachings on sexual morals, birth control, homosexuality, marriage and divorce were rejected as unrealistic and outdated by the vast majority of Catholics, who nevertheless said they were active in parish life and considered their faith vitally important. Also surprising was the eagerness with which the bishops publicized the results. The German bishops' conference released them simultaneously in German, Italian and English on their website, and the Swiss held a press conference.Of particular note, survey respondents found the Vatican's ban on contraception to be "blatantly immoral" when it comes to the use of condoms to stop HIV transmission. Several years ago, former Pope Benedict made statements regarding condoms and HIV that some interpreted as a softening of the church's stance. But at a 2011 HIV/AIDS conference held at the Vatican, officials reiterated their opposition to all condom use.
Unpack
karma and you get cause and effect. Unpack cause and effect and you get
affinity. Unpack affinity and you get the tendency to coalesce. Unpack
the tendency to coalesce and you get intimacy. Unpack intimacy and you
will find that you contain all beings. Unpack containment and there is
the goddess of mercy herself.
|
Our
suffering is proof not of who we are—violent because of “human
nature”—but of the fact that we are deluded, that we don’t know
ourselves, and that if we are to end suffering we must, as Nietzsche
says, become who we really are.
|
Whatever
you feel is right at the edge of your familiar world, that's the edge
of your bodhisattva vow, the edge of your deep intention to wake up with
what is.
|
In honor of Team USA’s participation in the 2014 Winter Olympics (February 7-23) and Paralympics (March 7-16) in Sochi, Russia, the U.S. Department of State has produced a one-minute video highlighting the diversity of the U.S. athletes competing in the Games as well as everyday Americans. The video focuses on the theme “We Are All Athletes,” to promote diversity, social inclusion, sportsmanship, and teamwork. “We Are All Athletes” showcases U.S. Olympians, Paralympians, and recreational athletes of various backgrounds, including gender, race and ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and abilities. Viewers are encouraged to join the U.S. Department of State in cheering on Team USA to bring home the gold by sharing the video and discussing it via the hashtags #Sochi2014 and #TeamUSA.
Corporate sponsors of the Sochi Winter Olympics should act now to urge Russia to halt the rising tide of discrimination, harassment and threats against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, 40 of the world’s leading human rights and LGBT groups said today, in an unusual joint open letter. The letter to all of the leading sponsors of the Sochi Olympics asks them to use their leverage as underwriters of the 2014 Winter Games in a variety of concrete ways.Among the groups in the coalition: Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Human Rights Campaign, Athlete Ally, GLAAD, Family Equality Council, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Including in the requests for action, the letter asks that Sochi's top corporate sponsors address LGBT rights in their Olympic advertising.
The groups urged sponsors to speak out against Russia’s anti-gay “propaganda” law, which violates the Olympic Charter’s principle of non-discrimination, and to ask the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to undertake systemic reforms to monitor and prevent human rights abuses in future host countries. “Time is running out for the sponsors to take a clear stand in defense of Olympic values,” said Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch. “These companies are sponsoring an Oympics marred by ugly discrimination and serious rights abuses. They should speak out forcefully for equality and human rights.”
The joint letter is addressed to the 10 TOP Sponsors of the Sochi Games (members of “The Olympic Partner” (TOP) Program)--Atos, Coca Cola, Dow Chemical, General Electric, McDonald’s, Omega, Panasonic, Procter & Gamble, Samsung, and Visa. The Human Rights Campaign, Human Rights Watch and several other groups have engaged with the sponsors for nearly a year to urge them to act on abuses.
The
Buddha taught that freedom is going beyond conditions. For me, the
people who have been through the harshest conditions—and survived—have
the greatest potential to transform the madness of their lives. See,
that madness made them who they are. So if they can take that madness,
claim it, and stand on top of its incredible energy, they can transform
it into power.
|
For
ordinary people, faith is the cause that opens the door to wisdom. For
many convert Buddhists in the West, the central place of faith in
Nichiren Buddhism, as well as in Pure Land, might seem strange and even
un-Buddhist. But this has little to do with how the religion has
traditionally been practiced and much to do with how Buddhism has been
interpreted for the modern West.
|
According
to Buddha's teachings on the Four Noble Truths, all life is dukkha,
suffering or unsatisfactoriness; suffering is caused by desire; desire
can be dissolved; and the means to achieve this is the Noble Eightfold
Path. Furthermore it's essential to note that the first step on the Path
is right understanding. In order to attain liberation from suffering,
we need to understand the nature of that suffering. We need to have
knowledge of the world—including ourselves—as it really is.
|
Paul Cameron’s Family Research Institute is upset that Marvin Olasky of the Religious Right-aligned WORLD magazine dared to criticize Uganda’s draconian anti-gay bill, which recently passed parliament but has been blocked by the president, at least for now. In a response on its website, Cameron’s group took issue with Olasky’s claim that the bill is “harsh and unlikely to be effective,” saying that harsh measures are needed to curb homosexuality…just like murder.From the Family Research Institute:
Homophobia? This propaganda word does not belong in Christian discourse. Dislike of homosexuality, general avoidance of those who practice it, and trying to keep our kids safe from gay predators are hardly ‘problems’ for Christians — it is ‘who we are supposed to be.’ To be sure, we will find ourselves out of tune with Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s “If I go up to heaven and find a homophobic God, I will tell him I prefer the other place.” Similarly, we will find ourselves on the wrong side of President Obama, Hollywood, David Cameron, Bill and Hillary Clinton, the EU, the media, etc. If God calls something wrong but our elite say it’s precious, our marching orders are clear. Laws against murder are harsh and unlikely to be effective (in completely stopping murder). But such laws educate as to what is ‘correct’ and serve as a disincentive to commit murder. Just because we cannot specify how many lives were saved by a particular law hardly means the law was ineffective. Surely the fact that people still commit murder, rape, or theft would not cause Dr. Olasky to label them as “ineffective” and not worth having.And then we get this:
Homosexuality violates God’s first commandment to ‘be fruitful,’ and is at the very heart of Biblical denunciation of rebellion against God (see Deut 32 and Romans 1). Homosexual lust led to the painful incineration of 26 brave Ugandan Christian boys and young men. It cannot be ignored without substantial intellectual and moral peril. Arguably Christianity’s greatest preacher, John Chrysostom, called it the worst sin, worse even than murder. While every sin in Scripture is not to be carried into public law, if this sin is not, what would Olasky nominate and how would he justify it?Paul Cameron, lest you forget, is the lunatic whose deranged claim that average gay man dies at age 42 is regularly parroted by anti-gay hate groups.
