Flower of the Day: 11/12/14

“The process of unveiling love requires commitment and redirecting the vectors of our willpower. Our will is the greatest power of the soul. Without it, we are unable to cross the sea of illusion because the opposing forces towards unveiling love are so great in this realm. The power of will is built with discipline, dedication, commitment, and comprehension. It will only make sense to direct the vectors of the will in one particular direction when you have gained comprehension of where you are on your path.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

The Two Extremes | November 12, 2014 These are the two extremes, O bhikshus (Religious Wanderers) which the man who has given up the world ought not to follow—the habitual practice, on the one hand, of self-indulgence which is unworthy, vain and fit only for the worldly-minded—and the habitual practice, on the other hand, of self-mortification which is painful, useless and unprofitable. - The Buddha, "Wake Up, Episode Five"

Via Just a Baha'i: What does Baha’i Scripture say about homosexuality?

November 11, 2014

Nothing. For Baha’is, Baha’i Scripture is everything penned by The Bab and Baha’u’llah, and the interpretations by Baha’u’llah’s son ‘Abdul-Baha, and where Shoghi Effendi (‘Abdul-Baha’s grandson) wrote in his capacity as official interpreter of Baha’i Scripture. It is a source of pride for many Baha’is to be able to state that we have authoritative scripture. That is to have access to the actual texts (or accurate translations of texts) as the sources for Baha’i Scripture.

“Unity of doctrine is maintained by the existence of the authentic texts of Scripture and the voluminous interpretations of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi, together with the absolute prohibition against anyone propounding “authoritative” or “inspired” interpretations or usurping the function of Guardian. Unity of administration is assured by the authority of the Universal House of Justice.” Universal House of Justice, to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Netherlands, March 9, 1965: Wellspring of Guidance, pp. 52-53

The only mention of homosexuality in authoritative Bahai text (not Scripture) is in five letters written by secretaries on behalf of Shoghi Effendi penned between 1949 and 1955.

The authority of these letters is unclear. It seems clear that they were intended as advice for the addressee but the authority of this advice is not clear:

“The exact status which Shoghi Effendi has intended the friends to give to those communications he sends to individual believers is explained in the following statement written through his secretary to the National Assembly on November 16, 1932:

“As regards Shoghi Effendi’s letters to the individual Bahá’ís, he is always very careful not to contradict himself. He has also said that whenever he has something of importance to say, he invariably communicates it to the National Spiritual Assembly or in his general letters. His personal letters to individual friends are only for their personal benefit and even though he does not want to forbid their publication, he does not wish them to be used too much by the Bahá’í News. Only letters with special significance should be published there.”
Published in the US Bahai Newsletter, No. 71, February 1933, pp. 1-2 

However it is clear that Shoghi Effendi did not wish the status of these letters penned by secretaries to be confused with the authority of his own writing nor that of Bahai Scripture.

“I wish to call your attention to certain things in “Principles of Bahá’í Administration” which has just reached the Guardian; although the material is good, he feels that the complete lack of quotation marks is very misleading. His own words, the words of his various secretaries, even the Words of Bahá’u’lláh Himself, are all lumped together as one text. This is not only not reverent in the case of Bahá’u’lláh’s Words, but misleading. Although the secretaries of the Guardian convey his thoughts and instructions and these messages are authoritative, their words are in no sense the same as his, their style certainly not the same, and their authority less, for they use their own terms and not his exact words in conveying his messages. He feels that in any future edition this fault should be remedied, any quotations from Bahá’u’lláh or the Master plainly attributed to them, and the words of the Guardian clearly differentiated from those of his secretaries.”
Letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 25 February 1951 in The Unfolding Destiny of the British Baha’i Community, p. 260)

However if you do a search on the internet you will find Bahais stating that it is a Bahai Teaching that homosexuality is forbidden and many Bahais have told me that Baha’u’llah forbids homosexuality. If Baha’u’llah had written on the topic of homosexuality we would have access to this by now. I think it is a stroke of genius by Shoghi Effendi to have secretaries pen these letters so there can be no confusion with anything he penned himself. Shoghi Effendi also stated that not everything he penned [footnote 1] is to be considered as authoritative on a par with Bahai Scripture, but given that he did not write on the topic of homosexuality there’s no need here to discuss what should be considered part of the canon of Bahai Scripture.

So if homosexuality is not mentioned in Bahai Scripture why do so many Bahais think it is? Prejudice against homosexuality has been around for a long time so that’s one reason. Another is that in 1983 the compilation book “Lights of Guidance” was published. It is a valuable source of quotations however, unfortunately, the author doesn’t make distinctions between what is Bahai Scripture and what isn’t, and she presents the Bahai Teachings as list of rules. If this book is used as a way to locate sources, all good and fine. I use it myself in this manner. But if it is used as a book of rules… well see screenshot below. 

Make the jump here to read the full article here

Via JMG: Out Magazine Unveils 2014 Out 100 List

 

Out Magazine has unveiled this year's Out 100 list. The 2014 ranking features Buzzfeed's Chris Geidner (seated above) and New York Times writer Josh Barro (third from left.) Others on the list are Dan Savage, Larry Kramer, Andy Bell, Armistead Maupin, Jason Collins, Richard Chamberlain, Carmen Carrera, and the cast of Looking.  See the full list.

Labels: Andy Bell, Armistead Maupin, Chris Geidner, Dan Savage, Jason Collins, Josh Barro, Larry Kramer, LGBT culture, LGBT rights, Looking, Out 100, Out Magazine

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Mormon Church Confesses: Yes, Joseph Smith Married As Many As 40 Women

The Mormon Church has finally formally acknowledged that its founder Joseph Smith married as many as 40 women, one of whom was only 14 years old at the time.

Elder Steven E. Snow, the church historian and a member of its senior leadership, said in an interview, “There is so much out there on the Internet that we felt we owed our members a safe place where they could go to get reliable, faith-promoting information that was true about some of these more difficult aspects of our history. “We need to be truthful, and we need to understand our history,” Elder Snow said. “I believe our history is full of stories of faith and devotion and sacrifice, but these people weren’t perfect.” The essay on “plural marriage” in the early days of the Mormon movement in Ohio and Illinois says polygamy was commanded by God, revealed to Smith and accepted by him and his followers only very reluctantly. Abraham and other Old Testament patriarchs had multiple wives, and Smith preached that his church was the “restoration” of the early, true Christian church. Most of Smith’s wives were between the ages of 20 and 40, the essay says, but he married Helen Mar Kimball, a daughter of two close friends, “several months before her 15th birthday.” A footnote says that according to “careful estimates,” Smith had 30 to 40 wives. The biggest bombshell for some in the essays is that Smith married women who were already married, some to men who were Smith’s friends and followers.

The revelation notes that Smith probably didn't have sex with all his wives as some of them were merely "sealed" into being his eternal wife in the next life. And on the next planet.

Labels: Joseph Smith, LDS, marriage equality, Mormon Church, Mormons, polygamy, religion, Utah

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Flower of the Day: 11/11/14

“The best way to help others is to do our own sadhana and focusing on our own lives, unless others come to us asking for help. When someone asks us for help, we must be careful not to get in the way of her path. In order for the other to navigate their path, they often need to fight great battles and to defeat many demons. Sometimes the other is hanging on by a thin thread of faith as their lower self insists on convincing them that they are in the wrong place. This fuels doubt, confusion and questioning as well as the skeptic within. Sometimes the lower self even acts through a ‘friend’ who comes to do away with whatever faith remained.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

Premature Equanimity | November 11, 2014 Western Buddhists are very suspicious of attachment. They feel they need to be detached . . . so don’t get upset about racism, or injustice, or the poison in the rivers, because that means you’re too attached. I think one of the problems with Westernized Buddhists is premature equanimity. When the Buddha said ‘don’t be attached,’ he meant don’t be attached to the ego. - Joanna Macy, "Don't Just Sit There, Do Something"

Disney's Ferdinand the Bull (1938)

On Baha'i and Homosexuality - a copy of the the original letter that Baha'is frequently quote as the final word - from 1950

Make the jump here to read the excellent discussion related to this letter on "Just a Baha'i"

Flower of the Day: 11/10/14

 “Everything that happens externally is part of a process that is also happening internally. Any separation is but an illusion. The external is a reflection of the internal – all is one. When a challenge needs to be conquered or turbulences overcome, we may choose to remain in our comfort zones, but that prevents us from receiving these experiences. If there were no fire to extinguish, we would never see the fire from up close. Everything is school material.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

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Compassion and Wisdom | November 10, 2014

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The one thing I always come back to is that compassion and wisdom are at the heart of the Buddha’s teaching. If you cannot find either wisdom or compassion in something, then I don’t feel that it can really be the Buddha’s teaching.

- Ayya Anandabodhi, "Making the Sangha Whole Again"

Flower of the Day: 11/09/14

“The spiritual master is like an oasis in the desert. In this oasis, there is water, food, and a tree providing refreshing shade for you to rest in after wandering for so long in the desert thinking that you would die of thirst and hunger. Only when you find this oasis can you recognize its value. The master teacher is also like a shooting star that passes by very quickly – once you notice it, it’s gone. Few people have the opportunity to see this star shine.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via JMG: President Obama Marks Fifth Anniversary Of Signing The Matthew Shepard Act

Via White House press release:

Five years ago, I was proud to sign the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act into law – a law that strengthened the protections against crimes based on the color of our skin, the love in our hearts, the faith we practice, or the place of our birth.

This law gave the Justice Department new tools for prosecuting criminals. It directed new resources to law enforcement agencies, so they could better serve their communities. And it did what we want all our laws to do: it reflected and strengthened our core national values. By recognizing violent bigotry as an especially dangerous crime – one that not only harms individuals, but threatens the social fabric that binds our country together – the Shepard Byrd Hate Crimes Act has made it possible for more Americans to live freely, openly and safely, and has reinforced our nation’s sacred commitment to equality for all.

Since this law was passed, the FBI and Department of Justice have vigorously investigated and prosecuted dozens of hate crime cases nationwide, including attacks on minorities, gays and lesbians, and people with disabilities. The number of individuals charged with hate crimes has increased significantly over the past five years. And state and local law enforcement officers and other community members have received training in how to recognize and address hate crimes. The law is working.

Our job isn’t done. We must continue to stand together against intolerance and hate wherever they occur, and respond decisively when they lead to violence. Ours is a country built on the notion that all people are created equal. It’s up to us to make that ideal real, in our words and deeds as well as in our laws – to ensure that, in America, everyone is treated with the respect and dignity they deserve, no matter who they are or who they love.

Labels: Barack Obama, Democrats, gay bashing, hate crimes, hate crimes act, LGBT History, Matthew Shepard, Matthew Shepard Act, murder, religion

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Advocate Names Putin Person Of The Year

 

From their cover story:

As the Olympic Winter Games headed to Sochi in 2014, so did a spotlight on the violations against the Russian LGBT community. Those violations are coming directly from the top of the Russian government, with President Vladimir Putin leading the charge. His crusade against LGBT Russians and the outrage and protests his actions sparked have earned him the title of The Advocate’s 2014 “Person of the Year.”

Since winning his third term in 2012, Putin has become ever more autocratic, and his antigay ideology ever more extreme. In June 2013, he signed the infamous antigay propaganda bill that criminalizes the “distribution of information…aimed at the formation among minor of nontraditional sexual attitudes,” with nontraditional meaning anything other than heterosexual. Individual violators are fined anywhere between $120 and $150, while NGOs and corporations can incur fines as high as $30,000.

International outrage flared in the months before the Sochi Olympics, in response to which Putin reassured the gay and lesbian community they had nothing to fear as long as they left Russia’s children in peace. Such incendiary rhetoric is a staple of Putin’s political playbook. And in Russia, where the majority of media are state-owned, there’s little public pushback.

Putin continually preaches Russian nationalism and purity, telling reporters in January that anything that gets in the way of Russia’s population growth should be “cleaned up.” The message is clear: Putin’s Russia, in grand Soviet tradition, is a country of the masses, not the individual. Yet it’s the masses that must safeguard individual liberties.

Last year the magazine chose Pope Francis.

Labels: Advocate, LGBT rights, Russia, Vladimir Putin

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Missouri Changes Its Stripes

 

Map legend.

Labels: marriage equality, Missouri, Wikipedia

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via Janis Ian / FB:

Flower of the Day: 11/07/14

“Let us continue spreading the perfume of peace, love and prosperity to all corners of the world, inspiring all to sing the names of the Supreme. It doesn’t matter in what language or what form of the Divine is revered because we know that God is one. The Eternal manifests in different ways according to the needs of each group of people. When we pay homage to the different forms of the Supreme, we invoke the Supreme that lives in each and every one of us.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Daniel, the hardest thing in politics is changing the status quo. The easiest thing is to get cynical.

The Republicans had a good night on Tuesday, Daniel -- but believe me when I tell you that our results were better because you stepped up, talked to your family and friends, and cast your ballot.

I want you to remember that we're making progress. There are workers who have jobs today who didn't have them before. There are millions of families who have health insurance today who didn't have it before. There are kids going to college today who didn't have the opportunity to go to college before.

So don't get cynical, Daniel. Cynicism didn't put a man on the moon. Cynicism has never won a war, or cured a disease, or built a business, or fed a young mind. Cynicism is a choice. And hope will always be a better choice.

I have hope for the next few years, and I have hope for what we're going to accomplish together.

Thank you so much, Daniel.

Barack Obama

Flower of the Day: 11/08/14

“In short, it is necessary to surrender to love. If love is the juice of life, then love is leading us and giving us our commands. Love is breaking our attachments and our control so that we can return back to love itself. Love is awakening the love that pulsates inside of us. But we must have a certain type of courage in order to love and to surrender. Pray for this courage, call for it. Implore the universal principle of love to give you the strength and firmness to follow its commands.”

Sri Prem Baba