Labels: AFA, Arkansas, Christianists, Duggar Family, FRC, hate groups, Josh Duggar, kidnapping, LGBT rights, religion
Monday, November 24, 2014
Via JMG: The Legal Golden Ratio On Marriage
Via the New York Times:
The Constitution is not a math problem, but numbers can play a role in the Supreme Court’s calculations. When the court struck down bans on interracial marriage in 1967, such unions were still illegal in 16 states. When the court struck down laws making gay sex a crime in 2003, 13 states still had anti-sodomy measures. Should the court take up the question of same-sex marriage this term or next, as it seems likely to, the unions will be against the law in no more than 15 states. “The coincidence is hard to miss,” said Susan Sommer, a lawyer with Lambda Legal who has been litigating same-sex marriage cases for more than a decade. In a brief urging the Supreme Court to hear a same-sex marriage case from Ohio, lawyers for several couples recited the history and pushed the comparison. “The current landscape for marriage recognition for same-sex couples,” the brief said, “looks much the same as it did in 1967 for interracial couples and in 2003 for same-sex intimate partners.”The above-linked article notes that it was largely state legislatures, not courts, that had whittled down the number of bans on interracial marriage by the time the Supreme Court acted.
JMG HomoQuotable - Michael Sam
- Michael Sam, speaking to GQ Magazine.
Reposted from Joe Jervis
Via Satipañña: 5 Ways for the Removal of Distracting Thought
Substitute: reflect on a different object,
which is connected with skill… Like an experienced carpenter or
carpenter’s apprentice, striking hard at, pushing out, and getting rid
of a coarse peg with a fine one, should the bhikkhu in order to get rid
of the adventitious object, reflect on a different object which is
connected with skill.
Reflect: ponder on the disadvantages of unskilful thoughts thus: Truly these thoughts of mine are unskilful, blameworthy, and productive of misery.
Ignore: endeavour to be without attention and reflection as regards them.
Remove the cause: one should reflect on the removal of the source of thoseunskilful thoughts.
Suppress: If evil, unskilful thoughts continue to arise in spite of reflection on the removal of a source of unskilful thoughts, one should with clenched teeth and the tongue pressing on the palate, restrain, and subdue the (evil) mind by the (good) mind. (Suppression used as a last resort so one does not act out one’ s anger/hatred)
http://satipanna.com/basics-of-buddhism/5-ways-for-the-removal-of-distracting-thought/
Reflect: ponder on the disadvantages of unskilful thoughts thus: Truly these thoughts of mine are unskilful, blameworthy, and productive of misery.
Ignore: endeavour to be without attention and reflection as regards them.
Remove the cause: one should reflect on the removal of the source of thoseunskilful thoughts.
Suppress: If evil, unskilful thoughts continue to arise in spite of reflection on the removal of a source of unskilful thoughts, one should with clenched teeth and the tongue pressing on the palate, restrain, and subdue the (evil) mind by the (good) mind. (Suppression used as a last resort so one does not act out one’ s anger/hatred)
http://satipanna.com/basics-of-buddhism/5-ways-for-the-removal-of-distracting-thought/
Via Satipañña: The Five Subjects for Daily Recollection
There are other recollections which one can make and which help
one to understand the human condition. People tend to be in denial
about decay, disease, and death while remaining greatly attached to
sentient beings and insentient objects. Some people try also to neglect
moral responsibility for their actions. The recollections below bring
these subjects to light and make us face them squarely.
Thus, the Buddha has said we should reflect daily upon these five recollections.
Thus, the Buddha has said we should reflect daily upon these five recollections.
- I am of the nature to age.
I have not gone beyond aging. - I am of the nature to sicken.
I have not gone beyond sickness. - I am of the nature to die.
I have not gone beyond dying. - All that is mine, beloved and pleasing, will become otherwise, will become separated from me.
- I am the owner of my karma,
Heir to my karma,
Born of my karma,
Related to my karma,
Abide supported by my karma.
Whatever karma I shall do, for good or for ill, of that I will be the heir.
An Evangelical Changes His Mind On Gays
We’ve featured the work of Matthew Vines many times
before, and want to highlight a speech given at a conference recently
held by his organization, The Reformation Project. A keynote speaker,
David Gushee, one of the foremost evangelical ethicists in the United
States, used the occasion to announce his support for the full-inclusion
of LGBT Christians in the Church. The above video of Gushee’s remarks
is longer than we usually post, but it’s worth watching in full. (You
can read a transcript of his remarks here.) For a sense of why this matters, Jonathan Merritt sketches Gushee’s place in the evangelical world:
It is difficult to overstate the potential impact of Gushee’s defection. His Christian ethics textbook, “Kingdom Ethics,” co-authored with the late Glen Stassen, is widely respected and was named a 2004 Christianity Today book of the year. He serves as theologian-in-residence for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a coalition of 15 theological schools, 150 ministries, and 1,800 Baptist churches nationwide.
While other pro-LGBT Christian activists — including Justin Lee of the Gay Christian Network and Matthew Vines, author of “God and the Gay Christian” — have been dismissed in some circles as wet-behind-the-ears youngsters without formal theological training, Gushee, 52, is a scholar with impeccable credentials. He can add intellectual heft to what has largely been a youth-led movement, and is not someone who can be easily dismissed.Gushee summarizes his approach to the issue this way:
Since the 1960s, when the gay rights movement began in America, Christians and their leaders have struggled to figure out how to respond to the growing tolerance of same-sex relationships. Most in Christianity have responded by offering endless debates over how to interpret that handful of biblical passages. Books erupted. Congregations fought. Denominations split.
For me, the answer to this debate has become simple: There is a sexual-minority population of about 5 percent of the human family that has received contempt and discrimination for centuries. In Christendom, the sexual ethics based in those biblical passages metastasized into a hardened attitude against sexual- and gender-identity minorities, bristling with bullying and violence. This contempt is in the name of God, the most powerful kind there is in the world. I now believe that the traditional interpretation of the most cited passages is questionable and that all that parsing of Greek verbs has distracted attention from the primary moral obligation taught by Jesus — to love our neighbors as ourselves, especially our most vulnerable neighbors. I also now believe that while any progress toward more humane treatment of LGBT people is good progress, we need to reconsider the entire body of biblical interpretation and tradition related to this issue.
Put simply, it finally became clear to me that I must side with those who were being treated with contempt, just as I hope I would have sided with Jews in the Nazi era and with African Americans during the civil rights years.
Flower of the Day: 11/24/14
“I
am working steadily so that you can identify the part of your
personality that plays against you and sabotages all of your efforts
towards self-realization. I call this aspect negative intentionality.
This is your ‘no’ to life, to love, to prosperity and pleasure. If there
is constant anguish and negative repetitions happening in your life,
identify the voice within you that says, ‘I don’t want everything to
work out. I want to be weak; I want to be rejected and humiliated.’
While this may seem absurd, I invite you to put into practice this
teaching and discover for yourself what I am saying.”
Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
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Developing a Healthy Body Image | November 24, 2014
Because the modern obsession with impossibly perfect body images
has taught so many people to hate their bodies to a pathological degree,
we’ve come to identify all positive body images as psychologically
healthy, and all negative body images as psychologically sick. . . From
the Buddha’s perspective, though, this attitude is radically deluded.
- Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "Under Your Skin"  |
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Flower of the Day: 11/23/14
“The
unveiling of love is a phenomenon that occurs on the level of the soul.
It is the revelation of the Being. This unveiling of love is only
possible when we remove the layers that cover up our hearts. Along the
journey, we became attached to these layers, and life’s challenges are
here to help us break with these attachments. As we continue revealing
ourselves, we find that these resistances are made of attachments to
what is transitory: our ideas and beliefs. These are tests that love
uses to examine our faith and commitment to the truth. Only when this
commitment is truly firm can we reach the sacred dwelling place.”
Sri Prem Baba
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Flower of the Day: 11/22/14
“I
see this planet as a school of love. When I see a cup of water filled
halfway, I see a cup half full – never half empty. I recognize the
difficulties of this planet, but my focus remains on the possibility of
the human being’s evolution. I have an unbreakable faith in love,
because it is the universal solvent for all evil. Through love, we are
able to liberate ourselves from all the difficulties that have been
placed in our paths. In this way, we enter the frequency that allows us
to see this planet from the perspective of light.”
Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
May I Be Worthy | November 22, 2014
May I be worthy of this meal, I whispered.
The afternoon light was coming through the window.
The universe did a little waltz.
ONE two three. ONE two three.
I let go.
- Bobby Byrd, "Kensho Down on Texas Avenue, El Paso, Texas"
The afternoon light was coming through the window.
The universe did a little waltz.
ONE two three. ONE two three.
I let go.
- Bobby Byrd, "Kensho Down on Texas Avenue, El Paso, Texas"
Friday, November 21, 2014
Flower of the Day: 11/21/14
“Everyone
wants to live with joy and satisfaction, peace, prosperity and love.
And yet, we have not been taught how to do so. When you place your gifts
and talents in motion, you put yourself in the universal current of
prosperity, so love and peace pass through you to reach the other. Every
human being has their own unique gifts and talents to share with the
world, but it is important to comprehend that these talents should be
put at service of the greater good. This higher purpose is to create the
conditions for human beings to experience unity. Peace, prosperity and
joy are fragrances of this experience, which is synonymous with selfless
love.”
Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
No Goal | November 21, 2014
Just as a clay Buddha cannot go through water and a wood Buddha
cannot go through fire, a goal-oriented healing practice cannot permeate
deeply enough. We must penetrate our pain so thoroughly that illness
and health lose their distinction, allowing us just to live our lives.
- Darlene Cohen, "The Practice of Nonpreference"
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Via JMG: Montana Joins The Sapphire States
Big Sky Country has already turned our favorite shade of blue, thanks to
our sort of in-house Wikipedia marriage map monitor. Now we wait for
the usual GOP flailing. Is this state #34 or can we not yet fully count
Kansas?
Reposted from Joe Jervis
JMG Tweet Of The Day - Ellen DeGeneres
Flower of the Day: 11/20/14
“If
you have already given five minutes of your day to silence, then maybe
it is time to give ten minutes. At the end of each silent period before
you open your eyes, affirm to yourself, I am divine light.
Observe what you feel when you make this affirmation – do you truly
recognize yourself as an embodiment of divine light, or is there still
some resistance to affirming this truth? Then, open your eyes, stand up
and continue with your journey.”
Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
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The Role of Faith | November 20, 2014
As a factor of the Buddhist path, faith (saddha) does not mean blind belief but a willingness to accept
on trust certain propositions that we cannot, at our present stage of development, personally verify for ourselves.
- Bhikkhu Bodhi, "The Role of Faith" |
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Via JMG: Former "Ex-Gay" Leader Marries Man
Smid has been living as an out gay man for several years now, and he's been in a relationship with [Larry] McQueen for one year. Gay marriage just became legal in Oklahoma last month. The couple live in Paris, Texas, where Smid moved from his Memphis home in the summer of 2013. Smid's journey from ex-gay leader to happily out gay man has been a long one. He was promoted to the role of executive director of Love in Action in September 1990, and in 1994, the organization moved its ministry to Memphis. Love in Action operated here quietly until 2005, when protests over a youth "straight" camp called Refuge sparked a national media firestorm. Smid met McQueen three years ago, but they were just "acquaintances with common friends," wrote Smid in his Facebook announcement of their marriage Sunday. "I gradually got to know him over time until we reached a place in our lives that we saw we wanted to get to know one another through a dating relationship. As we dated we shared our vision for life, our personal philosophies, and our faith values. We found a compatibility that was comfortable and exciting," Smid said.In August of this year Smid and eight other former "ex-gay" leaders issued a joint letter denouncing "reparative" torture. Love In Action now operates as Restoration Path. (Tipped by JMG reader Lynda)
Labels: brainwashing, ex-gay, gay weddings, John Smid, LGBT youth, Love In Action, Oklahoma, religion, torture
Via JMG: South Carolina Earns Stripes Of Progress
Yesterday the Fourth Circuit Court refused South Carolina Attorney
General Alan Wilson's demand to continue the stay on same-sex marriages
during his appeal. Almost simultaneously, a separate federal court ruled
that South Carolina must recognize
out-of-state marriages, prompting Wikipedia's marriage map monitor to
apply the above blue stripes of progress. Late last night Wilson took
his stay extension demand to SCOTUS. Barring action from that court,
marriages will commence at noon tomorrow.
Labels: Alan Wilson, Fourth Circuit Court, lawsuits, LGBT rights, marriage equality, SCOTUS, South Carolina, Wikipedia
Via JMG: Procter & Gamble Endorses Gay Marriage
P&G executives say they want to attract top talent from all backgrounds and part of that strategy is providing a welcoming work environment. "We have always supported our employees and fostered a culture of inclusion and respect – this includes the right to marry whomever they choose and to have that union legally recognized," said Deborah P. Majoras, P&G's chief legal officer and executive sponsor to GABLE – the company's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender-allied employee group.That boycott list just got a few hundred brands longer.
One of the world's largest and most valuable companies, P&G's public stance won't go unnoticed in corporate America. Still, the company says it continues to focus on making consumer products from Pampers diapers, Tide detergent and Head & Shoulders shampoo. "At the heart of it all, P&G is a company heavily dependent on innovation – what's critical are new insights and new ideas," said William Gipson, P&G's chief global diversity officer. "For our company, it's not a political statement, but a statement of support for our employees."
Flower of the Day: 11/19/14
“If
you are able to cultivate five minutes of silence in your day, you will
have won a great victory over the material world. Matter, which
includes your body and mind, has to be at service of the spirit. All of
the misery that we see and experience in the world comes from spirit
serving matter instead. The mind has become the ruler of the house, when
really it's only a vehicle, a place of pilgrimage. The higher self can
pass through the mind, but so can the lower self, which manifests
through the form of destructive thoughts, causing you to believe that
you are isolated and inferior or superior to others. These voices act
through your mind creating dark clouds that prevent you from seeing the
wind that dances in the leaves. They inhibit you from understanding that
all is one. We are connected by an invisible thread that unites
everything and everyone.”
Sri Prem Baba
Via Dialy Dharma
Foundation, Practice, Fulfillment | November 19, 2014
Starting with this most simple of expressions—When this is, that
is—[Thich Nhat Hanh] explicated dependent origination as a vision of
radical interdependence, or what he called “interbeing,” in which all
beings support and are in turn supported by all other beings. This
elaboration . . . encompassed the foundation, the practice, and the
fulfillment of spiritual life.
- Andrew Cooper, "The Debacle"
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Flower of the Day: 11/18/14
“Cultivating
silence for just five minutes a day is enough. Divide these five
minutes into periods of one minute each to be practiced before your main
activities of the day. When the mind is going in all directions, simply
withdraw for one minute and make yourself completely present. Let go of
all your worries, expectations, desires, and thoughts. Feel yourself
occupying your body and focus on the emptiness between your thoughts.
You can prepare the field for this minute of silence through soft, deep
breaths through the nostrils. This is a magical one minute because your
mind may be wherever it is, but in this moment it returns to presence.”
Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
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The Great Heart Way | November 18, 2014
If we learn to keep our mind quiet through meditation, to just stay
present with our feelings, to connect with our heart, to let go of the
story lines, and to directly feel all the unpleasant sensations
associated with our emotional hurts, then the heart will open and we can
approach each situation from a wider perspective.
- Gerry Shishin Wick, Roshi, "The Great Heart Way" |
Monday, November 17, 2014
Via JMG: Michael Sam Is A GQ Man Of The Year
Via the Washington Post:
Reposted from Joe Jervis
This fall, GQ magazine found room for an athlete on its annual list of celebrities who have left a mark on pop culture. This isn’t any athlete, though. It’s Michael Sam, the first openly gay player taken in the NFL draft last spring. Sam joins “Guardians of the Galaxy” star Chris Pratt, comedian Dave Chappelle, actors Ansel Elgort and Shailene Woodley of “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Foxcatcher” star Steve Carell. The magazine revealed all six covers Monday, with a story on each honoree being rolled out daily this week. Sam was drafted by St. Louis Rams and he quickly crossed from a sports story into a cultural one when he kissed his partner in celebration.Sam was cut by the Dallas Cowboys last month and remains unsigned.
Flower of the Day: 11/17/14
“We
need to understand the designs of karma, ceasing to fight with the
situations life brings us, which is karma itself. Since we haven’t yet
taken in this point, we lose a lot of time fighting and wanting things
to be different. It is merely a question of understanding why God has
placed us in a particular place. Suffering occurs when we refuse to
understand this and go on believing that God is our enemy. God is our
best friend: the universe is conspiring in favor of the evolution of
consciousness.”
Via Daily Dharma
Apply Yourself | November 17, 2014
If you separate from . . . everything you have done in the past,
everything that disturbs you about the future . . . and apply yourself
to living the life that you are living—that is to say, the present—you
can live all the time that remains to you until your death in calm,
benevolence, and serenity.
- Marcus Aurelius, "The Present Moment"
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Via Budistas Gays / FB:
Translation: Lack of understanding, generates prejudice which generates violence"
Flower of the Day: 11/16/14
“There
comes a moment when we perceive the senselessness of insisting on a
certain negative situation: we see the stupidity of jealousy or envy, of
rejecting others or being rejected, of feeling powerless, and so forth.
Still, we want to continue dreaming in this sweet sleep, identified as
we are with negatively oriented pleasure. Life will continue to give us
wake up calls until we decisively choose to get out of this state. By
looking at this aspect consciously, it is possible to renounce this
behavior, enabling us to exchange a negative habit for a positive one.”
Sri Prem Baba
Via Dialy Dharma
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Spiritual Friendship | November 16, 2014
It is important to have strong spiritual friendships—not spiritual
in the rarefied sense, but in a really down-to-earth way, to have good
friends in the dharma with whom you can talk things over, share
experiences, share difficulties and whose spiritual support you're
assured of.
- Sangharakshita, "Going for Refuge" |
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Via JMG: Missouri Changes Its Stripes
Wikipedia's marriage map monitor, who decloaked this week as a JMG
reader, has made a change to reflect the complicated situation in
Missouri.
Reposted from Joe Jervis
Flower of the Day: 11/15/14
“The
process of transformation includes going beyond the shame of admitting
our imperfections and even our negatively oriented pleasure. In other
words, it involves being able to see how much we are insisting on a
negative repetition only to get some pleasure out of it. Once we see
this, we begin a deep process of transforming the personality’s
structure, which is not so easy. Some people may feel like they’re
walking backwards, but really it's that they are now starting to become
aware of the games of the lower self. Beforehand, they weren’t visible
since we were numb. We begin to see that the other is not responsible
for our suffering, because he or she cannot hurt us without our
permission.”
Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
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What Was Mindfulness? | November 15, 2014
When the studies on mindfulness started rolling in a few years ago,
it was good news for those of us who had been practicing Buddhist
meditation for years. . . . But in the midst of all this there was a
question few of us ever thought to ask: What was mindfulness for? Did it stand for anything? Did it have any ethical content? Did it produce compassionate people—or compliant people?
- Clark Strand, "What Was Mindfulness?" |
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