By Dennis V. Dahle, John P. Livingstone and M. Gawain Wells

Published: February 25, 2011 07:38AM

In his recent guest column (“Anti-science views of faith leaders cause concerns,” Opinion, Feb. 8), R. Dennis Hansen correctly points out that religion and science need not be at odds, but in our view draws the wrong conclusion that they are at odds to begin with, or that religion is the problem.

Alert! Alert! There is so much drivel in this ‘thesis’ that it isn’t worthy of point-by-point rebuttal. These three authors are involved with what they call the Foundation for Attraction Research. It is a transparent fraud. Go to its web page and it is readily seen that it is a very small and tight knit group of pseudo scientists who begin with a predetermined belief and set out to prove their hunches right. The problem with their hunches is that they are all based on religious fables.

They are not seeking riches or gold or the praise of the world. They are seeking the adoration of their church apostles and their devout neighbors and friends. They are looking to get praised in church every Sunday morning. They particularly want to come to the defense of one of The Twelve, Boyd K. Packer, to try (more…)

In the beginning: Stephen Hawking’s new book dismisses God’s role in our universe

By Michael De Groote

Deseret News

Published: Friday, Feb. 4, 2011 7:10 p.m. MST

When British physicist Stephen Hawking came into the auditorium at Caltech in Pasadena, Calif., the crowd went wild. The Los Angeles Times reported that one fan, 13-year-old Evan Hetland, even dubbed him “the nerd pope.”

Hawking was somewhat the darling of some religious people for his occasional references to God, such as one time when he said that if a complete theory of physics were discovered, then “we would know the mind of God.”

But Hawking’s latest book, “The Grand Design,” written with physicist Leonard Mlodinow, leaves little room for God — or philosophy for that matter. A Wall Street Journal article they wrote based on their book is titled “Why God Did Not Create the Universe: There is a sound scientific explanation for the making of our world — no gods required.”

Ouch.

“Ouch,” my eye! There is no ‘ouch’ for believers. Nevertheless, a compliment to the Deseret News for publishing this story. Hawking’s views are significant and obviously puts religious folks in a defensive posture. As expected the article by Michael DeGroote couldn’t be printed in the Deseret News without a significant counter punch that deflects the issue, and it is good and credible journalism to present opposing points of view.

Believers can take a punch better than anyone. Facts seldom hit a believer square on, they are almost always deflected. Believers are resilient beyond, no pun intended, ‘belief.’  There is no penetration. Once they have talked with God (more…)

Tribune Forum Letter by Elaine Ball

First published Jan 29 2011 01:01AM

The front-page article “Without marriage, same-sex parents unable to adopt” (Tribune, Jan. 24) was both heartwarming and heart-wrenching.

I am a lesbian in a committed relationship of two-plus years. Like the family in the article, my partner and I hope to raise our children in Utah because here we have supportive and loving friends and extended family members.

I hope that people recognize that their doctrinal belief that two people of the same sex should not have the right to marry (more…)

Transcript of Elder Dallin H. Oaks’ Speech Given at Chapman University School of Law

04 February 2011 — Salt Lake City

Transcript of Elder Dallin H. Oaks speech given at Chapman University School of Law on 4 February 2011.

Preserving Religious Freedom

I am here to speak of the state of religious freedom in the United States, why it seems to be diminishing, and what can be done about it.

Although I will refer briefly to some implications of the Proposition 8 controversy and its constitutional arguments, I am not here to participate in the debate on the desirability or effects of same-sex marriage. I am here to contend for religious freedom. I am here to describe fundamental principles that I hope will be meaningful for decades to come.

I believe you will find no unique Mormon doctrine in what I say. My sources are law and secular history. I will quote the words of Catholic, Evangelical Christian, and Jewish leaders, among others. I am convinced that on this issue what all believers have in common is far more important than their differences. We must unite to strengthen our freedom to teach and exercise what we have in common, as well as our very real differences in religious doctrine.

We haven’t had a chance to carefully and thoughtfully review this speech by Elder Oaks and we will reserve comment until then. This is the transcript as made available by The Deseret News.

I begin with a truth that is increasingly challenged: Religious teachings and religious organizations are valuable (more…)

Breaking with her father, Barbara Bush voices support for gay marriage

By Holly Bailey

Tue Feb 1, 9:41 am ET

Barbara Bush, one of former President George W. Bush’s twin daughters, is appearing in a new video voicing her support for same sex marriage.

“I’m Barbara Bush, and I’m a New Yorker for marriage equality,” she says in a 22-second video released Monday by the Human Rights Campaign, a group that lobbies for equal treatment for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders.

“New York is about fairness and equality,” she says in the video. “And everyone should have the right to marry the person that they love.”

The video ends with Bush, who is 29, imploring viewers to “join us.”

You can watch the video after the jump, courtesy the Human Rights Campaign.

Salt Lake Tribune Editorial

Published: January 24, 2011 06:20AM

“In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals like in your country. … I do not know who has told you that we have it.”

— Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking at Columbia University, September 2007

Legislators in Utah don’t quite have their heads in the same sand as the Iranian president when it comes to homosexuality. Most would admit that gays, lesbians and transgender Utahns do exist. But many Republican members of the Legislature ignore reality in another way: They don’t admit that LGBT Utahns are the victims of discrimination or that they deserve protection from those who would deny them their rights.

Like Ahmadinejad, these legislators, whether they admit it or not, are leaning on their religious convictions as justification for failing to extend government protections to these Utahns in the same way that ethnic and racial minorities, both genders, the elderly and religious groups are protected.

That kind of hurtful bias has got to end.

For the past two legislative sessions, Republicans have refused to seriously consider statewide laws banning discrimination in housing and employment. Fortunately, 10 city and county councils and several school boards have stepped up to do just that in the absence of a legislative conscience. A Salt Lake Tribune poll shows two-thirds of Utahns support a state-wide anti-discrimination law, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints endorsed the law passed by the Salt Lake City Council in 2009.

Despite the fact that ten city and county councils have passed this ordinance already, (in many cases by unanimous votes of the councils) and despite the fact that 66% of all Utahns are in favor, and despite the blessing of the LDS Church, the fact remains that Utah’s legislature is not a microcosm of Utah’s cities and towns, or even (more…)

By Rosemary Winters

The Salt Lake Tribune

Published: January 24, 2011 01:01AM

The labor was surprisingly fast and calm for twins. Kelley Beeny watched in awe as her partner of a dozen years gave birth to two boys: Ben and Sam, weighing about 3 and 5 pounds respectively.

“It’s unbelievable how you can love these little things so much,” Beeny recalls. “Falling in love with somebody is totally different from falling in love with your children. … It changes who you are.”

Her partner, Kaye Christensen, adopted Beeny’s surname soon after the boys’ birth. The twins, who were conceived with the help of a sperm donor, also share the name.

“They’re the Beeny babies,” Kelley quips.

Three-and-a-half years later, Kelley stays at home with the twins in Tooele while Kaye, 40, commutes to work in Salt Lake City. Kelley, 48, is the family’s “domestic goddess,” folding laundry, fixing meals and tidying the house. She listens to Ben spout his knowledge of train mechanics and sing Thomas the Tank Engine songs. She admires Sam’s latest finger paintings.

Both boys call Kelley “Mommy.”

But to the state of Utah, she is not their legal parent.

“It’s infuriating,” Kelley says. “I love my children just as much as anybody else. It’s no different just because we’re gay.”

Utah is one of two states with statutes that block same-sex couples from adopting children. (The other is Mississippi.)

Salt Lake City Democrats Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houck and Sen. Ross Romero hope to offer a remedy to families like the Beenys during the 2011 session of the Legislature, which begins Monday.

In 2000, Utah adopted a law that prohibits individuals who are living in unmarried, sexual relationships — whether gay or straight — from adopting or fostering children. Gay men and lesbians who live alone may adopt.

After pushing to change the policy in the previous three sessions without ever getting to a floor vote, Chavez-Houck has narrowed her scope to protecting families like the Beenys.

We wouldn’t have to be making these kinds of fairness proposals if we would just make same-sex marriage legal.

This is a worthy effort by legislators Chavez-Houck and Romero, but it will be seen as a ‘foot in the door’ or a ‘nose under the tent.’ The fairness of it is obvious, but that doesn’t matter to most of the Utah legislators. If fairness mattered same-sex marriage would be permitted.

Introducing the bill also helps (more…)

(Published in the Salt Lake Tribune Public Forum on December 29, 2010 01:01AM) (Also appeared in the Standard-Examiner in Ogden, Dec. 21, 2010)

Congratulations to Rep. Jim Matheson and the 111th Congress, which just voted to lower the standards of our military (80 percent favorable rating) to that of Congress (13 percent favorable). It’s no coincidence that most of the politicians voting never served in combat. Congress’ vote legitimized sodomy as normal and acceptable, elevating and celebrating it!

When at the crossroads, this “District of Criminals” (as some of us in the Pentagon called Congress) took the wrong fork. Working backward from preconceived conclusions, and unmoved by reason, evidence, timeless standards and history, they pandered for votes. Now the military is forced to reflect their shameful, upside-down, politically correct values.

Pentagon reports repeatedly voice concern that allowing gays to serve openly would lead to widespread and overt displays of effeminacy and disruptive, unhealthy conduct. As a combat officer with 30 years of experience, I know that commingling of out-of-the-closet gays and straights is a disaster in the making.

The only moral and practical solution to the impeached former President Bill Clinton’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is to reinstate the total ban on gays in the military.

This Congress is unwanted, unclean and a disaster! Have they no shame?

Retired Col. Gary R. Stephens

Layton

There is one thing to his credit. He signed his name. He thought ‘Retired Colonel’ would give him some credibility on the issue and a reason to express his strongly held view. What he didn’t say was that he is also a ‘ recently retired LDS Mission President.’

Since its very difficult to discern a grain of charity or kindness in his letter the church leaders are probably pleased that he used ‘Retired Colonel’ instead of ‘former mission president.’ His letter was certainly absent any portion of the Spirit of the Lord.

In fact, in all liklihood the brethern are squirming (more…)

December 18, 2010

By CARL HULSE

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Saturday struck down the ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military, bringing to a close a 17-year struggle over a policy that forced thousands of Americans from the ranks and caused others to keep secret their sexual orientation.

By a vote of 65 to 31, with eight Republicans joining Democrats, the Senate approved and sent to President Obama a repeal of the Clinton-era law, known as “don’t ask, don’t tell,” a policy critics said amounted to government-sanctioned discrimination that treated gay and lesbian troops as second-class citizens.

Utah’s two senators, Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch, voted against the repeal, preferring instead to continue the discrimination. It will go down as one of Bennett’s last votes. As history moves on he will rue his vote and it will forever mar his career. Hatch will probably wear it as a badge of honor forever.

The LDS Church, although not shy about speaking out on moral issues facing the government, has chosen to remain mute on the issue. The issue offered the church a chance to extend a hand of friendship to gays, but once again it rejected the opportunity. Mum is the word from church headquarters.

Mr. Obama hailed the action, which fulfills his pledge to reverse the ban. “As commander in chief, I am also absolutely convinced that making this change will only underscore the professionalism of our troops as the best led and best trained fighting force the world has ever known,” Mr. Obama said in a statement after the Senate, on a 63-33 vote, beat back Republican efforts to block a final vote on the repeal bill.

The vote marked a historic moment that some equated (more…)

December 2010 Featured

By Rob Boston

Americans United for Separation of Church and State

About a week before the Nov. 2 election, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins sent an e-mail to supporters plugging a bus trip to Des Moines, Iowa.

Why was the Washington, D.C.-based FRC road-tripping in the Hawkeye State?

The message, sent under the auspices of FRC Action, laid it out: Three Iowa Supreme Court justices who had voted to strike down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage in 2009 were facing retention elections. FRC and its Religious Right allies aimed to take them all out.

And they did. On Election Day, Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and Justices Michael Streit and David Baker failed to garner 50 percent support to stay on the court.

This was very sad news for America. When the judiciary, the principal safety valve for minority rates, is co-opted by the majority it also puts in jeopardy the fundamental and basic rights of minorities. Majority votes are a distinguishing and important part of democracy, but the surviving grace of the constitution is its human rights clauses that cannot be over ridden by majority vote.

This action designed to deny basic human rights to a minority is a threat to the constitution and now all minorities of any category are in danger, including the very people who engineered this campaign.

Religious groups who organized this effort (more…)

By Jamshid Ghazi Askar

Deseret News

Published: Sunday, Dec. 5, 2010 11:50 p.m. MST

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah-born and BYU-educated judge will find himself in the middle of a whole lot of hubbub when the case stemming from California’s controversial Proposition 8 lands back in court Monday morning for oral arguments before the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

Judge N. Randy Smith, 61, was born in Logan. He attended Utah State University before transferring to BYU, where he received a B.S. in accounting in 1974 and his law degree in 1977. Successfully nominated to the 9th Circuit by President George W. Bush three years ago, Smith still remains the most recent newcomer of the nearly 30 active judges on the 9th Circuit. He currently resides in Pocatello, Idaho.

It’s interesting that the Deseret News avoided mentioning that the judge is a Mormon and that the Mormons have a keen interest in the outcome of this hearing. We do not know whether he is a Mormon, or an active Mormon, but the fact that he was born in Logan and graduated from BYU is almost a slam-dunk assurance that he was at least once upon a time a Mormon.

The judge  graduated from BYU and was a student there while Apostle Dallin Oaks was president of the university. Oaks has been an outspoken opponent of same sex marriage, and the church has poured millions of dollars into the Prop 8 issue and has largely been credited with its passing.

Can a Mormon judge be judicious when it comes to Mormon matters? There are some valid differences of opinion about that.

Joining Smith on the three-judge panel are Judge Michael Daly Hawkins, 65 years old, nominated in 1994 by President Bill Clinton to the 9th Circuit, and 79-year-old Circuit Judge Stephen R. Reinhardt, who was nominated to the 9th Circuit in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter. (Proposition 8 supporters filed a motion last week seeking Reinhardt’s disqualification from the panel because his wife is the executive director of the ACLU of Southern California and a financial donor to the “No on 8″ campaign, but Reinhardt declined to recuse himself.)

Apparently Judge Smith has also declined to recuse himself! Can a Mormon judge who repeatedly repeats oaths of allegiance (more…)

Staff and Wire Services

Published: November 24, 2010 11:12AM

Pleased that a pill may halt HIV infection, Utah activists and doctors are awaiting further information before changing their prevention or prescription tactics.

“It’s another tool. I don’t know how exciting it will be yet. That’s difficult to say,” said Claudia Goulston, a doctor who treats patients suffering from HIV at University Hospital.

But it doesn’t mean it’s time to abandon condoms and other proven prevention strategies, said Jennifer Brown, an epidemiologist at the Utah Department of Health.

In a global study, scientists found that the anti-retroviral pill Truvada, already used to treat HIV infection, turns out to be a powerful weapon in protecting healthy gay men from contracting the virus.

Daily doses cut the risk of infection by 44 percent when used with condoms, counseling and other preventative services. Men who took the pills most faithfully had even more protection — up to 73 percent.

Researchers had feared the pills might give a false sense of security and make men less likely to use condoms or to limit their partners, but the opposite occurred — risky sex declined.

“I am encouraged by this announcement of groundbreaking research on HIV prevention,” President Barack Obama said (more…)

By VICTOR L. SIMPSON

and NICOLE WINFIELD

The Associated Press

Published: November 23, 2010 04:10PM

Vatican City • In a seismic shift on one of the most profound — and profoundly contentious — Roman Catholic teachings, the Vatican said Tuesday that condoms are the lesser of two evils when used to curb the spread of AIDS, even if their use prevents a pregnancy.

The position was an acknowledgment that the church’s long-held anti-birth control stance against condoms doesn’t justify putting lives at risk.

“This is a game-changer,” declared the Rev. James Martin, a prominent Jesuit writer and editor.

The new stance was staked out as the Vatican explained Pope Benedict XVI’s comments on condoms and HIV in a book that came out Tuesday based on his interview with a German journalist.

How to make sense out of religion? It is such a mystery that it survives.  The Catholic Church, like certain other dogmatic churches that claim to be God’s only true church, just can’t admit to being wrong.

They must think that their flocks will fly away if they actually speak the words that they already know and accept, “we were wrong.”

Now the Catholic Church has really split the baby in half. The church has in essence said that it is immoral to use condoms while having sexual intercourse, but if it will prevent AIDS then it is the moral thing to do, and oh, artificial birth control remains immoral. So now you can wear a condom to prevent AIDS, but not to prevent pregnancy. Divine that one!

There was also breaking news that a pill has been designed that will prevent HIV. Now the next step for science is to design a pill that will prevent HIV and prevent pregnancy at the same time. It will sell like hotcakes to Catholics the world over, because there is nothing better than having your morality and immorality come together at the same time.

The Vatican (more…)

Published: November 13, 2010 01:01AM

Re “LDS half-measure” (Forum, Nov. 10):

The idiom “beating a dead horse” comes to mind each time I read a letter about non-acceptance of homosexuality by churches, religions, government leaders and the public in general.

Using examples of early American slavery or mistreatment of Jews throughout history to apply to non-acceptance of a lifestyle is ludicrous and an injustice to the memory of those events.

Religions have centuries-old doctrines and creeds that provide lifestyle guidelines to their adherents. Many religions — Christian, Eastern, Asian and others — do not view homosexuality as an acceptable practice.

Accusing individuals of intolerance or political incorrectness for not changing the beliefs that define their faith is the mirror image of homosexuals crying non-acceptance of their beliefs.

We all have the choice to accept or not accept lifestyles of others, while still maintaining kindness, compassion and civility. As we learned in junior high and high school, acceptance by one group or another should not define who we believe we are.

Bonnie Stone

Eden

Bonnie, gays aren’t trying to change church doctrines, just their behavior toward them, like perhaps trying The Golden Rule!! Gays are not mistreating religions. Religions are mistreating gays by restricting

Published: November 23, 2010 01:01AM

The following editorial appeared in Monday’s Washington Post:

Edith Windsor and Thea Spyer were together for 44 years and legally married since 2007. They lived in New York, which recognizes same-sex marriage. But none of that mattered when Spyer died at 77 in 2009 after a decades-long struggle with multiple sclerosis.

Windsor, now 81, was treated like a stranger to Spyer because of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which recognizes only marriages between one man and one woman. She was forced to pay $350,000 in federal inheritance taxes.

Gerald V. Passaro II and Thomas M. Buckholz had been a couple for 13 years when they were married in 2008 in Connecticut, which legally blesses such relationships. Buckholz had worked for 20 years for Bayer Corp., which extends certain benefits to domestic partners; he was also vested in the company’s pension plan. But when he died in 2009, Passaro was denied benefits for surviving spouses. Because federal law governs the pension plan, DOMA applies.

This month, Windsor filed a lawsuit in New York challenging the constitutionality of DOMA. Passaro is one of the plaintiffs in a separate lawsuit in Connecticut. Their experiences (more…)

By Robert D. Putnam and David E. Campbell

Los Angeles Times

Published: Friday, Nov. 19, 2010 5:57 p.m. MST

The most rapidly growing religious category today is composed of those Americans who say they have no religious affiliation. While middle-age and older Americans continue to embrace organized religion, rapidly increasing numbers of young people are rejecting it.

As recently as 1990, all but 7 percent of Americans claimed a religious affiliation, a figure that had held constant for decades. Today, 17 percent of Americans say they have no religion, and these new “nones” are very heavily concentrated among Americans who have come of age since 1990. Between 25 percent and 30 percent of twenty somethings today say they have no religious affiliation — roughly four times higher than in any previous generation.

Another sociological study should be done regarding the division these issues have had on friendships and associations and the wedge they have driven between people who otherwise would respect and love each other.

‘Us’ have a tendency not to associate with ‘them,’ simply to avoid the inevitable conversational conflicts that arise and make life uncomfortable. The ‘us vs. them’ grouping solidifies the divide by discouraging interaction between people of differing views. Sadly, we have found that silence on politics and religion, the two most valued aspects of an individual, is required to maintain friendships. The question then arises, what good are shallow, artificial friendships? And the answer widens the divide.

The question has been answered. It’s obvious on its face. Politics and religion are divisive to begin with, but mix them and it seems to compound the extent of the intolerance we have for one another.

Politics and religion are the core of conflict and people are frustrated by it. There seems to be no lubricant that works.

For instance, take Utah’s political topic of the day—George W. Bush and torture. Read the comments people, are hurling at Rocky Anderson and, by inference, to all those who are opposed to torture. The newspaper comment boards expose how feeble our brains are. The newspapers have tried to supervise the comments, but they haven’t taken the one step that will elevate the conversation—the requiring of identification. Anonymous comments expose the depths of our ignorance. Not one of the people who hurled invectives at Rocky was willing to identify themselves, and the reason for anonymity was shown in the ignorance of their remarks.

We must learn to communicate better. We all need guidance in how to improve.  We need to make a more devoted effort to improve our communication skills so that we can talk with one another in honest dialogue while maintaining civility and respect.

The answer is in the words we choose and the tone of our voice. It requires enormous restraint, but most of all, it requires a knowledge of the subject that we are so cocksure about. When we recognize our own inadequacies and limitations it makes us less dogmatic in our relationships with others.

So, why this sudden jump in youthful disaffection from organized religion? The surprising answer, according to a mounting body of evidence, is politics. Very few of these new “nones” actually call themselves atheists, and many have rather conventional beliefs about God and theology. But they have been alienated from organized religion by its increasingly conservative politics.

During the 1980s, the public face of American religion turned sharply right.

Political allegiances and religious observance became more closely aligned, and both religion and politics became more polarized. Abortion and homosexuality became more prominent issues on the national political agenda, and activists such as Jerry Falwell and Ralph Reed began looking to expand religious activism into electoral politics. Church attendance gradually became the primary dividing line between Republicans and Democrats in national elections.

This political “God gap” is a recent (more…)

Tribune Forum

Published: November 13, 2010 01:01AM

Re “Same-sex attractions can change, 44% say” (Tribune, Nov. 5):

So 55 percent of Mormons persist in believing that gays can change (but only 20 percent of non-LDS). No surprise there, considering Mormons’ proclivity for believing myths over facts.

From a people among whom many don’t believe in evolution, what do you expect? If Mormons lived in Galileo’s day, they would be one of the last people to agree that Jupiter has moons and the Earth revolves around the sun.

Science: the other form of revelation.

Mike Waters

Salt Lake City

By Peggy Fletcher Stack

The Salt Lake Tribune

Published: October 25, 2010 11:25PM

Mormons may not know until the hereafter what causes same-sex attraction, but “God loves all his children” and expects everyone to do the same, an LDS Church leader said Sunday.

While the message — delivered to more than 200,000 Utah Mormons — may not seem significant, the messenger was.

As second counselor in the governing First Presidency, Dieter F. Uchtdorf is one of the highest-ranking leaders in the hierarchy of the nearly 14 million member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to address the thorny topic of whether same-sex attraction is inborn.

The gentle tone and emphasis of Uchtdorf’s remarks — spoken at the Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City and beamed to dozens of church buildings — came in the wake of an earlier speech by Boyd K. Packer, senior member of the LDS Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

In Packer’s original General Conference speech earlier this month, he said, “Some suppose that they were pre-set and cannot overcome what they feel are inborn tendencies toward the impure and unnatural. Not so.”

Packer later changed “tendencies” to “temptations” on the church’s website.

Still, Packer’s speech generated national controversy and protests from those inside and outside the Salt Lake City-based faith, many of whom saw the apostle’s statements as contributing to the self-loathing and suicides of gays.

In response to the outcry, LDS spokesman Michael Otterson issued a strongly worded condemnation of bullying and belittling of gays, saying, “Their struggle is our struggle.”

On Sunday, Uchtdorf reiterated the church’s position that it doesn’t know the cause of homosexuality and that it doesn’t matter.

“Many questions in life, however, including some related to same-gender attractions, must await a future answer, even in the next life,” Uchtdorf said. “Until then, the truth is, God loves all his children, and because he loves us, we can trust him and keep his commandments.”

The church is clearly embarrassed and disapproving of remarks made in conference by Apostle Boyd K. Packer and thus the continuing damage control.

After the national negative fallout (more…)

Published: October 16, 2010, Salt Lake Tribune Forum

Wayne Steffner is correct when he cites the biblical references that denounce homosexuality, adultery, and bestiality (“It’s in the Old Testament,” Forum, Oct. 13). He shouldn’t just admonish us with his lurid interest in sexual behavior; he needs to follow all of his Bible’s “moral” teachings:

• Don’t work on the Sabbath; kill anyone who does (Exodus 31:12).

• Never wear clothing made of mixed fibers (Leviticus 19:19).

• Don’t eat pork, rabbits and shellfish (Leviticus 11:6).

• Men, do not cut your hair and don’t shave (Leviticus 19:27).

• Shun menstruating women; they and everything they touch are unclean (Leviticus. 15:19).

• Kill new brides who are not virgins (Deuteronomy 21:18).

• Force rapists to marry the women they rape (Deuteronomy 22:28). (more…)

Violence Against Gays Must Stop!

It Begins in Our Own Hearts!

To all open minded friends and readers:

Please listen to and watch the video in the Visual of the Day section. It is a speech given by Joel Burns of the Ft. Worth, Texas,  City Council.

Watching the video may help each of us realize the serious challenges our gay and lesbian children face growing up in our anti-gay, homophobic society.

Matthew Shepherd was enough. That terrible beating and murder happened in Wyoming more than ten years ago. What has our society learned? Why is it continually repeated? When will the violence against gays stop? When will gays be able to live a normal, constructive, happy life? Why do we stand in the way? Will the next Matthew Shepherd be your son? Or grandson?

We should also ask ourselves what makes our society so anti-gay and homophobic? And what can we do about it? And, seriously, what part does religion and government play in contributing to this environment? And what can religions and government do to change the environment?

When our religious doctrines condemn and shame homosexuals and excommunicates them, when our military won’t accept gays and lesbians, when our own state won’t give gays and lesbians equal protection under the law regarding employment and housing, and when we deny them the right to marry, when we ostracize them in so many ways, how can we expect our children to treat homosexuals any differently? Why do children mock gay children? Is it because their parents and church mocks them?

Are we really willing to live with this environment? What part are we individually playing in contributing to this environment?

How does one realistically separate (more…)