“In fact, the most hate-filled people we have ever met are the homosexual activists who are forcing their world view on others.”–David Burdett, UK

Dear AFTAH supporters,

David Burdett’s excellent letter responding to a fellow Brit, Peter Bradley, who says Americans For Truth would be “imprisoned” in the UK, reminds us that the battle for Truth on this issue is worldwide in its scope. We who reject the immoral, anti-Christian homosexualist agenda and the homo-fascism that it naturally spawns must work together to preserve freedom and the time-tested Judeo-Christian sexual ethic. — Peter LaBarbera

Read Bradley’s censorious message HERE, and write us with your response defending American freedom and Judeo-Christian norms at americansfortruth@comcast.net. Mr. Burdett writes June 25 through AFTAH’s website:

Dear Mr. Bradley,

My wife and I are Christians and from England, we believe that the homosexual lifestyle in sinful and we have should have the right to be able to express our religious beliefs without fear of being branded as hate-inciting criminals. In fact, the most hate-filled people we have ever met are the homosexual activists who are forcing their worldview on others. We all have free will to live as we choose and I accept that. However, we object in the strongest possible terms to the ‘gay’ agenda being forced onto us via the schools (teaching four-year-olds about same sex relationships); via the TV (the Heinz advert [in the UK showing a homosexual male couple kissing; Heinz pulled the ad after British protests]; two priests getting “married” in a church last week; and the pro-gay government and their biased laws.

You seem to think the UK is some kind of great place to live. I guess you haven’t seen the statistics about England’s huge drug problem amongst the young, the rise in teenage pregnancy and spread of sexually transmitted diseases. All of this is due to being a Godless society — thank God we have people like Peter LaBarbera who are not afraid to speak the truth!

Thanks,

David Burdett
London, England

UPDATE: We learned June 26 from a Catholic, pro-family advocate who contacted the Chicago Archdiocese that AGLO has now been denied permission to march officially in this year’s homosexual “pride parade.” Stay tuned for more on this story.

[Click on photo to enlarge.] Topless transsexual bares his (presumably hormone-induced) breasts at last year’s (2007) Chicago “gay pride” parade. The “man” rode exposed like this for blocks along the parade route, as the crowd lining the streets cheered him on. Faithful Catholics in Chicagoland are outraged that a church-affiliated group called AGLO (Archdiocesan Gay and Lesbian Outreach) may march in this year’s homosexuality-celebrating parade. (AGLO is listed as #114 in the parade line-up.) Photo: AFTAH. Click HERE to contact the Archdiocese of Chicago regarding AGLO.

Folks, I cannot help but commend this brilliant response from my friend Gary Morella to the news that Chicago Cardinal George is allowing (at least for now) a so-called “gay Catholic”-oriented group called AGLO (Archdiocesan Gay and Lesbian Outreach) to march in this Sunday’s “Chicago Gay Pride” parade. (AGLO is listed as #114 in the parade line-up.) Morella is a Catholic pro-family, pro-life activist and research mathematician at Penn State, who catches enormous flack for his stubborn insistence on proclaiming truth at that academic den of iniquity.

Gary as a Catholic and I as an evangelical disagree on some points of theology, but we are completely in accord on the need to combat all worldly attempts to transform the sinful yet changeable behavior of homosexuality into some kind of inherent and innocuous “identity.” — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

P.S. I learned from my friend Susan Jordan, a Chicagoland Catholic, that AGLO has marched in other Chicago “gay pride” parades.

___________________________

Gary Morella (left) writes:

In regard to the report of a Chicago “AGLO” group marching in a “Gay Pride” parade, some seminal Catholic truths apply in regard to the “bottom line,” not the least of which is the following. The Chicago Archdiocesan Gay and Lesbian Outreach is misnamed. There is nothing “gay” about being inclined to unnatural acts that are so revolting as to cause extreme revulsion when accurately described! We are talking about sexual perversion that has not evolved to sexual deviance to sexual preference to sexual orientation, which is the politically correct lie of those practicing same in order to anesthetize society that they must accept the vices of a radical fringe under force of law – to heck with the common good! Rather, we’re talking about aberrant behavior that remains sexual perversion, regardless of the devil’s packaging! Accordingly, there is nothing Catholic about celebrating such perverse behavior that is condemned by traditional Catholic teaching rooted in Sacred Scripture, PERIOD! This truth should be obvious to anyone who is Catholic in more than name only in the recognition that the common good leads ultimately to a supernatural good in accord with God’s Divine Plan for His Creation. To thwart the common good is to do the work of the devil!

This begs the obvious question, why are Catholic frauds repeatedly allowed to cause public scandal to the faith with impunity? AGLO does not deserve to exist because, as an organization, it shamelessly promotes the commission of Mortal Sin which is anathema to Catholicism. Why can’t Cardinal George see that seminal truth? Just how much more scandal must be tolerated, putting souls at extreme risk of eternal perdition, before the plug is pulled on the AGLO liars? The Catholic goal should be the encouragement to leave, not live, homosexual lifestyles!

What is frustrating is that this decline in the Church could be thwarted by some very simple courageous actions on the part of bishops, in particular, Cardinal Archbishops as metropolitans for their Episcopal brethren, by taking the bull by the horns and saying, e.g., to the Archdiocesan Gay and Lesbian Outreach (AGLO) in Chicago, “You can no longer exist because your premise is counter to Church teaching in that you believe that one can live homosexual lifestyles and still be Catholic, which is a lie.” Are you listening, Cardinal George?

The traditional Church teaching on sins against nature is very clear using Sacred Scripture and Tradition in the form of statements from the Popes, Councils, Saints, and Apologists combined with the tradition of civil legislation to show the moral chasm that has resulted when the language of “pseudo charity” replaces the language of “tough love” for salvation’s sake. The result being that the necessary feelings of revulsion toward those proudly trumpeting their sodomite tendencies are no longer there opening the door for a misplaced compassion that such individuals do not deserve. They are differences between an ontological dignity to which all are entitled by virtue of being made in the image and likeness of God, and a moral dignity as a function of being endowed with an intellect and will whereby good can be accepted and evil rejected. Moral dignity does not exist for sodomites, a distinction that AGLO never makes using language that would have us erroneously believe that there exists something called the homosexual person, a concept which turns Catholic anthropology on its head making God, Who is Perfect Good, out to be a liar in creating man with a built-in one way ticket to hell in complete ignorance of the effect of the concupiscence due to Original Sin.

The clear consistent condemnation of homosexuality in Catholic teaching does not have to be needlessly qualified, which is something that Saints Peter, Jude, Pius V, Basil of Cesarea, Augustine, Aquinas, John Chrysostom, Gregory the Great, Peter Damian, Albert the Great, Bonaventure, Catherine of Sienna, Bernardine of Sienna, Peter Canisius, and the councils of Ancyra, Toledo, Nablus, and Third Lateran did not suffer.

Is it possible to be Catholic and be inclined to homosexual acts? The answer is yes as there is no guarantee that Catholics are not tempted to sin. It is better to ask, “Is it possible to remain a Catholic and live a lifestyle that equates sexual perversion with normality?” The answer is an unequivocal no. For to do so makes a mockery of Sacred Scripture which states emphatically that Jesus condemns the sin out of concern for the sinner’s eternal end. The same “good and gentle” Jesus who is readily quoted out of context by the contemporary disciples of “dignity” and “self esteem” also is the “just” Jesus who talked more about the consequences of grave sin than any other New Testament figure. He was especially discriminatory in this regard as while some ceremonial aspects of the old law were rescinded, the moral requirements were not.

Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For amen, I say unto you, till Heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall not pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven. For I say to you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and of the Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew 5:17-20)

But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a mill-stone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of scandals. For it must needs be that scandals come: but, nevertheless woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh. And if thy hand of thy foot scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to enter into life maimed or lame, than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee with one eye to enter into life, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. (Matthew 18:6-9)

It is an oxymoronic contention that you can be a practicing homosexual and be Catholic. This is a violation of a fundamental philosophical principle in that “Something cannot ‘be’ and ‘not be’ at the same time in the same respect.” The Church’s clear teaching is that there is nothing “gay” about being inclined to proven self-destructive physically, psychologically, and especially spiritually, unnatural behavior that has also been proven to be changeable, i.e., there is no such thing as a homosexual orientation in an innate final sense. Such inclinations are to acts which the Church considers intrinsic moral evils, the inclination itself being objectively disordered because of the unnatural tendencies involved. To say otherwise is absurd!

This is not a question of exclusion but rather one of unconditional love for man’s salvific eternal end that demands telling the Truth, Who is a Someone, not a something, per the beginning of the Gospel of John.

Catholics, above all clerics, ought to realize that by lying to people who need the full truth does nothing to help them. And it is a lie to have someone believe that they can be Catholic and have no problems with being inclined to acts, which if performed, lead to final spiritual ruin. That is playing with fire. The Church calls those inclined to homosexuality to leave, not live, their lifestyles. In order to do that the Church cannot lie about such inclinations being benign naturally, and especially spiritually, given the eternal truth of the Natural Law of God which is a participation in His Eternal Law.

Would so-called “Catholic” apologists for the homosexual lifestyle have us believe that Matthew 5:21-31 excuses any responsibility for living it because homosexuality is not explicitly referred to?

“You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire….You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart…It is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”

It most certainly is. In particular, see Genesis 18:20-21, Romans 1:24-28, and the Epistle of Jude. Moreover, Jesus took the old law one step further and made the actions leading to the act as severe as the act itself. Are we to believe as Catholics that somehow homosexuality fell through the cracks in Sacred Scripture? Thus, from the Catholic standpoint, to imply that Jesus never said anything about being inclined to unnatural acts is Bible eisegesis with the consequences of Matthew 18:6.

To give a message to those inclined to homosexual acts that “they are OK as they are” is un-Catholic in the extreme given the above observations. It makes no more sense than to tell an alcoholic that you may continue drinking to get over alcoholism. Moreover, it is akin to giving a serial killer more bullets.

The Magdalenes of the Gospel were most certainly forgiven, but the words of Jesus following His forgiveness are conveniently forgotten. “Go and sin no more.” That is what it means to be Catholic. To make the attempt to live a Faith which will be mocked by the world. To imply that the homosexual lifestyle somehow has a Catholic blessing is tragic. It is tragic because souls are at stake — those living the lie and, especially, those telling it. For Catholics, that’s NOT love but REAL hate for their fellow man.

Lest we forget, Jesus Christ exists eternally as Second Person of the Blessed Trinity of the One True Triune God, i.e., as God Jesus destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, which is the first thing that should be remembered when the heinous lie that “Jesus never had anything to say about homosexuality” rears its ugly heads via the disciples of the devil! We are talking about a proven changeable lifestyle with the Grace of God that is physically, psychologically, socially, economically, and most especially spiritually ruinous!
As Ralph McInerny in Catholic Dossier has pointed out, obfuscation has reached the college campuses and campaigns are waged against something called “homophobia,” the net effect of which is to suggest that it is the judgment that homosexual acts are sinful that is sinful, not the acts themselves. In this effort, Scripture and magisterial documents are invoked as if they favored homosexuality as erroneously implied in many college editorials. One has a Catholic duty, it seems, not to state the Catholic message on the matter. During campus campaigns to give recognition to homosexual organizations, no mention is ever made of the serious health dangers that follow homosexual activity. And this on “smoke-free” campuses. Now it is the consequences of the vice that dare not speak their name.

Lenience toward homosexuality is only an aspect of the Dionysian frenzy that characterizes talk of human sexuality. Human persons need the sane and saving doctrine of the Catholic witness on homosexuality today more than ever. To give a stone where bread is asked for is unkind. The Church’s mission is not to conform to the world, but to stand in contradiction to it in order to save it. Given this seminal Catholic truth, AGLO is not saving anyone, and as such, deserves to be summarily condemned by Holy Mother Church. — Gary L. Morella, Catholic Activist

Soulforce founder Mel White, pictured here with his homosexual lover Gary Nixon, accused Christians who adhere to historic Church teachings on the sinfulness of homosexuality of “spiritual violence” against homosexuals. Despite his and Soulforce’s manipulative tactics, God’s Word is not negotiable.

Folks, in reading this release by Gary Cass, I cannot help but wonder if the several churches that agreed to meet with the homosexual activist group Soulforce — including Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois — were naive about its radical agenda. Soulforce and its founder, Mel White, have always used manipulative and deceptive strategies (including the wordsmith White’s calculated accusation that faithful Christians are guilty of “spiritual violence” against homosexuals).

Soulforce is a nefarious organization that seeks to undermine Biblical truth about one particular sexual sin — homosexuality. Their pleadings for “dialogue” with Christians are merely a tactic — the camel’s nose in the tent, as it were — part of their larger goal of duping believers into compromising on God’s Word. We ask again: would Willow Creek Church or other mega-churches enter into (forced) “dialogue” with a “Christian porn” group? We hope not. Pray for White and the entire Soulforce crew — including “straight allies” like Jay Bakker, who claims to have received a special pro-homosexual revelation from God.

Christians must minister the Gospel in love to sinners in need of Christ’s forgiveness and healing power. But unless we are open to “dialoguing” with advocates of other sins, we shouldn’t do so with activists who twist the Bible to accommodate homosexuality. God’s Word is not negotiable.–Peter LaBarbera

________________________________

Christian Anti-Defamation Commission

News Release

June 13, 2008

In an outrageous example of sloppy journalism, Newsweek’s Lisa Miller defamed Pastor Rick Warren, the best-selling Christian author and mega-church pastor. Miller reported Warren compromised on the matter of homosexuality.

The bogus claims originated with a homosexual activist group, Soulforce. It issued a press release stating they were meeting with Rick Warren for a “conversation” and that Warren was inviting homosexual fathers to come to church on Father’s day.

Timothy Egan of The New York Times furthered the lie. Neither major news outlet fact checked the story.

Rick Warren responded: “Newsweek quoted a Soulforce press release headline that was 100% false. We did not invite this group and I will not be meeting with them. They invited themselves to draw attention to their cross country publicity stunt.”

“Soulforce is not trying to have a ‘conversation,’ it is trying to force its pro-homosexual agenda on to churches. Newsweek and the New York Times owe Rick Warren an apology for publishing reports he compromised the Christian view of family,” said Dr. Gary Cass, of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission.

“God ordained marriage to be between ‘one man for one woman for one lifetime.’ Warren would never intentionally undermine that standard,” said Cass. “Soul Force’s attempt to legitimize its radical homosexual views by associating themselves with Rick Warren’s ministry is deceitful and shameful.”

Soulforce is the middle of a mega-church blitz called “The American Family Outing.” This trip is an effort to “spark a conversation” between the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgender families and the members of the six mega-churches. The tour ends at Warren’s Saddleback Church in California.

“Soul force says they want to ’spark a conversation.’ Too bad for Soul Force they just set their own pants on fire,” said Cass. “If Soulforce can rationalize their homosexuality and work to destroy God’s institution of marriage, then defaming a faithful Christian minister along the way must apparently not be a that big of a deal.”

ACTION ITEM: E-mail Newsweek’s editor and ask that they issue a retraction and an apology to Rick Warren for publishing a false report that he compromised the Christian value of traditional family. Send email to WebEditors@newsweek.com.

CADC
PO Box 39875
Ft. Lauderdale, FL. 33339
(866)508-2232
www.christianadc.org

To contact the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission email contact@christianadc.org.

“Love, the Bible, and Homosexual Practice”: A 4-Hour 3-DVD Presentation by Robert Gagnon (2008)

… with excellent high-definition picture and sound, along with slides; taped professionally at Grace Chapel in Franklin, Tenn. on Apr. 12, 2008 for Mastering Life Ministries (see online sites at www.MasteringLife.org and www.purepassion.us/Home.asp), along with an hour-long CD. $35 plus $7 shipping and handling. To order click HERE or go to http://www.purepassion.us/OnlineStore.asp.

DVD 1: What’s at Stake & What Are the Closest Analogies (83 min.)

Treats why we disagree in the church about homosexual practice; what’s at stake in this debate; why the oft-cited, alleged analogies to Gentile inclusion, slavery, women in ministry, and divorce and remarriage are not in fact good analogies to the Bible’s prohibition of homosexual practice; what the main problem with homosexual practice is; why adult-committed incest and polyamory are the closest analogies; and responses to audience questions.

DVD 2: The Witness of Paul on Homosexual Practice (72 min.)

Treats the witness of Paul, showing how Paul opposed homosexual practice absolutely by looking at: echoes to the creation texts in Romans 1:24-27 and 1 Corinthians 6:9; the meaning of Paul’s argument from nature in its historical context; the case for identifying Rom 1:26 with an indictment of lesbianism; the conception of caring homosexual unions in the ancient world; the condemnation of even such caring unions by some Greek and Roman moralists; and the case for identifying the terms for homosexual practice in 1 Cor 6:9 and 1 Tim 1;10 with homosexual practice per se.

DVD 3: The Witness of Jesus & the Old Testament on Homosexual Practice (76 min.)

The first 11 minutes completes the discussion of Paul by showing why the “orientation argument” (i.e. had NT authors known about sexual orientation it would have changed their view on homosexual practice) doesn’t work. The next 19 minutes are devoted to discussing the witness of Jesus; 8 min. to the witness of Genesis; 7 min. to Sodom and related texts (Ham & Noah, the sacred cult prostitute texts, Levite at Gibeah, commentary on Sodom in Ezekiel, Jude, and 2 Pet); 5 min. to the Levitical prohibitions and the problems with alleged analogies to menstrual law and cloth mixtures; 2 min. to David and Jonathan; and 23 min. to responding to questions from the audience.

CD: The Importance of Sexual Ethics in the New Testament (72 min.)

Also available: The three DVD presentations above on CD, along with the extra CD above, for $20 plus $5 shipping and handling. To order click HERE or go to http://www.purepassion.us/OnlineStore.asp.

If you live outside the U.S. you must order by phone. Call 1-615-507-4166. For more of Prof. Rob Gagnon’s excellent teaching resources, go to www.robgagnon.net.

Youth walk in Boston’s annual “Gay/Straight Youth Pride March” holding a banner for BAGLY, the Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Youth. The group is run by a cross-dressing, male-to-female transsexual activist adult. Kudos to MassResistance for exposing the corrupting influences on Massachusetts youth.

Brian Camenker of MassResistance.org writes:

We’ve just found out that the [Massachusetts] Senate Ways and Means Committee will be meeting tomorrow – Wednesday, May 14 – to decide on the 2009 budget appropriations. This includes the $750,000 now earmarked for homosexual activism targeting children in schools. Click HERE to contact the Ways and Means Committee to oppose the use of Massachusetts taxpayer dollars for this agenda.

Massachusetts citizens: want to know where your tax money is going? Read on:

1. Homosexual “Youth Pride Day” includes hardcore “gay” anti-religious propaganda. Speaker incites crowd to attack photographers.

This past Saturday was homosexual “Youth Pride Day” in Boston, run by the tax-funded Massachusetts Commission on Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Youth. It included a “celebration” on the Boston Common followed by a parade past the State House and a “transgender prom” that evening at Boston City Hall.

Kids were bussed in from all over the state. Homosexual activists were everywhere.

The “celebration” drew a huge crowd of hundreds of kids around a stage and several invited speakers. There was a main theme, which was constantly repeated: The kids need to understand that they are being oppressed by our homophobic society, which doesn’t allow them to enjoy their true (gay) sexuality.

The kids were given these hardcore sexual propaganda handouts:

• “History of Saints Servius and Bacchus”, handed out by a man dressed as a Catholic priest, claiming that these two Catholic saints were actually homosexual lovers.
• “Catholic Theological Defense of Same-sex Marriage” pamphlet which states that there is “no moral right to declare marriage off limits to persons whom God has made gay” and that the Pope “is definitely wrong and he will be corrected some day by one of his successors.” (Also handed out by the aforementioned “priest”.)
• “Reading the Bible with New Eyes” – a pamphlet that portrays Jesus as having had a homosexual affair with Lazarus and Mary as a lesbian. It also describes the Book of Acts as “defining a lesbian and gay ‘nation.’” It also states that Jesus “was a functional, if not physical, eunuch.”
• “Queer Spirituality” A booklet from a “church” describing how homosexuality is a spiritual experience that “opens us up to God.”
• “Out and Proud – Coming out to your Parents” A how-to guide for kids to explain to their parents that they are now homosexuals.
• “Boston Gay & Lesbian Film / Video Festival” A pamphlet inviting the kids to a homosexual film festival, showing photos of (among other things) men in bed with each other and women kissing.
• “Tips for organizing on high school / college campuses on transgender issues” How to push cross-dressing and transgenderism at schools. Includes a section on “Transgender Students Use of Bathrooms and Locker Rooms.”

Special (depraved) award given out. As part of the speeches to the kids, an award for outstanding service was given to hardcore homosexual and transgender activist Mark Snyder. In accepting the award, Snyder bragged about his “service” to the homosexual community: how he had disrupted a Catholic Mass with a homosexual “kiss-in” to protest the Church’s objection to same-sex marriage, and how he had organized a demonstration that terrorized a downtown Boston church to the point where they had to order lunch to be delivered rather than go outside for lunch. Finally, he bragged how he had personally persuaded the vulnerable special-needs daughter of MassResistance staffer Amy Contrada to “come out as a lesbian.” (Actually, the girl never was a lesbian; this was simply meant to cause her and her family confusion and distress.) And here’s a sample of Mark Snyder’s political “activity” – a vulgar drag-queen parody former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey.

Inciting the crowd to assault photographers. And it got violent. During this event, homosexual publications had photographers there taking pictures of all the kids. (Over 350 pictures were on the gay websites the next day.) But when one of the speakers spotted the independent ComFLM people pointed them out to the crowd as being from MassResistance, and exhorted the audience to “send [MassResistance] a message.” Things got very ugly. The crowd of kids started screaming, then surrounded them, blocked their cameras, and assaulted them. Not surprisingly, the uniformed Boston policemen standing right there would not arrest anybody, though eventually the cops asked the activists to stop their harassment. (A police report has been filed.) It was a hideous scene.

We will be posting the audio and video of all of this, as well as photos of our own, with our next email. It’s really unbelievable. (We’ll also be posting the pamphlets mentioned above.) We will be presenting a full report on this entire day.

THIS is how your [Massachusetts] Legislature is continuing to spend your money – to placate a very destructive special interest group whose target is schoolchildren.

[An interesting footnote: None of the Boston media reported on this, even through we alerted them to and described what had happened in the past.]

By Peter LaBarbera 

With polls showing more evangelicals — especially younger evangelicals — warming to the idea of voting Democratic (despite the party’s rigid pro-abortion-on-demand and pro-homosexuality agendas), we found this item of interest: this coming Tuesday, Wheaton College will be hostng liberal evangelical advocate Jim Wallis as a featured speaker at the college’s Center for Applied Christian Ethics (CACE). See the CACE announcement here: www.wheaton.edu/news/events/events_07_08/02.19.08_CaceWallis.html

This follows on CACE last September inviting homosexual “gay christian” activist Harry Knox to speak at a panel discussion on “HIV and Morality,” as a representative of the (traditional-Christian-bashing) homosexual activist group Human Rights Campaign. You may recall that it was Knox who, in a TV debate with CWA’s Matt Barber (watch it HERE), called his homosexuality an “unchangeable gift from God, one for which I am very grateful. And it would fly in the face of my respect for God to give that gift back.” (We insensitive Bible-thumpers at AFTAH called that “Satan’s Talking Points.”)

If I’m not mistaken, Harry talked about his relationship with his male partner at the Wheaton panel discussion, which was titled, “Thy Kingdom Come: Christian Moral Engagement in the World.” I don’t believe there was much if any critical “engagement” of Knox when he brought up his homosexual relationship. What a pity. (You can listen to the discussion by going HERE and clicking on the “HIV and Morality Panel” links; there is Part One and Part Two.)

I’m reading Wallis’ new book, “The Great Awakening” (introduction by pro-abortion-rights, pro-homosexuality Jimmy Carter), and I’m not quite sure how Wallis can square his own ”applied Christian ethics” with the inspired and authoritative Word of God, which is hardly nuanced on the sin of homosexual behavior. Of course, Wallis, as a leading light of the Religious Left, has plenty of his own criticisms of us on the “Religious Right.”

It would seem appropriate that Wheaton College — as one of the most respected and Biblically faithful Christian colleges in the United States– would at the very least allow equal time for an orthodox evangelical spokesman who is more in line with Christian conservatives on moral issues– perhaps even a stellar representative like Rev. Al Mohler, who surely will not be voting for the Democrats this November.
 
If my memory serves, Wallis (as a liberal) and his Sojourners Magazine once stood against the Left on homosexuality, but it appears that he has since buckled to worldly agendas and flipped – always a sad spectacle for a Christian leader. The liberals who routinely excoriate the likes of AFTAH would say that Mr. Wallis has “grown,” but is this the sort of maturation that honors a holy Creator? Our God does not quake in fear of the successes of the “gay” movement, nor does He tremble before the well-heeled pro-abortion lobby. Wallis would have more credibility on the need to see fighting poverty as a moral issue if he did not sell out God on the issue of sexual morality.

Men are weak and sinful, and we constantly stray from God’s righteous path. Our sources — mostly parents with kids at Wheaton — tell us that at the alma mater of Billy Graham, as we presume at all Christian colleges, there is a battle over adherence to Scripture, with some professors less committed to the inerrancy and divine authority of the Bible than others.

The quotation below from Wallis’ book has little basis in Scripture: how could enabling homosexual relationships — based on behavior God calls an “abomination” (see www.robgagnon.net) – be a “justice issue” for Bible-believing Christians? What’s next? Affirming multiple-partner relationships as a justice issue (you know, the ones based on “consensual love”)? It also appears that Wallis is going along with today’s open-ended, newfangled definition of “family.”  

The following excerpt (emphasis added) is taken from page 229 of “The Great Awakening” — after Wallis argues for more church-inspired action against no-fault divorce laws (we heartily agree with you on that, Jim!):

“I support civil rights laws for same-sex couples. That, for me, is a justice issue. Many Christians, and I include myself, prefer the solution of ‘civil unions’ from the state, and even spiritual ‘blessings’ for gay couples (from congregations prepared to offer them), rather than altering the church’s sacrament of marriage as between a man and a woman, but those differences should not be fundamentally divisive. Gay marriage should not be the primary battleground in the fight for the health and stability of marriage and family in our society. In a pluralistic democracy, we should support civil and human rights for all our citizens, regardless of our different theological and biblical interpretations of the complicated and thorny issues surrounding homosexuality. New evidence and understanding around those issues could cause any of us to alter our views. But we should find common ground by supporting concrete practices and practical policies that strengthen families and nurture all our children.”

____________________________________
 
Here is the Wheaton College announcement:

http://www.wheaton.edu/news/events/events_07_08/02.19.08_CaceWallis.html

February 19, 2008

Political Lecture: Jim Wallis
Wheaton College’s Center for Applied Christian Ethics (CACE) and the Department of Politics and International Relations and Urban Studies welcomes Jim Wallis to campus Tuesday, February 19. Wallis is on tour for his new book The Great Awakening.

Wallis is a bestselling author, public theologian, preacher, speaker, activist, and international commentator on ethics and public life. His last book, God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It (HarperCollins, 2005), was on The New York Times bestseller list for four months. He is president and executive director of Sojourners/Call to Renewal, where he is editor-in-chief of Sojourners magazine. Jim Wallis speaks at more than 200 events each year and his columns have appeared in major newspapers such The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe, among others.

Free and open to the public, the lecture will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Kresge Room, located in the east wing of the Edman Memorial Chapel at Washington and Franklin streets in Wheaton (campus map). For more information, call the CACE office at 630.752.5886, e-mail cace@wheaton.edu or visit: http://www.wheaton.edu/news/events/events_07_08/02.19.08_CaceWallis.html 

Note that Joe’s life as a former homosexual gives the lie to the second tactical approach of the aggressive “gay Christian” movement, which he discusses below:

As the gay Christian movement continued finding allies in churches and secular circles, it also continued to follow the trends of the larger gay-rights movement. And the gay-rights movement’s most noticeable trend, from the mid-1980s into the 1990s, was aggression.

 

The AIDS epidemic, in full bloom by the mid ’80s, fueled a strident form of gay activism. Groups such as the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), Queer Nation, and the Lesbian Avengers caught the public’s eye as they staged boisterous demonstrations and invaded churches and corporations they considered to be “enemies.”

 

The gay Christian movement did not take long to develop its own style of aggression. Fundamental to its identity were two beliefs: Homosexuality is not unbiblical; and homosexuals can’t change, even if they want to. … 

  

   – The Gay Gospel, Joe Dallas p. 88; To order The Gay Gospel ($14), go to www.joedallas.com. Dallas is founder of Genesis Counseling, which seeks to “Reclaim Godly Sexuality through the Saving Work of Jesus Christ, The Sanctifying Work of the Holy Spirit and the Body Ministry of the Christian Church.” See their “Frequently Asked Questions About Sexual Addiction and Recovery from a Biblical Perspective.”  

By Peter LaBarbera

TAKE ACTION: Write (viewer@c-span.org) or call C-SPAN (202-737-3220) CEO Brian Lamb today or tomorrow to object to their airing of a speech by a controversial homosexual-clergy activist and Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire, Vicky Gene Robinson, twice on Christmas Eve.  Politely urge C-SPAN to compensate for this offensive, pro-homosexual coverage by sending their cameras to cover evangelical apologist Dr. Michael Brown and his upcoming conference, ”Can you be gay and Christian?” to be held Feb. 11-15 in Charlotte, N.C. 

________________________

I’m wondering why C-SPAN chose to re-air a long speech by homosexual activist and Episcopal Bishop Vicky Gene Robinson on Christmas Eve, one of the most sacred days on the Christian calendar. In his speech Nov. 27 at Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, “How Morality Plays a Role in Legal Rights, Especially for the Gay Community,” which had already been aired on Dec. 8, Robinson claimed that the Holy Spirit was involved in the crusade for homosexual “inclusion” in the clergy.

First things first: did you know that the infamously ”gay” bishop’s first name is “Vicky” (as you can see above, C-SPAN only put “Gene Robinson” on the screen). Apparently his parents really wanted a girl and — when they doubted their sickly newborn would even live — they named him accordingly: Vicky Imogene (middle name after the mother) Robinson. In 2003, the Concord Monitor reported matter-of-factly (as only the agnostic media can) on the birth of the baby who would become Episcopal “Rev. V. Gene Robinson” as follows:

Robinson was born in Lexington, Ky., in 1947, in a delivery that went so wrong the doctor told his father he needed a name for the baby’s birth and death certificates. Charles and Imogene Robinson had counted on a girl, so Robinson’s father named the baby Vicky Imogene Robinson.

Now, common sense dictates that if you do not want your boy to struggle with masculinity or gender issues, perhaps it is not a good idea to name him “Vicky,” or Susan, or Linda. In this BBC video interview, Robinson calls his father’s decision to give him a girl’s name “a terrible thing to do to a boy child.” 

Indeed, but it gets worse.

When the baby did live, Robinson’s parents never changed his name and his birth certificate. How strange and cruel is that? The liberal-biased Wikipedia reports, relying on the book, Going to Heaven: The Life and Election of Bishop Gene Robinson (emphasis added):

For a long time, Robinson’s parents believed the boy would die soon. Much later in life, Robinson’s father would tell him he couldn’t take any joy in the boy’s development because he always thought each step was going to be the last thing. Robinson’s parents were and still are members of a small Disciples of Christ congregation. Robinson describes his childhood as very religious. Robinson had perfect Sunday School attendance for thirteen years. 

The struggling little boy named Vicky, whose parents diligently brought him to church but never saw the need to give him a name to match his sex? GenderPAC, America’s leading gender-confusion lobby, would be proud.

One wonders what this poor, confused child went through thanks to his parent’s heartless act (note that even as an adult, he never dispensed with the “V,” for Vicky, another oddity). And contrast Robinson’s father’s lack of joy with the stories of parents of children with terminal diseases who rejoice at each new day that their child is alive.

I bring this up – with the caveat that I have not read anything except the above on Robinson’s upbringing — to remind readers of a cold reality: parents can do a number on their kids, and stories of dysfunctional upbringings in the lives of homosexuals are about as hard to find as corn in Iowa. This is a pitiable yet crucial part of the debate on homosexual development that the media downplays in favor of sexy “gay gene” stories or gay-victim pieces focusing on society’s “homophobia.”

Whether it’s a boy who grew up perceiving rejection from his emotionally distant father, or who had no father; a girl who experienced abuse or rape; or early sexualization or molestation in the young life of one who subsequently becomes a “gay” adult – there is ample evidence that confusion, abuse, alienation and/or neglect have an important role in the formation of “gay” identity.

So now comes along Vicky Gene Robinson, who attributes his work, and no doubt his choice to embrace sinful sexual behavior, to the work of the the Holy Spirit.

This is not from Holy Spirit, but the outworking of fallen humanity.

I can only imagine how difficult this man’s life has been, but that can never justify his joining the dark side (abusing his pastoral authority to teach sin as a social good to others). In his defining, media-hyped crusade, Robinson personifies the most evil aspect of the “gay” movement: the crusade to re-write Christianity itself to accommodate their besetting sin.

A June Bride?

Although I was curious, I wasn’t about to watch Robinson’s homosexual nonsense on C-SPAN on Christmas Eve — not that my wife would have let me anyway – but I’m sure glad I didn’t after reading an account of it below. No wonder the Episcopal Church has become a laughingstock among genuine believers (and moral non-believers), to the dismay of those faithful Christians still in that denomination.

The following is excerpted from the U. of Miami News Service article on the C-SPAN-televised speech (emphasis added):   

The nation’s first openly gay Episcopal bishop told a crowd of about 200 that come June he’s marching down the aisle with his longtime male partner Mark Andrew.

 

“I always wanted to be a June bride,” said Bishop Gene Robinson at a talk on Nov. 27 at Nova Southeastern University.

 

“It may take many years for religious institutions to add their blessing for same-sex marriages and no church, mosque or synagogue should be forced to do so. But that should not slow down progress for the full civil right to marry,” Robinson said. “Because New Hampshire will have legal unions beginning in January, my partner of 20 years and I will enter into such a legal union next June.” …

 

“The greatest single hindrance to achievement of full rights for gays and lesbians can be laid at the doorstep of the three Abrahamic faiths– Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It’s going to take people of faith to end discrimination,” said Robinson, who was invested as the ninth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire in 2004. …

 

Robinson, a divorced father of two adult daughters, emphasized that scripture must viewed in its historical context. Citing specific verses in Leviticus calling male homosexual acts an abomination, Robinson noted that that same holiness code says eating pork is an abomination and that children cursing their parents is punishable with death. He said that the concept of sexual orientation didn’t emerge until about a century ago. …

 

Robinson also tried to link what he sees as oppression of human rights of homosexuals to discrimination against woman, blacks and others.

 

“I believe the Holy Spirit leads us into deeper truth about equality, dignity and truth about every human being. The Holy Spirit is unrelenting, keeps leading and guiding us to the full inclusion of all God’s children.”

A man named Vicky who wants to be a “June bride.” Hmmm. 

God may work in mysterious ways, but He does not contradict His holy nature. Robinson’s shoddy “gay theology” does not hold up to serious scrutiny (see www.robgagnon.net for the website of Prof. Rob Gagnon, author of The Bible and Homosexual Practice; or listen HERE – scroll down to Dec. 2 program – to Dr. Michael Brown’s interview discussing the Leviticus Holiness Code that Robinson distorts). Of course, that won’t stop him; he long ago left the pursuit of Truth in favor of being an agent for revisionist propaganda.

There are few things more tragic in these Culture Wars than seeing men of the cloth being used as tools for the enthusiastic promotion of evil. Vicky Gene Robinson is one of them. By bringing God and the Holy Spirit into his perversion, he brazenly claims that God’s holiness is at work in the progression of sin — an impossibility.

And he helps leads countless of God’s little ones astray. Will future generations of public school children be taught that Robinson is a “civil rights hero” during “Gay and Lesbian History Month“?

So let’s review: either Almighty God — Creator of the atom, the mountains and the oceans, and man and woman — is really confused; or could it be that a guy raised as Vicky Gene — looking to become the “June bride” of his homosexual lover — is the confused one?

TAKE ACTION:  1) C-SPAN is a wonderful source of public policy information. But they did wrong to bring Robinson’s anti-Biblical, pro-sodomy message to America, twice, on a day when countless millions of Americans were celebrating the earthly birth of their sinless Savior, Jesus Christ. Write (viewer@c-span.org) or call C-SPAN (202-737-3220) CEO Brian Lamb today or tomorrow about their insensitivity to tradition Christians.  Urge them to cover Dr. Michael Brown’s lecture series, “Can you be gay and Christian?” in Charlotte, N.C., which will be held February 11-15. (Click HERE or HERE for more information on Brown’s presentations and ministry.)

2) Pray for “V. Gene Robinson,” who needs a real encounter with the Lord leading to repentance. Meanwhile, do what you can to resist his and his allies’ subversion of the Bible and their campaign to re-write Christianity to accommodate perversion.

Despite millions of dollars in sexual abuse claims–the vast majority of which are homosexual in nature–that have bankrupted some U.S. Catholic dioceses, and in defiance of a recent U.S. Bishops’ document stating that Catholic ministers must not advocate behaviors contrary to Church teaching, a San Francisco parish notorious for its promotion of homosexuality participated in that city’s “gay pride” parade Sunday, June 24.

Catholic blogger ‘Catherine of Siena’ of the Threshing Grain blogspot reported that Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in San Francisco’s homosexual Castro district planned to march in the perverted procession, with the theme “Pride Not Prejudice,” now in its 37th year  and unarguably the mother of all “gay pride” parades.

Most Holy Redeemer’s home page at http://www.mhr.org/ greets visitors with the message, “During the month of June we welcome in a special way our many LGBT visitors to MHR . . . Happy PRIDE!”

According to its June 17 bulletin, MHR planned several events in conjunction with the pride parade, from asking for volunteers to man an AIDS support group beverage booth near the main stage to hosting a “pride parade dance rehearsal” and sign-making party for its young adult group.

An MHR parade contingent “send off” occurred after the Sunday 10:00 a.m. Mass, on the same day Catholics worldwide celebrated the Solemnity of the Birth of Saint John the Baptist, who called sinners to repentance and was beheaded for publicly rebuking King Herod and his brother’s wife Herodias for adultery. Most Holy Redeemer was the only Catholic parish listed on the 2007 pride parade lineup.

As usual, this year’s San Francisco pride parade and festival included adult frontal nudity and overt homosexual behaviors carried out in public view without any police intervention, including in front of very young children who attended the event with adult participants and spectators. For the very first time, this year’s parade held the potential to be viewed by 850 million Internet users via webcasts by KRON4.com and ShakeRadio.com, a Clear Channel station.

Video clips of Sunday’s parade from the Quamdiu Domine website show Most Holy Redeemer’s pastor, Father Stephen Meriwether, robed in full Mass vestments, giving a holy water blessing to the parish’s trolley car-style float as it pulled away from the church, full of parishioners holding rainbow flags, a symbol of homosexual liberation.

Other footage shows fully and partially nude men and women, including a shot of a man grasping two other men’s genitals, and a “flogging” demonstration. Marchers carried signs that said, “I F*** Nuns” and “Educate: Gay Priests Make Excellent Priests.”

Most Holy Redeemer’s participation in the 2007 homoseual “pride” parade is the latest chapter in the church’s long history of “pro-gay” activism. As reported by WorldNetDaily, the parish made news last November when faithful Catholics from around the country voiced outrage over the planned and scandalous use of the church’s Ellard Hall for a “Revival Bingo” fundraiser hosted by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of “drag queens” who dress in outlandish Catholic nun costumes and adopt blasphemous names like “Sister Porn Again.”  Prizes awarded at the games included “wines to porn DVDs to sex toys to toasters and more.” The Archdiocese of San Francisco received numerous complaints from Catholics around the U.S., forcing cancellation of the parish hall lease.

Following exposure of the bingo games, the San Francisco archdiocese issued a statement saying that permission should not have been given and that the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’s activities at the parish were to cease “immediately.” However, Internet evidence indicates the games had been going on since at least June 2003.

Father Meriwether, who at the time also served as the chancellor of the San Francisco archdiocese, was relieved of his chancellorship but remains pastor of MHR and now heads the archdiocesan department on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.

In April, the British Broadcasting Corporation aired a “prayer service” that had been recorded at Most Holy Redeemer last October, led by Jesuit priest Donal Godfrey and featuring homosexual British priest James Alison as speaker. According to the BBC program description, Father Godfrey’s prayer service explored “how gay people can find a place in the Christian narrative and speak of the gift of faith.” According to an April 27 report by Canada’s LifeSite News, archdiocesan spokesman Healy said that the broadcast “was not an archdiocesan function” and that the archdiocese was unaware of it.

(For more information on MHR’s history of homosexual activism, see “Author Critiques Bishops’ Proposal, Blasts San Francisco Archdiocese” at www.renewamerica.us/columns/abbott/061110.)

Most Holy Redeemer’s participation in San Francisco pride parades and its sponsorship of other pro-homosexual events such as the BBC broadcast flies in the face of a document issued last November by the United States Catholic bishops reiterating perennial Church teaching about the immorality of homosexual acts. Specifically, the document, Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination: Guidelines for Pastoral Care, states:

Special care ought to be taken to ensure that those carrying out the ministry of the Church not use their position of leadership to advocate positions or behaviors not in keeping with the teachings of the Church. They must not belong to groups that oppose Church teaching. It is not sufficient for those involved in this ministry to adopt a position of distant neutrality with regard to Church teaching.

No public statement condemning MHR’s participation in the San Francisco pride parade has been issued by Archbishop George Niederaurer, and phone calls to the archdiocese seeking comment were not returned by press time.

However, at least one priest has been unafraid to speak out against MHR’s antics. Eighty-five-year-old Father John Malloy SDB, pastor of Saints Peter and Paul Church in San Francisco and host of A Shepherd’s Voice http://johnmalloysdb.blogspot.com/  blog, wrote:

Starting in the 1990s, things go on at Most Holy Redeemer Church in San Francisco that one would not normally expect in a Catholic Church… More than once, clergy and parishioners officially represent Most Holy Redeemer, with banners, t-shirts, and an official contingent, in San Francisco’s “Gay Pride” parade. The video below shows the participation of Most Holy Redeemer Church and St. Agnes ‘ Church in the 2005 & 2006 parades. We must warn you that parts of this video are obscene; nevertheless, we do not apologize for posting it.

In the 2005-06 video, children of all ages can be seen throughout the parade route, participating in the parade with the assistance of adults, while obscene gestures and behavior are equally displayed. For photos of Most Holy Redeemer’s participation in this year’s event, visit http://www.mhr.org/pride2007.html.

__________________________ 

TAKE ACTION: Catholics and other concerned pro-family Americans are encouraged to voice their outrage to Archbishop George Neiderauer at info@sfarchdiocese.org.

Please cc the following people on your email to the Archbishop:

Auxiliary Bishop Ignatius Wang at wangi@sfarchdiocese.org
The Archbishop’s secretary at MillerL@sfarchdiocese.org.
The editor of Catholic San Francisco at morrisyoungd@sfarchdiocese.org
Communications Director for the Archdiocese of San Francisco at healym@sfarchdiocese.org

Or write to:

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco
One Peter Yorke Way
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 614-5500

His Excellency The Most Reverend Pietro Sambi
The Apostolic Nuncio to the United States
The Apostolic Nunciature
3339 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008-3687
phone: 202-333-7121
fax:     202-337-4036

Cardinal William J. Levada
Prefect
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
[Secretary: Most Rev. Archbishop Angelo Amato, S.D.B.]
Piazza del S. Uffizio 11
00l93 Rome, Italy
Europe
phone: 011.39.06.69.88.33.57
phone: 011.39.06.69.88.34.13
fax:      011.39.06.69.88.34.09
email:  cdf@cfaith.va
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/

Katherine Tomasi and Allyson Smith are members of the Catholic Media Coalition. The Catholic Media Coalition is a nationwide group of journalists, authors, and publishers using print and electronic media aimed at restoring orthodoxy in the nation’s dioceses. For more information visit  www.catholicmediacoalition.org.

Allyson Smith is a writer for Americans for Truth.

Steamworks, a 24/7 homosexual bathhouse — where men go for anonymous sex with other men — in the heart of Chicago’s homosexual Boystown neighborhood, had a booth at the city’s 2005 “Market Days” street fair. The fair was promoted by Illinois’ tourism agency. Other booths at the event hawked “gay” porn and an anti-traditional-Catholic homosexual organization. More photos at: Illinois Family Institute’s website.
  

By Peter LaBarbera 

We missed Chicago’s “Market Days” earlier this month in the city’s homosexual neighborhood of Boystown. So will have to rely on an account I wrote in 2005 for the Illinois Family Institute to illustrate the perils of using taxpayer dollars to promote homosexual tourism.

When states like Florida and cities like Chicago promote “gay” tourism, invariably they promote (mostly male) homosexual sexual promiscuity and anti-Christian homosexual activism — such as the counterfeit Catholic homosexual group ‘Dignity Chicago,’ which had a booth at Market Days, as shown in the IFI story. 

Where else but a homosexually-oriented street fair would you see a bathhouse sponsor a booth in which people (presumably including children) lined up to play “Skeeball”; a booth right on the street hawking hundreds of “gay” porn videos; a sadistic sex store table featuring to its own life-sized wax dummy – a fat, hooded ”leatherman” standing in a cage; a heretical “gay Catholic” booth – and a “health” group passing out booklets informing teenaged “boyz” that “BEING QUEER is something SPECIAL. Something to CELEBRATE”?

All that and more was found at the 2005 Chicago “Market days.” Yep, sounds like a great use of tax dollars to me.

The truth is, “gay” tourism — and homosexual events sponsored by major corporations — are unlike most other special interest promotions because they celebrate sexual immorality. Pushing the sexual (and now gender) envelope is part and parcel of the modern “GLBT” movement.

Mayor Naugle is right

Ft. Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle is urging his state’s tourism officials to stop promoting homosexual bathhouses — 24/7 walk-in sex clubs where men go for anonymous sodomitic encounters with other men — as a way to reduce HIV infections (apparently, at his urging, Florida is now going to remove the bathhouses from their “gay”-oriented travel guides). He is right. But the larger problem with governments promoting “gay” tourism is that it puts the average citizen in the position of financing — and, thus, in a way, condoning – homosexual lifestyles. Governments act on behalf of citizens.

For Americans and politicians who worship at the shrine of the Almighty Dollar, sponsoring homosexuality-oriented events is not a  problem. ”Gay” dollars are green, not lavender, and broke cities need cash, while local businesses benefit, they say. But I suspect that most taxpayers would not want to subsidize and celebrate pro-homosexuality events with their hard-earned dollars.

So let the private sector finance these dubious festivals – and the sex-filled “gay” tourism industry — on their own dime. Moral-minded and fiscally prudent taxpayers want out of the homosexuality promotion business.

We’ll have much more on this case and other cases evincing the growing threat of homosexual legal activism to basic religious freedoms:

Bishop Loses Gay Employment Case

BBC, July 18, 2007 

A gay man has won his case for unlawful discrimination after he was refused a youth official’s job by a Church of England bishop.

The employment tribunal said John Reaney, 42, was discriminated against “on grounds of sexual orientation” by the Hereford diocesan board of finance.

Mr Reaney, from Colwyn Bay, Conwy, said he was “delighted” at the decision.

The Bishop of Hereford, the Rt Rev Anthony Priddis, said he was “naturally disappointed” and may appeal.

During the tribunal in Cardiff in April, Mr Reaney said he was questioned by Bishop Priddis on his previous gay relationship during a two-hour meeting on 19 July 2006

It came after he was told he had emerged as the outstanding candidate for the job during an eight-man interview, the hearing heard.

Mr Reaney, whose case was supported by Stonewall, also told the tribunal he was left “very embarrassed and extremely upset” following the meeting and said he felt like “a total waste of space”.

During his evidence, Bishop Priddis said he had made clear to Mr Reaney that a person in a committed sexual relationship outside of marriage, whether they were heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual or transgender, would be turned down for the post.

But the tribunal found that the bishop should only have considered the present lifestyle of Mr Reaney, who is single, and he should have not questioned his future relationships.

Delivering the judgement, the tribunal said the case would now be listed for a remedy hearing.

“The respondents discriminated against the claimant on the grounds of sexual orientation,” said the judgement.

To read the full BBC story and watch related BBC videos on the case, click HERE

The lawless hate God. The name of Jesus is an affront to sinners. The [Columbus "gay pride" parade] crowd cheered the apostate churches as they displayed their man-made signs declaring their man-man opinion of Jesus’ acceptance of sin. They cursed and spat upon those who held a sign that displayed the Word of God, “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination.”

 

Christian men are afraid to stand up for Jesus. They act just like women, striving to be “nice” to everyone. They won’t fight for their communities, won’t protect their children from indoctrination, and won’t storm the gates of hell.
– Coach Dave Daubenmire, “Have You Visited a Gay Pride Parade?” 

TAKE ACTION: Send Americans For Truth a $10 donation (postpaid) or make a $10 gift online and we will send you a “Truth Packet” that reveals some cold, hard realities about the homosexual agenda — including our booklet, “The Homosexual Agenda Targeting Children.” The Truth Packet will guide you on simple steps you can take to start standing up for truth against the pro-homosexual issue in your community. You’ll be shocked to see how the “GLBT” lobby is converting the next generation to their ungodly cause. Send $10 (postpaid) to AFTAH, P.O. Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522, or go online to give HERE. 

___________________________

By Peter LaBarbera

I’d like to call your attention to a wonderful call-to-arms from Coach Dave Daubenmire, who is a great American and a spiritual treasure for this deeply troubled nation. As one who has observed a bunch of “Gay Pride” parades over the years — they now call them just “pride” parades to mask their real purpose: celebrating homosexuality (perversion) — I echo Coach Dave’s call for Christian men to get off their comfortable keisters and observe firsthand the moral disintegration of this country.

Coach Dave is a man’s man, and his frank observations are, well, too gut-real for some even in the “pro-family” movement. American Christianity has been feminized, or perhaps emasculated — or even “psychologized” — to such a degree that we shy away from bold truth-telling. We rationalize our withdrawals from the culture wars, sometimes using theology to justify our cowardice. In his article, “Have You Visited a Gay Pride Parade?”, the Coach shows us the end-game of ”tolerance” and “diversity”: the glorification of sin, churches parading in support of behavior that God condemns, and the promotion of ungodly lifestyles to innocent kids. 

Do we hate sin?

It’s funny. Guilt-ridden Christians talk a lot about how they don’t hate “gays.” That should be a given: we are commanded to love sinners supernaturally — even to suffer for the sake of the Gospel, as my friend Dan Musick and Joe Christopherson did at Chicago “Pride” last Sunday.  But I’m wondering: do we hate homosexual behavior like God does? (Can I say that? – alert the Thought Police immediately.)

No, we don’t. The result is that men who should be out contending with the evils of the day — and surely this is one — are instead fretting over not appearing ”intolerant,” overly “judgmental,” or too radical. Or they withdraw into the business world and reading their stock reports, to prepare for a retirement in which they can retreat even further from the culture wars that we are already losing, badly.

Why is it that the wicked (in this case, homosexual activists) can give 150 percent to their their cause, but we who claim the “Truth” adopt a defensive posture and are saddled with doubt and apathy in the fight for godly values?

Guys, Jesus was radical. He was a man’s man. If you can’t bring yourself to join Americans For Truth in confronting the homosexual lobby in the culture and public policy, then get out on the streets and witness the Gospel to people headed for hell in the name of “pride” (oops, I said the H-word: another speech code violation…).

Can’t Appease Evil  

Can we appease the evil of the organized homosexual-bisexual-transgender lobby? Some pro-family groups (ignoring MassResistance) tried that in Massachusetts — watering down their marriage amendment and grandfathering in current “same-sex marriages.” They created “Benefits Fairness Act” legislation to give marital-type benefits to “couples” (including unmarried straight couples, as I read it) without mentioning “sexual orientation.” But everyone knew the Act was designed to appease the homosexual crowd. (Last I heard, there was no vocal lobby of elderly sisters haranguing politicians for domestic-partner benefits.) 

It didn’t work. The pro-homosexual groups treat ANY retreat as a defeat, so in Massachusetts they gathered thousands of people to lobby the legislature as if the strictest anti-”gay marriage” amendment ever created was on the verge of passage. Pathetically, enough “pro-family” lawmakers sold out (et tu, Representative?) so that not even the required one-quarter of the state House voted for the marriage amendment, and it died. Now the “queerly”-identified, including some traitorous, homosexuality-endorsing churches, are celebrating like never before. 

Coach Daub’ could have told the Bay State’s compromising Christians: you can’t appease evil. You can only either fight it — or make your accommodation with it, as many are doing today with the homosexual agenda.

It’s time to stop whining about the culture and DO SOMETHING about it. If you don’t, the freedom that we celebrate in a few days – to act and speak out publicly based on our faith and moral conscience – will be stripped from us, as is already happening in countries like Canada and Britain where the pro-homosexual juggernaut is further advanced than here.

Christian man and pastor: the future of America is in your hands. Are you willing to fight for the soul of this providential nation?

Click HERE to read Coach Dave’s stirring column, “Have You Visited a Gay Pride Parade?”

_____________________________

TAKE ACTION: Send Americans For Truth a $10 donation (postpaid) or make a $10 gift online and we will send you a “Truth Packet” that reveals some cold, hard realities about the homosexual agenda — including our booklet, “The Homosexual Agenda Targeting Children.” The Truth Packet will guide you on simple steps you can take to start standing up for truth against the homosexual agenda in your community. You’ll be shocked to see how the “GLBT” lobby is corrupting children and converting the next generation to their ungodly cause. Send $10 (postpaid) to AFTAH, P.O. Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522, or go online to give HERE.

Dear Friends,

The notorious pro-homosexual parish of Most Holy Redeemer did it again this year: It marched in the San Francisco “gay shame” parade. And thus far no public statement has been issued by San Francisco archbishop George Neideraurer or the archdiocese condemning MHR’s participation and promising to put a stop to their abominable participation.

Watch the following video clips, from the QDomine website, of Most Holy Redeemer marching in the debauched spectacle, and then contact the offices below to voice your outrage. Demand immediate, public disciplinary action and a commitment by Archbishop Neideraurer to put a stop to MHR’s homosexual-affirming antics.  — Allyson

http://www.qdomine.com/Morality%20pages/GayPride2007.htm

Write to Archbishop Niederauer at info@sfarchdiocese.org.

Please cc the following people on your email to the Archbishop:

Auxiliary Bishop Ignatius Wang at wangi@sfarchdiocese.org
The Archbishop’s secretary at MillerL@sfarchdiocese.org.
The editor of Catholic San Francisco at morrisyoungd@sfarchdiocese.org
Communications Director at the Archdiocese of San Francisco at healym@sfarchdiocese.org

Or write to:

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco
One Peter Yorke Way
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 614-5500

His Excellency The Most Reverend Pietro Sambi
The Apostolic Nuncio to the United States
The Apostolic Nunciature
3339 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008-3687
phone: 202-333-7121
fax:     202-337-4036

Cardinal William J. Levada
Prefect
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
[Secretary: Most Rev. Archbishop Angelo Amato, S.D.B.]
Piazza del S. Uffizio 11
00l93 Rome, Italy
Europe
phone: 011.39.06.69.88.33.57
phone: 011.39.06.69.88.34.13
fax:      011.39.06.69.88.34.09
email:  cdf@cfaith.va
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/

Allyson Smith is a writer for Americans For Truth, based in San Diego.

“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.” — Ephesians 5:3

 TAKE ACTION:

1. Call your U.S. Senators at 202-224-3121 or write them (http://www.congress.org/) and politely urge them to support Dr. James Holsinger, Jr. as Surgeon General; the members of the Senate Health Committee, which will first consider Holsinger, can be found HERE (e-mail the committee at: help_comments@help.senate.gov) – but Holsinger’s nomination will likely be voted on by the whole Senate, so tell your Senators to use their influence to insure that he is treated fairly;
2. Thank the White House (202-456-1111 or -1414; e-mail: comments@whitehouse.gov; www.whitehouse.gov/contact) and urge the President to stand by Dr. Holsinger and not to be swayed by the pro-homosexual lobby’s distortions and anti-Christian bigotry;
3. Tell your friends to support Dr. Holsinger with a quick e-mail or call.

Click HERE TO READ DR. HOLSINGER’S 1991 PAPER, “PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF MALE HOMOSEXUALITY,” which liberal, pro-homosexual groups are distorting to discredit him.

 __________________________

Dear Americans For Truth Reader, 

By Peter LaBarbera 

Folks, anti-Christian homosexual activists and their liberal allies are out again in force to take down another good man — Dr. James Holsinger, Jr., President Bush’s nominee for U.S. Surgeon General – who happens to agree with the ancient Judeo-Christian moral understanding of homosexual practice as unnatural, unhealthy and wrong.

The ABC report below is Orwellian in its framing of the campaign against Dr. Holsinger – a Christian medical doctor (cardiologist) who also holds a doctorate in anatomy and physiology. Holsinger is being vilified because he wrote in 1991 that male homosexual sex practices are unhealthy, and because he believes that men and women can abandon homosexuality.

The ABC report below — which includes a politically correct quote by the spokesman for the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) — implies that Holsinger’s writings, such as his 1991 paper, “Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality,” are obsolete and way outside of the scientific mainstream. Hello… Has there been some change in human anatomy (perhaps some hyperactive “evolutionary” mutation in the last 16 years) that suddenly makes rectal sex between men natural and good for the human body?

Please take a few minutes to read Dr. Holsinger’s 1991 paper, reprinted on our website. It was written for a United Methodist Church committee studying homosexuality. See for yourself if the paper has the ring of extremism. Here’s an excerpt:

From the perspective of pathology and pathophysiology, the varied sexual practices of homosexual men have resulted in a diverse and expanded concept of sexually transmitted disease and associated trauma. “Four general groups of conditions may be encountered in homosexually active men: classical sexually transmitted diseases (gonorrhea, infections with chlamydia trachomatis, syphilis, herpes simplex infections, genital warts, pubic lice, scabies); enteric diseases (infections with hig gel la species, Campylobacter jejuni, Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia lamblia, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, hepatitis non-A, non-B, and cytomegalovirus); trauma (fecal incontinence, hemorrhoids, anal fissure, foreign bodies, rectosigmoid tears, allergic proctitis, penile edema, chemical sinusitis, inhaled nitrite burns, and sexual assault of the male patient); and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)” (Owen, 1985).

Project Smear-the-Good-Doctor Has Begun 

The “gay” activist reaction to Holsinger’s appointment was as swift as it was condemnatory:  

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, in a statement opposing Holsinger’s nomination, ominously states, ”Holsinger authored a 1991 paper titled ‘Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality,’ which essentially equates homosexuality with disease in lurid terms.”

 

Our reliable nemesis, Wayne Besen, never one to let facts and reason get in the way of some good Christian-bashing, writes of the man he calls “Dr. Discrimination”: “Holsinger is an ideologue whose medieval medical views on gay and lesbian people resemble sorcery more than sound science.” For more Besen-isms on Holsinger, click HERE.

 

The “Reverend” Troy Plummer, director of an outfit called the “Reconciling Ministries of United Methodist Church,” made this very un-’reconciling’ remark about Dr. Holsinger: ”For the last 20 years, James Holsinger has been the worst kind of bully inside the United Methodist Church…  As a member of a sexuality study team in 1991, he used his position as a medical doctor to promote skewed and inaccurate information regarding gay men.” 

 

And Human Rights Campaign (HRC) President Joe Solmonese took Dr. Holsinger to task for being part of a church that helps homosexuals change their lifestyle: “Additionally, Holsinger and his wife were founders of Hope Springs Community Church which, according to the church’s pastor, ministers to people who no longer wish to be gay or lesbian. The pastor, the Rev. David Calhoun, said that the church has an ‘ex-gay’ ministry. ‘We see that as an issue not of orientation but a lifestyle,’ Calhoun said. ‘We have people who seek to walk out of that lifestyle.’ This type of ‘ex-gay’ conversion therapy has been condemned by almost every major, reputable medical organization — including the American Psychological Association, which issued a condemnation more than 10 years ago.

 

“Although the church’s theology isn’t being nominated, this discredited practice purports to be a psychological and medical service, and if Dr. Holsinger is involved in any way, it conflicts with his duty to accept and promote sound science in the interest of public health,” continued Solmonese.

Solmonese’s remarks testify to the “gay” movement’s increasingly brazen anti-Christian bigotry. The fact is, thousands of men’s and women’s lives have been changed through ex-”gay” ministries and church outreaches to bringing healing to people with unwanted homosexual attractions. So the Left is now calling for “investigations” into Christian nominees’ churches?

It is also telling that none of the above radical homosexual groups put a link to Dr. Holsinger’s 1991 paper on their web statements slamming his appointment. If the paper is such good proof of his poor credentials for Surgeon General, why don’t they make if available for all to see?

Incidentally, Carol Lloyd of Slate magazine has another (predictably liberal) take on the Holsinger paper, in a piece called “Hot, Homophobic Pseudoscience.” Lloyd highlights a few portions of the paper and then asks, “Is any else getting hot here”?

Sure, Carol, there’s no aphrodisiac quite like reading descriptions of diseases and bodily damage stemming from deviant sex acts like homosexual sodomy. 

Mysteriously, Slate, too, avoided a direct link to the supposedly awful paper. She linked to HRC’s website but, as we noted, that also has no link to the 1991 paper. Suddenly, it seems, all the high-tech liberals have forgotten how to link to easily available documents to make them accessible to all! 

Can’t Let Facts Get in the Way 

In its online story, ABC News ran the headline, “Homosexuality Isn’t Natural or Healthy,” above this mischievous sub-headline for the Holsinger story: “Bush’s Choice for Top Doc Compared Human Genitalia to Pipe Fittings and Said Homosexual Practices Can Cause Injury or Death.”

Perhaps it is big news to ABC, but isn’t it a reality of America’s post HIV/AIDS landscape that homosexuals men (i.e., “men who have sex with men,” or MSM), comprise an easy majority of all AIDS cases, so why is it a stretch to say that “gay” acts have caused death? 

The premature death of homosexuals and the massive health risks of men having sex with other men is the pink elephant in the room that “gay” activists are desperate to deny is there, despite the evidence all around them. This explains why one homosexual group, the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center, caught flak from fellow “gay” activists when it launched a campaign with the message: “HIV is a gay disease. Own it. End it.” 

Regarding “pipe fittings,” here’s what Dr. Holsinger wrote:

It is absolutely clear that anatomically and physiologically the alimentary [relating to the digestive tract] and reproductive systems in humans are separate organ systems; i.e., the human does not have a cloaca. Likewise it is clear that even primitive cultures understand the nature of waste elimination, sexual intercourse, and the birth of children. Indeed our own children appear to “intuitively” understand these facts. I think we should note that these simple “scientific” facts are the same in any culture — patriarchal or matriarchal, modern or primitive, Jewish or gentile, etc. The anatomic and physiologic facts of alimentation and reproduction simply do not change based on any cultural setting. In fact, the logical complementarity of the human sexes has been so recognized in our culture that it has entered our vocabulary in the form of naming various pipe fittings either the male fitting or the female fitting depending upon which one interlocks within the other. When the complementarity of the sexes is breached, injuries and diseases may occur as noted above. 

Gee, controversial, hateful stuff. Here is the ABC News report on Dr. Holsinger, with our commentary in red:

‘Homosexuality Isn’t Natural or Healthy’
Bush’s Choice for Top Doc Compared Human Genitalia to Pipe Fittings and Said Homosexual Practices Can Cause Injury or Death 

By JAKE TAPPER
June 7, 2007 —

President Bush’s nominee for surgeon general, Dr. James W. Holsinger Jr., wrote a paper in 1991 that purported to make the medical argument that homosexuality is unnatural and unhealthy. Doctors who reviewed the paper derided it as prioritizing political ideology over science, and Democratic aides on Capitol Hill say the paper will make his confirmation hearings problematic, if not downright bruising.

Holsinger, 68, presented “The Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality” in January 1991 to a United Methodist Church’s committee to study homosexuality. (Read the paper [PDF copy] here.) The church was then considering changing its view that homosexuality violates Christian teaching, though it ultimately did not do so. Relying on footnotes from mainstream medical publications, Holsinger argued that homosexuality isn’t natural or healthy.

“A confirmation fight is exactly what the administration does not need,” said David Gergen, a former adviser to Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton, who predicted the paper would cause a “minor storm” among Democrats on Capitol Hill.

“You have to wonder given the quality of some of the nominations that have gone forward recently, whether the selection group in the White House has gone on vacation,” Gergen said. “There has been a growing criticism the administration favoring ideology over competence, and this nomination smacks of that.”

[Note that ABC News and Tapper do not quote a single non-administration conservative, pro-family or GOP leader in support of Dr. Holsinger.]

White House Avoids Direct Response to Paper
In its response to the controversy Thursday, the White House avoided directly discussing the controversial paper.

“Dr. Holsinger has dedicated his life to the care of others and public service and his respect for all is evidenced by his actions and his career ,” said White House spokesman Emily Lawrimore. “On numerous occasions, he has taken up the banner for under represented populations and he will continue to be a strong advocate for these groups and all Americans. Dr. Holsinger is a highly respected, well-qualified physician and educator. His impressive medical background, which includes leading one of the Nation’s largest healthcare systems, decades of service in the armed forces, along with his commitment to combating childhood obesity, will serve him well as Surgeon General. We urge the Senate for a swift confirmation.”

HHS: Paper Not Reflective of Holsinger’s Thinking
But Holly Babin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Heath and Human Services — the agency that will take the lead on trying to achieve Holsinger’s confirmation — insisted that the paper was by no means reflective of Holsinger’s thinking.

“That paper was a survey of scientific peer-reviewed studies that he was asked to compile by the United Methodist Church, it’s not that he was saying ‘this is what I believe,’” Babin said. “It’s a reflection of the available scientific data from the 1980s. It should be noted that in 1991, homosexuals were banned from the military and several years before that, homosexuality and Haitian nationality were considered risk factors for HIV/AIDS. Over the last 20 years, a clearer understanding of these issues has been achieved.”

[Backtracking rarely works in the face of aggressive attacks: of course the 1991 paper reflects Holsinger's views. Moreover, medical studies and the CDC continue to point to the immense health risks of male homosexual and bisexual behaviors. See our story, " ‘Gay’ and Bisexual Men at 17 Times Higher Risk than Straights for Anal Cancer: CDC."  Recently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) re-affirmed its lifetime ban on blood donation from men who have had sex with other men.]

Asked about medical experts who disputed that Holsinger’s paper expressed opinions timely in 1991 and pressed to explain what Holsinger’s views on homosexuality are currently, Babin said, “we look forward to the confirmation process, where we can share Dr. Holsinger’s qualifications and views.”

Advocacy Groups Protest Nomination

Those answers will likely not quell the controversy. Critics say the paper certainly seems to be written from Holsinger’s point of view.

Noting that Holsinger also belongs to a church that offers a ministry to “cure” gays of the sexual orientation, gay and lesbian rights advocates immediately protested Holsinger’s nomination. “His writings suggest a scientific view rooted in anti-gay beliefs that are incompatible with the job of serving the medical health of all Americans,” said the Human Rights Campaign in a statement. “It is essential that America’s top doctor value sound science over anti-gay ideology.”

[Again, why doesn't Tapper quote an independent pro-family advocate here in support of Dr. Holsinger? Tapper would probably say that the Bush administration official he quoted serves as the "pro-Holsinger" spokesman, but the ABC reporter's piece is heavily stacked with opposition comments, so it would have been fair to include remarks from the Family Research Council or another conservative, pro-family organization.]

Democrats will likely be sympathetic to such arguments. Holsinger’s confirmation hearing, which has yet to be scheduled, will be heard by the Senate Health Committee, chaired by longtime gay rights advocate Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass. Members of the committee include three Democratic presidential contenders … eager to prove their bona fides during the primary season to the gay and lesbian community.

Holsinger, a professor of preventive medicine at the University of Kentucky College of Public Health, did not return calls for comment.

When announcing his nomination on May 24, Bush said that as “America’s chief health educator, [Dr. Holsinger] will be charged with providing the best scientific information available on how Americans can make smart choices that improve their health and reduce their risk of illness and injury.”

What Holsinger’s Paper Argues
Holsinger’s paper argued that male and female genitalia are complementary — so much so “that it has entered our vocabulary in the form of naming pipe fittings either the male fitting or the female fitting depending upon which one interlocks within the other.” Body parts used for gay sex are not complementary, he wrote. “When the complementarity of the sexes is breached, injuries and diseases may occur.”

[Wow. Is this breaking news -- that male and female anatomy are complementary?]

Holsinger wrote that “[a]natomically the vagina is designed to receive the penis” while the anus and rectum — which “contain no natural lubricating function” — are not. “The rectum is incapable of mechanical protection against abrasion and severe damage … can result if objects that are large, sharp or pointed are inserted into the rectum,” Holsinger wrote.

The cardiologist details many different diseases gay men can catch, and several sexual practices they may engage in, including “anal eroticism,” which can lead to injuries and even death. “From the perspective of pathology and pathophysiology, the varied sexual practices of homosexual men have resulted in a diverse and expanded concept of sexually transmitted disease and associated trauma?”

[Here Tapper distorts: the words "anal eroticism" are actually taken from a 1988 paper by Richard Giest titled "Sexually Related Trauma," in the journal, "Emergency Medicine Clinics in North America." The paper describes the "fist fornication" (fisting), which -- according to Holsinger, citing Geist -- "during the 1970s was practiced by approximately 5% of the male homosexual population." As you can see by reading HERE, the heinous act of "fisting" is still practiced today by some homosexual men (sadomasochists).]

In the context of the larger argument in his church as to whether homosexuality should be accepted, Holsinger presented a medical and scientific argument that anal intercourse was not natural.

“It is absolutely clear that anatomically and physiologically the alimentary and reproductive systems in humans are separate organ systems, i.e., the human does not have a cloaca,” he said, referring to the posterior orifice that serves as the one opening for genital, urinary and intestinal tracts in amphibians, birds and reptiles. The surgeon general nominee wrote that “even primitive cultures understand the nature of waste elimination, sexual intercourse and the birth of children. Indeed our own children appear to ‘intuitively’ understand these facts.”

A Political Agenda?
Professor Eli Coleman, Director of the Program in Human Sexuality at the University of Minnesota Medical School said that the paper seems to have a pre-1970s view of human sexuality. “I can’t imagine that any scientific journal would be able to publish this material because of its very narrow views of homosexuality,” he said.

[This comment sets up a straw man, in that Holsinger's paper was not written for a scientific journal. Of course, the average TV viewer has no inkling of what the 1991 paper is all about, except that it is now "controversial."]

In fact, if one of his students handed the paper in, Coleman would give it a failing grade, he said. “I find it rather outdated in terms of its scientific knowledge and also narrow in its view of homosexuality,” Coleman said. “It concerns me because I think our public policy really should be based upon best available science.”

[How silly: can we blame Holsinger for the fact that his paper, written 16 years ago, would now be considered "outdated"? C'mon, professor!]

“It’s a totally faulty paper. The man doesn’t know anything about human sexuality,” said June M. Reinisch, Ph.D., director emeritus of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender & Reproduction. “There’s clearly a political agenda in this paper. This is not a scientific paper.”

[Tapper brings in yet another left-leaning critic to bash Dr. Holsinger. The 1991 paper was written to buttress the case against changing the United Methodist Church's policies regarding homosexuality and "gay" relationships. It used facts and academic research about the risks of homosexual practices to do so.]

Paragraph by paragraph, Reinisch said Holsinger presents faulty arguments. Many homosexuals do not engage in the sexual act he criticizes; 40 percent of heterosexuals do. “It seems to me he’s arguing the only way reproduction happens is in a loving heterosexual environment which is of course not true,” Reinisch said, noting artificial methods, rape and one-night stands.

[Here, the media consumer has no inkling of which "paragraphs" on which Ms. Reinisch is commenting. Dr. Holsinger's 1991 paper talked only generally about the reproductive vs. the alimentary (digestive tract) systems, so her comments about rape and one-night stands seem out of place.]

Reinisch, who was director of the Kinsey Institute when Holsinger wrote this paper, said that if Holsinger “is going to come up with this position in 2007 I think I can clearly say that he is not qualified to be surgeon general.”

[Pretty sweeping conclusion from a biased read of a 16-year-old paper! This is a Washington smear-politics at its worst. Call or write your U.S. Senators at 202-224-3121 (www.congress.org) to support this good man who could become the latest victim of the Left's attack machine.]

Holsinger holds a doctorate in anatomy and physiology and an M.D. from Duke University. He spent much of his career working for the Veteran’s Health Administration. From 2003 to 2005 he was Kentucky’s secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

When LaBarbera countered that this was odd since Falsani is a ”reporter” who talks to people for a living, Falsani replied that she is not a reporter, but a columnist. (As you can read below, she was only recently relieved of her reporting duties at the Sun-Times.)

Said LaBarbera, “This story only gets weirder: a religion columnist cruelly trashes a conservative minister days after his death, then refuses to discuss her column with a critic. It seems Cathleen Falsani can dish it out but she can’t take it. We echo Illinois Review editor Fran Eaton’s call for Falsani to be fired as a Sun-Times religion columnist. As one who is obviously bigoted against Bible-believing religious traditionalists, she should not be writing on religion for a major metropolitan daily.”

Our original article follows:

__________________________

You can write Cathleen Falsani at cfalsani@suntimes.com; or write a letter to the Sun Times (phone: 312-321-3000) at letters@suntimes.com.

In fact, my very first thought upon hearing of the Rev. Falwell’s passing was: Good.
     And I didn’t mean “good” in a oh-good-he’s-gone-home-to-be-with-the-Lord kind of way. I meant “good” as in “Ding-dong, the witch is dead.”
– Cathleen Falsani, “Sigh of Relief over Falwell’s Death,” May 18, Chicago Sun-Times

I wrote Cathleen Falsani to say how sad it is that a religion columnist would so cruelly denounce and defame a man shortly after his death. (More of that HERE.) The Religious Left — of which one could now safely say Falsani is a member — prides itself on its compassion, but when it comes down to it, they can be quite mean and guilty of the same harshness and “hate” of which they accuse others. It reminds me of the pro-abortion-rights liberals who fancy themselves as compassionate people who look out for the downtrodden (”the little guy”) — and yet can’t face their own hypocrisy in zealously defending the “right to choose” to kill society’s most helpless people: the unborn.

Sometimes Christian-identified writers and reporters go overboard in attacking Biblical traditionalists to show their media peers that they’re not a tool of the stereotypical “religious right.” Maybe that’s what happened here. Whether or not that’s the case, it’s tragic that Falsani, a Wheaton College grad, has sunk to this level. This is an ugly and tacky piece of writing that exposes the hypocrisy of self-righteous liberals and the disdain of the media for traditionalist Christian leaders. 

Like many in the Fourth Estate, Falsani needs sensitivity training and would surely benefit from a sabbatical at Falwell’s Liberty University. She should be removed as the Sun-Times’ religion columnist (at least she is no longer a religion reporter for the paper), but that won’t happen because most of the paper’s staff probably loved her column. Nothing like beating up on the ‘fundies,’ dead or alive, to burnish your credentials in the media. (Now, writing a fair column about a man or woman who has left homosexuality behind, through the power of the same Christ that Falsani professes to follow, that’s another story….)

Congratulations, Cathleen: you scored some more points with the Left, but you did so at the price of your own dignity, your Christian testimony, and to the detriment of your once noble profession.– Peter LaBarbera 

The following is excerpted by Media Research Council’s “NewsBusters” blog, by Tim Graham (emphasis added). You can read Graham’s entire piece by clicking HERE, and Falsani’s nasty column HERE):

Chicago Sun-Times Writer: Jerry Falwell Was a Spiritual Bully, Like Tony Soprano

By Tim Graham, Newsbusters.org, May 18, 2007

It might not be surprising for liberal blog commenters or talk-radio callers to denounce Rev. Jerry Falwell upon his death, but it’s a little more surprising when it comes to a professed Christian who’s religion columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. Cathleen Falsani reflected on her first reaction about hearing Falwell was “relief” and compared him to gangster TV character Tony Soprano:

Knowing I didn’t have a deadline to meet that day, my first thoughts were not of what to say or write.

 

In fact, my very first thought upon hearing of the Rev. Falwell’s passing was: Good.

 

And I didn’t mean “good” in a oh-good-he’s-gone-home-to-be-with-the-Lord kind of way. I meant “good” as in “Ding-dong, the witch is dead.”

 

But that thought — good riddance, I suppose — was not meant to be cruel or malicious. [!]After all, the faith that the Rev. Falwell and I share teaches us that he was, at that moment, in a far better place, with Jesus in heaven, and not roasting on a spit in Hell’s kitchen.

 

By shrugging off his mortal coil, the Rev. Falwell had ceased to suffer the pain of humanity.

 

Still, I’m not particularly proud of my knee-jerk reaction. But there it is….

 

My initial reaction to the Rev. Falwell’s death was, and remains, relief — not unlike the ease I felt when a particularly nasty bully who used to spit at me on the playground and threaten to beat me up after school moved to another town.

 

The Rev. Falwell was a spiritual bully. He was the Tony Soprano to Pat Robertson’s Paulie Walnuts.

How on Earth can a religion columnist compare a televangelist to a malicious mob boss and killer? We could understand the typical Elmer Gantry comparisons, but Tony Soprano? Including Robertson on the list suggested clearly that was Falsani believes is that conservatism and orthodoxy are “bullying” and that liberalism and relativism brings true spirituality and harmony with God. Falsani couldn’t let the HBO-mobster thing go:

People who know both of us have told me over the years that we’d probably have liked each other, the Rev. Falwell and I, that he was an affable, almost jolly man, not nearly as smug and awful as his public persona made him out to be.

 

I’m sure, were he real, Tony Soprano also would make a charming dinner companion, sharing his lasagna and an expensive bottle of Orvieto while telling great stories and asking how your grandmother’s doing in the home. And then he’d have you whacked and thrown over the side of his deep-sea fishing boat. But he’d send flowers to the funeral.

 

After all, as another famous Christian leader once told me by way of explaining how some evangelicals turn on each other (never mind their perceived enemies): “We shoot our own.”

 

I won’t miss having to apologize for the insensitive, mean-spirited, sometimes downright hateful things the Rev. Falwell said in the name of Christ. I won’t miss having to explain that not all evangelicals are like the Rev. Falwell, that not all of us are that self-righteous, judgmental and holier than thou.

 

The Rev. Falwell’s absence from this realm will mean one less voice telling my gay and lesbian friends that they are somehow less loved by God, that AIDS is God’s wrath, that they are to blame for calamities such as 9/11 or Katrina. I really won’t miss the pain in my friends’ eyes when they ask me how the Rev. Falwell and I could both be Christians but be so different from each other.

 

I will not miss seeing him on CNN, pontificating about what God’s intention was in allowing and/or causing the latest natural disaster, massacre, plague, famine or terrorist attack. I will not miss the Rev. Falwell’s voice or point of view.

Falsani does not seem to recognize that what she is writing can be very easily described as “insensitive, mean-spirited, sometimes downright hateful things…in the name of Christ.”

This is not a surprise, coming from Falsani: in a 2005 column (loved by the far-left Truthout site), she found more charity for a “Jewish atheist” friend as they both denounced President Bush, who she found to be “downright evil.”

Click HERE to read the rest of Tim Graham’s post “in NewsBusters”

]]> http://americansfortruth.com/news/chicago-sun-times-writer-cathleen-falsani-jerry-falwell-was-a-spiritual-bully-like-tony-soprano.html/feed 0 http://americansfortruth.com/news/if-this-were-an-anti-war-rally-youd-know-about-it-15-million-italians-rally-against-homosexual-civil-unions.html http://americansfortruth.com/news/if-this-were-an-anti-war-rally-youd-know-about-it-15-million-italians-rally-against-homosexual-civil-unions.html#comments Tue, 15 May 2007 16:12:50 +0000 Peterlab http://americansfortruth.com/news/if-this-were-an-anti-war-rally-youd-know-about-it-15-million-italians-rally-against-homosexual-civil-unions.html

The following is excerpted from LifeSiteNews.com, a must ”go-to” site for pro-family advocates and citizens no matter what country you live in. Needless to say, you would have heard a lot more about this huge Italian rally had it been an “anti-Bush” protest against the war, or maybe a pro-”gay marriage” protest. The people ”get it” regarding marriage and family; the secular media are obsessed with political correctness. One wonders how the political/cultural equation over homosexuality would be different if the media’s coverage were anything close to being fair rather than overwhelmingly pro-”gay”-activist as it is in most of the West today.– Peter LaBarbera  

1.5 Million Italians Turn Out in Massive Rome Protest Against Homosexual Civil Unions
Oraganizers Were Expecting Only 100,000

By Gudrun Schultz, LifeSiteNews.com

ROME, Italy, May 14, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Italians from across the country poured into Rome May 12 to join in a demonstration against a law that would give legal recognition to homosexual couples–reports showed up to 1.7 million people overflowed the St. John Lateran piazza. Organizers initially expected to draw about 100,000.

The proposed legislation would give homosexual couples–and unmarried heterosexual couples–similar rights to those of married couples, stopping just short of legalizing homosexual marriage.

“Living together is not family,” protester Anna Manara told the Associated Press.
“A commitment such as marriage cements the bond, while other models make it easier to be together and therefore end up making it less valuable.”

While the pro-family demonstration was backed by the Vatican and Italy’s Catholic bishops, it was organized by lay people independently of the Church. The “mind-blowing” success of the event is an outstanding example of the power held by ordinary citizens when sufficiently mobilized in support of traditional values, said Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, a priest in Rome who is the moderator of the Catholic Online Forum (see blogsite: http://wdtprs.com/blog/2007/05/winners-and-losers).

“The importance of this event is not merely that when left to their own devices the Italian people will support traditional values in great numbers, giving the lie to the script presented by the intellectuals in the press. It also means in concrete terms that the traditional values laity can organize and achieve results.”

“The success of “Family Day” also highlights a now deeply entrenched trend not only in Italy, but in the West: the marginalization of the Church from the public square,” Fr. Zuhlsdorf said. “Nearly everywhere the Church’s is being denied its right to speak freely. Committed Catholic and other religious politicians and public figures are pressured never to make reference to their religious convictions. The constant mantra is that religion should be a purely private matter than has no influence on public policy. Be religious, fine. But you may never act outwardly on your interior opinions.”

Former Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi decided to attend the event when he saw an anti-Catholic cartoon about “Family Day” in the Communist Il Manifesto. Speaking out against those who claim to be Catholic while holding positions in opposition to Church teaching, Berlusconi said, “Left-wing Catholics are an insurmountable contradiction.”

“You cannot be at the same time Catholics – and as such considerate of the doctrine of the Church and its teachings on various questions – and then stand with those who are cheek by jowl on the other side.”

He went on, “In these recent times there is an attack on the freedom of the Church to express its own convictions. There comes to my mind what happened in the Communist countries, the Church of silence that could speak only within the ambit of its own buildings.” (Translation by Fr. Zuhlsdorf.)

More than 1,000 U.S. rabbis joined in solidarity with pro-family demonstrators in Rome–Rabbi Yehuda Levin, with the Rabbinical Alliance of America and the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the U.S. and Canada, sent a statement of support and solidarity to organizers of the Rome event and the Warsaw pro-family Congress.

Rabbi Levin applauded “the millions of morally decent family orientated Italians who utterly reject any legislative efforts to accord recognition to homosexual unions.”

The rabbi said homosexual activism was “a problem of domestic moral terrorism by those who boldly, flagrantly and proactively agitate to undermine the most basic values of society, a reverence for innocent life, and the Biblically ordained family unit.”

“The attempted homosexualization of the Holy Land with sacrilegious parades in Jerusalem, an affront to all religions, as well as the constant homosexual onslaught specifically in the shadows of the Vatican, such as is demonstrated by the debauchery of the homosexual celebrations in Rome 2000, and now again with this evil legislation, is a calculated international disparagement of religion, religious values and religion’s leaders.”

To read the rest of the Lifesite article, go HERE.

]]> http://americansfortruth.com/news/if-this-were-an-anti-war-rally-youd-know-about-it-15-million-italians-rally-against-homosexual-civil-unions.html/feed 0 http://americansfortruth.com/news/satans-talking-points-human-rights-campaigns-harry-knox-promotes-ultimate-big-lie-in-msnbc-debate-with-cwas-matt-barber.html http://americansfortruth.com/news/satans-talking-points-human-rights-campaigns-harry-knox-promotes-ultimate-big-lie-in-msnbc-debate-with-cwas-matt-barber.html#comments Thu, 12 Apr 2007 23:49:19 +0000 Peterlab http://americansfortruth.com/news/satans-talking-points-human-rights-campaigns-harry-knox-promotes-ultimate-big-lie-in-msnbc-debate-with-cwas-matt-barber.html By Peter LaBarbera

“What’s clear from our experience and from science is that being gay or lesbian is an immutable, unchangeable gift from God, one for which I am very grateful. And it would fly in the face of my respect for God to give that gift back. It would simply be unethical and hurtful to our relationship with the Creator to give back gifts that God has given us….” – Homosexual activist Harry Knox of the “gay” lobby group Human Rights Campaign, on MSNBC debate 3-23-07

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness.– Old Testament prophet Isaiah (Is. 5:20)

 Harry Knox promotes Big Lie for HRC

Please take five minutes to watch the fascinating online YouTube video above (click the “play” button on the screen) of a March 23, 2007 MSNBC debate between homosexual activist Harry Knox and pro-family warrior Matt Barber. The first time I watched this, I was flabbergasted at the gall of Knox, Director of the Religion and Faith Program for Human Rights Campaign (HRC, the world’s most powerful homosexual pressure group).

What better example of Hitler’s “Big Lie” technique than to transform homosexuality from an abominable sin and perversion … to a sickness … to a condition … to an inborn “orientation” that is actually a gift from God!

Yeah, that’s it — a wonderful gift that you’d never want to give back! (Strange how so many homosexual men are getting sick and dying in the prime of their life from practicing their supposed heavenly “gift.”)

I think we’ve discovered Satan’s Talking Points on homosexuality in the swank D.C. offices of Human Rights Campaign. HRC strategists understand that to neutralize America’s religious opposition to their destructive agenda, they must co-opt Christianity and the Bible itself.

The notion that homosexual “orientation” is a “gift from God” is the biggest lie in a “gay” arsenal filled with falsehoods — so start looking for that liberal echo chamber we call “the media” to begin giving it wide play.

The MSNBC debate was instigated by Al Mohler’s column (naively ill-timed, in my view) speculating on the possibility of hormone treatments to “fix” homosexuality in the womb if a genetic component to homosexuality were to be discovered.

By the way, Knox’s able opponent on the MSNBC debate, my good friend Matt Barber, is Policy Director for Cultural Issues at Concerned Women for America. Matt is a former professional heavyweight boxer (you can watch one his knockouts online on YouTube HERE) who was fired by the insurance giant Allstate after writing an online article — on his own time — critical of homosexual “marriage.” (Ironically, it was an HRC staffer who spotted Matt’s article and reported him to the Diversity Police at Allstate, leading to his firing. Oh, but I almost forgot: it is those poor, aggrieved homosexuals who are getting fired by the thousands “just for being gay” ….)

Matt is also former Corporate Outreach Director for Americans For Truth. We’re delighted that thanks to Allstate’s intolerance and pro-homosexual corporate agenda, he’s now ”in the ring” in Washington, D.C., throwing rhetorical jabs on the side of God and truth.

Our next e-mail will discuss how adult homosexual activists like Knox and Soulforce’s Mel White are corrupting impressionable youth — a spiritual “crime” for which they will one day pay dearly if they don’t repent and turn away from their evil promotion of sexual sin.

Again, here is that YouTube link for the MSNBC debate featuring Harry Knox’s Big Lie about God. And please pray that God will lead the confused and lost Mr. Knox out of homosexuality.

]]> http://americansfortruth.com/news/satans-talking-points-human-rights-campaigns-harry-knox-promotes-ultimate-big-lie-in-msnbc-debate-with-cwas-matt-barber.html/feed 0 http://americansfortruth.com/news/gay-task-force-leader-matt-foremans-and-the-triangle-foundations-lies-about-gary-glenn.html http://americansfortruth.com/news/gay-task-force-leader-matt-foremans-and-the-triangle-foundations-lies-about-gary-glenn.html#comments Thu, 29 Mar 2007 18:20:28 +0000 Peterlab http://americansfortruth.com/news/gay-task-force-leader-matt-foremans-and-the-triangle-foundations-lies-about-gary-glenn.html  

Michigan pro-family leader Gary Glenn: victim of homosexual smear campaigns 

On Feb 24, 2007, Matt Foreman, Executive Director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force issued the following statement blaming Christians and specifically Gary Glenn, president of American Family Association of Michigan, for the apparent murder of homosexual Andrew Anthos — which Detroit police have now reported was not a murder:

“The hatred and loathing that led to the vicious murder of Andrew Anthos only because he was gay is not innate. Instead it is being taught every day by leaders of the so-called Christian right and their political allies. They disguise their bigotry as ‘deeply-held religious beliefs.’ They cloak themselves in ‘family values.’

“For years, Michigan has been subjected to the homophobic rants of Gary Glenn of the American Family Association of Michigan, while so many otherwise good and decent people have been silent. Just two years ago, the state endured an ugly campaign, led by Cardinal Adam Maida, to ‘protect marriage’ by writing anti-gay discrimination into its constitution. Based on that amendment, a three-judge panel of Michigan’s court of appeals voted last month to terminate medical insurance coverage for families of LGBT government workers throughout the state.

“It is appalling hypocrisy for these forces to pretend that their venomous words and organizing have no connection to the plague of hate violence against gay people, including the murder of Mr. Anthos…”

That’s right: Matt Foreman publicly (and falsely) accused Gary Glenn and Cardinal Maida as accessories to the murder [again, which we now know was probably not a murder--AFTAH editor] of a 72-year-old man, simply because these men exercise their constitutional freedom of speech to vocally uphold the Christian principles upon which our nation was founded — including God’s design for one man to wed one woman for life and His consistent condemnation of homosexual behavior.

Perhaps Matt Foreman took his cue from Sean Kosofsky of Triangle Foundation, a Detroit-based homosexual activist group, who once made this preposterous claim against Glenn’s group:

“We personally believe that the AFA may support the murder of gay, lesbian and bisexual people… We are also fairly certain the AFA wants all homosexuals locked up on sodomy charges and put in jail.”

]]> http://americansfortruth.com/news/gay-task-force-leader-matt-foremans-and-the-triangle-foundations-lies-about-gary-glenn.html/feed 0 http://americansfortruth.com/news/aftah-joins-coalition-urging-parents-to-pull-kids-from-school-on-day-of-silence-april-18.html http://americansfortruth.com/news/aftah-joins-coalition-urging-parents-to-pull-kids-from-school-on-day-of-silence-april-18.html#comments Tue, 27 Mar 2007 20:23:14 +0000 Peterlab http://americansfortruth.com/news/aftah-joins-coalition-urging-parents-to-pull-kids-from-school-on-day-of-silence-april-18.html Every year, the radical group GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network), of Massachusetts “Fistgate” notoriety, promotes a propaganda exercise in schools called the “Day of Silence,” to engender sympathy toward GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) lifestyles. Many schools now officially back this disruptive, pro-homosexual event — so we’re calling on parents to pull their children out of school that day (Wed., April 18 this year). Parents can use the day to educate their children about the homosexual activist movement and other harmful social agendas, or to pray for people and students caught up in the homosexual lifestyle.

Or, students can just read a good book at home. Time spent doing that would be far preferable to indulging in GLSEN’s pro-homosexuality groupthink. Our schools have become PC propaganda centers, and it’s way past time for parents to take a stand. Promoting unhealthy, changeable and immoral behaviors like homosexuality and bisexuality — especially to vulnerable teens (even middle schoolers!) – lacks compassion. Here is a list of schools likely to be participating in the “Day of Silence”: http://www.missionamerica.com/agenda.php?articlenum=66. – Peter LaBarbera

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact NotOurKids.com Media Coordinator – Irene Bennett (203) 926-6960

[Among the groups joining NotOurKids are: Americans For Truth, Mission America, Concerned Women for America, Culture Campaign, American Family Association of Pennsylvania, and Stephen Bennett Ministries]

Visit www.NotOurKids.com/media.html

WASHINGTON, March 27 / — A national pro-family coalition, www.NotOurKids.com, is calling upon parents to keep their children home from school on April 18 — to avoid GLSEN’s homosexual “Day of Silence,” in which students and some supportive faculty intentionally remain silent throughout the school day to protest alleged oppression of homosexuals.

“Day of Silence” (DOS) is an annual event promoted by GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, and is scheduled for Wednesday, April 18 this year.  (Some schools observe DOS a few days earlier or later than the official date.) In 2006, over 4,000 junior highs, high schools, and colleges participated in DOS, according to GLSEN.

Many school district superintendents, principals, and faculty members also endorse, promote or allow DOS — subjecting traditional students to pro-”gay” activism that violates their religious beliefs and right to a non-politicized education. To find out what schools are likely participating in this year’s DOS, please visit: http://www.missionamerica.com/agenda.php?articlenum=66.

According to GLSEN, on last year’s Day of Silence, over 500,000 students nationwide were confronted with mute homosexual peers and “allies” wearing stickers and passing out cards, which stated (in part):

“… My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by harassment, prejudice, and discrimination. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward fighting these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today. What are you going to do to end the silence?”

www.NotOurKids.com is a coalition of pro-family groups who object to the disruptive political hijacking of America’s classrooms by pro-homosexual advocates. www.NotOurKids.com educates parents, teachers and America about the deceptive agenda behind GLSEN’s Day of Silence. The coalition seeks to protect America’s youth from being pressured to approve of homosexual, bisexual, or “transgender” behavior.

“Teenagers deserve an opportunity to study English, history, math, and science — without being subjected to pro-homosexual proselytizing sanctioned by school authorities. Students shouldn’t be forced to self-censor or adopt beliefs contrary to those of their parents and places of worship,” said Linda Harvey of Mission America, a coalition member.  “Even the strongest of our junior high and high school children are not equipped to serve as frontline soldiers in this culture war.”

For a complete list of the coalition’s sponsoring groups, please visit www.NotOurKids.com.

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