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The Intolerance of Tolerance
January 11th, 2007Excerpted from The Intolerance of Tolerance, by Greg Koukl, published Dec 14, 2006, by Townhall:
Probably no concept has more currency in our politically-correct culture than the notion of tolerance. Unfortunately, one of America’s noblest virtues has been so distorted it’s become a vice.
There’s one word that can stop you in your tracks. That word is “intolerant.”
…The modern notion of tolerance is seriously misguided.
The Tolerance Trick
As it turns out, by the modern definition of tolerance no one is tolerant, or ever can be. It’s what my friend Francis Beckwith calls the “passive-aggressive tolerance trick.” Returning to the classic understanding of tolerance is the only way to restore any useful meaning to the word. Let me give you a real life example.
Earlier this year I spoke to a class of seniors at a Christian high school in Des Moines, Iowa. I wanted to alert them to this “tolerance trick,” but I also wanted to learn how much they had already been taken in by it. I began by writing two sentences on the board. The first expressed the current understanding of tolerance:
“All views have equal merit and none should be considered better than another.”
All heads nodded in agreement. Nothing controversial here. Then I wrote the second sentence:
“Jesus is the Messiah and Judaism is wrong for rejecting Him.”
Immediately hands flew up. “You can’t say that,” a coed challenged, clearly annoyed. “That’s disrespectful. How would you like it if someone said you were wrong?”
“In fact, that happens to me all the time,” I pointed out, “including right now with you. But why should it bother me that someone thinks I’m wrong?”
“It’s intolerant,” she said, noting that the second statement violated the first statement. What she didn’t see was that the first statement also violated itself.
I pointed to the first statement and asked, “Is this a view, the idea that all views have equal merit and none should be considered better than another?” They all agreed.
Then I pointed to the second statement—the “intolerant” one—and asked the same question: “Is this a view?” They studied the sentence for a moment. Slowly my point began to dawn on them. They’d been taken in by the tolerance trick.
If all views have equal merit, then the view that Christians have a better view on Jesus than the Jews have is just as true as the idea that Jews have a better view on Jesus than the Christians do. But this is hopelessly contradictory. If the first statement is what tolerance amounts to, then no one can be tolerant because “tolerance” turns out to be gibberish.
Read the rest of this article »
NEA’s Anti-Bullying Statement Promotes Approval of Homosexuality
January 9th, 2007
Excerpted from NEA Releases Controversial Statement on Website, published Jan 3, 2006, by Family News in Focus:
A ‘school safety’ link for the National Education Association says “a great public school is a fundamental right of every child, free from intimidation and harassment, and safe for all students, including those who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered.” Linda Harvey with Mission America says the site uncovers an agenda.
“If anyone ever had a doubt before that there is a deliberate and well-funded and highly influential gay agenda in schools, then this should convince them that there is indeed that going on.”
She says the NEA is essentially saying in order to have safe schools we need to approve of homosexuality.
“That’s their recommendation, and it’s a false one; it’s a misleading one and one that is very likely to endanger millions of students.”
Finn Laursen with the Christian Educators Association agrees with the anti-bullying message, but says the NEA is treading into unsafe waters with its pro-gay, safe-school message.
“As parents and educators we ought to say, ‘No, we won’t tolerate harassment or bullying. But we shouldn’t be promoting something to our children that we know has major medical, psychological implications and as a Christian, we believe is sin.”
Laursen says the NEA can promote safe schools without promoting a political agenda.
Mark Steyn: Bleating Hearts
January 8th, 2007This was just too entertaining to pass over (pardon the pun)…
Excerpted from Bleating Hearts, by Mark Steyn, by Jan 8, 2007, at Washington Times:
As part of this column’s ongoing commitment to in-depth coverage of the issues that matter, we’re pleased to present the first of a new series: Sheep In The News. Here are two headlines from the last week.
From The Wall Street Journal: “Ritual sacrifice? Not on my street, some Belgians say.” And from The Sunday Times of London: “Science told: Hands off gay sheep.”
The first story is about the 25,000 sheep in Brussels who a few days ago found themselves pointed toward Mecca and then slit through the throat and bled to death.
Muslims do this to celebrate Eid al-Adha, which commemorates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son to God and God’s willingness to settle for a ram in lieu. The Belgian Muslim population has grown so fast that there aren’t enough places in the city to perform the ritual sacrifice, and come Eid it’s like sheep drivetime at every Brussels slaughterhouse, with rams backed up ram-to-ram as far as the eye can see.
As reported by the Journal, Mohamed Mimoun grabbed his sheep, took a number and realized he was in for a two-hour wait. Even worse, en route to the slaughterhouse, he was stopped by a cop and fined for having the sheep in the trunk of his Toyota. By law, the sheep is supposed to ride in the rear passenger seats. Baa, baa, back seat.
On which note, let us turn to the gay sheep. Apparently, researchers at Oregon Health and Science University and Oregon State University have been experimenting with ovine hormonal balances to persuade homosexual rams of the error of their ways. It seems they’ve had “considerable success” with injecting hormones into the rams’ brains. Suddenly the lads are playing the field and crooning a couple of choruses of “Embrace me, my sweet embraceable ewe.”
Gay groups (human gay groups, that is: Even America does not yet have a 24/7 gay sheep lobby group with offices on K Street) are not happy about this. Martina Navratilova, the nine-times Wimbledon champ, has called for the project to be abandoned and for scientists to respect, as the Sunday Times put it, “the right of sheep to be gay”…
“It’s Not Gay” – An AFA Resource for Your Family and Church
January 8th, 2007
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Shaking Up Gender Assumptions — Destroying Teenagers
January 8th, 2007Americans For Truth’s Sonja Dalton offers a few thoughts on the San Francisco Chronicle story below about four “transgender” girls:
- “Real women” have two X chromosomes, and they do not have a male sex organ;
- Adult homosexual and “transgender” activists, like lesbian writer Chris Beam, often affirm confused “GLBT” youth in dangerous and wrong behaviors;
- Nothing is sadder to see than a confused young person who has been deceived into renouncing his God-given identity and sexuality;
- Churches need to prepare to intervene with vulnerable boys and girls (kids from dysfunctional, broken, or abusive homes; kids that don’t “fit in”; kids that have been molested). Godly men and women need to come alongside vulnerable kids, put their arms around them, reinforce their God-given identity, and motivate them with a vision of the fulfilling life they can enjoy.
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The following is excerpted from Shaking Up Transgender Assumptions, a book review by Julie Foster, published Jan 7, 2007, by the San Francisco Chronicle:
Transparent: Love, Family, and Living the T with Transgender Teenagers
by Cris Beam
Real women can have penises. And “the brain and the heart are the only organs with a gender, and … all genital modification or lack thereof is simply a personal aesthetic choice.” These are some of the titillating ideas explored in “Transparent,” Cris Beam’s first book.
…In 1998, [Cris Beam] was a freelance magazine writer with spare time. She began volunteering at a high school in Los Angeles for gay and transgender teens.
After 2 1/2 years Beam burned out and quit. But she loved her students, even with “their attitudes, and the occasional danger and regular tragedies,” and she maintained contact with several of the kids.
“Transparent” is the result of those meetings, which occurred from 1998 through the summer of 2005. Beam found her way into this nuanced world through the lives of four transgender girls, Christina, Domineque, Foxxjazell and Ariel, genetic males living as females…
It hasn’t always been so. Beam reveals the “rich history of transsexuality — or cross-gender behavior — documented back to the pre-Christian era.” She cites examples from early American Indian cultures, including the Mohave, Navajo and Lakota, which seem to have not been so hung up on the male-female dichotomies. “For these tribes, there weren’t just two genders posted at opposite ends of a field, with a rule against hanging out in the middle.”
She chronicles the tragic homelessness, common to many transgender teens, which exacerbates their already complicated lives. She weaves in the story of Foxxjazell, “a really great drag mother,” and one of the many “transsexuals who have already been living in their rightful gender and are in the position to teach their younger counterparts.”…
Five years after Beam began her interviews, things changed. Beam and her partner, Robin, moved back to New York. Domineque committed a serious crime and was sentenced to time at an all-male prison. And 19-year-old Christina, who by then had become a part of Beam’s family, reached her goal of getting a social outreach job with a Latino AIDS organization…
Are Teenagers “Mature” and “Wise” — Or Are They Still Teenagers?
January 7th, 2007By Sonja Dalton
I ran across this MySpace blog (below) a few days ago. It merits note. I have sat in a number of school meetings where board members, administrators, and teachers insist that 15-16 -17 year old high school students are “mature” and “wise.” This teenager’s post will henceforth suffice as my response to that claim. It is full of typos, misspellings, incorrect punctuation, and (most importantly) misplaced emotion, arrogance, ignorance, poor logic, misinformation, and lies. To set the record straight:
- Americans For Truth (AFTAH) has never used the term “The Solution to the Gay Problem” and never would, except in response to this lie. There is a “solution” to homosexuality, but it’s certainly not akin to the one mentioned below. The solution to homosexuality — and to all sin — is redemption in Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:13-14, 21-23, 3:1-7).
- Why does this young man suggest that Americans For Truth advocates a homosexual holocaust? The claim is absurd; AFTAH and its president, Peter LaBarbera, have condemned all abuse and violence against homosexuals, and have also condemned unbiblical messages such as Fred Phelps’ “God Hates Fags” protests (which are now targeting the funerals of American soldiers). More than likely, this youthful MySpace writer is repeating nonsense that he heard from pro-homosexual teachers or adult “gay” activists. He didn’t read such a thing on this website.
- This teenager claims that AFTAH has taken a position against the violence in Iraq, yet AFTAH has not addressed Iraq.
- Contrary to our young friend’s assertion, homosexual activists are indeed asking for society’s blessing — something most would admit. Not only do they want to redefine marriage and family to accommodate their aberrant lifestyles; they advocate teaching homosexuality and transgenderism as positive lifestyles to very young children. Moreover, homosexual activists routinely smear those who disagree with them as “haters” and ultimately will push for “hate speech” laws against those who affirm the truth that God condemns homosexual practice. (Already, Christians in foreign countries like Canada, Great Britain and Sweden are being persecuted under such pro-homosexual “hate speech” laws — yet American homosexual activists for the most part are not renouncing the growing pro-“gay” totalitarianism abroad.)
- Affirming God’s Word by teaching that homosexuality is physically, emotionally, and spiritually destructive is not hate but Truth. There is abundant secular research to confirm these aspects of the homosexual lifestye (see the website of NARTH, the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality). And people can overcome homosexuality, as proven by countless ex-“gays” living contented lives across the world.
If teenagers are so “mature” and “wise,” then why do we send them to school to learn? Maybe these “educators” should spend less time adoring youthful impudence and more time with adults to regain proper perspective. The fact is that teenagers are not yet mature or wise, but they can attain both qualities in due time, through prayer, studying God’s word, and experience, including actually researching what groups like Americans For Truth believe rather than making up lies about us.
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MySpace posting bashing Americans For Truth:
Doc Holid?y
Male
16 years old
Naperville, ILLINOIS
United States
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Rodney Dangerfiled was right
Current mood: disappointed
Category: Life
There simply is no respect anymore. No respect for beliefs, no respects for individualism, no respect for humanity. I just read my friend Emily’s note about a group called ‘Americans For Truth’ and I visited their website. It made me want to vomit and cry. This group is dedicated to ‘educating’ America and the world about what they call “The Solution to the Gay Problem”. This made me remember something else along those lines, it was called “The Final Solution to the Jewish Problem”. The ‘Final Solution’ to this imaginary malady was thought up by none other than Adolf Hitler. The solution as he saw it was mass extermonation and genocide. I want to know, where does all this hate come from. The same people who run this orginization also claim to be devout christians adn against the violence in Iraq and many other places in the world. Yet they fail to realise that just because it isn’t neccesarily physical, that doesn’t mean it is any less disgusting or violent. One thing every parent tries to preach, or at lest should try to, is understanding and compassion. Where is the understanding and compassion anymore? When did it become acceptable to shout hate and ignorance becasue you don’t understand teh way someone live’s their life. They are not asking you to take part in anything you don’t want to, they aren’t even asking for your blessing. all tehy are asking is that you let then life their life, and live it in peace. You may not agre with it, in fact i guarantee there are things in this world that make you want to spriral into blind rage at the near mention of, but I ask you, I beg you, do not hate something because you cannot understand it. Do not hate because the masses dictate that you should, groupthink is genocide of the mind. Finally, I ask you, love your neighbor like your brother and love the world like you love your friend. I have always made sure above all else that my friends know one thing about me if nothing else, that is that I would readily take a bullet for them, that no sacrifice is too great, and that nothing comes before them.
Speaker Pelosi Has Co-Sponsored ‘ENDA-Our Freedom’ Bill and All Top-10 “Gay” Wish-List Bills
January 5th, 2007Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the new Speaker of the House, is considered one of the strongest gay rights supporters in Congress and has signed on as a co-sponsor to all 10 gay- and AIDS-related bills dropped in the hopper in recent years.
“She has said ENDA [Employment Non-Discrimination Act] and the hate crimes bills have received widespread, bipartisan support,” said Pelosi spokesperson Drew Hammill. “She said they would be expected to come up quickly.”
It is urgent that pro-family citizens–Republicans, Democrats and independents alike–contact their U.S. Representative and Senators, as well as President Bush, to state their opposition to passage of all pro-homosexuality “sexual orientation” bills in the new Congress. At the top of the “gay” wish-list is ENDA, which we are calling the “ENDA-Our Freedom” Bill because it would use federal power to force businesses to support and subsidize homosexuality and gender confusion (“transgender”: think men in dresses, using female restrooms).
Also on the homosexual docket is a homosexuality/gender-inclusive “hate crimes” bill, which will be the precursor to the homosexual lobby’s ultimate goal of using the state to curtail anti-“gay”/”homophobic” (read: Christian and conservative) “hate speech.”
Beware the Democratic leadership’s bait-and-switch on Capitol Hill. The media reported how key Democrats in “swing” districts–like Christian pro-lifer and former NFL quarterback Heath Shuler (D-N.C.)–won by running away from liberalism and appealing to conservative values. Curtailing precious American freedoms in the service of a “gay” agenda that seeks to radically redefine the family and marriage–and punish people for living out their religious beliefs about sexuality and marriage–was not pominent in their campaign rhetoric. Please start making your voice heard to your elected legislators and President Bush today. — Peter LaBarbera
TAKE ACTION — Contact the White House and your U.S. Senators and Representative with your opposition to these bills.
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The following is excerpted from New Congress Expected to Consider Gay Bills in ’07, by Lou Chibbaro Jr, published Dec 15, 2006, by the homosexual newspaper Washington Blade:
Top 10 gay bills in Congress
Gay-supportive members of Congress have introduced these bills at the request of gay rights or AIDS advocacy groups in recent years. All of them have died in committee after Republican leaders in the House and Senate refused to bring them up for a vote. The new Democratic-controlled Congress is expected to be more sympathetic toward the 10 bills, but Democratic leaders chose not to place any of them on their agenda for their first 100 days in office.
Employment Non-Discrimination Act: Calls for banning private sector employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act: Calls for giving the federal government authority to prosecute hate crimes based on a victim’s sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.
Military Readiness Enhancement Act: Calls for repealing the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy so that gay male, lesbian and bisexual troops would be allowed to serve openly.
Read the rest of this article »
An Open Letter to Peter LaBarbera
January 5th, 2007God’s condemnation of homosexuality is abundantly clear—He opposes it in every age:
- In the patriarchs (Genesis 19:1-28)
- In the Law of Moses (Leviticus 18:22; 20:13)
- In the Prophets (Ezekiel 16:46-50)
- In the New Testament (Romans 1:18-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Jude 7-8)
Why does God condemn homosexuality? Because it overturns God’s fundamental design for human relationships—a design that pictures the complementary relationship between a man and a woman (Genesis 2:18-25; Matthew 19:4-6; Ephesians 5:22-33).
An open letter to Peter LaBarbera and posted Dec 30, 2006, on lesbian Pam Spaulding’s blog, Pam’s House Blend, reads:
An Open Letter to Peter LaBarbera
by Rick
Sat Dec 30, 2006 at 17:16:20 PM EST
(I never did receive a response from LaBarbera [he wrote me first, see my open response]. Blender Rick decided to tackle a letter to the Americans for Truth honcho. Will he get a reply — promoted by pam)
Note: After reading a post about Autumn Sandeen, I got the general impression that Peter LaBarbera spends at least some time reading the goings on here at the Blend. Since this is the case, I wanted to write an open letter to him, just to give him some insight as to how some of us see him.
I wanted to start by pointing out an ideology that’s seemed to creep into Evangelical Christianity in recent years. When I came to Christ 9 years ago, I saw small bursts of it, but it appears that things have reached a fever pitch in recent years. Peter, there’s a big difference between not condoning homosexuality, and condemning it, and that’s where the Golden Rule applies in spades. I can understand how you feel the Bible condemns homosexuality, but I have a hard time understanding why you need to actively condemn it on at least a weekly basis in a very public arena. Didn’t Christ start a second epoch where the justice and wrath of God has already been fulfilled due to His sacrifice? Why the active campaigning against a people group you disagree with? These aren’t the money changers in the temple, these are the sinners Christ ate with.
Peter, how do your actions convey the Golden Rule? Do you love Pam, Autumn, and the rest of the gay community as you love yourself? Truly, do you? In what ways are you reaching out to the gay community to convey the love of Christ to them? How are you helping to defend the poor, sick, and weak? And let’s be perfectly frank here, telling people that they’re sick and perverted only makes them feel attacked, since in all reality, it really is a character attack. Are you showing the love of Christ to these people, or committing character assassination? Perhaps it’s time to turn away from press releases for a while, and actually follow the Golden Rule. You could volunteer with your local LGBT community center doing HIV prevention, and show them the love of Christ more than you ever will with hollow words. Perhaps at next year’s pride parade or leather ball, it would be more fitting to show your love in meaningful ways (such as passing out water bottles) rather than standing in judgement with picket signs. Or, perhaps we could see you actively campaign against other sins, such as gluttony (obesity in the Church, anyone?) divorce, greed, or any other myriad of sins. Constantly harping on the issue of gay sin while you ignore others only makes you look like a hypocrite, and turns away members of the gay community. Remember, you will have to answer to Christ when he asks if your actions deterred gay people from coming to Him, rather than leading them to Him. What will you be able to say?
And why don’t you feel the need to turn the other cheek? If you feel attacked by what’s written about you here, shouldn’t you just confess your pain to God and get on with life? Why the need to post retaliation-based press releases at AFT and Agape Press? Here’s a little constructive criticism too; lose the vitriolic intonations, and maybe the gay community wouldn’t take such offense to your writings. Oh, and stop making up the “Gay Agenda.” We both know there’s no such thing. People saying they want equality or recognition doesn’t deserve the borderline-slanderous militant bent you’re labeling it with. Bearing false witness is bearing false witness, and that’s a sin.
Seriously, I’d suggest a good ol’ “quiet time” for you reading the book of John and making sure there’s no sin in your life. If you’d like, I can loan your my John MacArthur study Bible, as there are some excellent resources in there. I’m not saying these things to be mean. I’m not referring to you as “Porno Pete” or any other epithets used against you. I’m saying these things to you because I’m genuinely concerned about you. I worry that your heart is following a dark path of hatred against your fellow man, guised in the cloak of righteous indignation. Remember, brother, vengence belongs to the LORD.
Sincerely,
Rick
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Now, you might be thinking that our friend Rick must be a sincere and godly man — but we are thinking that he might need to read his John MacArthur study Bible a little more carefully or perhaps visit Grace to You for additional resources. You see, Rick is also known as Blandella and, as you evaluate his criticism of Peter LaBarbera, you might consider his choice of casual wear (read carefully):
How I wish he were enjoying Coca-Cola instead.
What should be your response to the homosexual? Make it a gospel response — confront him with the truth of Scripture that condemns him as a sinner, and point him to the hope of salvation through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
Rick, please study what John MacArthur has to say about the Bible and homosexuality, as well as Hebrews 10:26-31 and I John 3:6. No one can practice or approve of homosexuality and please God. — Sonja Dalton
Center For Morality
2783 Martin Rd.
#327
Dublin, OH 43017
