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Elton John, “Banning Religion,” and Criminalizing Christianity
November 16th, 2006If you are banned by the state from acting on your faith and moral beliefs, then you are no longer free.–Peter LaBarbera
The Human Rights Commission said that Brockie’s “rights as a Christian were subordinate to those of homosexuals not to be discriminated against,” and that he “must restrict the practice of Christianity to his home and church, and not take it with him into the public marketplace.”
By Peter LaBarbera
Aging pop star and homosexual Elton John (pictured right with his longtime homosexual partner David Furnish) wants to “ban religion completely” because he says it promotes “hatred and spite against gays” (see Lifesite story below). People of faith are outraged, but do they understand that the homosexual lobby seeks to accomplish part of Elton’s dream–i.e., “banning” the outworking of traditional religion that results in speech and actions opposed to homosexuality?
There is an inherent incompatibility between rights based on homosexuality (“sexual orientation”) and traditional First Amendment and religious freedoms, especially for those who believe homosexual behavior is wrong. For a good book on this, I recommend my friend Janet Folger‘s Criminalizing Christianity, available on her Faith2Action’s website.
Here’s a primer on how “gay” activists and the liberal political allies (including activist judges) are moving to ban the application of religion with regard to homosexuality:
I. Step One in banning religion (critical of homosexuality):
Push Christian and religious speech defending Biblical sexual morality to the fringes; punish it, harass it or outlaw it altogether.
In John’s England, a Christian pro-family advocate, Stephen Green of the group Christian Voice, was recently arrested by the South Wales Police “Minorities Support Unit” simply for passing out a Biblical flier opposed to homosexuality outside a “gay” Mardi Gras event. The charges were dropped, but free speech and religious liberty are in jeopardy in this once-Christian land, with UK police hot on the trail of “homophobic” speech.
Consider the case of 67-year-old Christian street preacher Harry Hammond, a sufferer of Asperger’s Syndrome who in 2001 was holding a sign in the town square of Bournemouth with this horribly subversive message: “Stop Immorality, Stop Homosexuality, Stop Lesbianism.” After Hammond was physically harassed by youths, with water poured on him and mud thrown at him, police arrested him (not the thugs) after receiving complaints from homosexuals about his placard.
Local magistrates found the preacher guilty under a 1986 law of using abusive, threatening or insulting speech that could cause harassment or distress to nearby homosexuals–even though it was Hammond who was harmed! Hammond’s sign was ordered destroyed as if it were a dangerous weapon (which seems to be how radical “queer” activists regard Biblical truth). The case was appealed to a High Court after Hammond died, but according to the Christian Voice, “the Court held that the magistrates were entitled to find the sign to be insulting because it appeared to relate homosexuality and lesbianism to immorality.” Click HERE for another good article about Hammond’s case.
Direct, Biblical speech condemning homosexuality as wrong or–God forbid–leading to hell appears to be the most likely target of “hate crimes” prosecution (or speech likely NOT to be protected by the courts) in these early days of government action protecting homosexuality as a “civil right” or “human right.”
Ralph Ovadal is a man who uses very direct speech to rally the public against the homosexual agenda. In 1996, in Madison, Wisconsin, Ovadal, then with Wisconsin Christians United (WCU), was assaulted while protesting a pro-homosexual event at a local elementary school. Despite the hateful motivation of the assailant (he despised one of the WCU signs, “Homosexuality Is Wrong“), and the existence of a strong “hate crimes” law in Madison, the attacker was never charged with a “hate crime.” Indeed, the battery charge against him was dropped and he received just a slap on the wrist despite the severe injuries caused to Ovadal.
How differently would the case have been handled had it been Ovadal who viciously attacked a homosexual protester?
II. Step Two in banning religion (critical of homosexuality):
Create a definition of the family that is unacceptable to Bible believers and traditional religions, then mandate that all social agencies, corporations and ministries adhere to that state definition.
Earlier this year in Boston, Catholic Charities of Boston announced that it was closing down its adoption agency after 100 years of operation, because the Church could not countenance placing adoptive children in homosexual households, which the Vatican regards as “gravely immoral.” Placing children in homosexual-led homes is required under the state’s pro-“gay” nondiscrimination law.
“Gay” rights trumps common sense, religious freedom and the best interest of children, again.
In California, a state “domestic partnership” (DP) law requires that large companies doing business with the government provide DP coverage for their employees. The state law followed a 1997 law in San Francisco (copied by New York and other major cities) that forced local businesses doing business with the city to carry DP benefits for homosexual couples if they offer benefits for married couples.
If moral-minded businessmen, landlords–and even Christian schools and popular ministries–are forced to recognize and reward sinful homosexual couples, then the practice of their religion has been banned in this key area of their life.
III. Step Three in banning religion (critical of homosexuality):
Add homosexuality (“sexual orientation”) and gender confusion (“gender identity”) to the list of criteria for “civil rights” laws–and “diversity” policies in corporations. Then enforce these laws and policies against Christians, chipping away at the concept of religious exemptions.
Universities like Ohio State and Arizona State, citing their school’s “sexual orientation” nondiscrimination codes, have asserted that homosexual students have the right hold to leadership positions in campus Christian groups despite the “gay” students’ refusal to sign a Christian Statement of Faith (part of which proscribes homosexual practice). It is interesting to note that the campus ministries are willing to let homosexual students attend their meetings but not to assume leadership roles if they reject the group’s core beliefs.
Seems reasonable to me: do I have a “right” to be on the Board of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force?
Read the rest of this article »
‘Gay’ Hero Frank Kameny Calls Believers “Christianofascists”; Library of Congress Honors “Gay Is Godly” Atheist
November 15th, 2006By Peter LaBarbera
The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, a leftist homosexual organization, honored Frank Kameny at its 2006 Creating Change conference Nov. 8-12 in Kansas City, Missouri. At the event, Kameny referred to Christians with venom, calling them “Christianofascists” and “nutty fundamentalists,” according to an Americans For Truth reporter who attended the conference and heard his acceptance speech.
The author of the “gay is good” slogan, Kameny–whose papers have just been accepted by the Library of Congress and the National Museum of American History–also told conference attendees that “gay is moral and virtuous,” as part of his ongoing crusade to redefine ancient moral truths through catchy activist slogans.
I’ve known Kameny for years. I respect his zeal, but loathe his ideology, just as he loathes mine. He is brilliant but wasted his considerable intellect and talents on homosexual activism, which is a shame. Like others in the pro-family movement, I have been on the receiving end of Kameny’s angry and pointed letters, or should I say screeds, in which–if my memory serves–he would repeat his patented slogan, “Gay is good,” followed by, “Gay is godly. You are neither.” Kameny is a feisty old bird who agreed to sit down with me and Ken Ervin for an extended interview back when Ken and I were both working at Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. One of the things we learned in that interview is that Kameny is an atheist, which makes his “gay is godly” assertion a tad disingenuous. But hey, anything to advance the homosexual cause, right?
From the Smithsonian website: Dr. Franklin Kameny presents a picket sign to Brent D. Glass, Director of the National Museum of American History and Harry Rubenstein, Chair and Curator, Division of Politics and Reform, National Museum of American History. Photo: Harold Dorwin
We’ll have more about Frank Kameny later, but suffice it to say that this man with a penchant for anti-Christian bigotry and questionable sloganeering does not deserve to be honored as a “civil rights” pioneer by America’s national library. Somehow my mind just can’t get around the idea of putting Dr. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks and Harriet Tubman in the same category, historically speaking, with a homosexual and “fervent atheist” who says “gay is godly” and “gay is moral and virtuous,” just to sock it to the Christians.
TAKE ACTION – If you agree that Frank Kameny’s dishonorable legacy and outspoken bigotry against Christians is not worthy to stand alongside the noble legacy of great Americans like Frederick Douglass, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, please call or write these officials:
Library of Congress
Dr. James H. Billingham, Librarian of Congress
LM-608
101 Independence Ave, SE
Washington, DC 20540
phone – (202) 707-5205
fax – (202) 707-1714
Contact via e-mailSmithsonian National Museum of American History
Brent Glass, Director and
Richard Darman, Board Chairman
phone – (202) 633-3129
Contact via e-mail
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Catholic High School Fires Lesbian; Homosexual Activist Implies That Should Be Illegal
November 15th, 2006Note the reaction in bold below of veteran Detroit homosexual activist Jeffrey Montgomery to the news that a CATHOLIC high school had fired a lesbian school guard after the woman revealed her homosexuality. Montgomery implies that if Michigan had a statewide “sexual orientation” law, such an action would have been illegal. So much for the school’s freedom of religion.
Charlene Genther as an open lesbian has no more of a right to work at a Catholic high school after publicly snubbing Catholic moral teachings than I have a right to work for Montgomery’s radical homosexual outfit, the Triangle Foundation.
Lesson here: don’t believe it when “gay” activists say that their agenda does not threaten your religious freedom or, ultimately, your church.—Peter LaBarbera
Excerpted from Catholic School Fires Gay Guard, published Oct 19, 2006, by Detroit Free Press:
A gay-rights advocacy organization is denouncing the firing of a campus safety officer at Marian High School, saying she was dismissed because she publicized that she’s a lesbian.
“It’s a horrible lesson to the young women at that school,” said Jeffrey Montgomery, executive director of the Triangle Foundation in Detroit.
The officer, Charlene Genther, 55, was in her sixth year at the Catholic, college-preparatory school for girls. A former Detroit police officer, she has a daughter who graduated from the Bloomfield Township school in 2001.
Her firing has prompted Marian alumnae to action. A petition at www.petitionspot.com/petitions/genther that seeks an apology for Genther and the gay and lesbian community had gathered 136 signatures by Wednesday.
Genther said Wednesday that she has been in a committed relationship for 28 years and that it was no surprise to anyone at the school that she is a lesbian. She and her partner often attended school events, chaperoned dances and went to parent-teacher conferences.
But last week, when she began publicizing her autobiography, “Badge 3483: A True Story,” which addresses the relationship, she was fired.
Genther said Sister Lenore Pochelski, the school’s president, gave her the news Friday, two hours after a local newspaper reporter interviewed her about the book. She said Pochelski said she wouldn’t have gotten fired if she hadn’t gone public with the book.
“She was very clear,” Genther said. “She said it was because my lifestyle does not coincide with the teachings of the Catholic Church. I personally felt she was having a hard time firing me. …
…Montgomery said Genther’s firing illustrates the lack of protections against discrimination that gays have in Michigan. “In Michigan it is not against the law to discriminate against gay people. You can be fired if you’re gay. You can be refused public accommodations. There is no protection against discrimination.”
Republican Party + Homosexuals = Anti-Life
November 15th, 2006From Republican Party + Homosexuals = Anti-Life, by Jill Stanek, published Nov 15, 2006, by WorldNet Daily:
I wrote in my previous column that revelations during the final weeks of the autumn 2006 election season shifted my thinking on why national Republican Party leaders have been reticent to advance the life issue.
It may be too easy to dismiss them as cowards. It may well be they are compromised.
…The revelations about the GOP were of corruption and homosexuality among legislators and influential staff.In October, while Mark Foley’s homosexual and pedophiliac proclivities were coming to light, gay activists circulated a paper called “The List” to conservative groups outing several high ranking queer GOP staffers, some who worked for conservative legislators.
It’s easy to connect dots between corruption and ideological concession, but it may not be so easy to connect dots between homosexuality and same, specifically the sanctity of life.
But the homosexual and abortion lobbies are evil twins with the same agenda. Both want the freedom to commit illicit sex without physical or moral consequences.
Read the rest of this article »
Are We Sinning Yet?
November 14th, 2006“But sexual immorality…must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.” – Ephesians 5:3-4
“Are we sinning yet?” Yes, you are. – Sonja Dalton
Excerpted from Are We Sinning Yet?, published Nov 8, 2006, by Reuters:
The United Church of Canada hopes an ad featuring a can of whipped cream and the question, “How much fun can sex be before it’s a sin?” will fill its pews as Christmas nears…
The C$10.5 million ($9.3 million) campaign targets 30- to 45-year-olds and rotates six images though December issues of Canadian magazines and newspapers as well as Web sites.
One asks, “Does anyone object?” to an image of two plastic toy grooms on a wedding cake…
The United Church of Canada has a declining active membership of about 573,000, although almost 3 million people have some sort of affiliation with the church. Between 1994 and 2004, membership dropped about 20 percent, according to church statistics.
Last month, the church issued a statement defending federal legislation that allows same-sex marriage.
LISTEN ONLINE: Why Wasn’t the Murder of Mary Stachowicz a “Hate Crime”?
November 14th, 2006Originally broadcast on the fourth anniversary of Mary Stachowicz’s murder, Peter LaBarbera addresses the contrast between how the media covered Matthew Shephard’s murder and how they covered the murder of Mary Stachowicz, a pious Catholic, by a violent homosexual.
Crosstalk Radio with Jim Schneider
To listen, click HERE.
DePaul Catholic University Holds Conference to Focus on Pro-Homosexual Teaching, Curriculum
November 14th, 2006Excerpted from DePaul U. Blasted for Scheduling Pro-Homosexual Conference, by Jim Brown, published Nov 14, 2006, by Agape Press:
The nation’s largest Catholic university is under fire over its plan to host a conference aimed at expanding homosexuality-affirming teaching and curriculum on Catholic university campuses.
Next October DePaul University in Chicago will be hosting a two-day conference for professors and staff who are involved with “lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or queer” issues on Catholic campuses. The first “Out There” conference was held at Santa Clara University in 2005 and reportedly attracted 150 participants from more than 40 colleges and universities.
Patrick Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society (CNS), a Catholic renewal group, says he is very troubled by the event and its location.
“The approach that these people are taking is to accept — and in some cases even endorse — the homosexual lifestyle and build an academic curriculum around the homosexual culture as if it’s a distinctive and worthy culture to be studied,” notes Reilly. “And that’s obviously a serious concern for Catholics.”
TAKE ACTION – The Cardinal Newman Society is calling on DePaul president Thomas Holtschneider to drop the plan to host the pro-homosexual conference in October 2007.
DePaul University
1 E. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60604
312-362-8000
1-800-4DEPAUL
Read the rest of this article »
Wal-Mart Contributes 5% Of Online Sales Via DC Homosexual Community Center Website
November 14th, 2006A hat tip to our friends at American Family Association:
In a show of support to help homosexuals legalize same-sex “marriage,” Wal-Mart has agreed to automatically donate 5% of online sales directly to the Washington DC Community Center for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender People. The cash donation will come from all online purchases made at Wal-Mart through the homosexual group’s web site. This move follows Wal-Mart’s joining the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and agreeing to give generous financial help to that group.
AFA says that Wal-Mart also gave a generous cash donation to the Northwest Arkansas GLBT Community Center.
AFA is calling for a boycott of Wal-Mart on the Friday following Thanksgiving, which is typically the biggest shopping day of the year.
To sign a pledge to participate in the one-day boycott,
click HERE.
Note from Americans for Truth – Wal-Mart is not the only company participating in this program. Other familiar retailers include:
- 1-800-Flowers (6%)
- Amazon (5%)
- Avon (8%)
- Barnes and Noble (5%)
- Disney Store (5%)
- FTD (6%)
- Gap (5%)
- Hallmark (12%)
- Office Max (4%)
- REI (5%)
- Staples (3%)
- Toys R Us (via Amazon, 5%)
- Verizon Online DSL ($40)
For a complete list of companies donating money from purchases to promote homosexuality, click HERE.
Center For Morality
2783 Martin Rd.
#327
Dublin, OH 43017
