Dave Welch, head of the religious–right group Houston Area Pastor Council, is obsessed with homosexuality and, especially, Houston’s openly lesbian mayor, Annise Parker. As Houstonians prepare to head to the polls for local elections next month, Welch is promoting a web video about Mayor Parker’s “GLBT agenda for Houston.” The video includes various clips and quotes from Parker, who is seeking re-election. Repeated twice (and in slow-motion) is a scene in which the mayor leans over to (gasp!) peck her life-partner on the cheek on inauguration day a couple of years ago. The video treats that touching and very G-rated moment almost as if the audience had witnessed a live, woman-on-woman porn scene on stage. (Mayors gone wild!) In today’s email promoting the video, Welch shrieks that Houston has become a “sin-sick” city:
It is astounding to have to say that most Houston citizens – including most Christians and pastors – are still unaware of the radical nature of Mayor Annise Parker’s commitment to imposing the full “San Francisco Style” Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, etc. agenda. … We have a sin-sick city and we need the power of God through Jesus Christ changing lives and changing City Hall!
As hate-videos go, this one is relatively tame. But it’s filled with the usual kind of out-of-context quotes, supposed-to-be-scary innuendos and other nonsense we’ve come to expect from the religious right. Houstonians rejected this kind of bigotry when they elected Parker as their mayor two years ago, and Welch has never gotten over it. So he’s trotting out the same poisonous and divisive rhetoric again.
Just more of the same, sick, sad and self-serving BS from the religious right and they still can’t see they’re on the wrong side of history and progress towards an egalitarian society as it should be in America. Religion sucks!
There is more to Gay bashing than “religious” reasons account for in Houston. The Houston Police Department is encouraged by Gay bash activists in the District Attorney’s office and freely allow HPD officers to single out gays for special attention in accordance with old style homophobia and over compensationalism.
In part, this is HPD’s way to flip the Bird at the Mayor, and to spite the forces within HPD to modernize from Cracker Central.
We keep doing this; and they keep doing that. These fundamentalists are slaves to superstition and nothing is ever going to make them capable of the critical thinking necessary to appreciate how misguided they are. They lack the intellectual curiosity to ever get close to reality. It is this lack of curiosity that, at least in part, is why they are fundamentalists in the first place.
What is next ,I wonder? Does he want to bring back burning people at the stake. Or how about life imprisment ? Interment camps? Kill on sight order? Thats where this type of hate will,has,is leading.
I believe some clarification is in order.
First of all, homosexuality is flat out perversion of a natural law. Homosexuals cannot reproduce. That is plain as day. It is a sexual sin which has unique consequences all its own.
And now for the religious arguments: No true born again Christian can defend homosexuality as not 8 times in the Bible homosexuality is mentioned and all 8 are in an extremely negative light.
Starting with Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13-16 which calls it detestable and then equates it with having sexual relations with an animal. In Ancient Israel these things were abominations and capital crimes.
Genesis 19 and story of Sodom and Gomorah. Hence the term “sodomy” and that region of world has never recovered from the fire and brimstone.
That is the Old Testament: The New Testament has its own words. Starting with Ist Timothy 1:8-10 and homosexuals are put in the same boat with murderers, thieves and others. So a homosexual has some good company as far as sinfulness goes.
Then Jude 7 which talks about men going after “strange flesh” and refers to Sodom and Gomorrah
Ist Corinthians 6 6-9 lists all kinds of sins practiced that will keep people out of heaven and homosexuality is on the list. So practicing homosexuals aren’t Christian and will be burned in eternal damnation.
Then finally one of the most famous passages about homosexuality, Romans 1. In it it talks about the wrath of God and and that homosexuality is not only a sin but a resulting consequence of sin. A judicial act by where God turns one over to that gross perverted lifestyle.
Homosexuality shows a blatant unbelief towards God and His righteousness and authority. People who are homosexuals have that and have progressed down the Romans 1 path where God pours out His anger.
All that said, Christ did die for all sins and so if a homosexual comes to the cross and asks forgiveness and turns away from the lifestyle, he will be saved but he must cease the practice.
The issue for homosexuals is not with any person but with God for He has so decreed homosexuality a sin. If someone homosexual wants to argue about it he/she needs to take it up with the Holy God of the uniververse who has declared it sin and a totally detestable one at that.
I wipe my filthy, diarrhea stained buttocks on the pristine white beard of the demon god who ‘said’ this:
“If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.”–Deuteronomy 25:11
Now they can tell me what disgusting really is.
RtRev, is your street name Poe, perchance?
Homosexuals cannot reproduce. That is plain as day.
I don’t find that “plain” at all – it’s absolutely untrue. People who have never once engaged in hetero sex or in artificial insemination tend to not reproduce, with a couple of likely mythical exceptions. I have known both gay men and lesbians who are biological parents.
<i.In Ancient Israel these things were abominations
As were eating catfish and shrimp. I don’t live in Ancient Israel, and I doubt that you do, either.
RtRev,
For people who aren’t Christians—which is roughly two-thirds of the earth’s population—your ramblings about your bible are meaningless. Further, for many of your own fellow Christians, your ramblings are also meaningless. They are embarrassed by your intolerance and ignorance. Basically, you sound like a hateful person who is afraid of people who are different than you. Fortunately, each new generation is more enlightened and tolerant than you are. Religious zealotry will slowly fade away, until wingnuts like you are just a shameful blight on our history. You are, of course, welcome to your opinion, but normal people will rejoice when we no longer have to listen to rants from extremists.
It isn’t extreme, it is what the Scripture says it is. Take it up with God. Sin is sin. Homosexuality is sin.
Go to the Dead Sea and see what God Himself did with Sodom and Gomorrah. I would challenge anyone to go to their Bible. It would be the same as any other sin which is falling short of the Glory of God.
For the people who aren’t Christians, they are at emnity with God anyway and can’t understand scripture since it is spiritually discerned.
“Take it up with God.”
Which one? Can I take it up with Zeus? He’s as real as the one you fawn over.
Perhaps Houston would not be such a sick city were Dave Welch to leave. To the Rt. Rev.: I recommend you read the rest of Leviticus and see how you would like to live by the admonitions in it.
It isn’t extreme, it is what the Scripture says it is.
Homosexuality? Or eating shrimp and catfish? Or going to Red Lobster and being served by a gay waiter?
Problem is with the gays are they need to be discreet. I don’t hire a plumber based on whether or not he is gay. But to suggest that people taunt and flaunt their behaviors and then order acceptance is wrong. I don’t care anymore for people who talk about their extramarital affairs. It is all sin and all will be judged by God. “GOD WILL JUDGE THE SEXUALLY IMMORAL”. That akes in fornicators, adulterers, homosexuals as well as others.
To demand CHristians to be tolerant is for yourselves to be intolerant. The Bible clearly instructs Christians to make moral judgements and to stay away from certain types of people. .That said, Christians do not have the right to mistreat anyone. I will call homosexulaity the sin and moral and natural perversion it is but I would never malign or mistreat them.
Also, Jesus Christ fulfilled the law and the New Testament is as condeming of homosexuality as the Old.
There is only one true God. And He will judge all of mankind as he has in the past. Read Romans 1 18-32. That should anwer the questions.
Pray that anyone out there comes to Christ and His finished work on the cross and to experience healing and freedom from sins whether they be homosexuality, adultery, stealing or whatever.
I am a sinner saved by grace just like any other Christian.
RtRev says: “I will call homosexulaity the sin and moral and natural perversion it is but I would never malign or mistreat them. ”
You mean, like you’re doing now?
RT Rev,
Why do you suposse it is that the Bible is always invoked when discussing a topic such as gay marriage? It’s an issue that should be determined based purely on the United States Constitution. And the Bible and the Constitution are apples and oranges, they have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Our government was designed to be a 100% secular institution. That is why the 1st Amendment clearly states that “Congress shall make no law establishing religion.” If you want to ban gay marriage find a legitimate legal reason to do so. “The Bible says it’s a sin” is not a legitimate reason. And if you think it is then you are basically saying “I have a better political mind than the brilliant James Madison, who wrote the 1st Amendment. My accumlated wisdom exceeds that of all of our founding fathers combined. They were wrong in creating a secular goverment, I know better than they what is good for America.” Build your case and run it up the flag pole pal. See how many Americans you can find to salute you.
Who am I mistreating? Just calling a spade a spade. I don’t agree with abortion rights people but I don’t shoot them and blow up clinics. I will call abortion sin because blood is shed and I believe that those people are cold blooded murderers.
There are many things I don’t care for but if they are legal, they are legal. Im not interested in changing the constitution of the US but as a Christian when something is out of whack morally and ethically then I will say something not to try and force people to change but to express a view that does exist.
Now if Christians can’t do that then the intolerant ones are the ones who decry what they say and want to take awy free speech.
Apart from Jesus Christ no one makes to heaven. Now if that is intolerant, then talk to God about it. Or Jesus because He said it. (John 14:6)
Or we suppose Jesus said this, based on some obscure Quelle, found many years after his death.
Rt Rev. You are neither right, nor or you reverent. One of the Ten Commandments is judge not lest you be judged. You have broken a commandment, plain and simple. However, I do not recall any of the other nine commandments condemning homosexuality, Additionally, Jesus is quoted only in six books of the New Testament. I suggest you go back and reread the Rubrics. Isn’t it odd how Jesus Christ never mentioned one word against homosexuality? Of the eight places in Scripture that admonish homosexuality, six have been proven to have had absolutely NOTHING to do with homosexuality, Yet in 362 passages of Scripture, heterosexuality is admonished 362 times. Please explain. Perhaps you can shed more light on this over Biblical Scholars and Canon Lawyers. Oh, and by the way, RtRev, I suggest you read ‘Hamlet’, when Queen Gertrude turns to her lover and say “The Lady Doth Protest too much, methinks.” You do prove the fact that homophobes make the best homosexuals.
Amazing how people die in the streets from hunger, homelessness; how many die in senseless wars, most of which have been caused at the hands of religion, particularly Christianity, at murders, rapes, and assaults on the poor, but you and other hate-mongers like you are busy trying to rid your city of homosexuals. I suggest you start in your own closet. You just may find a log in there much bigger than the splinter in the eyes of those you seek to condemn.
“Now if Christians can’t do that then the intolerant ones are the ones who decry what they say and want to take awy free speech.”
Nobody is taking away your free speech. In fact, TFN is giving you a platform here on their blog. Probably because you are a good reminder of what sort of bigoted, narrow-minded thinking still exists on our planet. You truly are a ridiculous spectacle. Maybe you are a Poe, as suggested above, but I don’t think so. That’s the whole point. Hard to tell a Poe from a legitimate nutcase.
Rev somebody once said “religion is a good thing for good people and a bad thing for bad people.” And you’re a fantatic example of how very correct that axiom truly is. Congrats! Now you best be getting down to the business of asking your personal savior for forgiveness for such rottenness.
You misuse the words homophobe. That means we are all scared of the same thing. And homosexuals aren’t afraid of God otherwise they wouldn’t be homosexuals. Also, Judge not lest ye be judged is not one of the Ten Commandmensts and as is usually the case unbelievers misuse scripture because of their unbelief and total lack of understanding. The Bible would call that willfull ignorance. Read Romans 1.
But I have grown tired of this fiddle dee dee as continuing to discuss this is like casting pearls before swine, something else the scripture tells Christians not to do.
When I was training in Seminary I was taught never to share or even offer a compelling argument with a religious fundamentalist, particularly one who is bigot. Last night I cast my pearls for which I feel some regret.
Irrespective, he has done what fundamentalists are conditioned to do, beg the question at all cost by any and all available means, including, but not limited to ,skirting the issues, changing the subject, reversing the thought, and good old argumentium ad hominem abusive, which is classic fundamentism at its finest. Belittling the other person, which only winds up making him look terribly foolish. Notice his inability to confront the truths about lack of Christ mentioning homosexuality in the Rubrics, and no mention of the same through the Ten Commandments.
His lack of a premise, concomitant his poor syntax, existential fallacies all lead to one thing; he is a hate-mongering homophobic. Yet it is he who does not understand the the term homophobic, which by definition is someone who is terrified of his/her own sexuality, ergo, a latent homosexual himself, lest he would not be so fanatical.
Fundamentalism began in the mid to late 1900’s as at the end of The Civil War as a vehicle of hate-mongering toward African-Americans freed from the sin of slavery, and flamed by the KuKluxKlan, since the two are historically intertwined. After the 1960’s when their churches were no longer allowed to be segregated and Jim Crow laws overturned, they had to find a new sacrificial lamb, which has turned out to be homosexuals. Persecution is a requirement in order to earn what the fundamentalist perceive as frequent flier points to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. We are best simply ignoring this poor little soul and let him continue his hysterically sad running commentaries and let us discuss the real issues.
Ad infinitum ad nausaem
The Rev. is tired of casting hi8s pearls before swine. Well speaking as one of that august group – Oink, Oink.
RtRev would fit right in at Westboro Baptist.
Oink?
I haven’t laughed that well all day.
Anytime anyone tries to make the “homosexuality is wrong because it’s unnatural” argument, the first thing I always think is this:
Vasectomies aren’t natural either. Men who get vasectomies can’t reproduce. Where’s the outrage against that?
It’s too bad the poor RtRev (who is neither) didn’t learn that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah was about the sin of inhospitality , and had nothing to do with any sort of illicit sex acts, straight or gay.
Classical Jewish texts are seen by many[weasel words][who?] as not stressing the homosexual aspect of the attitude of the inhabitants of Sodom as much as their cruelty and lack of hospitality to the “stranger.”[22] The Jewish Encyclopaedia[23] has information on the importance of hospitality to the Jewish people. The people of Sodom were seen as guilty of many other significant sins. Rabbinic writings affirm that the Sodomites also committed economic crimes, blasphemy and bloodshed.[24] One of the worst was to give money or even gold ingots to beggars, after inscribing their names on them, and then subsequently refusing to sell them food. The unfortunate stranger would end up starving and after his death, the people who gave him the money would reclaim it.
The Christian view in Mainline Protestant Christian, Anglican, Roman Catholic and Eastern Rites embrace the following:
The nonsexual view focuses on the cultural importance of hospitality, which this biblical story shares with other ancient civilizations, such as Greece and Rome, where hospitality was of singular importance and strangers were under the protection of the gods.[40]
The orthodox position does not deny this important cultural aspect, but tends to see the refusal to repent as being the main issue behind Jesus’s condemnation, with this being causative of the particular inhospitality shown by the cities Jesus referred to. In addition, they see the information regarding Sodom as best indicating that forced perverse sex was the specific means of inhospitality, and the primary physical sin of Sodom.
I bet some of you were wondering what I think of this thread, or maybe you were not:
1) Gary. The important thing you have to understand is that the “Mainline Protestant Christian, Anglican, Roman Catholic and Eastern Rites” churches are not really churches. They are apostate servants of Satan and have no ability to understand holy scripture. The true meaning of scripture must be spiritually discerned by those select few who have been “specially endowed” from on high. Because these organizations have not the right spirit, they cannot correctly understand the meaning of what they read in the Bible. This means a saved backwoods man with two teeth and a 5th grade education can understand more Bible in 15 minutes by simply reading it than the head of the Duke University School of Divinity can understand in 50 years of hard study and prayer to a God who does not hear him.
2) While homosexuality is indeed sinful from a Biblical perspective and not okay, it is more tolerable if news of its existence is not made public. However, it is okay to write cryptic notes about it on restroom stall walls, but that is about it. Gayness has always existed in the United States, but throughout our history it has been kept very quiet, under wraps, and in the background, which was acceptable to the “true” Christian community. In other words, God and his people only become angry about it when word of its existence leaves the closet and becomes widespread public knowledge. You see. We are living in the end times, and we need to do all that is possible to avert wrath from on high. The level and widespread scope of “gayness knowledge” in our country is now so vast and out in the open that God may notice it and punish us for what he sees. For example, the Lord may suddenly withhold a protection and allow the wicked United Nations to establish a “one-world” government that would forever destroy the sovereignty of the United States and pave a golden road for the advent of the Anti-Christ, who would heap unspeakable horrors upon all of the people left behind.
3) We do not these days hear so much as we once did about “fearing the Lord.” Now some in the apostate churches have misinterpreted that phrase to mean simply “be respectable and polite” to God. That is not what it means. It means what it says. Be scared. Be frightened. Shake in your shoes day and night for fear of what he might do to you. And this applies to “true” Christians as well. Yes, there is grace, but you have to understand that God is a hard and cold man by nature. The Bible says so. He has no sense of humor. He can save your soul by grace to be sure, but he can still take away your promised heavenly rewards. For example, if he has gone to heaven to prepare a mansion for you, you might end up with a grass hut. It is fine and righteous to be saved by grace, but there is much more to be done. I speak of “HOLINESS.”
4) Immediately upon being saved by grace, a man must place his nose to the grindstone (and make it bloody if necessary) in a lifelong attempt to make himself holy in this life. Holiness has to do with cleanness. The cleaner you are—the holier you are. This is what is meant by the old saw “Cleanliness is next to Godliness.” This means that all sin (both known and unknown) must be found and totally purged from the life of the believer on a minute-by-minute basis in this life. The best approach to doing this, if you can find the time, is to get a good copy of the Authorized King James Bible (the only true Bible) and start on the first page of Genesis. Your goal is to take each verse in the Bible, read its content (the Lord will show it), and then restate that content as a law that must be obeyed. By the time you get back to Alpha and Omega at the end of the Bible, you will have generated 10,000 – 50,000 laws that you must follow each day to make the Lord happy with you and keep his wrath at bay. You need to measure yourself against as many laws as you can each day, and if you find yourself falling short in any way, then you need to redouble your efforts to make yourself clean. Along the way, you may feel guilt each day–perhaps great guilt. You may feel small and insignificant. You may be frightened a lot. Your life may feel miserable. You may have trouble smiling or laughing. Just remember: “Holiness is serious business!!!” In the midst of it all, try to remember that this quest for holiness is the liberty that Jesus has bought for you, and any suffering you may feel day-in and day-out will be rewarded—as long as you obey those 10,000 laws as perfectly as possible each day.
5) Finally, I have heard it said that a God that would send a man to Hell, burn all of his flesh off in agony, reassemble all of that flesh on him, and burn it all off again—and do it over, and over, and over again for all eternity—would be a criminal worse than Hannibal Lechter. On the surface, this appears to make God look bad in the public eye. However, the thing you have to understand is how clean God is. To understand his degree of cleanness is to understand how righteous and loving Hell really is. God is more clean than anyone can imagine. He is cleaner than just clean. He is super-dooper clean. Mr. Clean is millions of light years away from this level of being clean. When you are that clean—just utterly and totally clean—even a bit of dirt 100 billion light years smaller than a hydrogen atom is sufficient cause to justify Hell, which is really getting off easy in proportion to the utter cleanness of the Lord.
5)
(Leviticus 25:44-46 NLT)
However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way.
(Exodus 21:20-21 NAB)
When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod so hard that the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. If, however, the slave survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property.
Hey rev, so slavery is A-ok, but gay people arent?
Beverly Kurtin,
In your role as a Jewish person (whether it be religious, cultural, or both), I would be interested in your thoughts about the “cultural take” on the “nature of God” that Christian fundamentalists and conservative evangelicals appear to have formulated for themselves on the back side of the Appalachians during reading breaks from building their log houses.
My take on it is something like this:
God is seen as a long-bearded old man wrapped in a white sheet who spends long hours in front of a spiritual mirror admiring and preening himself. He is also incredibly neurotic—spending vast reaches of time worrying about how totally clean he is and how long he can fend off the dirt in the universe, which he just happens to have created and called good. Then there is the matter of a strange substance called “glory.” He places great value on this substance and worries minute-in and minute-out that 0.0000000000000000000000000000000001 percent of this vital substance might stealthily slip away when he is not looking. So, he dipsticks himself every few minutes just to make sure the amount of glory he had a few minutes ago is all still there. In addition, his greatest goal in life is to acquire as much of this rare substance that he can possibly find–almost to the point of avarice. Oddly enough, even though he is in control of our entire universe and all its 49 parallel dimensions, this rare substance called “glory” can only be obtained from human beings who are very unclean. He also seems to spend an lot of his time being angry and destroying things. Taking the package as a whole, he seems to be an entity that desperately needs to schedule an appointment with a good psychiatrist.
What do you think about that?
In other words, Chuck;s god is better than anyone else’s god? To stand in condemnation of mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Rite traditions and calling them an apostate and satanic, tells me that he is Pentecostal, Full Gospel. Amazing that few if any of their adherents are even taught where the origin of their namesake came from;
Pente meaning ‘fifty’ in Greek and Kost, which in Greek means Day. Ergo, they are a spln-off from the free church movement. However, standing in condemnation, doesn’t that mean that Chuck is judging others and their religion? If so, didn’t he just break one of God’s Holy ordinances, a commandment?
Gee, I don’t remember one of the Ten Commandments saying anything about homosexuality, however.
It truly amazes me how Chuck infers that one has to be anointed by God in order to discern scriptures. Isn’t that what Roman Catholocism did until the Renaissance, not letting the common man read scripture, and allowing only the few “anointed’ to interpret for the masses? So in other words, Chuck’s faith is based on traditions established by Roman Catholocism hundreds of years ago; controlling the population by telling them how and how not to believe.
It’s incongruent with Jesus’ teaching of a new covenant and with free will to claim certain people have been anointed to interpret for the masses. I thought that Christianity only Jesus had been anointed. and not Hagge, Robertson or Swaggert as they so desperately want others to believe.
Chuckles’ arguments are compelling. They compel the argument that C.K. Chesterton said more than a century ago: “It’s not that Christianity has been unsuccessful, it’s just never been tried,”
Maybe the rest of you guys here could “clue in” newbie Gary K. about Charles.
I do not feel up to it right now—cleaning up the house and getting ready for the big college football game. The big question: Will the VOLS wear their famous but rare black and orange Halloween Jerseys against the Gamecocks tonight like they did 2 years ago? Tune in to ESPN 2 at about 7:00 p.m. EDT tonight and find out.
Gary K, you might have misunderstood Charles’ comment. He was being facetious.
Don’t I feel like the clown. Buttinsky will now butt-outsky
It seems, in reading through the various comments appended to the original piece, that many feel that homosexuality is a choice, and thus a sin. If we take the view that a person does not willfully become a homosexual then it is no more a sin than having diabetes or being born left-handed. I do agree with the Reverend in one respect – I do not countenance flaunting in public their difference with heterosexuals. We left-handers do not feel the need to dress in gaudy costumes and march down the middle of Market Street to show that we are somehow different but equal.
Don’t “butt-outsky” Gary. Welcome. I am one of the regulars here like Ben. Stick around for a while and enjoy/participate in the conversation.
A question though if anyone wants to respond:
I have been very busy at work in the past several weeks, basically working all day, evenings, and whole weekends, even evenings on those whole weekends. Just from reading the posts, I have “Donna Garnered” that some sort of SBOE election must be close at hand. I have also noted a marked increase in the number of posts here. Is there an SBOE election sometime soon? What date? I don’t live in Texas, but I would like to stay on top of it from now on. When is this election—if there is one soon?
All 15 State Board of Education seats in Texas are up for election in 2012. The party primaries are in March, and the general election is in November. Those elections will be critical to the future of public education in Texas. TFN will be posting updates about candidates, events and issues here on our blog and on our main website, http://www.tfn.org. After the elections, SBOE members will draw straws to see who starts with a two-year term and who gets a four-year term. Then the elections from 2014 to 2020 (in even-numbered years) will be staggered, with about half of the members (seven or eight each time) up for election every two years.
Charles’ blogs may have been facetious, however when written so convincingly that he sounds like a rambling conservative moron, then what is this or any “newbie” to think? I am not amused,
It’s okay Gary. I am sure you are a very capable and intelligent person. Quit kicking yourself for no good reason—and if you think an apology is in order—please kindly accept one from me. I apologize to Gary for sounding like a “rambling conservative moron.” If it is any consolation to you, I can explain why it was possible for me to do that.
I have studied the so-called Religious Right for many years—usually with my fingers pinching my nostrils shut—as well as the homegrown American religious traditions that gave rise to it. In addition to all of that, I work as a professional editor, writer, environmental scientist, and anthropologist/archaeologist. On top of that, I am a member of the mainline Christian denomination known as the United Methodist Church. Pat Robertson thinks we are the “spirit of the Anti-Christ.” That’s a quote. Put all of that together in a mixing bowl, stir vigorously, and you will understand exactly how I could write the above item and sound exactly like a “rambling conservative moron.” You might call him the Wrong Reverend Jedadiah Jeremiah Bleak:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWSL-4D5z3M&feature=related
Please forgive me for not editing my posts very much. When you spend each day correcting writing for other folks, the last thing you want to do in the evening is correct more writing—even if it is your own—so I just write as a free spirit here and hope that TFN will tolerate me.
Again. Welcome Gary.
Charles,
Apology accepted, but not required. Please keep in mind that the religious right and other hate groups to the the far right regularly inflitrate sites such as this to inflame progressive thinking individuals. It is only natural that your comments would have been taken in that light, not altogether different than a 21century blog of Orsen Wells’ War of the Worlds broadcast. Irrespective, we should move ahead working together for the common cause of helping people think outside the prison cell of the religious right.
You have shed light on your comment about Duke University’s School of Divinity. Although I am not United Methodist, I have an MDiv., and can attest to that Duke’s Divinity Program is exceptional. In terms of Robertson calling the UMC the Anti-Christ, he is wrong. The United Methodist Church is a great denomination trying to find its way back to their Oxford Movement roots and the Book of Common Prayer. (laughing out loud, of course.) However, as I recall Scary Perry the GOP Fairy is also United Methodist. And wasn’t it Old Norman who was quoted in the film” A River Runs Through It ” :…. “A Methodist is a Baptist who can read,”
Then again a Presbyterian is a just rich Methodist, and an Episcopalian is a Presbyterian whose stock options paid off, and a cradle Episcopalian is just a rich Catholic who flunked Latin. At least the old Episcopalians, know when to stand, sit and kneel. All in jest, of course.
I will continue to read your blogs with gusto. Please expect me to either feed into their frenzy, or go in to attack mode, depending on which of my personalties shows up that day.
Best regards on Eve of all Hallows
St Gary the Gregarous,
Undiscovered Martyr and Patron Saint of liberal causes everywhere and a heretic to the religious right.
Entertaining thread.
Thank you, thank you.. I’m here every night this week……..
Try the veal.
Ben, if there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s someone who slow on the take. ROTFLMAOAICGU.
Thank gawd for Cecile Richards!