How McCain Shed Pariah Status Among Evangelicals

From RightWingWatch.org.

That is the title of this good piece by NPR’s Barbara Bradley Hagerty on how John McCain managed to go from reviled enemy of the Religious Right to panderer extraordinaire in just eight years.

Hagerty recounts who McCain openly attacked the Right with his “agents of intolerance” remark back in 2000 and how despite Gary Bauer’s efforts to help him adjust the tone and direction of the attack, there was no confusion on the part of Religious Right leaders regarding what he meant:

But then McCain finally got his act together, started courting them, saying the things they wanted to hear, and finally gave them the VP nominee they had been dreaming of.

In May, McCain began to court the evangelical leaders he had once disdained, with the help of Bauer, his friend and religious insider. All summer, McCain met privately with leaders and stressed his credentials that he is strongly pro-life, anti-same-sex marriage, a religious conservative by record if not by countenance.

Read the rest by clicking here.

Gay Christians are Modern Day Lepers

From DenverPost.com:

Elizabeth Bennett sits in her Denver church contemplating the elephant in the sanctuary that few polite Episcopalians want to mention.

Bennett grew up in the Episcopal church. She sang in the choir. She was married in one and baptized her five children there. Her mother’s ashes are buried under a tree outside an Episcopal church in Massachusetts.

But being openly gay now in the Colorado diocese, she says, is like being given “half-a-loaf acceptance.”

Gays are offered some sacraments but not others.

“I’ve gotten mine. But this is wrong — to go to church, have potlucks and not care about other people’s rights,” said Bennett, 59.

And, she said, the pain of partial acceptance is the pain of rejection.

“There are places in our lives where we truly want to be loved,” Bennett said.

The church’s hope is that a moratorium on blessing gay unions and ordaining openly gay priests — “passionate patience” — will help hold the fracturing American church together and keep it part of the larger, less liberal international Anglican Communion.

The Only Straight Hip-Hop Blog That’s Gay Friendly

Reppin’ homo-hop/gay hip-hop as a straight man is revolutionary, in light of the homophobia in hip-hop. It is also eye-raising and the cause for speculation about one’s sexuality—mine! But I’m not too concerned about that. I’m more concerned about the TRUTH! What is the truth? The truth is that homophobia is the result of a 3,000 year old religious pogrom that the world has bought—hook, line, and sinker!—A big-ass lie that we are forever cosigning in the name of our masculinity and heterosexuality. I don’t care who your favorite rapper is and how much money they’ve got and how many records they sell—If they rap homophobic lyrics they are as ignorant and uninformed and brainwashed and indoctrinated and misinformed and culturally repressed as the day is long!

Contact Khalil at http://www.myspace.com/khalilamani or via email at: Khalilamani@yahoo.com

Khalil Amani

Read more on hoodgrownonline.com - The only straight hip-hop blog that’s gay friendly.

Religions Differing on Gay Marriage

From a post at ontopmag.com.

Mormon leaders asked their California members to “do all you can” to support a gay marriage ban, and Pope Benedict told Catholics gay unions are false and immoral in opposing gay marriage, while Episcopal Bishops in California took an opposing view in the gay marriage debate, calling gay marriage “the principle way” gay couples can show their love, devotion and life-long commitment to each other.

Religious leaders in California, who played a big role in passing a 2000 gay marriage ban, continue to wield tremendous influence on California’s current gay marriage debate.

Read the rest by clicking here.

Opposing Views: Is Homosexuality a Sin?

There has been no shortage of controversy as gay people assume increased roles as parents and married couples in our society, but almost nowhere has this conflict been more intense than in the church. Many religious leaders have condemned homosexuality, calling it a sin or even an abomination, but for millions of gay people around the world, there is nothing inherently sinful about their sexual preferences.

Read more at opposingviews.com.

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