Thanks, Keith

You would do well to spend twelve minutes with Keith Olbermann:




h/t Aric

Sphere: Related Content

I love you, California; I just can't help loving you

Everybody sing. The lyrics. The tune.

Sphere: Related Content

More Light and CovNet Agree on GA Strategy

More Light Presbyterians and the Covenant Network of Presbyterians are in agreement at this year's PC(USA) General Assembly. I am thrilled about that. Covenant Network has announced its recommendations which include:

1. Approve the overtures designed to support the 217th GA’s approval of the authoritative interpretation of G-6.0108.
2. Issue an Authoritative Interpretation making it clear that the “definitive guidance” statements that preceded G-6.0106b, and the subsequent affirmations of them, have no force or effect.
3. Send to the presbyteries an amendment of G-6.0106b that would remove the provisions aimed at excluding LGBT persons from ordained service.
   

Now we are getting somewhere. You can read More Light's recommendations here.

Sphere: Related Content

Grateful for Support Group

Here is a wonderful letter from PFLAGer, Linda Francis that was published May 11th, in the Bristol Herald-Courier. Thanks, Linda!

Dr. Abraham Verghese would have joyfully wept had he been here for PFLAG’s [Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays] first meeting. He might have said, "I called the Tri-Cities, God’s Country, in my book. Perhaps, it truly is. God’s children are getting the message, Jesus taught them – Love is the Only Way!"

Medical knowledge shows some children at birth, (not by choice) have three chromosomes, not two, and then also, there are the raped who never get necessary counseling. How could this not confuse both their bodies and their emotions?

Like most Christians, I was taught more about "sin" than I was ever taught about "love." Yet, Jesus was a teacher who focused on the power of love, not a list of do’s and don’ts. Jesus did not cast a stone at the prostitute, in his "divine wisdom" he saw what we could not. It was understood Jesus was not upholding her way of life; still, his wisdom was accepted as good. Not one stone was cast.

I love most of the beautiful things I have learned in my church community, but haven’t we been slow to follow Jesus’ example of love, when it comes to gays and lesbians?

My thanks goes to the new PFLAG chapter of ministers, counselors and others, who have chosen not to pick out selected Scriptures for judgment, but have chosen the example of Jesus. What a delight to see that the attendance for the first meeting was standing-room only. There were lots of tears of love that night. I’m sure Jesus wept tears of joy, as well.

The Rev. L.K. Francis
Piney Flats, Tenn.

Don't miss PFLAG Tri-Cities tonight at 7 p.m! Here are the details.

Sphere: Related Content

America: Torture Nation

Prof. George Hunsinger of Princeton Theological Seminary wrote an important piece for Common Dreams, entitled, History Will Not Absolve Us.

According to an explosive ABC News report on April 9, dozens of top-secret meetings took place in the White House, beginning in 2002, in which the president’s top advisors approved the use of torture. Those involved were members of the National Security Council’s “Principals Committee” — Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, George Tenet, and John Ashcroft. Unfortunately, however, these dramatic revelations have been largely ignored by the media and the public. Yet we now know more clearly than ever before that it is because of these senior officials — and not just Animal House on the night shift — that America is regarded around the world as a Torture Nation.

The techniques that the advisors not only approved, but reportedly even choreographed in particular cases amount to torture by any reasonable standard. Near drowning (waterboarding), sleep deprivation, subjection to temperatures of extreme cold (hypothermia), physical assault and stress positions are proscribed by international and domestic law. They are gulag tactics that have no place in a democratic society. John Ashcroft rightly asked at one point: “Why are we talking about this in the White House? History will not judge this kindly.” But according to the report, Condoleezza Rice prevailed, telling the CIA: “This is your baby. Go do it.”

Prof. Hunsinger has a new book due this fall: Torture is a Moral Issue: Christians, Jews, Muslims, and People of Conscience Speak Out.

Hunsinger is the founder of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.

h/t Doug

Sphere: Related Content

Jesus Seminar Comes to Elizabethton

I have just confirmed with Westar that we will host a Jesus Seminar on the Road September 12-13. Charles Hedrick and Hal Taussig will present, Competing Early Christian Voices: the Contest for Authority at First Pres., Elizabethton. This is a description of the program they did in Pennsylvania:

In the beginning, orthodoxy was but one of many diverse movements tracing their origins in some way to Jesus of Nazareth. Initially these groups used a Greek form of the Hebrew Bible as their scripture, but that collection proved inadequate to their needs. So they eventually reduced their new visions of faith to writing. Beginning in the fourth century, some self-proclaimed orthodox representatives selected certain religious texts to serve their communities, texts which, centuries later, would become “divinely inspired scripture.” Other texts, from movements competing with orthodoxy, they libeled as “heretical,” or “not genuine.”

The workshop will look at some of the so-called “heretical” texts and competing religious visions that survived from that early period, such as Thunder, Perfect Mind; The Gospel of Thomas; The Treatise on the Resurrection; The Gospel of Mary; The Aprocryphon of John; The Gospel of Judas; The Testimony of Truth; and The Apocalypse of Peter.

So, put it on your calendar! Check out some of the other JSORs this Fall.

Sphere: Related Content

Test the Waters!

I have found this to be the most successful way of connecting visitors with our congregation.








Periodically, we hold Test the Waters sessions.









Saturday mornings from 10-1 which includes lunch, folks get a tour of the building, meet others in the congregation, learn about our ministries, and so forth. With no pressure to join. We have our next Test the Waters this Saturday. Here is the announcement:

Test the Waters!

On Saturday, May 17th from ten until one p.m., our congregation invites you to come and “test the waters.” If you have either visited us on occasion or have been attending regularly for awhile, or if this is your first time here, we would like you to find out more about us!

We would like to welcome you and give you an opportunity to learn more about our congregation, tour our facilities, become acquainted with our ministries, meet a few of our fine folks, and enjoy lunch together. It is a chance to test the waters and see if this congregation is a match for you as you search for a church home.

We are excited in that we have recently renovated our facilities with a newly remodeled fellowship hall, an adult education room, a nursery with separate rooms for infants and toddlers, two wheel-chair accessible restrooms, and a renovated bell choir and choir room. We are in the process of building a labyrinth and we hope to have it completed by this summer.

I have been the minister here for nearly three years and I am thrilled with the growth we have experienced. We are looking forward to starting some new ministries with children and families. These are exciting times for First Presbyterian and I hope that you will be a part of them.

Many people regard our congregation as an oasis. We are an inclusive, tolerant congregation that celebrates diversity and encourages open-minded reflection.

If you haven’t already found us on the web, please check our web site. There you will find our philosophy, an activities calendar, sermons, our newsletter and other interesting things.

Please mark Saturday, May 17th from 10 am until 1 pm on your calendar for you, your partner, your family, and even invite friends. Please let us know if you plan to attend so we can make preparations for lunch. Contact the church office if you have questions at 543-7737, or e-mail the pastor.

Sphere: Related Content

Methodists Endorse the Clergy Letter Project

I just received this e-mail from Michael Zimmerman of the Clergy Letter Project:

I am thrilled to report that The United Methodist Church, at its General Convention just concluded, endorsed The Clergy Letter Project. The resolution that was overwhelmingly passed at the General Convention, which meets once every four years, adds a statement to the Book of Resolution that reads as follows: “The United Methodist Church endorses The Clergy Letter Project and its reconciliatory programs between religion and science, and urges United Methodist clergy participation.” You can read the resolution and see how it reads in context here:

The General Convention also adopted two other resolutions that are very supportive of evolution. The first explicitly adds the acceptance of evolution to the Methodist’s Book of Discipline. In part, the resolution states that "We find that science’s descriptions of cosmological, geological, and biological evolution are not in conflict with theology.” You can read the full resolution here:

The final resolution adds a new statement to the Methodist’s Book of Resolution dealing with creationism and intelligent design. The wording reads as follows, “Therefore be it resolved that the General Conference of the United Methodist Church go on record as opposing the introduction of any faith-based theories such as Creationism or Intelligent Design into the science curriculum of our public schools.” The specific information is available here:

Dr. Zimmerman also reports that 95 congregations have already signed on for Evolution Sunday 2009.

Sphere: Related Content

Bottle Bill Stalls in Committee

We have a passion for environmental justice at First Pres. One of the items we were hoping would pass this year was the bottle bill for Tennessee. It didn't get out of committee, but there is hope it will go all the way next year. This was in today's Johnson City Press.

One of our church members, Gary Barrigar, worked very hard on this and spoke before the committee:

Among those testifying in favor of the bill was former Elizabethton High School biology teacher Gary Barriger, speaking for the Overmountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited.

Barriger has organized stream monitoring and litter pickup from the relatively pristine trout streams of the East Tennessee mountains over the years, and he testified that more than 50 percent of the litter removed from streams was beverage containers.

The proposed 5-cent deposit on glass, plastic and aluminum beverage containers is seen as a way to reduce litter and boost recycling in Tennessee, where littering was recently ranked among the worst in the country, and where residential recycling rates rarely rise above 10 percent.

In April, the general membership of Tennessee’s Association of County Mayors voted to support legislation creating a Tennessee bottle bill. They mayors present voted without dissent to endorse the measure during their annual County Government Day in Nashville.

The legislation, which has 13 additional co-sponsors in addition to Jackson, also has strong support from the voters. According to a recent telephone survey by the University of Tennessee’s Social Science Research Institute, 80.4 percent of 777 registered voters contacted by random-digit dialing said they would support or strongly support a 5-cent deposit on beverage containers.

Thanks for all your good work on this Gary. Hopefully, next year it will become a reality.

Sphere: Related Content

Pentecost, Pluralism, and Mama: A Sermon

Following the Wind
John Shuck

First Presbyterian Church
Elizabethton, Tennessee

Pentecost/Pluralism Sunday
May 11^th, 2008

The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Better than a thousand meaningless statements
Is one meaningful word,
Which, having been heard,
Brings peace.

The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
--John 3:8, Dhammapada #100, Acts 2:1-

We have the makings of a perfect storm. On the horizon is a mighty wind.

Today is Pentecost Sunday. According to the legend of Acts, the Twelve were gathered in the upper room and the Holy Spirit landed upon them and they began speaking in all the languages of the known world so everyone could hear the gospel. The church has celebrated this as its "birthday."

Some Progressive Christians have taken this Sunday as an opportunity to celebrate the diversity of the world's faith traditions and celebrate Pluralism Sunday on Pentecost.

This is from the Pluralism Sunday website:

On Pentecost Sunday, May 11, 2008, churches around the world will dedicate their worship to a celebration of our interfaith world. Progressive Christians thank God for religious diversity! We don’t claim that our religion is superior to all others. We can grow closer to God and deeper in compassion—and we can understand our own traditions better—through a greater awareness of the world’s religions.

This year the wind has shifted. Today is also Mother's Day. I have been thinking of how to tie these three together. I came up with some sermon titles. You always want to begin your sermon with a title, even if you change it. That is why more often than not, my sermon title doesn’t fit what I am talking about. After I have posted the title in the bulletin, I go in a different direction. Nevertheless, it is always good to start with a title. Here are some sermon titles for that perfect storm of Pentecost, Pluralism, and Mother’s Day:

* Pluralistic Pentecostal Mothers

* Tongue-Speaking Inter-Faith Mom

* Mama Was a Holy Rollin’ Pluralist

I also thought up a title that the loyal opposition could use for this Sunday. To borrow a page from Danny DeVito:

* Throw (That Fiery Pluralistic) Momma From the Train.

As you can tell, I am fascinated by this combination of Pentecost, Pluralism, and Mama.

Today we celebrate the “Bible-believin’, devil chasin’, on fire for Jesus” Mama whose passion is promoting understanding for diverse sacred paths.

We don’t often think to connect the fiery, spirit-filled, self-assured, passionate individual with religious tolerance and peace-making. Perhaps we should.

We can’t celebrate Mother’s Day without mentioning that Pentecostal Unitarian, Julia Ward Howe. I thank Sandra Garrett for telling me about Julia Ward Howe.

Julia Ward Howe is famous for the Battle Hymn of the Republic. She did more than that. In 1870, she made a declaration for A Mother’s Day for Peace. This is from About.com

Distressed by her experience of the realities of war, determined that peace was one of the two most important causes of the world (the other being equality in its many forms) and seeing war arise again in the world in the Franco-Prussian War, she called in 1870 for women to rise up and oppose war in all its forms. She wanted women to come together across national lines, to recognize what we hold in common above what divides us, and commit to finding peaceful resolutions to conflicts.

You tell me if there isn’t some Pentecostal fire in this speech:

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

She wasn’t able to get this Mother’s Day for Peace recognized.

Mother’s Day as we know it, was officially recognized in 1914 by Woodrow Wilson. That story is interesting as well. Julia Ward Howe’s contemporary was a woman by the name of Anna Jarvis.

Anna Jarvis was an Appalachian homemaker. In 1858 Anna Jarvis began a crusade. She organized Mother’s Work Days (as if Mothers weren’t working enough) in order to improve sanitation. During the War Between the States she organized women to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides, and in 1868 she began work to reconcile Union and Confederate neighbors.

Her daughter, who was also named Anna Jarvis, started her own crusade to start a memorial day for women. The first Mother’s Day was celebrated in West Virginia in 1907 and in the church where her mother had taught Sunday School. Mother’s Day caught on and Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother’s Day in 1914. About.com

Today Mother’s Day serves mostly commercial and sentimental purposes, and in many churches to shore up traditional gender roles. I don’t think Julia Ward Howe nor Anna Jarvis would be amused.

I don’t think we can celebrate Pentecost, Pluralism and Mother’s Day without mentioning Molly Ivins. Molly Ivins was filled with that Pentecostal fire for justice. She was a staunch advocate for the welfare of children, for the poor, and against war. My favorite quote from Molly Ivins is this one:

"So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was."

As the bells rang today for breast cancer awareness, it is appropriate to remember Molly Ivins in that context as well. She died of breast cancer at the age of 62. She wrote this about her experience with breast cancer:

Having breast cancer is massive amounts of no fun. First they mutilate you; then they poison you; then they burn you. I have been on blind dates better than that.

One of the first things you notice is that people treat you differently when they know you have it. The hushed tone in which they inquire, "How are you?" is unnerving. If I had answered honestly during 90% of the nine months I spent in treatment, I would have said, "If it weren't for being constipated, I'd be fine." http://www.ibcsurvivors.org/molly.html

If I had a Pentecostal Pluralistic Mama Award I would give it in memory of Molly Ivins. I really don’t know much about her religious convictions or even if she was a mother for that matter. But I think she had a bead on that experience of Pentecost in the legend of Acts.

The biggest problem with Christianity, as I see it, is that it tends to think too highly of itself. It claims to speak with authority about things it doesn’t know much about. Then it pronounces that it is the only one true religion. Molly Ivins had a good way of putting its spokespeople in their place. In a column entitled, Let God Speak for Himself, she wrote about folks who like to speak for God. She wrote:

Quite a few people have been mishearing the Lord lately. The Rev. Pat Robertson thinks the Lord told the people of Dover, Pa., they shouldn't ask for [the Lord’s] help anymore because they elected a school board Robertson doesn't like. And Rep. Richard Baker of Louisiana said right after Hurricane Katrina that "we finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did it."

I kind of doubt Katrina was designed by the Lord as a form of urban renewal. I think it's a big mistake for us to go around putting our own puny interpretations on stuff that happens and then claiming the Lord meant thus-and-such by it. It is my humble opinion that some folks should do a lot more listening to God and a lot less talking for Him.
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1202-23.htm

The point of the Pentecost story is that the disciples didn’t do a lot of talking. They did a lot of listening. They waited for the spirit, the wind, the fire, to speak through them. And when the wind of God spoke in Acts it was a message of unity, grace, compassion and hope for all people—all nations. That message was twisted pretty early on to be a message of grace, compassion, and hope for us and for those who join our club.

This is why I think Pluralism, which is nothing more than embracing the truth that we may not know everything about God, is an appropriate correction to simply celebrating Pentecost as the church’s birthday. As if it were about us, that is we Christians.

There are so many more women, some mothers, some not, some Christian, some not, who model that Pentecostal passion for peace and justice for all people regardless of race or creed.

Women like Emma Hart Willard who pioneered the education of young women;

Sojourner Truth, Abolitionist preacher
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, suffragette and advocate for women’s rights,
Eleanor Roosevelt, Carry Nation, Rosa Parks, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Susan B. Anthony, Dorothy Day, Maya Angelou.

I will give the last word to Marian Wright Edelman, the Founder of the Children’s Defense Fund. Edelman has been a strong advocate for children and against violence. She gave a speech entitled, “Standing Up for the World’s Children: Leave No Child Behind” in which she spoke with Pentecostal fire for children and against violence, and for getting our priorities correct.

I will close with the prayer with which she ended this speech. I invite you to pray with me:

O GOD OF ALL CHILDREN

O God of the children of Somalia, Sarajevo, South Africa, and South Carolina, Of Albania, Alabama, Bosnia, and Boston, Of Cracow and Cairo, Chicago and Croatia.

Help us to love and respect and protect them all.

O God of black and brown and white and Albino children and those all mixed together, Of children who are rich and poor and in between, Of children who speak English and Russian and Hmong and Spanish and languages our ears cannot discern,

Help us to love and respect and protect them all.

O God of the child prodigy and child prostitute, of the child of rapture and the child of rape. Of run or thrown away children who struggle every day without parent or place or friend or future,

Help us to love and respect and protect them all.

O God of the children who can walk and talk and hear and see and sing and dance and jump and play and of children who wish they could but they can't Of children who are loved and unloved, wanted and unwanted,

Help us to love and respect and protect them all.

O God of beggar, beaten, abused, neglected, homeless, AIDS, drug, and hunger-ravaged children, Of children who are emotionally and physically and mentally fragile, and of children who rebel and ridicule, torment and taunt,

Help us to love and respect and protect them all.

O God of children of destiny and of despair, of war and of peace, Of disfigured, diseased, and dying children, Of children without hope and of children with hope to spare and to share,

Help us to love and respect and protect them all. AMEN.

http://gos.sbc.edu/e/edelman.html

Sphere: Related Content

What Are the Roots of Homophobia?

John McNeese made the following comment in my previous post, Theology and Same-Gender Relationships. John wrote:

There has to be a better way to discuss sex. As you can probably tell, I’m hostile to these kinds of conversations. I would much prefer discussing the roots of homophobia.

At Shuck and Jive, we aim to please.

So what are the roots of homophobia? Why is it that in 2008, the church and our culture still do not grant equality of church membership and citizenship to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people?

In setting out to answer those questions, I came across a couple of resources that seemed to make sense. The first is a New York Times article from 1990: Studies Discover Clues to the Roots of Homophobia. It includes this paragraph:

In studying the virulence and tenacity of anti-gay feelings, psychologists are finding clues to the deeper sources of homophobia. The new findings confirm the theory that some men use hostility and violence to homosexuals to reassure themselves about their own sexuality. But the greatest portion of anti-homosexual bias, psychologists now say, arises from a combination of fear and self-righteousness in which homosexuals are perceived as contemptible threats to the moral universe.

I found this particularly revealing:

Bob Altemeyer, a psychologist at the University of Manitoba who has developed a scale measuring attitudes toward homosexuals, has found that those with the most intense hostility have an extreme fear that the world is an unsafe place and that society is at risk, and a self-righteousness that leads them to judge those who hold different values as morally inferior.

"They see homosexuality as a sign that society is disintegrating and as a threat to their sense of morality," said Dr. Altemeyer. "Their self-righteousness makes them feel they are acting morally when they attack homosexuals. It overcomes the normal inhibitions against aggression."

Dr. Altemeyer tells his students that he is gay. "For most, over the course of the year it makes their attitudes toward gays more positive, he says. But if their hostility toward gays is based on religion, their views are hardest to change." (italics and bold mine)

This is from PBS' Frontline special: Assault on Gay America: The Life and Death of Billy Jack Gaither. You will find good information regarding The Roots of Homophobia. In addition to fear and self-righteousness, we also find homophobia rooted in...

Enforcement of Gender Norms:

Thus, heterosexism is not just a personal value system, it is a tool in the maintenance of gender dichotomy. In other words, through heterosexism, any male who refuses to accept the dominant culture's assignment of appropriate masculine behavior is labeled early on as a "sissy" or "fag" and then subjected to bullying. Similarly, any woman who opposes male dominance and control can be labeled a lesbian and attacked. The potential of being ostracized as homosexual, regardless of actual sexual attractions and behaviors, puts pressure on all people to conform to a narrow standard of appropriate gender behavior, thereby maintaining and reinforcing our society's hierarchical gender structure.

The Frontline program also provided an overview of scientific studies in relation to homophobia.

These studies have found that persons with negative attitudes:

1. are less likely to have had personal contact with lesbians or gays;

2. are less likely to report having engaged in homosexual behaviors, or to identify themselves as lesbian or gay;

3. are more likely to perceive their peers as manifesting negative attitudes, especially if the respondents are males;

4. are more likely to have resided in areas where negative attitudes are the norm (e.g., the midwestern and southern United States, the Canadian prairies, and in rural areas or small towns), especially during adolescence;

5. are likely to be older and less well educated;

6. are more likely to be religious, to attend church frequently, and to subscribe to a conservative religious ideology;

7. are more likely to express traditional, restrictive attitudes about sex roles;

8. are less permissive sexually or manifest more guilt or negativity about sexuality, although some researchers have not observed this pattern and others have reported a substantially reduced correlation with the effects of sex-role attitudes partialled out;

9. are more likely to manifest high levels of authoritarianism and related personality characteristics.

Sex differences in the direction and intensity of attitudes have been observed fairly consistently. It appears that heterosexuals tend to have more negative attitudes toward homosexuals of their own sex than of the opposite sex. . . .

I also found this article quite interesting regarding the church and homophobia, The Roots of Homophobia, by Terry Boughner.

In addition to the poll on Theology and Same-Gender Relationships, let's get to the heart of the matter. I have two polls:

1. What Are the Roots of Homophobia? and
   
2. Why Do We Deny Equal Rights, Privileges and Protections to Sexual and Gender Minorities?

Before you take the polls on the sidebar, you might want to take this poll to see how homophobic you are.

And now, the polls. Vote for the one best answer and comment here!

What Are the Roots of Homophobia?

1. By hating gays people can reassure themselves they are not gay.
2. Hating lesbians and gay men is seen as a litmus test for being a moral person.
3. Heterosexism enforces gender norms.
   

Why Do We Deny Sexual and Gender Minorities Equality of Church Membership and Citizenship?

1. Not enough people care about rights for minorities unless it affects them.
2. The church provides false information about God's will.
3. The church rewards homophobia as a sign of righteousness.
4. Too many people think this is about sex not citizenship.
5. People who know better are unwilling to speak out.
6. Homophobia is a money-maker for the right wing.
7. Not enough people have gay and lesbian friends.
8. Homophobia is a culturally acceptable prejudice.
   

Sphere: Related Content