Religious Left

by Harley Dennett Sydney Star Observer Homosexuality as an intolerable sin was not a doctrine of Christianity, the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal ruled last month, because there were many dissenting views on the subject among Christian groups generally, and specifically within the Uniting Church. As long as gay-friendly congregations like Metropolitan Community Church exist, this ruling means Christian organisations don’t have a license to legally discriminate against gays, Brisbane lawyer Stephen Page said. full article

Wayne Besen over at TruthWinsOut.org posted an article stating Bishop Gene Robinson has pulled out of a controversial symposium at the APA’s 2008 convention. We are pleased that Bishop Robinson has not lent his credibility to a political right wing platform disguised as a scientific symposium,” said TWO Executive Director Wayne Besen . full article

By Michael Conlon, Religion Writer Reuters CHICAGO (Reuters) - The highest court of the U.S. Presbyterian Church has lifted a censure placed on a retired minister for presiding over two same-sex unions, the church announced on Tuesday. The ruling said the Rev. Jane Adams Spahr, an activist for gay and lesbian causes who lives in San Rafael, California, performed "ceremonies" and not actual marriages in two instances in 2004 and 2005. Both cases involved lesbian couples. full article

L.A. Times In an e-mail billed as an "official statement" from the influential televangelist; "As a believing Christian, I see the hand of God in everything that happens here on earth, both the blessings and the curses. But ultimately neither I nor any other person can know the mind of God concerning Hurricane Katrina. I should not have suggested otherwise. No matter what the cause of the storm, my heart goes out to all who suffered in this terrible tragedy. There but for the grace of God go any one of us." full article

Giles Fraser Church Times I get my fair share of hate mail writing this column. But I don’t get half the nastiness received by the Revd Colin Coward, the UK director of Changing Attitude. Here is a sample: “Evil homosexual promoter, we gave your Nigerian homosexual representative and his followers long time to repent but he underrated us. Come and save them if you can.” Then there was the equally charming: “You will loose ur life for what u re doing go and write todays date u have few days to live.” And again: “WE HAVE NOT STARTED AND YOU ARE PANICKING, HOMOSEXUAL PROMOTERS. WAIT AND SEE WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO ALL YOUR AGENT IN NIGERIA SOON, ONE BY ONE.” The Archbishop of Canterbury has rightly commented: “The threats recently made against the leaders of Changing Attitude are disgraceful.” But I do not think we as a Church are taking all this nastiness seriously enough. It is not at all impossible to imagine that the hatred coursing through the veins of the Anglican Communion could soon r...

Religion has not been an active part of my life since I was a toddler. On several occasions I’ve seen: “Where is the Martin Luther King Jr. for the gay community?” It’s just my personal opinion but I’m leaning towards Bishop Gene Robinson. As I stated I’m not religious. In my mind religion tossed us [gays] aside many years ago. I realize there are translation issues with the bible. I also realize it contains some fiction. But the “general mindset” of most religions is against homosexuality. Throughout life I’ve experienced anti-gay encounters. Some have said I’m one of the lucky ones because most people can’t tell I’m gay. I didn’t get beat up for being gay. Although there was the time a yell from across the courtyard at school was rather alarming. As always, I’d try my best to avoid such negatives’. Needless to say, I didn’t have a lot of friends. I thank my parents for giving me the pride to stand up for who I am, refusing to allow others (including religion) to tell me I am a...

By Ruby de Vera Philippine Daily Inquirer MANILA, Philippines—When discussion turns to politics or religion, it’s inevitable that someone ends up with a bloody nose. A debate can go on for hours without resolution. Recently, someone named Rachelle Ragaza posted in her Multiply blog an article by a certain Dr. Patrick Johnston entitled “Convincing Reasons Homosexuals are Hellbound.” The article provided both scientific and biblical proof why this is so, and went so far as to suggest that “homosexuals have the IQ of sheep.” Ms Ragaza is a member of Youth with a Mission, a Christian mission organization. She said she supported Johnston’s views because she “wanted sinners to be saved.” In the few days the article was publicly available (she has since made the entry private), Ragaza received over 500 comments for that entry. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender/Transsexual (LGBT) community, and some straight people too, were very angry about the whole thing. The c...