Tag Archives: homosexuality

In the UK, there’s no-one worth voting for

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Labour have turned the UK into a training ground for Islamofascist terrorists; the BNP are the next best thing to Nazis; the Liberal Democrats are so naïve that they “Believe in Fairness” and the Tories have become the gay party:

Cameron tells Rowan: Make your Church pro-gay.

Tory leader David Cameron has launched an astonishing attack on the Church of England over its attitudes to homosexuality. In an interview with the gay magazine Attitude, Cameron tells award-winning journalist Johann Hari that ‘our Lord Jesus’ would back equality and gay rights if he were around today. He says he doesn’t want to get into a row with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. ‘But I think the Church has to do some of the things that the Conservative Party has been through – sorting this issue out and recognising that full equality is a bottom line full essential.’ He also introduces a new phrase to the English language, one that might be current in High Tory circles but not one I’ve heard before, in reference to Muslim women: ‘Blowing the hijab off them.’

Ho ho. And we all thought he was a politician.

It’s just not like that in England

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Maybe it’s got something to do with the weather in the UK: it’s usually grey. In keeping with avoiding black and white, in July 2008, Tom Wright criticised GAFCON in this way:

It is to say, rather, that the GAFCON proposals are not only not needed in England but are positively harmful and indeed offensive. This was more or less what I said on the radio last Thursday, where I distinguished carefully between the American and English situations. AS FAR AS ENGLAND IS CONCERNED, it is damaging, arrogant and irrelevant for GAFCON leaders to say, as they are now doing, ‘choose you this day whom you will serve’, with the implication that there are now only two parties in the church, the orthodox and the liberals, and that to refuse to sign up to GAFCON is to decide for the liberals. Things are just not like that. Certainly not here in England.

The Church of England does seem to be moving full steam ahead in that direction, though:

A proposal to give the partners of gay priests some of the same rights that are awarded to priests’ spouses is likely to spark a new row over homosexuality.

Bishops and senior clergy will debate at next month’s General Synod whether the Church should provide same-sex couples with the same financial benefits as are awarded to married couples.

Traditionalists have expressed strong opposition to the move, which they claim would give official recognition to homosexual relationships.

They warn that affording equal treatment to heterosexual and homosexual couples would undermine the Church’s teaching on marriage.

At present, the Church bars clergy from being in active gay relationships, although it bowed to pressure to allow them to enter civil partnerships on the condition that they are celibate.

If this is sufficiently important to risk the stability – what’s left of it – of the Church of England by bringing a motion to General Synod, there must surely be a significant number of homosexual clergy in “celibate” – nudge, wink – relationships. If this motion is brought to GS, let alone if it passes, it will make a mockery of the CoE’s teaching on marriage.

So, Tom, is it time for  ‘choose you this day whom you will serve’, yet?

Anglican vicar blesses gadgets

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A Church of England vicar is blessing gadgets:

Vicar gives high-tech blessing to mobile phones, laptops and BlackBerries.

A vicar has blessed the mobile phones and laptops of city workers in a church ceremony.

The Rev Canon David Parrott blessed a pile of laptops and smart phones on the altar of London’s 17th-century St Lawrence Jewry church.

The ritual was an effort to remind the capital’s busy office workers that God’s grace can reach them in many ways, he said.

Blessed be: The congregation hold up their mobile phones and Blackberries as Canon David Parrot conducts a service at the City of London Corporation’s church, St Lawrence Jewry, on Monday

‘It’s the technology that is our daily working tool, and it’s a technology we should bless,’ Rev Parrott said.

What exactly does it mean to “bless” a collection of chips on a printed circuit board? Very little, I suspect; coincidentally, Rev. Keith Nethery, media relations officer for the Anglican Diocese of Huron, has been wriggling vigorously here trying to explain why, in the Diocese of Huron, it is kosher to Celebrate a same-sex marriage but not to Bless it. Would he have a problem blessing a Mac running Vista one wonders, or would it be sufficiently deviant to be merely Celebrated.

Most people would probably choose to have their computer exorcised rather than blessed. Come to think of it, perhaps that could apply to same-sex marriages, too.

Islam and homosexuality

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From the National Post:

EDMONTON — Junaid Bin Jahangir was such a devout Muslim that when he arrived in Canada he ate only yogurt for two days until he was sure which food followed halal dietary rules.

The university student prayed five times a day, and joined a local mosque.

Then one day, at age 27, he started to wonder why he had never been with a girl. “Why don’t I like women that way?” he asked, and it led him to a counselling office, where he sat, sobbing, with the realization that he was gay — a pariah to his community.

Mainstream Islamic leaders say gay men should be shunned and some around the world are killed each year.

Mr. Jahangir’s world imploded; work on his PhD ground to a halt.

But out of that despair, Mr. Jahangir began to work on another project: Understanding the teachings of Islam on homosexuality. From his office at the University of Alberta, he contacted experts, read everything he could on the subject and studied the scriptures intensely for two years, rebuilding his own identity in the process. His work is starting to be recognized internationally.

Now he argues Muslims misinterpret the Qur’an if they consider the ban on homosexuality to be as firm as bans on alcohol or pork. The common story from which most Muslims draw their teaching is about violent homosexual rape, he says, and it’s time to rethink the possibility of consensual, supportive relationships.

It is instructive to note that the same argument employed by liberal Christians to justify homosexual activity is drifting into Islam.

The comparison even extends to elevating trivial food regulations – eating pork – over matters of sexual ethics; an Anglican example of this is to forbid intinction while smiling benignly on consensual, supportive sodomy – something Ralph Spence did when bishop of Niagara.

What is wrong with this picture

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First we have this:

Children as young as five should be taught to understand the pleasures of gay sex, according to leaders of a taxpayer-funded education project.

Heads of the project have set themselves a goal of ‘creating primary classrooms where queer sexualities are affirmed and celebrated’.

The ambition was revealed in documents prepared for the No Outsiders project run by researchers from universities and backed with £600,000 of public money provided by the Economic and Social Research Council.

This:

The government announced today that sex education will become compulsory for all schools, including lessons on gay relationships and sexually transmitted infections such as HIV.

Teaching will begin from the age of five. Primary school children will learn about their bodies and puberty, along with marriages, divorces and civil partnerships.

And then this:

A devout Christian teacher has lost her job after discussing her faith with a mother and her sick child and offering to pray for them.

Olive Jones, a 54-year-old mother of two, who taught maths to children too ill to attend school, was dismissed following a complaint from the girl’s mother. She was visiting the home of the child when she spoke about her belief in miracles and asked whether  she could say a prayer, but when the mother indicated they were not believers she did not go ahead.

Mrs Jones was then called in by her managers who, she says, told her that sharing her faith with a child could be deemed to be bullying and informed her that her services were no longer required.

Allowed: Compulsory gay sex education for 5 year olds.

Not allowed: Offering to pray for a sick child.

Perhaps Olive Jones should have claimed she was praying for a spirit of gayness to fall upon the child.

Diocese of Ottawa ordains man in same-sex marriage

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From the Anglican Planet:

The Bishop of Ottawa has knowingly and openly ordained to the deaconate a man in a same-sex marriage. The diocesan newspaper CrossTalk reported on its front page that on Oct. 5, the Rt. Rev. John Chapman (left) ordained Ross Hammond as a transitional deacon, (one who intends to become a priest). The newspaper recorded that “Ross is married to Albert Klein.” Last year two large historic churches left the Diocese of Ottawa because of its liberal stance on same-sex blessings and the ordination of non-celibate gay clergy. St. Alban’s and St. George’s have realigned with the Anglican Network in Canada and are in property disputes with their former diocese. In his charge to synod on Oct. 22, Chapman said “The pace is slow but the Episcopal Office continues to work toward confirmation of our right of ownership.” It is thought that his office is awaiting the precedent-setting outcome of a similar property dispute in the Vancouver-based Diocese of New Westminster before proceeding.

Statistics Canada reported 6,105,910 heterosexual married couples in 2006 and 7,465 same-sex married couples; of these same-sex couples, about 140 might be Anglican – assuming the same ratio as in the rest of the population. According to the census, half of all same-sex married couples live in Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver. That leaves 70 same-sex Anglican couples for the rest of Canada. I wonder how long and hard Chapman had to look to find such a couple close to Ottawa, one half of which was interested in becoming a priest; did he have to bribe him?

Scott Brison’s Christmas card

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Has caused a bit of a fuss:

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OTTAWA — It has all the hallmarks of a politician’s glossy Christmas card.

Pastoral setting? Check.

Doe-eyed golden retriever? Check.

Handsome couple dressed in smart casual? Check.

Same-sex couple?

That was too much for “a handful of bigots” who objected to Scott Brison’s holiday greeting card depicting him and spouse Maxime St. Pierre, according to the Nova Scotia Liberal MP.

Brison insists there was no political message behind the holiday greeting. “I’m not the first politician to have a family picture on a Christmas card. . . . I’m looking forward to the day when this is seen as no big deal.”

I can’t help thinking that Brison is being rather disingenuous when he insists there was no political message in the greeting. His saying, “I’m looking forward to the day when this is seen as no big deal” is a political message – one which declares that same-sex marriages should be accepted as equivalent to heterosexual marriage. I am quite sure he received bigoted responses – something that could scarcely have surprised him – but it is possible to disagree with his advertising of a lifestyle which, up until recently would have been regarded as perverted, without being a bigot.

And, considering Christians do not accept same-sex partnerships as true marriage, to use a Christian festival to deliver this political message was an act of considerable crassness.

Rowan Williams: betrayal!

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Rowan’s meandering ambivalence:

A close friend of the Archbishop of Canterbury who was tutored by him at theological college said he felt betrayed by Dr Rowan Williams’ new-found opposition to gays and lesbians in the ordained ministry of the Anglican Communion.

The Rev Colin Coward, 64, who lives with a gay man and who preaches regularly at his local church in the Salisbury diocese, said that Dr Williams was aware of his sexuality and never once challenged it.

He said that about a quarter of the 50-plus students at his Cambridge theological college were gay and this was accepted by the Church of that era. Dr Williams was a tutor at Westcott House, a liberal college, from 1977 to 1980.

For some mysterious reason, the Anglican Church attracts a disproportionate number of homosexuals into its leadership ranks. Once they arrive, understandably, they can’t see why their presence is resisted; even though I disagree with the promoting of practising homosexual leadership in the church, I have some sympathy with them because Anglican liberals have “included”, “tolerated” and befriended homosexuals into an illusory sense of leadership entitlement.

Rowan Williams: please don’t do it. Pretty please?

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Rowan Williams obsequiously begging diocesan bishops not to allow another gay bishop to be consecrated:

The election of Mary Glasspool by the Diocese of Los Angeles as suffragan bishop elect raises very serious questions not just for the Episcopal Church and its place in the Anglican Communion, but for the Communion as a whole.

The process of selection however is only part complete. The election has to be confirmed, or could be rejected, by diocesan bishops and diocesan standing committees. That decision will have very important implications.

The bishops of the Communion have collectively acknowledged that a period of gracious restraint in respect of actions which are contrary to the mind of the Communion is necessary if our bonds of mutual affection are to hold.

Coincidentally, our readings this morning included Luke 3:1ff where John the Baptist, in a moment of seeker-sensitive tenderness, exhorted the crowds with “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” Rather than be direct, Rowan implores the bishops for a period of gracious restraint. What a load of old bollocks. The TEC should get on with what everyone knows is eventually inevitable and Rowan should stop snivelling long enough to employ John the Baptist’s technique – tell the truth; he has nothing to lose at this point.

Alberta judge rules anti-gay letter not hate speech, overturns ruling

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Rev. Stephen Boissoin published a letter that was ruled a “hate crime” by the Alberta Human Rights Commission. The ruling has been overturned:

EDMONTON – A Court of Queen’s Bench judge has ruled an anti-gay letter written by a former Alberta pastor in 2002 was not a hate crime and is allowed under freedom of speech.

Justice E.C. Wilson overturned a 2008 ruling by the Alberta Human Rights Commission that the letter by Stephen Boissoin that was published in the Red Deer Advocate broke provincial law.

At the time, the commission said it may even have played a role in the beating of a gay teenager two weeks after it was published.

The commission had ordered Boissoin to refrain from making disparaging remarks about homosexuals and to pay the complainant, former Red Deer high school teacher Darren Lund, $5,000 in damages.

Neither order can now be enforced, as Wilson declared them “unlawful or unconstitutional.”

You can read the entire letter here; it begins:

The following is not intended for those who are suffering from an unwanted sexual identity crisis. For you, I have understanding, care, compassion and tolerance. I sympathize with you and offer you my love and fellowship. I prayerfully beseech you to seek help, and I assure you that your present enslavement to homosexuality can be remedied. Many outspoken, former homosexuals are free today.

Instead, this is aimed precisely at every individual that in any way supports the homosexual machine that has been mercilessly gaining ground in our society since the 1960s. I cannot pity you any longer and remain inactive. You have caused far too much damage.

Darren Lund was a schoolteacher when he made the initial complaint; he is now  an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education, University of Calgary where his speciality is social justice issues in schools and communities.

Lund is a bit of a misery: in the spirit of keeping Christ out of Christmas, he doesn’t like Operation Christmas Child because the help it provides to children is tainted with evangelism; and he believes 9/11 was by caused by a lack of respect for the religion – Islam – of “others”. Lund also appears to be a racist, since he subscribes to the canard that racism is the exclusive failing of white people.

Thus, he is quite at home preaching in the United Church of Canada  where he is wont to intone piously on “diversity” and critical approaches to counter racism, sexism, homophobia or other forms of discrimination and oppression.

Altogether, Darren Lund is a colossal bore.