Tag Archives: gay rights

Catholic Church says it’s society that’s full of pedophiles

Posted on by

Typically if you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar (a rather generous metaphor considering these pederast pieces of shit were raping kids), it’s not a good idea to blame someone else for your crime. Not only does it give everyone the impression you are incapable of admitting to your guilt; it totally undermines people’s future trust in you. That’s why I find the continued denial of the Church regarding sexual abuse scandals so baffling; surely they must secretly want the public to slowly turn on them or something.

How else can you explain the baffling shit they keep on saying? Take the latest statement from Archbishop Dadeus Grings; he claims adolescents are “spontaneously gay”, and society at large is pedophile, not their institution.

“When sexuality is trivialized, it’s clear that this is going to affect all cases. Homosexuality is such a case. Before, the homosexual wasn’t spoken of. He was discriminated against.
“When we begin to say they have rights, rights to demonstrate publicly, pretty soon, we’ll find the rights of pedophiles,” he said.

Today’s scapegoats have pink triangles on their shoulder rather than stars of David, but the idea is still the same: blame all of your problems on someone else so no one has time to realize you’re really the one who is corrupt, evil, and twisted. If you think I’m painting with too broad a brush, consider the fact this douche also claimed the number of Jews murdered in the Holocaust has been grossly exaggerated, and more Catholics were actually killed in the whole affair. Yeah, these guys are really interested in being factual and truthful, don’t you find?

Family Research Co-Founder caught with “callboy”

Posted on by

Let’s picture a little scenario, shall we? Imagine for a moment you are the co-founder of a blatantly anti-homosexual group, and one day you accidentally get caught with a 20 year old male escort from a site called “RentBoy.com”. Do you:

a) try to play it cool and pretend you only hired the guy to carry your luggage?
b) Claim you are doing research into the homosexual lifestyle?
c) Finally come out of the closet and admit your everlasting love for raging hard boners?

If you chose A, then you have something in common with George Rekers, co-founder of the Family Research Council, who was caught at Miami airport with a callboy who has, according to his profile, a “perfectly built 8 inch cock”.

Obviously this guy is totally finished as a spokesperson for bigotry, so one wonders if he’ll spend the rest of his life like Ted Haggard, needlessly denying what is blatantly obvious to everyone with half a brain, or if he’ll simply embrace his homosexuality.

Look George, it’s really not uncommon for the biggest opponents of gay rights to actually be self-hating gays themselves; it’s still something frowned upon by many religious folks, and I can sympathize perhaps you too were brainwashed into thinking your same sex attraction is evil. I tell you though, now that you’ve been exposed, it’s time to find a new crowd to hang around with. You’ll find your old friends and colleagues are going to have some pretty harsh shit to say, and will do their best to distance themselves from you completely. You have the “stench” of gay in their eyes, and you’ll soon see the value of their “friendship”. Luckily, if you just come out of the closet and admit what you are, you’ll find a whole community of like minded people who would be happy to bring you into their fold. You just need to stop hating yourself first, man!

Christian arrested for preaching homosexuality sinful

Posted on by

You all know I have a special disdain for homophobic Christians who go around trying to tell everyone that homosexuality is a sin. What I have more disdain for, however, is any government that grants police the power to arrest people simply for saying shit they don’t agree with. Take the Public Order Act in the UK; it was passed into law to supposedly help control soccer hooligans (football for you Europeans), but recently it was used to arrest a man for preaching that homosexuality is against God’s will:

Police officers are alleging that he made the remark in a voice loud enough to be overheard by others and have charged him with using abusive or insulting language, contrary to the Public Order Act.

Christian campaigners have expressed alarm that the Public Order Act, introduced in 1986 to tackle violent rioters and football hooligans, is being used to curb religious free speech.

This is also in the wake of an atheist being sentenced to time served and community service for leaving “insulting” materials in the prayer room of John Lennon Airport. What’s going on here, Britain? Do you have a problem with people speaking their minds? I hate to say it, but if you’re incapable of defending something as basic as free speech, what exactly do you think that says about your country?

I don’t like anyone being jailed for saying something I don’t agree with, even if sometimes the shit spewing from their mouths can be truly evil. Besides, do you really think it’s a good idea to make any of these bigots martyrs?

UK judge says religious beliefs have no legal standing

Posted on by

A few weeks ago, a councilor named Gary McFarlane was sacked after he refused to assist a gay couple due to his religious convictions. McFarlane then tried to sue his former employer for religious discrimination (yes, the irony burns deep here), which has subsequently created a firestorm of controversy in the UK. In a way, this recent conflict is really a microcosm for the clash between secularism and sectarianism that is raging, which is why Lord Justice John Grant McKenzie Law’s recent ruling comes as a bit of good news. The suit was thrown out, and here is what McKenzie had to say about the whole thing:

Religious faith is necessarily subjective, being incommunicable by any kind of proof or evidence.” He added that to use the law to protect “a position held purely on religious grounds cannot therefore be justified.”

No religious belief, said the judge, can be protected under the law “however long its tradition, however rich its culture.”

Finally, a bit of common sense for once. I think it’s important that religious people start to accept the fact that their personal beliefs are things that they can privately hold, but that society does not need to necessarily agree with. The notion that homosexuality is a sin and against “God’s will” is not a statement of fact, but rather an ancient prejudice that has been allowed to continue thanks to the tireless efforts of religious bigots from around the world. A country is no more obligated to respect this belief than it needs to respect a man’s right to sell his daughter into slavery.

Now, if you guys could just stop jailing people for no fucking reason, that would be great!

Christians prays for less tolerance of homosexuality

Posted on by

Forgive us for accepting homosexuality, oh Lord! We should be busy hating gays more, but this terrible secular culture has totally brainwashed us into thinking you cannot condemn someone for having same sex attraction. Give us the power to smite these sodomites with your loving genocidal rage, oh sky-daddy.

Yeah, I’m sure the problem is these guys are actually too tolerant… Ah religion, you’ll never cease to amaze me with your stupidity.

The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 126

This week, Jeff joined me to share some of his thoughts on the Catholic Church denying gays the right to adopt, and the plight of women in Afghanistan (and something about me being your crack dealer).

The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 126
Loading
/

Catholic charity gets the right to exclude gays from adopting

Posted on by

Amidst the heady swirl of controversy surrounding the Catholic Church (with more and more evidence of priestly misconduct and of their highly organized protection of these offenders), a UK judge has allowed a Catholic adoption agency to openly discriminate against gay couples wanting to adopt. They are now allowed exemption from sexual orientation regulations that make it illegal to discriminate against someone because of their homosexuality.

The Church had threatened to cut all of their services if they were forced to comply with the law (which essentially amounts to nothing less than blackmail), and it appears that, unlike Washington DC which upheld their right to pass laws the way they see fit, this tactic has succeeded in England (with an atheist faces blasphemy charges).

The Bishop of Leeds had this to say about the victory:

We look forward to producing evidence to the Charity Commission to support the position that we have consistently taken through this process: that without being able to use this exemption children without families would be seriously disadvantaged

So what he’s saying is without the ability to openly discriminate and violate the law, children would be “seriously disadvantaged” by being adopted by loving gay parents. Yeah, he’s a real fucking swell guy, and honest to boot.

I’m sick of this bullshit, and I’m especially tired of the way ignorant bigots like Leeds try to make themselves look like the good guys. They go around pretending they don’t disrespect or hate anyone, when it’s quite clear they do. They treat gays like sub humans, and deny them the ability to invite children in their loving homes, all because of a few Bible passages that claim God hates the idea of gay men and women having sex with one another (why don’t you mind your own fucking business, you overbearing father figure?). If it’s a crime for people to love one another, then your God has no place in this world.

The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 124

This episode, Ryan and I discuss death from an atheist perspective. A prom in Mississippi cancelled due to lesbianism, and England’s ridiculous blasphemy laws. We also discuss “The Mist” and “End of the Line”.

The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 124
Loading
/

Study attempts to explain genetic origin of homosexuality

Posted on by

Here’s another study that homophobic bigots can casually ignore; Two evolutionary psychologists (yes, these guys are making the news a lot recently) have offered a unique explanation as to the evolutionary value of homosexuality. You see, since gays tend to not breed, the basic question of “why would homosexuality persist if the genes for it would be selected out” hasn’t yet been answered definitively.

I’m not sure if homosexuality is actually a genetic trait. I tend to agree it might actually be caused instead by embryological  development (the best explanation I’ve heard has to do with birth order and how the brain may be masculinized or feminized depending on the level of testosterone exposure in the womb, but I’m no scientist). Either way, I think it’s a pretty interesting study, especially in light of how they conducted it. They studied a relatively small tribe in the Pacific called the Samoa, who don’t seem to share our intense bigotry, openly accepting and identifying their gays. Because of their close kinship, they hoped to examine how our more primitive ancestors lived (we tend to be way too independent in North America). Homosexual men were more likely to help take care of their nieces and nephews, and the consensus is that these “super uncles” helped the fitness of their kin, and therefore could help pass on their genes (albeit a smaller portion of them) by being good helpers.

Catholic School kicks out student for having gay parents

Posted on by

It still amazes me gays and lesbians can still cling to their bigoted religion, even when these institutions have made it quite clear they aren’t welcomed. In Boulder, Colorado, a preschooler was booted from a private Catholic school because his/her parents were lesbians, and this violates the Church’s firm belief homosexuality is an abomination.

Now, due to the fact they are a private school, they can pretty much do whatever they like, and that means there are no reprisals for what essentially amounts to some pretty serious discrimination. If you think that’s acceptable, how would people react if the kid was kicked out of the school because her parents were black? We surely wouldn’t take it as lightly, and we’d be calling them on their racist shit. But because it’s just homos here, we barely skip a beat. It’s just sad how quick people are to defend the rights of a private institution and so slow to defend the rights of individuals not to be discriminated against. Sad, just sad…

The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 120

Welcome back to another episode of The Good Atheist. Still in Cowtown for a while, and my cohost is the lovely and talented Carisa Hendrix. This week, we talk about why evolution is still controversial, and how the Catholic Church is trying to blackmail Washingtonians into not supporting gay rights.

The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 120
Loading
/

You mean Religions aren’t allowed to dictate civil rights?

Posted on by

In case you were unaware, Mormons typically don’t like gays. They hate them so much they devoted a significant portion of their resources to pushing for Prop 8, using all kinds of ridiculous fear mongering and veiled bigotry to convince people that allowing marriages between individuals of the same sex would somehow torpedo their own unions. It didn’t matter to them this was a complete and utter fabrication; remember, these are the same folks who believe Native Americans were actually cursed Jews .

The religious authorities of the Church, known commonly as “Elders”, have been pretty clever with their use of rhetoric to mask their bigotry and disdain for civil rights, but recently one of their old fogies started complaining about Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the court case challenging the legality of Proposition 8. Elder Lance Wickman believes this case will specifically erode the “liberty” religions have in influencing politicians, something he believes is the fundamental right of all crazy conservative religions:

I believe that the greatest challenge faced by the church,” Elder Wickman said, “is the challenge to religious liberty that is growing worldwide. … A battle is looming over the effort to acquire civil social rights at the expense of civil religious rights. This battle, I believe, represents the acceleration of a disturbing slide downward in the law regarding the place of religion in the public square.

Perry seeks a court declaration that, as a matter of law, religious views may not be used to justify the denial of a social civil right.

Wow, I guess that says it all, doesn’t it? The fact this idiot actually BELIEVES religions have a right to impose their twisted and bigoted world view on the rest of us is telling. Finally, a little bit of honesty coming out of the Mormon camp. Luckily, Americans still benefit (for now) from the separation of church and state, which dictates quite plainly religions have absolutely no fucking business in politics, for exactly the reasons outlined by Elder Wickman; they seek to impose their limited view of civil liberties on others, and that simply isn’t acceptable.

Vatican considers British Equity Bill “unjust”

Posted on by

It seems as though the Vatican is unable to mind their own damn business, as they’ve recently opposed a piece of legislation in the UK commonly known as the “Equity Bill”. The Bill itself seems to focus on trying to tackle discrimination in workplaces, for anything ranging from age, race, gender, and (more importantly for the church) sexual orientation.

Now the Pope may be an evil scumbag, but he’s no fool; the wording he’s used to condemn this has been carefully crafted to make it look like they are only trying to defend the rights of Catholics. They say they are worried the Government would force them to employ women as priests, or worse, force their adoption agencies to allow homosexuals to have children (oh no! We can’t send them these kids to a loving home!). It’s not surprising, however, that their rhetoric doesn’t usually make any sense once you begin to scrutinize it:

“Yet, as you have rightly pointed out, the effect of some of the legislation designed to achieve this goal has been to impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs.

“In some respects it actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed.”

But there is a misunderstanding: sometimes in government legislation equality seems to mean that we are all absolutely equal, which we are not. We are equal in dignity.

What the fuck does that mean exactly? Does it mean we can deny some people the same basic rights as others with our heads held high? What is dignity if it plays no role in deciding how fairly and equitably we treat our fellow human beings? This is the problem with religious folks who believe in an ancient and out of date dogma; in their eyes, homosexuals and women are not on par with men, and any laws which grants these folks the same rights as heterosexual males is seen as abhorrent.

In the next few days the Catholic bishops of England and Wales will issue a further challenge to Mr Brown and the other political parties in a “religious manifesto”, or pre-election document, that will build on more than a century of Catholic social thought to argue for religious freedom, as well as care for the poor and deprived.

This is the new way the church tries to spin their obvious homophobia and misogyny; they mask it under the rhetoric of helping the poor and deprived, but ignore their basic supposition, which is that homosexuals and women don’t deserve the same rights as others. That’s it. They can write a whole manifesto tooting their own horn, but it doesn’t change the fact they have no fucking business telling a foreign nation what laws it should or should not pass. Stick to talking to your invisible friend in the sky, and leave the rest of us alone, thanks.

(props to Simon for the find)

The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 115

Welcome back to another episode of The Good Atheist podcast. Can you believe we’re already at show #80? Seems like just yesterday we were valiantly trying to make a show happen once a month, and now we do 8! This week, Ryan and I talk about gay rights in California, the Vatican and their inability to stay out of everyone’s affairs, and we even talk a little bit about Nazis and why they suck.

The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 115
Loading
/

Which one is worse?

Posted on by

The ironically named “Truth Ministry” is a homophobic organization which focuses on trying to brainwash homosexuals into thinking their sexual identities are an abomination. They claim they aren’t trying to tell anyone else how to live, and only offer an “alternative” for any gays and lesbians that hope to live a gigantic lie. A few months ago they were the “victims” of a prank, with someone photoshopping one of their billboards and posting it on a number of blogs and forums. It was such a hit the ministry actually had to post about it on their site to debunk it. The whole purpose behind the prank was to make fun of their idea of “changing” people from their obvious natural state into something they are not. Their response, as is typical with these kinds of delusional bigots, does a great job at showing just how tolerant and level headed they are:

Just as the ad said–if you “don’t want to be”–if you want help, great. If you don’t want help, then our ministry is not for you. We are not here to slam those that are happy being gay. Now, many feel that we are filled with hate saying that there is hope for change. I would say that scripture says otherwise in 1 Cor. 6:11–”and that is what some of you were, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” If you or others have a problem with scripture, then your or their issue is not with Truth Ministry but with God.

So far you haven’t said anything to dispel the idea you’re full of hate, guys. In fact, you’ve painted every single religious person into a corner; you’re either with Truth Ministry, or you’re against God. Don’t you just love the way crazy people can justify any kind of hatred and bigotry by simply finding an appropriate passage in the Bible?

 

(Update: The website is abandoned and now for sale, so there is some hope in the world.)