Howie Luvzus

From the Washington Post:

Christian Site’s Ban on ‘G’ Word Sends Homosexual to Olympics

The American Family Association obviously didn’t foresee the problems that might arise with its strict policy to always replace the word “gay” with “homosexual” on the Web site of its Christian news outlet, OneNewsNow. The group’s automated system for changing the forbidden word wound up publishing a story about a world-class sprinter named “Tyson Homosexual” who qualified this week for the Beijing Olympics.

The problem: Tyson’s real last name is Gay. Therefore, OneNewsNow’s reliable software changed the Associated Press story about Tyson Gay’s amazing Olympic qualifying trial to read this way:

Tyson Homosexual was a blur in blue, sprinting 100 meters faster than anyone ever has.

I bet Tyson gets a knew nickname!

HT: Kaylor

Here’s a link to an open letter to Sean Hannity from a former co-worker of his. It seems that, Jim Adkisson, the man who killed two people, wounded five others, and left an entire Unitarian Congregation in Knoxville and country shaken by his actions testified in his own written notes, that the rampage was fueled by Hannity’s words in the book, Let Freedom Ring.

In the article at Religion Dispatches, Candace Chellew-Hodge chronicles Hannity’s hatred of homosexuals and his bitter paranoia.

“If the Left succeeds in gaining and retaining more power, the well-being of future generations will be at greater peril. I fear (our children) will inherit a nation that is less free and less secure than the nation we inherited from the last generation. It is therefore our job to stop them. Not just debate them, but defeat them.” — Sean Hannity

Stuff like this is exactly why I will not stop “Kicking Against the Pricks.” Folks like Hannity, O’Reilly and the Fox News folks and the idiots who listen to them are the real threat. Funny how Christians were quick to condemn Marilyn Manson for the Columbine shootings but I haven’t heard anyone trying to get Hannity off the air! I sure hope the gun used wasn’t from some Baptist church gun give-away!

They are not Christians. They do not speak for Christ. They hurt the cause of Christ more than anyone else I can think of.

The Christ of Scripture speaks of a God who welcomes all to the banquet. This Christ calls us to love our neighbor, love our enemies and turn the other cheek. This Christ slams self-righteous religious folks and demands that we be humble, meek, and loving. I see none of those qualities in the Fox folks or those who watch that crap.

Once again, I call all Christians to boycott Fox. Read Chellew-Hodge’s article. It’s very touching. Here’s one more excerpt:

The sad irony here, Sean, is that if Mr. Adkisson had gone to that Unitarian church and told them he was out of a job and his food stamps had just ended, they would have helped him. They would have fed them from their food pantry and used their network of friends to help find him a job. Not because they’re liberal socialists, but because they understand that it’s not “us” against “them.” Instead, what made this country great is that we pull together in times of crisis—we bear one another’s burdens and put aside our differences in order to be of service to one another. They would have reached out to Mr. Adkisson without asking him if he was Democrat or a Republican or a liberal or a conservative. Labels don’t matter when someone is in need—or they shouldn’t.

You have got to be kidding me!

What’s next, an ethics bill from Jefferson?

Larry Craig and David Vitter — “two United States Senators implicated in extramarital sexual activity” — have named themselves as co-sponsors of S.J. Res. 43, the Marriage Protection Amendment. If passed, the bill would amend the Constitution to declare that marriage “shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman.”

I’ve never understood why someone who believes homosexuality is a sin must oppose same-sex marriage. I’ve also never really bought the conservative Christian line that same-sex marriage is a threat to our country. I have gay friends and they really don’t threaten me or my family or anyone else for that matter. I’m kind of shallow so I always assumed that conservative Christians oppose same-sex marriage because they either don’t want to question their own sexuality or they are simply “creeped out” by homosexuality.

Nick Street offers another reason in “It’s the Spiritual Economy, Stupid: Why the Gay Marriage Fracas isn’t About Either” and I think he’s on to something. Street argues that the battle is really about the importance of Scripture, particularly the more literal interpretation of Scripture. Of course, conservative Christians can’t really openly argue that so they have to keep that idea in the closet. Here’s a bit of Street’s argument…

Well, the impulse behind the movement’s anti-gay activism doesn’t really have much to do with marriage and sexuality. No one on the religious right has argued—or is likely to argue—that the success or failure of Jenna Bush’s marriage really hinges on whether lesbians and gay men are allowed to tie the knot on the courthouse steps in San Francisco.

The real issues are the authority of the Bible and the nature of revelation.

Recent polls show that while roughly two-thirds of Americans believe that Noah’s flood, the creation story and other biblical events are literally true, only about 40 percent of those surveyed accept the Bible as completely inerrant—a figure declining at about the rate that public acceptance of gays and lesbians is increasing.

So a lot is at stake in a political initiative with deep roots in the foundations of canonical Christianity. If religious conservatives can’t persuade a majority of Californians to heed one element in an otherwise obscure list of purity codes in Deuteronomy—and that Jesus’ preaching in the gospels isn’t really complete without Paul’s finger-wagging in Romans—the stitching that holds together the disparate parts of the Good Book will have subtly but irrevocably loosened, along with the Bible’s centuries-old grip on American public life.

Pretty interesting argument. If it’s true, it shows that conservative Christians aren’t being totally honest.

Also via Bruce, Baptist Press reported the following:

Hundreds rallied at the Oklahoma state capitol April 2 to show their support for Republican state Rep. Sally Kern, a Southern Baptist whose comments about homosexuality have drawn nationwide attention and even death treats.

The controversy began around March 7 when the Victory Fund, an organization dedicated to seeing homosexuals elected to public office at all levels, posted a video on YouTube with audio sound bytes of one of Kern’s speeches where she stated her biblical views on homosexuality to about 20-30 Republicans. It has since been viewed more than 1 million times.

Supporters chanted “Sally! Sally! Sally!” and speakers stood in front of a sign reading, “We Stand With Sally Kern.” Nearly 2,000 were in attendance, according to one estimate.

“This is not about me,” Kern said at the rally, which spilled over from the first floor rotunda to the building’s second and third floors. She is the wife of Olivet Baptist Church pastor Steven Kern in Oklahoma City. “It’s about the church having the right to speak out for the redeeming love of Jesus Christ Who died to set us all free from sin. The Lord gave me a verse I’ve been claiming. Philippians 1:12, ‘I want you to know that what has happened to me has really served to advance the Gospel.’”

Two things worth noting.
1. Hey Baptist Press! Her “biblical views” aren’t really what got her in trouble here!
When Sally was “stating her biblical views on homosexuality,” she said that as a “Matter of fact, studies show that no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than, you know, a few decades. So it’s the death nell to this country. I honestly think it’s the biggest threat that our nation has — even more so than terrorism, or Islam, which I think is a big threat, OK? Because what’s happening now, they’re going after, in schools, two year olds!”

2. Hey Sally! You weren’t talking about redeeming love and you haven’t advanced the gospel. Moron.

I usually only give Christians a hard time for their stupidity, but if a Jew wants to say something stupid I’ll call him on it too!

From The Daily Star:

An ultra-Orthodox member of Israel’s Parliament on Wednesday blamed homosexuals for last week’s earthquake that shook his country and the region.

Speaking at a parliamentary committee on preparedness for quakes, Shas MP Shlomo Benizri lashed out at homosexuality, considered an abomination under Jewish law and in its religious text, the Gemara.

“We are looking for earthly solutions, how to prevent them,” Benizri said. “I have another way to prevent earthquakes. The Gemara says that one of the reasons earthquakes happen - which the Knesset [Parliament] legitimizes - is homosexuality.”

“God says you shake your genitals where you are not supposed to and I will shake my world in order to wake you up,” he added.

Should gay men be required to wear Whitey tighties so that their genitals won’t shake? I’m just askin’.