Seen on the Maryland Catholic Conference Facebook page:
"Look at the thousands of signatures to repeal the same-sex 'marriage' law that ONE parish just dropped off!"
If you live in Maryland, help your parish get involved at MarylandMarriageAlliance.com.
Jonathan Bernstein for the WaPo's Plum Line blog:
Greg has been reporting recently on a fascinating issue: how Democrats will handle same-sex marriage in their 2012 party platform. The general sense has been that Barack Obama is lagging behind his party on this issue, and that it’ll be hard for him to block a marriage equality plank without angering core Dem voters.
That may be true. But if so, he may have company: Dem candidates for the U. S. Senate also are generally avoiding or downplaying the issue, at least if their campaign web sites are any guide.
For the first time, some polls show majority support for gay marriage. But if this is any guide, Democrats are still being extraordinarily about an issue they seem to think can still backfire on them.
The web sites of the 10 Democratic candidates running as challengers or for open seats show that very few of these candidates are eager to jump on this particular bandwagon. Only two — Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts and Chris Murphy in Connecticut — trumpet their support for marriage equality and for repealing the Defense Of Marriage Act. To be sure, none of the other six openly opposes the issue. They’re just not mentioning it. What’s particularly interesting is that neither candidate in the two strongly contested nominations, in Hawaii and New Mexico, included support of marriage equality as part of an effort to court liberal activists.
A quick caveat: it’s certainly possible that these candidates have made public commitments on DOMA or on the general issue of same-sex marriage that simply aren’t on their campaign web sites (some of which are still developing). But this is precisely the point: What I’m looking at here is whether the candidates want people to hear about the issue. The Web sites are a good guide to that.
A would be therapist is kicked out of a program and called a threat to "public safety" because he says he used to live as a gay man and no longer does. Therapists warned their licenses will be threatened if they try to help patients who want help with same-sex attraction.
Whether you are gay or not, the withdrawal of all assistance in helping people live the lives they choose--and the punitive attitude towards scientific discussion and professional practice--is chilling. An incredible repression not only of speech, and employment, but of science itself:
While most medical ethics throughout the western world has adopted the primacy of patient autonomy as its guiding principle, the psychiatric and psychological professions in the UK are becoming increasingly authoritarian in matters of sexuality, according to one would-be therapist.
Recently published professional guidelines in the UK say it is an “ethical offense” to either offer to help a client overcome homosexual temptations and feelings, or to accede to a request to do so from a client.
“I would agree that the focus is no longer on autonomy” in ethics in psychotherapy, said Dr. Michael Davidson, PhD, Director of the Core Issues Trust. In Britain’s main psychotherapeutic organisations, “the person-centred approach is not being respected,” he said.
The Core Issues Trust is a Christian organisation that helps equip Christian ministers to help those with unwanted same-sex attraction and who want to leave the gay lifestyle.
Dr. Davidson told LifeSiteNews.com this week that he has fallen afoul of a “politically motivated” shift within the counselling and psychotherapeutic professional organisations, one that he says is betraying the real needs of clients and patients, and their freedom to make choices.
“I started my training in 2009 with the UK Psychodrama Association, and was very open and explicit about my position, including about my own journey out of homosexuality,” he said.
Nonetheless, two years into his training to become a therapist, Davidson was suddenly presented with an “interim order” telling him he was a threat to “public safety” and was not allowed to practice any type of therapy or even to train and attend classes, pending the outcome of an investigation into his conduct.
Since the publication last summer of the professional guidance, he said, the psychotherapeutic community has created a climate in which therapists who do not toe the official “gay affirming” line, daring to assert that homosexuality is not, or does not have to be a fixed condition, face severe censure, even the loss of their professional credentials.
Dr. Davidson said that the system overrules even the wishes of patients, telling them, in effect, that they must remain in the homosexual lifestyle, whether they want to or not. -- LifeSiteNews
Imams in Glasgow have told all Muslims throughout Scotland not to vote for any local election candidate on 3 May who supports redefining marriage.
The news will trouble the leaders of major parties, all of whom have indicated their personal support for the plan.
A statement was issued yesterday by the Council of Glasgow Imams and it is being sent out to Muslims throughout Scotland.
The statement said: “We urge the Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to look very seriously at this fundamentally important issue and to re-consider the full implications of what she is proposing.
“We wish to inform both her and the First Minister Alex Salmond that we are deeply unhappy and vigorously opposed to the proposed legislation for same sex marriage.
It added: “We will be urging our community from the pulpit to make sure that any person they consider voting for does not favour the proposed legislation.”
A German man who fathered four children with his sister has failed to get his conviction for incest overturned at the European Court of Human Rights.
The court ruled that Germany’s criminalisation of sex between siblings is justified for the protection of marriage and the family.
But Patrick Stuebing claims his sexual relationship with his sister is not abnormal, and that Germany has interfered with his rights to privacy and a family life.
Judges at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) commented that Germany’s ban on incest was “aimed at the protection of morals and the rights of others”.
In a recent statement, the bishops of Mexico called the family, built upon the unity of man and woman, necessary for society to exist.
“The family, founded upon marriage, is a patrimony of humanity, an essential social institution,” the bishops said. “It is the vital cell and pillar of society. This affects both believers and non-believers. It is a reality to which all governments must give their full attention.”
The statement was read during a press conference attended by Bishop Juan Pedro Juarez Melendez of Tula, Coadjutor Bishop Jorge Carlos Patron Wong of Papantla and Auxiliary Bishop Victor Rene Rodriguez Gomez of Texcoco and secretary general of the bishops’ conference.
... In today’s culture, they added, “Love is reduced to an emotional feeling and the satisfaction of instinctive drives, with no effort to build lasting bonds of mutual belonging.”
The bishops recalled the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI, who has urged families to resist attempts to redefine the traditional family, “in which all of us have lived.”
... Committing to another person “is not something to be feared,” noting that fatherhood and motherhood is “a gift of God.”
She's revered as a trail-blazing feminist and author Alice Walker touched the lives of a generation of women. A champion of women's rights, she has always argued that motherhood is a form of servitude. But one woman didn't buy in to Alice's beliefs - her daughter, Rebecca, 38.
Here the writer describes what it was like to grow up as the daughter of a cultural icon, and why she feels so blessed to be the sort of woman 64-year-old Alice despises - a mother.
The other day I was vacuuming when my son came bounding into the room. 'Mummy, Mummy, let me help,' he cried. His little hands were grabbing me around the knees and his huge brown eyes were looking up at me. I was overwhelmed by a huge surge of happiness.
I love the way his head nestles in the crook of my neck. I love the way his face falls into a mask of eager concentration when I help him learn the alphabet. But most of all, I simply love hearing his little voice calling: 'Mummy, Mummy.'
It reminds me of just how blessed I am. The truth is that I very nearly missed out on becoming a mother - thanks to being brought up by a rabid feminist who thought motherhood was about the worst thing that could happen to a woman.
You see, my mum taught me that children enslave women. I grew up believing that children are millstones around your neck, and the idea that motherhood can make you blissfully happy is a complete fairytale.
In fact, having a child has been the most rewarding experience of my life. Far from 'enslaving' me, three-and-a-half-year-old Tenzin has opened my world. My only regret is that I discovered the joys of motherhood so late - I have been trying for a second child for two years, but so far with no luck.
I was raised to believe that women need men like a fish needs a bicycle. But I strongly feel children need two parents and the thought of raising Tenzin without my partner, Glen, 52, would be terrifying.
In a strongly-worded statement submitted to the European Court of Human Rights, former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord George Carey has said that Christians in Britain are being “vilified” by the courts and “driven underground” with the same kind of persecution once directed at homosexuals.
In particular Carey pointed the finger at the British judiciary’s use of equality law to marginalize Christianity.
“In a country where Christians can be sacked for manifesting their faith, are vilified by State bodies, are in fear of reprisal or even arrest for expressing their views on sexual ethics, something is very wrong,” Lord Carey wrote.
“It affects the moral and ethical compass of the United Kingdom. Christians are excluded from many sectors of employment simply because of their beliefs; beliefs which are not contrary to the public good.”
Lord Carey’s comments were made in anticipation of a case on religious freedom to be heard by the ECHR in Strasbourg on September 4
Grassroots Conservatives have had enough of their party’s plans to rewrite the definition of marriage, the head of the oldest Tory think-tank has said.
Ben Harris, Chairman of the Bow Group, said: “What we are seeing here is genuine fatigue among a party rank and file, disappointed both at the suggested policy itself, and the reasons behind it.
... Mr Harris added: “The concern within the Conservative party is that this is a poorly thought out policy designed to cynically win support in the short term in the homosexual community, without due care and consideration to the existing institution of marriage in Britain.
Archbishop Bernard Longley in the UK:
In a challenging homily on Easter Monday 2012, Archbishop Longley stated: “Marriage and family life go side by side in the Christian tradition. As you will know the Government is determined to change the meaning of marriage so that it is no longer the life-long, exclusive union between a man and a woman open to the gift of children.”
The Archbishop of Birmingham stressed: “Christian marriage respects and celebrates the difference between male and female as God-given, and sees a true equality in the way they complement each other. We have a right to express this view forcefully in the public debate and we need to emphasise that we are not seeking to discriminate against anybody.”
These two dads on The Huffington Post say they steer their toddler daughter away from books that have a central mom figure:
"We tend to shy away from books that center around a mom character. No, we are not trying to shield Simone from the fact that she has two dads rather than a mom and a dad. But when reading to her at such an early age, we'd rather focus on stories that reinforce the bond between a father and child. She sees plenty of mom figures on TV and in her real life already. Reading time is daddy time."
Hmm, how will these parents' ambivalent/avoidant attitudes towards mothers shape their daughters sense of her own impending motherhood? Check back in 20 years. We really can't say. But it would probably help if these guys, who've chosen a life in which their child will not have a mom, had a little sensitivity to filling in for what might be lacking.
Some day we will get some good data on what happens to girls and boys raised without mothers. Until then we suppose these guys are trying to do their best. But really, did it ever occur to them: your daughter is not going to grow up to be a Dad? And that reading time is not just daddy time.
Family psychologist John Rosemond in OneNewsNow:
"...Girls who grow up in father-absent homes are more likely, as teenagers, to become pregnant. In that case, they're likely to be single mothers who raise their children in father-absent homes, perpetuating and compounding the original problem. And the wheel keeps on turnin'.
Name the problem and it's almost a certainty that kids from father-absent homes are significantly more at risk for it. Even though the above litany was meant to be mind-boggling, consider that I had to be selective. Newspapers don't give me enough space to do more than scratch the surface.
But here's something that's not often talked about: Children of unmarried, cohabiting parents are at higher risk for most of these same problems as well. That means the real problem isn't so much the absence of a father in the life of a child; it's the absence of a husband. More specifically, it's the absence of a marriage..."
The GOPUSA Staff adds their comment to the FoxNews article from yesterday:
"So much for an open, honest, and transparent Obama administration. As we have seen after several years of his team in action, "open" and "honest" are not part of their vocabulary. The National Organization for Marriage is the latest group to cry foul for unethical tactics. The group claims that the IRS leaked private tax filings in an effort to bring attention to Romney's support for traditional marriage."
A proposal that would prevent students from being discriminated against for expressing their religious beliefs has passed the Senate.
The measure sponsored by Republican Sen. Kerry Roberts of Springfield was approved 29-0 on Wednesday. The companion bill is awaiting a vote on the House floor.
Roberts says the proposal requires school districts to treat a student's religious expression the same as they would a secular viewpoint. Students would also have access to school facilities to organize student prayer groups or other religious gatherings.
Michael Warren at The Weekly Standard:
The National Organization for Marriage (NOM), a pro-traditional marriage organization, alleges that confidential tax forms were either leaked or stolen from the IRS and illegally distributed by its opponents to the media.
...A spokesman for the IRS told the Daily Caller that it takes confidentiality “very seriously” and will be conducting an investigation into the possible leak.
Eastman and Brown have also sent letters to HRC president Joe Solmonese and Huffington Posteditor in chief Arianna Huffington. NOM argues that by publishing the form, both organizations are in violation of federal law regarding tax return disclosure. The code NOM cites reads as follows: "It shall be unlawful for any person to whom any return or return information...is disclosed in a manner unauthorized by this title thereafter willfully to print or publish in any manner not provided by law any such return or return information." The letters also claim that both HRC and the Huffington Post are liable for civil damages as a result of the publication of these forms.
Each letter contains attached screenshots of HRC’s website showing the confidential forms as they were originally posted there. Those forms have since been removed, although they remain accessible through the Huffington Post.
“I do believe they are wholeheartedly serious,” Brown says of the IRS and its investigation. Brown adds that NOM’s lawyers say that such a leak of an individual non-profit group’s tax forms is “not normal” and that he suspects the HRC was engaging in foul play.
