I have written three times on this blog about my deconversion from the Baha’i Faith. I’d like the reader to compare my story with this one about a woman converting to Mormonism.
https://alittlelesspressure.blog/2018/02/02/my-conversion-story/
Category Archives: Christianity
The Baha’i Faith, Mormonism, and Reddit
Two weeks ago, I made an account on reddit, yet another social media site. I immediately dove into battles with the Baha’i bigot and backstabber Scott Hakala (who was using the false name DavidbinOwen but was exposed anyway), until I got so sick of his arguments and self-serving bullcrap that I finally blocked him. He was infesting the Ex-Baha’i forum, which as a Baha’i propaganda minister he certainly had no business being in.
Religion can’t always save people!
Ex-Mormons
In a previous blog entry, I posted video testimonies by people who were former Jehovah’s Witnesses. Tonight, I do the same for people who used to be Mormons.
Ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses
I’ve never been a Jehovah’s Witness (JW), but I think I can still relate to people that have left that religious group, having been both a Christian (Southern Baptist, specifically) and a Baha’i and rejected both faiths due to personal investigation of their claims and histories.
On YouTube, there are several testimonies by people that have left the JWs.
The Watchtower leaders are EVIL!
What is really “dangerous” within Christianity?
First, consider this Bible reference:
Luke 9:49-50
“Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.”
“Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”
That seems like an absolute proclamation. Jesus certainly did not say, “Whoever preaches my doctrines exactly according to some standard made long ago is for you.”
Tim LaHaye is no more
Read this news story:
‘Left Behind’ Co-Author Tim LaHaye, Leading Voice of Evangelicalism, Dies
Tim LaHaye, an intellectual and popular leader of the evangelical movement whose 16 “Left Behind” novels sold tens of millions of copies, died Monday at age 90 in San Diego following a stroke last week, his ministry and his family said.
The “Left Behind” novels, co-written with Jerry B. Jenkins, were enormously popular, crashing mainstream best-seller lists in the 1990s and the 2000s, which until then had been all but unheard of for Christian-themed fiction.
The books, which were based heavily on the Book of Revelation, chronicled the struggles of the unfortunate people “left behind” on Earth after the Second Coming of Jesus and the “Rapture” of believers into Heaven, introducing the frankly apocalyptic theology to a much wider audience.
“Thrilled as I am that he is where he has always wanted to be, his departure leaves a void in my soul that I don’t expect to be filled until I see him again,” Jenkins said in a statement Monday.
But the books were only part of the reason the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College named LaHaye the most influential leader in evangelical Christianity in 2001 — ahead of Billy Graham, James Dobson and Jerry Falwell.
Falwell, who died in 2007, credited LaHaye with having inspired him to found the Moral Majority in 1979. And in a 2005 interview with Time magazine, Falwell called LaHaye and Jenkins’ “Left Behind” books the most influential Christian body of literature of the 20th century — behind only the Bible itself.
LaHaye also founded San Diego Christian College, 12 Christian secondary schools and the Tim LaHaye School of Prophecy at Falwell’s Liberty University in Virginia.
Among the first departments at San Diego Christian College was the Institute for Creation Research, which branched out as an influential young-Earth creationist research organization in 1972.
In 2005, Time enshrined LaHaye and his wife of almost 70 years, Beverly LaHaye — an evangelical leader in her own right as founder and chairwoman of the powerful conservative political group Concerned Women of America — as “The Christian Power Couple.”
Combined, their books and their radio and TV shows reached hundreds of millions of conservative Christians around the world for more than a quarter-century — and drew sharp criticism from liberal organizations and fellow pastors on the more progressive side of the Christian spectrum.
In 2009, LaHaye famously called President Barack Obama a socialist whose rise to power was possibly a signal of the approach of the End Times.
In an essay Monday in Christianity Today, Jenkins acknowledged that LaHaye was often called “opinionated, polemic, a right-wing conservative fundamentalist — and some will even accuse him of homophobia.”
But “the Tim LaHaye I got to know had a pastor’s heart and lived to share his faith,” Jenkins wrote. “He listened to and cared about everyone, regardless of age, gender, or social standing.
“If Tim was missing from the table at a book signing or the green room of a network television show, he could usually be found in a corner praying with someone he’d just met — from a reader to a bookstore clerk to a TV network anchorman.”
LaHaye’s ministry said that in addition to his wife, he is survived by four children, nine grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren, a brother and a sister.
I first heard about Tim LaHaye when I was still a thoroughly brainwashed Southern Baptist and I had the misfortune to pick up and read his book “The Battle for the Mind”, a right-wing extremist diatribe that demonized secular Humanism as a corrupter of American society. I wasn’t until I attended college and deconverted from Christianity that I realized the truth. I came to see that Humanists were to LaHaye what Jews were to Adolph Hitler and his Nazis; they were scapegoats that Christian bigots could focus their hatred on instead of the spiritual love that Jesus actually taught about.
As for that series of “Left Behind” novels LaHaye co-wrote with Mr. Jenkins, the entire premise behind those books was an outright lie, as I already showed in this blog entry:
Why the Rapture is a bogus concept
And that is why I prefer to call that fraud Tim LaHELL. He was just like Hal Lindsey, another self-styled expert on Bible prophecy no one should take seriously!
Jehovah, the Homophobe.
Recently, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, one of the many Christian based cults founded in the 19th Century, produced an attractive and professional looking video with a clear message: Jehovah will not allow gays and lesbians into Paradise.
Watch that video here:
Afterwards, consider the following questions.
How do we know that Jehovah invented marriage for us? Why him and not some other god?
What if Jehovah told us to reject interracial marriage too? The Mormons have a book that condemns people with black skin!
What if Jehovah ordered us to kill anyone above the age of 65?
How do we know there is a Paradise for us to go to?
How do we know that gays and lesbians will be excluded from Paradise?
Indeed, how do we even know Jehovah exists at all?
We KNOW that gays and lesbians exist and that some of them are PARENTS.
Using one or more things that may not be real to attack things or people that are certainly real is irrational.
And making something cute to teach BIGOTRY is the worst kind of brainwashing!
It does not matter if you say, “God hates fags!” or if you say, “Jehovah does not approve of your gay lifestyle and he will love you more if you change.” Sugarcoated bigotry is still bigotry, period!
More Mormon Idiocy
I had an encounter with a Mormon using the name “Hero Spector” on another blog recently. The results were quite amusing. Continue reading
Women shouldn’t teach at Christian schools, round 2
First, look at this:
https://dalehusband.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/women-shouldnt-teach-at-christian-schools/
Are all Christian schools this bigoted? Appearantly!
Former coach of the year fired from Christian school for out-of-wedlock pregnancy
In an incredibly bizarre situation that appears headed for a legal challenge, a Dallas-area volleyball coach and science teacher was fired by the Christian school at which she worked for becoming pregnant before being married.
As first reported by Dallas Fort Worth network WFAA, Rockwall (Texas) Heritage Christian Academy volleyball coach and science teacher Cathy Samford was fired during the fall semester after she became pregnant out of wedlock. Samford had led the volleyball program for three years and had been named the school’s coach of the year once during that span.
Still, that couldn’t help save her job when she first admitted her pregnancy during the fall semester, with the school terminating her based on a violation of her contract’s morals clause because it was determined her pregnancy meant she could not serve as “a Christian role model.”
“I looked it up and thought, ‘They can’t do this,'” the 29-year-old Samford told WFAA. “We all have different views and interpretations. It’s not necessarily the Christian thing to do to throw somebody aside because of those.”
While Samford and her lawyer, Colin Walsh, are working toward filing a discrimination suit against the school, their case may be complicated by the fact that Heritage Christian Academy is a private school, and recent Supreme Court decisions have defended the right of Christian schools to exert more influence on their hirings and firings because they consider teachers to be “ministers in the classroom.”
“The Supreme Court, as a matter of fact in the last month, has ruled 9-to-0 that a Christian school does have that right, because this is a ministry, so we have the right to have standards of conduct,” Heritage Christian Academy headmaster Dr. Ron Taylor, who acknowledged that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had contacted the school, told WFAA. “How’s it going to look to a little fourth-grade girl that sees she’s pregnant and she’s not married?”
While the two parties attempted mediation, those efforts failed quickly because the school refused to consider a settlement for the case.
That has left Samford uninsured and in financial distress as she heads towards giving birth, a situation she never considered possible when she was a proud member of Heritage Christian Academy’s faculty.
Would it have been better if this teacher and coach had chosen abortion to hide that she was ever pregnant? According to traditional Christian morals, isn’t having an abortion even worse than having the baby out of wedlock? And have any men been fired for getting a woman pregnant out of wedlock? I’ve never heard of that happening!
This is why I will never teach at or send any children I have to such a school….most of them seem to be run by sexist hypocrites! This is not about enforcing morals, this is about a school trying to save money by denying an insurance claim, something you would expect only from corrupt private businesses! And even if having a baby out of wedlock is considered immoral, the BABY should not be punished for her parents’ mistakes!
A Mormon for President?
Mitt Romney is shaping up to be the Republican front-runner for President. By all accounts and
Mitt Romney
appearances, he should be the ideal President candidate for conservatives: he is a successful businessman, he managed the state of Massachusetts as governor according to consistent conservative principles, and he even managed the Salt Lake City winter Olympics, making it a huge success.
There’s just one problem: he is a Mormon. And for members of the Religious Right, which is dominated by orthodox Christians, that can be a stumbling block. Of course, it would have been better for the credibility of the conservatives if they had never included the Religious Right; using religious matters to judge people and policies in our government violates the spirit if not the letter of church-state separation.
When I was a Baptist, there was a film shown at my church titled “The God Makers” which depicted Mormonism as a cult infested with pagan elements. This is ironic; Jews could say similar things about Christianity itself. Today, having rejected Christianity, I find those arguments about Mormonism pointless, but I do have my own reasons to oppose any political influence the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints may have:
https://dalehusband.wordpress.com/2010/09/14/the-book-of-mormon-is-a-p-o-s/
Racism, homophobia, and whatever other forms of bigotry the Mormon Church may endorse should be eradicated from secular politics in America. Nobody who would take the Book of Mormon seriously as scripture should be trusted to run the world’s most powerful democracy. We should have some standards for truth, logic, and ethics from our leaders. Thus, I will never vote for a Mormon for President, even if he was not a Republican.
The Credibility Effect
There is a website, stuffmadesimple.com, that claims to take complex subjects and make them easy for the average person to understand. But in doing so, it seems to have some underhanded agendas.
First, note that it puts out some videos that are actually very useful and full of valid information, like these two about diabetes and swine flu:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGL6km1NBWE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGWOAL1PTl4
It soon becomes obvious that the people running that website are Mormons and are using it, and a sister site, to teach the Mormon religion:
http://mormonsmadesimple.com/index.html
Certainly, the other videos made by this group are consistent with Mormon attitudes. It is common knowledge that Mormons are overwhelmingly conservative in politics, are heavily involved in genealogical research, and are hostile to the idea of same-sex marriage.
I have dealt with Mormonism earlier. For that reason, I don’t respect the makers of the Made Simple video series. It seems they are trying to take advantage of what I call the Credibility Effect.
The Credibility Effect is when someone or some institution that puts out valid or useful information at an earlier time tries to use the reputation built up from that to entice people to accept information that is actually dubious, even downright false or nonsensical, for ideological or religious purposes.
Here is another example of that effect in action: https://dalehusband.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/shane-killian-sells-out/
No matter how noble or right you appear to be at certain times, that doesn’t mean your claims should EVER be taken at face value. ALL claims from ALL people should be tested and when those claims fail the test, the claims should be discarded.
Related articles
- Mormonism, a failed religion (dalehusband.wordpress.com)
Another reason to despise the Catholic Church!
(Note: part of this was originally posted as a comment here.)
I am even more disgusted with the Roman Catholic Church than ever! Why? Because of this:
http://www.countmeout.ie/suspension/
This is a website based in Ireland telling people how to leave the Church. However……
Suspension of the Defection Process
In April of this year, the Catholic Church modified the Code of Canon Law to remove all references to the act of formal defection, the process used by those who wish to formally renounce their membership of the Church.
Since then, the Catholic Church in Ireland has been reflecting on the implications of this change for those who wish to leave the Catholic Church. Despite our requests for clarification, the Church have yet to reach a firm position on how or whether they will continue to accept requests for the annotation of the baptismal register.
In recent weeks we have been contacted by an increasing number of people whose defections have not been processed, due to the limbo created by this canon law amendment.
Because of this uncertainty, we have taken the decision to suspend the creation of declarations of defection via CountMeOut.ie from today (12th October 2010).
In response to this, the Church in Ireland released the following statement to RTE News:
The Holy See confirmed at the end of August that it was introducing changes to Canon Law and as a result it will no longer be possible to formally defect from the Catholic Church. This will not alter the fact that many people can defect from the Church, and continue to do so, albeit not through a formal process. This is a change that will affect the Church throughout the world. The Archdiocese of Dublin plans to maintain a register to note the expressed desire of those who wish to defect. Details will be communicated to those involved in the process when they are finalised. Last year 229 people formally defected from the Church through the Archdiocese of Dublin. 312 have done so, so far this year.
Look, you do not need permission of the Catholic Church to leave it. To even bother to go through any “”Declaration of Defection” process is to acknowledge the authority of the Church over you.
If you were baptised as a Catholic you are still counted among the congregation of the church, regardless of what beliefs you currently hold.
Which is of course a grievous lie! And you can publicly and loudly condemn the Church for this.
Go here to send messages of condemnation:
http://www.catholicireland.net/contact-us
Now, for those who do wish to abandon Catholicism but don’t wish to submit to the Church’s hoop jumping, there are alternatives. By joining another religious body, you make your rejection of Catholicism beyond dispute.
Ex-Catholics who are still Christian: Join a Protestant church. Protestants are growing as a strong minority in Latin American countries and have always been common in Europe, where the Protestant movement began. Start here: http://www.lutheranworld.org/lwf/ The Lutherans seem to be the closest in nature to Catholicism, which makes sense when you consider that they were the first to break away and were conservative compared to the Protestant movements that arose later.
Ex-Catholics who are no longer Christian but still believe in the God of the Jewish Bible : Join a Jewish Synagogue. Most Jewish groups make it difficult to join, so you may have to spend a long time convincing the rabbi that you are sincere and willing to follow the Jewish rituals and standards. The Reform Jews seem to be the ones most likely to fit you, since they are not as dogmatic and stuck in the past as others. http://urj.org/ http://www.wupj.org/index.asp
Ex-Catholics who are theists and believe that prophets came after Jesus: Join an Islamic community or a Bahai comunity. Not just any Islamic or Bahai community, but ones that allow you to think for yourself. Look here: http://www.liberalislam.net/ or here: http://www.unitarianbahai.org/
Ex-Catholics that are deist or non-theist: The best option for you is to join a Unitarian Universalist (UU) church, since deists and non-theists are welcome there. http://www.uua.org/ There is even a ministry for those who do not live near a UU church: http://clf.uua.org/ Once you are established as a UU, you can freely explore other options without having to ever leave that congregation. There are even UU Christians, UU Jews, UU Pagans and UU Buddhists that have their own groups within the Unitarian Universalist Association.
The important thing is that you identify as anything other than Catholic and that if you have children they not be raised Catholic. If enough people around the world do this, the power and influence of the Roman Catholic Church will be broken.
Mormonism, a failed religion
At first glance, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, aka the Mormon Church, seems highly successful. It was founded in the early 19th Century and has spread over the world. Somewhat. Continue reading
Jesus said even the Torah is not the Word of God
I am neither a Jew nor a Christian, but I find it ironic that many Christians insist that the Bible is the infallible Word of God, considering that Jesus did not teach that and indeed seemed to indicate that fallible MEN made some parts of it.
Matthew 19:3-9
3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”
7 “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
This passage strikes at the very heart of fundamentalist dogma, that the entire Bible from the first verse in Genesis to the last verse of Revelation, was revealed by God and has absolute authority over men. Of course, if you are an Orthodox Jew, you would naturally take offense at anyone overturning a law of the Torah. But often Christian sects like the Jehovah’s Witnesses also fall prey to excessive legalism, which Jesus denied! If certain laws in the Torah were made by Moses, not God, why not allow for the possibility that other passages, even in the New Testament, were also made by men for a specific time and people, not by God for all peoples and all times? How can we tell?
We can’t, which is why Biblical authority is a concept we need to discard.
Priestly Celibacy is unbiblical and stupid!
Cover via Amazon
For many centuries, all clergy in the Roman Catholic Church have been required to be celibate, despite the total absence of any scriptural basis for this policy. Indeed, there is a clear statement in the New Testament against it!
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Timothy%203&version=NIV
1 Timothy 3
1 Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. 2 Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full[a] respect. 5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?)
The Irish people must abandon Catholicism!
It is painful for me to proclaim that, despite being a non-theist who was never a Catholic. I know all too well how deeply embedded Catholicism is in the spirit of Ireland; a major theme of past Irish rebellion against English domination was the British being Protestant and the Irish being Catholic. Without the support of the Catholic Church, Ireland might never have won its political freedom. But now the time has come for the Irish people to seek their spiritual freedom as well, and so they must throw off the Catholic dogmas and institutions too!
Why? Because of this report:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110118/ap_on_re_eu/eu_ireland_catholic_abuse
If this video is true……
….then the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, along with any sect related to that cult, is totally unworthy of anyone’s respect.
Indeed, I would only expect insane people to ever take such a religion seriously!
The Book of Mormon is a P.O.S.
P.O.S. = Pile Of Shit
As a rule, I try to respect different religious beliefs and their followers even while disagreeing with them, usually because most religious believers I know have good qualities I admire and want to encourage, and you don’t do that by rejecting them because of one or two issues that one may overlook on a casual basis. Most Christians, Muslims, Baha’is, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, and Atheists I can respect, as long as they respect me. But there are exceptions to my tolerance. I completely reject, deny and refuse to accept in any way the Book of Mormon and its teachings, period and feel only pity for Mormons themselves that may not yet know the truth about that book. And here is why:
Why the Rapture is a bogus concept
Have you ever seen a bumper sticker like this?
Where does that idea come from? It is found here in 1 Thessalonians:
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/1th/4.html
4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Note the exact wording, however. “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
Clearly, Paul was claiming that the return of Christ and the Rapture would occur while the generation he was writing to was still alive. But that generation has been dead for about 1900 years. So the people who have such bumper stickers really don’t read their own scriptures properly. The prophecy is false.
From the book of Deuteronomy:
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/dt/18.html
18:21 And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? 18:22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
Why is Paul STILL considered a genuine apostle of Christ? If I had my way, all of Paul’s writings, along with the book of Acts (which features Paul), and even the epistle of 2 Peter (which makes excuses for the failure of Jesus to return as he supposedly promised and mentions Paul as a “beloved brother”), would be thrown out of the canon of the New Testament. It is suggested by many Bible scholars that the real Apostle Peter didn’t write “2 Peter” and it wasn’t written until decades after his death. If so, then the epistle is a case of fraud and shouldn’t even be part of Christian scriptures at all.
Ten Reasons the Quiverfull Movement is Idiotic
In case you’ve never heard of the Quiverfull movement in Christianity, here is its website:
http://www.quiverfull.com/index.php
We exalt Jesus Christ as Lord, and acknowledge His headship in all areas of our lives, including fertility. We exist to serve those believers who trust the Lord for family size, and to answer the questions of those seeking truth in this critical area of marriage.
Whether your quiver is large or small, you are welcome. Come browse our articles and resources. Also, be sure to check out the QuiverFull Digest, our email discussion group that was started in 1995.
Dedicated to providing encouragement and practical help to those who are striving to raise a large and growing, godly family in today’s world!
NSYNC got it right, for once
This is a sequel to https://dalehusband.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/how-christian-bigots-make-the-peace-process-of-israel-and-palestine-impossible/
I have little regard for most pop vocal stars and note that most of them profess to be Christians (at least they mention their faith in God and/or Jesus Christ in the liner notes of their albums). That includes NSYNC, five young boys who were ultra-hot a decade ago. But on one of their albums, “No Strings Attached”, they made a bold statement in one of their songs. Here is the lyrics for it:
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/nsync/spacecowboyyippieyiya.html
“Space Cowboy (Yippie-Yi-Ya)”
Here it comes, millennium
And everybody’s talkin’ bout Jerusalem
Is this the beginning or beginning of the end?
Well, I’ve got other thoughts my friend
See I’ve got my eyes on the skies
The heavenly bodies up high
And if you’re in the mood to take a ride
Then strap on a suit and get inside
If you wanna fly, come and take a ride
Take a space ride with the cowboy, baby
If you wanna fly, come and take a ride
Take a space ride with the cowboy, baby
Why-yi-yi-yippie-yi-yay-yippie-yi-yo-yippie-yi-yay
Why-yi-yi-yippie-yi-yay-yippie-yi-yo-yippie-yi-yo
Why-yi-yi-yippie-yi-yay-yippie-yi-yo-yippie-yi-yay
Why-yi-yi-yippie-yi-yay-yippie-yi-yo-yippie-yi-yo
We don’t need all these prophecies
Telling us what’s a sign, what’s a sign
Cause paranoia ain’t the way to live your life from day to day
So leave your doubts and your fears behind
Don’t be afraid at all
Cause up in outer space there’s no gravity to fall
Put your mind and your body to the test
Cuz up in outer space is like the wild wild west
Boom and never let you try to stop me
Born to fly sky high up to the top see
Nothing to fear, no doubts and no tears
Millennium sound to motivate the future years
And you can either be scared or get prepared
Against all odds I bet you never would’ve dared
To make these moves and take flight like me
To come through for the world prophecy
Space connect to overthrow your interception
Ready or not make it hot
That ain’t no question
Get *N Sync and put your head to the sky
Keep the faith
One love from Left Eye
Is the Baha’i Faith becoming like the Roman Catholic Church?
I just saw this blog entry which shocked me:
Women shouldn’t teach at Christian schools
Take a look at this:
http://womensrights.change.org/blog/view/teacher_fired_for_having_premarital_sex
Teacher Fired for Having Premarital Sex
June 09, 2010 04:00 PM
Newlywed Jarretta Hamilton, an elementary school teacher in her late 30s at Southland Christian School in Florida, went to her supervisors last year to be congratulated on her pregnancy and request maternity leave. But things took an unexpected turn when administrators asked just when, exactly, did she conceive? Refusing to bear false witnesses, Hamilton admitted to the prying busybodies that she had become pregnant three weeks before her wedding day.
In response, Hamilton was fired for engaging in “fornication.” Conveniently, this also meant that the school was off the hook for paying maternity leave. Then, in an added insult and violation of Hamilton’s privacy, her premarital conception was made public to others in the school and parents.
A letter explained the school administrators’ supposed rationale for the firing: “as a leader before our students we require all teachers to maintain and communicate the values and purpose of our school.” Fornication, of course, is not one of those values. Yet given that Hamilton conceived a mere three weeks before her wedding day, it would be impossible to claim that it was visibly obvious that she’d become pregnant outside of marriage. In fact, if they were concerned about the image and values being communicated, they would have given Hamilton maternity leave and not broadcast the length of her pregnancy to the entire community.
Hamilton is now suing for compensation for both her lost job and the emotional distress of being humiliated before the entire school. The invasion of a woman’s private life and high-handed moralizing makes me gag. And while the courts while decide whether legally this private religious school had the right to discriminate against Hamilton based on her marital status, morally I’d put Southland Christian School squarely in the wrong.
What Would Jesus Do? I imagine the mother of Jesus would also have been fired for fornication. The hypocrisy and self-serving attitude just sickens me!
The Pope must be removed from office!
I never thought I’d see anyone as tone deaf to the realities of the world and its problems as I see in charge of the Roman Catholic Church right now. Clearly, that institution is on its deathbed and it is time to pull the plug on it and leave it to die!
This article just left me stunned in its inanity:
The arrogance of Catholic League President Bill Donohue
Look at these videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSigjq2qz7Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1ITpxj6axo
Question: Is the Empire State Building (ESB) owned by the Catholic Church? Is it even a religious building at all? And would Mother Teresa herself have insisted on this sort of thing?
If the answer to any of these questions is no, then the refusal of the owners of the ESB to set aside a special night to honor Mother Teresa is their right. The whole point of owning private property is doing with it whatever you wish, not what someone else wants. Bill Donohue is an @$$hole! A very loud farting one!
Here is the scheduel for the lighting of the ESB over the past year:
http://www.esbnyc.com/tourism/tourism_lightingschedule.cfm?CFID=38563048&CFTOKEN=63757689
It should be noted that Mother Teresa, as beloved as she was, is not even yet an official Saint in the Catholic Church. Perhaps someday she will be declared as such. And there are so many ways to honor her, within Catholic Churches as well as anywhere else. Why make such an issue of the ESB?
Because Bill Donohue needs something to scream about to make his name appear in the news and look like he is doing something good, when he is just spitting in the wind. And even if he gets his wish, I don’t see how lighting the ESB a certain way for one night will save a single life or otherwise do anything beneficial for the building, its owners, or the businesses that work within it. Does anyone?
The Catholic Church hits an all time low!
Seriously, read this!
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/04/11/connecticut.abuse.bill/index.html?hpt=T1
Connecticut bishops fight sex abuse bill
From Jamie Guzzardo, CNN
April 11, 2010 10:30 p.m. EDT
Hartford, Connecticut (CNN) — A bill in Connecticut’s legislature that would remove the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse cases has sparked a fervent response from the state’s Roman Catholic bishops, who released a letter to parishioners Saturday imploring them to oppose the measure.
Under current Connecticut law, sexual abuse victims have 30 years past their 18th birthday to file a lawsuit. The proposed change to the law would rescind that statute of limitations.
The proposed change to the law would put “all Church institutions, including your parish, at risk,” says the letter, which was signed by Connecticut’s three Roman Catholic bishops.
The letter is posted on the Web site of the Connecticut Catholic Public Affairs Conference, the public policy and advocacy office of Connecticut’s Catholic bishops. It asks parishioners to contact their legislators in opposition of the bill.
The “legislation would undermine the mission of the Catholic Church in Connecticut, threatening our parishes, our schools, and our Catholic Charities,” the letter says.
The Catholic archdiocese of Hartford also published a pulpit announcement on its Web site, which was to be read during Mass on Sunday, urging parishioners to express opposition to the bill.
The bill has been revised to address some of the church’s concerns about frivolous abuse claims against it, according to Connecticut state Rep. Beth Bye, one of the bill’s sponsors.
“The church didn’t recognize that this bill makes improvements,” Bye said. “The victims — their lives have been changed and some will never recover from years of sexual abuse. For me, it’s about giving them access to the courts.”
Under the bill’s provisions, anyone older than 48 who makes a sex abuse claim against the church would need to join an existing claim filed by someone 48 or younger. Older claimants would need to show substantial proof that they were abused.
“They were worried about frivolous lawsuits and so we made the bar high,” Bye said.
The bill does not target the Catholic Church, she said.
The bishops’ letter raised concerns that the bill would allow claims that are 70 years or older, in which “key individuals are deceased, memories have been faded, and documents and other evidence have been lost.” The letter said that the majority of cases would be driven by “trial lawyers hoping to profit from these cases.”
The bill passed in Connecticut’s House of Representatives, and Bye said the state Senate should vote on it in the next week or two.
Clearly, the Catholic Church is doing absolutely the wrong thing! Perhaps this will finally motivate most of Connecticut’s Catholics to bolt from the Church, along with millions of others!
Sinead O’Connor was both wrong and right.
In 1992, this Irish singer took a stand against the Roman Catholic Church for abusing children, yet when she did so, she failed to make a connection to her audience. Instead of just telling people what the problem was, she tried to shock people as a way of getting their attention. That only damaged her career.
Soon afterwards, she made an public appearance where she was booed by the audience. They simply did not understand or appreciate what she’d been trying to warn them about.
Nearly two decades and many more abused children later, O’Connor corrected herself with an appearance on CNN. By now, most people were ready to listen to her and she spoke about the issue with grace and understanding, as she should have done in the first place.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEfC_Gi7pIs
Let this be an object lesson for activists of all types: You CANNOT force people to listen to what they are simply not ready to hear, and both timing and method are crucial to make your case. Ripping up a picture of the Pope did no good. Ripping up the Pope in writing or speech detailing what he may have done wrong does and always will do good.
Mormonism and the Baha’i Faith
Yikes! Reading this testimony, I wonder how many people lost their faith in Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith, because another religion accepted as valid by it, such as Christianity or Islam, was also debunked in the eyes of the now ex-Baha’i.
http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Talk/talk.religion.bahai/2008-06/msg00026.html Continue reading
Dale Husband's Intellectual Rants 