Posts Tagged ‘Homosexuality’

News & Submissions 3/3/2011

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011

‘Witch’ killings described in book
A 350-year-old notebook which describes the execution of innocent women in East Anglia for consorting with the devil has been published online.

Puritan writer Nehemiah Wallington wrote passages on his attitudes to life, religion, the civil war as well as the witchcraft trials of the period.

By 1654 Wallington had catalogued 50 notebooks, of which only seven are known to have survived. Four are in the British Library, one in the Guildhall Library, one in the Folger Library in Washington DC, and one at Tatton Park in Cheshire.

The Tatton notebook describes battles and skirmishes of the English Civil War period and the disturbing violence of the 1640s in which dozens of East Anglian women were killed. Read full story from newsletter.co.uk

Government releases UFO sighting and policy files
(Reuters) – The government Thursday released 35 previously classified files documenting sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by the military and members of the public dating back to the 1950s.

The files contain around 8,500 pages which mainly cover the period from 1997 to 2005 and include photographs, drawings and descriptions of flying saucer sightings, as well as letters the Ministry of Defence sent eyewitnesses in response to their accounts.

Policemen, a soldier, a RAF officer and members of the public report sightings of objects including a “chewy mint shaped solid craft” and aerial objects resembling a “ring,” a “jellyfish” and a “silver voile spin top.”

In one account a man said he believed he had been “abducted” by aliens in October 1998 after seeing an unidentified craft hover over his London home and finding he had gained an hour of time in the process. Read full story from reuters.com

My Take: The Bible really does condemn homosexuality
In her recent CNN Belief Blog post “The Bible’s surprisingly mixed messages on sexuality,” Jennifer Wright Knust claims that Christians can’t appeal to the Bible to justify opposition to homosexual practice because the Bible provides no clear witness on the subject and is too flawed to serve as a moral guide.

As a scholar who has written books and articles on the Bible and homosexual practice, I can say that the reality is the opposite of her claim. It’s shocking that in her editorial and even her book,  Unprotected Texts, Knust ignores a mountain of evidence against her positions.

It raises a serious question: does the Left read significant works that disagree with pro-gay interpretations of Scripture and choose to simply ignore them?

Owing to space limitations I will focus on her two key arguments: the ideal of gender-neutral humanity and slavery arguments. Read full story from cnn.com

Spiritual panel explores ideals
The Nordic Lounge was host to the Anthropology Student Association and Pagan club’s Spirituality Panel on Thursday Feb. 24, where leaders and teachers from different faiths shared their personal stories and discussed the main aspects of their respective faiths.

Hinduism; Spirituality of Recovery Programs, also known as the 12 -Step Program; Asatru, a Norse/Germanic Paganism; Soka Gakkai, a form of Buddhism; and Wicca were represented.

The speakers talked about their faiths and shared with the audience their gods, myths and history.

Dennis Price, an undecided major, said, “I really am grateful that the Anthropology and Pagan Clubs make this possible for us. I think it is essential for us to know about the spiritual paths that they took. It’s like putting on different glasses to see different effects.” Read full story from lbcvikingnews.com

US declares eastern cougar extinct
WASHINGTON – The US Fish and Wildlife Service declared the eastern cougar officially extinct Wednesday, even though the big cat is believe to have first disappeared in the 1930s.

The eastern cougar is often called the “ghost cat” because it has been so rarely glimpsed in northeastern states in recent decades. It was first placed on the endangered species list in 1973. Read full story from rawstory.com

13 face charges of arson
THERE was pandemonium at the Naphuno magistrate’s court in Limpopo when 13 people appeared in court for allegedly burning the houses of people they accused of practising witchcraft.

The accused, all aged between 19 and 50 years, were arrested on Monday and appeared on Tuesday on charges of public violence.

Their appearance follows an incident at Santeng village outside Hoedspruit on Sunday when a group of angry villagers allegedly set alight seven houses belonging to people accused of practising witchcraft.

This followed allegations that a 13-year-old girl was caught naked casting a spell over a neighbour’s house just after midnight.

The girl was allegedly arrested and forced to appear before the village’s kangaroo court where she was grilled by the villagers. Read full story from sowetanlive.co.za

Grandmothers get support from safe
In most rural areas in Malawi, elderly people, who are not longer active and need the support of canes to walk, are always suspected of being witches.

One such victim of old age is Daitoni Wala of Nyanu Village, T/A Malemia in Zomba. He lost his wife and two children in 1954 due to a flood that hit Mulanje in the year. Since then, his life has been a misery. Wala says he used to live a good life until he lost his family. And as he grew older, he says, society became hostile towards him.

He says people in the community always suspect elderly people of witchcraft and blame them for any bad thing that happens in the community. Wala says he has no one to assist him and he lives alone in a house which is in a bad state.

However, his dream to live a better life may one day be realised even though he is old. The Sub-Saharan Family Enrichement (Safe), a non-governmental organisation working in Malawi, introduced a group called goo Grandmothers, to provide a support system for the elderly. Read full story from nationnw.net

Sweat lodge trial fuels Native American frustrations
Growing up on a reservation in lower Saskatchewan, Alvin Manitopyes learned early to respect the sweat lodge. He was 10 when he attended his first sweat ceremony, and for more than 15 years tribe elders instructed him in his people’s ways.

He understands the spiritual mandate he was given as a healer to serve as an intermediary between people and the spirit world. He carries with him the ancient ceremonial songs, passed on through generations.

He knows how the natural elements – earth, fire, water and air – work together to cleanse people, inside and out, and create balance. At 55, he has spent more than 20 years conducting ceremonies in sweat lodges, where water is poured over hot lava rocks as part of a purifying ritual.

“If you have the right to do it, then the environment you’re creating is a safe place,” says Manitopyes, a public health consultant in Calgary, Alberta, who is Plains Cree and Anishnawbe. “But today we have all kinds of people who observe what’s going on and think they can do it themselves. … And that’s not a safe place to be.” Read full story from cnn.com

Funeral protest ruling painful but right
(CNN) — The Supreme Court ruled that a Kansas church whose members travel the country to protest at military funerals, holding signs that say “Thank God for dead soldiers” and “God blew up the troops,” has a right to continue such demonstrations.

The case was brought by Albert Snyder, whose 20-year-old son, Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, was killed in Iraq in 2006. The family-dominated Westboro Baptist Church, run by Fred Phelps, protested at Matthew Snyder’s funeral to spread their opinion that American deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq are God’s punishment for U.S. immorality and tolerance of homosexuality and abortion.

CNN.com talked to CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin about Snyder v. Phelps, which pitted the right of families to grieve in privacy against the First Amendment right to free expression. Read full story from cnn.com

Cracked Mayan Code May Pave Way to Lost Gold
Led by Joachim Rittsteig, an expert in Mayan writing, a group of scientists and journalists left Germany Tuesday, on a mission to Guatemala in search of a lost Maya treasure allegedly submerged under Lake Izabal.

According to the German newspaper Bild, which sponsored the expedition, the expedition includes two reporters from the publication, a photographer, a television camera, and a professional diver who will submerge into Lake Izabal in an attempt to find eight tons of gold said to have been lost there. Read full story from foxnews.com

Charlie Sheen, you are sooo hexed!
A trio of Salem witches, offended by Hollywood hell-raiser Charlie Sheen’s proclamation that he is a “warlock,” are planning a spiritual housecleaning for the “Two and a Half Men” train wreck in the Witch City on Sunday.

“If he doesn’t get some spiritual help, he could end up dead,” said a witch who goes by the name of Lorelei. Just Lorelei. She’s hosting the Sheen-orcism at her witchcraft emporium Crow Haven Corner.

So what will you do Sunday, Loreliei?

“Sacrifice him,” deadpanned the witch, who was immediately chastised by her conjuring colleague Christian Day.

“We’re going to use high ritual and high magic to give him all the help he needs,” declared Christian.

Salem’s sorcerers have their cloaks in a twist ever since Sheen, in an interview with “Today,” said CBS had “picked a fight with a warlock.” Day, a self-proclaimed warlock and the owner of Hex, an “Olde World Witchery” shop, said Charlie seems to be confusing warlocks with warlords. Read full story from bostonherald.com

The Great Debate – What is Life? (source The Science Network)

Richard Dawkins on his book The God Delusion – full show (souirce Youtube – AllenGregg)

News & Submissions 10/7/2010

Thursday, October 7th, 2010

My Take: So who are the Druids, anyway?
The Druids have hit the headlines in the recent days because religious charity status has been granted in the UK to The Druid Network – a group set up to foster Druid values and projects. Read full story from cnn.com

Priest fears Masonic ‘witchcraft’
A Christian minister in Carterton is objecting to a Masonic Lodge being used for a temporary library because he considers it connected to witchcraft. Read full story from time-age.co.nz

Metro columnist Dan Casey: Who’s afraid of a Sunday Halloween?
Back in 1999, the devil’s holiday fell on a Sunday and that was a lot of fun.

The governments of Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem did their best to ignore such calendar blasphemy. Read full story from Roanoke.com

Oil Spill Panel Says EPA, NOAA Weren’t Ready to Deploy Dispersants
The staff members of a presidential commission today criticized the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for being inadequately prepared to deal with the size of the oil spill that resulted from the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout. Specifically, a discussion draft concluded that neither agency had planned for large-scale use of dispersants to break up the oil on the surface and at depth. Read full story from sciencemag.org

Christian group pulls support for event challenging homosexuality
A national Christian organization will stop sponsoring an annual event that encourages school students to “counter the promotion of homosexual behavior” because the event has become too divisive and confrontational, the group’s president told CNN on Wednesday. Read full story from cnn.com

Delaware Wiccan Speaks Out on Christine O’Donnell
“I am not a witch.” Only in the ever-wackier 2010 election cycle would a campaign video start with such an assertion, but this particular ad was for Delaware’s Republican Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell, whose recent admission that she “dabbled in witchcraft” as a teen has brought toil and trouble to the Wiccan community. To find out more about the Wiccan religion — which bases its belief system on witchcraft — TIME spoke to Michael Smith, a Wiccan high priest and IT consultant from O’Donnell’s home state. Read full story from time.com

News & Submissions 2/4/2010

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

Colonel tells cadets ‘lack of respect’ for pagan site will not be tolerated
A top official at the Air Force Academy warned cadets Wednesday that religious discrimination “will not be tolerated” — an admonishment that came nearly three weeks after an airman reported that someone left a large wooden cross at the site of a pagan worship area. Read full story from gazette.com

Christian Serbia maintains its faith in folklore
While Serbia is a deeply religious nation, it also happens to be steeped in superstition. The BBC’s Mark Lowen finds that folklore and tales of medieval military glory are part of daily life for many Serbians. Read full story from bbc.co.uk

Spooky Encounters with the Ghost of Catherine’s Hill
Some of you who have driven the Black’s Woods Road in Downeast Maine between Franklin and Cherryfield, may have heard about the legend of Catherine’s Hill. Read full story from wabi.tv

Course explores wicca religion
The Temple of the Green Cauldron is offering Introduction to Wicca, running Wednesdays from Feb. 17 to March 14 at the Harewood Activity Centre, 195 Fourth St. Read full story from bclocalnews.com

Campaign finance ruling impacts tribes
WASHINGTON – Many tribes already have trouble getting their voices heard in the American political system. A controversial Supreme Court campaign finance ruling may amplify the problem, according to political observers. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

March of the pagans, from the Bible belt to Hollywood
I had a friend, an ardent Pentecostalist – “shouters”, those hillbillies called themselves – whose trailer featured by way of cultural uplift only the Bible and a big TV set permanently tuned to the Christian Broadcasting Network, on which Pat Robertson used to denounce New Age paganism on an hourly basis. Read full story from theirfirstpost.co.uk

Libya: Stop Blocking Independent Web Sites
(New York) – Libya’s moves in late January, 2010, to block access to at least seven independent and opposition Libyan web sites based abroad and to YouTube is a disturbing step awayfrom press freedom, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should restore web site access immediately, Human Rights Watch said. Read full story from hrw.org

25 Percent of U.S. Nuclear Power Plants Are Leaking Radioactive Chemicals
As far fetched as it sounds, the Associated Press recently reported that at least 27 of 104 nuclear reactors across the United States are leaking potentially dangerous levels of tritium into the groundwater around the plants. Read full story from treehugger.com

1,000 Rabbis Warn Homosexuality in the Military May Cause Further Natural Disasters
We often hear how intolerant and crazy the fundies of Christianity and Islam are… but we don’t talk too much about Jews. However, they have their fundies too, and if you replace a few words here and there, they sound exactly like the others. Read full story from unreasonablefaith.com