Splinters and logs, a holiday for the ages.

There are innate deconstructive forces with the house of Abraham that seem to be bringing it down. The Abrahamic triad, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, all have splinters from the striving to be more like the patriarch of each, to being just people who like to talk the talk, but not walk the walk. In each group there are those that commit transgressions that in no way exhibit the spiritual traits of the Patriarch. 

There are some in Islam that believe they have the right to commit Jihad and kill others who do not fall in line with their belief system. Just as there are Jews who oppress others humanity. Just as there are Christians who feel they are endowed by God to take the life fo another. Each having their own tools of validation for the human sacrifice to God. Religious wars do not always just include violence, though it certianly does in many cases. 

Indeed, most lasting in religious war is done through oppression. Just as there are "spinter" groups In Judaism like the recent statements made by the Rabbis in New York to continue oppression of a class of citizens. 

Then there are the "ians" in Christianity. That is a Christian who takes the humanity of Christ out of the equation. There are those Christians out there who indeed ooze the very essence of the Christlike spirit within their human interactions. Then there are those who like to preach about Jesus and how everyone else should strive to be that way, but when is comes to them...eh...not so much.

As prime example of this is the current Ugandan whitch hunt for those with HIV and/or are homosexual. To round them up and hang them. Just to send to point home, if you happen to know a homosexual and do not turn them in within 24 hours, you go to jail for three years. 

I have yet to hear of  any tests to prove homosexuality, however I can only envision throwing the accuse in water and if they sink and drown, they aren't homosexual. However if they float, their gay and get hanged. This all being because the current penalty of life in prison was not adequate. Uh yeah, that sounds like all the accounts of Christs love I have found. 

Splinter, right? Well we have splinters here in America as well. These are Christians like those politicians  in "The Family" located on C street in Washington D.C. who sent "missionaries" over to Uganda to "whip up the passions" of the President against that scourge that is...the gay. These "ians" feel speaking out on such an atrocity is something Christ would do, but them, again...not so much. 

Then there is the most pious Rev. Rick Warren who has a cozy connection with the Ugandan President. He has had a prominent verbal terrorist minister preach to his congregation. He knows the man who introduced the bill. He was quoted in TIME as saying he did not feel it his "personal calling" to speak out against the polices of other governments. EXCUSE ME? REALLY? So you are only called to speak about Jesus, just not do as he would do unless it was convenient for your agenda. You honestly think Christ would keep his mouth shut; especially in addressing another who would claim to being as Christian as you?

Putting Christ back into he equation, I feel Jesus would indeed speak out and especially if he was personally acquainted with this individual or had a connection to those who would perpetrate such hate and aggressive transgressions. I believe Moses would have spoken out against this perversion of Gods' love by murder or oppression of the child of God. I believe Allah does not feel humans should be doing the work

God is most capable of doing on God's own. God shows God can take the life of another in an instant without the intervention of any human Yet these splinters don't think God works fast enough (or is it God just doesn't work fast enough for them?) There is a grave difference between defense and aggression. This line has become blurred within the past 10 years especially.

It is this aggression that has caused splinters in the house of Abraham. As any good carpenter knows, the more splinters in the log that serves as strength in the home, the weaker this log becomes. Like the infrastructure of many cities, lack of improvements done to maintain the structure of the house of Abraham has caused a great weakening in the foundation of the house of Abraham. Standing idlly by, watching the splinters continue to weaken the structure, in this case by apathetically not speaking out or even worse, secretly feeling good knowing the splinter has another victim without you having to involve yourself. 

I fear there have become too many splinters in the structure of the three most populous religions in the world, it is becoming to feel as if the home of Abraham has become the empty house that has seen its better days. So many splinters that its logs are about to give way. Perhaps, if some prophets prove correct, the fall of this house will be in 2012. I can only  theorize from what I have seen over the past decades and noticing the cracking of the logs over the last decade.

So this holiday season, no matter your Abrahamic religious festival, remember the love you celebrate. If this love is not used to mend this old house of Abraham, then celebrate well. For there most likely will not be but a few more holiday seasons left to celebrate. Use the love of the most high to sand away the destructive splinters of hate and aggression that crack and weaken the structure. Wrap the weakening beams in cloth soaked in the healing power of compassion to strengthen them

Being 50% of all donations to charity fall in the holiday season, your money is quite welcome and needed, but more then ever, the love of God needs your voice. You need to speak out against those  things that do not reflect the reverence of life and compassion, that is God's love. If you don't and continue to stand idly by, as you huddle and snuggle around the cracking cozy fires of this time of year, remember the logs. The splinters allow life giving oxygen to burn the log ever faster. It may burn a while, but as it burns, it burns faster and faster until only ash is left. Wouldn't it truly be a shame, if in a few years we (those left behind after the collapse) will be watching the embers of a past religious dynasty of love and humanity fly above what used to be the house of Abraham?

May the light of God Shine Upon you and through you, now and forever!

With Friends Like This, Who Needs Enemies?

Hypocrisy is a virtue among terrorists.

Many people are under the impression that physical violence must be involved for one to commit terrorism or be a terrorist. This isn't the case. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines "Terror" as "a state of intense fear." It further defines "terrorism" as "the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion."

While many would to focus on those of different nationalities or faiths as "the terrorists". The reality is they themselves can fall into this category as well. For they have continued to use "the systematic use of terror" to put forth their agenda of demonizing the current administration "as a means of coercion". As I put forth in my book, there have been those in the past who have used this method to put forth their agenda. President Bush used the act of terror to move our resources from the search for those who attacked us on 9/11 into a false war in Iraq.

 

The late Jerry Fawell used the same tactics to continue the discrimination of LGBT citizens. Both, like Al Qaeda have recruited minions to carry on their terrorist rhetoric. Now those minions are using their trainng and have refined it to cause greater terror in the citizens of the United States. In the case of the Fundamentalists, they have used their terror to convince people they are less then acceptable in the eyes of God to get them to try and change that which God has made. They further use terror as a means to extract millions in fees for conversion therapy; leaving a bloody trail of dead and mentally damaged individuals in their wake. Again, like Al Qaeda, feeling righteous in their actions simply by evoking the name of God. Just because one smiles as they spread their hate, this does not diminish the terror they create. However, while the Fundamentalist is slightly more covert, they, like the conservative Republicans, have their media leaders like Pat Robertson to spread there hate filled rhetoric through the air waves. Though this is one show amongst many.There are indeed a number of fundamentalist preachers who are actually suggesting our President be killed. Not as an off-the-cuff remark, but actually and actively pray for this to happen. They even have products for sale that promote this notion. What makes these people any different then the Muslim Jihadist?

Republicans on the other hand have an entire network devoted to their campaign of terrorism. Fox News Channel is show after show of Republican talking points. Terrorists like those pictured below are not covert at all in their campaign of terror. They have their network that welcomes them with open arms, but they go from town to town, meeting to meeting, spreading fear and hate with reckless abandon. While the entire GOP, now commonly known as "the party of no", uses fear mongering as a tool of coercion, I used those pictured below because they have gone beyond the pale. They do not simply spread fear, they actively use terror to put forth false claims.

Sarah Palin coined the phrase "Death Panels" in referring to health care reform. Obviously she has never had much experience with the middle class or the sick; else she would know these already exist within the insurance industry. There are thousands that die every year because they can not have access to health care simply because they have a "pre-existing condition", have their policies retroactively canceled or simply cannot afford the high premiums. Recently she has said she is for profiling due to the Fort Hood massacre. Though does she feel Christians should be profiled because of Timothy McVeigh, or Paul Hill, the abortion Doctor killer or Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, the murders of Matthew Shepard?

Dick Chaney has made a career of being a terrorist. He likes to say the Bush administration "protected" us for terrorist attacks, but conveniently leaves out the part that the worst terrorist attack on our nation happened during their administration. He also forgets that this "protection" came from abuse of power, trampling on the constitution (something he swore to uphold and defend) and breaking international law. The reality is he and his cronies actions made America more hated and more vulnerable then before because their actions were used as recruiting tools for other terrorists to grow their ranks and angst against what they perceive are American ideals. He continues to use terror to put forth his agenda of hate for this administration and progressive liberals. More then a few believe he wants America to have another terrorist attack so he can say he was right.

I save Glenn Beck for the last because he, more then any other, has used and continues to use terror to put forth inane and paranoid delusions of fascism and socialism taking over America. He makes outrageous claim after outrageous claim to bring terror into the hearts of Americans. He uses this fear to brew the poison of hate. He along with Christian fundamentalists actively spew hate for our President. He is not alone in showing his disdain for the administration. He is on Fox News after all. Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly come in a close second. Indeed Bill O'Reilly was quoted as stating he didn't care about the constitution, that HE was the one who can make the decision as to the definition of the law.

The point of all this is that using fear to a point of causing terror to coerce people into agreeing with your ideologies is by definition, terrorism and thereby makes one a terrorist. If indeed we are going to have a war on terrorism, it is nothing but pure hypocrisy to say our terrorism by Americans against Americans is okay. There are ways in a civil society of making one's point without trying to scare people. If one has to use fear instead of reason to put forth their ideology, maybe one should review the veracity of their ideology. The first sign your dealing with a terrorist, is seeing their hypocrisy. Sarah Palin, Dick Chaney and Glenn Beck are only three of the GOP, but they have terrorist hypocrisy down to an art form.

May the love and light of God shine upon you and through you, now and forever.

Where is Bryce?

Many months ago I began a website to find Bryce Faulkner and tell of his tragic tale. The young man was forced through economic and emotional intimidation, into a conversion therapy program. Travis Swanson alleges Bryce called him frantic early in the morning and  told him he would be in this program for 14 months. His mother had discovered emails between Bryce and Travis. Being a Fundamentalists Baptist, she went ballistic. (Fundamentalists can be some of the least Christ-like Christians out there.) As is with most college students, their entire economic structure is balanced on the backs of their parents. Using this, she forced poor Bryce to accept going into a conversion therapy program to change his homosexual orientation. Debra Faulkner (Bryce's mother) denies the story and says Bryce "begged" to go into treatment. This was after she told various media he was "with relatives" and "away at camp". Obviously her veracity is in question.

I am still getting letters from those who feel my veracity is in question. This is because there is no way to prove those things I have asserted about Bryce Faulkner. To these people I say, your belief in the story isn't necessary. Even if it were entirely fake (though it's not), it was put forth to bring attention to an ongoing scam be those in the religious community that want to pretend homosexuality is a learned trait. That the homosexual was recruited by some other older homosexual. Basically this is because some heterosexuals are in denial that homosexuals are just as much a divine creation as they are. They have misinterpreted and misused scriptures for thousands of years to put forth this agenda of bigotry. Now they have money making ventures making millions of dollars in order to perpetuate this lie that a persons orientation is not natural. Thousands of homosexuals are being mentally and emotionally abused for profit in some very sick and perverted ways. Indeed, the fact it still continues is sick and perverted in itself.

"There is no documentary evidence showing someone's sexual preference can be changed by therapy. There is only anecdotal evidence, mostly from the therapists themselves, claiming that what they do works. That's not very scientific. On the other hand, there's no scientific evidence to show that this is impossible...It hasn't been studied." Dr. Robert Spitzer,  professor of psychiatry at Columbia University. Even Freud, the father of all psycho therapy, did not believe in conversion therapy.

 

What is truly sad is how many do not know this archaic and abusive therapy is still relatively unknown. Since this story broke I can't count the number of times I have been told "I didn't know they still did this in this day and age." Yet indeed it is still being done. One of the more well known organizations to preform these tactics repudiated by the American Psychological Association is "Exodus International". While they claim a religious cause, in my humble opinion they are simply scam artists that take in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year under the false pretense they can change a persons sexual orientation. The reality is only a small percentage of those who go through these programs "claim" to have changed while the vast majority report long term mental trauma. That of course does not include those who have committed suicide because many of those who are proponents of these programs (i.e. pastors, priests, ministers, etc) firmly state a person is better off dead then alive and homosexual. Indeed there are reports of Pastors who have spoken for the organization the "Association of Christians Athletes" have said specifically that any young person who is homosexual should kill themselves rather then live as a homosexual.

What is extremely sick are some of the techniques used by these deprogramming "counselors". "Counselors" with no license with state or federal regulation do all sort of despicable things to individuals. In the past, researchers attempted to change sexual orientation through psychotherapy, aversion therapy, nausea producing drugs, castration, electric shock, brain surgery, breast amputations, etc. All failed. These methods were largely (though not completely) abandoned by the mid-1970's. Reparative (conversion) therapy and  transformational ministries emerged in the early 1970's.

One needn't believe me. There are movies about this. "Latter Days" is one about one person who went through the incredibly perverted Mormon conversion therapy. "Shock To The System" is a fictional film, but has true to life scenes of conversion therapy. "Fixing Frank" is also a good movie on the subject.

Nowadays, isolation is used. The victims (opps, I mean clients) are not allowed to have any contact with the outside world. Even their bathroom activities are monitored. During therapy, the gay client is encouraged to enter into an emotionally close, non-sexual, non-erotic relationship with another male adult. Once he achieves this, heterosexual feelings are expected to emerge over time and homosexual feelings are expected to fade.

As mentioned above, no peer-reviewed study has been published on conversion therapy. No longitudinal study has ever been conducted into its long-term effectiveness and hazards. However, many of the larger conservative Christian organizations, like Coral Ridge Ministries and Focus on the Family claim that this and other therapies have a high cure rate. Meanwhile many psychiatrists (who do not support this therapy) report anecdotal evidence of gays and lesbians who have become seriously depressed after the inevitable failure of their therapy; leading many to commit suicide.

"Why," I must ask " is for profit psycho therapy being allowed to be performed on individuals without and oversight or regulation?" Just because someone claims constitutional "Freedom of religion" does not mean it should be allowed. We don't allow human sacrifice for religious rites. We don't allow sexual exploitation of children for religious rituals. Yet we allow mental health clinics to operate under the guise of religious camps with no oversight or regulation or even documentary evidence that what they are doing has a decent success rate. Indeed there is more evidence to the contrary and how damaging it is. It is disgusting that we allow this to go on in America. So I ask Where is Bryce...or Denise...or Doug...or Lorrie....or Brian...or Lisa...or Van...or Debbie...or...well you get the picture. This is the reason I founded the Friends of B.R.Y.C.E.

WHERE ARE ALL THE GAY CHILDREN OF GOD IN CONVERSION THERAPY? 

May the light and love of God shine upon you and through you, now and forever.

8: The Mormon Proposition

If you click on the title to this article, you will be taken to the trailer for a documentary of the same name.


I must admit I find it difficult to weigh in on the current political lobbying by religious organizations. Only because I have friends and associates that are Christians and this allows me the wisdom to understand you can't judge a book by its cover, nor can you paint an entire culture with one wide brush.

I have written before, there are truly kind, compassionate, loving, devoted members of all religions. Yet there too are the hypocrites, unkind,dispassionate unloving lairs and cons as well. How does one know the difference? They all smile at you and tell you they have only your best interests at heart. They only want to help you go to heaven. The hypocrites and lairs don't have neon signs above their heads, so how does one know?

Well for me, I can tell by their works. I, maybe more then some, know the value of words (as well as their lack of value.) I know from all the scripture we have about Jesus, he is never quoted as saying a thing against any homosexual, healing a homosexual, or casting out a homosexual. Maybe this is because he would not want someone saying anything against his sexuality. He would not want his family to cast him out because of it. This would of course be keeping in line with the commandment to do unto others as we would have them do unto ourselves. Perhaps loving one another as he loved us means not doing that which would damage another person emotionally, mentally or physically....or did he?

Being human means a lack of perfection. It would be nice, but the reality is not everyone is going to act like Christ. Certainly we shouldn't expect Christians to do so. The reality is not all Christians want to. Catholics and Mormons are simply the two focused upon at the time. I know of a very few denominations that could be considered exempt. However, again, not all people can be judged by the company they keep. There are a variety of reasons a person becomes a member of a denomination and a church member therein. Sociologically speaking, in many cases it is not as much a free choice as can be presumed. Sure we all have free will, but free choice would mean the extraction of psychological and sociological variables. While we gather collectively and become members of associations or organizations individually, we must be ever vigilant to look at each other independently and as individuals.

While I find what the authorities in the church have done to be blasphemous of Christs message and repugnant socially, I pray that I can be blessed to find those who know the folly of their elders and fellow members. For they will work with me to put Christ back in Christianity. Not for my sake, but for the sake of all those victims of those who claimed Christ's name as they perpetrated their emotional and mental warfare on others. As they beat people down with their lies and fists. As they continue to destroy the esteem of God's children with their piety. Catholics, Mormons, Baptists, all of them. I look forward to the day Jesus does comes again to tell them just how wrong they got it.

May the light and love of God shine upon you and through you now and forever.

Evil, speak thy name..."theocratism".

Since the shootings at Fort Hood in Texas, I have been hearing hearing some of the same rank rhetoric that I heard after the 9/11 attacks on America. Like those on Fox Noise Channel talking about a more intense screening process for Muslims in the armed services. Just like back in 2001 there was a heightened awareness of those of Islamic faith or for that matter, anyone who appear to be middle eastern. The latter was easy to find a name for, racism. As if everyone in the middle east was a prospective enemy of the United States. However, the former, the scrutiny of those of Islam, this seemed to have no name.
As a sociologist, I have seen this type of bigotry all over the United States and just like racism, it permeates all parts of our society. There is no age, rank or social class that this type of bigotry does not touch. Ironically, even as it has been going on for thousands of years, there seems to be no name for this type of bigotry. A type of bigotry that can be compared to racism. Something that went beyond just a dislike for a person because of their religion, but a presumption of an entire religion. So I began my search for the terminology.
I felt the Jews had been experiencing this type of bigotry for thousands of years and as scholarly as the Jewish religion is known for being, I presumed there would have already been a name for this bigotry. If nothing in the sociological sciences, at least a word for it in Hebrew. So I went to a devoted Jewish friend of mine whom I admire for his scholarship on matters of all things Jewish.I was surprised to find he had no idea of any name other then "bigotry". Even as I explained the specificity of what I meant, it did not bring to mind any terminology that would identify this type of bigotry. So I continued my search.
I felt the Pagans too had experienced this kind of bigotry for thousands of years as well, so maybe they had some name for it. I went to a Pagan friend of mine whom is very knowledgeable about Paganism and its history. I explained to him my quest for the terminology to define a disdain for a religion that was like that of racism. Again, I was disappointed when no answer was to be had.
I spoke to many people in various denominations and scholarly positions. Time and time again, I hit a brick wall. In my mind it seems impossible that there is no terminology outside of "bigotry" that would define that which I wanted to express. If there is, I humbly ask anyone with that answer to please leave a comment on this blog and tell me that terminology and citation(s) as where I would find the terminology.
Being I could find no terminology and being a wordsmith, I set out to put a face on that which I wanted to express. While it would seem fairly simply, development of a word, especially one that could be commonly accepted, is not an easy task. So I prayed for many nights in order to be given the wisdom to know what would form his new word.
I finally hit upon it. It is "theocratism".  It is theocratic bigotry. It is the act of presumption that an individual of a religion fits into a stereotypical model of that religion based on nothing but that practice of that religion or an appearance that is commonly attributed to individuals whom practice a particular religion. Like every brown skinned person from the middle east must be Muslim and therefore wishes to preform Jihad against Americans. That every Jewish person is a stingy miser. That every Christian will proselytize to try and convert another. However, the part that makes it like racism is the feeling of superiority. The belief that the persons religion is far superior then that of the other persons religion and they have a greater right to life on this earth then the other religion. Some religions believe only they will be going to a heavenly existence after death and some believe there are levels to the heavenly plane of existence. That, while others can get to heaven, they will reach a greater level of heaven over the others.
I have had the great honor and pleasure in meeting and practiced fellowship with members of the greater majority of religions in this world. As I wrote in my book, there are wonderful, loving compassionate believers of all faiths as well as non-believers. However, I have also met these theocratists as well. While the theocratism of Muslims is increasing again because of the shooter at Fort Hood, I would cite the number of murderers and rapists in our prison system in America that identify themselves as Christians. Should we have more scrutiny of Christians because of these individuals?
The problem I have found is not within the religions themselves, but the fundamentalists within the religions. While one need not be a fundamentalist to be a theocratist, it is the fundamentalist the fuels the passions of the theocratists to compel discrimination, oppression or murder of those of a different faith. It is the constant presumption that the most holy one sees them as the best in his creation and all others are expendable. Next to nuclear proliferation, fundamentalism runs a close second to being the most danger to our species.
While many will tell you that America is a "Christian Country", from what I have seen and experienced in my travels around the country, a greater majority of Americans are "poly-theocrats." (Another new word.)  I have found many Christians who believe in Karma. An eastern teaching found no where in the Christian bible. Therefore, while claiming a foundation in one religion or another, there is an infusion of other religious elements.
Fundamentalism was once the ruler of the world. However, with the infusion of poly-theocrats, fundamentalism has lost much of its power and influence. This is why many fundamentalist turned to acts of violence. Fundamentalists hate rejection of their ideology and will become violent to the point that one will either agree with their theocratic pronouncements or be eradicated. When this happens, the entire religion that the fundamentalists claims, can become the object of theocratism. The very thing happening right now to Muslims in this country and the very thing that gets Christians killed in other parts of the world. It is not the common Muslim that performs these acts of terror anymore then Timothy McVeigh was a common Christian. These acts of terror are committed by fundamentalists and it is fundamentalism that we need to pay more scrutiny to then everyone in a particular religion or from a particular region of the world.
As a sociologist I realize that there is a certain amount of superiority must exist in order for a person to decide one religion over another religion. It is after all one's very soul that is being fulfilled and it is difficult to have faith if one is not extremely secure in their own belief system. However, when that superiority crosses over the line into theocratism it is a problem. It is just as repulsive as racism and in many ways darker then racism. For it does not differentiate as simply. It's borders of hate are far more expansive and encompass a greater amount of people. However, just like racism, theocratism can be just as deadly, if not more so. The shooter at Fort Hood was not simply a Muslim. He was a man who was so consumed by the bigotry of theocratism put upon him by others, that he himself was poisoned by the same brew of hate. This is not an excuse for him to have done what he did by any means. It is merely a hypothesis as to why those like him do as they do. Fundamentalists feed on hate and then regurgitate it upon others in subtle ways and many times, in violent ways.
So next time you tell someone else of the superiority of your religion and inferiority of theirs, think about what you are doing. For you are giving birth  to a creature of hate and one day, if Karma so desires, will return upon you or your family or even more grievous, an innocent simply caught in the line of fire of theocratism.

May the light and love of God shine upon you and through you, now and forever.

Love it or hate it, change is a natural part of life.

After reading the excellent article by Professor of law at the University of Chicago, Geoffrey R. Stone (in the Huffington Post today) I began to think about the difficulty people have with change. Change is something I am very familiar with. I travel the United States for over 30 years studying religious sociology. Indeed, I moved every 3-6 months since the age of 8. So change is something I became accustomed to from an early age. I only recently began to understand why people have such a difficult time with change. That does not mean however, change should not come
In the article by Mr. Stone, it spoke about the definition of marriage and how the meaning of words change over time. So the argument that the definition of marriage has always been between a man and a woman and the reason for not allowing gay people to marry is really a moot point. The meaning or words change over time because words are a part of sociology.
While the word evolution is vilified in many religious sects and is dismissed as as affront to the tenets of religious theologies. Really, "Evolution" is just a scientific name for the more common word "Change". As I wrote in my book, I have always found this fear of evolution to be quite strange being the evolution of religion is so very apparent. Christianity today is just barely like that if Christianity in its beginning. Being evolution in nature as well as sociology is obvious, documented and in many cases, calculated, why then do we fight it so much in a futile attempt to stop something that is obviously out of the control of humanity. One may not like change, but change will happen.
For me, whenever oppression is happening, that should be changed. Slavery was wrong and it is sad that it took a war to put an end to it. However, as is normal for those who feel entitled, they may have been forced to stop their oppression in one way, they began oppression in another way.The slaves may have been freed, but just how free were they in reality. It took amendment to the Constitution in the 1960's to give African Americans the right to vote. Even today, slave language is still used to define if one is black or white. We have a bi-racial President, but due to language used to define the ability to sell a human, he is called "black". So change can be rapid and change can be extremely slow, but have no doubt, change will come.
Now one of the difficulties we face is the definition of marriage. Again, referring to the struggle of the African American, it took until late in the 1960's  for an African American to be free to marry a white woman. This arrangement too was thought to be "unnatural" and was furiously fought of those in religion who felt they are the holders of the powers of God.. Now the ghosts of this fight have come back again in the fight to keep gay people from becoming married. It is truly sad that humanity tries to control love, a blessed gift from God. Then again trying to control Gods path in peoples lives has been the focus of religion since its beginning. Indeed, it is highly ironic that America was begun by those seeking freedom from religious oppression and has now become that which they were wanting freedom from. Religion in America wants to control the path of government and deny freedom to citizens it proclaims to the world are "equal". The proclamation of "liberty and justice for all" is a yet to be achieved goal of the founders of this country. Then again, the foundation of this country is rooted in hypocrisy because those proclaiming "liberty and justice for all" owned slaves. So it seems this hypocrisy continues generation by generation.
As a country, we must ask ourselves, are we ever going to truly achieve the goal of freedom and equality for all it's citizens? How much longer will we require the labor, the intellect, the efforts, the donations, the taxes and indeed, in this time of war, the very lives of the citizens, yet deny the rights afforded to other citizens? How much longer will we uphold hypocrisy as a virtue? How much longer will we continue to lie to other countries with propaganda of being the land of freedom "with liberty and justice for all"?
I know of no gay person that is asking for any religion to accept them or marry them. If one wishes to continue living in a fantasy world of misinterpretation, that should be their freedom and right as a citizen of this country. However, for any religion or denomination be allowed to trump another and deny a citizen their due rights afforded to others, only continues the hypocrisy of "freedom for all". No gay person is asking for any denomination or church to marry them or change their dogma. They are simply asking to be given the same rights that their taxes and blood have paid for along with other citizens of this country.
So I, along with my LGBT brothers and sister will continue the fight for change, even as this scares the living daylights out of so many. Just as the thought of two people of a different race marrying decades ago scared people then. Change is inevitable. Change will happen. Discrimination nor hypocrisy is a virtue and neither should be continued to be held as one. Many will undoubtedly agree it is not a virtue, but if it is not considered a virtue, why do so many in power and positions of leadership continue to perpetuate it?

May the light and love of God shine upon you and through you, now and forever.

My Manifesto and Credo

I want to make it crystal clear where I stand on the issue of conversion therapy and all those who promote its use as well as those who participate in it.

Let it be understood throughout the land, that it is my mission to put an end to the dangerous and erroneous practices known as conversion therapy. No longer will I stand by as heretics use the name of God to perpetrate their bigoted and irrational acts upon God's children. No longer will I stay silent in the faces of these hypocrites who abuse the declaration of the love of God to line their pockets with gold. It will be my mission to bring down organizations like Exodus International by any means necessary and legally available to me.  I will call out all members who claim the love of God in their hearts, yet show they will do unto others what they would not want done unto themselves. Those who do not love others as Christ loved them.

I will seek out these evil minions to show their clandestine faces to the public and show their profound shame. I rebuke them and all their minions in the name of the most holy God and declare war on their theology and philosophies. I will forever gather an army of followers to help me in my mission to eradicate their false prophecy of ideologies from this earthly domain. I will prove they do not have God on their side. Indeed, I will ask God to help me take down any organization or those who seek the assistance of those like Exodus International to perpetrate their sick and twisted methods on LBGT individuals. I will allow them no rest until they and all of their hypocritical allies are shown for who they really are...greedy, lying bigots who are more concerned with the pay off then saving any soul. I will continually seek to demonstrate how they have abused and used LGBT individuals for decades under the guise of religious freedom when in reality they are simply seeking to make a profit. I will continue to show the statistics of those who have life long mental trauma due to their grievous actions and pray for those who have taken their lives because of the lies of unworthiness they have told them. 

I will not rest until I have shown their disgusting and disrespectful use of the name of Christ is less of a religious mission and really a for profit part of the mental health industry. I will speak to whomever I can in order to achieve my goals. I will lobby lawmakers to stop the torturous activities they continue to perpetrate upon LGBT individuals. I will be ever vigilant in seeking to have participating organizations licensed and regulated as every other mental health agency in America is; for this will go farther to shutting you down then any thing else. I will ever promote the love of God over the theocracy of misguided, misinformed organizations who twist interpretations of scripture in order to perpetuate their agenda of hate. I will seek them out in every corner to make public their camps and counseling centers. I will form protests and marches to show they are in the minority of haters.  I will pull off their masks of loving concerned individuals and show them for the hate filled, cunning,  lying heretics they actual are. As Jesus did, I call call them out and let the world know of their hypocrisy. This is my pledge to my fellow brothers and sisters in God. I make this credo in the name of the most holy God and pray Gods' guidance in this mission.

If you wish to join me in this mission....click here.

Maine joins the ranks of those taking Christ out of Christainity.

Yet again, Christ has been taken out of Christianity. Christ said "to love others as I have loved you." Is the denial of others civil rights an example of that? Christ said to treat others as you would want to be treated. Does this mean those who voted yes on Prop 1 in Maine or Prop 8 in California would like it if their civil rights are denied or taken away?
How many homeless and hungry children could have been feed or taken in from the harsh elements for the millions of dollars that where spent on the denial of citizens civil rights. Would Christ have feed the hungry and and taken in the homeless or would he have said denial of other citizens civil rights is more important?
The answers to these questions are simple to answer for those who truly have Christ in their heart. Indeed, it does not matter the religion, considering helping the poor as less of importance then denying citizenship their civil rights. Conservatives speak so often about how "unpatriotic" liberals are, but I ask, how much more unpatriotic can you get then to tell people, we want your labor, we want you donations, we want your taxes, but you don't get the equality that is guaranteed under the Constitution. What these people have done is not only unchrist-like, it makes a mockery of our constitution.
How people can use the name of Christ to show a lack of love and spew bigotry is beyond my understanding. The only thing I can equate it to is the shortest quote in the bible..."Jesus wept!"  If people think Jesus is jumping up and down over this grievous action, then either they do not actual know Christ as they say they do, they enjoy their bigotry, they have been lied to by their spiritual counsel or they are simply in denial of the truth. May God have mercy on the soul of all you hypocrites!

May the light and love of God shine upon you and through you, now and forever.

Here we go...

I have begun a blog...again. Since becoming so involved in the "Save Bryce Campaign" and now "Friends of B.R.Y.C.E." I felt the next step was to begin reporting what I see in the world around me. From the politics of the day, to information about religious oppression (here and other countries) as well as touting the praises of those people or organizations that deserve their day in the sun (or at least their 15 minutes of fame.) I'd like to say I know I will be vigilant and post everyday, but the reality is I will only blog as the feeling hits me.
For those who already know of me and my missions, you know of Bryce Faulkner; focus of the Save Bryce Campaign. Sadly, the only thing to report is his last call to Travis Swanson (his lover) in August. He apologized "for leading [him] astray" and that he would "pray for him". At which point he threatened him with criminal harassment charges if the website did not come down. Being I own, created and maintain the website, he was threatening the wrong person. So I left up the website.
Then they (the Faulkner's) found a rouge cop on the police force in Travis' city who called him and tried to intimidate him in getting the website taken down. Luckily Travis was smart enough to know this wasn't a criminal matter and this guy was acting beyond the legal responsibilitiies of his position as a police officer. So again, the website stays up. That was the last we have heard anything from Bryce. Travis is ever vigilant in writing to Bryce everyday in the guestbook on the website (linked above.)
I became so angry at the ability for these organizations like Exodus International and Pensacola Christian College to operate unregulated and unlicensed, but still allowed to preform mental health services, that I have made it my mission to try and change the laws that allow these snake oil salesman and death carriers to become recognized as an industry like all other mental health organizations; where they must be licensed and regulated like every other mental health center in America. Further, I have begun a new private organization (Private Friends of B.R.Y.C.E.) of like-minded individuals to help me in getting the laws changed and helping the victims of these facilities get away or help potential LGBT individuals escape from fundamentalists that want to coerce or otherwise force them into a program.
Next to Nuclear Proliferation, fundamentalism comes a close second to being one of the most destructive forces to our species. I have made it my mission to take on these forces who call upon the name of God to spread their hate and perpetrate their violent tendencies. I will do everything within my power to fight the misguided hate filled misinterpretations and rhetoric of these pretenders or as they would call it, "False Prophets"! I know I have a hard job ahead of me and I already have my work cut out for me, but if I don't do it...who will? So watch out all you fundamentalists terrorists, the war is coming to your door. It doesn't matter if your a Muslim, Jew or Christian. If you push your religion on my people, we will push back just as hard and may God have mercy on your soul!

May the love and light of God shine upon you and through you, now and forever.