No One is Born Gay (or Straight): Here Are 5 Reasons Why

Insightful and clearly communicated. I have a fondness for “conversion stories” and I suppose this qualifies as a gay conversion story.

The question on my mind is – how can we grant civil rights to a group of people whose population is not fixed, but fluid. Isn’t identifying as “gay” more of a political and social identifier, rather than anything having to do with innate characteristics or even sexual attraction?

Social (In)Queery

This post has been elaborated here.

1.  Just because an argument is politically strategic, does not make it true:  A couple of years ago, the Human Rights Campaign, arguably the country’s most powerful lesbian and gay organization, responded to politician Herman Cain’s assertion that being gay is a choice.  They asked their members to “Tell Herman Cain to get with the times! Being gay is not a choice!”  They reasoned that Cain’s remarks were “dangerous.”  Why?  “Because implying that homosexuality is a choice gives unwarranted credence to roundly disproven practices such as ‘conversion’ or ‘reparative’ therapy. The risks associated with attempts to consciously change one’s sexual orientation include depression, anxiety and self-destructive behavior.”

Cynthia Nixon (right) and wife Christine Marinoni (left)

The problem with such statements is that they infuse biological accounts with an obligatory and nearly coercive force, suggesting that anyone who describes homosexual desire…

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What is Good?

What is Good?.

An insightful question from a new blogger, and my attempt at a response.

Repeat: Just an “isolated incident”

Three former abortion clinic workers speak out against Texas abortionist Douglas Karpen.

Gosnell was just an isolated incident…

…This has never happened before…and will never happen again, as long as we can provide “better access”. This will be the mantra of the pro-aborts, if they talk about it at all.

We had the chance to prevent Gosnell when someone just like him was convicted over 30 years ago.  We didn’t.  Things like minimal health and safety standards “restrict access” and might disturb the sacred altar of Choice.

Forcing Religion On Your Children

Attention Homeschool Parents:

Ever frustrated by uninformed homeschool critics who lob sound-byte grenades?

Ever wish you had the key to untangle their twisted rhetoric?

You’ll find this a superb handbook for engaging the angry cultural cheerleaders in a way that might actually force them to think.

A Homeschool Mom

My wife recently brought to my attention a statement she read online by an opponent of “religion” (who was obviously directing their criticism toward Christians). Because it’s a criticism frequently leveled, I thought it deserved some response.

When faced with the accusation that you “force your religion on your children”, the first thing to do is ask the critic to clearly explain what he means by “forcing or imposing a belief or religion” on others.

FORCING A BELIEF  – Could I “force” you to adopt the belief that a triangle has four sides by holding a gun to your head? You might verbally state that a triangle has four sides in order to save your own hide, but would you actually believe it? The fact is, one could not even force himself to adopt such a belief. I could not “force” myself to believe that 2+2=7 no matter how much…

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A Perfect Storm

For many of you, this video will not be news, but once you’ve seen it the collectivist parent-stripping, government-empowering idea is something that has still been buzzing in the back of your mind.

 

Now consider where this issue might travel when vocal opponents begin to denounce their Christian homeschooling as an “ideology machine”, as in today’s article in the Guardian.   The same media moguls will happily hype the handful of adults who question their upbringing and be granted celebrity victim status.

All of this becomes particularly concerning in the wake of the Romeike case.

The Church hates Science…

…right?

This ain’t exactly a list of “nobodys”, folks.

It’s exceedingly difficult to read this list and continue to assert that the Church is opposed to Science™ with a straight face.  Especially once one counts the number of influential scientists who lived in those so-called “dark ages”.

I also get a giggle at how, in an attempt to strip our calendar of its’ Catholic roots, anti-Christians still use the birth of Our Lord as the marker for the start of the “common era”.

Reality is something one discovers…

…not something one creates at whim.

In related news – I’ve been drafted as the new Seahawks’ star quarterback in defiance of the Seattle Seahawks!

We play on our own field, but the good news is – I have plenty of Season Tickets for sale.

That’s pretty much on par with what Rosemarie Smead just did.

Why is it that, when it comes to the Catholic Church, the media see fit to ignore, misrepresent, or malign the Church so long as it serves as a convenient backdrop to push their own agenda?  There are not several issues that I have with this article – the entire presupposition of the writer is what I have an issue with.

The writer, who is not alone in the Media, has likely never read the text of Ordinario Sacredotalis or any of the related Church documents.  If she had, she would realize that the Church cannot “lift the ban” on women’s ordination because there is no ban to lift.

Ms. Smead doesn’t have to “worry about excommunication” because she excommunicated herself by her action – just like a man who sleeps with another woman doesn’t have to wait for his wife to catch him for it to be considered “cheating”.

Sadly, Ms. Smead must have gone a lifetime missing out on all of the amazing female saints, like Catherine of Sienna, who’s feast day is celebrated today.  It is further confounding that with her theology degree she would have missed the lives of the Saints, not to mention the Mother of God, and think the Church wanted to “keep the voices of women silent”.  (Further – the entire Church is referred to as “she”.  It would be a feat indeed to keep female voices silent as all throughout Catholic tradition we refer to her as “Holy Mother Church”).

The idea that “Jesus was only acting according to the customs of his time” is asserted and has been asserted for some time.  The problem is that if that assertion were true, then it implies that He was not the God who created the Universe and Everything in it.  Even if someone wished to cling to the idea of Jesus as merely a “good teacher”, it ignores the fact that his breaking with the “customs of his time” was exactly why he was crucified.  It’s an assertion that falls apart with even a halfhearted challenge.

That statement is also shockingly ignorant of the actual “customs of the time”.  If Jesus was in fact, so constrained, he would have *MOSTLY* had women priests, because priestesses were de rigueur in Greece and Rome throughout the centuries of early Christianity (ever hear of the Vestal Virgins?)

This attitude that the Church needs to “get with it” will no doubt continue.  Her opponents continue to ridicule and spit at her, because to do otherwise would mean chancing being caught in her vast, rational, and ever-lasting traditions.  It is easy to be ignorant of the Church.  It is impossible to be Neutral.

Nobody Knows the Troubles I’ve Seen…

…Since I cracked my iPhone screen 😦

 
“Comparison is the thief of joy.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Wise words, Teddy.  However, like all pithy maxims, this one is only half-true.

It is easy to get into a race with the Joneses, since they are our next-door neighbour.  Why, their grass is so much greener than our own – nevermind how much their water bill was last month.  The car parked outside their 3-car garage (outside because there’s too much junk in the garage) is 6 months newer than our own – for shame!

This sort of petty one-upmanship is rather obvious to most of us, even though we often still fall prey to it anyway, we at least try to be thankful for what we have.

Watch this video.  It’s only one minute.  It ought to change your perspective.

 

And even still, when compared with all of human history all over the world, how fortunate are we to have things like electricity, plumbing, and paper napkins?

Sometimes comparisons result in stealing joy and wonder back from the monotony of daily life.

A thought to ponder

Human beings encounter a rather powerful emotional obstacle while contemplating the Existence of God.

It is not, as commonly supposed, that an Atheist rails against the notion that he owes his existence to God – that he is made of nothing and therefore worth nothing apart from the Love of God.

The Atheist already sees himself as nothing more than stardust, randomly combined through incredible improbability. We are infinitesimal specs of lint on the tapestry of space – thinking of oneself as nothing is rather a prerequisite for Atheism (despite Bill Mahr’s egotism to the contrary).

What is more difficult for the Atheist to swallow – what really makes God emotionally unpalatable – is the thought that we are each individually held in existence by God because we are each individually of infinite worth. For some, sure, it may be hard to look in the mirror and think such a thing. But for most I think it impossible to fathom that someone in his life, someone who hurt him so badly, would be allowed continued existence by a Loving God.

He must not be Love at all.

He must not exist.