ontd_political | Entries tagged with religion

Presbyterian Church Lifts Ban On Gay And Lesbian Clergy

Presbyterian Church (USA), the nation’s largest Presbyterian organization, voted yesterday to overturn its ban on ordaining non-celibate gays and lesbians for church leadership positions, reversing more than three decades of official policy.

( yadda yadda yadda... )
While this is a “major change” in church policy, leaders will “still have to stand by basic tenets of our faith,” Ruark said. “What this does is, if the people of Minneapolis feel Joe Smith is right to lead this church they have the right to make this call,” even if “Joe Smith” is openly gay.
( blah, blah, blah... )
Source should really take a History of the United States class before assigning 'generic names' to religious figures.
The change in the church’s constitution will take effect July 10.

Tussling Over Jesus
By Nicholas D. Kristof

The National Catholic Reporter newspaper put it best: "Just days before Christians celebrated Christmas, Jesus got evicted."

Yet the person giving Jesus the heave-ho in this case was not a Bethlehem innkeeper. Nor was it an overzealous mayor angering conservatives by pulling down Christmas decorations. Rather, it was a prominent bishop, Thomas Olmsted, stripping St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix of its affiliation with the Roman Catholic diocese.

The hospital's offense? It had terminated a pregnancy to save the life of the mother. The hospital says the 27-year-old woman, a mother of four children, would almost certainly have died otherwise.

( Click for the full story. )

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Source

Please read Manson's original column and the National Women's Law Center report; they're linked within the body of the article and are worth the read!

I've really disapproved of the direction that the Vatican has been going, and this just makes me so happy that it's not just non-Catholics who are fed up with the bullshit from the higher-ups. And a million kudos to Sister McBride for doing what she did, and another million kudos for St. Joseph's for unifying behind her.

The closing quotation and paragraph made me tear up.

mistersandman

A small US church says it will defy international condemnation and go ahead with plans to burn copies of the Koran on the 9/11 anniversary.

The top US commander in Afghanistan warned troops' lives would be in danger if the Dove World Outreach Center in Florida went ahead.

Muslim countries and NATO have also hit out at the move.

And the US Attorney General, Eric Holder, called the idea "idiotic and dangerous," but organiser, Pastor Terry Jones said: "We must send a clear message to the radical element of Islam."

The controversy comes at a time when the US relationship with Islam is very much under scrutiny.

There is heated debate in the country over a proposal to build a mosque and Islamic cultural centre streets from Ground Zero, site of the 9/11 attacks, in New York.

Speaking at a State Department dinner marking the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Hillary Clinton condemned Pastor Jones.

"I am heartened by the clear, unequivocal condemnation of this disrespectful, disgraceful act that has come from American religious leaders of all faiths," she said.

Despite having a congregation of just 50, the plans of Pastor Jones' church in Gainesville have gained worldwide notoriety, sparking demonstrations in Afghanistan and Indonesia.
( Click for full article )

Source

Everyone--and I mean everyone--has told these people that this is a bad idea. Well too bad for them, AMERICA doesn't bow to kings and neither does Jesus. (and by kings they mean NATO, assorted representatives of the United States government, the American military, the Vatican, and their local ordinances about open bonfires, did I miss any, aside from common decency?)

ONTD: Politics

Entries tagged with religion

Openly gay clergy, and Joe Smith?

THE VATICAN ARE DOUCHECASTLES, NO ONE IS SURPRISED

US church defiant despite condemnation of Koran burning

VITAL INFORMATION

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