The Pope warned against gay marriage, saying it was a threat to the common good.

Ryan warns against pedophile priests, saying they are a threat to little boys.


Ryan further warns against religion in general, saying it is a threat to tolerance, unity and world peace.


-ry


The following is an excerpt of the article "Gay marriage a 'dangerous threat', Pope warns"
By PinkNews.co.uk Staff Writer • May 13, 2010 - 18:30:

Pope Benedict has called gay marriage and abortion "dangerous threats to the common good" during a visit to Portugal.

...

Addressing followers today, the Pope called for pastoral action to tackle abortion and same-sex marriage, which he called "some of today's most insidious and dangerous threats to the common good".

He called abortion a "tragedy" and urged for protection of the "family based on the indissoluble marriage between a man and a woman".

Portugal approved gay marriage earlier this year. In January, speaking just after Portugal's parliament voted in favour of the move, the Pope called it an "attack" on the natural differences between men and women.

He recently criticised gay rights measures contained in Britain's Equality Act. He said measures designed to ensure churches were not discriminating when hiring staff were against "natural law".

...

In an end-of year address in 2008, he said that the existence of gay people threatens humanity as much as the destruction of the rainforests does and that "blurring" genders through acceptance of transgender people would kill off the human race.

Read the full Pink News article HERE.

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Lamb of the Media

Ryan Nelson

http://media.nbcmiami.com/images/410*410/Psalm+t-shirts.jpg

Is This T-Shirt Praying for Obama's Assassination?
from: www.nbcmiami.com



The shirt is yellow with the following printed:
“Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8”
and an image of two hands clasped in prayer
which is interpreted as hastening president's demise.


Dusted off my Bible (cough, cough).
Psalm 109:8 reads, "Let his days be few; and let another take his office."
If you stop here, the message on the shirt might seem somewhat innocuous. In a literal sense then, there is not much wrong with the shirt. What if you continue reading?
Psalm 109:9, Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
109:10, Let his children continually be vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desperate places.
109:11, Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.
109:12, Let their be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.
109:13 Let his prosperity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.

I presume that the further verses refer to the same "his"/"him." Now the message on the shirt may be interpreted as problematic. What if the message on the shirt read, "Pray for Bush?" Would people who bought the Obama shirt be outraged?

Religion and its documents are problematic. I quoted from the King James version of the Bible which contains archaic grammar, syntax and words. When interpreting from Early Modern English into Modern English, one may come across problems. Now take into account that before King James, there were other versions of English, which were translated from Latin, of which some translations came through versions of ancient Greek, which may have been translated from any number of dialects as the Bible is a collection of stories by many authors spread over countless years. To know the original meaning or intent is quite problematic.

So should we then, just keep our religion to ourselves and interpret it as we see fit without pushing it on others? Is the shirt even really pushing it on others? No. Probably not. It certainly falls under freedom of religion and expression. Does it advocate hate or homicidal demise? Again, up for interpretation. Is it distasteful? Probably--if you are an Obama supporter.

My conclusion, then, is that the shirt has a right to exist and people the right to wear it. I have a right to dislike it.

I wish religion were kept private. I wish religion could just be kept between like-minded people: the congregation, the preacher-type person and one's god(s). Religion is too vulnerable for it may be interpreted in a myriad of ways so as to support both good and evil. It is problematic. Use it for yourself, but golly, i wish it were not used to spread hate or war.

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Post Conclusion and warning: This is what i wrote in an initial response to the post and visiting the associated link:

"Fucking outrageous, but not surprising. How many of these fucks do you think also say that Islam is an evil religion? If the shirt read, "Pray for Bush," you'd bet they'd be crying terrorism and deriding the twisting of the Word of the Bible! Hypocrites! The human race is despicable! What would Jesus do concerning Obama? Would they follow Jesus' advice on Obama? Or would they rather grab Obama, a rope and find the nearest bough??! Won't the yellow shirt clash with their white hoods? Or their black souls?"

Which just leads me to say how dumb i was to have a knee-jerk reaction to a subject that was puffed up and skewed. I didn't even consult my own Bible first. Don't let yourself be blindly brainwashed and lead astray from logic, responsibility and reason. Research your incoming information as much as possible. Don't get it all from KTLA 5 or CNN or FoxNews or MSNBC or what-have-you. Don't get it all from American outlets. Follow the BBC, The National, Al Jazeera, DeutscheWelle, Univision. See how the same story is told through Ha'aretz and the Electronic Intifada; HuffPo and Fox; the LA Times and the Daily News.

Don't let one media outlet or network of outlets lead you as so much cattle. Cattle eventually get slaughtered and served to the status quo. Be responsible denizens of the internet and television land. Get a second opinion! Or research yourself. Don't be led astray. That's how they keep you complacent and mask the truth!

OK, now i sound like some crazy conspiracy theorist. Let me stop. Just be careful out there people. No one is altruistic. Not even the Pope or Obama or Bush or FoxNews.

OYG (Oh Your God)

I recently read an article about how the USA is moving closer towards non-participation in religion.  This is significant because, EVERY other industrialized nation is far ahead of this move.  

Finally, the US is catching up with the rest of the industrial world.  Religion is not necessary for a fulfilling life of morality or happiness. Why do people need others to tell them what to do; to tell them what is right and wrong? Should we risk spreading HIV or bringing unwanted & unneeded babies into this world just cuz the Pope says don't use condoms? Should we believe preachers who call homosexuality an abomination on Sunday and have a tryst with a gay lover on Monday? The world would be better off without religion. Members of each and every religious sect would say that religion unites, but it only unites like-minded people. Overall, religions separate and discriminate against the human race.  Like the rift between North American and African Anglicans.  Or the belief in succession after Mohammed's death (Sunni v. Shiite), itself a basis for rising hostilities which has led to war.   In truth, religion is not run by any god, but by man. Fallible man.  Put a man in power of something and watch the morals melt away and the greed and power mongering pour in: A Cardinal who plays a shell game with his pedophile priests.  A preacher who lives the high life in a big mansion whilst preaching the virtues of a life of modesty.  A King who wishes to break the covenant of marriage and breaks away from the church to form his own, so he can divorce.  A preacher who, though married, seeks the professional, carnal company of another, paying her out of the collection plate.  A succession of Popes who reappoint a Grand Inquisitor to torture non-Christians into the faith despite brotherly love and forgiveness being two of the most basic tenets of their religion. 

 

Now don’t judge me just yet….  I believe that that religion gives people hope, it does provide people with morals.  Not all of what the bible says is bad; yet, the simple realization of this fact—the fact that the Bible is nowadays only partially valid—is enough for me to say, you know what?  I know what is right and what is wrong; what is moral and what is not.  I don’t need some man in a robe to tell me what, or what else.  Religion IS NOT INNATE.  It is the product of human free-will and conscienceness.

Now, granted morality is totally societal-based, not innate.  Innate thoughts are what lead us to kill or be killed.  Innateness, let’s us be savages; the human consciousness is what divides us from the rest of the animal kingdom.  Human consciousness, led us to great inventions like the wheel, the spear, agriculture, imagination (fun), government, laws and morals.  Unfortunately, it also brought us, greed, envy, hatred, government and imagination (religion).  Has humanity grown too big for its own good?  For the Earth’s own good?  For the animal kingdom’s own good? 

 

Again, I do not think I am better than you.  If you truly know me, you will know that this is true.  I think I am a piece of shit.  I think I am no good to anyone (unless they want to use me, which is not uncommon).  I think I should die right here, right now.  (I cannot come to kill myself, cuz I’m too much of a coward, but if you wanna do it, please go right the fuck ahead, I don’t give a fucking shit).  Now, that said.  I am NOT holier than thou.  While I am still breathing, I think I’ll be human and voice my opinion.  If you don’t like it, so be it.  You are human and I respect you.  If you would deny me my opinion, so be it you are human and what else would I expect from you?  Humans are no gosh damn good.  All of them.  All humans must die.

 

Again, I digress.  Like I said, religions give hope to the world, and goodness knows most people need hope; need hope to be happy; to be complacent; to remain sane; to stay alive.  Some people need direction and don’t have it within themselves or their immediate community to give it to them.  In such cases, religion is a, well, blessing to them.  The weak.  Yeah, I said it.  It is my opinion.  Never talk to me again, see if I care. 

 

It just shows your fucking ignorance and arrogance, if you are soooo weak as to believe EVERYTHING SOMEONE ELSE tells you; to fall hook, line and sinker.  See…, just like a fucking human!  Just don’t equate human with humane!  All of you pious fucks who are totally devout, but only to your own brand of Christianity or Muslim or Judaism, fuck you!  You are no better than any participant in the Irish Catholic- British Protestant conflicts, the Sunni-Shiite conflicts, the Holocaust, the Palestinian-Isreali conflicts, the Talibani-Afghani conficts, the Inquisition….  You are no better than people in the 1800’s who opposed Irish-American & “white” Americans from being married.  You are no better than people in the in the 1900s who opposed blacks and whites from being married.  You are no better than people in the 2000s who oppose a man & a man or a woman & a woman from being married. 

 

Yet again, I am off on tangents.  My thing is, it’s okay to have religion, to believe and have faith in that which you cannot see, in that which has no logical proof--but don’t follow blindly, don’t be total sheep (sorry Catholics, the lambs of God).  Use religion as a guide, as advice; but don’t trust it blindly.  Think for yourselves.  Use religion as a stepping stone to true human consciousness, not as a substitute for it.  I do not look down on people with religion.  To believe in whatever you like is a human TRAIT, and therefore an indeniable human right, such as freedom of speech, thought, creed and the right to life, liberty and happiness. 

 

It would be nice if we could all have the same religion, wouldn’t it?  But that would never last and you know it.  Not if God gives humans free-will.  Someone, somewhere will come up with another sect, branch.  Humans will become corrupt and there will be another Martin Luther posting shit on a door. 

It would be nice if we could all not believe in religion, but just the same set of laws and morals, idk, let’s call it government.  Not if God gives us free-will.  Someone, somewhere will get greedy and power hungry and oppress those for his or her own gain.

To be fallible is human.  God’s great experiment is through.  Game over.  All humans must die.

 

I do not discriminate against anyone in particular.  I am an equal-opportunity discriminator.  Everyone dies.  End of story.  Fuck humans!

 

Now…, go ahead and begin hating me silently or tearing me apart openly, cuz you know what, I don’t give a flying fuck!