Chewing Guam: How An Archbishop Terrorizes The Gay Community - Then Spits Out An Apology!

Poor Guam. During most of WWII, it was brutally occupied by the Japanese. After WWII it was derisively called "The parking lot of the Pacific. It's natural beauty has been glossed over in favor of jokes like "chewing Guam." It's a frustrated piece of America's tiny strongholds in the Pacific. It is the furthest American outpost (6500 miles from the west coast). It has no voting power in the U.S. legislature. It has only 175,000 people. And it's GDP is based on tourism.

Now it's only slightly more notable because its Roman Catholic Archbishop, Anthony Sablan Apuron, wrote a "pastoral letter" to the Catholics of Guam telling them that Western Civilization was going to crumble because of gay marriage and that if Bill 185 passed (accepting all civil unions equally, but not defining marriage as between a man and a woman) Guam would be steeped in debauchery and crime in no time. It's the type of letter cobbled together with faulty reasoning that you expect a Christofascist to write. In fact, it's almost text book Christofascist.

But this passage rankled:

"Islamic fundamentalists clearly understand the damage that homosexual behavior inflicts on a culture. This is why they repress such behavior by death...It may be brutal at times, but any culture that is able to produce wave after wave of suicide bombers...is a culture that at least knows how to value self sacrifice."

Read the entire annotated text HERE in another post.

Within 24 hours, the letter created a firestorm of reactions from as far away as New York and Washington to Andrew Sullivan's column. The archbishop cobbled together one of the most amazingly disingenuous responses every written:

"I (want) to make it clear that persons with same-sex attraction were not the target of my pastoral letter, nor was it meant to condemn anyone in any way. If I have hurt anyone, please forgive me."

That requires a response of a large, no, MASSIVE WTF!!??

The letter is such a damning polemic against to homosexuality that anyone taking it seriously would be prompted to bash or kill the first gay they see (or think they see) so that they could get rid of something impeding God's plan for the human race.

From The Sheffield Forum (UK)

It's also rather telling that whilst he might step back from endorsing suicide bombing as a means of furthering the Vatican's dark age social agenda he doesn't distance himself from Fundamentalists executing homosexuals.

I can see this putting those on the board of the far right persuasion in something of a quandary as whilst this guy might be speaking with admiration of Islamic Fundamentalists on the other he really really hates gays...

And from the blog StarDestroyer.net:

The archbishop of Guam has a major case of fatwa envy.

This man should be called out, replaced, and suffer the consequences of a disgraced prelate. But Pope Benedict will probably show support in a less public way: beckon him to Rome and have him assume a Vatican post. The irony in that will be that Benedict will act in a way to a homophibic Archbishop the way his dioceses have dealt with pedophile priests: smile and sweep them under the rug by shipping them off to another diocese.

Just a thought.

Sarah Palin Hates Polar Bears - Again!

Attention! Polar Bears!

Former Alaska Governor and would-be vice-president/president/whatever Sarah Palin is coming after you in a big way! This isn't the first time, of course, because she even told George W. Bush to shove you off of the endangered species list. And even though your habitat is 93% ice floe way off the shores of Alaska, she's going to argue that you're not living on melting ice floes! And while she's plugging her new book on Rush Limbaugh, and every FOX news program, she'll be telling people that you're really not cute and cuddly, that you're vicious beasts, but that your meat tastes better than regular bear meat because you're white!

Probably one of the biggest slaps-in-the face the current administration has given to Sarah Palin:

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration said Thursday it is designating more than 200,000 square miles in Alaska and off its coast as "critical habitat" for polar bears, an action that could add restrictions to future offshore drilling for oil and gas.

Designation as critical habitat would not, in itself, bar oil or gas development, but would make consideration of the effect on polar bears and their habitat an explicit part of any government-approved activity.

However, if the polar bear became extinct...

Sarah Palin and her associate, Gov. Sean Parnell have said that the Endangered Species Act was "...being used as a way to shut down resource development along Alaska's northern coast." And Parnell said he does not intend to let that happen.

So, we'll be seeing a LOT more of Sarah Palin as she sidles next to the cover of her book as well as photo of a vicious lone polar bear eating as cute baby seal while standing on the shores of Juneau.

Genocide Looming In Uganda! Whither Warren?

It's Time For SUPERCHRISTIAN To The Rescue!
(Don't Bet On It)

Like the earlier draft, the current bill reiterates a lifetime imprisonment on conviction of homosexuality, and defines a new category called “aggravated homosexuality” with provisions for the death penalty upon conviction. Among the factors which can lead to “aggravated homosexuality” is if one partner is HIV-positive. This bill would mandate HIV testing to determine eligibility for “aggravated homosexuality.”

From Truth Wins Out - Wayne Besen:

Uganda already punished gay intimacy with life in prison. But, apparently that was not harsh enough, with this bill penalizing anyone who “attempts to commit the offence” with up to seven years in jail. Additionally, a person charged will be forced to undergo an invasive medical examination to determine their HIV status. If the detainees are found to be HIV+, they may be executed.

My mistrust of Rick Warren runs deep: he has been purposely vague about his connections with the gay community and AIDS groups. He brags about his work with AIDS in Africa in rather vague terms. His last speech to Muslims was a rambling catastrophe meant to show how wonderful his Purpose Driven nations and P.E.A.C.E. plan are and how much he "loves" Muslims as brothers. You can also read about the communication between myself and Kay Warren's right hand, Elizabeth Styffe. That communication led to questions that have never been answered, like which faith-based AIDS organizations does Saddleback Church operate in the U.S. that include gays and lesbians?

Warren is definitely a shady character protecting himself with a barrier of Purpose-Driven flunkies who can't be bothered to use spell-check for their press releases. Even the people of his own Saddleback Church can't touch him. He also uses up to five different versions of the Bible to make a point, hoping that no one will notice the change in language, tone, or style.

OK, I'll stop the rant. But one last question: with Uganda in his back pocket, why doesn't he come forth and tell President Museveni and Christian leader Rev. Ssempe that criminalizing homosexuality to the point of extinction is wrong? And why doesn't he stand up to the likes of Exodus International and The Family? Although Wayne Besen is referring to Museveni, the same could be said about Warren:

Let the record show that their “key man” controlled Uganda when a religious terror campaign was waged against an innocent minority – and these good Christians stood by and did not lift a finger to stop the horror.

The now infamous anti-gay Kampala conference hosted by Uganda is a study in horrenduous hatred and homophobia. Rick Warren, at the time, was elsewhere, but his influence showed: his insistance on "abstinence only" programs has become systemic as well as toxic. Go to yesterday's Box Turtle Bulletin to find out about the serious threat of a gay genocide.

"Did not lift a finger to stop the horror."

Deja vu.

These same "Christians" stood by in the 80s and 90s and watched AIDS ravage hundreds of thousands of gays. Warren is (officially) a Southern Baptist and Saddleback is part of the Southern Baptist Convention. The SBC has never supported a faith-based AIDS related entity. It DOES support many such agencies in Africa where heterosexual people are suffering on a scale much larger than the LGBT community. Southern Baptists along with Rick Warren are hoping to "wipe out" homosexuality by criminalizing it and making gays the target of the most vicious homophobic attacks the world has ever seen.

Rick Warren, are you reading this? I hope so.

Truly Scary, Part I: Through A Halloween Hell House - Via Child Abuse, Forced Conversion, Sarah Palin, ObamaCare And Religious Intolerance.

Each short skit at a Hell House is equal to a mini snuff movie.

- Secular Parent Magazine

Those of us who hail from the Stone Age (aka The Fabulous Fifties) remember Halloween as a time of fun (but serious) costumes and as much candy as you could puke.

It was fun until someone put a razor blade in some poor kid's apple. After that, there was nothing left for Halloween to become but religiously political (or vice versa).

And that's when the concept of Hell Houses began. I've written about them before - those places that try to bring fear to minds and souls via religious bigotry. A bigotry that is actually franchised by one Keenan Roberts, an Assemblies of God pastor in Colorado who originally hailed from Roswell, New Mexico (yes, THAT Roswell, of alien sightings fame and legend). BTW: the Assemblies of God Church in Wasilla, AK is the church where Sarah Palin was prayed upon by witch hunter Thomas Muthee.

OMG! Roberts - Assemblies of God - Roswell - Sarah Palin - Thomas Muthee - witches - Halloween! Okay, that's the totally disjointed reasoning of a Hell House producer, which, by the way, number in the thousands across the country. Last year's sale of Hell House kits topped 3000.

The best article written to date on Hell Houses is one by a OpEdNews writer, Theresa "Darklady" Reed and aptly titled

Halloween "Hell Houses" Act Out Depraved Christian Wet Dreams

According to ReligiousTolerance.org, a typical Hell House experience includes graphic and factually inaccurate re-enactments of such things as the murder of Columbine High School student Cassie Bernall's by a fellow student who allegedly killed her for her faith. Joining this scene are those depicting innocents being sacrificed by Wiccans during Satanic rituals, demon possession brought on by exploring the occult, witches forcing teens to commit murder, and drunk drivers slaughtering their passengers. The terrorist attacks of 9/11 have provided modern Hell House organizers with new scenarios to present, as well.

Shouldn't Hell Houses be known more commonly as Hate Houses? Are they effective in promoting hatred? After you read this post, check out the next installment on this series.

From ReligiousTolerance.org:

The Rev. Ballard's "Hell House" in Warren County OH was criticized by Doreen Cudnik, executive director of Stonewall Cincinnati. She said that the display "is out of touch with AIDS in the year 2000. To say gay equals AIDS equals burning in hell has the dangerous potential to lead to hate crimes against the gay community."

A Christian radio station in Fairfield, OH terminated ads which promoted Kings Point Church of God's Hell House because the ads invited listeners to "come see the funeral of a homosexual AIDS patient." The Cincinnati Enquirer said that the ads were "blatant gay bashing."

As with anything extreme, Hell Houses open themselves for over-the-top parody. The internet's Landover Baptitst Church has been lampooning Hell Houses for years (they never actually have a Hell House, but describe their's on the website. Last year's Landover Baptist Hell House proffered

"Real Corpses from Turkey's Earthquake that would have been wasted in mass graves, will (sic) frozen and delivered to Landover Baptist Church, to be used in the Godly purpose of winning souls!

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theresa-darklady-reed/halloween-hell-houses-act_b_139825.html

This year, however, Landover Baptist goes straight to the jugular of Christofascists by presenting not a Hell HOUSE, but an Obama Care Hell HOSPITAL!

Visitors will line up and be seated inside Hell Hospital's filthy waiting room, which is the size of nearly two football fields. "This is REAL TERROR," says Pastor. "Visitors will wait for hours -- sometimes days! -- just like they'll wait in one of Obama's hospitals just to get a used Band-Aid. Lead paint will be peeling off the walls, cathode ray televisions will be spooling hours of PBS specials on the Obama family's clothing and eating habits, all while hundreds of Baptist University students painted to look like Mexicans wearing little pink ears and snouts mingle with the crowd, dancing around sombreros and coughing into the faces of white children, passing on swine flu and Chlamydia," Pastor continued. "It is a real rip-roaring production!"

And...

The large community pool previously used to clean retards and now posing as a mandatory water abortion clinic will also double as baptismal pool.

A signed medical waiver is supposedly required before entering the Landover Baptist Hell House, which, among other things, hopes to bring salvation to "teenagers influenced by the poison of negro music."

This is not only satire, but BRILLIANT satire because it skewers Christofascists and politics at the same time.

Of course, no one could deliver sharp objections to Hell Houses like atheist Richard Dawkins. The video below demonstrates that Pastor Keenan Roberts can't really answer most of the questions with anything else but "That's what I believe." Roberts comes off as the typically unyeilding preacher who (secretly) revels in producing such gruesome scenes.

Perhaps Hell Houses really do act out the dark side of the Christofascist psyche. Then again, if there is another side other than the dark one, we've never seen it.

Just a thought.

Truly Scary, Part II: Religious Violence Predicted

When a blogger like me warns of Christofascist violence, people think I'm just a leftist crackpot. However, when a former VIP (and son of a founder) to Christofascists warns people...

From The Raw Story:

"The bestselling status of the Left Behind novels proves that, not unlike Islamist terrorists who behead their enemies, many evangelical/fundamentalist readers relish the prospect of God doing lots of messy killing for them as they watch in comfort from on high," he added. "They want revenge on all people not like them -- forever."

"The scary thing is that there are a number of pastors on record as saying they are praying for the President’s death. Can you imagine what some gun-toting paranoid who hears that in a sermon is thinking and might do? And to them the fact that 'the world' likes this black man is reason enough to hate him. You wait. The reaction to Obama winning the Nobel Prize will be entirely negative from the far Religious Right. 'See the world, all those socialists like him that just proves he’s a -- fill in the blank -- communist, secret Muslim, the Antichrist, whatever.'"

Frank Schaeffer was the son of Francis Schaeffer, one of THE men who helped shape The Moral Majority and The Christian Coalition. Thanks to Francis (and Frank, to a certain extent) we've got people like Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Rick Warren, Ralph Reed, Ken Copeland, James Hagee and Rod Parsley trying to gain the political upper hand in America. The title of Frank Schaeffer's first book says quite a lot:

Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back

On Obama's controversial Chicago Pastor:

"[W]hen my late father -- Religious Right leader Francis Schaeffer -- denounced America and even called for the violent overthrow of the US government, he was invited to lunch with presidents Ford, Reagan and Bush, Sr."

To Senator McCain during the '08 Presidential race:

"If you do not stand up for all that is good in America and declare that Senator Obama is a patriot, fit for office, and denounce your hate-filled supporters ... history will hold you responsible for all that follows."

Violence is almost never attributed to the church. Christendom has never had to atone for the (approximately) 140,000,000 deaths committed by "Good Christians." It was, in fact, Mark Twain who pointed out that "Christians are the most efficient killers in the history of the world. (The Mysterious Stranger.)" In microcosm: it has never atoned for the miserable lives it took advantage of in the Magdalene Laundries* nor the children kept as science experiments in the Canadian orphanages (now termed The Duplessis Orphans).*

Yes, the Duplessis example was a more direct in its intolerance for life. Frank Schaffer gives us indirect, cause and effect violence. So what would be worse: if a minister told his flock that there were "evil doers out there" who should be punished and one (or several) person went out and shot someone, or if a minister takes it upon himself to shoot people "in the name of God"?

Three years ago, in the wake of Katrina, I wrote a piece called "God's Ambulence Chasers." It dealt with people like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell who seemed to relish disasters and plagues so that they could rain Bibles down on people. And indeed, with these disasters Christofascists get two benefits: a) they can point out their enemies as the cause and b) they can take advantage of a dire situation to proselytize to huge captive audiences consisting of the most desperate people imaginable.

Guns, bigotry, manipulation, rhetoric, proselytizing, paranoia, revenge.

There are all sorts of ways to kill people and the Christofascist Right knows them all. They are armed and dangerous.

*The Magdalene Laundries
*The Duplessis Orphans

Both of the above institutions were among the world's worst child abuse cases involving tens of thousands of children and young adults. Both were built by the Catholic Church to shelter or "reform" children.

Truly Scary, Part III: Leviticus and Sad Puppy Dog Eyes

When You Use The Bible As A Weapon - Someone's Gonna Get Hurt,
And It Won't Be The Pulpit Pimp!

Michael Jones, GayRights.change.org:

Last weekend, two men beat up Jack Price in his neighborhood of Queens, NY. They crushed his lungs, broke his ribs and his jaw and lacerated his spleen. After he was rushed to the hospital, he was put into a medically induced coma in order to treat him. Jack Price is gay.

So, BFD. Happens all the time. But this time was made different by his assailants' adherence to the Bible's Book Of Leviticus. It was a hate crime spurred on by the admonitions of "The Good Book." In an interview at the scene:

"I don't want no man blowing me a kiss either. I mean things happen," said Marcel Gelmi, a friend of one of the attackers. "I've been beat up like that too, but you don't see me on the news and my family crying and this and that. Wounds heal."

After that statement, Glemi showed the reporters the tattoo he had on his arm:

"Leviticus. You should not lay with a man as one does with a woman. It's an abomination."

A tattoo. Not of a flag, not of a snake, not of any emblem, but a specific passage from scripture enlisted by homophobes everywhere. So how extreme in your homophobia do you have to be to wear it proudly on your arm? Are there Christfascist gangs out there?

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown summed up this beating pretty damn well: "This is probably the most vicious and brutal incident that I've seen, captured as it was on videotape."

Truly Scary, Part IV: When Christofascists Turn On Themselves

It's A Study In Mind-Boggling Bigotry And Idiocy!

Most of my readers know how I feel about book burning. The first massive, intentional book burning occurred in 391 at the Great Library of Alexandria (housed in The Serapeum - a former temple) when close to 400,000 scrolls went up in flames. The Christian Emperor Theodocius decreed that all pagan temples were to be destroyed and possession of pagan literature a criminal offense. Ceasing upon this decree, a mob burned The Serapeum and the books/scrolls in it. Later, owning anything considered "heretical" was also made a criminal offense. One speculation about why the Gnostic Gospels were hidden in a large jar stationed in a remote cave was that the nearby monastery knew that it was illegal to possess of such material and instead of burning the books, chose to hide them.

Some old habits, however, die hard: we've seen and heard of book burnings within the last century. The most famous book burning took place in Nazi Germany where thousands of books were consigned to flames. The latest one, however, is notable for its truly audacious stupidity:

Right Wing Watch

Celebrate Halloween With A Good Old Fashioned Book Burning

Submitted by Kyle on October 14, 2009 - 2:45pm

Via Raw Story we see that the Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, North Carolina church will be "hosting a 'Halloween book burning' to purge the area of 'Satan's' works, which include all non-King James versions of the Bible, popular books by many religious authors and even country music."

What is especially exciting about this particular book burning is the list of authors who will see their books being burned includes Rick Warren, James Dobson, Tim LaHaye, Chuck Colson, Mother Teresa, and even The Pope:

Come to our Halloween book burning. We are burning Satan's bibles like the NIV, RSV, NKJV, TLB, NASB, NEV, NRSV, ASV, NWT, Good News for Modern Man, The Evidence Bible, The Message Bible, The Green Bible, ect. These are perversions of God's Word the King James Bible.

We will also be burning Satan's music such as country , rap , rock , pop, heavy metal, western, soft and easy, southern gospel , contempory [sic] Christian , jazz, soul, oldies but goldies, etc.

We will also be burning Satan's popular books written by heretics like Westcott & Hort , Bruce Metzger, Billy Graham , Rick Warren , Bill Hybels , John McArthur, James Dobson, Charles Swindoll , John Piper, Chuck Colson, Tony Evans, Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swagart, Mark Driskol, Franklin Graham , Bill Bright, Tim Lahaye, Paula White, T.D. Jakes, Benny Hinn , Joyce Myers, Brian McLaren, Robert Schuller, Mother Teresa , The Pope , Rob Bell, Erwin McManus, Donald Miller, Shane Claiborne, Brennan Manning, William Young, etc.

The video below is almost cartoonish in the presentation of the church pastor, bib overhauls and all, and the news station gets in a jibe with the "14 members but growing" statement. (Think of it - if, in one year they grow to 28 members they'll be able to say that they have had a growth rate of 100%). But make no mistake about it: these people are serious in their inanity.

And serious in their hatred. After all of the derogatory coverage, you have to wonder, is there anything besides the KJV Bible the good pastor doesn't hate? Does he know what kind of impression he's giving to the camera, to the country, to the world? Does he know what a biblical scholar is?

The Amazing Grace Baptist Church Website statement of beliefs mirrors its abject ignorance.