Vatican Says It Will Never Condone Gay Marriage

Same-sex marriage gains abroad strengthen Catholic church’s opposition.

The Vatican says it will never stop insisting that marriage can only be between a man and a woman, after gay marriage initiatives scored big wins this week in the U.S. and Europe.

In a front-page article in Saturday’s Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, the Holy See sought to frame itself as the lone voice of courage in opposing initiatives to give same-sex couples legal recognition.

Catholic teaching holds that homosexuals should be respected and treated with dignity but that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered.” The Vatican also opposes same-sex marriage, insisting on the sanctity of marriage between a man and woman as the foundation for society.

The Vatican’s anti-gay marriage media blitz came after three U.S. states approved same-sex marriage by popular vote in the election that returned Barack Obama to the U.S. presidency, Spain upheld its gay marriage law and France pushed ahead with legislation that could see gay marriage legalized early next year.

“One might say the church, at least on this front, has been defeated,” L’Osservatore Romano wrote. “But that’s not the case.”

The article insisted that Catholics were putting up a valiant fight to uphold church teaching in the face of “politically correct ideologies invading every culture of the world” that are backed by institutions like the United Nations, which last year passed a non-binding resolution condemning anti-gay discrimination.

“The church is called to present itself as the lone critic of modernity, the only check … to the breakup of the anthropological structures on which human society was founded,” it said.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi, for his part, said gays can have their rights protected by means other than through legal marital recognition.

He stressed that children should have a right to say they have a father and a mother.

“If not, then why not contemplate freely chosen polygamy, and naturally so as to not discriminate, polyandry?” he asked sarcastically. Polyandry is when a woman has two or more husbands.

The Papists are not the sole critics of modernity, much as they may wish to ‘present’ themselves as such (according to this); we confessional Protestants also are there, too, as are evangelicals, and Eastern Orthodox, too; and outside of orthodox Christianity, there are others such as Mormons and Muslims who also are alongside in terms of being critics of modernity.

France to Become 12th Country to Legalize Gay Marriage

I’m only surprised they hadn’t already…

France is next in line to legalize same-sex marriage, according  to a disputed bill pushed by President Francois Hollande on Wednesday, which  would defy opposition from the country’s Roman Catholic and conservative  leadership.

Currently, less than a dozen countries in the world have legalized gay  marriage, although most of them are in Europe. Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Spain,  Portugal, Netherlands, Iceland and Belgium have all moved away from the  traditional definition of marriage between one man and one woman, and with  Hollande’s bill, France is set to join them early next year.

The top ministers in France have already approved the measure, marking  another successful agenda for Hollande’s liberal campaign, The New York Times reported. The president has called  the bill “progress for all society.” The new law will redefine marriage as  “contracted between two persons of different sex or of the same sex,” while the  words for “father” and “mother” in French will be replaced by “parents” – allowing them also to start adopting children.

Christiane Taubira, France’s justice minister, has also described the bill as  “marriage for all” and has said that it comes as response to a “demand for  equality.”

While supported by the majority of the French population, it stands in stark  contrast to the wishes of the conservative opposition in France, who have warned  that such a breakaway from traditional values will signal the end of the  traditional family unit.

“It’s the end of the family, the end of children’s development, the end of  education. It’s an enormous danger to the nation,” said UMP Senator Serge  Dassault on the radio show “France Culture.”

Lesbians File Discrimination Complaint Against Owners of Private Farm for Not Hosting ‘Wedding’

The pink fascists strike again…

Two homosexual women have filed a discrimination complaint with the New York Division of Human Rights after a rural farm declined to host their “wedding” on the premises.

Jennie McCarthy and Melisa Erwin, both 29, of Albany, state that they contacted the 50-acre Liberty Ridge Farms in nearby Schaghticoke to schedule the event, as the venue regularly hosts weddings and other outings.

However, when the owners, Robert and Cynthia Gifford, realized that the two were homosexuals, they informed the women that they do not host such gatherings.

“That’s when [Cynthia] said, ‘Now we have a problem,’” Erwin explained. “This is a decision that my husband and I have made. …. [Y]ou can’t do it here.”

McCarthy and Erwin then filed a complaint with the New York Division of Human Rights, alleging discrimination. Others began to write angry messages on the farm’s Facebook page, such as “Gay dollars are just as green as straight dollars.”

However, owner Robert Gifford told reporters that he believes he has a right to decide how he will operate his business, and that it’s not about the money — it’s about morality.

“I think it’s our right to choose who we market to, like any business,” Robert Gifford told WYNT-TV. “We are a family business and we feel we ought to stay down the family path.”

His spokesperson, Jason McGuire of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, added that he felt that the real discrimination was against the Giffords and their religious beliefs.

“They still have children at home, and they feel that their rights are being violated and they’re being discriminated against because of their position on the issue of gay marriage,” he said. “If religious freedom doesn’t extend beyond the four walls of a church, then you really don’t have religious freedom at all.”

However, Susan Sommer of LAMBDA, a homosexual legal organization, states that because Liberty Ridge Farm is open to members of the public, even though it is a family-owned farm on private land, the Giffords must accommodate the women.

“If it opens its venue for weddings by the general public, it can’t then shut its doors on a same-sex couple,” she said. “You can’t open a business — a public accommodation — advertise it as a wedding venue and then in violation of state non-discrimination laws turn some people away at the door.”

Law Defining Marriage Between a Man and Woman Ruled Unconstitutional by Federal Appeals Court

Not surprising…

A federal appeals court ruled today that the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as being between a man and a woman, is unconstitutional.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of 83-year old Edith Windsor, who challenged the law, claiming that it is discriminatory toward homosexuals.

“This law violated the fundamental American principle of fairness that we all cherish,” she said in a statement released today by the ACLU.

Windsor had contended that the law violated the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees equal protection under the law.

The majority opinion against the Defense of Marriage Act was written by Republican Judge Dennis Jacobs, who was appointed in the 1990′s by George H.W. Bush.

“It is easy to conclude that homosexuals have suffered a history of discrimination,” he wrote. “Homosexuals are not in a position to adequately protect themselves from the discriminatory wishes of the majoritarian public. Even if preserving tradition were in itself an important goal, DOMA is not a means to achieve it.”

Judge Chester Straub, a Clinton appointee, dissented from the opinion.

“Courts should not intervene where there is a robust political debate because doing so poisons the political well, imposing a destructive anti-majoritarian constitutional ruling on a vigorous debate,” he wrote. “I believe it is for the American people to do so.”

So the Bush (Republican) appointee cited here opposed the legislation, while the Clinton (Democrat) appointee opposed courts interfering with what he rightly believes is a political matter.

Funny how that goes.

Emergent Author and Speaker Brian McLaren Officiates Son’s Same-Sex Commitment Ceremony

This news is a couple weeks old, but I just learned it.  Goes to show the ‘emergents’ are nothing but liberal mainline churches who like old-fashioned church rituals…

Emergent author and speaker Brian McLaren officiated his son’s same-sex commitment ceremony this past weekend, reports state.

McLaren’s son, Trevor, 28, joined with his homosexual partner Owen Ryan at the Audobon Naturalist Society in Chevy Chase, Maryland for the event on Saturday. Trevor McLaren is a software salesman, and Owen Ryan works for the Foundation for AIDS Research in Washington, D.C., and is a graduate of The Catholic University of America.

The two attended a “wedding” ceremony earlier in the day, which was officiated by Guy Cecil, the executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and a Universal Life “pastor.” The event was held at McLaren and Ryan’s apartment, and was followed by the commitment ceremony officiated by Brian McLaren.

McLaren, who formerly led Cedar Ridge Community Church in Spencerville, Maryland, is most known for his emergent books and writings, such as A New Kind of Christian, A Generous Orthodoxy, Naked Spirituality and The Girl with the Dove Tattoo.

In a video explaining his book Everything Must Change, he stated, “Evangelicals are becoming increasingly dissatisfied, especially younger ones, with the Babylonian captivity of evangelicalism to conservative, economic and political ideologies — a kind of captivity to the religious right. More and more mainline Protestants are dissatisfied with seeing the Church as a tradition-bound and highly-conflicted institution that’s part of a fading way of life and not part of a transformative way of life.”

Naturally, McLaren promotes his own Babylonian captivity of emergentism to liberal economic and polical ideologies, a kind of captivity to the secular left.

Oh, and “The Girl with the Dove Tattoo”?  Puh-leeze.  That try-to-hard title says all that needs be said, about the idiotic emergents.

Attorney Says Pro Same-Sex Marriage Ads are Con Job

Of course.

This November, 4 states (Maine, Minnesota, Maryland and Washington, have a  same-sex initiative on the ballot calling for the legalization of same-sex  marriage.

In these four states and perhaps several others, gay rights groups have been  running a series of television commercials promoting the acceptance and normalcy  of gay marriage.  A number of those ads feature a traditional married man  and wife, and/or minister who talk about how same-sex marriage is okay.  In  fact, some of these ads only feature heterosexual people in the promotion of  same-sex marriage.

One attorney says that these ads are purposefully trying to mis-represent the  views of the majority of the American people and that in essence, the  commercials are con jobs.  Matt Barber, Director of Cultural Affairs  with both Liberty Counsel and Liberty Alliance Action, and Associate Dean with  Liberty University School of Law told OneNewsNow:

“They are distracting and diverting attention away from the reality of what  the homosexual lifestyle is all about — distorted sexual behavior — and trying  to couch it in terms of fairness, and having heterosexual folks as the face of  so-called same-sex marriage is a clever way to pull the wool over voters’ eyes.”

“Because people naturally bristle when they think about what would it take  actually consummate a so-called same-sex marriage between a man and a man.   People naturally have a revulsion of this abnormal, disordered sexual  behavior.”

North Carolina College to Stop Serving Chick-fil-A

Davidson College in North Carolina has become the first college to give Chick-fil-A the boot.

Students at Davidson began protesting against serving Chick-fil-A at school sponsored late-night food-and-music events called After Midnight, which are held on one Saturday each month. An online petition gathered nearly 500 signatures calling for the school to stop serving Chick-fil-A at campus sanctioned events. Some Davidson students oppose the company’s support of anti-gay groups, and its president, Dan Cathy, admitting to being against same-sex marriage rights.

Target Sells ‘Mr. & Mr.’ Greeting Cards in Support of Same-Sex Marriage

Sign of the times…

The retail giant Target is coming out with same-sex greeting  cards to show its support for same-sex marriage.

The greeting cards, which hit some store shelves as early as June, are being  created by Carlton Cards, a unit of American Greetings, and will feature such  congratulatory phrases as “Mr. & Mr.” and “Two very special women, one very  special love,” according to The Huffington Post.

The cards come out just one month after the Minnesota-based company showed  its support for same-sex marriage by teaming with LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,  Transgender) activist group Family Equality Council to sell  gay pride T-shirts.

The shirts, designed by musician Gwen Stefani, carried phrases such as “love  is love,” “harmony,” and “pride.”

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos Backs Washington State Gay Marriage Law

I no sooner post this, than I see this.

The founder of Amazon.com and his wife are donating $2.5m (£1.6m) to defend a gay marriage law passed in the US state of Washington.

Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos are the latest wealthy backers, joining Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and co-founder Bill Gates, who each gave $100,000.

Washington is one of four states facing a November referendum on gay marriage.

The law, due to come into effect on 7 June, was put on hold after a petition to vote on Referendum 74 succeeded.

Opponents gathered more than 240,000 signatures in a bid to overturn the law signed in February by Governor Chris Gregoire.

Same-sex marriage is legal in eight US states and the District of Columbia.

The laws are being challenged in Washington and Maryland. The state of Maine is voting to reinstate gay marriage laws that were passed but later overturned, and Minnesota is considering a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

Notwithstanding my somewhat of a ‘call-to-arms’ to my fellow Christians in my last post, this is the difficulty: just about all of big business, exemplified by the likes of Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, is getting behind the progressive zeitgeist, which may eventually make it very difficult for Christians to avoid doing business with those who stand for values to which we do not adhere; I don’t tend to get involved in boycotts myself, partly for this reason.  But maybe it is nevertheless time for us to take a stand, regardless of the costs…

Squawking Over Chick-fil-A

A good editorial at ChristianPost.

Life used to be a lot simpler. When you were hungry or needed to  buy some pens, you simply bought a sandwich at a deli or went to the stationery  store. The notion that where you ate or bought pens might be a politically  significant act didn’t cross your mind.

Unfortunately, that’s no longer the case.

[...]

Over at the Atlantic Monthly, Jonathan Merritt criticized those calling for a  boycott of Chick-fil-A. After citing examples of Chick-fil-A’s service to  communities and its dedication to its employees, Merritt asked, “In a nation  that’s as divided as ours is, do we really want our commercial lives and our  political lives to be so wholly intermeshed?”

In a better world, the answer might be “no.” In that better world, buying  pens and eating lunch would be a politics-free experience. All that would matter is  whether we’re getting value for our money.

Unfortunately, we’re stuck with the one we have. In this one, big  corporations like Office Depot will embrace all sorts of fashionable and  politically correct causes if they think it will help their stock price. They  are asking us to patronize them because they “care” about the politically  correct thing. This is why Office Depot publicly joined forces with Lady Gaga  and her campaign for “empowerment.”

And this is why Kraft produced an Oreo cookie with rainbow-colored filling.  Unfortunately, I’m not kidding.

In other words, they, not consumers, introduced politics into the equation,  thus running the risk that people might object to the politics they were  embracing.

Now, I’m not calling for a boycott of Office Depot. But there’s no reason why  we shouldn’t take their “advocacy” into consideration when we need office  supplies; is there?

And let’s be clear: The people who turn buying pens and eating Oreos into a  politically-significant act have no ground to complain when a privately owned  business like Chick-fil-A publicly proclaims that it is pro-family.

So the next time you’re hungry, by all means feel free to take into  consideration Chick-fil-A’s commitment to the traditional family and giving back  to the community. After all, it’s still a free country.

And some people say the ‘culture war’ is over, or should be.  (Some would call for an end to Christian boycotts, for example.)

It’s just barely begun.

Let the games begin, in earnest!  Red state vs. blue state; which corporations will win?

Vote with your dollars, folks – and shut down businesses that support causes you don’t agree with.

Then maybe, eventually, corporations will stop pandering to special interest groups, once they see it hurts their bottom line.

*Update: In all seriousness, I don’t know that public boycotts can work, because they tend to either establish counter-reactions, or don’t convince others to join in.  But private actions, not publicized, could shut down a company if enough of their customers did it – unless they figured out in time why their sales were dropping…  A buycott of companies standing for the good and right is probably a better idea; the success of the Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day on August 1 shows how well such can work.

I’ll Legalise Gay Marriage by 2015, Vows U.K. PM Cameron

And he “warns opponents from the Church ‘not to lock people out’,” as the headline puts it.

David Cameron yesterday promised that gay  marriage will be legalised by 2015, as he  compared Church opposition with Conservatives who once ‘locked out’ homosexuals  from the party.

[...]

The Prime Minister compared his opponents in  the Church to parts of the Tory party who fought against gay rights and ‘for  many, many years got itself on the wrong side of this argument’.

He said: ‘It locked people out who were  naturally Conservative from supporting [the party] and so I think I can make  that point to the Church, gently.’

The Church should not ‘be locking out people  who are gay, or are bisexual or are transgender from being full  members of that  Church, because many people with deeply held Christian  views, are also gay’, he  added.

‘And just as the Conservative Party, as an  institution, made a mistake in  locking people out so I think the Churches can  be in danger of doing the same thing.’

‘Gently’, my ass; he’s arrogantly telling the Church what it should do; who the hell does he think he is?

No-one “with deeply held Christian views” practices a gay lifestyle, either, Mr. Cameron.  A ‘liberal’, ‘progressive’ type who thinks he or she can be both actively gay and Christian is deluding himself / herself, and does not hold to an orthodox Christian worldview, in the least.  Who cares if they feel they can’t belong to a given church?  They should leave; they’re free to start their own heretical church, of course…

If you think you can tell the Church what it should do, why not cite a Scriptural defense of your views?  Oh that’s right; you can’t.

And this passes for ‘Conservative’ in the U.K., today…

Gay Danish Couples Win Right To Marry in Church

Regardless of whether or not the church in question wishes to ‘marry’ them; i.e. churches will be forced to comply, or face penalties.  (HT: Alkibiades)

Homosexual couples in Denmark have won the right to get married in any church they choose, even though nearly one third of the country’s priests have said they will refuse to carry out the ceremonies.

The country’s parliament voted through the new law on same-sex marriage by a large majority, making it mandatory for all churches to conduct gay marriages.

Denmark’s church minister, Manu Sareen, called the vote “historic”.

“I think it’s very important to give all members of the church the possibility to get married. Today, it’s only heterosexual couples.”

Under the law, individual priests can refuse to carry out the ceremony, but the local bishop must arrange a replacement for their church.

Once again, we see that ‘gay rights’ activists don’t merely want increased ‘rights’ for themselves, but they want the State to bludgeon opponents of their ‘rights’ into conformity, through the application of the full force of the law.  They truly are totalitarians.

Conservative Reformed Church in The United States Condemns Gay Marriage, GLBT Behavior, and More

I find this interesting, because it is rare that Reformed churches make official statements, as such, about political matters.

The Synod of the Reformed Church in the United States has voted to approve a series of official statements strongly condemning same-sex marriage, homosexuality and all other forms of sexual sin.

At the same time, the synod rejected a slate of arguments being offered by homosexual advocates both outside the church and within some other denominations, including the idea that governments or voters have authority to legalize gay marriage.

Defense of Marriage Act Heads to US Supreme Court

The battle over gay ‘marriage’ is heating up, in American courts.  (HT: FrontPorchPolitics)

A battle over a federal law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman appears headed for the Supreme Court after an appeals court ruled Thursday that denying benefits to married gay couples is unconstitutional.

In a unanimous decision, the three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston said the 1996 law deprives gay couples of the rights and privileges granted to heterosexual couples.

FrontPorchPolitics comments:

There can be no doubt that our nation is receiving the judgment of God.  We are on the very brink of making something God calls an abomination an honorable thing and the twisting of the definition of marriage to be that which is something completely deviant and unholy.  May God have mercy upon us.

This is Why We Need an Alt-Right

Even right-of-right-wing Alberta politician Danielle Smith supports abortion and gay marriage.