Daily Kos

For the past few years, loggersbrat and I have been organizing the Sunday morning interfaith service at Netroots Nation. The service is open to everyone, of all faiths and of no faith. Some of us find it a centering after such a full conference, some use it to fix their resolve to work for change, some for a sense of communal meditation and affirmation. Each year we have chosen a theme and asked the community for their thoughts and inspiration on that theme. This year I sent this e-mail to loggersbrat and linkage, who is also helping:

I have been thinking about a theme for the NN13 Sunday Service, and I wondered about doing something about belief and nature, belief and science.

As far as I can tell, science and religion began as our attempt to learn about and have some effect on our world; for a long time they were the same thing. The divergence came only a few hundred years ago for the west; I don't know enough about eastern religions. But in this country the religious right (and perhaps other fundamentalist versions of faith) lead to a general feeling that religion is opposed to science, and this perhaps has encouraged the fundamentalist version of atheism.

In any event, the idea of learning about the world and the universe, to understand as much as we can about them, and to take better care of them, are deeply felt by some to be religious values. So I was thinking about asking people for ideas from their belief systems about our relation to nature, and our duty to nature, both in terms of understanding and conserving. Scientists like Newton and Darwin were deeply religious, and Einstein was spiritual in his ideas about harmony in the universe.

Another side of the issue is ethics. Technology in these days tends to develop faster than we are able to consider its ethical application, which leads to such things as atomic weapons, genetically modified foods, lots of other genetic concerns, matters like biological and chemical weapons, etc.

This is kind of free associating, but I would like to hear what everyone working on the service thinks about the general theme, other suggestions, and your own associations if we take this theme and ask for contributions from others.

One of the things I admire about DKOS is that however you resolve—or don't resolve—the title question, you are still part of the community, and your views are very generally respected by fellow Kossacks. A diary with this title might seem out of place on a political blog, but when you think about it the question really has a great deal to do with politics. I could give dozens of examples, most of them obvious. Our friends (?) at Redstate.com generally have a much different approach to this question than we do. But the better we understand each other, the more harmonious will be the democracy we aspire to build. This diary tries to explain the view of this particular non-believer. It is not meant to be an attempt to convert the believer, but rather to foster understanding.

The acclaimed documentary God Loves Uganda, which depicts the role of American conservative evangelicals in generating vicious antigay campaigns in Uganda will be screened at Netroots Nation.  (Among other venues in the next few months.)

My colleague at Political Research Associates (PRA), Rev. Dr. Kapya Kaoma, an Episcopal priest from Zambia now living in the U.S. is featured throughout the film discussing the role of U.S. Christian Right leaders in whipping up antigay fervor and pushing for passage of the "kill the gays" bill in the Ugandan parliament.  He will also appear on a panel at Netroots Nation Intolerance Abroad: Overcoming Violence and Repression and Moving Toward Global LGBT Solidarity along with other experts including Jim Burroway of Box Turtle Bulletin and Pam Spees of the Center for Constitutional Rights.

The film draws on Kaoma's original research and reporting including his PRA reports, the 2012 Colonizing African Values and 2009 Globalizing the Culture Wars. PRA exposed U.S. Christian Right figures Scott Lively and Rick Warren’s role in the creation of the infamous Uganda bill--garnering major media.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley, archbishop of Boston, is boycotting Boston College's graduation on Monday. Why? BC is honoring the Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, and Kenny is sponsoring an abortion bill in Ireland. An Irish woman recently died because doctors wouldn't terminate a miscarrying pregnancy, and Kenny wants to make sure this never happens again.

Citing absolute moral principles, O'Malley claims he has to absent himself.

I just published an essay at The Atlantic drawing out the ways in which O'Malley's principles are not so absolute, abut are in fact inconsistently applied - mostly to benefit Republicans. Here are a few quotes from the article, then, if you like, please go read the whole thing. I'll be delighted to engage in discussion here, at my blog, or at the article online.

One goal, not stated explicitly in the article, is to draw out the extent to which the Council of Bishops operates as a Republican think tank, to the detriment of all the great liberal Catholics I know and love.

Key quotes below the fold. Thanks for reading.

Welcome to your Fuzzy Friday open thread,

Last week I shared with you a lot of words written in one of my favorite places. This week I'll just stifle my fingers and let my camera do the talking as it walks you through that trip to the Giant Mountains. Below the spiffy ginger hairball, you'll find several detailed photos of creepy crawlies, a couple of wooly lambies, horsies, a few broad landscapes-- taken in the forests and meadows of the green mountains along the Czech / Polish border.

Somebody, please dim the lights ...

This is our periodic call for volunteers to write a D'var Torah diary over the coming weeks.  You don't have to be a rabbinical scholar - as far as I know none of us are - and you don't even have to be Jewish.  If you haven't written one yet, why not give it a try?  Here is the schedule for the next few weeks (I've translated the name of each parshah, except for the two named for people):

May 25:   Torah reading - Behalotecha (when you set up) Numbers chapters 8 to 12.  Haftarah - Zechariah 2:14 to 4:7.

June 1:  Torah reading - Shelach Lecha (send for yourselves) Numbers chapters 13 to 15.  Haftarah - Joshua chapter 2.

June 8:  1st Torah reading - Korach, Numbers chapters 16 to 18
Second Torah reading Numbers 28: 9-15.  Haftarah - Isaiah chapter 66.  Eowyn9

(Note:  This Shabbat coincides with Rosh Hodesh Tammuz, the first day of the new month of Tammuz.  The first day of each month is a very minor (except for Rosh Hashanah) holiday. Numbers 28: 9-15 is read in synagogue every Rosh Hodesh, and Isaiah chapter 66 is chanted every Shabbat that coincides with Rosh Hodesh.  The regular Haftarah, which is preempted, is 1 Samuel 11:14 to 12:22).

June 15:  Torah reading - Chukkat (the ritual law) Numbers chapters 19 to 22:1.  Haftarah - Judges 11:1 to 33.  quarkstomper

June 22:  Torah reading Balak, Numbers 22:2 to 25:9.  Haftarah:  Micah 5:6 to 6:8.

A friend has rediscovered some of his military buddies, and they chat on line. The conversation has veered to one person who was injured in a firefight. One of the group commented, "I'm not superstitious" "but" he was glad when the injured person left the unit, because he had been injured before "and that kind of guy just brings down bad luck, don't want to be around him."

Apparently that type of thought train is common among combat veterans- I am surviving because I am lucky/skilled/tough and I don't want to be around people who are unlucky/unskilled/weaker because they may drag me down with them.

I have much compassion for the combat vet- getting scared shitless week after week tweaks your mind. But that is not how karma works

Welcome to Thursday Coffee Hour. This is an open topic thread so help yourself to the goodies and sit a spell and let us know what is new with you. I think we have all grown up with sayings that are short and to the point and very apt. Many quotes we hear today came from Poor Richard’s Almanac written by Ben Franklin and published from 1732 to 1758. Some of the most often heard quotes from the almanac are:

"Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus and more may the Eternal do to me if anything but death parts me from you." (Ruth 1:16-17)

-Ruth's promise to Naomi.

Quite interesting.  What will right wingers do now?

Pope Francis has called on world leaders to put an end to the "cult of money" and to do more to help the poor, warning that insecurity was rising in many regions of the world and the "joy of life" was diminishing in developed countries.

"The worship of the golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly human goal," Francis said in an address to ambassadors to the Vatican.

snip

The Pope said that radical free-market ideologies had created "a new, invisible, and at times virtual, tyranny" and human beings "considered as consumer goods" and called for global financial reform that would benefit everyone.

"Solidarity, which is the treasure of the poor, is often considered counterproductive, opposed to the logic of finance and the economy. While the income of a [minority] is increasing exponentially, that of the majority is crumbling," he said.

snip

 "I encourage the financial experts and the political leaders of your countries to consider the words of St John Chrysostom 'Not to share one's goods with the poor is to rob them'", he said.

Another report said that he also exclaimed:

"Money has to serve, not to rule!"

Kind of like the anti-Paul Ryan.  He is right on this.

"I mentioned Erin in passing, and said a 'she' in passing too, in the email. A few days later she called back and that was today. And called and verified it was a same-sex wedding," Pugh said.

And that's when Fleur Cakes said it wouldn't bake the cake.
The business is also Regentin's house. She was out of town but spoke to KATU News on the phone.

When asked if she was aware it's illegal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation for a business that serves the public, Regentin said: "I believe I have the liberty to live by my principles."

She is not the first business owner to walk away from a gay wedding or similar ceremony. Most of them point out they serve gay customers, just not the weddings.

A lot of these business owners in other states are arguing for a new exemption, a religious exemption, which would let them turn away same-sex weddings.

State statutes say any place or service offering public accommodations must provide "full and equal accommodations without any distinction on account of race, color, religion, sex, or sexual orientation."

We already knew Pat Robertson was a ghost from the past.  But today's edition of The 700 Club was yet more proof of just how out of touch he is.  

One of the questions from today's "Bring it On" segment came from "Ivy," a woman seeking advice on what to do about forgiving an unfaithful husband.  Robertson's response?  A wife whose husband cheats on her should be thankful that he provides for her and treats the kids well, and that she should "give him honor instead of trying to worry about it."  He then had the audacity to suggest that a woman should wonder what she could have done to keep her man from cheating.  No, this isn't snark--see for yourself, and pile up the dislikes.  The segment about the cheating husband begins at around the 1:55 mark.

Even for a guy who thinks that victims of child abuse can "consent" to being molested, this is simply breathtaking.  

The thing that amazes me is that he was actually able to say this with a woman, Kristi Watts (Terry Meeuwsen was off today) as his cohost.  Almost as breathtaking is Watts' reaction--she just went to the next question as if nothing had happened.  Makes you wonder what it takes to be a woman working for CBN.

(h/t to People for the American Way)