Gays and Secular Law: “Render unto Caesar….”?

When religious leaders speak in our secular world today, few people really listen (or care).  But somehow the Pope managed to anger many.  Below is an example of the loopy comments we have seen….God Bless and Merry Christmas to everyone….

“I am afraid that the Pope’s positions differ strongly from those of the governments of the 27 EU Countries who, in the Charter of Fundamental rights of the EU citizen, have clearly stated and stressed that any sort of discrimination based on sexual orientation is a crime.”

“I believe that the Pope is treading on dangerous waters when he comes up with this type of arguments.”

This came to Peace and Freedom from Arnold Cassola at:
http://arnoldcassola.wordpress.com/2008/1
2/24/the-lisbon-treaty-vs-the-pope/

Arnold seems to admit that the Pope can walk on water; which means I’ll listen…..

Unless Arnold has slipped into an oxymoron….which doesn’t make anyone a moron….

Also, the Pope generally deals with sin, not crime.

Recall the phrase “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s….”?

We would just point out that the Pope answers to another power than do the many nations of the European Union so it is no crime or sin or surprise that the entities do not agree…..

Merry Christmas!

Related:
Pope Down on Gays

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europ
e/12/23/pope.speech/index.html

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/c
ontent/article.aspx?RsrcID=41266

http://righttruth.typepad.com/

Pope Down on Gays

The Pope has said that “saving” humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour is just as important as saving the rainforests.

By Nick Allen
Telegraph (UK)

Above: The Pope’s remarks were denounced as ‘totally irresponsible and unacceptable in any shape or form’ by the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement Photo: GETTY

Pope Benedict XVI sparked a furious reaction from other Christian groups as he also suggested that a blurring of the distinction between male and female could lead to the “self-destruction” of the human race.

The pontiff was delivering his end-of-year address to senior Vatican staff and his words were later released to the media.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that, while homosexuality is not sinful, homosexual acts are.

It opposes gay marriage and, in October, one leading Vatican official described homosexuality as “a deviation, an irregularity, a wound”.

In his address to the Curia, the Vatican’s central administration, the Pope himself described behaviour beyond traditional heterosexual relations as “a destruction of God’s work”.

He said the Roman Catholic Church had a duty to “protect man from the destruction of himself” and urged respect for the “nature of the human being as man and woman.”

The pontiff added: “The tropical forests do deserve our protection. But man, as a creature, does not deserve any less.”

His remarks were immediately denounced as “totally irresponsible and unacceptable in any shape or form” by the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement.

Its chief executive, the Rev Sharon Ferguson, said: “It is more the case that we need to be saved from his comments. It is comments like this that justify homophobic bullying that goes on in schools and it is comments like this that justify gay bashing.

“There are still so many instances of people being killed around the world, including in western society, purely and simply because of their sexual orientation or their gender identity.

“When you have religious leaders like that making that sort of statement then followers feel they are justified in behaving in an aggressive and violent way because they feel that they are doing God’s work in ridding the world of these people.”

The Rev Dr Giles Fraser, Vicar of Putney and president of Inclusive Church, the pro-gay Anglican movement, said: “I thought the Christmas angels said ‘Fear not’.

“Instead, the Pope is spreading fear that gay people somehow threaten the planet. And that’s just absurd.

“As always, this sort of religious homophobia will be an alibi for all those who would do gay people harm. Can’t he think of something better to say at Christmas?”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/3
916804/Pope-says-humanity-needs-saving-from-homos
exuality.html

Iran’s bloggers thrive despite blocks

Iran has one of the most vibrant blogging communities in the world – despite government boasts that it blocks five million websites. The BBC’s Jon Leyne in Tehran is spending the day with bloggers to see what makes them tick.

From the BBC
.
With much of the official media controlled by the government or hardline conservatives, the internet has become the favoured way of communicating for Iran’s well-educated and inquisitive younger generation.

Go online in Iran and you will find blogs or websites covering every topic under the sun.

Politics, of course, but also the arts, Hollywood cinema, women’s issues, women’s sport, pop music. Whisper it quietly, there is even an online dating scene in the Islamic Republic.

Day-by-day there is an intriguing cyber-war, as the government wrestles for control of the internet, and Iran’s bloggers wrestle it back.

 
Iranians surf the World Wide Web at Iran’s first Internet cafe in Tehran 1998. Iran has blocked access to more than five million Internet sites, whose content is mostly perceived as immoral and anti-social, a judiciary official was quoted as saying on Wednesday.(AFP/File/Atta Kenare)

Iran hosts around 65,000 bloggers, and has around 22 million internet users. Not bad for a country in which some remote areas do not yet have mains electricity.

Even some journalists who work in the mainstream media use the internet to publish articles they can not get past their newspaper or programme editors, or the official censors.

Read the rest:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7782771.stm