5/21/10

Finding Talk to Action feels like coming home. All I read here reminds me of where I have struggled, where I have denied, and thus where there may be a bit more struggling to do. I understand that I am not just to post “opinions,” but be able to back them up. Right now, I am more interested in recounting where I am and how I got here; arguments with others are not my goal, though some may read what I write and want to challenge me; maybe some will want to help.

CNN has a story, Catholics fight move to deny schooling to children of lesbians, gays by Dan Gilgoff, CNN, May 15, 2010.  This news story begins:

Progressive Catholic groups vented outrage Friday over the decision of a Roman Catholic school in Massachusetts to rescind the admission of an 8-year-old student because his parents are lesbians.

"The idea that a child might be punished because he does not live with his two biologic parents is antithetical to notions of Christian charity and Catholic social justice," said Patrick Whelan, president of Catholic Democrats, in a statement Friday.

Other liberal Catholic and gay groups issued similar statements Friday, responding to news reports this week that a child accepted to St. Paul Elementary School in Hingham, Massachusetts, for the fall was told he couldn't enroll after the school learned that his parents are gay.

Stem cell research is one of one of the most controversial pieces of medical research today. Today, both distinct types of stem cell research - embryonic and adult - received support that will potentially expand and improve the cash now available and results of medical study. The National Institutes of Health released new embryonic guidelines, when the Vatican -- yes, the Catholic Vatican -- has announced it will help fund research.

The promise of stem cell research

For good reason, stem cell research is a very emotionally loaded topic. Many medical researchers call stem cells the best chance medicine has to do every little thing from regrow damaged body parts to curing a multitude of diseases. A stem cell is a cell that is nevertheless in an "undefined" state and has the potential of becoming any type of cell in the body. Embryonic stem cells are derived from embryos created by fertility treatments that would not otherwise be used. Adult stem cells, on the other hand, are harvested then "forced" to regress into stem cells.

NIH guidelines for embryonic stem cells

Embryonic stem cell research is a very difficult question for the government. In 2001, the president limited federal research funding to a very small number of embryonic stem cell research lines already in existence. This left 21 lines of embryonic stem cell research accessible. When he lifted this ban when first gaining office, President Obama also put strong ethical needs in place. The new stem cell research guidelines indicate that embryonic stem cells must be donated by couples that are "fully informed of other options".

NIH approves additional lines

Though the ethical guidelines were stronger, there were many questions about which stem cell lines would be allowable under the National Institutes of Health guidelines. This morning, the NIH announced that 13 additional lines had been approved for embryonic stem cell research, including four lines that account for almost 90 percent of stem cell research publications between 1999 and 2008.

Adult stem cell research to be funded by the Vatican

The Catholic Vatican announced this morning that they would be funding adult stem cell research. The Vatican chose the Intestinal Stem Cell Consortium to receive funding. Intestinal stem cells are adult stem cells from the intestine that might prove especially useful. In the Vatican announcement, the church highlights that they nevertheless believe embryonic stem cell research is "gravely immoral". The Director of the Stem Cell Transplantation Program in Boston's Children's Hospital reacted to the announcement with a mix of emotions. "I applaud the Vatican for funding any type of research, but this is another attempt to pit adult stem cells against embryonic when the two are used in very different ways and have potential for different conditions."

Resources for the article

Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/27/A R2010042703360.html

ABC News

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/vatican-backs-stem-cell-res earch/story?id=10447981

We are once again pleased to welcome progressive Catholic theologian William Lindsey as a guest front pager. This piece, which provides us with some important details about the life and work of the now scandal-tainted Rev. Dr. George Rekers, is crossposted from Lindsey's blog, Bilgrimage. -- FC

Readers of this blog will probably already know something about the story of Rev. Dr. George Alan Rekers, a leading proponent of "ex-gay" therapy and co-founder (with Dr. James Dobson) of the anti-gay Family Research Council.  Rev. Dr. Rekers is also an officer of NARTH, the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, which promotes the view that homosexuality is a mental disorder that can be cured.  And he's an ordained Southern Baptist minister with a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California, a Th.D. from the University of South Africa, and an MBA from Southern Wesleyan University.

To our readers,

Talk To Action was unavailable for a few minutes during the hour of 8 AM EST. We apologize for the inconvenience. We're in process of upgrading the site and there may be occasional technical glitches in the process,  but we'll do our best to keep them to a minimum.

Best,
Bruce Wilson

An effort from People For The American Way, Kyle Mantyla's Right Wing Watch has over the past year emerged as one of the few secular venues on or off the Internet beyond Talk To Action that is paying sustained attention to the apostolic and prophetic movement.

C. Peter Wagner's apostles and prophets are crawling all over American contemporary politics and can be found with leading GOP US Senators and members of Congress. Mantyla's chronicling of the seeming merger of much of the GOP with Peter Wagner's associates and minions is instructive - it is the Engle-ization of the Religious Right.

In a letter to the editor of the Hawaii's Garden Island News, first published on April 7, 2010, Associate Professor Kathleen Sands takes on Hawaii Lt. Governor "Duke" Aiona's extensive and intimate association with a group called Transformation Hawaii.

It's getting deeper!  They've just honored the man whom they called the police on by having him give the invocation!

Being realistic about both the Christian and extremist elements of Christian extremist groups is important

The following is a talk given by Lou Engle in 2008 at an October 2008  Pre-Call rally, prior to the November 1, 2008 TheCall event held in San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium. Engle's talk was broadcast internationally in GodTV.

Here are some of the notable points Engle's made in his talk:

• The moral climate in California is comparable to Baal-worship during the Biblical rule of Jezebel.
  
• Legal abortion is comparable to the sacrifice of infants to the God Molech, and Engle claims Planned Parenthood is the Molech of our time.
  
• Engle claims he made 3,000 phone calls to leaders and pastors during the anti-gay marriage, pro-Proposition Eight push in California prior to the November 4, 2008 presidential election.
  
• There cannot be peace in California until "sorceries, adulteries, and witchcraft" are stopped.
  
• GodTV is "fueling the prayer movement worldwide."
  
• Hispanic evangelicals are the key part of an electoral strategy to make California a "pro-life" state. As Engle stated,

We believe that the Latinos are going to be a mighty force to turn America back to God. I am burning with a passion for the Latinos. Cindy Jacobs prophesied that California will be a pro-life state. The only way that will happen is MILLIONS of Latinos begin to understand that they can literally turn elections!

And that they can bring their fasting and prayer from South America and Latin America and not leave their prophetic fire at the border ! [applause] And bring it up into Texas and into Arizona and into California, to awaken some of the cold blood of the white folk.

The American Library Association has announced their list of the most challenged books of 2009.  Thier press release states:

Book on text messaging teens prompts most book challenges of 2009

"ttyl" series tops ALA's 2009 Top Ten list of most frequently challenged books
CHICAGO -Lauren Myracle's best-selling young adult novel series "ttyl," the first-ever novels written entirely in the style of instant messaging, tops the American Library Association's (ALA) Top Ten list of the Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2009.

Two books are new to the list: Twilight (series) by Stephenie Meyer and "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult.

Both Alice Walker's "The Color Purple" and Robert Cormier's "The Chocolate War" return after being dropped from the list in 2008.

"Even though not every book will be right for every reader, the ability to read, speak, think and express ourselves freely are core American values," said Barbara Jones, director of the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom. "Protecting one of our most fundamental rights - the freedom to read - means respecting each other's differences and the right of all people to choose for themselves what they and their families read."

For nearly 20 years, the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has collected reports on book challenges. A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school, requesting that materials be removed or restricted because of content or appropriateness. In 2009, OIF received 460 reports on efforts to remove or restrict materials from school curricula and library bookshelves.

Though OIF receives reports of challenges in public libraries, schools, and school libraries from a variety of sources, a majority of challenges go unreported. OIF estimates that its statistics reflect only 20-25% of the challenges that actually occur.

The ALA's Top Ten Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2009 reflect a range of themes, and consist of the following titles:

1. ttyl, ttfn, l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: Nudity, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs

2. "And Tango Makes Three" by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
Reasons: Homosexuality

3. "The Perks of Being A Wallflower," by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Anti-Family, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs, Suicide

4. "To Kill A Mockingbird," by Harper Lee
Reasons: Racism, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

5. Twilight (series) by Stephenie Meyer
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group

6. "Catcher in the Rye," by J.D. Salinger
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

7. "My Sister's Keeper," by Jodi Picoult
Reasons: Sexism, Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs, Suicide, Violence

8. "The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things," by Carolyn Mackler
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

9. "The Color Purple," Alice Walker
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

10. "The Chocolate War," by Robert Cormier
Reasons: Nudity, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

Florida politicians are trying -again- to get an amendment to the constitution protecting faith-based programs receiving state funding from any form of legal "attack".