Atheists are just pre-Christians.

(Photo: Screenshot/KSFY-TV) Atheist billboards in Sioux City, South Dakota.

(Photo: Screenshot/KSFY-TV)
Atheist billboards in Sioux City, South Dakota.

Pastor Jeff Hayes of Faith Temple Church responded to 20 atheist-themed billboards in his city that display messages such as “God didn’t create man” and “prayer doesn’t work,” by telling local news station KOTA-TV that atheists who criticize religion might just be “pre-Christian people” who need prayer to experience a personal spiritual awakening.

“I think it’s good for Christians to have a reaction and we can be negative toward the Free Thinkers but I think we should just pray for them and just believe that, wow if there is a God, is He big enough to reveal Himself to them,” Hayes added.

“Pre-Christian”. Is this like “Pre-Owned” and “Pre-Born”?

Full Story Here.

#OpLGBT

Via Twitter.

Via Twitter.

The computer-hacking activist collective known as Anonymous claims to have shut down several North Carolina government websites in protest of the state’s anti-LGBT law, House Bill 2.

The organization announced its action in a series of tweets over the weekend and today, tagging the group’s name, #OpLGBT, in several posts:

 

[…]

However, while many of those domains the tweets listed remain inaccessible, some major sites, such as those of the governor and the state legislature, are online and functioning. “All of our state government websites are operating as normal,” a spokesman told CNN Money.

Anonymous and other “hacktivists” intend to keep up the pressure on the state over HB 2, which invalidates all LGBT-inclusive municipal antidiscrimination laws, prevents cities and counties from enacting new ones, and bars transgender people from using the restrooms and locker rooms, in government buildings, that match their gender identity.

Full Story Here.

LGBTTTQQIA Plus Another A People.

Joe Mavretic (N.C. Spin/screen grab)

Joe Mavretic (N.C. Spin/screen grab)

…“I’m a little unhappy with the four of you,” the former Speaker sarcastically told his fellow panel members. “Because clearly you’re not with it.”

“What we’re talking about here is not four letters of the alphabet. We’re talking about L-G-B-T-T-T-Q-Q-I-A plus another A if you want to be an ally!”

“Are you going to explain that?” host Tom Campbell asked.

Mavretic revealed that the letters stood for “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, two-spirited, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual.”

“Now, here’s the issue,” he continued. “What we’re really talking about is the body vs. the brain. We’re talking about that issue — we’re talking about biology against psychology. And we’re also entering the me su arena of politics where narcissism is prevalent. People want to be me. ‘I want this for me.’ I’ve not heard anybody talk about the common good since this first hit the headlines.”

Biology against psychology? So the brain isn’t biological in nature now? “Common good”. I’m getting this full body slump weariness whenever I see or hear the word common. Rapidly becoming one of my least favourite words.

“It’s all about me!” Mavretic opined. “Well, can a white person want to be a black person and then get minority contracts? Can a female want to be a male and go to the beach and and not have to wear a top like males do?”

According to Mavretic, the United States was “bordering on being the most narcissistic-me-individually-oriented culture on the planet.”

Mmmhmmm, and you certainly are trying to get attention for your particular views, right, Joe? That might be considered an all about me! thing. I’m pretty sure that transgender people existing turning into some sort of ohmygods topless on the beach is strictly a Joe thing. I don’t know of anyone else, anywhere, who is concerned about that. Or even thought that. Right. Let’s see if we can get back to something like transgender people are like everyone else, and deserve the same rights. . .

“I think it’s offensive to call them narcissists when they’re just trying to live their life,” Fitzsimon said.

“Well, I’ll tell you what,” Mavretic shot back angrily. “We are not politically correct anymore and I can call it what I want to call it. And that’s what free speech is all about.”

I guess we can’t. I think we can safely say that Joe “I can call it what I want to call it” Mavretic is on the self-centered side. Full story here.

Why Christians Will Win the Transgender Debate.

Image courtesy of Dennis Hlynsky via Flickr creative commons - http://bit.ly/1VWTOaW

Image courtesy of Dennis Hlynsky via Flickr creative commons – http://bit.ly/1VWTOaW


Yesterday, I posted about an article: Why Christians Will Lose the Transgender Debate. There’s been a response as to why the author of that article is wrong.

…Unfortunately, Merritt is quite wrong in arguing that “conservative Christians will lose the transgender debate.”
[…]
Some might be guilty of doing this, just as some Christians focus on theology while ignoring people, but everyone I speak to about the transgender issues is focused on people rather than ideology.

How so?

First, they are focused on the people affected by transgender activism, such as the many schoolchildren who are being negatively affected and whose cases are now coming to public attention, or the women who have been sexually abused in the past and have now become unintended victims of transgender activism. [That link goes to a youtube video made by Alliance Defending Freedom, and if you don’t like being outraged first thing in the morning, or any other time, skip it.]

Do these people not matter?

Do we overlook other victims – including innocent little children – because they are not part of the LGBT spectrum?

[…]

The reality is that transgender activists expect us to embrace someone’s self-identification absent any scientific evidence, meaning that Bruce Jenner is now to be recognized as Caitlyn simply because that is how he now self-identifies. And should his biology and chromosomes affirm that he is a man, we are still expected to embrace him as a woman.

Genitals matter! Wait, no they don’t, chromosomes matter!

In that sense, it is transgender activists who sometimes ignore science and who open the door to the very dangerous slope of “perception is reality.” (For a striking example, see my video on the man who became a woman then became a mythical dragon.)

[…]

As for the stance we must take as followers of Jesus, as I’ve said over and again, we can reach out to those who are marginalized without sacrificing our children on the altar of political correctness and radical LGBT activism.

I invited Jonathan Merritt in joining me on the front lines as, together, we resist radical LGBT activism while reaching out to LGBT individuals with compassion.

The whole article is riddled with the worst misinformation and bigotry.

19th Century Photo Studio Built in 1:12 Scale.

AliAlamedy_02

AliAlamedy_015

Absolutely astonishing work by Ali Alamedy.

Turkey-based artist Ali Alamedy had been building miniature sets for seven years when he came across documentation of Charles Miner’s photography studio from the early 1900s. Inspired by the way sunlight was used to illuminate studio sets, Alamedy decided to build his own version in 1:12 scale. The project took him over nine months, using hundreds of feet of wood, and building more than 100 miniature objects designed specifically to fit the era.

Due to few images being available of photography studios at that time, Alamedy read extensively to figure out what tools, techniques, styles, and colors were used within the studios (all images were in black and white). One of the hardest challenges during the completion of the model was the camera, as each fold in the bellow in real life is just 3 cm. The final 1:12 scale camera has 124 2 mm folds that were all meticulously created by hand.

Via Colossal Art, where there are many more photos of Alamedy’s work.

European Union Denounces HB 2.

europeanunion

The European Union spoke out against North Carolina’s anti-LGBT House Bill 2 this week, saying that it should “be reconsidered as soon as possible.”

In a statement released this week, the European Union singled out North Carolina’s HB 2, as well as the anti-LGBT laws that have passed in states such as Tennessee and Mississippi recently. The European Union said that those states “are violating an international agreement on civil rights,” reports The News & Observer.

[…]

The statement from the European Union posted online said that “traditional or religious values” should not be used to “justify any form of discrimination, including discrimination against LGBTI persons. These laws should be reconsidered as soon as possible.”

The European Union announced their support of the LGBT community in the statement, writing, “We will continue to work to end all forms of discrimination and to counter attempts to embed or enhance discrimination wherever it occurs around the world.”

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory’s campaign spokesman, Ricky Diaz, took no offense with the European Union’s statement.

“We relinquished our adherence to the British crown and European powers over 200 years ago,” Diaz, reports the Observer. “The law is now in federal court, where it will be resolved.”

[…]

N.C. Republican Party executive director Dallas Woodhouse told the Observer that the European Union’s statement was “absolutely no surprise since North Carolina Democrats led by Roy Cooper want to install European socialist policies … that are an affront to the common sense traditions of North Carolina and America.”

Full Story Here.  “Common sense traditions”. No, fuck that noise. North Carolina does not define America, and if there is any NC tradition going here, it’s one of bigotry. Given the amount of in state protest against this bigotry, I’m afraid those “common sense traditions” don’t define North Carolina, either.

phil-bryant-x750

Gov. Phil Bryant.

In related news, Gov. Phil Bryant (Mississippi), is speaking out against the new federal education guidelines.

The Mississippi Gov.,who recently passed an anti-LGBT law in his state, spoke out against the Obama administration’s directive that transgender students are protected under Title IX.

In a Facebook post published on Friday, Phil Bryant said that the “Mississippi Department of Education should disregard the so-called guidance the Obama administration has issued regarding public schools’ restroom policies.”

[…]

The Mississippi Gov. called the directive “nonbinding,” saying it “does not carry the force of law.” “Because these decisions are better left to the states, and not made at the point of a federal bayonet, Mississippi’s public schools should not participate in the president’s social experiment,” said the Gov. via Facebook.

Full Story Here.

travis_weber_750

Travis Weber, Family Research Council.

Travis Weber, of the Family Research Council, played a game of “I can’t answer that question” on Hardball.

Travis Weber, a member of the anti-LGBT hate group, Family Research Council, went on MSNBC’s Hardball on Friday, but refused to answer whether a trans woman belonged in a men’s bathroom or a woman’s bathroom.

[…]

Chris Matthews directed his next question at Weber, saying, “Tell her what bathroom she shoud use.”

The Family Research Council member refused to answer the question. Matthews asked the same question again: “What should a transgender person who identifies as a woman do? What bathroom should they go to? Just keep it simple.”

Matthews became visibly frustrated when Weber kept dodging his question. “You can’t answer the question, can you?,” said the MSNBC host.

Weber finally gave Matthews a response, saying, “They can use the bathroom of their biological sex, except when there’s a genuine issue, and an accomodation can be made.”

The MSNBC host was unsatisfied with his response. He asked Weber, “What does that mean?”

Full Story Here.

Hair

Hair

Hair1

I can do some very odd things when I desperately need to play. No, I didn’t cut my hair, the current growth is longer. I came across an old ponytail I didn’t know I had – I thought they had all been donated.

© C. Ford.

Why Christians Will Lose the Transgender Debate.

Image courtesy of Dennis Hlynsky via Flickr creative commons - http://bit.ly/1VWTOaW

Image courtesy of Dennis Hlynsky via Flickr creative commons – http://bit.ly/1VWTOaW

This is a very good article, with a Christian take on why Christians will be losing when it comes to transgender politics and law.

When LGBT rights first became a national issue following the Stonewall Riot of 1969, conservative Christians responded with a disastrous campaign against gay and lesbian causes. Christian leaders cited pseudo-science claiming homosexuality was a “choice,” or worse, a mental disorder. Preachers regularly promoted the idea that AIDS was God’s judgment on LGBT people. And money began to flow into “ex-gay” Christian ministries that promised to make LGBT people straight, but ended up making them suicidal instead.

When it comes to conservative Christianity, it seems the more things change, the more things stay the same. A national debate on transgender rights has rapidly progressed in America, and predictably, conservative Christians have once again elbowed their way to the front lines. Christian leaders make speeches, pastors preach sermons, and political activists make cable news network appearances–each armed with rhetoric intended to incite panic and stir up fear.

Sadly, their messages are just as disconnected from reality as their response to the LGBT rights movement decades ago. By recycling old tactics, conservative Christians are poised to lose the transgender debate in America.

The full article is here. I’m very appreciative of progressive Christians who are actively working to make a difference, and recognizing that conservative Christianity isn’t good for anyone, including other Christians.

A Personal Stake in Transgender Politics

Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, at her office on Capitol Hill, has veered away from many Republicans on gay and transgender issues. Credit Chad Batka for The New York Times

Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, at her office on Capitol Hill, has veered away from many Republicans on gay and transgender issues. Credit Chad Batka for The New York Times.

Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, a transgender activist and Representative Ros-Lehtinen’s son, in New York. Credit Jake Naughton for The New York Times.

Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, a transgender activist and Representative Ros-Lehtinen’s son, in New York. Credit Jake Naughton for The New York Times.

This is a really nice story, about people who have their priorities in the right place, and are ruled by love, care, and empathy, not fear, bigotry, and hate.

MIAMI — The day Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen told his prominent parents about his new gender identity, he did so in a letter that he left on their bed. Then he grabbed a packed bag and, unsure of whether he would be welcomed back, went to a friend’s house to see if his family would love him or leave him.

His shocked parents, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Miami Republican, and Dexter Lehtinen, who served as the top federal prosecutor here, did not hesitate. They grabbed the phone and told him that they loved him and that family trumped all, and asked him to come home. But as with many parents of transgender children, they were also overwhelmed by fear: The future they saw for their then 21-year-old, whom they had named Amanda, would be pockmarked with discrimination and bullying, if not outright violence.

It was this visceral reaction to want to protect her child that drove Ms. Ros-Lehtinen to break from her party’s skepticism or hostility on gay and transgender issues — a stance evident now in North Carolina’s battle over transgender bathroom visits — and become a conspicuous advocate in Congress and more recently in public service announcements. On Monday, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, her husband and her son, now 30, will appear in the latest one for SAVE, a longtime South Florida gay rights group that hopes to engage the Latino community here.

The Full Story is Here, and it’s full of warm fuzzies.