The gay Humanist charity the Pink Triangle Trust (PTT) fully endorses the statement issued by the Peter Tatchell Foundation concerning the March for a Secular Europe, opposing special privileges for religion and people of faith, and citing the malign influence of the Vatican.
The PTT’s secretary George Broadhead commented: “Humanists and Secularists like ourselves have been campaigning for many years against these special privileges in areas such as education, chaplaincy, the media and parliament, which are totally unacceptable. And what is worse for LGBT people is religious opposition to gay equality laws and its exemption from them. As for the Vatican, it must rank as the most homophobic institution worldwide. Peter Tatchell is spot on when he describes religious organisations as ‘the enemy of democracy and human rights’.
“As a member of the Alliance for a Secular Europe and a supporter of the Secular Europe Campaign, the PTT fully supports the March for a Secular Europe in London on 20 September 2011 and urges all LGBT people to do so.”
Monday, 12 September 2011
Friday, 9 September 2011
Another celibate man in a frock talks of ‘foolish’ gay marriage
Another suitable case for treatment has been sounding off in Scotland about same-sex marriage.
It would render marriage “meaningless”, avers the Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow, Mario Conti. And those who advocate it are “foolish”.
Earlier this week it was Cardinal Keith O’Brien, leader of the Catholics in Scotland (see Gay marriage would “rewrite nature”, says celibate man wearing a frock).
As to whether marriage is meaningless, is that not a question for those who are married and not those whose vocation renders them unable to be so (unless they give up their nonsense, of course)?
And why is allowing same-sex marriage foolish? In what way? Only fools advocate same-sex marriage? Everyone who advocates same-sex marriage is a fool, an idiot, a prat?
The 2010 Scottish Social Attitudes Survey found that 61 per cent of the Scottish public support allowing gay couples to wed. Are they all foolish – 61 per cent of the entire population (some of them, no doubt, followers of the Catholic Church if not all its tenets)?
Nope. These blithering idiots of preachermen don’t think much for themselves. They don’t need to when they have a huge canon of Catholic literature to make up their minds for them.
In a letter to the Herald this week, Conti wrote:
There you go, then. It’s a foolish society.
As for redefining a relationship to “give it a meaning it does not possess”, who gives things meaning? Meaning is an entirely human concept. Humans attach meaning to things, and meanings change according to how things are viewed.
Oh, I was forgetting. Catholics don’t do that sort of thing. Only God breathes meaning into things. Silly me!
It would render marriage “meaningless”, avers the Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow, Mario Conti. And those who advocate it are “foolish”.
Earlier this week it was Cardinal Keith O’Brien, leader of the Catholics in Scotland (see Gay marriage would “rewrite nature”, says celibate man wearing a frock).
As to whether marriage is meaningless, is that not a question for those who are married and not those whose vocation renders them unable to be so (unless they give up their nonsense, of course)?
And why is allowing same-sex marriage foolish? In what way? Only fools advocate same-sex marriage? Everyone who advocates same-sex marriage is a fool, an idiot, a prat?
The 2010 Scottish Social Attitudes Survey found that 61 per cent of the Scottish public support allowing gay couples to wed. Are they all foolish – 61 per cent of the entire population (some of them, no doubt, followers of the Catholic Church if not all its tenets)?
Nope. These blithering idiots of preachermen don’t think much for themselves. They don’t need to when they have a huge canon of Catholic literature to make up their minds for them.
In a letter to the Herald this week, Conti wrote:
In a proposed consultation regarding the redefinition of civil partnerships, we are talking not of human rights or of civil liberties, nor of legal or fiscal equalities, but of redefining a particular relationship to give it a meaning it doesn’t possess.
We would use a word which carries huge significance, and render it meaningless in respect of one of its essential attributes, its capacity to create a natural family – I mean of course marriage. That 60 per cent of the population, according to one poll, is of a mind to accept that change may suggest to some a liberal society, but to others a foolish one.
There you go, then. It’s a foolish society.
As for redefining a relationship to “give it a meaning it does not possess”, who gives things meaning? Meaning is an entirely human concept. Humans attach meaning to things, and meanings change according to how things are viewed.
Oh, I was forgetting. Catholics don’t do that sort of thing. Only God breathes meaning into things. Silly me!
Time to protect gay rights from religious loonies
A new campaign’s being launched that aims for a secular Europe where religion and politics would be separate.
“Gay people should join the Secular Europe Campaign’s march this month [17 September] as a means of protecting their hard won rights,” said Marco Tranchino, who is organising the campaign.
Since religion has been the bane of gay people – people who just want to act according to their nature and get on with their lives, much as the religionists want to do – it’s a good campaign to support, if you can.
Read more about it here in Gay UK News.
“Gay people should join the Secular Europe Campaign’s march this month [17 September] as a means of protecting their hard won rights,” said Marco Tranchino, who is organising the campaign.
Since religion has been the bane of gay people – people who just want to act according to their nature and get on with their lives, much as the religionists want to do – it’s a good campaign to support, if you can.
Read more about it here in Gay UK News.
Thursday, 8 September 2011
Gay marriage would ‘rewrite nature’, says celibate man wearing a frock
It could come only from a bloody Catholic! People who want marriage for same-sex couples want to “rewrite nature”, according to some idiot in Scotland called Cardinal Keith O’Brien.
Unsurprisingly, he says any plans for same-sex marriage will be strenuously opposed. Well, he would, wouldn’t he? He’s just doing his job. That’s what he does: fosters hatred.
He was responding to an announcement by the Scottish government of a consultation on the issue.
“The view of the church is clear,” says this nutcase: “no government can rewrite human nature; the family and marriage existed before the state and are built on the union between a man and woman.
“Any attempt to redefine marriage is a direct attack on a foundational building block of society and will be strenuously opposed.”
Well we can sit here all day and pick holes in the logic of this hogwash. For starters, it’s not within nature for a man and woman to get married at all. It’s within nature for them to shag; but, then, it’s within nature for two men or two women to put their things together, too.
And whether marriage existed before the state is irrelevant. Many things existed before the state that states have subsequently changed, and he doesn’t seem to be objecting to those, be they a ban on barbaric punishments or laws against walking around stark naked. (I’m sure you can think of more, dear reader.)
Anyway, Scotland’s Deputy First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, says the government is in favour of marriage equality while allowing religious groups the right not to hold ceremonies. What more does this buffoon want?
Unsurprisingly, he says any plans for same-sex marriage will be strenuously opposed. Well, he would, wouldn’t he? He’s just doing his job. That’s what he does: fosters hatred.
He was responding to an announcement by the Scottish government of a consultation on the issue.
“The view of the church is clear,” says this nutcase: “no government can rewrite human nature; the family and marriage existed before the state and are built on the union between a man and woman.
“Any attempt to redefine marriage is a direct attack on a foundational building block of society and will be strenuously opposed.”
Well we can sit here all day and pick holes in the logic of this hogwash. For starters, it’s not within nature for a man and woman to get married at all. It’s within nature for them to shag; but, then, it’s within nature for two men or two women to put their things together, too.
And whether marriage existed before the state is irrelevant. Many things existed before the state that states have subsequently changed, and he doesn’t seem to be objecting to those, be they a ban on barbaric punishments or laws against walking around stark naked. (I’m sure you can think of more, dear reader.)
Anyway, Scotland’s Deputy First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, says the government is in favour of marriage equality while allowing religious groups the right not to hold ceremonies. What more does this buffoon want?
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
What a bunch of winkers!
A picture of a religious figure winking is disrespectful – so disrespectful, in fact, that it’s been banned by Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
Jesus – not only winking but giving a thumbs-up sign – appeared on a mobile phone ad just before Easter this year. I’ve looked in vain for a picture, but the various news sites that carry the story – well, the ones I could be bothered to look at, anyway – have avoided using the pic, including the BBC and the Independent.
The BBC says that “the Phones 4U advertisement was ‘disrespectful’ to the Christian faith and must not be used again”. The inference we must all draw is that it’s disrespectful to use a figure that’s revered by millions of people, but if it’s Jesus it’s wrong and if it’s, say, John Lennon or Lady Gaga it’s OK.
Sorry, but I don’t see the difference. Either you’re hurting people’s feelings or you’re not.
Oh, I was forgetting. It’s disrespectful only if the figure concerned is part of a myth.
Anyway, I’d have thought a Jesus winking and giving a thumbs-up would please the Deluded Herd. It seems to be saying Christianity is cool.
But, then, the ASA has been known to be a pusillanimous bunch of twats before, as we saw on this blog nearly a year ago when it cosied up to the Catholic Church and banned an ad showing two male priests about to kiss – on the strength of a handful of complaints.
Why doesn’t it concentrate on ads for stuff that’s harmful, such as most fast foods, mobile phones aimed at kids (think of the radiation) and clothes made in sweatshops – to name but a few dodgy products?
___________________
UPDATE: Since I wrote the above my helpful commenter Logicelf (see comments) has kindly sent me a link to a picture (for which thanks) on the Sky website:
Jesus – not only winking but giving a thumbs-up sign – appeared on a mobile phone ad just before Easter this year. I’ve looked in vain for a picture, but the various news sites that carry the story – well, the ones I could be bothered to look at, anyway – have avoided using the pic, including the BBC and the Independent.
The BBC says that “the Phones 4U advertisement was ‘disrespectful’ to the Christian faith and must not be used again”. The inference we must all draw is that it’s disrespectful to use a figure that’s revered by millions of people, but if it’s Jesus it’s wrong and if it’s, say, John Lennon or Lady Gaga it’s OK.
Sorry, but I don’t see the difference. Either you’re hurting people’s feelings or you’re not.
Oh, I was forgetting. It’s disrespectful only if the figure concerned is part of a myth.
Anyway, I’d have thought a Jesus winking and giving a thumbs-up would please the Deluded Herd. It seems to be saying Christianity is cool.
But, then, the ASA has been known to be a pusillanimous bunch of twats before, as we saw on this blog nearly a year ago when it cosied up to the Catholic Church and banned an ad showing two male priests about to kiss – on the strength of a handful of complaints.
Why doesn’t it concentrate on ads for stuff that’s harmful, such as most fast foods, mobile phones aimed at kids (think of the radiation) and clothes made in sweatshops – to name but a few dodgy products?
___________________
UPDATE: Since I wrote the above my helpful commenter Logicelf (see comments) has kindly sent me a link to a picture (for which thanks) on the Sky website:
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Are state schools seeing sense?
“Many state schools in England are not providing group worship, despite legislation making it a requirement, a survey suggests,” says the BBC.
Perhaps the message is getting across that religion has no place in education, except as a subject of academic study.
How much time is wasted in talking to invisible friends that could be used for academic or other school activities?
Perhaps the message is getting across that religion has no place in education, except as a subject of academic study.
How much time is wasted in talking to invisible friends that could be used for academic or other school activities?
Friday, 2 September 2011
How the Catholic Church buggers up people’s lives: Part 963
A lesson in how to mess up the lives not only of those you persecute and hate but the people they care about comes in a moving story in the Star Tribune of Minneapolis.
Ron Bates tells us how he felt he had to get married because of the guilt forced on him by the Catholic Church.
When Mr Bates was Master Bates, he was growing up in rural Minnesota as part of a devout Catholic family.
And so he eventually got married, but the sexual part of the marriage was repulsive to him, “and that was communicated indirectly to my ex-wife. That is the most unfair part. She was one of the innocent victims in the masquerade of ‘I'm straight.’ ”
You can read the story here.
Ron Bates tells us how he felt he had to get married because of the guilt forced on him by the Catholic Church.
When Mr Bates was Master Bates, he was growing up in rural Minnesota as part of a devout Catholic family.
While attending St. John’s Prep School in Collegeville [he writes], I confessed to a priest that I was attracted to another boy who slept across from me. The priest responded that if I ever acted on that, I would go to hell.
As a sincere Catholic teen, I did not act on my attraction but started a harmful journey of self-loathing and personal destruction. I didn’t know what “homosexual” or “gay” were, but I understand “queer” and thought it was evil and perverted.
And so he eventually got married, but the sexual part of the marriage was repulsive to him, “and that was communicated indirectly to my ex-wife. That is the most unfair part. She was one of the innocent victims in the masquerade of ‘I'm straight.’ ”
You can read the story here.
Thursday, 1 September 2011
PTT donates £1,000 to Nigerian Humanist Movement
This blog’s parent, the Pink Triangle Trust (PTT) has just made a £1,000 to the Nigerian Humanist Movement (NHM), towards the cost of its convention later this month.
The PTT’s generosity came at the request of Leo Igwe, of the NHM, and the trust has
made the following statement to be read out at the convention:
Well done, PTT!
It’s worth quoting the opening paragraph of the NHM’s website, for those who wish to know more:
The PTT’s generosity came at the request of Leo Igwe, of the NHM, and the trust has
made the following statement to be read out at the convention:
The UK gay humanist charity the Pink Triangle Trust applauds the efforts of the Nigerian Humanist Movement to promote the humanist outlook in Nigeria and the courageous support it has given to LGBT people in that country. It is therefore very pleased to give its moral and financial support to the NHM Convention in September 2011.
Hoping you have a very successful convention.
Well done, PTT!
It’s worth quoting the opening paragraph of the NHM’s website, for those who wish to know more:
The Nigerian Humanist Movement was founded in 1996 to promote Humanism, defend secularism and provide a sense of community to all non-religious and freethinking Nigerians – atheists, skeptics, rationalists, agnostics and freethinkers. Nigeria is a deeply religious society. And in most cases people relate, interact and marry along religious lines. Religious affiliation becomes a decisive factor when one is seeking employment, doing a business or wants to be admitted into a school or university. Those who do not profess any religion are treated as second class citizens. So in Nigeria most non-religious people are in the closet. They lack any association or community they can call their own. The rights of non-religious people are not recognized. The voice and interests are not represented at public debates and discourse. So NHM was formed to fulfill this important need – to defend the rights and interests of Humanists and the general public and to realize a Humanistic society.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)