Six year old boy writes to President Obama to ask if his family can adopt the Syrian boy from a photo that went viral.

Courtesy of TPM:

A 6-year-old boy from New York is inspiring a lot happy tears this week after he wrote a heartwarming letter to President Barack Obama, asking him to bring a Syrian boy to his house so that boy could become a part of his family. 

The letter writer, Alex, was referring specifically about Omran Daqneesh, the Syrian boy whose image went viral last month after he was pulled out from rubble in the city of Aleppo following an air strike.

Here is the boy's letter:

Dear President Obama, 

Remember the boy who was picked up by the ambulance in Syria? Can you please go get him and bring him to [my home]? Park in the driveway or on the street and we will be waiting for you guys with flags, flowers, and balloons. We will give him a family and he will be our brother. Catherine, my little sister, will be collecting butterflies and fireflies for him. In my school, I have a friend from Syria, Omar, and I will introduce him to Omar. We can all play together. We can invite him to birthday parties and he will teach us another language. We can teach him English too, just like my friend Aoto from Japan. 

Please tell him that his brother will be Alex who is a very kind boy, just like him. Since he won't bring toys and doesn't have toys Catherine will share her big blue stripy white bunny. And I will share my bike and I will teach him how to ride it. I will teach him additions and subtractions in math. And he [can] smell Catherine's lip gloss penguin which is green. She doesn't let anyone touch it. 

Thank you very much! I can't wait for you to come! Alex 6 years old

Yeah I am going to have to go remove something from my eye. Damn thing won't stop watering.

Just something to keep in mind.

Approximately 1,500 Mormons stage mass resignation in response to rejection by church of children with same sex parents.

Source

Courtesy of CNN:  

About 1,500 Mormons are resigning from the Church of Latter-day Saints to protest a new policy that labels same-sex couples apostate and bans children of same-sex relationships from being baptized, a lawyer said Saturday. 

Attorney Mark Naugle said church members who want to resign brought the letters to his office on Saturday. 

"We had an incredible turnout," he said. "I was slammed for three hours. Some people stood in line for an hour and a half." 

Naugle said he plans to deliver the letters on Monday. 

A call for mass resignations call started about a week ago, when the LDS church released new guidelines for lay leaders known as "Handbook 1." 

One policy prohibits the "natural or adopted" children of parents in same-sex relationships from receiving a name and a blessing in a ceremony performed by the Mormon priesthood, according to the handbook.

Well I think this signifies yet another step forward for those of the Mormon faith.

The church has been losing members since their involvement with Prop 8 in California came to light, and it looks like their anti-gay positions continue to cost them dearly.

This is how a religious organization's ethics and morals change.

Morality does NOT come from within the religion, it is foisted upon it by changing societal attitudes.

Though the Boy Scouts are now accepting gay scout leaders there is one group that is still banned. Can you guess which one?

Courtesy of Pink News:  

The BSA confirmed this month that it would end a ban on gay adult leaders, after agreeing to lift its ban on gay youth back in 2013. 

However, the organisation – which moved to change its policy after a warning that it could lead to costly legal action – has not shifted to remove another ban. 

The BSA will continue to enforce rules that ban open atheist from serving – meaning you can be open about being attracted to men, but not about not believing in God. 

All members of the Boy Scouts must sign a ‘Declaration of Religious Principles’, which states “The Boy Scouts of America maintain that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing his obligation to God.

You want to talk about oppression? Try being an Atheist. 

However we are learning from the example set by our LGBT brothers and sisters, and someday we will also be able to come out of the closet and practice our critical thinking skills openly without fear of losing our jobs, being ostracized by society, having our families turn their backs on us, or being rejected by the Boy Scouts.

#thestruggleisreal

#openlyatheist

Pro-LGBT clothing commercial from India, where being gay is illegal, will melt your heart.

Courtesy of Stylelite: 

In India, being homosexual is back to being illegal — as in punishable with prison, which is why this fashion ad featuring a lesbian couple in a heavenly apartment has gone viral there. 

Shared with tagline, “standing up for what you believe in is never easy. But the struggle is what makes the journey so beautiful,” Anouk Ethnic Wear’s “The Visit,” is the beautiful and pure story of two women who might be roommates getting ready together in an apartment filled with sunlight through sheer curtains flowing in the breeze. They share eyeliner and solicit advice on accessories until you realize they’re gay and about to come out to one of the woman’s parents.

I have to admit that I find Indian women beautiful, and the message in this ad even more so. 

Imagine coming out to your parents in a land where your love is illegal.

Hopefully progress will soon reach India, which has had a complicated history with homosexuality, just like it is reaching into other places all over the world.

Recent Gallup polling shows that Americans are moving left on a whole slew of issues.

Courtesy of Gallup: 

Americans are more likely now than in the early 2000s to find a variety of behaviors morally acceptable, including gay and lesbian relations, having a baby outside of marriage and sex between an unmarried man and woman. Moral acceptability of many of these issues is now at a record-high level. 

The upward progression in the percentage of Americans seeing these issues as morally acceptable has varied from year to year, but the overall trend clearly points toward a higher level of acceptance of a number of behaviors. In fact, the moral acceptability ratings for 10 of the issues measured since the early 2000s are at record highs.

Of course as you can see from the graphic Americans are not becoming more accepting of EVERYTHING.

Americans have become less likely to say that two issues are morally acceptable: the death penalty and medical testing on animals. But Americans' decreased acceptance of these practices actually moves them in a more liberal direction.

This change may have much to do with the fact that fewer and fewer Americans self identify as religious and are no longer accepting the definitions of morality forced upon them by their local church, temple, or synagogue.

And in another recent study researchers found that one of the main driving forces behind this new morality, the millenials, are not simply embracing the left due to their age:

"Unlike previous studies, ours is able to show that millennials' lower religious involvement is due to cultural change, not to millennials being young and unsettled."

In other words Americans are becoming freethinkers, and with that comes a less judgmental attitude towards others, a more personal sense of morality, and far less shaming for what happens between two consenting adults in the bedroom.

Damn, it is a good time to be alive!

Girl Scouts openly accept transgendered children. Just another reason why the Girl Scouts are far superior to the Boy Scouts these days.

This from the FAQ page of Girl Scouts.org: 

Q: What is Girl Scouts' position on serving transgender youth? 

A: Girl Scouts is proud to be the premiere leadership organization for girls in the country. Placement of transgender youth is handled on a case-by-case basis, with the welfare and best interests of the child and the members of the troop/group in question a top priority. That said, if the child is recognized by the family and school/community as a girl and lives culturally as a girl, then Girl Scouts is an organization that can serve her in a setting that is both emotionally and physically safe.

Well that is certainly light years away from the homophobic attitudes expressed by the Boy Scouts, now isn't it?

I also found this on the FAQ page:

Q: Does Girl Scouting support families of faith? A: Yes. Girl Scouting supports girls from all backgrounds and beliefs. While we are a secular organization that refrains from teaching religious or spiritual beliefs or practices, we believe that the motivating force in Girl Scouting is a spiritual one, and we greatly value our longstanding partnerships with religious organizations across many faiths that share the values of the Girl Scout Promise and Law.

Damn, I may have to buy extra boxes of thin mints this next time around. 

(H/T to danthropology.)

Much like America itself, soon Atheism will no longer be over populated with old white guys.

Courtesy of The Guardian:  

When you think of atheists, the face that probably comes to mind is male, white, older and a little bit nerdy. There’s more than a grain of truth to this reputation. Atheist groups in America have traditionally been dominated by older white men – but that may finally be starting to change. 

The Barna Group, a Christian polling firm, recently released their 2015 State of Atheism in America report. Based on a year of research on the non-religious demographic, Barna found not just that atheists and agnostics’ numbers are growing rapidly, but that they’re very quickly becoming more diverse. 

The most important finding in Barna’s report is that women are joining the atheist community by the millions. In 1993, just 16% of nonbelievers were women, but in 2013, that number was 43% - representing a nearly threefold leap. And this shift isn’t because men are leaving the community, which would bring the gender balance closer to parity. Barna found that the absolute numbers of both male and female atheists have increased in the last twenty years, but the number of women has grown far faster. 

The atheist community is becoming more racially and ethnically diverse as well. In 1993, people of color made up just 20% of nonbelievers. The change in these numbers hasn’t been as dramatic, but there’s been change nonetheless, with the number rising to 26% in 2013. Many of these religious skeptics have come from the Hispanic and, especially, Asian communities.

Well this is one older white guy who is really looking forward to more diversity within the Atheist community. 

I personally am of the mind that the growth in the Atheist community has much less to do with people suddenly deciding they are not religious, and much more to do with people feeling comfortable in coming out as Atheists or Agnostics.

That's why it is critical to continue having the conversation, and opening it up to as many people as possible.

My personally held belief, and yes I understand the irony of using that term, is that the majority of the people on this planet are actually atheist but are just too intimidated to admit it. Even to themselves.

In the next decade or so we will see if I am correct as the label shakes off it's negative connotations and becomes more and more accepted by the public at large.

CBS Sunday Morning aired a pretty good segment on Atheists in America.

I get asked sometimes why I insist on talking about religion and openly talk about being an Atheist.

I think this news segment might help to explain that.

You see somebody has to help to change the image of the Atheist as a person who hates God, lives a life of sin, and is somehow being influenced by Satan.

The fact is that the vast majority of us are simply people who have come to realize that the arguments for the existence of God are paper thin and do not stand up to scrutiny. While also believing that more people should scrutinize them.

We are essentially like everybody else.

There are honorable, and dishonorable Atheists.

Kind and unkind Atheists.

Loving and emotionally distant Atheists.

Wealthy and poverty stricken Atheists.

The only real difference between us and those who are religious is that we recognize the difference between believing something, and knowing something.

And for the more well adjusted among us the fact that we cannot yet know everything, that there is no comforting explanation for the universe and our place within it, is both exhilarating and inspiring.

(H/T to The Friendly Atheist.)

Watch Indiana Governor Mike Pence outright refuse to answer any of George Stephanopoulos's questions about his state's new controversial law.

Courtesy of Mediaite:  

This Week host George Stephanopoulos absolutely grilled Indiana Governor Mike Pence (R) over the newly-signed “religious freedom” bill, which critics maintain would allow businesses to refuse services to LGBT customers. Pence argued that the bill’s intentions had been misrepresented in media coverage, and insisted he would not change the bill, though he did continue to say he would “clarify” it. 

However, Pence refused to answer two “yes or no” questions posed to him by Stephanopoulos over the potentially discriminatory ramifications of the bill, including whether it would allow a florist to deny services to a gay couple, as its supporters maintain. 

“There’s been shameless rhetoric about my state and this law and its intention all over the internet,” Pence said. “People are trying to make it about one particular issue, and now you’re doing that as well.” 

Stephanopoulos asked the question several more times. “It’s a simple yes or no question,” Stephanopoulos said. 

“The issue here is: is tolerance a two-way street or not?” Pence said. “There’s a lot of talk about tolerance in this country having to do with people on the left. Here Indiana steps forward to protect the constitutional rights and privileges of freedom of religion for people of faith in our state, and this avalanche of intolerance that’s been poured on our state is outrageous.”

Wow that is some of the fanciest dancing I have seen since John Travolta on Saturday Night Fever. 

Pence goes on to say that he would NOT pass a law protecting the rights of the LGBT community, which would of course make people less concerned about this new law. And at one point refuses to answer Stephanopoulos's question about whether or not it should be legal to discriminate against gays and lesbians.

By the way as Pence continues his dance more and more businesses are making the decision that Indiana is now a "no go zone" for them and their employees.

Presbyterian Church says okay to gay marriage.

Courtesy of MSNBC:  

The 1.75 million-member Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has updated its constitution to recognize same-sex marriage, bringing the laws of the nation's eighth-largest Protestant denomination in line with its already accepted practice. Individual churches will still be able to decline to perform such marriages if they believe them inappropriate, the church said Tuesday. 

The General Assembly of the PC (U.S.A.), the largest of several U.S. Presbyterian denominations, approved the amendment to its Book of Order last year, but the change had to win the approval of a majority of the 171 local governing bodies, or presbyteries, to become official. The church said Tuesday that the Palisades Presbytery, based in Rochelle Park, New Jersey, had become the 86th local body to approve the amendment. 

The Book of Order currently defines marriage as "a civil contract between a woman and a man." The new wording reads: "Marriage involves a unique commitment between two people, traditionally a man and a woman, to love and support each other for the rest of their lives." 

Pastors — traditionally known as "teaching elders" — have already been allowed to perform same-sex marriages in states where they're legal since last June. The new amendment leaves the discretion of whether to conduct such ceremonies with individual ministers.

Well this is good news. One more step forward fro equality and acceptance, and one step back for homophobia and using the Bible as an excuse to discriminate. 

Hey you know as a baby I was baptized Presbyterian.

Rumor has it that the water boiled when it touched my forehead and the smell of sulfur cleared the church vestibule but that's probably an exaggeration.

Probably.

Christian pediatrician refuses to accept infant as patient because parents are lesbians.

Krista and Jami Contreras, and their baby.

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

A lesbian couple in Michigan says a pediatrician has refused to care for their infant because of their sexual orientation. 

Krista and Jami Contreras said Dr. Vesna Roi of Eastlake Pediatrics in Roseville, Michigan, had initially agreed to be the pediatrician to their daughter, Bay. But after "much prayer," Roi had a change of heart. 

When the couple brought their 6-day-old baby into the office for a wellness check-up, another doctor told them that Roi would not be seeing them after all, according to the Detroit Free Press. 

"I was completely dumbfounded," Krista, who is the baby's biological mother, told the newspaper. "We just looked at each other and said, 'Did we hear that correctly?'"

The other doctor did offer the couple his services so apparently there are still some doctors who understand what the Hippocratic Oath is all about.

Doctor Roi, by the way, also offered a rather lame explanation for her behavior.

Apparently it was God's fault: 

"After much prayer following your prenatal, I felt that I would not be able to develop the personal patient doctor relationship that I normally do with my patients," wrote Roi, who has an average of three out of five stars at Healthgrades and four out of five on Vitals based on limited reviews. 

Roi apologized for not telling them in person, and said they were welcome in the clinic, but that Bay would have to be seen by the other doctor at the practice. 

"Please know that I believe that God gives us free choice and I would never judge anyone based on what they do with that free choice," Roi wrote. "Again, I am sorry for the hurt and angry feelings that were created by this. I hope you can accept my apology."

So to be clear the doctor prayed about it, received some sort of clarity, and then refused to take this infant on as a patient.

Sounds like she believes God told her to reject this child to me.

Wow, and here I thought that the Christian god was all about love and acceptance. 

Former director of a Memphis anti-gay ministry got gay married last weekend. Because, you know progress.

Courtesy of Memphis Flier:  

John Smid, the former director of Memphis-based ex-gay ministry Love In Action, has announced his marriage to partner Larry McQueen. The two married in Oklahoma on Sunday, November 16th. 

Smid has been living as an out gay man for several years now, and he's been in a relationship with McQueen for one year. Gay marriage just became legal in Oklahoma last month. The couple live in Paris, Texas, where Smid moved from his Memphis home in the summer of 2013.

You know we talk all the time about homophobic people secretly being closeted gays, and I don't think I have ever seen a better example of that.

All I can say is that it is awesome that finally this man gets to live his life the way he wants, and marry the person that he loves, and the fact that it happened in freaking Oklahoma of all places is just icing on the cake. 

St. Paul Atheists have officially left the closet.

Courtesy of the Political Carnival: 

The Interfaith Conversation Cafe in St. Paul, which gathers people of many religions for a monthly discussion, is now open to nonreligions. The organizers have removed "faith" from the name, explaining that atheists felt excluded by it, and are calling it the "Interbelief Conversation Cafe." 

"We are leaders in the field," said Frank Burton, a member of the Minneapolis branch of Circle of Reason, a group that includes atheists and believers and lobbied for the change. 

Minnesota's atheists are coming out of the closet. 

The St. Paul Saints have had an atheist-themed baseball game in each of the past three seasons. There's an "Atheists Talk" program on KTNF-AM 950 on Sunday mornings. 

Nationally, books on atheism have been best-sellers, and the debut of the channel Atheist TV was announced last week. 

"I think atheists are getting organized," said University of Minnesota professor Penny Edgell, who will be teaching what she said is the state's first class in atheism starting in September. "It's a wave of visibility."

Well what do you know? It looks like the place to be an Atheist is Minnesota.

Who knew?

Personally I love stories of Atheists being accepted around the world, and of their voices being heard instead of having them silenced by those who want to vilify and persecute them for daring to reason.

Republican lawmaker helps to cripple Hawaii's sex education program because he claims it "normalizes" homosexuality.

Hawaii State Representative Bob McDermott clearly very upset that he never gets in any of this.

Courtesy of Raw Story:

Hawaii’s state Department of Education announced on Saturday that its middle school sexual education program would only be taught to students whose parents explicitly opted-in. 

The announcement was a victory for Hawaii State Representative Bob McDermott, who claimed that the program would “normalize” homosexuality. Rep. McDermott has long fought against sexual education programs like Pono Choices, which was developed by the University of Hawaii at Mānoa’s Center on Disability Studies using funding from the federal Office of Adolescent Health. (“Pono” is a Hawaiian word typically translated as “righteous.”) 

“I am a little uncomfortable saying this, but this is what your children, your 11-year-old children, are being taught. To me, this is outrageous because it robs them of their innocence and it’s not appropriate,” McDermott said about the program late last year. 

“I can assure you my 11-year-old girl knows nothing about anal sex, and one of the reasons is because she’s not exposed to Pono Choices.” (Yeah, well I can assure this uptight prick that his daughter knows all about anal sex, and could probably teach him a thing or two. These kids are NEVER as innocent as their parents think they are.)


After he made that statement, the Department of Education temporarily suspended the program until it could determine the curriculum’s “appropriateness.” It found that “the cirriculum meets department standards” and “is a culturally responsive curriculum that has resulted in positive outcomes for students.”

However the program was only reinstated on an "opt in" basis which means that parents have to sign a paper allowing their children to attend instruction, rather than the usual method of "opting out." Of course the result of this approach is that more children will miss the opportunity to learn and that is not good for fighting STD's and keeping teen pregnancy stats low.

Personally I am a little surprised that Hawaii is still struggling with this kind of thing.

Not only did they recently pass a law allowing gay marriage, but in my experience it is just about the gayest place on the planet.

Not to mention that everybody is dressed in brightly colored garb, wearing flowers around their neck, and that they have a long standing tradition of young men who dress like women to have sex with other men, called the Mahus.

Historically the Mahus are widely accepted in Hawaiian culture, and are also revered for their dancing and sexual abilities.

But leave it to some uptight haole to screw things up for the people of Hawaii.

Okay I think I just became a fan of pro-wrestler Steve Austin.

Courtesy of Raw Story:

In a podcast clip flagged by Deadspin on Wednesday, Austin explained why he doesn’t respect Christian opponents of same-sex marriage. 

“I don’t give a sh*t if two guys, two gals, guy-gal, whatever it is, I believe that any human being in America, or any human being in the goddamn world, that wants to be married, and if it’s same-sex, more power to ‘em,” he said. 

“What also chaps my ass, some of these churches, have the high horse that they get on and say ‘we as a church do not believe in that.’ Which one of these motherf*ckers talked to God, and God said that same-sex marriage was a no-can-do?” the wrestler asked. 

“OK, so two [men] can’t get married if they want to get married, but then a guy can go murder 14 people, molest five kids, then go to fucking prison, and accept God. And he’s going to let him into heaven?” Austin pointed out. “After the fact that he did all that shit?” 

“See that’s all horseshit to me, that don’t jive with me.”"

Growing up I was never a fan of pro-wrestling, especially after I  wrestled in high school.

However I love everything this man just said about Christians and marriage equality, and kid of wish I could buy him a beer now.

I can only imagine how this is going to blow the minds of some of those WWE loving rednecks down south.

America only highly developed nation that thinks belief in God is essential for morality.

Courtesy of The New Civil Rights Movement:  

America is the only highly developed country where a majority of citizens think you have to believe in God in order to live a moral life. 

Here’s a portion of the international breakdown in response to the question, “is belief in God essential to morality?” 

China: 14% 
France: 15% 
Spain: 19% 
Australia: 23% 
Britain: 20% 
Italy: 27% 
Canada: 31% 
Germany 33% 
Israel: 37% 
Japan: 42% 
America: 53%

As many of you know the name of this blog is essentially to spit in the eye of those who claim that only those who embrace a certain religious belief are capable of being moral people.

It has always been my position that Steven Weinberg was right when he said:

“With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.” 

Besides it is incredibly arrogant to suggest that any one group have the market cornered on morality, and in fact morality itself is a rather mercurial concept, that shifts and changes based on circumstances and needs.

Are Christians. Jews, or Muslims willing to say that they are the moral superior to the Hindus? The Buddhists? The Sikhs? The Jains?

What incredible egos it must take to believe that out of all of the thousands of religions and gods that mankind has worshiped throughout our history that you have figured out the one true religion, and the one true God.

And how convenient that it is, more than likely, the most readily accessible religion for you to access in your community.

In so many ways our country is a shining example of progress, tolerance, and acceptance. But in other ways it is anything but.

Uganda makes it official, being gay is now against the law with a lifetime prison sentence and everything.

Courtesy of The Washington Post:  

With the stroke of his pen, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda defied science and world opinion to make lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people outlaws in his country. 

“Homosexuals are actually mercenaries,” he said. “They are heterosexual people, but because of money they say they are homosexuals. These are prostitutes because of money.” Museveni added, “There’s now an attempt at social imperialism, to impose social values. We’re sorry to see that you (the West) live the way you live, but we keep quiet about it.” The “anti-homosexuality” law carries a penalty of 14 years for a first-time offense and life imprisonment for those convicted of “aggravated homosexuality.” 

The world isn’t keeping quiet about the latest travesty against LGBT people in Africa. Denmark and Norway announced they were delaying or diverting aid. Secretary of State John Kerry announced that the United States was reviewing its relationship with the central African country, including $400 million in aid. 

“This is a tragic day for Uganda and for all who care about the cause of human rights,” Kerry said in a statement. Museveni’s signature on the law and the motivation behind it show he doesn’t care at all.

Being thrown into prison for daring to love. 

It does not get much more oppressive than that.

By the way if you are unaware as to the source of this hatred, then look no further.

Research in Canada shows that schools with a Gay-Straight Alliance dramatically cut down on the suicide rate.

Courtesy of The Star:  

In schools with GSAs (Gay-Straight Alliances) for at least three years, instances of homophobic discrimination and suicidal thoughts among lesbian, gay and bisexual students were cut by more than half. And heterosexual boys were half as likely to attempt suicide than straight boys in schools without gay-straight alliances. 

When schools had anti-homophobic policies for at least three years, instances of suicidal thoughts and suicidal attempts by gay and bisexual boys were more than 70 per cent lower compared to gay and bisexual boys in schools without them. For lesbian and bisexual girls instances were two-thirds lower.

Gee who would have thought that providing a respectful atmosphere where young people are free to express themselves without  fear of ridicule or aggression, would lower the number of teens who want to end their lives?

Hundreds of University of Missouri students block Westboro Church members from protesting recently out of the closet Michael Sam.

Courtesy of iacknowledge:  

Wearing “Stand with Sam” pins and shirts that read “We Are All CoMo Sexuals,” hundreds of people lined up surrounding the stadium grounds. The shirts are a play off the nickname of Columbia, Mo, where the University of Missouri is located. 

“Because Michael Sam stood up for Mizzou his entire career and we need to stand up for him,” a counter-protester said. 

The Westboro Baptist Church was kept a short distance away from the stadium. In front of them stood the student body who – like many in America – have grown increasingly tired of the WBC’s hate mongering. 

Inside the arena, the atmosphere was equally supportive. The football team was being honored for their stellar season, but it was Michael Sam who received the greatest adulation. When he appeared on the video boards during the game, the arena erupted in applause and even a standing ovation. 

As the WBC stood shivering in the cold with their signs that read things like “Death Penalty 4 Fags” and “Fag Enablers,” there must be a growing concern among the members that it’s no longer about fighting a culture war against homosexuality. Staring at over a thousand people willing to stand in the frigid temperatures out of love and respect for one of their own, the WBC may have to recognize that perhaps the war is already over and they have lost.

Wow, I think that made me tear up a little. 

This is such a powerful message to send to young boys and girls who are feeling insecure about their sexuality and worried about being accepted.