Morality is not determined by the church you attend nor the faith you embrace. It is determined by the quality of your character and the positive impact you have on those you meet along your journey
From left to right, Breeze, Indy, Tripp, and some kid I don't know.
Out on some lake or river it looks like. Nice boat back there behind them too.
Damn that Indy is one cute baby isn't she?
Courtesy of Sonny's Facebook page.
Here is Tripp with his "evil stepmother."
When I was out fishing yesterday I asked around a little about Todd, from people who claim to have actually seen them quite often, and was told that nobody has seen hide nor hair of him for quite some time.
I also heard that Sarah has been MIA recently as well.
The roughly 1,400 voting members of the Boy Scouts of America’s (BSA) National Council voted 61-38 percent Thursday to end the ban on gay youth participating in the program, but reaffirmed their policy of mandatory discrimination against LGBT leaders and volunteers.
The move — suggested by the national leadership as an attempted compromise — represents a modest step forward, but still comes as a disappointment to the thousands of Eagle Scouts,1.8 million Change.org petition signers, and the 56 percent of Americans who want the BSA to end its anti-LGBT discrimination.
While the policy change will permit openly gay Scouts like Ryan Andresen to receive their Eagle Scout awards, it will still prevent openly lesbian parents like former Cub Scout Den Leader Jen Tyrrell from volunteering with their parent’s Scout units.
BSA President Wayne Perry wrote, in a USA Today op-ed Wednesday, that allowing LGBT leaders “would have conflicted with the majority of our partners, 70% of which are religious organizations, and would have disrupted our ability to deliver Scouting.” But in the same statement, he noted, the organization was “unaware of any major religious chartered organization that believes a youth member simply stating he or she is attracted to the same sex, but not engaging in sexual activity, should make him or her unwelcome in their congregation.”
This admission and the rule change seem to contradict the BSA’s long-standing rationale that “homosexual conduct is inconsistent with the requirements in the Scout Oath that a Scout be morally straight and in the Scout Law that a Scout be clean in word and deed, and that homosexuals do not provide a desirable role model for Scouts.” By finally admitting that being LGBT is not, itself, incompatible with being “morally straight” or “clean,” the justification for excluding adults purely on the basis of their sexual orientation seems to now be reduced to “some religious organizations prefer discrimination.”
"Some religious organizations prefer discrimination." They are talking about you Mormons!
Personally I think this is yet another approach to reparative therapy where the assumption is that if the kids are encouraged to do "real man" like activities, while restricting their access to gay role models, it will cleanse them of their gayness.
The same idea is what is behind the emphasis on sports, and the desire to keep professional athletes from coming out of the closet. After all how could a gay person have athletic ability, or enjoy banging their bodies agonist other men on the football filed, or grappling with them on the wrestling...wait.
Of course it demonstrates a lack of understanding and empathy to assume that gay kids don't like sports or camping, and that exposure to those activities will somehow "drive the spirits of gay-dom" out of their bodies.
However I applaud the Boy Scouts for at least opening the door enough to allow some kids who do not fit their cookie cutter image of what a moral American boy should be.
However if one of these gay scouts should suddenly come out as an Atheist? Oh hell, that's when shit gets real!
I am not sure how this person justifies poaching this idea from a very successful program that has helped thousands of gay youth in this country, many of who are of course Christians, for his own selfish ends, but I personally find this pretty unfortunate.
To compare the treatment of Christians in this day and age to what the LGBT community goes through is insulting to the very real, and painful struggled of that community.
According to these same "downtrodden" people THIS is a Christian nation, where THEIR beliefs receive preferential treatment, and where VERY few politicians who create policies for the country are not members of their religion.
Our Presidents have all been Christian, our pledge contains a reference to the Christan God, as does the very money we spend to feed and clothe our families. Woven within the very fabric of our country is a built in acceptance of Christianity.
So how does THAT compare to the isolation felt by those who find themselves marginalized by their friends and family because of who, and how, they love?
How many Christians are contemplating suicide based on their faith in God?
Oh that's right, none.
And let me remind you, if THAT were true, being a Christian is a choice, being Gay, is not.
