WHY I RENOUNCED ISLAM, ALLAH, AND MUHAMMAD.

WHY I RENOUNCED ISLAM, ALLAH, AND MUHAMMAD.

And my challenge to every muslim.

I never thought I would have the courage to publicly announce that I have left Islam. I have been hesitating to openly declare this; according to many Muslim leaders, I am now an “infidel,” the worst thing I can possibly be in their eyes. I was mostly concerned about the repercussions and risks to my family and relatives. But, in the face of the horrors that have spread throughout the world, I have finally made the decision to write my life story in “The Muslim Renegade: A Memoir of Struggle, Defiance, Enlightenment, and Hope.”

A Muslim believes that the Qur’an contains the verbatim words of Allah and should be implemented without reservation, regardless of time and geographical location. The Islamic reward for killing an unbeliever or apostate, someone who departs from Islam and renounces Allah and Muhammad, is receiving the best place in heaven, according to some Islamic teachings. The penalty for renouncing Islam is execution, legally administered in Islamic societies by governments, Islamic courts, or some religious groups and individual Muslims who desire to fulfill their duty prescribed by God (Allah), Muhammad, and the Qur’an. These Islamic and Sharia laws did create some concerns, fear and caution in me to tell my story.

If you are born into, or become a follower of Islam, abandoning it is not an easy task. A Muslim is indoctrinated from the early childhood. I believe the indoctrination evolves and transforms into deep-seated fear about questioning, let alone rejecting, Allah, Islam, and Muhammad’s rules. Deciding to be free and independent, liberating oneself from being the slave of Islam, become inconceivable and out of question. Once one becomes the slave of Islam, it kills his/her courage and will to leave it. As was also mentioned, Islam and Muslim leaders also punish abandonment of Islam, Allah, and Muhammad with death.

I grew up in a religious family in Islamic societies until a few years ago. I was one of the few who genuinely read the whole Qur'an word by word. I read it several times, and attempted to follow the rules meticulously, line by line. I didn't just see my religion as a title; I wanted to live it as a devout Muslim. To do that, I had to be a strict follower of Islamic rules. I was the "good" Muslim according to many imams I spoke with.

But who is this "good" Muslim, according to Islamic teaching? A good Muslim follows Allah's verses word by word. You cannot cherry pick the rules that you like or that you want to apply in certain situations. You must follow every legal, social, and spiritual rule. Not just anyone can be a good Muslim; a good Muslim feels a deep-down belief that they have been "chosen." Only you are on the right path, and everyone else from other religions, even other Muslims, is not on this sacred path that leads to salvation. A good Muslim must also be a follower of his imam or ayatollah in addition to Allah, Muhammad and the Qur'an. Socially and legally speaking, according to Allah’s words in the Qur'an, you must accept “Allah’s rules” that a man can marry more than one wife simultaneously without asking for their permission (as my father did), that the testimony of a woman is not equal to that of a man in the court of law, that women inherit much less than men (half of what their brothers inherit), that you can have as many temporary marriages as you want, that having slaves is not an issue, that you should not be a passive Muslim, but you should be a jihadist who is willing to impose Allah’s rules in any society by following three steps: telling those who are not following Islam the correct path, if they do not listen, warn them, and if they still defy, punish them (resort to violence). A good Muslim believes in the superstitions that the Qur'an details such as the “evil eye.” A good Muslim hides some of his/her true feelings, avoids having normal fun, and views other religions as incomplete since Allah states in the Qur'an that Islam is the last religion that completes all the deficiencies of other religions, and so on.

When I came to the United States a few years ago -- before the Paris, Orlando, San Bernardino, London and other recent terrorist attacks -- I attempted to raise awareness and warn about the inevitable terrorist attacks that were going to happen in the name of Islam. Islam can provide a powerful language and tool to commit some of the worst crimes against humanity, while simultaneously the perpetrators of those attacks feel blessed, privileged, rewarded, and on the winning side.

Unless we gain a better understanding of the nature of Islam, its transformation and reliance on Qur'anic verses, as well as its norms, values, principles, and ideology in the modern world, we will not be capable of addressing this threat. It will only to continue to increase in intensity and spread further than most can imagine.

I am not suggesting this based solely on an academic and epistemological view of world cultures, but on my first-hand experience of growing up, studying, and working in predominantly Muslim societies for most of my life. I was born in the Islamic Republic of Iran and grew up in both Arab and Persian cultures.

It is my opinion that those who try to convert people into Islam first begin with some appealing notions from Islam. Once you sign up to the religion (by pronouncing two sentences: Ash hadu an la ilaha ill Allah wa ash hadu anna Muhammadar Rasul Allah; "I declare there is no god but Allah and I declare that Muhammad is the Messenger"), then gradually the restrictions, discriminatory rules against women, etc. will slowly follow. Without the new convert noticing, he/she becomes the slave of the Islamic ideology as well as the imam. Your freedom will be taken, and a new world, new God (Allah), and new set of rules will be created for you. Once you submit to Islam, there is no way to return, because if you leave this ideology, you are an infidel, an apostate who deserves to be killed, according to Allah’s words in the Qur'an.

In my book I share my own experiences in part because I believe deeply that as people become more interconnected, the most dire challenge to the current world order—to Western democratic values, universal human rights, the rule of law, social justice, gender equality, civilized society and all of humanity—is not nuclear bombs, chemical weapons, or other military capabilities, but it is modern Islamic ideology. For how long will the mainstream media and politicians remain “politically correct” on this issue? My intent is to raise awareness of what is happening in the very shielded and silent corners of fundamental Islam. To me it is imperative that the American people be educated about extremist Islamists who view them with such intense hatred.

Is the Islamic ideology an ideology of peace as many Muslims and imams argue? There are some verses and ideas in the Qur'an (likely plagiarized from the ideas of Christianity and Judaism) that do promote positive things.

But the violent and discriminatory rules in the Qur'an overshadow any hint of peace.

Would you consider an ideology or a leader peaceful if that leader tells you one good thing, but, at the same time, tells you that you can kill in the name of this ideology (as stated by Allah in the Qur'an)? Will you follow someone who tells you one good thing, but then tells you that women should not be considered equal to men in the legal system?

The Islamic ideology, its harsh teachings, and impossible rules, created contradictions inside me. I began soul-searching, which led to my inner transformation and revolution. I was born as a slave into this ideology, and finally I had to be free to make my own life choice (when I was in Iran few years ago) to liberate myself from the chains of this ideology. Doing so, leaving everything I had been taught for more than two decades, was not an easy task.

If you are born into a Muslim family and live in a Muslim society, where Sharia and Islamic laws are being legally implemented by the system, it is heartbreaking and dangerous. The fear of violence and death has permeated my life from the moment I was born -- up to this very moment. Despite the risks, I feel I must speak my truth. The chains and cruel threats of this ideology will haunt you wherever you are. Knowing that I would become a target, along with my family and friends, knowing that I would lose everything I ever held dear (including many of my family and friends), I could have given in to my fear. Instead, I decided not to. It was a decision I had no choice but to make.

ABOUT DR. MAJID RAFIZADEH

Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, an Iranian-American political scientist, author, business advisor and public speaker, is president of the International American Council and serves on the board of the Harvard International Review (Harvard University).  Harvard-educated, Rafizadeh grew up most of his life in Muslim countries (both Sunni and Shiites nations). He is the author of the memoir “A God Who Hates Women” and the upcoming memoir “The Renegade.” Dr. Rafizadeh can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@post.harvard.edu. Follow him at @Dr_Rafizadeh.

Kentucky's Kim Davis, And Her Enablers, Need To Read, And Re-read, The Whole Bible.

Kim Davis Needs to Read the Bible Again
BY GREGG EASTERBROOK

Kim Davis and her supporters lash out against homosexuality by calling on ancient divine pronouncements of anger, rather than upon the serene divinity who, in the New Testament, offered unconditional forgiveness.
Kim Davis and her supporters lash out against homosexuality by calling on ancient divine pronouncements of anger, rather than upon the serene divinity who, in the New Testament, offered unconditional forgiveness.

Kim Davis, the clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, returns to her post soon, after spending five nights in jail and then a few more days recovering at home. A Pentecostal Christian, Davis says “God’s authority” instructs her not to issue licenses for gay marriage, even though the law compels her to. Presidential contenders, including Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee, both fundamentalists, have praised her stance.

It’s undeniable that the earliest scripture books, the ones Christians call the Pentateuch and Jews call the Torah, don’t like same-sex relations. At the Garden of Eden, God decrees that a man will be the husband and a woman the wife. (See the second and third chapters of Genesis, ideally a scholarly translation such as the New Revised Standard; this article cites the N.R.S.V.) In Leviticus 18:22, the text states, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” In 20:13, Leviticus specifies that both parties in male-male sex shall “be put to death.”


That seems open-and-shut, though one might wonder why Davis, Cruz, Huckabee and the like seek only to deny gays marriage, rather than execute them as God decreed.

But here’s the thing. Christian theology says the New Testament amends the Old: what happened in the days of the apostles amends what came long before. Acts 13:39: “By this Jesus everyone who believes is set free from all those sins from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.” (Acts is the founding text of Pentecostalism.) Jesus overturned existing law about sin, the Sabbath, the afterlife and many other matters. His ministry proclaimed “a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.” (II Corinthians 3:6.) “Letter” in this context means archaic law—that is, the law Davis, Cruz, and Huckabee want applied today.

When conservative Christians justify opposition to gay relations by citing ancient scripture, by the most amazing coincidence they don’t mention the other stuff there. The ancient passages that denounce same-sex relations also denounce eating shellfish and trimming one’s beard. The Christian who says God forbids homosexuality – then shaves before going out for dinner at Red Lobster – is speaking from both sides of his mouth.

In Leviticus, the Old Testament book that calls homosexuality an abomination, God not only sanctions but encourages slavery. Leviticus 25:44–46 , spells out rules for seizing, holding, and selling slaves. And there’s no estate tax: slaves may be kept “as a possession for your children after you, for them to inherit as property.” In Deuteronomy 21:18–21, near the passages on the abomination of same-sex relations, ancient scripture directs that a disobedient child be taken by his parents to the city gate and stoned to death.

If banning homosexuality is “God’s authority” to a modern Christian, ritual murder of children ought to be as well. So why don’t today’s Judeo-Christians believe in slavery and filicide? For mainstream Jews, some ancient doctrine has been reinterpreted by rabbinical commentary or civil law; for Christians, premises of ancient scripture have been amended. This happened first via the middle prophets Isaiah and Hosea, who came centuries after ancient scripture—biblical tip: the key that unlocks the beauty of Abrahamic faith is the seldom read Book of Hosea—and then through the ministry of the Redeemer.

What does the New Testament say about homosexuality and gay marriage? Silence on the latter; on the former, there’s one reference. In his Letter to the Romans, verses 1:26-27, Paul observes of idol worshippers, “Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.”

Conservatives prefer translations, such as the God’s Word Bible, that substitute “perversion” for “error.” Yet many church-married, monogamous, man-woman, devout Christian couples engage in acts once thought perversion. Beyond this, Paul frowned on all sexual interaction, including by men and women married to each other. (I Corinthians 7:29.) The apostles evinced no interest in any form of carnality. Jesus never wed, and if he experienced erotic longing, the specifics are lost to history. The Old Testament is chock-full with lust and rape: by the New Testament, it’s as if sex has gone out of style. Those who beheld Jesus bathed in the glory of the resurrection believed the long-dreamt golden age about to arrive. Sex just didn’t seem terribly important compared to that.

At any rate, the key word in Romans is not “perversion;” rather, “natural.” The science of the question of what a person’s natural sexual preferences are is unsettled, but tends toward the idea that people are born that way. If we are born with our sexuality, either it is a gift from God or evolved naturally. And if same-sex attraction is natural, then it is in concord with the New Testament.


Of course, believers of all stripes pick and choose. Liberal Christians avert their eyes from Christ’s near-absolute ban on divorce, in Matthew 5:32. Wealthy Christians ignore their Redeemer’s warning that the rich are barred from heaven, in Matthew 19:24. Most Christians would rather not know that Jesus said to give to panhandlers, in Luke 6:30. Right now, the mainly Christian leaders of the European Union don’t seem concerned that Jesus said that only helping the destitute counts in the eyes of God. (Christ says, in Luke 6:33, “If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.”) Republican candidates thumping their chests about how admirably Christian they are skip the fact that Christ banned exactly such puffery. (Matthew 6:1 reads, “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.”) The Israeli right pounds the table about ancient scripture, but skips Exodus 22:21: “You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.”

In the eight hundred thousand words of the Bible, one can find a verse to support just about anything. Even so, it’s disturbing that contemporary Christian conservatives lash out against homosexuality by calling on ancient divine pronouncements of anger, rather than upon the serene divinity who offered the world unconditional forgiveness.

Voicing the thoughts of the serene God in John 15:12, Jesus summed up Christian theology in one sentence: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Once, God was full of anger; ultimately, the Maker cared solely about love. Why don’t today’s Christian conservatives understand that the second part amends the first part?

Snakes Are Dangerous -- In Church Or Elsewhere!

Paul Prather: Snakes are dangerous and so is taking the Bible too literally

Snakebite death of Middlesboro pastor was quick, son says; medical treatment refused
Jamie Coots, 42, was handling rattlesnakes during a Feb. 15 church service at Middlesboro's Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name. A snake bit his hand.

Shortly after, Coots lost consciousness.

According to news stories, he'd refused medical help for past snakebites and had urged his family not to take him to the hospital if he were ever bitten and incapacitated. So his loved ones refused medical treatment for him. Instead, they prayed.

He died.

Herein lies a problem with being too literal-minded about the Scriptures: it often forces you to defend untenable, even dangerous, positions.

I hold a high but more nuanced view of Scripture.

Before I tell you what I think about how we should interpret the Bible, let me assure you I mean no disrespect to Coots, his family or his church.

Surely, those who handle snakes are sincere. You have to be sincere to reach into a box of writhing vipers with your bare hands, whether in God's name or anyone else's.

But that, my dad would point out if he were still around, goes to show that you can be sincere — and yet be sincerely wrong.

Mark 16 contains this passage: "And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."

Mainstream scholars argue this passage isn't found in the earliest extant manuscripts of Mark, and apparently was added much later in the book's development, as manuscripts were endlessly copied and recopied.

Snake-handling Christians tend not to make these academic distinctions. They accept Mark, as they accept the rest of the Bible, at its literal words.

This calls to mind a larger issue within the Christian faith.

Very, very few Christians handle snakes — a micro-sliver-of-a-single-percentage-point of the religion's 2 billion members.

However, a great many Christians claim to believe the Bible is inerrant. They say it's 100 percent correct about any subject on which it speaks, even science or history.

A couple of weeks ago, for instance, I wrote a column that was partly about creationists, who, despite a century-and-a-half of accumulated scientific evidence to the contrary, insist the Earth was created in six 24-hour days, a few thousand years ago.

That's what Genesis seems to say, and creationists say they believe exactly what the Bible tells them, word for word, at face value.

To me, the danger there is that once you make it your primary spiritual mission in life to defend a questionable passage as unalterably, literally accurate down to the least jot or tittle, you open yourself up for unnecessary grief.

You won't end up petting copperheads, but you may waste oodles of time defending untenable scientific, historic or theological positions. You'll strain at gnats.

I'd humbly suggest another, and time-honored, means of approaching the Bible, and of understanding our faith in general.

It allows us to focus on the heart and soul of the Bible, its profound revelations and transcendent promises, without getting waylaid by less relevant details.

This approach has multiple origins. I happened to encounter it long ago through the works of John Wesley, the evangelist who in the 1700s co-founded Methodism.

Wesley thought the Bible should direct Christians' beliefs. But he also recognized the Bible as a tough book to decipher. To avoid our veering into tangents and excesses, he suggested we accompany our biblical interpretations with checks and balances.

First, he said, consider Christian history and tradition. How have the great body of good, thoughtful men and women understood a particular passage across the centuries?

Second, what does reason tell us? God gave us brains; he meant us to use them.

Finally, what does human experience, including our own experiences in life and in faith, say?

These tests are as valid today as when Wesley offered them.

Take the matter of snake handling.

Mark 16 urges me to handle snakes and drink poison. But church history, common sense and humans' long experiences with snakes all agree that's not a good idea. Those are two biblical admonitions yours truly won't be taking literally.

We can easily apply the same test to many Scriptures.

As we do, we start finding a healthier, more fulfilling balance in our beliefs.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/03/02/3116310/paul-prather-snakes-are-dangerous.html#storylink=cpy

Newly Released Warrants Shed More Light Into Triple Homicide In Danville, Kentucky, Allegedly By "Pastor" Kenneth A. Keith.

Warrants provide more details in Danville triple homicide

Kenneth A. Keith

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DANVILLE — Search warrants and affidavits for warrants provide new information about how police were led to arrest and charge a Pulaski County minister last week with three counts of murder and one count of robbery.

Kenneth Allen Keith, 48, is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Boyle District Court. He is charged with murder in the shootings of Michael Hockensmith, 35, and his wife, Angela Hockensmith, 38, both of Stanford; and gold broker Daniel Smith, 60, of Richmond. The three were killed Sept. 20 at ABC Gold Games and More in Danville, a store co-owned by the Hockensmiths.

The shootings happened in the presence of the Hockensmiths' 9-year-old son and 14-month-old daughter. The boy called 911 shortly after 9 a.m. to report that his parents had been shot.
"The child further explained that a man had entered into the business and asked for money," according to an affidavit filed by Danville police detective Kevin Peel. "The child described the man as being a white male wearing a blue hat, a fake beard, dark glasses and a long green coat. The child informed the dispatcher that his parents were dead, lying on the floor, and that the man who had shot them had left the business."

When officers arrived at the store, they found the front door locked, the affidavit said. Personnel at the dispatch center, who still were on the phone with the boy, told the child to unlock the front door. When the boy was unable to, officers broke the front glass door to get in.

Police secured the children and began processing the scene. Peel's affidavit said the "investigation also revealed that a metal briefcase belonging to Daniel Smith was missing from the scene. This briefcase was believed to have contained an estimated $40,000 in cash."
In the days immediately following the robbery and homicides, "no apparent substantial information was developed," the affidavit said.

A customer at a rental car agency across the street from the pawn shop told police about seeing a man talking on his cellphone and walking around the parking lot of ABC Gold Games and More. The man, in his 40s or 50s and wearing a green "Army-type" jacket, "appeared to be arguing with someone," this witness told police.

On Sept. 24, four days after the robbery and homicides, a Michigan man, who wishes to remain anonymous, told police he had contacted a man he identified as Allen Keith about the crimes. The Michigan man, who formerly lived in Danville, had learned about the homicides through the Facebook posts of acquaintances in the Danville area and had contacted Keith for more information. Although this source is not named in court documents, police said they were able to corroborate the veracity of his statements.

The Michigan caller said that he knew the Hockensmiths and that he was familiar with them and Keith through church ties. He also knew them from when he lived in Danville.
"According to the Michigan caller, Mr. Keith stated that he was devastated, and did not hear about the robbery and homicides until later in the day" of the shooting. The Michigan caller said Keith, unsolicited, then began to give details about his whereabouts.

Keith told the Michigan man that, on the morning of the shootings, he had been at the Veterans Affairs hospital (presumably in Lexington) until about 8:30 a.m. Keith said he then went to a pharmacy in Danville to fill a prescription for his wife. Keith said the prescription had to be filed in Danville because the medication was not available in Somerset, closer to his Burnside home.

"The Michigan caller stated that Mr. Keith knew that the deceased gold broker (Daniel Smith) came to the store to do business on Fridays, and it was not uncommon for the broker to have $30,000 to $40,000 in a briefcase," the affidavit said.

"The Michigan caller stated that Mr. Keith offered a scenario as to what he believed occurred, stating that it was a 'hit' on the gold buyer and the Hockensmiths happened to be there," the affidavit said. "The Michigan caller stated that he asked Mr. Keith if he thought the Hockensmiths were innocent bystanders. In response to this, the Michigan caller stated that Mr. Keith 'flipped the switch' and responded that they (the Hockensmiths) weren't innocent, and that they 'cost him a lot of money.' The

Michigan caller stated that Mr. Keith explained that the loss of money was due to some unspecified workers compensation negligence and that he had made the last $600 payment to settle the case approximately two weeks ago."

Keith had entered into an agreement with Steve Divine, co-owner of ABC Gold Games and More, to buy the building from Divine or to form a partnership, the affidavit said. "This venture allegedly fell through and Divine formed a business partnership with Mr. and Mrs. Hockensmith," the affidavit said.
The Michigan man told police Keith also owned a pawn shop in Somerset. Police later identified it as Gold Rush Gold Buyers, where a search warrant was executed last week. Search warrants also were executed at Main Street Baptist Church in Burnside, where Keith is pastor, and the parsonage next to the church.

Danville police were familiar with Keith because they had routine contact with him when he owned King's Corner Pawn Shop, which had formerly occupied the building of ABC Gold Games and More.
Keith had no previous criminal history but has a permit to carry a concealed deadly weapon, the affidavit said.

Police learned that Keith filed paperwork with the city of Danville to dissolve King's Corner Pawn Shop in May. In documents provided to the city, Keith indicated that the reason was an "illegal eviction" and that the current owners had changed the store locks.
ABC Gold Games and More was jointly operated by the Hockensmiths and Divine.

Police recovered surveillance video showing Keith at a Danville pharmacy at 9:24 a.m. Sept. 20, the day of the shooting. Pharmacy staff identified Keith as the person receiving the prescriptions.
Investigators learned that Keith paid a civil penalty in the amount of $765.22 to the Kentucky Department of Workers Claims. "This was a result of a visit by an inspector with that agency who spoke with Michael Hockensmith while he was an employee of Kenneth Keith's," the affidavit said.

"Mr. Hockensmith had been unable to provide proof of worker's comp insurance to the inspector, and then referred him to Kenneth Keith."
Investigators learned that Keith had a VA hospital appointment on Sept. 19, the day before the shootings but did not show up. Another appointment was scheduled for Oct. 21.

On Monday, defense attorneys Mark and Bethany Stanziano filed documents asserting Keith's right to refuse to talk to anyone but his defense team.

Greg Kocher: (859) 231-3305. Twitter: @HLpublicsafety.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/10/14/2876672/warrants-provide-more-details.html#storylink=cpy

Bowling Green's Homosexual "Couple" Cheers U. S. Supreme Court's Same Sex Ruling, Calls Ruling "A Natural Progression".

Court ruling 'a natural progression'

Christin and Marcie Mulwitz

Christin and Marcie Mulwitz had a mini-celebration Wednesday after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Defense of Marriage Act – which defines marriage as between one man and one woman – is unconstitutional.
 
In another decision Wednesday, the Supreme Court also cleared the way for gay marriages to take place in California.

Christin and Marcie Mulwitz celebrated their third anniversary June 10.

They married in Provincetown, Mass., and live in Warren County, where they raise two children, ages 13 and 16. Family mementos are scattered through their home, including a plate with the children’s handprints and a glass vase filled with multicolored sand symbolizing the union of the family.

“It’s one of the reasons we went to Massachusetts, because it was important to us to teach the kids, you know, that you want to be in a committed marriage,” Marcie Mulwitz said. “We didn’t want to just move in together and live like that.”

The couple work, attend church and live normal lives, but their marriage isn’t recognized in Kentucky. They believe eventually it will be. The Supreme Court decision shows momentum on that front, Christin Mulwitz said.

Wednesday’s court decision will allow them to file federal taxes together.

“It’s just a natural progression,” Marcie Mulwitz said. “It’s just like any other rights. ... It’s well past time for it to be there.”

In the meantime, they try to protect their family. For example, they made a will so, if one dies, their home can’t be taken from the other, Marcie Mulwitz said.

But there are things for which they can’t make provisions.

“It gives us maybe a false sense of security, I would say,” Christin Mulwitz said.

There’s no guarantee, if one of them were sick or injured, that one would be allowed to visit each other, Marcie Mulwitz said.

Marcie Mulwitz also can’t legally adopt Christin Mulwitz’s children without her relinquishing parental rights. If something were to happen to her, the children might be taken away, Christin Mulwitz said.

That lack of stability wouldn’t be good for them, Marcie Mulwitz said.

“The most important thing in raising a kid is stability for them,” she said.

“And love,” Christin Mulwitz added.

Diane Lewis, acting president of Bowling Green’s chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, said she was thrilled about the Supreme Court decisions.

“The tide is turning, and we’re on our way,” she said.

Today’s youths increasingly view homosexuality as a non-issue, and Lewis hopes Kentucky will catch up with national trends on gay marriage and fairness ordinances that help protect against discrimination.

Patricia Minter, a member of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky Board of Directors and an associate history professor at Western Kentucky University, said that, as a legal scholar, she always thought the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional. “It’s a major day for civil rights and human rights in the United States,” she said Wednesday.

Marriage is a basic right, Minter said. It’s meaningful culturally, facilitates process like inheritance and helps parents to create stable environments for children.

The Rev. Kara Hildebrandt, associate pastor at The Presbyterian Church on State Street, felt the Supreme Court rulings dealing with gay marriage were positive.

“It keeps the separation of church and state,” she said. “If the church defines marriage one way, that should not be placed on everyone. I think we saw justice in action today.”

The Presbyterian Church (USA) is in the process of discussing how to define marriage. The denomination allows gays and lesbians to be ordained as ministers.

“(It’s about) understanding that we are all God’s children,” Hildebrandt said. “(Sexual orientation) is not a defining factor in whether or not you are qualified to be ordained.”

She’s interested to see what will happen when ministers in states where gay marriage is legal are asked to perform gay and lesbian weddings that go against their beliefs.

Richard Nelson, executive director of the conservative think tank Commonwealth Policy Center in Cadiz, said he was surprised at the Supreme Court decision to strike down DOMA. The law has been in place for 17 years and was approved by large margins.

“It was wrong in that it subverts the democratic process,” he said.

He’s concerned that the activism he sees at the court level will discourage people from participating in the political process.

“When you have an activist court, you undermine that process,” Nelson said.

The ruling also sends the message to young people that marriage can be whatever they want instead of between a man and woman, he said.

Nelson said men and women represent two sides of humanity, and doesn’t believe that having two parents of the same gender is the same as having one of each gender.

“There is a difference between men and women,” he said. “Gender does mean something.”

For the Rev. Dave Thomas at Lakeview Fellowship Church, two things are supreme: God and the Bible. “That sets the boundaries for me of what’s right or wrong,” he said.

Because God says marriage is between a man and a woman, that’s what he believes is right. He is upset by the Supreme Court rulings.

“I think it’s very sad, kind of an indication of where our society is right now,” Thomas said.

It  frustrates him that the decision did not come from the people.

“Seemingly five people decided what’s right or wrong,” he said.

The Rev. Freddie Brown, pastor of State Street Baptist Church, doesn’t think allowing gays and lesbians to marry is in the same category as civil rights, such as the right to vote.

“I don’t see it in that light,” he said. “They are two completely different categories.”

Though he doesn’t believe homosexuality is in line with the word of God, he treats gays and lesbians with love.

“Our decision is to minister to all people, including those with alternative lifestyles,” Brown said. “Maybe we can get them to see God’s way. …It’s just like any other sinner. I might hate their crime, but I don’t hate them. We love the person regardless of the mistakes they made.”

Cal Thomas: We Need To Understand Radical Islam's Goal.

We need to understand radical Islam's goal

Following the hacking death of a British soldier by two alleged Islamic extremists, Prime Minister David Cameron said, “There is nothing in Islam that justifies this truly dreadful act.”
Winston Churchill thought otherwise, but he lived in a time before political correctness ran amok and drew on his personal experiences serving in the Sudan and in the Crimean War.

In his 1899 book “The River War,” Churchill described what he witnessed in countries where Islam ruled: “Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyzes the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith.”

Churchill said only Christianity had sheltered Europe and were it not for that faith, “the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.”

Given the secular condition of modern Europe and the huge influx of radical Muslims, many of whom carry with them earthly agendas, which prime minister is more credible?

One of the men arrested in London spoke of his motivation: “The only reason we have killed this man today is because Muslims are dying daily by British soldiers.”

What Westerners struggle to figure out is how to distinguish Islamists from moderate Muslims and how to recognize the true Islamist when they are taught to deceive us about their radical beliefs.

A documentary released last fall, but largely ignored, might be a useful guide. It’s called “Jihad in America: The Grand Deception.” The film by the Investigative Project on Terrorism, exposes the tangled web of Islamic front groups in America that are backed by the radical Muslim Brotherhood.

The documentary reveals how these groups have penetrated the highest levels of American government and culture. Zuhdi Jasser, who heads the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, says, “Their dream is the creation of an Islamic state ... their strategy in America is to use America’s freedom and liberties in order to achieve that dream.” The same might be said of Britain.

Douglas Farah, former West Africa bureau chief for The Washington Post says, “It doesn’t matter what we say about them. It matters tremendously what they say about themselves and to each other.”

It was what they say about themselves and about their goals that is most revealing. In the film, the late Israr Ahmed of the Islamic Society of North America says: “I find there are only two things which are open to our movements: ballot or bullet, nothing in between.”

In “The Grand Deception,” Amir Abdel Malik Ali of the Islamic Circle of North America, speaking at a 2003 event in Philadelphia said, “Democracy does not equal freedom. No, we do not want to democratize Islam. We want (to) Islamize democracy.”

And Abdur-Rahman Muhammad, a former Muslim militant, offered, “Ultimately the Muslim Brotherhood wants to establish an Islamic state in America. They believe that Western civilization is corrupt, evil, is decadent and they want to dismantle it.”

Former FBI special agent Robert Stauffer headed an investigation in the 1980s of Muslim Brotherhood finances, according to the film’s narrator. Stauffer discovered that the Islamic Society of North America, another Muslim Brotherhood front located outside Plainfield, Ind., had received “Millions and millions of dollars” through its North American Islamic Trust, which, he says, “served as a financial holding company for Muslim Brotherhood-related groups.” The money, he says, was wired into the United States from Islamic countries, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Egypt, Malaysia and Libya.

Much of this was prior to Sept. 11, but given the existence and growth of Muslim student associations on American college campuses (the documentary says there are 40 such groups) and other Muslim organizations, the money must still be available.

The British and Americans can listen to politicians who aid and abet the advance of radical Islam, or they can heed the words of Sayyid Syeed, director of the Islamic Society of North America. Film footage shows Syeed speaking in Chicago in 2006. He said, “Our job is to change the Constitution of America.”

When Preachers Murder: The Matt Baker Story.

White Clergy BELATEDLY Respond To Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, Morally Superior "Letter From Birmingham Jail".

The Rev. Martin Luther King's letter from Birmingham jail gets formal pastoral response

After 50 years, church group acknowledges wisdom of civil rights leader's criticism

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., above right, and the
Rev. Ralph Abernathy are released in 1963 after
spending eight days in jail in Birmingham, Ala. 

Bernice A. King attends the unveiling of a historic marker Tuesday in front of the Birmingham, Ala., jail where her father, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., was held. 

Fifty years ago this week — this awful week of violence and terror — a nonviolent campaign for civil rights was building toward crisis in Birmingham, Ala.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was in jail for demonstrating without a parade permit in a bid to desegregate the city’s stores and other institutions.

King was indignant over an open letter by local white clergy — including Catholic, Episcopal and Methodist bishops, a rabbi and Presbyterian and Baptist pastors — urging King to cease the protests and instead use patient negotiation and legal action.

King replied with a handwritten letter that became a classic articulation of the philosophy and theology of civil disobedience.
“I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate,” King wrote. “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who … prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.”
No one can “paternistically set the timetable for another man’s freedom,” King wrote. “… Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.”

King’s letter went viral — by 1963 standards — which means it spread in the coming weeks through publications such as the Christian Century magazine.
Meanwhile, the nation was horrified to watch images of child protesters assaulted with police dogs and firehoses. Birmingham was ultimately desegregated, and the movement’s momentum helped lead to passage of the landmark Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts.
The group Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A. — representing three dozen Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox denominations — gathered in Birmingham this past Sunday and Monday to mark the letter’s 50th anniversary.

And since it was a letter from pastors that prompted King’s letter, the group decided it needed to issue a formal pastoral response to it.
Louisville Roman Catholic Archbishop Joseph Kurtz took part in the ceremony, representing the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops as its vice president.
“Letters deserve a response, and in fact, some demand one,” Kurtz said. “… This letter, which is rich in foundations of scripture and human philosophy, direct, and prophetic, gave a rationale for strong action as well as marching orders for the steps we must follow.”

Kurtz said King correctly “uncovered the words of St. Thomas Aquinas that the unjust law is ‘the human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law’ and so is, as Dr. King says, ‘out of harmony with the moral law.’ ”
Kurtz, recalling that he was 16 years old and taking his seminary entrance exam in his native Pennsylvania at the time of the protests, said he sees King’s “response as true wisdom, whose time had long since come.”

Christian Churches Together issued a statement saying that while much has changed since 1963, including the dismantling of segregationist laws, racial disparities persist in such things as rates of poverty, illness and incarceration.

“Segregation is no longer the law, but a form of it is experienced as a fact of life for many Americans, as we reside, are educated, work, and worship in largely homogenous settings,” it says. “While African Americans seldom now face the open expressions of vicious racism endured by Dr. King’s generation, they feel the downward tug of persistent undercurrents of racial prejudice and misunderstanding. ...

“As church leaders, we confess we have tended to emphasize our responsibility to obey the law while neglecting our equal moral obligation to change laws that are unjust in their substance or application. … We confess that we often prefer stability to upheaval, even when upheaval is the necessary precondition for the establishment of justice.”

BOMBSHELL: News Reports Pope Resigned After Findings Of Blackmail, Corruption, Gay Sex At Vatican.

The Italian media is reporting that Pope Benedict XVI resigned after receiving the results of an internal investigation, delivered in a 300-page, two-volume dossier, that laid bare a sordid tale of blackmail, corruption and gay sex at the Vatican.

The respected Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported Friday that the report stamped "Pontifical Secret," contained "an exact map of the mischief and the bad fish" inside the Holy See.

• Related: Cardinals says married priests possible | Gallery: Pope Benedict XVI to resign

The newspaper said the findings of the nine-month investigation, headed by Spanish cardinal, Julian Herranz , with the assistance of Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi, former archbishop of Palermo, and Slovak cardinal Jozef Tomko, was delivered to the pope on Dec. 17, 2012.

"It was on that day, with those papers on his desk, that Benedict XVI took the decision he had mulled over for so long,'' the newspaper said.

La Repubblica said the panel drew upon "dozens and dozens" of interviews with bishops, cardinals and lay people. It said the pope was kept apprised of the investigation in weekly meetings from April until December. The final, bound in red leather, is being kept in a safe in the pope's Vatican quarters, the newspaper said.

A similar story was carried by Panorama, a conservative weekly.

"What's coming out is a very detailed X-ray of the Roman Curia that does not spare even the closest collaborators of the pope," respected Vatican expert Ignazio Ingrao writes in Panorama. "The pope was no stranger to the intrigues, but he probably did not know that under his pontificate there was such a complex network and such intricate chains of personal interests and unmentionable relationships."

A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, has refused to comment on the reports.
"Neither the cardinals' commission nor I will make comments to confirm or deny the things that are said about this matter. Let each one assume his or her own responsibilities. We shall not be following up on the observations that are made about this,'' Lombardi said, according to the German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

In announcing his resignation Feb. 11, Benedict said that he no longer had the "strength of mind and body" to carry on. A conclave will select a new pope next month.
Lombardi has indicated that Benedict would meet with the three cardinals before stepping down Feb. 28, in one of his final private audiences.

La Repubblica reported that the pope would personally hand the confidential files to his successor, with the hope he will be ''strong, young and holy'' enough to take the necessary action.

The investigation was triggered last May when the pope's butler, Paolo Gabriele, was arrested and charged with having stolen and leaked papal correspondence that depicted the Vatican as a hotbed of intrigue.

The papers were published in a blockbuster book. The butler was convicted in October of aggravated theft, and later pardoned.

The three-man panel, according to La Repubblica, discovered an underground gay network whose members organized sexual meetings in several locations, including a villa outside Rome, a sauna in Rome's Cuarto Miligo distirct and even in a beauty salon inside the Vatican.
The gatherings, in turn, left them open to blackmail from people outside the Vatican, the report said, according to the newspaper.

La Repubblica quoted an unidentified man described as ''very close'' to the authors of the dossier as saying it contained information about violations of the sixth and seventh commandments, which forbid adultery and stealing.

The British newspaper, The Guardian, notes that the sixth commandment also "is linked in Catholic doctrine to the proscribing of homosexual acts."

The U.S. website, The Daily Beast, reports that investigative journalist Carmello Abbate went undercover with a hidden camera in 2010 in Rome to produce an expose called “Good Nights Out for Gay Priests.”

The scandal has erupted as the pope is clearing the decks of his pontificate, tweaking the rules of the conclave, finessing the religious rites used to launch the next papacy and making some eyebrow-raising final appointments before he retires next week.

The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano said in editions published late Friday that Benedict had signed a decree earlier in the week making some changes to the papal installation Mass, separating out the actual rite of installation from the liturgy itself.

He is also studying the text of a separate document governing the rules of the conclave, though it's not known if it will address the thorny issue of whether the election can begin earlier than March 15, by some interpretations the earliest the vote can start under the current rules.
And on Friday, the Vatican announced Benedict had transferred a top official in the secretariat of state, Monsignor Ettore Balestrero, to Colombia.

Some of the documents leaked in the midst of the "Vatileaks" scandal concerned differences of opinion about the level of financial transparency the Holy See should provide about the bank, the Institute for Religious Works. However, Balestrero himself wasn't named in any significant way in the leaks.

Lombardi said Balestrero's transfer had been months in the works, was a clear promotion and had nothing to do with what the Vatican considers baseless reporting.

READ MORE HERE.

TRUE FAITH REQUIRES NO JUDGING OF OTHERS.

Ky. voices: True faith requires acceptance, openness By Paschal Baute

"You know all Catholics are going to hell," my mother-in-law told my wife after we married.

"But mother, there are a lot of Catholics in the world," she replied.

"Honey," said her mother, "heaven won't be crowded." Then she added, "It's my duty to judge others."

Much later, after being in our home many times, she mellowed remarkably.

Growing up Catholic in a small Kentucky town, we were taught and believed that all Protestants were going to hell. The "we-they, white-versus-black" dichotomy was so strong. Catholic boys were forbidden to join the Boy Scouts because all the troop leaders were Protestant. Religion invites us to make our world views absolute. Is this still the main challenge of our civilization?

In both the West and the East, religious faith has assumed a monopoly on God's favor. The result has fueled wars, crusades, inquisitions, massive killing and now, suicide bombers. Religious persecution was so bad in Europe that inhabitants of 12 of our original 13 colonies crossed oceans to find religious freedom.

The superior privilege of Christian faith encouraged us to view native Americans as savages and so justify our actual genocides. Because the Bible accepted slavery, Christians justified the mass importation of Africans for slave labor in the cotton fields of the South. We fought a great and terrible Civil War, each region believing "God is on our side." Nazi Germany had 20 million Catholics and 40 million Lutherans. Some worshiped even in sight of the smoke of the crematoriums where 6 million Jews perished.

Each of the major faiths still claims a monopoly on the mysteries of God. This claim, I suggest, is the source of much hate and violence everywhere, not just in the Middle East. This "power over" attitude easily trickles down into political discourse. Rancor, stereotyping, labeling, misrepresentation and even lying are justified politically. We can too easily demonize those who think differently. Cable news and talk radio are full of this.

All the Abraham religions — Hebrew, Christian and Muslim — are guilty of these exclusive claims today. When we are raised in such cultures, we can easily transfer the absolute claims to other views, moral, social and political. We are so sure of our point of view that we do not need to listen to strangers. Civil discourse becomes almost impossible.

Yet Abraham kept his tent open on all four sides so he and Sarah could see strangers coming from all directions and so have food ready to welcome them. The Hebrew Bible commands us to "love the stranger" some 36 times. Is it time for religious leaders to surrender the exclusive claims of their traditions? This claim divides the world into "us" versus "they" — assuming privilege from God. Yet faith can only be truly accepted as a gift, as an obligation. We are commanded to love one another, even and especially, those who are different from us.

Our country was the first in history to be founded on principle rather than power. We claim power is from the people, not from the top down. Have we outsourced conscience? Should Americans be the first to remind all leaders, "All humans are created in God's image. We have the God-given freedom to find our own way." God now speaks in 7.000 different languages — not merely through the King James version of the bible.

My favorite quote from Christian tradition is from Gregory of Nyssa: "Concepts create idols; only wonder and awe understand anything." When we accept the incredible gift of faith, we are empowered with a vision of compassion, hope, forgiveness and graciousness. In contrast, the exclusive claims of religion divide us. Sadly, they are causing us to lose a generation of young people from our faith communities.

Human nature seeks power, but religion and power do not mix. We should stand up to religious leaders whose teachings serve to divide us. Can any of us presume to understand the heart of God if we have no heart for those who are unlike us?

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/09/29/2353925/true-faith-requires-acceptance.html#storylink=cpy

WATCH AS CNN'S SOLEDAD O'BRIEN AND OTHER GUESTS TRY TO BULLY HOUSTON'S LAKEWOOD BAPTIST CHURCH PASTOR JOEL OSTEEN INTO NOT BELIEVING THAT HOMOSEXUALITY IS A SIN. PATHETIC, IF YOU ASK ME.

Cal Thomas: "[POTUS BAarack] Obama Preaching Another Gospel On Gays." Yes, He Is, My Brother!

Cal Thomas | An unfounded claim on what the Bible says
Obama preaching another gospel on gays

It is one thing to talk about “fairness” when it comes to allowing gays and lesbians to marry; it is quite another to claim biblical authority for such relationships.

President Obama cited the “Golden Rule” about treating others as you would like to be treated, but in doing so he ignored the totality of Scripture and the Lord Himself, who alone gets to set the rules for human behavior.

The President says he is a “practicing Christian.” It is difficult to be one while simultaneously holding a low view of the Bible, which his position on several social issues might suggest.

The same Book that informs him about the Person he told Pastor Rick Warren in 2008 is his “Savior,” also speaks to the beginning of human life (he has done nothing to limit abortions), fornication between adults of the opposite sex (no word yet on his position on that subject), marriage, and adultery, which the Seventh Commandment and New Testament passages condemn.

I recently wrote that it is becoming increasingly difficult for people who believe the Bible is God’s Word to impose their beliefs on those who disagree with them. But it is something altogether different for those who disagree to claim the Bible doesn’t say what it says, in effect calling God a liar. President Obama apparently hopes there are sufficient numbers of biblical illiterates — and he could be right about this — that either won’t notice his sleight of hand, or don’t care.

Thousands of years of human history have sustained marriage between one man and one woman. Even human biology testifies to a natural order.

Genesis 2:24 says “ ... a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife. The two shall become one flesh.” Jesus, Whom President Obama likes to selectively quote when it suits his earthly political agenda, honored traditional marriage at a wedding feast in Cana (John 2:1). He also reaffirmed the Genesis passage in Matthew 19:5.

Paul, the Apostle of Jesus, wrote in Ephesians 5 about husbands and wives, male and female.

Scripture teaches that the marriage union between a man and woman is an illustration of how Christ and the church are one (Ephesians 5:32). It also teaches that since God made us, conceived of marriage and created sex to be enjoyed within the marital bond, He gets to set the rules and establish the boundaries for human behavior, not because He is a curmudgeon who wants to deny us pleasure, but because He knows what is best for us.

Liberal theologians have tried to modify, or even change, what is contained in the Bible and there are those in our time who are following their example with the issue of same-sex marriage.

People are free to accept or reject what Scripture says. What they are not free to do is to claim it says something it does not. In modern times that’s called “spin.” In an earlier time it was called heresy.

The Apostle John warns in Revelation 22:18-19 about the punishment awaiting anyone who adds to, or subtracts from Scripture. Deuteronomy 4:1-2 has a similar warning. The consequences aren’t pretty. There are also warnings not to preach “another Gospel” (Galatians 1:8, 2 Corinthians 11:4, among others).

As he seeks to justify his position on same-sex marriage and other issues that are either questionable at best, or deny Scripture at worst, President Obama might be said to be preaching another gospel.

This could possibly lead to a fissure in his solid support among African Americans, costing the president votes in November. It will also likely galvanize the culture warriors.

Minorities mostly vote for Democrats, but they don’t like their faith denied. That could cause some of them to stay home on Election Day, or even vote for Mitt Romney.

The negative reaction the President received from some of the African-American ministers he called last week after declaring his support for same-sex marriage should serve as a prophetic warning.

Readers may e-mail Cal Thomas at tmseditors@tribune.com

Editor's comment: If I had any thoughts of voting for Barack Obama before, his support of homosexual marriages sealed the deal for me.

There is NO way now I'm giving it Any thought. If he wins, he has to win WITHOUT my precious vote!

Oh yes, I am a true African American in every sense of the word. And I am a follower of Christ in every sense of the word.

I'm NOT going to hell for ANYONE, folks!

Where’s White Church Outrage Over Trayvon Martin?

My Take: Where’s white church outrage over Trayvon Martin?
By Mark I. Pinsky, Special to CNN

Orlando, Florida (CNN) - In the classic Sherlock Holmes story “The Silver Blaze,” the key clue turns out to be a watchdog that didn’t bark when it should have.

In the aftermath of the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, not far from here, the mystifying missing element so far has been white outrage, especially on the part of central Florida’s religious leaders.

Few if any white clergy have spoken up to demand that the killing be fully investigated. None can be seen standing by the African-American preachers calling for justice, or marching with Martin’s family members. Why?

As someone who covered this area’s faith community for 15 years, I don’t think the answer is racism as much as it is cultural callousness. Week in and week out, the violent deaths and disappearances of poor, black and brown people – especially immigrants – merit a one- or two-paragraph story in The Orlando Sentinel’s (my old newspaper’s) police blotter. So when a middle-class black teen is gunned down, the reaction tends to be a shrug of the shoulders.

In this part of the country gated communities are considered sacred ground, as much or more than houses of worship. The fear of these preserves being violated is enough to shift the presumption of innocence to the presumption of guilt, including among churchgoers. Couple this with a made-for-vigilantes “Stand Your Ground” gun law and, until recently, there is no reason to question the indifference of local law enforcement in investigating Trayvon Martin’s death.

CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories

While central Florida’s modern image is Sun Belt suburban, a theme park mecca, the region has a dark and violent past when it comes to race:

– In 1920, an attempt by two black men to vote in the town of Ocoee led to a race riot that spread to Apopka, Orlando and Winter Springs. When the smoke cleared, Ocoee had been ethnically cleansed with more than 500 African residents driven off. The town remained essentially white for the next 40 years.

– In 1923, a white mob’s attack on the black community of Rosewood burned the hamlet to the ground and scattered its residents forever

– On Christmas Day, 1951, Florida NAACP Executive Director Harry T. Moore, an anti-lynching activist, and his wife were blown up in their wood frame home by Klansmen, including local law enforcement officers. Harry Moore died en route to a Sanford hospital, where his wife died nine days later.

No one was brought to justice for any of these crimes, and white churches had little to say on behalf of the victims.

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Race was the great moral issue in 20th-century America. And one of the burdens of Southern history is the silence – with a few conspicuous and heroic exceptions – of white religious leaders during the Civil Rights movement, especially white churches. There were times and places where silence bled into complicity. When Northern clergy came to the South to join protests, as often as not their local denominational counterparts were resentful.

To its credit, in 1995 the Southern Baptist Convention acknowledged and repented for nearly 150 years of support for slavery, segregation and racial discrimination, saying that “racial prejudice and discrimination are not compatible with the Gospel” and “a deplorable sin.” Since then, Southern Baptists – the nation’s largest Protestant denomination - have made enormous strides in obliterating the color line in its churches and its relations with other denominations.

But in the case of Trayvon Martin, the white religious community – including those affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, this area’s dominant affiliation - has so far been silent and invisible.

Some black Christians are beginning to question this silence. At a predominately African-American Seventh-day Adventist congregation last Saturday, during a previously scheduled discussion of “racial progress,” a man stood up and asked why his denomination had not yet spoken or acted on the Trayvon Martin controversy.

The Rev. James Coffin, a white Adventist minister and executive director of the Interfaith Council of Central Florida, who was one of the speakers, admitted that the man was right. Coffin later wrote the man an impassioned e-mail saying his point was valid, and acknowledging his guilt for his inaction. So far, “it's the victim's affinity group that has to go to battle for him,” Coffin said.

“African-Americans shouldn't be waging this battle on their own,” Coffin told me. “While it certainly has racial overtones and undertones, it's a problem that's bigger than just racism. So for our own well-being and self-serving purposes, if for no other reason, non-African-Americans need to get involved.”

At long last, some other white church leaders are speaking out.

In a letter issued Wednesday entitled “A Statement of Support for the Martin Family and Call for Just Prosecution,” the Florida Council of Churches, which represents mainline Protestant congregations, said that the state “should be a place where a person of any color can walk in a neighborhood without fear of violence or being presumed a suspicious threat. Florida should be a place where the use of deadly force is rare and uncommon.

“The Martin family and the community at large need protection from vigilantism and assurance that Florida's streets are open to all people without respect to the color of their skin,” the statement continued. The council does not speak for the state’s evangelical churches.

Tardy or tepid, it is never too late for religious leaders to demand justice. Which is what they still need to do. A rally calling for justice for Trayvon Martin is scheduled for Sanford's Shiloh Baptist Church, Thursday night would be a good place to start.

Editor’s Note: Mark I. Pinsky

is a former religion reporter for the Orlando Sentinel and author of “Amazing Gifts: Stories of Faith, Disability, and Inclusion.”

Ky. Voices: Young, Religious, And Supporting Barack Obama.

Ky. Voices: Young, religious, and supporting Barack Obama
By Jordan Stivers

I'm a young person of faith and I helped elect President Barack Obama in 2008. This year I'm doing it again. The remaining contenders for the GOP nomination claim that they best represent the religious and social values of "real Americans." I'm real, I'm an American, and the extreme Republican rhetoric does not reflect my values. This weekend, I'm making sure my voice and my values are heard again by getting help from some of the smartest people around at the Young Democrats of America's first-of-its-kind Faith and Values Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C.

The YDA Summit is focused on preparing young Democrats to connect with people and communities of faith. Top Democratic leaders will train participants in strategies aimed at showing the deep connection between religious Americans and the Democratic Party values — like loving our neighbor, justice and opportunity for all, and a belief that we're greater together when we pursue the common good through our public policies.

The summit is bringing together 100 young leaders from around the country who are committed to connecting with religious "millennials," a demographic group that is increasingly progressive. YDA is certainly entering new territory with this effort, but the timing and political environment could not be better. Young people of faith are leaving the GOP in large numbers and looking for a new political home.

I was born and raised in Bowling Green and came to Lexington in 2006 to attend the University of Kentucky. For most of my upbringing, my family attended a Baptist church.

During college I became drawn to the Episcopal church after experiencing the reverence and beauty of the Holy Eucharist at the Washington National Cathedral while I was a summer intern. College was an enriching experience where I learned about many different faiths and analyzed my own biases and assumptions about all faiths.

As a freshman, I had registered to vote as a Republican at a table on campus. Throughout that first year of college, my mind was opened and my spirituality was deepened as I was exposed to new people and new ideas. In the fall of my sophomore year, after spending the summer interning for a Democratic elected official in Bowling Green, I changed my party registration to Democrat.

As I started following politics it became clear to me that my values of empathy, personal responsibility and the courage to help others were evident in the policies of Democrats.

Matthew 25:40 says, "And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' "

I believe this verse best represents the spirit of Jesus' teaching, and why Democratic policies are compatible with it. I think of this verse as we discuss universal health care, early childhood education and protecting women's health.

There's much work for Democrats to do on faith outreach, but the Faith and Values Leadership Summit is an exciting first step in what promises to be a worthwhile conversation about which party best represents the values of people of faith. I am excited to be a part of this unique gathering and look forward to what lies ahead.

Jordan Stivers, of Lexington, is a University of Kentucky graduate.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/03/24/2124006/ky-voices-young-religious-and.html#storylink=cpy

Retired Minister In Lexington Writes About Faith Journey During Civil Rights Era.

Retired minister in Lexington writes about faith journey during civil rights era
By Mary Meehan

(Retired pastor William McAtee has written a book about his experiences in Columbia, Miss., during the civil rights struggle. This full-page ad appeared at the time in the local paper and urged non-violence and cooperation).

It wasn't long after the Rev. William McAtee got the call that he put pen to paper.

A museum staffer in Columbia, Miss., was assembling remembrances of the civil rights era for Black History Month and wondered whether McAtee, whom the staffer wrongly assumed to be a black civil rights worker, might add a few words.

Just a few weeks after that 2008 call, McAtee, a fourth-generation, white Mississippi native, had the makings of 12 chapters that eventually expanded into Transformed: A White Mississippi Pastor's Journey Into Civil Rights and Beyond (University Press of Mississippi, $35).

"It just flooded out," said McAtee, now retired and a long-time Lexington resident whose book was published in 2011. "I had kept all that story in me all these years."

But, he said, "I felt like it was a story that needed to be told."

And what a story.

During the height of the civil rights turmoil in the South — 1964, 1965, 1966 — while violent protest raged all around them, the citizens of Columbia, Miss., decided that if they worked together they could bridge the gap between races and avoid the worst of the upheaval.

"A healthy community atmosphere beneficial to all individual citizens and businesses will not just happen, it must be worked for," said a letter to Columbia's leading citizens.

The letter, sent by McAtee and another white minister, the Rev. N.A. Dickson, was delivered to several dozen of Columbia's most influential citizens. In a thick binder with pages protected in clear plastic sheets, McAtee still has the original letter along with the list of those who were to receive it. Some names are crossed out, more names are scrawled in the page margins.

With each letter was sent a copy of a list that included all the recipients' names. That way, McAtee said, people couldn't say they hadn't been made aware of what was going on; also, everyone knew who else was involved.

The message in the letter was that if the citizens of Columbia didn't take steps to integrate their schools and businesses, something the federal government had already mandated, the town could suffer the kind of destruction that had been felt in so many other Southern towns.

The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled on Brown vs. the Board of Education nearly a decade before, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 officially ended segregation of stores and other public facilities.

But the reality on the ground was much different. For example, the Columbia school board had decided not to take action to integrate the schools until the federal government intervened and forced its hand, McAtee said.

McAtee, then at Columbia Presbyterian Church, and Dickson, pastor at First United Methodist Church, were supported in their effort by Columbia Mayor E.D. "Buddy" McLean. Soon, three local pastors at black churches — the Rev. I.C. Pittman, first director of the Mississippi Rural Center; the Rev. L.Z. Blankenship, pastor of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church; and the Rev. A.G. Payton, pastor of Owen Chapel Baptist Church — became part of the core group, too.

A wide net of citizens made the change happen, but the transformation of Columbia was not without strife. At the time, Columbia had its share of active members of white supremacy groups such as the White Citizens' Council, and they were none too happy when local folks started to openly profess the need for integration, McAtee said.

There were protests and pickets, and McAtee and other leaders assumed their phones had been tapped.

McAtee said he was never openly threatened, although a regular attendee and member of his church — who also happened to be a prominent member of the White Citizens' Council — told McAtee that if a black person ever tried to join them in worship, he would shoot the visitor first and then aim his weapon at McAtee.

"That was never put to the test," McAtee said matter-of-factly.

In the end, the citizens of Columbia managed to avoid the worst of what happened in other Southern cities. The schools and businesses were integrated, and community members of Columbia came to know one another in a different, deeper way, McAtee said.

For McAtee, who left Columbia for Richmond, Va., in 1966, it began a lifetime of slowly unraveling his own views about race borne out of generations of segregation. (His great-grandfather had been a slave owner.)

"I had a long and arduous struggle to overcome my deeply ingrained views and behavior," he wrote in the book.

But, he said, he was guided by some fundamental beliefs: God wants you to love your neighbor as yourself, and the United States Constitution promises "peace and justice for all."

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/03/02/2091769/retired-minister-in-lexington.html#storylink=cpy

Paul Prather: Religious Apathy Adds To Growing Ranks Of White Underclass.

Religious apathy adds to growing ranks of white underclass
By Paul Prather

Recently in The New York Times, columnist Nicholas D. Kristof explained that what used to be the white working class now statistically constitutes a big chunk of the educational and economic underclass.

Talk of the "underclass" once was code for race, he wrote, but that idea is becoming obsolete. Increasingly, white people are joining its ranks.

Several other opinion columns and news stories have highlighted this same trend, in publications and on Web sites across the ideological spectrum.

Academic research demonstrates, for instance, that even as black Americans have closed the educational and financial gap with whites overall (which is happy news), whites without college educations keep falling ever further behind.

I've witnessed this sea change among working-class white families for years, with my own eyes, in my overwhelmingly white, rural county.

I've watched a downward spiral among the folks my congregation helps with its benevolence fund and among the potential tenants I encounter in my business leasing apartments. Literally, I see this almost every day.

As an eyewitness, I'll tell you how I think it started and why it's progressing.

First, several decades ago, small farms and union factory jobs began folding. Comparatively unskilled, marginally educated men once could make decent livings. As the farms shut down and the factories moved overseas, a lot of these men found it difficult, or nigh unto impossible, to earn meaningful wages.

Second, shifting cultural mores made divorce socially acceptable.

As blue-collar men became hard-pressed to make a living, family tensions rose. And troubled couples no longer faced a stigma if they split up. So they did.

Move forward. The farming and union factory jobs never came back.

You had, then, a generation of kids — the children of that previous group — who grew up in shattered and newly poor families, without the benefit of physically present fathers who went to work every day, who served as role models of self-respect and diligence.

Sometimes the divorced mothers had to hold down two "pink-collar" jobs to keep food on the table because the dads couldn't or wouldn't pay child support. These kids were raised by extended family or neighbors. Or nobody.

I personally know many exceptions, but too often the children grew up scarred by neglect. They turned angry, irresponsible, insecure and skeptical.

Who can blame them?

They're now 20 or 30 or 40 years old.

They don't trust anybody who's in authority.

They don't trust God much. A statistical detail of the new underclass is that the vast majority has no religious affiliation.

One study, by University of Virginia sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox and others, found that 46 percent of college-educated whites regularly attend church. Among the least educated, it's 23 percent, down dramatically since the 1970s.

They don't have the money, familial encouragement, self-confidence or learned perseverance to pursue formal education. They're unemployed or, at best, hold part-time service jobs or low-end, temporary, manufacturing jobs.

They tend not to get married, because they can't afford to and don't trust marriage. Instead, they cohabit in brief, fragile relationships.

Then they have a child.

Among white women with less than 12th-grade educations, 65.4 percent of births now are to single women, syndicated columnist Clarence Page observed a couple of weeks ago, citing numbers from Charles Murray's book, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010.

When difficulties strike, this young mother and father soon break up and move on to their next partners, who have no vested interest in the baby's well-being. Maybe those subsequent pairings produce additional children. Then those couples, too, break up. This continues ad infinitum.

The young man or young woman — or both — turns to prescription pills or methamphetamine for relief from this never-ending turmoil. Drug addiction and jail sentences make their troubles even darker and more intractable.

The children of this generation are on the way to becoming at least the third generation of adults in this decline. They will begin from even further behind.

I'm not condemning anyone. There but by the grace of God. I'm mainly reporting what I've seen with my own eyes, in my own back yard. I could tell you specific stories with names attached, but I have no desire to embarrass anybody.

The saddest thing is that there's no sure fix.

Traditionally, across various nations, races and cultures, two dependable paths out of poverty have been education and religion.

People escaped by working nights and going to trade school or college during the days. They became skilled workers or small-business owners or accountants. Barring that, they set aside dimes until they could send their kids to college.

Religious adherence provided a well-documented benefit called social uplift. That is, religious tenets encouraged the poor to stay married, stay sober, work hard and save money — behaviors that led to family stability and economic improvement. Religion also offered optimism and meaning in the face of despair.

Over time, families often were lifted out of poverty through their faith.

But the new underclass is heading in the opposite direction, not up and out, but further and further down.

Many appear disinclined to pursue education even when government aid is available. That's particularly true of the men, for some reason.

And, as I mentioned, a trait of the new underclass is its rejection of, or at least apathy toward, the church.

As one researcher told New York Times reporter Sabrina Tavernise about reversing this descent: "No one has the slightest idea what will work. The cupboard is bare."

Paul Prather is pastor of Bethesda Church near Mount Sterling. Email him at pratpd@yahoo.com.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/02/25/2083052/paul-prather-religious-apathy.html#storylink=cpy

Bowling Green, Kentucky, Church Introduces E-Giving. That's Right: You Don't Have To Be Physically In Church To Give. "We Don't Have To Have You, Your E-Giving Will Do Just Fine"!

Check it out here.

Kentucky's Neanderthal Church, Gulnare Free Will Baptist Church in Pike County, And Its "Pastor", Stacy "Stepthroat" Stepp, Overturn Resolution Banning Interracial Couples. I'm NOT Buying The Church's New Found Love For People Like Me!

Ky church overturns ban on interracial couples

PIKEVILLE, Ky. — An eastern Kentucky church under a firestorm of criticism since members voted to bar mixed-race couples from joining the congregation overturned that decision Sunday, saying it welcomes all believers.

Stacy Stepp, pastor of the Gulnare Free Will Baptist Church in Pike County, told The Associated Press that the vote by nine people last week was declared null and void after it was determined that new bylaws can't run contrary to local, state or national laws. He said the proposal was discriminatory, therefore it couldn't be adopted.

Stepp said about 30 people who attended church services voted on a new resolution that welcomes "believers into our fellowship regardless of race, creed or color."

The issue came up at the tiny all-white Appalachian church after the daughter of church secretary Dean Harville visited over the summer with her boyfriend, who is from Africa, and the two sang for the congregation.

Harville said he was approached in August by Melvin Thompson, the church member who crafted the resolution to bar mixed-race couples, and was told that his daughter and her boyfriend were no longer allowed to sing at the church.

Thompson has said he is not racist and called the matter an "internal affair."

Stepp said the Sandy Valley Conference of Free Will Baptists declared the vote on Thompson's resolution null and void during a meeting on Saturday.

He said he told church members on Sunday about the decision and proposed a resolution to promote "peace, love and harmony."

He said the resolution to welcome all believers passed with a unanimous vote.

Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2011/12/04/1982944/pastor-says-hell-void-vote-on.html#ixzz1fcvJf9lW

Lexington Herald Leader: Outrage At Church's Bigotry A Sign Of Progress.

Outrage at church's bigotry a sign of progress

One of the great story lines of all time pits the forces of bigotry against the power of love — from Romeo and Juliet to Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and Brokeback Mountain.

It makes sense then that a Pike County church's condemnation of interracial marriage — aimed at one couple in particular — unleashed a groundswell of public interest and disapproval.

We suspect that Stella Harville and Ticha Chikuni could have done without this moment in the spotlight.

Harville, 24, a graduate student who grew up in the Gulnare Free Will Baptist Church, is white. Chikuni, 29, her fiance and a student advisor at Georgetown College and originally from Zimbabwe, is black.

At a church service last summer, Chikuni sang I Surrender All while Harville accompanied him on piano. Their appearance didn't sit well with at least one member, so after last Sunday's service, the Gulnare congregation was asked to go on record against interracial marriage and to exclude interracial couples from church membership and the worship program.

Most of the 40-some worshipers left or didn't vote; the resolution was approved 9-6.

The decision was reported by East Kentucky Broadcasting, a radio network, and people haven't stopped talking about it since.

The church is free to exclude whomever it wants and to set its own rules. The First Amendment guarantees that right — just as it guarantees the rights of others to express their revulsion at the church's action, which they've been doing in droves.

We're sorry that Harville and Chikuni had to feel the sting of bigotry, especially in a place where she felt at home.

At the same time, their story is a reminder of how far we've come and how the distances that separate humankind have narrowed. It was less than 50 years ago that laws were still on the books in many states enforcing racial segregation in almost all aspects of life and society.

Now a young woman can leave the hills of Eastern Kentucky and meet a young man from Africa. They can fall in love. And no one but a handful of backward busybodies cares that their skins do not match. The rest of us just wish them a happy ending.

Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2011/12/02/1980612/outrage-at-churchs-bigotry-a-sign.html#ixzz1fUIX2YG9