A number of retired United Methodist bishops are urging the United Methodist Church to change its anti-gay stance and accept gay people as they are. To that end, they’ve signed a petition (PDF) that’s worth reading. Yes, it talks a lot about “God’s grace,” but even though I don’t support their religious views, it’s good to see older Christians seeing the light regarding how horribly and unfairly their church has treated homosexuals over the years: [W]e… believe The United Methodist… Read more
Somewhere on the list of topics I rarely discuss on this site much is Hannah Montana. But that’s about to change now that singer Billy Ray Cyrus has told GQ about how his relationship to daughter Miley Cyrus has strained and how his life is falling apart. He should’ve seen it all coming: “Somewhere along this journey,” he says, “both mine and Miley’s faith has been shaken. That saddens me the most.” When they first came to Hollywood for Hannah… Read more
Here’s a nice service for anyone who has sincere questions about atheism or how to get through the day without a god — a site called Talkatheist.org: With one click… you can get started. Just give us some basic information, before you know it, you’ll be connected with an atheist that can answer any questions that you have. I tried it out and got connected to someone instantly. But even if no one’s there the moment you have a question,… Read more
Robert is a commissioner on a certain Minnesota city council’s “Human Rights and Diversity” committee. He wrote to me about a city “manifesto” that he feels needs a bit of tweaking: [The manifesto] upholds “the rights of every individual… to freedom, dignity, and security regardless of religious affiliation…” I am attempting to amend this manifesto to include the words “or secular” between religious and affiliation. The city attorney and other members of the commission are opposed to this proposal because… Read more
I know I’m late to the party here. There’s been plenty written already about how Apple rejected an iPhone/iPad app called The Manhattan Declaration — the declaration calls on conservative Christians to be strongly anti-choice, against equal rights & marriage for gay people, and supportive of things like “conscience clauses” so that Christian pharmacists can deny you birth control as they please. The app in question: … enabled users to sign the declaration, visit the website, and take a survey… Read more
