Folks, from the home continent of the gay penguins, the brother and sister pair who live as a married couple, of animal/human hybrids, and various other idiocies, now comes this:

Strausburg, May 23, 2008 / 02:49 am (CNA).- Animal rights advocates are appealing to the European Court of Human Rights to declare a 26-year-old chimpanzee named Matthew to be a legal person.

British teacher Paula Stibbe and activists with the Vienna-based Association Against Animal Factories want to declare Matthew a person so that Stibbe may be appointed his legal guardian if the bankrupt animal sanctuary where Matthew lives in Vienna shuts down, the Evening Standard says.

Matthew lives with another chimpanzee and a crocodile in an animal shelter.  The shelter requires about $8,000 each month in expenses.  While donors have sought to support Matthew, under Austrian law only humans may receive personal gifts. 

Austrian law also limits legal guardianship to humans.

Austria’s Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling rejecting the activists’ request to have a trustee appointed for Matthew.  The lower court ruled that the animal was neither mentally impaired nor in danger.

“Everybody who knows him personally will see him as a person,” said the 36-year-old Stibbe, who was born in England but lives in Vienna.

“In his home in the African jungle, he would have been well able to look after himself without a guardian.  But since he was abducted into an alien environment, traumatized and locked up in an enclosure, it did become necessary for me to act on his behalf to secure the donation money for him and to avoid his deportation.”

Please, continue reading here.

Commentary. If this chimpanzee were to be declared a legal person, this animal will have more rights than gestating human babies in any other country in the world, It will would be a recognition of its inherent and inalienable right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Considering mankind's state of affairs today I am pretty sure that once a single higher primate was declared a legal person, the decision will set a precedent an a cascading effect will follow throughout the EU. Not long after that, I am pretty sure someone will want to marry a chimpanzee. Maybe Ms. Stibbe will be the first one.

Hey, if Emperor Caligula once named his horse a senator, anything can happen - not that I am picking on Europe, anything can happen here too. It's just a matter of time.

Labels: News Commentary, Satire

Posted by Teófilo de Jesús  # 9:00 AM, 0 Comment(s) Links to this entry

Folks, Boston Globe columnist Ellen Goodman (pictured right) wrote last week on May 16 in an syndicated column that hit my local newspaper yesterday, her thoughts about the "pedophile ring" that was taking place at the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FCJCLDS) ranch in Texas. Of course, pedophilia is a detestable thing, and a particularly sensitive subject in Boston. Our dominant culture has a natural aversion against children engaged in sex before the age of consent - one of our better qualities as a nation, if I may say so. Of course, there are some who argue - many of them in Boston - that sexual activity between children and adults is not necessarily a bad thing but thankfully, these guys are mostly in jail. So I can't disagree with Ms. Goodman when she decries the heinous practices of this Mormon Church offshoot.

However, after questioning those who say that "We may not like their lifestyle," and "We may not condone the practice of multiple women living together with a man, but it's not for the court to decide lifestyles" and asking if the state should enforce a set of values or tolerate "alternative lifestyles" and religions, Ms. Goodman made this amazing statement:

But surely the call to understand this sect as just another unique corner of multicultural America is relativism run amok.

Shocking.

I am now switching to direct address.

Dear Ms. Goldman:

Relativism has been running amok for quite a while. You yourself have been an enabler of amok relativism, with your support for "the right to choose" at the expense of the right of the unborn to live and your reluctance to admit the equal value of the lives of those who breath air and those who don't. Your support for same-sex marriage represents another contribution to this amok relativism you decry. This support, in fact, undermines your objections to the practices of the FCJCLDS. Your systematic rejection of natural law morality as the guiding principle for moral actions has lead to bizarre consequences in the real world. The consequences of your words are no longer merely academic.

Ms. Goodman, let me play devil's advocate for a moment. It can be argued that the FCJCLDS is somewhat akin to a Native American culture. It has its own morays and shared expectations; it's self-contained, self-reliant and its members form a tightly-knit community with a sense of common history and a common destiny. They are like the Amish but with stronger libidos.

Why should their culture be obliterated just because of your moral qualms against sex between adult men and young women? Who are you to judge?

The children growing up within this community didn't feel they were being mistreated and in fact, as you yourself admit, the original call for help was a hoax. The fact that these children never played with video games, had a Facebook page, and never had to contend with Hannah Montana doesn't mean that the were missing out in life. By all accounts they seemed well-adjusted and well-behaved. The women in this community supported all these girls through the trauma of early sex and motherhood because it was a rite of initiation shared by all of them.

If we hold to a morality that tolerates abortion on demand and same-sex marriage, who are we to judge the FCJCLDS on legal and moral grounds? Why should we impose our view of what adolescence is supposed to be to the cultural minorities in our midst?

The FCJCLDS wasn't bothering the rest of society, they already lived in their own reservation. It didn't take armies to corral them into there, they broke with the rest of us voluntarily. Why do gays have a right to their own socio-cultural space and the legal recognition of their relationships but the FCJCLDS men must be thrown in jail and their wives sent to battered women centers? What has the FCJCLDS ever done to you? Is the same argument that advocates of same-sex marriage level at us, but with a twist.

Aren't liberals multiculturalists through and through? (Not that I object to multiculturalism per sé, only to the one that is anti-European and anti-Western). Aren't you in favor of protecting the rights of minorities against the tyranny of the majority? Why the change of mind? You are confusing me.

I speculate that you applaud same-sex marriage and decry the FCJCLDS's fractal polygamy because the former one doesn't offend your feminist sensitivities at all, while the FCJCLDS practices offend all of what you've stood for since your days in Radcliffe and Harvard. Something tells me that if the FCJCLDS had been dominated by an oligarchy of polyandrous amazons reigning over effeminate young men you would not be making such a fuss. You would probably be calling them pioneering soul-sisters.

I think you opened the bottle and the genie fled, Ms. Goodman, and now you can't put it back in. A smart lawyer will find a way to call you and the rest of us monogamist, gender-centric bigots intent upon telling others how to carry on with their lives. Odds are that s/he will win the argument in court.

You helped create this environment. You helped open this door. Spare us your indignation, please.

Labels: Media, News Commentary, Religious Freedom, Sects and Cults

Posted by Teófilo de Jesús  # 6:00 AM, 2 Comment(s) Links to this entry

Folks, according to CWNews.com:

Los Angeles, May. 20, 2008 (CWNews.com) - Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles has barred a controversial Australian bishop from speaking in his California archdiocese.

In a May 9 letter to Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, a retired auxiliary of the Sydney, Australia archdiocese, Cardinal Mahony invoked the Code of Canon Law to explain that he had decided to "deny you permission to speak in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles."

Cardinal Mahony took action just as the Australian bishops' conference issued a public statement warning of "doctrinal difficulties" in Bishop Robinson's new book, Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church. The Australian bishops noted problems with Bishop Robinson's treatment of "the nature of Tradition, the inspiration of the Holy Scripture, the infallibility of the Councils and the Pope, the authority of the Creeds, the nature of the ministerial priesthood and central elements of the Church’s moral teaching."

Please, continue reading here.

Commentary. That's great! Robinson has been attracting a lot of press for the last few years thanks to his radical reinterpretations of Christ and the Church. In fact, the Australian bishops said recently that "Bishop Robinson's questioning of the authority of the church 'is connected to Bishop Robinson's uncertainty about the knowledge and authority of Christ himself. Catholics believe that the church, founded by Christ, is endowed by him with a teaching office which endures through time. "This is why the church's magisterium teaches the truth authoritatively in the name of Christ. The book casts doubt upon these teachings.'"  The bishops also rejected the reformist proposals advocated by Bishop Robinson in his book. The Australian bishops stated that "the authority entrusted by Christ to his church may at times be poorly exercised, especially in shaping policy and practice in complex areas of pastoral and human concern. This does not, in Catholic belief, invalidate the church's authority to teach particular truths of faith and morals." (Source)

Of course, Dan Bartley, president of Voice of the Faithful (a liberal Catholic think-tank), criticized Cardinal Mahony’s refusal of permission to Bishop Robinson’s Los Angeles lecture.

“Why is a loyal Catholic bishop prevented from asking honest questions in his search for the truth in the aftermath of the worst scandal in the modern Church?” Bartley said. A statement from Voice of the Faithful said the ban would harm the Church, saying Bishop Robinson “obviously loves the Church.”  The statement suggested that the Australian bishops’ statement was questionable in its conclusions about Bishop Robinson’s doctrinal stands. (Source)

Bishop Robinson is a kind of Liberation Theologian, in my opinion and perhaps this characterization is unfair to Liberation Theologians, most of whom remained quiet when told to chill out while the their doctrinal inquiries were taking place. Most of them really proved to be obedient. But he is like them in the kind of analysis and solutions he proposes to "solve" the Church's problems.

Bishop Robinson's positions are no longer Catholic and this U.S. tour is meant to enhance a status he doesn't deserve. I think that he should've stayed retired. As for Voice of the Faithful, there's an organization gone awry.  Despite a number good points they raise in their Positions, all they deserve at this time is a polite acknowledgement of their existence. Their support of Bishop Robinson makes me wonder if they support his heretical christology and ecclessiology, a clear violation of their published stance.

Bravo for Cardinal Mahoney for his ban on Robinson. I honestly admit that it pleases me greatly to say the words "Bravo for Cardinal Mahoney" at long last.

Labels: Episcopal Magisterium, News Commentary

Posted by Teófilo de Jesús  # 12:00 PM, 0 Comment(s) Links to this entry

Folks, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver has written another very thougtful piece First Things, titled Thoughts on “Roman Catholics for Obama ’08”. You all must read it. These are the central paragraphs:

After Robert Kennedy died, the meaning of the 1968 election seemed to evaporate. I lost interest in politics. I didn’t get involved again until the rise of Jimmy Carter. Carter fascinated me because he seemed like an untypical politician. He was plain spoken, honest, a serious Christian and a Washington outsider. So I supported him during his 1976 campaign when I was a young priest working in Pennsylvania. After his election as president, I came to Denver as pastor of Holy Cross Parish in Thornton in 1977. I eventually got involved with the 1980 Colorado campaign for Carter’s re-election on the invitation of a parishioner and Democratic party activist—Polly Baca, who was and remains a good friend.

Carter had one serious strike against him. The U.S. Supreme Court had legalized abortion on demand in its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, and Carter the candidate waffled about restricting it. At the time, I knew Carter was wrong in his views about Roe and soft toward permissive abortion. But even as a priest, I justified working for him because he wasn’t aggressively “pro-choice.” True, he held a bad position on a vital issue, but I believed he was right on so many more of the “Catholic” issues than his opponent seemed to be. The moral calculus looked easy. I thought we could remedy the abortion problem after Carter was safely returned to office.

Carter lost his bid for re-election, but even with an avowedly prolife Ronald Reagan as president, the belligerence, dishonesty, and inflexibility of the pro-choice lobby has stymied almost every effort to protect unborn human life since.

In the years after the Carter loss, I began to notice that very few of the people, including Catholics, who claimed to be “personally opposed” to abortion really did anything about it. Nor did they intend to. For most, their personal opposition was little more than pious hand-wringing and a convenient excuse—exactly as it is today. In fact, I can’t name any pro-choice Catholic politician who has been active, in a sustained public way, in trying to discourage abortion and to protect unborn human life—not one. Some talk about it, and some may mean well, but there’s very little action. In the United States in 2008, abortion is an acceptable form of homicide. And it will remain that way until Catholics force their political parties and elected officials to act differently.

Why do I mention this now? Earlier this spring, a group called “Roman Catholics for Obama ’08” quoted my own published words in the following way...

Read it all here.

Commentary. As a member of the Illinois legislature, Obama voted against a bill that would have provided medical care to babies who survived abortion. Obama recently scored NARAL's endorsement of his presidential candidacy. NARAL is a radical pro-abortion group and this doesn't bode well for all the murdered babies in this country.  In my book, receiving the support from NARAL is like receiving one from, say, NAMBLA. In other words, nothing to be proud of.

Expect Obama to do nothing to reduce the number of abortions in this country, much less name Supreme Court justices inclined to send Roe v. Wade into oblivion. Archbishop Chaput ended his piece by wishing "Catholics for Obama '08" a "good luck" wish in their attempt to change the candidate's mind on abortion. Something tells me, though, that these "Catholics" do not want to any way. If they are sincere, though, I also wish them lots of luck.

Labels: Abp. Chaput, Life Issues, News Commentary, Politics

Posted by Teófilo de Jesús  # 12:00 AM, 0 Comment(s) Links to this entry

Folks, I want to close out my little InfoOp campaign with the following prayer that, although popularly attributed to St. Francis, wasn't written by him but definitely reflects his feelings perfectly. I want to finish the serial striking the right chord, before the Lord and before men:

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

Labels: Enlightened Words, Prayer

Posted by Teófilo de Jesús  # 3:00 PM, 0 Comment(s) Links to this entry

Folks, there are "theologians" out there who see no discrepancy, no contradiction, between homosexual activity and Christian living. Those who quote them are taking the easy way out, looking for an exculpatory absolution, and that's their free choice. However, what is not for them to choose is their drive to impose their morality on others by means of the law or public opprobrium and then silence those of us who hold a principled dissent toward their views with name calling and "hate laws." It is sad, but these "theologians" are lending their help to a malignant ideology. So, again thanks to NARTH, I present to you a list of essays dealing with the theology of the issue, with the purpose of making these searchable in the Catholic Blogosphere so as to influence the public and politicians to end their support to the legal recognition of same-sex marriage.

Link: Before and After Letters to My Son's Therapist

Link: Same-Sex "Marriage" And The Fate Of Religious Liberty

Gay Christian Soulforce Will Challenge Mega-Churches

A Lesson From Paul: Same-Sex Attraction May Be A Thorn In The Flesh

NARTH Expert Reviews 'Ex-Gays? A Longitudinal Study Of Religiously Mediated Change In Sexual Orientation'

Link: An Older, Wiser Ex-Gay Movement

Conservative Jewish Movement Leadership Splits Apart Over Homosexuality

Link: Reason, Faith and Homosexual Acts, By John Finnis, Oxford University - "Not everything we find in our nature is a pointer to what is good, choiceworthy and reasonable," says Finnis, a prominent philosopher.

Study Finds Correlation Between Religiosity And Reduced Promiscuity

Link: Same-Sex Marriage And The Fate Of Religious Liberty

Link: Shedding Light on the Gay Issue: Advice for Orthodox Jews, by Dr. Benzion Sorotzkin

Link: A Jewish Understanding of SSA -- Separating the Person from the Act

A Jewish Understanding Of Levels Of Moral Responsibility

Link: A World Where I Belong: Finding Sanctuary in the Gay Community

Link: Involuntary Responses

Link: Evangelical Group Describes A 'Day In The Admissions Department'

Link: "Liberal-Conservative Theological Battle May Have Turned Deadly"

Link: Same-Sex Attraction and Halakhah An interpretation of Jewish law for followers of the Conservative Movement

Giving Pastoral Care Addressing Gender Issues by Don Schmierer

Link: Vatican Warns of Criminalization of Religious Opposition to Gay Political Aims

Link: Pastoral Care For Those With Same-Sex Attraction: Interview With Father John Harvey Of Courage

Study Surveys Gender-Role Conflicts And Spiritual Well-Being In Australian Men

UK Christian Faces Court For Handing Out Bible Verse Leaflets At Gay Rally

Young Gay Activist Seeks Divinity Degree To Question Religious Opposition To Homosexual Conduct

Link: Is Anyone Ever Totally Healed?

Catholic Charities Of San Francisco Revises Policy on Adoption

'Boston Globe' Columnist Concerned Over Freedom Of Conscience And Gay Adoption

Former Jesuit Priest Says Vatican Campaign Against Gay Clergy Is Blame-Shifting

The Psychology Behind Homosexual Tendencies (Parts 1-2)

Link: The Psychology Of Homosexual Tendencies (Part 1)

Link: The Psychology Of Homosexual Tendencies (Part 2)

How Should Psychologists Deal With Religious, Sexually Confused Adolescents?

NARTH Psychologist Responds To Critic Of Exodus: Balance Needed In Schools

New York Socialite Sues Catholic Church Over Priest Sex Abuse

Ex-Gay, Now Baptist Pastor Speaks To Campus Group

Canadian Pastor Faces Jail Time And Fines Over Criticism Of Homosexuality

Salon.com Feature Questions Effectiveness Of Reorientation Therapy

Catholic Priest John Harvey Starts Courage Group In Mexico

Gay Shamans Touted As Gatekeepers To The Spirit World

PFLAG Criticizes Newly Elected Pope Benedict XVI

Statement on "Gay Affirmative Therapy" (Maranatha Community)

Christian Legal Society Fights For Right To Set Membership Standards

Why Psychology Must Change

Gay Men's Group To Present Sessions On S&M At National Religion Conference

New Gay Book Discusses "Sex As Prayer"

Notre Dame University Magazine Showcases Gay Activist Causes

Concordia Seminary Hosts Symposium On Challenge Of Homosexuality

Transforming Congregation Leader Promotes Reparative Therapy

Methodists Uphold Church Policy On Homosexuality

Link: ELCA Studies on Sexuality Considers Options, Reparative Therapy

The John Jay Study Yields New Evidence on Catholic Clergy Abuse

A.P.A. Journal Article on Religion and Same-Sex Attraction

APA Journal Studies Religious Motivation of Reorientation-Therapy Clients

Gay Marriage and Human Sexual Nature

Clergyman's Support of Reorientation Therapy Draws Bizarre, Disturbing Response

Link: Episcopal Priest Objects to Consecration of Gay Bishop

Unsung Heroes: Jewish Men Struggling With Same-Sex Attraction

Help for Same-Sex Attracted Muslims

The Muslim View Of Homosexuality

Catholic Schools, Teens, and Homosexuality: The Truth Will Set Them Free

Letter to the Catholic Bishops

Thoughts on the Ordination of Sexually Active Gay Men and Lesbians

Humanistic Psychology and Christianity: A Review of The Emperor's New Clothes: The Naked Truth About the New Psychology

The Bible Still Matters

Responding to Pro-Gay Theology

Gay "Marriage"?

The Homosexual Movement: A Response by the Ramsey Colloquium

The Church and Homosexuality: Recent Developments

Hank Hanegraaff Responds to TV Caricaturing of Old Testament Moral Law

Reclaiming Necessary Judgment and Conditions for Living in God's World

Pastoral Care for Same-gender Attracted Individuals

Labels: Apologetics, Catholic Living, Church and State, Defense of Marriage, Islam, Judaism, Moral Issues, Protestantism, Sex, Theology

Posted by Teófilo de Jesús  # 12:00 PM, 3 Comment(s) Links to this entry

Folks, I continue this information offensive by sharing with you these links to 1997 series on Homosexuality was published in L'Osservatore Romano, the semi-official newspaper of the Holy See, and currently hosted at EWTN:

1.  Homosexuality in the context of Christian Anthropology

2.  Homosexuality and Classical Antiquity

3.  Homosexuality and the Old Testament

4.  Homosexuality and the New Testament

5.  Sexuality and friendship in Early Christianity

6.  The Homosexual Condition: I. Definition and causal factors

7.  The Homosexual Condition: II. Structural Attitudes

8.  Lesbianism

9.  The homosexual condition and  constitutional law

10. Should the law formally recognize homosexual unions?

11. Do homosexual couples have a right to marriage?

12. Antecedents to homosexuality: science and moral evaluation

13. Moral criteria for evaluating homosexuality

14. Elements of pastoral care for homosexual persons

Again, the idea is to propagate this information across the Catholic Blogosphere and beyond, in order to influence public opinion, lawmakers, and judges to put a stop to the drive to recognize same-sex unions and, in this instance, to provide the appropriate context for the loving, pastoral care of the homosexual person, a subject that the Church addressed back in 1986 in the appropriately named letter on The Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons.

Labels: Bible Studies, Catholic Living, Catholicism and Culture, Defense of Marriage, Family and Society, Moral Issues, Science, Sex

Posted by Teófilo de Jesús  # 12:00 AM, 0 Comment(s) Links to this entry

Folks, I continue my little Information Operations (InfoOps) campaign of documenting sound but dissenting opinions on the origin and immutability of homosexual attractions by reproducing this list published by NARTH. If you haven't guessed it already, the purpose of this InfoOps campaign is to document, collate, and redistribute true information regarding the origins of homosexuality, its dysfunctional character, and its treatment. Therefore, by dispelling any argument equating the homosexual condition with race, I intend to inform and influence voters, lawmakers, and jurists into stopping any move to legalize same-sex marriage.

There's no hidden agenda here. Only the truth, for all to see.

Researcher Sees Hair Whorl Direction As Indicator Of Genetic Basis For Homosexuality

APA's New Pamphlet on Homosexuality De-emphasizes the Biological Argument, Supports a Client's Right to Self-Determination

Link: An Antiboy Antibody? Re-Examination Of The Maternal Immune Hypothesis by Neil Whitehead, NARTH advisor

Female Bisexuality: A Longitudinal Study By Psychologist Lisa Diamond

What Has Been Concluded From 1000 Recent Articles On Homosexuality?

Latest Twin Study Confirms Genetic Contribution To SSA Is Minor

Study To Be Published In Sexual Abuse Journal Alleges Pedophilia Influenced In Womb

Researchers Study Sexual Orientation, Body Motion And Morphology

NARTH Scientific Advisory Board Member Presents at APA Convention

Tradition-Based Convictions Are Not "Homophobia," Say Recent Peer-Reviewed Research Papers [see list]

'Nearly Straight' Men And The Fraternal Birth Order Effect

NARTH Scientific Advisory Committee Member Publishes Analysis Of Maternal Immune Attack Theory

Researchers Examine Thought Suppression In Relation To HIV-related Behaviors

Yet Another Attempt To Discredit The Spitzer Study Fails

Review of study: Cochran, B. N & Cauce, A. M (March, 2006). Characteristics of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals entering substance abuse treatment. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 30, 135-146.

Fordham University Dissertation Furthers Spitzer's Landmark Study on Sexual Re-orientation Success

Review Of Study: 'Sexual Behavior And Selected Health Measures'

Spitzer Study Published: Evidence Found for Effectiveness of Reorientation Therapy

Should Reorientation Therapy Be Available? -- APA Journal Article Says Yes

Conversion Therapy Revisited: Parameters And Rationale For Ethical Care

Attempts to Modify Sexual Orientation: A Review of Outcome Literature and Ethical Issues

Rationale for Sexual Reorientation Therapy Supported in Journal of Marital and Family Therapy

Study Supports the "Weak Father" Theory of Homosexuality

Gay-To-Straight Research Published In APA Journal

Researchers Study Male Anti-Homosexual Attitudes

APA Journal Article Discourages Reorientation Therapy

Spitzer Study Critiqued In the Journal of Gay and Lesbian Psychotherapy

"People Can Change: Men Who Have Left Homosexuality Showing Others the Way Out" offers an informative article, "Is Change Possible?" with useful research citations -- click here

Web Resource Cites Research on Sexual Orientation Change

"Getting It Straight": What the Research Shows About Homosexuality

Treatment of Male Homosexuality: A Cognitive-Behavioral and Interpersonal Approach

Some Gay Advocates Acknowledge Reorientation Therapy as a Legitimate Option--Simon LeVay Joins Douglas Haldeman in Qualified Support

Research Studies and Journal Articles of Interest

Historic Gay Advocate Now Believes Change is Possible--see story

More Balance Needed in the Journal of Marriage and Family Therapy

NARTH Research Studies Published

Questions and Answers, by Sander Breiner, M.D.

Does "Born That Way" Mean "Designed That Way"?

Questions and Answers, by David Leaman, Ed.D.

Archives of General Psychiatry Article Asks, Could Homosexuality be a "Developmental Error"?

Journal Articles Support the Reparative-Therapy Treatment Option

Sexual Orientation Conversion Therapy: Help or Hindrance?

Fathers of Male Homosexuals: A Collective Clinical Profile

Labels: Defense of Marriage, Family and Society, Science, Sex

Posted by Teófilo de Jesús  # 6:00 PM, 0 Comment(s) Links to this entry

The assumption underlying the recognition of same-sex unions is exactly that: homosexuality is an unchangeable trait as unchangeable as race and in fact, the "fight" for "gay rights" is often pictured by activists as another civil rights movement. The media never challenges this assumption and, like human-caused, human-driven global warning, the immutability of the homosexual conditions always goes unchallenged. One would expect that there would be no scholarly literature challenging this tenet but the fact is that the literature is vast and suggestive. Here's the tip of the iceberg. Don't let homosexualists tell you what to think - much less treat you as a bigoted moron. Challenge their assumptions. Educate yourself. Vote accordingly.

"Born that way" theory

Homosexuality 101: What Every Therapist, Parent, And Homosexual Should Know

Link: Radio Interview With Dr. Stanton Jones -- September 27, 2007

Study Seeks To Discover Genetic Origin Of Homosexuality

Link: Can You Change Your Sexual Orientation? By N.E. Whitehead, Ph.D.

Link: Gay By Choice? The Science of Sexual Identity

Myths And Misconceptions About Behavioral Genetics And Homosexuality

Link: Same-Sex Behavior in the Animal Kingdom

What Do First Stages Of SSA Or OSA Tell Us About Their Origin?

Facts, Not flattery, About Same-Sex Attraction

"Homosexuality Is Not Hardwired," Concludes Dr. Francis S. Collins, Head Of The Human Genome Project

The Role Of Free Agency In Sexual Identity Development

Link: Homosexual animals exhibit opens

2002 Study Shows The Importance Of Social Factors, Cannot Detect Genetic Factors In SSA

Link: Opposite-Sex Twins and Adolescent Same-Sex Attraction

Media Campaign In Colorado Waged Over 'Born Gay' Theory

Anthony Bogaert (& Friends) Grasping At A Straw

Link: Biological Research On SSA: Is SSA An Abnormality Or A Part Of Human Design?

Link: No scientific basis for 'born gay' theory

Canadian Psychiatrist Finds Major Flaws In Anthony Bogaert's Study Of Gay Brothers

Individuals With Unwanted Same-Sex Attractions Find Help From Ohio Ministry

NARTH Scientific Advisory Committee Responds to Scientist Who Sees a Possible 'Gay Gene'

The Human Embryo's Sex Differentiation: Why Do Men Have Nipples? A Book Review by Louis Berman, Ph.D.

Homosexuality: The Essentialist Argument Continues to Erode

How Might Homosexuality Develop? Putting the Pieces Together

Two Major Papers Run Features On Sexual Orientation And Reorientation Therapy

'Gay' Ram Claims Questioned By NARTH Leader

Link: Dr. Throckmorton Interview On CNN

Link: Q & A Concerning the March 2005 Human Genetics study concerning sexual orientation in men

Latest Gay Brain Study Scrutinized

Study of Male Triplets Lends Support to Neurohormonal Theory of Sexual Orientation, Say Psychologists

NARTH Advisory Board Member Notes Flaws In Italian Study On Mothers Of Homosexuals

Italian Researchers Believe That Genetic Factors May Increase Fertility In Mothers Of Gay Males

The Animal Homosexuality Myth

Dr. Phil Weighs In on Sexual Orientation

Fencing with the NY Times Over Gay Marriage

Governor Howard Dean Misunderstands Origins Of Homosexual Behavior

Homosexuality and Genes: Déjà vu All Over Again?

Newswriters Represent New Study As Proof Of Biological Basis Of Homosexuality

Link: Of Mice and Gay Men
Once again, the media runs with a story about new scientific research in a way that completely distorts its findings to conclude that a homosexual orientation is inborn.

Health Writer Says Study Shows a Biological Cause for Homosexuality

"Gay Sheep" Study Offers Intriguing Prenatal Hormonal Link

New Evidence for Biological Influence on Gender

The Innate-Immutable Argument Finds No Basis in Science

Is There a "Gay Gene"?

The Importance of Twin Studies

New Ex-Gay Website

Is There a Link Between Left-Handedness and Homosexuality?

The New Finger-Length Study on Lesbians

The Biological Research on Homosexuality

The Fading "Gay Gene"

Is Sexual Orientation Fixed at Birth?

Can Prenatal Hormone Exposure Influence Gender-Identity Development? -- One Theory

Source: NARTH

P.S. Regarding the issue of global warming and climate change, I suggest you read the following book by Lawrence Solomon. The book questions very sharply several commonly held assumptions passing as "common sense" and "received knowledge" in these days. Like the genetic immutability of homosexuality, human-caused, human-driven global warming is not exactly an all-around fact, but a hypothesis still in need of vast research and refinement, Al Gore notwithstanding.

Labels: Defense of Marriage, Family and Society, Moral Issues, Science, Sex

Posted by Teófilo de Jesús  # 10:45 AM, 7 Comment(s) Links to this entry

Twenty-Six Conclusions from the Social Sciences

Source: Institute for American Values

Family

• Marriage increases the likelihood that fathers and mothers have good relationships with their children.
• Cohabitation is not the functional equivalent of marriage.
• Growing up outside an intact marriage increases the likelihood that children will themselves divorce or become unwed parents.
• Marriage is a virtually universal human institution. Marriage, and a normative commitment to marriage, foster high quality relationships between adults, as well as between parents and children.
• Marriage has important biosocial consequences for adults and children.

Economics

• Divorce and unmarried childbearing increase poverty for both children and mothers.
• Married couples seem to build more wealth on average than singles or cohabiting couples.
• Marriage reduces poverty and material hardship for disadvantaged women and their children.
• Minorities benefit economically from marriage.
• Married men earn more money than do single men with similar education and job histories.
• Parental divorce (or failure to marry) appears to increase children’s risk of school failure.
• Parental divorce reduces the likelihood that children will graduate from college and achieve high-status jobs.

Physical Health and Longevity

• Children who live with their own two married parents enjoy better physical health, on average, than do children in other family forms.
• Parental marriage is associated with a sharply lower risk of infant mortality.
• Marriage is associated with reduced rates of alcohol and substance abuse for both adults and teens.
• Married people, especially married men, have longer life expectancies than do otherwise similar singles. Marriage is associated with better health and lower rates of injury, illness, and disability for both men and women.
• Marriage seems to be associated with better health among minorities and the poor.

Mental Health and Emotional Well-Being

• Children whose parents divorce have higher rates of psychological distress and mental illness.
• Divorce appears to increase significantly the risk of suicide.
• Married mothers have lower rates of depression than do single or cohabiting mothers.
• Boys raised in single-parent families are more likely to engage in delinquent and criminal behavior.
• Marriage appears to reduce the risk that adults will be either perpetrators or victims of crime.
• Married women appear to have a lower risk of experiencing domestic violence than do cohabiting or dating women.
• A child who is not living with his or her own two married parents is at greater risk for child abuse.

Read the report's Executive Summary here.

Labels: Defense of Marriage, Family and Society, Moral Issues

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