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Pope Francis is reported to have acknowledged the existence of a “gay lobby” inside the Vatican.

He also said there was a “stream of corruption”, according to reports in Catholic media.

Time for yer whipping, Frawncis?

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Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham (and tarnisher of his legacy), wrote an article asking “Is Our Nation Intolerant of Christianity?”

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The very first line in the piece goes like this:

Recently I was at a White House meeting with Vice President Joe Biden…

Stop. Just stop. You’ve already disproven your thesis in the first sentence.

If you get to have a meeting with the Vice President of the United States, I think it’s safe to say you’re doing just fine.

When those meetings are closed off to you because it might be political suicide to be seen in public with a Christian leader, then we’ll talk, okay Franklin?

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The first incident, in February, involved Gresham’s Sweet Cakes by Melissa, whose owner told a lesbian couple that “we don’t do same-sex marriages.” Earlier this month, Pam Regentin, who operates Fleur Cakes out of her home in the Hood River area, also refused to make a cake for a lesbian couple’s wedding.

Both bakeries cited their religious beliefs as the reason they would not make the cakes. Both describe themselves as Christian.

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We wondered what other requests these cakemakers would decline to honor. So last week five WW reporters called these two bakeries anonymously to get price quotes for other occasions frowned upon by some Christians. Surprisingly, the people who answered the phone at each bakery were quite willing to provide baked goods for celebrations of divorces, unmarried parents, stem-cell research, non-kosher barbecues and pagan solstice parties.

Response from one of the cake makers:

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#It saddens me to see the lack of care, concern and discourse with our fellow human beings in our modern world. The disconnect that the internet provides these hateful attackers allows them to say horrific things to me and about me with little regard for the fact that we are all humans and we are all the same.

Except the Gays, of course. Somebody giver her a mirror.

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For centuries, the church has maintained a second set of books containing sensitive documents such as notes on priests’ alcohol abuse, disputes over parish funds and, later, molestation allegations.

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Bryan Fischer of the Christian conservative American Family Association (AFA) gave the Boy Scouts the nickname “Boy Sodomizers of America” after the organization agreed to drop its ban on openly gay youth.

I am confused. How can he mistake boy scouts for catholic priests?

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North Miami’s unpredictable election exploits entered the final day on a divine note: a mayoral candidate claiming she was endorsed by Jesus Christ.

Anna Pierre, who previously said she was a victim of Vodou sorcery, posted the message in a campaign-style flier featured on her Facebook page.

Reached on Monday, Pierre said Jesus came to her in a dream.

“I had a revelation when I was going to give up on this race. I had a dream. I know what I saw,” she said. “A figure I can’t explain told me, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am your friend. I am walking with you side by side. You are not alone.’ I felt it was from heaven. It was an endorsement by Jesus.”

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Unfortunately, Jesus was one of only 56 people who voted for Pierre. Matthew Tharrett from Queerty reported that she lost to all six of the other candidates, including the suburb’s openly gay former mayor, Kevin Burns.

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“Instead,” the Pope continued, “the Lord has created us in His image and likeness, and has given us this commandment in the depths of our heart: do good and do not do evil”:

“The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us children of God of the first class! We are created children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there.”

So, Francis – are you telling me the Church renounces its policy of Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus?

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Exorcism experts said on Monday that it appears that Pope Francis may have performed an exorcism on an ill man on St Peter’s Square following mass on Pentecost Sunday. According to a panel of clergy specialized in exorcism speaking on the religious satellite channel TV2000′s program Vade Retro, images appear to show the pontiff placing his hands on a man’s head and reciting a prayer to liberate the him from demons. Next Friday’s edition of the program on the religious satellite channel will be dedicated to “Pope Francis’ battle against the devil and his seductions,” the program conductor said. TV2000 is the television channel of the Italian Bishops Conference.

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In the case of a fire at Pensacola Christian College, the first priority is to dress appropriately.

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The legendary George Takei responds in the best way possible to the protesters who gathered during March Prop 8/DOMA hearings outside the Supreme Court. I went there to ask them to express their opinions on a pad of paper; now George is weighing in.

Go look at the pictures.

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The head of Saudi Arabia’s religious police has warned citizens against using Twitter, which is rising in popularity among Saudis.

Sheikh Abdul Latif Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh said anyone using social media sites – and especially Twitter – “has lost this world and his afterlife”.

Twitter was the platform for those who did not have any platform, he said.

“The platform for those with no platform” sounds like an ad for something interesting. Which is the Sheikh’s real difficulty. It would make a good video, him watching a Twitter feed scrolling, gnashing and fulminating about evil-doers.

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It is no secret that copyright trolls tend to use rather threatening language as they try to convince defendants to pay settlement fees, but the recent actions of the Prenda law reincarnation “Anti-Piracy Law Group” have reached a new low. In a letter sent to people accused of pirating pornographic material, the lawyers threaten to inform neighbors about the illegal conduct, and inspect defendants’ work computers.

translations:

Mincha = Afternoon prayer
Frum = Religious
Shul = Synagogue
Ain od milvado = there is none other than he alone

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But the bishops aren’t entirely off the mark. They are the right on the money when they declare that this issue is fast becoming “the ‘Roe v. Wade’ of marriage.” Oh, you mean that thing where the United States Supreme Court asserted that the Constitution wasn’t written to uphold the worldview of one religion? That Americans should have the freedom to make their own choices about major life issues that affect them directly, without the interference of the church? That how and when we create our families is a deeply personal decision, one that should be respected and upheld? That, despite your best attempts, this isn’t a theocracy? Thanks for the message, gentlemen. I sincerely hope you’re proven entirely correct.

Quote  (not recommended as the site is full of  ads for sh*t ‘n’ paradise)

Many of our readers have urged Catholic Online to interview Dr. Roy Spencer as a leading, qualified skeptic on the issue of anthropogenic global warming.

blah…blah…blah (although the interviewer asks fairly sane questions)

COL: Let’s say tomorrow, evidence is found that proves to everyone that global warming as a result of human released emissions of CO2 and methane, is real. What would you suggest we do?

SPENCER: I would say we need to grow the economy as fast as possible, in order to afford the extra R&D necessary to develop new energy technologies. Current solar and wind technologies are too expensive, unreliable, and can only replace a small fraction of our energy needs. Since the economy runs on inexpensive energy, in order to grow the economy we will need to use fossil fuels to create that extra wealth. In other words, we will need to burn even more fossil fuels in order to find replacements for fossil fuels.

There, right there, is the problem. Telling everyone we can do whatever we like and everything will be A-OK. “Party on! Guilt-free futures for everyone! Everything will work out for the best!”

Questions:

1. What has this got to do with Catholics?  Why is anyone pressing to have this person interviewed?

2. I’m a qualified skeptic. He’s not. This person is, in my opinion, either mad, bad or sad.

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Sunday school tales of early Christians being rounded up at their secret catacomb meetings and thrown to the lions by evil Romans are mere fairy tales, Moss writes in a new book. In fact, in the first 250 years of Christianity, Romans mostly regarded the religion’s practitioners as meddlesome members of a superstitious cult.

The government actively persecuted Christians for only about 10 years, Moss suggests, and even then intermittently. And, she says, many of the best known early stories of brave Christian martyrs were entirely fabricated.

The controversial thesis, laid out in “The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom,” has earned her a lot of hate mail and a few sidelong looks from fellow faculty members. But Moss maintains that the Roman Catholic Church and historians have known for centuries that most early Christian martyr stories were exaggerated or invented.

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Pastor Jim Garlow of Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego lost his wife of 42 years, Carol, to cancer earlier this month. I grieve for anyone who has lost a loved one, especially a beloved spouse.

But it’s too bad Garlow would not be able to extend the same compassion to me if I should lose my beloved spouse of 12 years. You see, Garlow has used the death of his wife as an opportunity to do what he does best: bash gays and lesbians.

In an email he sent to supporters this past Sunday, Garlow wrote:

On occasion I would read phrases in newspapers or blogs to describe me as being “anti-gay” or “anti gay-marriage.” First, I am not against homosexual “marriage” because there is no such thing. I cannot be against something that does not exist according to God’s definition.
 
But I am adamantly pro authentic, historic marriage. And God’s Word on the subject, along with an indescribably spectacular 42 years with Carol, caused me to be so intensely pro (natural) marriage.
 
I was once asked by a secular news reporter, “Has your love for Carol and her cancer battle impacted your fight for marriage.” “Yes,” I responded. Why? Because I saw the wonder of covenantal one man-one woman marriage. I saw the sheer delight of authentic, biblical, natural, historic, God-defined marriage. The complimentary halves of humanity coming together is simply breathtaking.

Two things struck me as I read this odious message. First, what kind of blind hatred of other people would compel you to use the occasion of your wife’s death to make political hay? Rev. Garlow’s wife dies and the first thing he wants to do is write a letter to his supporters about how awful and sinful other people’s relationships are compared to his “real” relationship?

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A Catholic priest in southeastern Brazil was excommunicated on Monday after publicly resigning from his duties to protest against the church’s opposition to homosexuality.

“Father Roberto Francisco Daniel can no longer celebrate the divine rite because he has been excommunicated,” a statement from the Bauru diocese in Sao Paulo state said.

The 48-year-old priest, who renounced his church duties over the weekend, was accused of “heresy” and “schism” by the church hierarchy in the world’s biggest Catholic country, which will welcome Pope Francis in late July during a major youth festival in Rio de Janeiro.

“Father Beto,” as his parishioners call him, announced on social networks that he was giving up the priesthood, urging the Church to modify its views on homosexuality and bisexuality to adapt to “new realities.”

“We should simply be considered as gendered beings and not as homosexuals or bisexuals since love can spring at all these levels,” the priest said in a video posted on YouTube.

“For me it has become impossible to live the Gospel in an institution where freedom of thought and freedom of expression are not respected,” he said in an online message.

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Former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was recently condemned by al Qaeda publication Inspire Magazine for being gay, but he’s not upset. Instead, he said, he finds it ironic.

In an interview with BuzzFeed, Frank compared the al Qaeda criticism to the responses he’s received from conservative Americans, saying it reminded him of the way the tea party reacted when he married his partner.

“I wonder how the right wing in America feels about being aligned with al-Qaeda,” Frank said. “There is an irony that the most active anti-gay [groups] are al-Qaeda and the American right-wing.”

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Getting an ‘A’ just became a little bit easier for some Catholic high school students. Today, kids are picketing abortion clinics for extra-credit.

The issue of students being rewarded by teachers for their voluntary participation in pro-life protests arose when approximately 80 Catholic high school students protested outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Pennsylvania earlier this month.

Students from Archbishop Wood High School in Bucks County, Pa. had 10 points added to their grades for waving signs reading “Abortion Kills Children” at drivers and pedestrians outside the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic.

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Powerful Serbian bishop Vasilije Kačavenda organized orgies at which he and others raped underage boys and girls.

That’s among the sensational allegations that have been leveled against the holy man in recent months, culminating in Kačavenda’s tendering his resignation the other day, and the Orthodox Church accepting it.

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A man who once claimed to have been ‘cured’ of his sexuality has formally apologized for the harm he has caused, adding he is still gay.

John Paulk, the former chairman of Exodus International and founded the ‘Focus On The Family’, has released a statement renouncing his ‘ex-gay’ past.

‘For the better of ten years, I was an advocate and spokesman for what’s known as the “ex-gay movement”’ said Paulk, ‘where we declared that sexual orientation could be changed through a close-knit relationship with God, intensive therapy and strong determination.

‘At the time, I truly believed that it would happen. And while many things in my life did change as a Christian, my sexual orientation did not.’

He added: ‘Today, I do not consider myself “ex-gay”, and I no longer support or promote the movement.

‘Please allow me to be clear: I do not believe that reparative therapy changes sexual orientation; in fact, it does great harm to many people’.

‘I know that countless people were harmed by things I said and did in the past,’ Paulk continued.

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In 2006, Australia instituted mandatory background checks for those who work with children to ensure they’re not baby touchers or prone to cooking little kids in cauldrons. But apparently, God thinks this law is wrong, at least according to the country’s Jehovah’s Witnesses, who have chosen to follow their savior’s law in lieu of their government’s and refuse to have their members screened. But an 11-year-old schoolboy from Traralgon, Victoria, has had enough. He recently filed a lawsuit against the Witnesses, declaring that this negligence is tantamount to child abuse. To learn more, I spoke with Steven Unthank, an ex-Witness who’s launched a crusade against the sect’s policies toward children and who helped the boy (who can’t be named in the press under Australian law) file the suit.

VICE: What is the rationale behind the Jehovah’s Witnesses refusing these background checks?
Steven Unthank: They believe that anyone high up in the church has been chosen by God, and it’s unreasonable to make them conform to man’s law. It’s like questioning the will of God.

It’s not every day that an 11-year-old sues an international religious organization. How did this boy’s case come about? 
When he was eight, he witnessed the rape of another child within the church. He then saw that neither the church nor the police did anything because the person who raped the girl remained in the church.

A minor was raped within the community, and no one did anything about it until this kid stepped up?
It was complicated because the rapist was also a minor, and their dad also happened to be involved in the church legal team. He worked in construction law, but anyway, he knew how to work the system.

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Lisa Biron, a New Hampshire lawyer who worked with an anti-gay Christian-right organization, has been found guilty of child pornography after she videotaped her own daughter having sex with two men on several occasions.

According to Salon, Biron, 43, is facing a minimum sentence of 25 years after she was convicted by a jury on Thursday. It took the jury less than an hour to deliberate.

In November, Biron was arrested by the FBI and accused of eight felony counts after she videotaped a 14-year-old girl having sex with men. Later, the girl was identified as Biron’s daughter.

Biron also videotaped herself having sex with her daughter.

On Biron’s Facebook page, she claims the Bible is her favorite book and that she worked for Alliance Defending Freedom.

Alliance Defending Freedom is a “servant ministry” seeking to transform the legal system “for religious liberty, the sanctity of life, and marriage and family.”

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Israeli police have arrested five women at the Western Wall, one of Judaism’s holiest sites, for wearing prayer shawls and amulets – observances which Orthodox tradition sees as solely for men.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said about 120 woman arrived for their monthly prayer service on Thursday and five were detained for wearing the tallits (prayer shawls) and tefillin (phylacteries).

I dunno, it’s confusing. Some people want women to put bags on their heads, and others want them to take ‘em off.