Are you a religion hunter?

Heather Rosa at Quiche Moraine talks about people with a special need to belong, to follow, and to learn the secret of happiness:

Being a religion hunter says a couple of things about you. First, you are likely sincerely seeking that something outside yourself. Unfortunately, the longer you look without finding, the more you are likely to become prey to the grifters, the charlatans, the greedy, and the idiots who just might kill you. Second, it says you are looking to others to give you what you are unable to give yourself. If you hunt out religions, you must carry the belief that other people know something, hold some secret, that you haven’t found yet–and that it’s something that they can share.

It’s Pride Week

Thanks to Benjamin Geiger for the image!

This is Toronto’s Pride Week (or Pride Fortnight, June 6 – 30?) Ah, it’s officially June 19 -28. The festivities will be “hotting up” as we approach the weekend blow-out, when part of Church Street is  closed to become a pedestrian mall and celebration space. There’s a Dyke Parade (Dyke Hike?) and a main parade, in which the Mayor and various Members of Parliament or Members of Provincial Parliament ride.

We’re also having a strike by city workers. The pools are closed and garbage collection is cancelled. But Pride Week is going on, aside from cancelling a flag raising — no one to operate the flagpole, I suppose. The organizers will pay up to $20,000 to have private firms collect their litter.

Events include a 5km run or walk, the Pride & Remembrance Run, which raises money for worthy, gay-friendly causes, such as the hospice Casey House. Of course, some people will be running in costume. The run is on Saturday the 27th at 10 a.m., with refreshments afterwards.

Last Saturday there was an inclusive shabbat service held by Shir Libenyu congregation. Remember when “inclusive” was LGBT? That stands for “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transsexual.” Well, now it’s LBGTTIQQ for “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual,Transgender,* Intersex, Queer, & Questioning.” Free childcare is available during services.

*Some people say, “Two-spirited.”

I expect that some of the many out-of-town visitors will use their trip as a chance to get legally married.

Gay marriage—why the opposition?

The blogger at Soob says:

Early last month my home state, Vermont, became the first state to legalize gay marriage via statute….

…never have I met a coherent argument against gay marriage that didn’t include either religious prejudice or blatantly subjective bias. No argument has ever convinced me that, on the whole, the recognition of gay marriage is an inherent danger to me, my fellow citizens (beyond their selective and imaginative discomfort) or my society. Now, a decade after legalized civil unions and a month after legalized gay marriage, I’ve yet to see even circumstantial evidence here in my state to support the cause of those in opposition, much less anything strictly empirical.

Fear-based faith

The blog Thinking is Real talks about “Fear-based Faith,” which includes everything from psychics who threaten bad luck if you don’t pay them to “raise the curse” to “God loves you and if you don’t love Him you’ll go to hell.” Just what I always wanted, a deity who’s a sycophant-craving bully.

Double standards

We see a lot of these double standards.

Protected intolerance

(From Cectic)

Burka

Photo humour:

see more funny pictures

Saw a Darwin fish

Cars aren’t exactly sprinkled with them. But this morning I saw a car in the parking lot with a Darwin fish decoration. And the other day I saw a car on the street with a Flying Spaghetti Monster decoration. (Flying Spaghetti-Monsterism or Pastafarianism is an artificial church with its own creation theory.)

I wonder if there’s a store for them or if one has to order them online?

Song: The Seven Deadly Virtues

Mordred sings “The Seven Deadly Virtues” in Camelot.

LOLcat Bible project

I knew that the Bible has been translated into Cockney, but did you know that there’s a project to translate the Bible into LOLcat? And you can help!

Can you sue God’s publishers?

Gay man sues Bible’s publishers for causing harassment: Powell’s book blog, Monday, Item 3.

Bradley LaShawn Fowler, 39, has filed lawsuits in a Michigan federal court against Zondervan Publishing and Thomas Nelson Inc., claiming some editions of the Bibles those companies put out specifically declare homosexuality to be sinful, which has led him to suffer discrimination, emotional pain and mental instability.

[...] The suit against Zondervan cites a specific passage of the company’s 1982 and 1987 editions, 1 Corinthians 6:9:

“Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral no idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders.”

Fowler claims the term “homosexual” was edited out of the 1989 and 1994 editions.

In addition to campaigning to get the churches’ free tax ride rescinded (why pay their salaries so they can insult us?), maybe we can make this a class action suit. And one for women.