President Barack Obama blasted Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock late Wednesday while taping The Tonight Show over his recent comments about abortion and rape.
“I don’t know how these guys come up with these ideas. Let me make a very simple proposition: rape is rape. It is a crime. And so these various distinctions about rape don’t make too much sense to me, don’t make any sense to me. The second thing that underscores is this is exactly why you don’t want a bunch of politicians – mostly male – making decisions about women’s healthcare….”
[CLICK LINK TO WATCH VIDEO]
*anyone with a uterus, not just ciswomen.
Posts tagged religion.
LGBTQ/Christian film
I was recently contacted by a christian and gay rights supporting student filmmaker who is looking to create a change in the way churches and religious households view and respond to children coming out as gay.
He hopes to closely examine both views, the view of the person coming out to an un-supportive household and the views of parents who were once not supportive. He wishes to create a film that highlights both mental states of the parent and the child to show the church and others the emotional process of being gay in hopes of opening a door to acceptance from the church regarding homosexuality.
If you know of someone, or have a story of your own to share that would help the film better portray the emotional process, please contact the film maker at oolongtea.story@gmail.com. Feel free to e-mail him with a written story, a time for a Skype interview, or a video/audio recording of your story. He will not be using your story in his film, he will only be examining the emotional process.
This type of activism is ALWAYS helpful, and if you are able to provide some insight for him about what it’s like being a queer person in a religious household or coming out to religious friends or family, I know he would greatly appreciate it.
Also, we welcome all submissions and stories here at The New Women’s Movement, so SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCES AND BE HEARD!
LGBTQ/Christian film
I was recently contacted by a christian and gay rights supporting student filmmaker who is looking to create a change in the way churches and religious households view and respond to children coming out as gay.
He hopes to closely examine both views, the view of the person coming out to an un-supportive household and the views of parents who were once not supportive. He wishes to create a film that highlights both mental states of the parent and the child to show the church and others the emotional process of being gay in hopes of opening a door to acceptance from the church regarding homosexuality.
If you know of someone, or have a story of your own to share that would help the film better portray the emotional process, please contact the film maker at oolongtea.story@gmail.com. Feel free to e-mail him with a written story, a time for a Skype interview, or a video/audio recording of your story. He will not be using your story in his film, he will only be examining the emotional process.
This type of activism is ALWAYS helpful, and if you are able to provide some insight for him about what it’s like being a queer person in a religious household or coming out to religious friends or family, I know he would greatly appreciate it.
Also, we welcome all submissions and stories here at The New Women’s Movement, so SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCES AND BE HEARD!
In the mythology of the Celts, goddesses are typically identified with the principles of both life and death. These dual roles are not, however, seen dualistically; that is, as two principles of life and death, forever at war. The Celts portray their goddesses as unselfconsciously reconciling the forces of life and death in the way every mother does in reality: by bringing life into the world, she also brings death. This life/death reconciliation is, to them, simply in the nature of things, not a cause for blame or condemnation. But to the Greek dualistic mentality, nature embodies man’s limitations and weaknesses, and woman embodies nature. Woman serves as a constant and resented reminder of those limitations. This is the sin of Pandora and her daughters, for which misogyny, from its fairy tales to its philosophies, seeks to punish all women.
—
Holland, Jack. A Brief History of Misogyny: The World’s Oldest Prejudice. Constable & Robinson. 2006. (pg. 20)
![theatlantic:
America’s Deepening Bible Belt Divide
Gallup notes the relationship between religious intensity and American voting patterns, with the most religious states generally skewing Republican and the least religious trending Democrat. Our own analysis bears this out. We found a substantial positive correlation between religiosity and the percent of state residents that voted for McCain (.67) and consider themselves conservative (.78), and a substantial negative one between religiosity and the percent of residents who voted for Obama (-.64) and consider themselves liberal (-.75).
Religion also conforms to the faultiness of socio-economic class across U.S, states, hewing closely to its three key dimensions — income, education and occupation.
Religiosity is higher in lower income states where poverty is prevalent. The share of state residents who say religion is very important to their daily lives is correlated with the poverty rate (.60) and negatively associated with state income levels (-.56).
Education plays a role. Religiosity is higher in less educated states, and negatively associated with the share of state residents that are college grads (-.55).
Religion is also associated with the types of work people do. Religiosity is positively associated with the share of working class jobs (.61) and negatively associated with the share of workers doing knowledge, profession and creative work (-.38).
Read more. [Image: Gallup]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1nyusPeaF1qcokc4o1_500.jpg)
America’s Deepening Bible Belt Divide
Gallup notes the relationship between religious intensity and American voting patterns, with the most religious states generally skewing Republican and the least religious trending Democrat. Our own analysis bears this out. We found a substantial positive correlation between religiosity and the percent of state residents that voted for McCain (.67) and consider themselves conservative (.78), and a substantial negative one between religiosity and the percent of residents who voted for Obama (-.64) and consider themselves liberal (-.75).
Religion also conforms to the faultiness of socio-economic class across U.S, states, hewing closely to its three key dimensions — income, education and occupation.
Religiosity is higher in lower income states where poverty is prevalent. The share of state residents who say religion is very important to their daily lives is correlated with the poverty rate (.60) and negatively associated with state income levels (-.56).
Education plays a role. Religiosity is higher in less educated states, and negatively associated with the share of state residents that are college grads (-.55).
Religion is also associated with the types of work people do. Religiosity is positively associated with the share of working class jobs (.61) and negatively associated with the share of workers doing knowledge, profession and creative work (-.38).
Read more. [Image: Gallup]
As I’m an atheist, I don’t normally post anything religion-oriented; however, this was submitted, and some of you might relate.
“When Will Eve Be Forgiven?, by Dorothy Guyton
Hi, I have been an advocate for women as long as I can remember. I am a Christian, who has a BA in Bible Studies and went to Seminary to complete my Master Degree in Christian Studies. It was an eye opening experience. I started a writing career centered on how women are blamed and victimized through religion by people misrepresenting the Bible. Here is what the back of my book says. The first paragraph is what the Early Church Fathers said and taught about women:
HISTORY HAS SAID:
“Women are a necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desirable calamity, a domestic peril, a deadly fascination and painted ills (Chrysostom).” “[Women] are the gateway to Hell (Tertullian).” “Women do not have a soul and do not belong to the human race, as shown by many passages of Holy Scripture (Valentius Acidalius).
MY BOOK CLARIFIES:
How God feels about and defines women in Scripture, why the Apostle Paul is not a chauvinist, and why women should forgive themselves first instead of relying on others to establish their self worth within the Christian community.
YOU WILL BE:
EMPOWERED!
I wanted women to know that they were also created in the image of God and were not what the early Church Fathers said they were.
I hope there is a New Women’s Movement about knowing your own worth and power whether you are a Christian or not.”
http://www.amazon.com/When-Will-Eve-Be-Forgiven/dp/074146134X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333561733&sr=1-3
Things that I do not understand.
How will it affect your life if I get an abortion?
How will it affect your life if I marry someone of the same gender?
How will it affect your life if I marry someone without a gender?
How will it affect your life if I use birth control?
How will it affect your life if I have sex?
How will it affect your life if I am a man with a vagina?
How will it affect your life if I am a woman with a penis?
How will it affect your life if I don’t identify as male or female?
How will it affect your life if I don’t believe in God or a higher power?
How will it affect your life if I am a man who wears dresses, thongs, and high heels?
How will it affect your life if I am a woman who wears boxers and “men’s” clothing?
How will it affect your life if I get a tattoo?
How will it affect your life if I pierce my body?
How will it affect your life if I dye my hair?
How will it affect your life if I eat meat?
How will it affect your life if I wear leather?
How will it affect your life if I smoke marijuana?Not your relationship. Not your happiness. Not body. Not your decision.
In recent elections one would have thought that homosexuality and abortion were the new litmus tests of Christianity. Where did this come from? They never were the criteria of proper membership for the first 2000 years, but reflect very recent culture wars instead—and largely from people who think of themselves as “traditionalists”! The fundamentals were already resolved in the early Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed. Note that none of the core beliefs are about morality at all. The Creeds are more mystical, cosmological, and about aligning our lives inside of a huge sacred story. When you lose the mystical level, you always become moralistic as a cheap substitute. Jesus is clearly much more concerned about issues of pride, injustice, hypocrisy, blindness, and what I have often called “The Three Ps” of power, prestige, and possessions, which are probably 95% of Jesus’ written teaching. We conveniently ignore this 95% to concentrate on a morality that usually has to do with human embodiment. That’s where people get righteous, judgmental, and upset, for some reason. The body seems to be where we carry our sense of shame and inferiority, and early-stage religion has never gotten much beyond these “pelvic” issues. As Jesus put it, “You ignore the weightier matters of the law—justice, mercy, and good faith … and instead you strain out gnats and swallow camels” (Matthew 23:23-24). We worry about what people are doing in bed much more than making sure everybody has a bed to begin with. There certainly is a need for a life-giving sexual morality, but one could question whether Christian nations have found it yet. Christianity will regain its moral authority when it starts emphasizing social sin in equal measure with individual (read “body-based”) sin and weaves them both into a seamless garment of love and truth.
azspot
Westboro Baptist Church- Phone, Names, Addresses, & Info
Westboro Baptist Church
3701 SW 12th St
Topeka, KS 66604
(785) 273-0325
Fred W. and Margie M. Phelps, Sr.
Westboro Baptist Church
3701 S.W. 12th Street
Topeka, Kansas 66604
phone: 785-273-0325 and 785-273-0338
fax: 785-273-9228
Fred W. Phelps. Jr. and Betty Phelps
3600 S. W. Holly Lane
Topeka, Kansas 66604
home: 785-272-4135
Jr.’s work: 785-296-3195
Margie J. Phelps
3734 S.W. 12th
Topeka, Kansas 66604
home: 785-273-7380
work: 785-296-3317
Ben Phelps
3632 S.W. Churchill
Topeka, Kansas 66604
home: 785-233-4162
Rebekah Phelps-Davis and Chris Davis-Phelps
1216 S.W. Cambridge
Topeka, Kansas 66604
home: 785-272-7741
Shirley Phelps-Roper and Brent Roper-Phelps
Sam Phelps-Roper
3640 S.W. Churchilll
Topeka, Kansas 66604
home: 785-273-1445/273-0277/272-1619
Shirley’s work: 785-233-4162
Brent’s work (Foot Locker) 785-273-0068
Jonathan and Paulette Phelps
840 S.W. Watson
Topeka, Kansas 66606
Jonathan’s work: 785-233-4162
Elizabeth Phelps
2001 S.W. 2nd Street
Topeka, Kansas 66606
home: 785-234-9694
work: 785-233-0822
Abigail Phelps
3636 S.W. Churchill
Topeka, Kansas 66604
785-273-7262
work: 785-296-7709
Charles W. and Mary Hockenbarger
711 N.W. Page
Topeka, Kansas 66617
home: 785- 246-1567
Rachel Phelps Hockenbarger and Charles F. Hockenbarger
1284 S.W. Hillsdale
Topeka, Kansas 66604
home: 785-271-1619
Tim and LeAnn Phelps
3743 S.W. 12th Street
Topeka, Kansas 66604
home: 785-273-4780
Tim’s work: 785-291-5100
Leann’s work: phone: 785-233-4162
Theresa Davis
3632 S.W. 12th Street
Topeka, Kansas 66604
work: 785-291-700
Thanks, Anonymous!
Fixing the Broken
Great post about the GOP, Religious Right, and healthcare by my colleague at innocencejaded.wordpress.com:
“I’ve already posted a few opinions about the current healthcare debate, and I have already expressed my concerns with the opposition it has seen. In short, I’m for it, regardless of my religious stance. Hilariously, it is widely opposed by the Christian right, and I have also mentioned my frustrations regarding that hypocritical stance.
Today, I write on a much more personal level.
Here are the facts:
This past week, my one-year-old son became ill. He had a fever over 102, and his sinuses were stuffed up. Tuesday night, he was also vomiting. We took him to the doctor Wednesday morning, and he was diagnosed with and ear infection and also a sinus infection. It is believed his vomiting was due to pain and discomfort, combined with the fever. The antibiotics he was prescribed did nothing to alleviate the fever or his illness, and the last two days we have spent holding him for hours on end while he cried. Luckily, he was prescribed a stronger antibiotic, and today appears to be on the mend, fever nearly broken, and we have a happy baby again.
I work as a public servant; a local emergency services job. While my pay is sufficient to support our family, it is meager nonetheless. We cannot afford routine doctor visits, medications, or emergency care for my wife and son. We simply don’t have the money.
While I am provided with health insurance through the local government, my family is not supported. To add them to my plan would cost nearly $500 dollars a month. Perhaps affordable to some, this is not something I can afford to pay. Were I allowed, I would give up my insurance in a heartbeat to cover my wife or son instead. Unfortunately, this is not an option. My wife and child remain uninsured, and I remain terrified that something could happen that we cannot afford.
My wife was let go from her previous job after her employer found out she was pregnant. I know, it sounds illegal, but we live in a “right to work” state. Here, it really doesn’t matter, you can get let go for whatever reason they want. Sound shifty? Sure it is. Regardless, it was a legal termination. After our son was born, we decided it was best if she stayed home to raise him. It was mainly her choice, and I stand by it. We have been criticized at times for this decision. Sure, she could work somewhere to supplement our income, but we so highly value her presence with our son at home that we cannot imagine it any other way. Because she stays at home with him, we can better teach him our values, and we can raise him to be open-minded and free-thinking. Sure, it makes it hard on our budget, but the value of him being at home with his mother in the early years is beyond measure.
My son is on state-funded health care. We simply cannot afford health care or insurance for him. I would love to, but it just isn’t possible. The only way we can make sure he gets the care he needs when he gets sick is to rely upon tax-funded assistance. My taxes pay for it. Your taxes pay for it. We’re lucky to have it.
And here is my soapbox:
Here’s the problem I have with the GOP, the Tea Party, and the Conservative Right in general: they don’t get it. They’ve lost touch with reality. I am lucky enough to have a job. I know how precious that really is. However, even with that job, we can’t afford to make sure our son is taken care of. Was this our plan? Absolutely not. When we planned this child we had two incomes, a balanced budget that took insurance and other necessities into account, and we were comfortable. What else was I supposed to do?
I keep hearing this rhetoric, day after day. Telling the jobless to get a job. Telling the malcontent and the restless to suck it up and work harder. What’s the point? Can somebody tell me? What’s the purpose in all this? Does it make you sleep better at night, knowing that you told off someone less fortunate?
Nothing freaks me out/pisses me off more than abstinence-only education. Basically, it’s the most naive form of sex education you can get: Sex is bad, don’t have it until you’re married, contraception doesn’t work. Somehow educators think this will convince kids to not have sex. Compare that to comprehensive sex education that teaches abstinence but also makes sure that teens have medically correct information about contraception, STDs, and the like. It’s reality-based sex ed that understands that no matter how many scare tactics you throw at people, they’re still going to do what they want.
— Jessica Valenti, Full Frontal Feminism (via angrywomenoftumblr)
We must make it clear that a platform of ‘I hate gay men and women’ is not a way to become president of the United States.
—
Jimmy Carter, relevant now more than ever. (via gaywrites)
Former President Jimmy Carter issued a statement Sunday announcing he is severing all ties with the Southern Baptist Church due to their treatment of women. A devout Southern Baptist for more than sixty years, Carter left the church in 2000 because of ideologically differences where the religion justifies the subordination of women. His announcementcomes after the Elders, a group of world leaders with which Carter is affiliated, released a statement on the issue of discrimination against women and girls by religion. In his statement, Carter calls “on all leaders to challenge and change the harmful teachings and practices, no matter how ingrained, which justify discrimination against women.”
(via fromesmewithlove)
Razing Complacency: When I say I’m pro-life…
It doesn’t mean I’m religious.
Because I’m not.
It doesn’t mean I hate LGBT community.
Because I am a supporter.
It doesn’t mean I force women to give birth.
Because I never will.
…
Reblogging for the incredible commentary.
