Perspective is everything.

May 31, 2011 by Pastor Dan.

I am always browsing the internet for graphics and photos to use in illustrating articles, web sites and this blog. But this one I took myself last week. I haven’t seen this particular vehicle before or since, but its owner certainly has a different perspective on things than I.

And I can’t help wondering what level of frustration, anger or rage against the cosmos would drive a person to further deface his/her/probably his own vehicle as an editorial on one’s own life. Everything is a pretty inclusive word, after all, and no one person’s perspective is quite so vast. Okay, I know, it’s rhetorical. But we’re looking at a mental case, folks, and this driver needs help.

A second equally plausible explanation: the painter of the message is not the owner of the car.  That opens up another entire set of assumptions and conclusions.

How are things for you? Is this your car?  Is this your life? Feel free to comment.

—Pastor Dan Hooper

Posted in wingnuts, Bullying, Go figure!, Violence, Doctrine, Public Affairs | Print | No Comments »

The devil doesn’t frighten me.

May 4, 2011 by Pastor Dan.

Be careful what you pray for. We have an interesting legacy of hands-on Bible Study in our parish, complete with all the urgent shouts of differences of opinion. It took us 9 months, for example, to slog through the Gospel of John verse by verse.

And when it ended we took a survey of what people wanted to study next. Guess. People want to study Satan, and tonight was the opening volley of our local war of good against evil.

Of course, we pray constantly for all people, dozens of them by name on Sundays, Wednesday and Thursdays, including those who are suffering from addictions, mental health problems, unemployment, homelessness, you name it.

And tonight three guys walked in who are not part of our “usual crowd,” two of whom I knew from prior episodes and one I’d never seen before. One is a known drug addict who thinks he is serving Jesus by preaching to the wackos on Skid Row but has himself never mastered his addiction to crystal meth. Another is certifiably mentally ill who cannot stop talking and making grimacing faces as if he is digging deep into intellectual turf. And the third turned out to be a raving fundamentalist who wanted to make sure we are a Christian Church before he would sit down, and later admitted he is homeless. This on top of several other “regulars” who tend to dominate, act out or digress into tabloid news, pop psychology or Dan Brown-esque conspiracy theories.

All true Christians, of course, show up for things late, and that meant that our special friends tonight were the first ones there. I was praying next not for the homeless, the addicted or the mentally ill, but for a very fast-acting dose of patience. Jesus, you promise you will never test us with more than we can handle (that is the Bible, isn’t it, however obliquely?), and I don’t think I can handle three at once with special needs.

But we launched the study of Satan with some general observations that people tend to believe stuff about Satan, the devil, evil and human nature that are not grounded in the Bible but mostly shaped by pop culture. In truth, pop culture has always yanked the chains of Christian theology and has been doing it for thousands of years.

We started with a verse-by-verse reading of Genesis 3. As improbable as it is, I had to argue for a mythic reading of this story–a story of talking snakes and the low-hanging fruit of good and evil. People want to believe the story is literally true—fact—because they think that somehow they are honoring the Bible and showing their loyalty as believers. Then the grimacing man asked in all seriousness if scholars have ever researched what kind of tree it was and what kind of fruit Adam and Eve were eating.

Hello? Lord, please show me some mercy. Help me show them that a parable is a story with Truth of far greater significance than the kind of fruit or the talking snake. A parable is not untrue just because it has no historic facts in it. If we obsess about the facts we will likely not be paying attention to the Truth even if it bit us in the heel!

What we will agonize about in coming weeks of course, is whether there is such a creature as Satan, the Devil, as an individual being who is God’s nemesis and truth’s antithesis, who is able to take over the brains and fates of all human beings at will. The idea that the Devil is God’s evil counterpart, with nearly all the same omniscience and omnipotence to inflict suffering, is largely non-scriptural. Such an idea entered into the western pop psychology thousands of years ago as their contemporary answer to the problem of evil in the world and the human aversion to responsibility for ourselves, our lives and relationships, and our world.

It may be a tough sell that Satan is the personification of evil run amok in the world–the aggregate of thousands of frailties, selfish choices, avoidance of spiritual struggle, and indifference to the suffering of others. Evil takes on a life of its own, I keep saying. If, as the homeless man said tonight, we leave an open door, evil will enter. That is not paranoia, but an understanding that evil seeks opportunity like seeds seek a crevice in the earth and water seeks its own level. Think Osama bin Laden, who is his madness and contempt opened every door he could and squandered much of his own $300 million fortune causing untold human suffering.

Where do the mythic and screwball images of the devil in our culture come from?— think of the evil child horror movie genre. Think “The Exorcist” (which grossed over $400 million, the most “successful” horror film ever), or “Rosemary’s Baby” or “The Omen.”

The screwball stuff does not come from the Bible. In my opinion, the Bible does not have an elaborate “doctrine” of Satan, assigning him great supernatural power over humanity for two reasons: (1) it believes that Almighty God is the source of all created things, all good, all power, all blessing, all purpose and all destiny; and (2) it believes that humanity is responsible for our own errors, failures and rebellion against God.

Two quotes to end this reflection, the first from Leo Tolstoy: “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”

And this from the late M. Scott Peck (The Road Less Traveled, People of the Lie): “The whole course of human history may depend on a change of heart in one solitary and even humble individual–for it is in the solitary mind and soul of the individual that the battle between good and evil is waged and ultimately won or lost.”

— Pastor Dan Hooper

Posted in Doctrine, Violence, Go figure!, Bible & Interpretation, Fundamentalism, Recovery, History, Ministry | Print | No Comments »

The Religious Reich’s moral pipe bomb.

March 29, 2011 by Pastor Dan.

Well as March runs out, Wayne Besen never misses a thing of interest. He heads up Truth Wins Out, which he started to counter the “Truth Won Out” pray-away-the-gay movement. the graphic is from Besen’s site; you can read it more easily here.

What is so transparent in the Harvard thing here is that Wallnau is trying to position his group or himself in the midst of the public discourse. Commentator Besen calls it red meat rhetoric.

And did we catch the “us who are Christians”? The phrase is not incorrect, but it’s opportunistic. Christians are not all of the same mind. Wallnau has no more moral authority to speak for “us who are Christians” than I do. He apparently wants Harvard University to bunch all LGBT people, abortion, all Muslims and “the financial collapse” in the same pot. “Ain’t it awful?” we used to say. Tsk, tsk.

Transparently, he positions the “us” opposite the “you”: “you remove God from public discourse.” Who is he speaking about here? You who? Obviously in his opportunistic world of us-and-them, the “us who are Christians” are meant to be opposed to the you” of “your homosexual activity, your abortion activity,” and “you” who “removed God from public discourse.”

Nobody has removed God from the public discourse. Almighty God, who is Play-Doh in the hands of demagogues, has never been more in the public discourse. As the partisan right wing tries to make everything there is into a political issue if it can benefit from it, the religious reich tries to make everything there is into a religious issue if it can benefit from it.

Certainly, there are issues of profound importance to America and to all human beings, which deserve public discourse, but which do not directly involve one or another religious view of God. Jesus was wise enough to distinguish between the things that belong to God and the things that belong to Caesar (state), Mark 12:17. There is a moral issue in the abortion debate, for example, that is not directly a religion issue, but Christians have differing views of the moral factors in anyone’s decision to have an abortion. And some people who differ profoundly on religion may be on the same side on abortion, for example.

Wallnau’s “baiting” over Islam is especially odious, because there are some of “us who are Christians” trying to promote serious and responsible dialogue with the adherents of Islam about our views of God, revelation, obedience, morality and peace. But to suggest that “You’ve got Islam invading the United States,” as Wallnau did last fall, is irresponsible and only brings more shame on Christians in America. Red meat rhetoric is the moral equivalent of a pipe bomb, and the religious reich doesn’t seem to give a rip about that.

Worse, these people are extremists even for religious wing-nuts. Besen quotes Rev. Bill Harmon, for example, who states that Leviticus requires “the penalty of death, bareness or excommunication” for adultery, etc. and “any sexual activity other than between husband and wife.” Not sure what bareness means to him, but Rev. Bill apparently hasn’t read the Song of Solomon, where erotic pleasure is beautifully described in some detail, and the lack of an actual marriage in the relationship is unmistakable. And, Rev. Bill, if you would check Matthew 1:18–21, you will see that when Joseph and Mary were betrothed, and he thought she must have committed adultery because she was pregnant, but he understood Leviticus to allow him to break the engagement quietly and not hurt Mary. If this was good enough for Joseph and Mary, why is Rev. Bill Harmon trying to incite the masses and beat the drum for the death penalty for any morality that doesn’t fit his personal preferences?

The quote from Dr. Pat Francis is pure “woo woo religion.” If he weren’t wasting his breath about “false religion” (in a nation which guarantees freedom of religion), maybe he could pay attention to James 1:27: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” In other words, do some actual good for people who carry heavy burdens, and practice self-discipline in the things you think are not right for you. If such people don’t believe in abortion, then don’t have one. If they don’t like homosexuals, then don’t be one. If they don’t like Islam, then don’t convert to Islam.

But as to the “financial collapse,” they’re on their own. Jesus is opposed to serving both God and money anyway, according to Matthew 6:19 and 24. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,” says Jesus. “You cannot serve God and mammon” (money). I know, that won’t go over very well among the economic/political/religious right wing, but then they don’t pay close attention to the Bible anyway. I am sure the Social Transformation Conference will find a way around the teachings of Jesus and the Bible. Such people always have.

—Pastor Dan Hooper

　

　

Posted in Go figure!, wingnuts, Family, Sex, Bible & Interpretation, LGBT Christian, Fundamentalism, Public Affairs | Print | No Comments »

Score one for parody.

March 2, 2011 by Pastor Dan.

He must be dancing a jig tonight, that the U.S. Supreme Court has decided that it’s a free-speech country and Phelps can demonstrate his particular brand of hatred at military funerals.

This is two decisions about free speech rights and the First Amendment in two years. the prior one was the idiotic decision that corporations can spend an unlimited amount of cash to sway public opinion and therefore to buy elections.

The Supreme Clout does not mean the highest wisdom, apparently.  But who am I to question free speech?  I am, however, deeply disappointed that only Justice Alito dissented from the majority opinion. Where were our so-called liberal justices on this?  But free speech itself–especially in this day and age of Twitter and Facebook influence over global events—is extremely important even if it can be used by people on the wrong side of virtually every moral issue (as I believe Phelps is).

But I do think that this is still a moral victory for our side, because Phelps and his little tribe of hate-mongering imaginary Christians are pretty exposed out there. Many other Christian preachers and churches have staked out their market share based on their hatred of abortion, homosexuals, you name it. But nobody is joining Phelps on the streets in front of funerals. Nobody else has web sites quite as filled with deranged, Gadhafi-like rambling.  Fred “God Hates Fags” Phelps stands pretty much alone.

And I kind of think that when he croaks (or when God’s long-suffering patience is finally exhausted), nobody else is likely to pick up where Phelps leaves off. Maybe because Phelps’ command of irreality has been too sweeping.  It was not enough for him to say God hates fags. He has to say that God hates America for tolerating homosexuals.  God hates Sweden, too.  And God hates Canada.  But that God hates and therefore kills U.S. Marines because America tolerates homosexual expression is a bit more than a “stretch” even for most Christian fundagelicals. At Godhatestheworld.com, Phelps gives you an country-by-country explanation of his godly opinion.

And if Phelps himself is not a living parody on homophobic ministers, other people’s parody is the best revenge. For example, God Hates Figs (It’s in the Bible, read: Mark 11:12–14!—all a matter of interpretation.) And if you have time, check out Hank Moody’s book God Hates Us All. Entertainment, I guess.

 

Enjoy the new irreality in America, thanks to John “W” Roberts, whose sense of justice is certainly a parody all its own.

—Pastor Dan Hooper

Posted in Go figure!, wingnuts, Homophobia, Bible & Interpretation, Fundamentalism, Public Affairs | Print | No Comments »

Privilege behind the curtain.

February 26, 2011 by Dan Hooper.

   We’ve long known about those folks who think they are spiritual but don’t like “organized religion.” Now add the group of political conservatives who say they want what is best for the people but don’t want organized labor. In fact, many of the same conservatives have relentlessly ridiculed the sitting President for, among other things, having been a community organizer.

Iran and Libya don’t want organized opposition. Scott Walker has now coerced the Wisconsin legislature to deny the right of state workers to collective bargaining. (If unions are outlawed, only outlaws will have unions?) It has become clear that the effort to break the back of organized labor is itself highly organized and well-funded.

What these things have in common is fear and loathing for anything organized. Better, they think, if everything which threatens their status quo remains disorganized.

But curiously, one organization that doesn’t seem to suffer the same criticism, at least from the people on the proverbial right, are corporations. Highly organized, armed with extraordinary international clout, fluid money and shadowy subsidiaries, a very controlled hierarchy and playing for high stakes, corporations are running my life from behind the velvet drapes of the Wizard of Oz. “Pay no attention to the corporation behind the curtain,” says the corporation behind the curtain.

Is there any doubt that Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker intended to keep a curtain drawn over his own prejudices until he was exposed by a prank caller? Is there any doubt that Hosni Mubarek or Moammar Gadhafi want to keep control shielded by a curtain of absolute authority from all public accountability. Is it any wonder that British Petroleum corporately winced at the exposure of its avarice and manipulation that contributed to that catastrophic Gulf oil spill?

It amazes me that the mental coprolites who think there is a conspiracy behind everything don’t want to look behind the curtain of their own privilege, made possible by the simple act of hurting and destroying other people.

This is not naivete here. I am well aware, for example, that the California Prison Guards Union is screwing both the inmates in California prisons and the people of California. In little more than a decade, the cost of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations, which runs 33 state prisons, has jumped from $3.5 billion to $11 billion.

But by and large it is not the union lobbyists who are bankrupting state governments. It is not the corporate lobbyists either—at least on the surface. It is greed which is behind the curtain. Lobbyists make their living on funding politicians behind the curtain. Where is the public accountability if the public thinks it is really more comfortable and privileged as a result of corporations?

On my recent “vacation” to Florida, where the land is flat enough to be completely erased from the map by a high tide, people are in complete denial about global warming, for example. The ground of their denial is not that the science of permanent climate change is still hugely theoretical, but linked to the denial that anything could possible wash out their entitlement to a life of privilege, ease, comfort and high standard of living.

Probably more than anything, it is privilege which is behind the curtain: masculine privilege, white privilege, American (native-born not immigrant legal or otherwise) privilege. For all the conservative ranting about entitlements, our nation, our culture, our wonderful America is turned our national entitlement into a god at whose altar anyone, any minority, any cause, any just thing, many be slaughtered and sacrificed. We have met the enemy, says Pogo, and it is us.

—Dan Hooper

Posted in wingnuts, Bullying, Go figure!, Violence, Public Affairs, Environment, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

Jesus is coming. Look busy.

December 13, 2010 by Pastor Dan.

Notwithstanding that Christmas is a mere 11 days away, here comes the next cosmic prediction about Jesus’ next coming.

I’m so glad to have it finally settled. We have 171 days left – a little left than half a year to get ready. And all those crazy jokes about Jesus coming back again – to Rome or to Salt Lake. It looks like they are waiting for him first in Nashville, TN. Who knew?

The local paper is keeping its cool about it. You can read their even-handed reporting at: www.tennessean.com/article/20101201/NEWS06/12010350/Nashville-billboards-claim-Jesus-will-return-May-21-2011.

No matter how well intentioned, of course, this is not the first nor the last time someone predicted the arrival of Jesus. But billboards brings it to a whole new low.

—Pastor Dan Hooper

Posted in wingnuts, Go figure!, Doctrine, Fundamentalism, Public Affairs | Print | No Comments »

My bombard for Thursday.

September 9, 2010 by Dan Hooper.

From 365Gay.com on Wednesday, September 8, by Ray Hunt, blogger, 365gay.com:

• Gays Worse Than Terrorists. Who remembers Oklahoma State Rep Sally Kern? Well if you need a refresher, in 2008 she was recorded (without her knowledge) giving a rabidly anti-gay speech.  Among the choice quotes were: “Not everybody’s lifestyle is equal, like not all religions are equal,” and “I honestly think it’s (gays) the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam.”Them’s fightin’ words.

Well Ms. Sally wants to clear up the record: “Here in America we’ve had what, three known real big terrorist attacks on our nation.  But every day our young people are in a sense bombarded with the message that homosexuality is normal and natural.” Gays = Terrorists, before. Gays = Terrorists, after.

Well I guess you cleared that up.

I had forgotten about Sally, perhaps thinking that her 15 seconds of fame were so over.  I had to Google her to refresh my mind, and found this site, Party of Jesus, where Sally’s own words from February 2009 are there to haunt her forever (nothing ever goes away on the internet), if she’s intelligent enough to use Google.  Ray Hunt’s blog relies on an entry at Towle Road last week. you can watch the video.

Ex-Gay Watch has more background on Kern, including the shocking revelation that “gays are infiltrating city councils.”  Geez, what will they think of next? Even more entertaining is the site http://sallykern.com.  She apparently wasn’t quick enough to buy her own name’s URLs to prevent this.  Oh well.  And over two years ago Queerty uncovered interesting stuff that alleges Kern has a (disowned) gay son named Jesse. Shades of Pete Knight all over again!

Kern appears to be a bumbling but highly religious legislator.  It was her proposal last January to amend Oklahoma’s divorce laws to restrict divorce, or as Yahoo news put it, “Sally Kern divorce law forces big religion on Oklahomans.”  I don’t think this ever passed , but her legislation “would make divorce illegal under these conditions:

• There are living minor children of the marriage
• The parties have been married 10 years or longer
• Either party files a written objection to the granting of a divorce

Sally Kern has been vocal about her belief that divorce is one of the issues causing problems in America. She also blames Obama and gays.” Kern may try to outdo Palin with rhetoric intended to offend virtually every segment of society.  Coming at the same time as that nut job in Gainsville, Florida who wants to burn the Koran and pick a fight which is not his to pick—all apparently just to take control of his 15 seconds of fame and probably pick up some extra cash contributions to keep his tiny church afloat— it is more obvious what kind of folks are causing problems in America.So if you are a minor and you’re reading this, I guess you have been “bombarded” again with the “gay agenda!”

– Dan Hooper

Posted in wingnuts, Go figure!, Violence, Public Affairs | Print | No Comments »

Your camouflaged life.

March 1, 2010 by Dan Hooper.

I thought this was pretty interesting.  Source:  e-mail from Billy Glover carries this story about an exhibit at the San Antonio Museum of Contempary Art.

How many of us thought we had some kind of camouflage on?  Have we worn it so long it has stained our skin?  Is emotional, spiritual, relational camouflage so long  been a part of our lives that we could no longer recognize our authentic selves?  I wonder if those of who have lived long periods of our lives with such camouflage have actually moved back and forth between “cover-up is fun” and “closet = despair.” — D.H.

Contemporary Art Month in March • by Gene Elder

The HAPPY Foundation celebrates CAM: March with this article about the history of camouflage and honors the memory of William Pahlmann, an internationally-known interior designer.

Pahlman was born December 12, 1900, grew up in San Antonio where he graduated from the old Main Avenue High School (now know as Fox Academic and Tech High School ) and then from the Parsons School of Design in New York City and Paris

Pahlmann embarked on his professional career as an interior designer moving into the position of chief executive of the interior design department and buyer of antique objects for Lord & Taylor. During the 1930s at Lord & Taylor, he launched his concept of model rooms to provide additional merchandise display and emphasize the value of advance planning of interiors. These distinguished model rooms achieved the reputation of art exhibitions and attracted an international following.

Pahlmann led the movement to integrate antiques into modern living arrangements and is considered the founder of the Eclectic School in Interior Design.

At the outbreak of World War II Pahlmann accepted a commission in the Army Air Force, where he served throughout the war in various duty posts, emerging as a Lieutenant Colonel. In one of his duty stations during the war he served as the director of camouflage school in St. Louis, Missouri, Jefferson Barracks, and in South Carolina. During this time he developed ideas about how to architecturally disguise locations by building false architectural exteriors. Netting and the patterns used on combat uniforms were also redesigned for modern warfare.

The camouflage design that we know and love today is attributed to William Pahlmann. Each terrain required a different design. It does seem logical that camouflage would come naturally to a gay designer since we know that growing up in a straight world we have all had to camouflage our gayness.

Pahlmann made many important contributions to the military and to the advancement of camouflage as a talented designer. It is important to note that during this CAM:March after listening to the military’s reasons for resisting the lifting of the ban on gays and lesbians that something as fundamental and as popular as the camouflage design we see today on our military personnel owes its success to a gay San Antonio designer who served in the military.

After the war Pahlmann worked as the Interior Design and Decoration Editor for Harper’s Bazaar and contributed to the syndicated column “A Matter Of Taste.” He then formed William Pahlmann Associates in New York City, which he headed until his retirement in 1977.

Throughout Pahlmann’s career he received numerous awards and citations for excellence in design. He was made a Fellow of the American Society of Interior Designers and was honored with the prestigious Elsie de Wolfe Award. In 1979 he received the Designer of Distinction Award for lifetime achievement.

Interiors of many of the best known stores and hotels in the country were designed by Pahlmann. He not only designed the exhibition rooms for Lord & Taylor but also interiors for Bonwit Teller; for the Matchabelli Crown Room; for the Henry Morgan Company Ltd; the overseas Press Club; and private homes in the United States, Canada, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic.

The list also includes the interiors of the Lombardy Hotel, the Ziegfield Theatre, the Carnival Room of the Sherry-Netherlands Hotel the Billy Rose home, the John Wanamaker Cross Country Store, and Students Activities Building at the University of South Carolina. Seven buildings at Texas A&M have interiors designed by him and the Pahlmann Research Library where he left his books, is in the A&M Architectural School.

Pahlmann originated many widely popular innovations such as the over -scaled cocktail table, the double and triple chest, the double headboard and mobile furniture on rubber-tired casters. His “Hastings Square” contemporary furniture is sold all over the country. He has also designed fabrics, carpets, bedspreads, and served as president and chairmen of the board of the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Decorators.

Pahlmann wrote the William Pahlmann Book of Interior Design and his papers and journals were left to the The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum in Winterthur, Delaware. In Pahlmann’s book about interior design, he covers all the rooms—the Living Room, Dining Room, Living-Dining Room, Library, Study, Den, Master Bedroom, Children’s Bedroom, Guest Room, Foyer, Power Room and Bathroom, the Kitchen, Porch, the Patio, and Terrace … even the ceilings, walls, floors, and windows.

Everything is discussed but The Closet. How did one decorate the closet in the 30s, 40s, and 50s? Why of course, you very smartly camouflaged it so that no one would know it was there.

Pahlmann died at the age of 86, November 8, 1987, in Guadalajara, Mexico. He always maintained a residence on the San Antonio River, near the Alamo, as well as home in New York City and Mexico. He was survived by his long-time partner of 30 years Jack Conners.

Gene Elder is an arts activist and the Archives Director for the HAPPY Foundation.

Posted in Go figure!, Public Affairs, Coming Out | Print | No Comments »

Sudden acceleration.

February 24, 2010 by Pastor Dan.

I am reading and watching politics more often lately, and I am absorbed by the similarities between the Religious Reich and the political right wingnuts.

Yes, I know they are in bed together, or they are really the same people. We’ve known that since the days of the Moral Majority (Hmmm. They still have a website is up but it hasn’t been updated in 2½ years! See highlightd above.) and the politically opportune ascent of a B-rated actor named Ronald Reagan to become Governor of California as his first public elected office.

But what fascinates me is that religious, social and political conservatives use the exact same technique to promote their views, as if they are all reading the exact same playbook. Is there a modern-day Machiavellian book like The Prince that the entire right wing is circulating? (See this cynical reference; don’t bother to scroll down.)

What I refer to is this 24/7 streaming of public outrage, which seems to be rapidly accelerating in our society. We “get it” that outrage achieves results. People love to get over-excited, as if their dreary daily lives offer no rewards whatever, and it takes an interactive, 3-D action film to get them out of bed in the morning.

But the media, including blogs etc. also exaggerate the effectiveness of outrage. A few weeks ago, the election of Scott Brown as a darling conservative to replace the late Senator Ted Kennedy, the “Lion of the Senate” was supposed to prove that independent voters were outraged with the Obama administration. Now with less than three weeks in office Senator Brown has voted with the democrats on an Obama jobs bill and the right wing is outraged against their own darling.

The outrage I see is more than Rush Limbaugh’s putrid opinions calculated to “stoke indignation” as MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow observed. But probably the easy access to media, the explosion of blogs and Twitter, etc., have all aided and abetted noisy anger over everything. The new American paradigm is one continuous, relentless confrontation which continues to accelerate with no responsible “recall” in sight. 

• Road rage on public streets, highways and freewaysguy slams his Toyota vehicle directly into a Toyota dealership, claiming the vehicle had an episode of sudden acceleration which Toyota should have fixed.
• “Light up the Border” outrage (not outage) over illegals coming into America.
• Outrage over the fact that McCain lost and Barrack Hussein Obama is president of the United States.
• Fred Phelps & co.
• Neighborhood gangs who take offense at the slightest slight.
• Making everything into a culture war. (incidentally, www.culturewar.com is probably for sale if you want to trivialize, market, and profit from it. And www.publicoutrage.com is definitely for sale.

• Making people’s private lives (right to marry, adoption of and caring for children) into a a public fury, Armageddon-moment.soggy-brained tea-party Republicanswhite supremacists, neo-Nazis, NRA, and hothead/ red-faced rednecks
• The noisy derision and resistance of the 2010 Census because, after all, it is being done by The Government.

(I don’t count Dick (”heart attack”) Cheney among the professional stokers of indignation. He seems to be more proficient at sneering than stoking anything.)What I find especially ironic, of course, is that the vast majority of this outrage and indignation in American society is coming from what social and religious conservatives still insist on labeling as a “Christian nation.” Is there something about being Christian, or about Christian doctrine, which is inherently angry, indignant and outraged? Did I miss something when I got the message that God is love, and that we are to love one another as a sign of following Jesus? Help me out here, folks.

—Pastor Dan

Posted in Go figure!, wingnuts, Violence, Lesbian/Gay Marriage, Public Affairs, LGBT Rights, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

Alternative gimmicks and vaporware.

February 17, 2010 by Pastor Dan.

Karen Ocamb’s blog, LGBT POV, carries Wayne Besen’s revelation that a Jewish “ex-gay” enterprise is headed by an ex-convict. Read: “Ex-Gay Icon exposed as an ex-con.” Arthur Goldberg is the co-founder of Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (JONAH) and president of Positive Alternatives to Homosexuality (PATH). According to Ocamb and Wayne Besen this Arthur Abba Goldberg, according to investigators was “the Wall Street criminal mastermind who was convicted in 1987 and went to prison for ‘fraud of spectacular scope’ that included ‘bilking poor communities with complicated bond schemes.’”

The amateurish web site for “PATH” (”Positive Alternatives to Homosexuality” and “Change is Possible”) has no “About” page. It looks like a transparent front for the organizations in its sidebar full of links. Among them is the notoriously wing-nutty NARTH which has been discredited repeatedly as quack anti-gay psychology. But its home page is full of “we” talk to tell you its views. Examples, “We support personal choice | we support the individual’s right to know | we support individual self-determination | we advocate compassion and respect | we advocate policy neutrality . . .” But who is we? On the News page are only two items, one an undated NARTH release, and the other a release about PATH’s launch on July 8, 2002, or is it July 8, 2003? Apparently you can find out by following up with them.

Media Contacts:   Arthur Goldberg, 201-433-3444   Richard Cohen, 301-805-6111

Ocamb’s column further identifies Goldberg as Executive Secretary of NARTH, which is based here in Southern California, and from TWO and South Florida Gay News reports, also President of Congregation Mount Sinai, a temple in Jersey City. Apparently Goldberg has found a way to be in two places at once, or his temple in Jersey City doesn’t need him around much, or neither does NARTH.

The plot thickens if you follow threads on the web. Wikipedia’s article on Goldberg has several markers on it, such as “being considered for deletion,” “flagged for rescue,” and “may not meet notability guidelines.” Will the real Arthur Abba Goldberg stand up? Well, no. He apparently dropped his middle name when he started JONAH. Is he trying to distance himself from his past? Goldberg was once an attorney, but was disbarred in 1995 too.

As for the International Center for Gender Affirming Processes (what does that mean anyway?), it is either too new or too vaporous to have its own web site. It is mentioned on several sites including NARTH in connection with Goldberg where he is named a “Principal”, but for an “international center,” shouldn’t it have some actual or even virtual existence?

And why would an ex-con con artist care about homosexuals? Apparently Goldberg has a gay son living in New York, so maybe we have some of the parental tension going there that we did with the late Pete Knight, the California state senator who gave us Proposition 22, who finished out his life not on speaking terms with his gay son.

We see this going on and on and on. Any pretense that the ex-gay phenom really has well-intentioned moral and religious people behind it keeps getting blown with the reality that opportunists are running these programs. Add that to the fact that the founders of Exodus, and others who have worked through the “ex-gay” programs admit that it simply doesn’t work, and you have an enormous sham. When will both the gimmick-mongers and religious control freaks leave this issue and move on to something else more profitable?

— Pastor Dan Hooper

Posted in Go figure!, Public Affairs, Ex-Gay | Print | No Comments »

This “new look.”

February 15, 2010 by Pastor Dan.

Indwelling Spirit looks different again — I’m still looking for a satisfactory template from my blog provider which looks vaguely spiritual, and doesn’t screw up the layout of these columns.

My apologies if you thought you were in the wrong place.

 The last template, with the spreading tree, seemed to generate huge problems for no particular reason (kind of like many other things in our society, such as government regulations, prices going up, most of the doors on public buildings locked during business hours, and people texting/yakking/putting on lipstick while driving insanely.  Tonight, for example, we had to wait a full 10 minutes to get a table in a chain Mexican restaurant while I count easily count 11 empty tables from the entraway, and the officious-looking host did everything except seat people.  Problems for no reason.  Perhaps I expect too much from society…)

Very little of the American life style actually makes sense.  I am reminded of that frequently when I meet a visitor from elsewhere in the world, such as Nepal last week or Germany last fall.  Visitors are usually polite about enjoying their visit to America, but if the conversation lasts more than 3 minutes I find myself feeling apologetic for the inanities of 21st century America.  This country doesn’t make any sense to anyone I think, but since I was born here and live here, I am routinely oblivious to it.   But what can I do when I am vastly outnumbered by the totally insane disciples of pop culture, pop politics, pop religion, pop prejudice and pop economics?  And they call me a a nerd!

Anyway, I am testing this new layout and template and main graphic (”Key visual” — 1and1.com won’t let me upload my own) to see if I can live with it.

Please use this site, and comment when you can.  I’d like feedback on links, pages, and especially on the issues you struggle with.  They’re probably a lot more important than screen layout and color scheme.

— Pastor Dan

Posted in Go figure!, Environment, Public Affairs, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

Lack of credentials, lack of accountability.

February 2, 2010 by Pastor Dan.

Dan Neil’s column in the Los Angeles Times this morning, “No Coming Out Party for Super Bowl” was amusing, about the application of a new gay dating service (”Man Crunch” dot com) to get their video aired during the Super Bowl, which was rejected by CBS even while Tim Tebow’s Focus on the Family anti-abortion ad will apparently get the green light to run. Neil rightly cries about this being a double standard in the part of CBS.

That’s not surprising. Double standards are just one weapon in the culture wars we are living through.

But what caught my eye was Neil’s perhaps-innocent error in referring to “The Rev. James Dobson” as “well-known as an All-Pro gay hater.”

Can it be that any journalist worth his keyboard doesn’t know that Dobson is not and never has been an ordained minister of any church? Check his biography here.

I sent Mr. Neil the following e-mail:

As amusing as your column was in this morning’s Times, it contained a serious error. Dr. James Dobson is not and never has been an ordained minister. Please see, for example, this article: “Attention journalists everywhere: James Dobson is not a minister” on the www.regrettheerror.com web site. And for future reference, Pat Robertson is no longer a minister either.

The article at Regret the Error is thorough and cites erroneous articles going back several years with 22 retractions that had to be printed in respectable newspapers and news magazines about Dobson. This is my opinion, unsubstantiated, but I can’t help wondering if Dr. Dobson enjoys the free credibility he gets by being mistakenly respected as an ordained minister.

This little cyclone-in-a-coffee-cup (okay, “tempest in a tea pot”, but who remembers that cliché?) illustrates a major problem in both reporting and blogging: we all tend to write about people we’ve not actually interviewed and probably haven’t even met. That is probably unavoidable, but it simply increases the pressure on us to check our facts, not overstretch our points or be too quick to rush to publish.

It illustrates a deeper and more disturbing issue, of course. What are the credentials of the Religious Reich figures who have plagued America’s otherwise open-hearted compassion and generosity of spirit? Pat Robertson is not an ordained anything, either, having resigned from the ranks of the Southern Baptist clergy when he decided to run for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 1988. (You may roll your eyes now. What, after all, were his credentials to be a candidate for the nation’s top office?)

But what are the credentials of Christian ministers, period? Many well-known preachers have run through Bible colleges while others have advanced degrees. The procedure by which any particular local church, or national denomination, certifies one to be competent to lead Christian churches and to speak for God, are vastly different form place to place, denomination to denomination. The lack of a uniform high standard doesn’t merely allow the wing nuts to use the title “Reverend” with their name. It has also allowed unqualified people who are also sexual predators to gain access to the vulnerabilities of innocent people, and who are manipulators and thieves to help themselves to huge sums of money.

Wikipedia conveniently lists the dirt on 27 public evangelists involved in scandals of one sort or another, including Aimee Semple McPherson, Jim Bakker, Paul Crouch, Jimmy Swaggart, Ted Haggard and Tony Alamo.

The Southern Baptist Convention’s official website has this on its Frequently Asked Questions page:

2. “What is the procedure for ordination in the SBC?

“Actually, there is no standard process or policy concerning ordination in the SBC. In fact, the SBC cannot ordain anyone. The matter of ordination is addressed strictly on a local church level. Every Southern Baptist church is autonomous and decides individually whether or not to ordain, or whether to require ordination of its pastor. When a church senses that God has led a person into pastoral ministry, it is a common practice to have a council (usually of pastors) review his testimony of salvation, his pastoral calling from the Lord, and his qualifications (including theological preparation and scriptural qualifications according to 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:7-9) for pastoral ministry. Based upon that interview the church typically decides whether or not ordination would be appropriate.

“Some SBC churches require seminary training from an SBC seminary, while others may not, such a requirement is entirely up to the church.

“Of course, every SBC church is free to approach ordination in the manner it deems best.”

This underlines an issue for evangelical churches across the land, with their emphasis on feel-good enthusiasm and direct inspiration form God: lack of accountability. It is in the accountability area where a thread of relationship is woven into recent Roman Catholic sex scandals as well. Predatory priests have evaded accountability and so have the bishops who have place and replaced them time after time to protect both the priest and the privilege of holy orders.

But Jesus set the standard for those who would be ministers by washing his disciples’ feet. To minister means to serve, not to be served. The scramble for larger-than-life credibility and power in our society has led too many so-called Christians to ditch all standards in the effort to have public authority.  Academic credentials are harder to fake (although not impossible; I get spam e-mails all the time advertising the degrees for sale that I never tried to earn in school). Being elected to office requires cesspools of money if not mountains of integrity. But to become a “reverend” seems to be easy enough to attract wing nuts of all kinds.

—Pastor Dan Hooper

Posted in Violence, Go figure!, Sex, Ecumenical Issues, Public Affairs, Fundamentalism, Ministry | Print | No Comments »

One screwball after another.

February 1, 2010 by Pastor Dan.

Why didn’t I think of it? Queerty, who is more than a little irreverent over LGBT things, is still working on why the Chinese evangelical Christian known as Hak-Shing William Tam wants to get out of the Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial (Proposition 8). Could it be that as a defense witness he is doing more damage to the defense of Prop 8 than their already-weak case can stand?

Why Does William Tam Want Out of Perry? Because His ‘Sex With Kids’ Claim Is Hurting the DefenseHak-Shing William (”Bill”) Tam, who has, hilariously, so far not been granted his request to leave the Perry Prop 8 lawsuit, which he volunteered to join as an intervenor, became the star of yesterday’s courtroom when his public letter to Chinese-Americans church groups — arguing gay marriage was only a stepping stone in the radical homosexual agenda to get to the ultimate goal of legalizing sex with children — was presented.

And if California didn’t pass Prop 8? Then “other states would fall into Satan’s hands,” the letter read, as footage of Tam giving a deposition last month played for the court.

David Thompson, representing the defendants ProtectMarriage.com, argued that Tam wasn’t part of the official Prop 8 campaign, and thus his letter wasn’t valid to attach homophobic animus to the case. You know, notwithstanding that ProtectMarriage.com handily added Tam to the list of five defendants- intervenors in Perry.

Oh, so it’s Tam’s ridiculous characterization of the gay agenda that has the defendants looking to remove him? Got it.

Forty-eight days before the election, Tam sent this letter, according to Queerty, to Chinese -American Christians. It is utterly amazing. Dear Friends:This November, San Francisco voters will vote on a ballot to “legalize prostitution”. This is put forth by the SF city government, which is under the rule of homosexuals. They lose no time in pushing the gay agenda — after legalizing same-sex marriage, they want to legalize prostitution. What will be next? On their agenda list is: legalize having sex with children. I hope we all wake up now and really work to pass Prop 8. We have only 48 days left. Even if you have church building projects, mission projects, concert projects, etc, please consider postponing them and put all the church man/woman power to work on Prop 8. We can’t lose this critical battle. If we lose, this will very likely happen……

1. Same-Sex marriage will be a permanent law in California. One by one, other states would fall into Satan’s hand.

2. Every child, when growing up, would fantasize marrying someone of the same sex. More children would become homosexuals. Even if our children is safe, our grandchildren may not. What about our children’s grandchildren?

3. Gay activists would target the big churches and request to be married by their pastors. If the church refuse, they would sue the church. Even if they know they may not win, they would still sue because they have a big army of lawyers from ACLU who would work for free. They know a prolonged law suit would cripple the church. They had sued the California government many times before. They sue until they win. They would not be afraid to sue a church. The church would have to spend lots of money in defending the case. The court fight would be long and the congregation would be discouraged and leave — how long are they willing to shoulder the law suit costs. The church may give in and accept them, their membership would grow and take over the church. Then a righteous pastor would have to leave. Such scenarios have happened in Scandinavian countries. At that time, churches would keep quiet, hoping that they won’t be picked as the next target.

If your church is sued, don’t expect others to help your church. You would be in the battle alone, and chances are you would lose. If that happens, whatever nice building your church have built now would become meaningless.

In order not to let this happen, we better team up at the current battle to defeat same-sex marriage. Collectively, we have a chance to win. Right now, each church sacrifice a little. For 48 days, delay your projects, put your resources ($ and manpower) into Prop 8. We’d have great power if we pool our resources together. Let’s win this battle. After victory, your congregation would be energized and go back to the original projects with joy and cheer. They may want to give more and build a bigger building to thank God. Our God would be pleased and bless us more. But if we lose, our congregation would lose heart. They might not want to work as hard. Our opponents would be overjoyed. They would do more and change more laws so as to persecute us easier. Churchs would have a much much harder time to survive. We would be collecting offerings to fight law suits instead of building new buildings. I pray that day would not come. The choice is yours. Talk to the leaders of your church. Your actions would change the history in either direction.

Thanks for your efforts,

Bill Tam

Traditional Family Coalition

June 16, 2008, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon became the first lesbian couple to wed legally in California. (Heterosexual) San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom looks on from behind the camera. Who would have guessed that these women, who were together for more than half a century, really wanted to have sex with children?

What can I possibly do to dismantle the right wing’s flaky case any more?

— Pastor Dan Hooper

Posted in Lesbian/Gay Marriage, Go figure!, Sex, History, Public Affairs, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

Pink Mountain? How’d I miss this?

January 31, 2010 by Dan Hooper.

This one really twists the mind. A communist legislator?… advocating for gay tourists?… to get married? It gives a whole new meaning to “commie pinko.” (And for the record, the full insult is “commie pinko fag” – there’s a site where you can purchase mugs, t-shirts andmagnets!) If you’re interested, you can read the U.S. State Department’s overview on Nepal (which hasn’t been updated since October). The world she is a changin’. – P.D.

Nepal to legalize gay marriage, offer weddings on Mt. EverestBy Ruth Schneider, 365gay.com .  01.29.2010 2:24pm EST

Want to get married on top of the world? Not a problem, says a travel agency promoting gay marriage in Nepal.

In May, the country is set to ratify a new constitution that legalizes same-sex marriages, according to a report in The Telegraph.

Sunil Babu Pant, a Communist legislator and leader of the country’s gay rights movement, launched Pink Mountain, a travel agency offering wedding ceremonies on Mount Everest, the world’s tallest peak.

Pant’s company will offer regal, elephant-back processions and wedding ceremonies at the mountain’s base camp.

“Most Asian countries don’t welcome gay visitors, so we can have the maximum benefit for the Nepal economy which is fragile after years of war,” Pant told the Telegraph. “The government is hoping to increase the number of tourists from 400,000 to one million next year and has taken a positive attitude to welcoming gay and lesbian visitors to help meet their ambitious target.”

Posted in Go figure!, Lesbian/Gay Marriage, LGBT Rights, Public Affairs, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

Pastors, polygamists and beastialists, oh my!

January 30, 2010 by Pastor Dan.

Proposition 8: Pastors Say Prop. 8 could lead to Polygamy, Bestiality

Huffington Post sometimes has bad or misplaced headlines, but this one, posted January 25, is a doozy. Apparently, though, conservative clergy are worried about polygamy. For the record, Proposition 8 cannot lead to polygamy, and what Huffington should have said was overturning Proposition 8 could.

Or at least in the views of the pastoral wing-nuts out there:

Earlier Monday, a team of lawyers led by prominent litigators Theodore Olson and David Boies rested the plaintiffs’ case after spending more than nine days presenting evidence on the meaning of marriage, the nature of sexual orientation, and the role of religion in shaping attitudes about both.The last volley in their attempt to prove Proposition 8 was a product of anti-gay bias and served no legitimate public interest was videotape of a simulcast in which supporters of the ban said gay marriage would lead to polygamy and bestiality.The footage was shown as an example of the work of San Diego pastor Jim Garlow, who helped organize evangelical Christian support for the ballot measure.In one video rally led by Garlow, an unidentified pastor warned “the polygamists are waiting in the wings, because if a man can marry a man and a woman can marry a woman, the polygamists are going to use that exact same argument, and they probably are going to win.”

It appeared the lawyers were introducing the material to demonstrate the campaign for the ban appealed to religious-based, anti-gay bias to scare voters into supporting the measure.

Proposition 8 sponsors objected to the video, saying the content of the simulcast was not controlled by campaign managers or leaders.

However, Chief U.S. Judge Vaughn Walker allowed the material to be put into the record because the coalition of religious and conservative groups behind Proposition 8 paid for Garlow’s work.

Garlow wants to project an aw-shucks kind of attitude. His 2,500 member Skyline Church is really in La Mesa. He has a Protect Marriage link on his site, but doesn’t plaster it with anti-gay or pro-marriage materials. According to the Los Angeles Times article he barely mentioned the gay marriage issue when Proposition 22 was on the California ballot. but in June 2008 he took the lead to enlist a thousand conservative pastors and call for a 40-day fasting period to stop gay marriage.

Even more fringy, Garlow is trying to keep himself in the limelight—on health care reform! On Right Wing Watch, watch this:

Prayercast: Jim Garlow .  Submitted by Kyle on December 17, 2009 - 9:36amPastor Jim Garlow explains how health care reform legislation violates just about every one of the Ten Commandments:

On Wednesday December 16, Reps. Michele Bachmann and Randy Forbes and Sens. Jim DeMint and Sam Brownback will be joining forces with the likes of Lou Engle, Tony Perkins, Jim Garlow, and Harry Jackson for a “prayercast” organized by the Family Research Council during which they will seek God’s intervention to prevent the passage of healthcare reform. . . .

I‘m still looking for details on what Garlow was paid, and whether that is a violation of the church’s non-profit religious exemption under law.

But the last word in the 2008 story seems to underscore the point that was being made in the Perry courtroom in the last few days:

The dueling messages of the state’s clergy reflect passionate divisions in many faiths about the question. But in the political arena, there is no question that opponents of same-sex marriage will rely heavily on religious leaders to carry their message about marriage and to mobilize their congregants to vote.Civil marriage has been taken away because one specific religious point of view decided to enforce it’s concept of marriage. My constant question is why don’t open-minded and open-hearted clergy have the same energy to organize their voices?

—Pastor Dan Hooper

Posted in Go figure!, Lesbian/Gay Marriage, LGBT Rights, Public Affairs, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »