Beatifying Ssempa.

Hmmmmmmmmmm!

Quite a title, don’t you think?

But, in this world of spin, do you think it impossible? Not in this world of spin. It is quite possible.

What set me off is someone who is bent on doing that. Over at the Throckmorton blog. Must say the guy isn’t really on friendly territory. But, he is doing some heavy lifting.

And, in this world of spin, even gay-porn-freak-show-Martin Ssempa PhD can easily become St. Martin. What really matters is enough credible people to come out and stake their reputations on him. The videos of him showing porn disappear, the world admits itself ‘relieved’ that he has ‘explained’ his actions. And, voila, it becomes St. Martin Ssempa, PhD.

Of course I would play the Devil’s advocate in that scenario. And, I would most likely be dismissed. For lack of credibility. Gay, non-Christian, embittered anti-religious person that I am.

Which reminds me, I thought I should make this post ‘Proffessional Christians’, but the beatification of Ssempa seemed a more interesting title.

Since April started, I have been amiss. Not posting.

Of course, my world has been moving on. And, it is. Not so?

The Pope, formerly Cardinal Ratzinger cannot shed his ‘Proffesional Christian’ title. He is first and foremost, a defender of the Church. And, he has defended it against accusations of pedophile priests, helped with ‘relocation’ of those who got caught, and delayed and held onto ‘trials’ in cases where upto 200 deaf boys were actually thought to have been abused by a single individual.

The Church, the Catholic church knew about it. And, Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict the ?? [I forget] was at the helm, in the office that denied a revealing court case of the priest so accused.

Do you think the Pope will say sorry?

No. I don’t think so. THE CHURCH MUST BE PROTECTED FROM EMBARASSMENT AT ALL TIMES.

Even at the expense of 200 deaf children abused by a priest that the church knew about. THE CHURCH MUST BE DEFENDED.

And, the Pope (Benedict the ???) is an excellent defender of the Church.

Do I think that he will get beatification? I am relatively sure he will. Sooner or later, I am relatively sure. So, is the world fair? Who ever told you to dream like so? Repeat after me, THE WORLD IS NEVER, EVER FAIR.

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Now, this is a depressing story. 

I knew of it before, but the full story as put here is kind of interesting. Factual, and reflects what makes me convinced that we gay people must continue fighting. The majority will never accept us… (tut tut tut, I am from Uganda, and, all that colours my thoughts!). They will seek many reasons, many of them religious, to make sure that we are a persecuted minority. Here is the story of what actually occurs when mob rule is law. And, the police etc, cannot stand for the right of a minority to do something as evil as meeting. They are gay, aren’t they? As Minister Nsaba-Buturo famously said, ‘Let homosexuals forget about Human Rights’. And, a reader here comments about his son’s defense of Ssempa and co. ‘They are doing the Lord’s Work.’

Here is an excerpt of the story. 

 Islamist Mob Shutters East Java Gay Conference

Police, management of two hotels in Surabaya, Indonesia, buckle to fundamentalist pressure

Published: Saturday, March 27, 2010 4:06 PM CDT

BY DOUG IRELAND

A large, well-organized mob of Islamist fundamentalists in Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, on March 26 attacked an international conference led by ILGA-Asia, a branch of the International Lesbian and Gay Association.

The mob used aggressive threats of violence to force police to ban the meeting and to intimidate two host hotels to expel conference participants.

Speaking by telephone from Surabaya, a city of 3 million that is the capital of East Java, ILGA’s co-secretary-general, Renato Sabbadini, told Gay City News that the mob, which grew from 50 to 150, invaded and occupied the Oval Hotel at around 1p.m, shortly after Friday morning prayer services in the city’s mosques had concluded.

According to Indonesian newspapers, the mob was organized jointly by the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) –– which has a long history of attacking Indonesian LGBT people and was described by the Jakarta Post as a “radical” group of “hardline” fundamentalists –– and the Indonesian Council of Ulema, an association of Muslim clerics.

You do remember Mombasa Kenya, just a few weeks ago? Yes, we are at war. Overt, covert, it is war.

Be well.

Need to go out and explore the world. No petrol, for some reason of 'supply' that I cannot wrap my mind around. But, that is Uganda.

gug

Mystery of Competing Logic

Logic is a perspective, isnt it?

I like the article below, a wrap up of the defence to the Pope and his statement of bigotry. It is not bigotry… it is truth! So is the logic behind the defence…

Matter of fact it is interesting to try to understand why apparently logical individuals can get wrapped up in bigotry and their own prejudices. Some just do not see the log in their eye. Others see it, but for some reason develop some very interesting blinding defences. Many are not concerned, don’t take the time to grace their prejudices with any apparent logic, except ‘the church says’ or ‘our culture’ etc, etc.

Makes an interesting study of the logic and psychology of our humanness. Dump in the cultural differences from my continent, and the brew that we call human logic can be a cauldron of bewildering illogic!

gug

Religious Conservatives Defend Pope’s Anti-Gay Message

by Kilian Melloy

EDGE Contributor

Wednesday Dec 24, 2008

Pope Benedict XVI: gay and lesbian families a lethal threat to all humankind (Source:Associated Press)

Catholic publications have rushed to the defense of Pope Benedict XVI’s comments that the human race is as imperiled by gay and lesbian families as by the wanton destruction of the rain forests.

Saying that the "order of creation" must be respected, the pope claimed for the Catholic church a privileged place of instruction and authority over humanity, declaring that the church "must defend not only the earth, the water and the air as gifts of creation belonging to everyone, but it must also protect mankind against the destruction of itself. The tropical forests deserve our protection, but man as a creature deserves it no less."

The pope also denounced families that do not consist of a man, a woman, and children, saying that recognition of family structures other than that constitute an "author-destruction of mankind."

The pope made his remarks as part of his annual Christmas Message, which he delivered on Dec. 22.

Catholic Online in a Dec. 24 article, instantly grouped homosexuality with "promiscuity, pornography, [and] adultery" and declared that all those things are "hurting [gays] physically, psychologically, but most importantly--hurting them spiritually."

Catholic Online slammed Pink News for posting the headline, "Pope Benedict learnt nothing from his time in the Hitler Youth," and denounced headlines in the San Francisco Chronicle ("Pope Benedict at Christmas: Preaching bigotry disguised as compassion") and the Times of London ("Christmas was never meant to be about this").

The article defended Pope Benedict on the grounds that he had not used the world "homosexual," though he had made his meaning explicitly clear by talking about a divine plan for families to consist of one man, one woman, and children.

Read the Catholic Online article, "In this respect, he spoke not only to the problem of homosexual acts but also other sexual aberrations such as sex outside of marriage, adultery, pornography, and even contraceptive sex."

Added the Catholic Online item, "This is borne out by the fact, unreported by the mainstream media, that within the speech he urged the faithful to re-read the encyclical Humanae Vitae--known most for its prohibition of contraception."

Continued the article, "Trust me, the Pope is not going on about such matters to be popular, not because he has some vendetta against gays.

"He is preaching the truth out of love; love for God and his Truth, love for mankind as a whole, but specifically love for his fellow human beings who are hurting themselves with destructive sexual lifestyles."

Added the article, "The Pope has sounded the alarm on rejecting God’s plan for human sexuality and pointed to the dangers for those involved and society in general of fostering such behavior.

"He is now experiencing the backlash, but like any good parent, he will weather it in patience and love, knowing that one day, his aberrant children will come to their senses or at the very least that he has tried his best to get them to do so."

The article went on to appropriate a quote from Penn Jillette, the comedian who, along with partner Raymond Teller, has hosted a documentary series titled "Bullshit!" devoted to debunking myths and superstitions.

Noting that Jillette is an atheist, the article quoted him as saying, "If you believe that there’s a heaven and hell... how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible, and not tell them that?"

Meantime, at right-wing Christian site CNS, conservative author Ben Shapiro wrote a Dec. 24 op-ed piece titled, "Gay Community is Intolerant, Too," in which Shapiro did not deny that religious conservatives are intolerant of gays, but cast that intolerance in the form of a competition of ideas, declaring that, "There’s intolerance on both sides. But someone has to win.

"The people should decide who wins."

Shapiro mentioned both Pope Benedict’s Dec. 22 comments, and selected recent remarks of mega-church pastor Rick Warren, who has been in the news lately due to having been selected by President-Elect Barack Obama to deliver the invocation at next month’s inaugural ceremonies.

Shapiro quoted Warren as saying, "I’m opposed to the redefinition of a 5,000-year definition of marriage.

"I’m opposed to having a brother and sister be together and call that marriage.

"I’m opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calling that a marriage.

"I’m opposed to one guy having multiple wives and calling that marriage."

Those comments, as well as Warren’s having worked for the passage of California’s Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that revoked the right of gay and lesbian families to marry in that state, have contributed to the GLBT community’s denunciation of the Obama pick.

Saying that Benedict and Warren were merely "articulating the same traditional Judeo-Christian perspective that has been a moral standard for thousands of years," Shapiro queried, "So why the hubbub?

"Warren is not stating that he wants to criminalize homosexuality. And the pope is merely suggesting that sexuality may be flexible, and that sexual behavior can be changed. Where’s the big threat to the gay community?"

Added Shapiro, "The gay community constantly asks: If we want to marry, how does it hurt you?

"Here’s a similar question: If religious people don’t approve of homosexual behavior, how does it hurt you?"

Shapiro went on to claim, "We’re not advocating violence against gays and lesbians--far from it."

Added the author, "We’re just saying we don’t approve of your behavior. It’s that simple."

Acknowledged Shapiro, "The fact is, of course, that a religious standard of marriage does hurt gay people."

Added the writer, "The gay community wishes to hijack marriage and use it as a shield to legitimize traditionally immoral behavior.

"By opposing gay marriage, traditionally moral folks prevent the gay community from having its way."

Claimed Shapiro, "But by the same exact standard, the gay community’s insistence that homosexuality be respected--their insistence that figures from Pope Benedict to Rick Warren treat homosexuality as a perfectly acceptable way of life--hurts religious people."

Explained Shapiro, "By opposing religious people’s freedom to articulate their view on homosexuality, they encroach on religious freedom."

Noted Shapiro, "Someone’s standard has to win. If the pope and Warren have their way, traditional morality will remain the standard and the gay community will feel left out.

"If the gay community has its way, traditional morality will be discarded and the religious community will feel left out."

Noting that whenever gay and lesbian equality has been put up to a popular vote, gays and lesbians have lost, Shapiro suggested that all such questions be put to the ballot, writing, "the systemic answer is simple: Let the people decide."

Added Shapiro, "The gay community has won its victories in the courtroom, calling on elitist judges to twist the words of state constitutions.

"It’s illegitimate, and it cuts against the most basic American value: the right of the people to decide how to regulate their communities."

Wrote Shapiro, "The gay community has every right to oppose the pope and Warren. And the pope and Warren have every right to blast the gay community.

"That’s freedom of religion and freedom of speech."

The Pope and Gay Human Beings

Pope Benedict criticizes homosexual behavior

VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict said Monday that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.

The Church "should also protect man from the destruction of himself. A sort of ecology of man is needed," the pontiff said in a holiday address to the Curia, the Vatican's central administration.

"The tropical forests do deserve our protection. But man, as a creature, does not deserve any less."

The Catholic Church teaches that while homosexuality is not sinful, homosexual acts are. It opposes gay marriage and, in October, a leading Vatican official called homosexuality "a deviation, an irregularity, a wound."

The pope said humanity needed to "listen to the language of creation" to understand the intended roles of man and woman. He compared behavior beyond traditional heterosexual relations as "a destruction of God's work."

He also defended the Church's right to "speak of human nature as man and woman, and ask that this order of creation be respected."

Benedicto, Benedicto, why are you persecuting me?

Matter of fact, the effrontery of this is breathtaking. I do love my man. I am not ready to abstain because the pope believes that my making love is a sin.

But to be told that me making love is akin to the destruction of the rainforest that is bringing about climate change, that is really breathtaking.

Maybe when I have sex I emit a lot of carbon causing global warming? eh?

We homosexuals have been there for eons. And we will continue to be. We didnt cause the world to end before, why are we going to cause it to end now? Wow, the accusation is so breathtaking in magnitude that it is mindboggling.

Imagine. The population of humans at this particular moment is the highest since the humanity became the most successful specie on earth. Homosexual behaviour has been, and will continue to be. But, with some weird papal chemistry, we are the seeds of the destruction of humanity!

The accusation is absurd. The comparison nonsensical. And any rightfully thinking person will dismiss it out of hand.

Yet, we cannot. Because it is the pope who has uttered those words. A major religious leader dares to utter a statement steeped in the hate of a minority, in the name of God. And people believe it.

He gives them legitimacy to persecute me.

Benedicto, Benedicto, why are you persecuting me?

A disappointed, and shamed

GayUganda

Pope Says ... Gay Marriage 'Obstacle' to World Peace

Someone anonymously bereted me for writing too much about my homosexual self. Being too preachy.

I didn’t think he or she was right, and I have found that many of the posts here may only allude to my sexuality. Maybe I have been holding back.

But I cant hold back on this.

The Pope, His holiness of the Catholic Church believes that gay marriage is one of the obstacles to world peace.
I don’t know how the holiness comes to this conclusion. To me it is not less than amazing. I am a man. I am in a relationship with another man. I do love him. My country, Uganda, made a constitutional amendment which makes sure that I can never get married to my lover. It is a big deal for me. My straight friends may celebrate marriage. I will not celebrate marriage.

Yet to be told that my request and campaign for marriage, for a legal recognition of me and my partner as partners, that that is an obstacle to world peace, that boggles my mind. Probably not the mind of the Pontiff. But my mind. And that of my lover.
He is the religious one. His outburst was bitter. In his words, Ratzinger seems to have a problem with his own sexuality!

Homophobia is the irrational fear of same sex sexuality. Emphasis on ‘irrational’. How I come to threaten world peace with a call not to be discriminated against, that I do not see. Apparently, the 15 page document justifies this.

Tutu summed it up well. God weeps.

For me and my partner, to be lumped together with such world figures as George W Bush, Kim il Sung, Osama bin Laden, and others as a threat to world peace amazes me. I was under the impression that I am not that important a person. I am relatively convinced that my sexuality per se is not that important, but the bigger picture of respect of the Humanity of others, what some call ‘Human Rights’ is the bigger picture which is more important.

I sincerely do not see how I threaten world peace if the govt recognizes my relationship with my partner. For the pontiff to say this, I wonder, why? Why did he say something as amazing as that?
Hitler was amazing in the justification of his xenophobia. The world did not believe him, until it was too late. Even now, some deny the Holocaust.

Why are we made into such demons by our detractors?

I must say, frankly, that the rhetoric does amaze me. From the Mufti, we deserve marooning. From the Pope, we threaten World Peace.

Interesting.

GayUganda