A just outcome, but I am not sure how I feel about appealing to states’ rights to define marriage for themselves, which could inevitably be used as a justification for individual states to deny gays’ rights to marriage. The case is about equal rights, not states rights, and should have been settled as such: A [...]
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METAETHICS
Goodness Is A Factual Matter (Goodness=Effectiveness) Grounding Objective Value Independent Of Human Interests And Moralities Effectiveness Is The Primary Goal In Itself, Not Merely A Means Non-Reductionistic Analysis Of Values Into Facts On The Intrinsic Connection Between Being And Goodness Deriving An Atheistic, Naturalistic, Realist Account Of Morality On Good And Evil For Non-Existent PeopleTELEOLOGICAL / CONSEQUENTIALIST ETHICS
How Our Morality Realizes Our Humanity Maximal Self-Realization In Self-Obliteration: The Existential Paradox of Heroic Self-Sacrifice My Perfectionistic, Egoistic AND Universalistic, Indirect Consequentialism (And Contrasts With Other Kinds) On Teleology and Intellectual Virtues and Vices (5)VIRTUES
Rightful Pride: Identification With One’s Own Admirable Powers And Effects The Harmony Of Humility And Pride Conceptual Problems For The Ideal of Unconditional Love How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count The Ways Call It Volitional Love Rather Than Unconditional LovePLEASURE, PAIN
What Is Happiness And Why Is It Good? Pleasure And Pain As Intrinsic Instrumental Goods What Does It Mean For Pleasure And Pain To Be “Intrinsically Instrumental” Goods? Subjective Valuing And Objective Values My Perspectivist, Teleological Account Of The Relative Values Of Pleasure And PainGOOD WITHOUT GOD
On The Incoherence Of Divine Command Theory And Why Even If God DID Make Things Good And Bad, Faith-Based Religions Would Still Be Irrelevant The Separability Of Metaethics From Questions Of Theism Are Sex and Morality Merely “Evolutionary Tricks”? For God or Morality? On Those Who’d Hold Morality Hostage For Faith Being Personally Moral Is Not Enough, Atheists Need A Coherent Metaethics Can You Have A Heart Without Having “The Heart of God”?MORAL PLURALISM
Towards A “Non-Moral” Standard Of Ethical Evaluation Further Towards A “Non-Moral” Standard Of Ethical Evaluation Moral vs. Non-Moral ValuesMORAL MUTABILITY
Mutable Morality, Not Subjective Morality. Moral Pluralism, Not Moral Relativism. How Morality Can Change Through Objective Processes And In Objectively Defensible WaysMORAL INTUITIONISM
Against Moral Intuitionism Rejecting And Reconciling Moral Intuitionist Ideas With My Naturalist Account Of GoodnessSUBJECTIVISM
I Am A Moral Naturalist, Not A SubjectivistRELIGION WITHIN REASON
Against Accommodationism: Religion Has NO Rightful Claim To An Unencroachable “Magisteria” Of Its Own True Religion? How Jon Stewart Dropped The Ball On The Faith And Science Quesiton (But How Religion Can Be Redeemed Nonetheless) Why I Think Theistic Religion’s Psychological Grip Can Be Weakened Or BrokenTowards Atheistic Religions (Or Away From Them, Depending On How You Define “Religions”)MEANING AND "SPIRITUALITY" WITHIN REASON
On Defending True Spirituality And Taking The Word Back From Spiritually Bankrupt Fundamentalism I Am Interviewed About My Personal (Atheistic) Religiosity/Spirituality Is It A Waste Of Time For Atheists To Care About Spirituality? On The Meaning Of Meaning Character As Fate And Environment As Variability Not “I’ll Pray For You” But “I Love You”APOSTASY
Apostasy As A Religious Act (Or “Why A Camel Hammers The Idols Of Faith”) Sex And Apostasy Defending Apostates’ Intellects Against A Dismissive Christian ApologistSYMPATHY FOR THE RELIGIOUS
Can You Really Love Religious People If You Hate Their Religion? What Can An Atheist Love In People’s Religiosity? The Complicated Relationship Of An Apostate To His Religious Friends And His Reilgious PastCIVILITY BTWN ATHEISTS AND THEISTS
Is Debate Between Believers And Non-Believers Inevitably Futile? The Truth, The Whole Truth, And Nothing But The Truth—But With No Name Calling When (And How) Should We Bother To Push The Issues? On Meeting People Where They Are TOP Q: “How Is It Fair To Question Other People’s Identity-Forming Beliefs While Demanding Respect For One’s Own Belief-Formed Identities?” Top 10 Tips For Reaching Out To Atheists Does Faith Make You An Idiot? What’s Wrong With Prejudice And Is It Prejudicial To Dislike Someone Over His Bad Thinking? PZ Myers Shouldn’t Sound Like Sarah PalinROMAN CATHOLICS
The Pope’s Weaselly Excuses For Church Child Abuse In The ’70sAPPLIED ETHICS
Ricky Gervais, Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, And Ethical Dilemmas In Comedy Legalism Over Life: Nun Supports Life-Saving Abortion And Gets Excommunicated Moral Actions, Moral Sentiments, Moral Motives, and Moral Justifications: More On The Nun Excommunicated For Approving A Life-Saving AbortionPROBLEM OF EVIL
On God As The Source Of Being But Not Of Evil Why Worship Someone With Mysterious Motives?ATHEIST SOLIDARITY
The “A” Word Who Cares About Atheists? You Might Be An Atheist Even If You Hate The New Atheists My Atheistic Reply To Rabbi Adam Jacobs’s Open Letter To The Atheist Community Are Atheists An Oppressed Minority?THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT
The Religious Conservative’s False Choice: “Big Brother” Or “Heavenly Father” Thoughts On The Ethics Of Private Vs. Publicly-Mediated Generostiy How Christian Beliefs And Values Are No More Creditable With America’s Founding Than Islamic OnesREASONS FOR ATHEISM
No, I’m Not An Atheist By Faith, Here Are My Arguments. Beyond Agnosticism: More Details About How I Know Various Kinds Of Gods Do Not Exist, Based On Scientific And Philosophical Reasons The Cosmological Argument, The Composition Fallacy, And More Reasons Not To Believe In God Do New Atheists Unjustifiably Shirk Their Burden For Evidence?ERIC STEINHART ON METAPHYSICS
6 Basic Kinds Of Answer To The Question “Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?” The Positive Content of Atheism Why Materialism is Unscientific The Simulation Hypothesis The Secret Agreement between Atheists and TheistsAGNOSTICISM, ATHEISM, & THEISM
Disambiguating Faith: How A Lack Of Belief In God May Differ From Various Kinds Of Beliefs That Gods Do Not Exist Distinguishing The Atheist Agnostic, The Theist Gnostic, The Atheist Gnostic, and The Theist Agnostic Agnostics Or Apistics? Disambiguating Faith: The Evidence-Impervious Agnostic Theists Atheists Have Affirmative Positions On The Status Of Evidence And On The Standards Of BeliefFAITH AS LEAP
Disambiguating Faith: Faith Which Exploits Infinitesimal Probabilities As Openings For Strong AffirmationsJUSTIFIED BELIEF VS. FAITH BELIEF
Disambiguating Faith: Not All Beliefs Held Without Certainty Are Faith Beliefs Disambiguating Faith: Defending My Definition Of Faith As “Belief Or Trust Beyond Rational Warrant”FAITH AS CHOICE
Disambiguating Faith: Implicit Faith Disambiguating Faith: Why Faith Is Unethical (Or "In Defense Of The Ethical Obligation To Always Proportion Belief To Evidence") How Faith Is Not Like Other (Revisable) Reflexive Assumptions (6)TRUST VS. FAITH
Disambiguating Faith: Trustworthiness, Loyalty, And Honesty Disambiguating Faith: Faith As Loyally Trusting Those Insufficiently Proven To Be TrustworthyFAITH AS TRADITIONALISM
Disambiguating Faith: Faith As Tradition Disambiguating Faith: Blind Faith: How Faith Traditions Turn Trust Without Warrant Into A Test Of Loyalty Disambiguating Faith: The Threatening Abomination Of The FaithlessUNCERTAIN BELIEFS
Rational Beliefs, Rational Actions, And When It Is Rational To Act On What You Don’t Think Is True Disambiguating Faith: Faith As GuessingBETTER THAN FAITH
Disambiguating Faith: Are True Gut Feelings And Epiphanies Beliefs Justified By Faith? Disambiguating Faith: Faith Is Neither Brainstorming, Hypothesizing, Nor Simply Reasoning Counter-Intuitively Disambiguating Faith: Faith In The Sub-, Pre-, Or Un-consciousFAITH AS RATIONALIZATION
Disambiguating Faith: Faith As A Form Of Rationalization Unique To Religion Disambiguating Faith: Faith As Deliberate Commitment To Rationalization Disambiguating Faith: Faith As Subjectivity Which Claims ObjectivityDOUBT VS. FAITH
Disambiguating Faith: Faith Is Preconditioned By Doubt, But Precludes Serious Doubting Disambiguating Faith: Faith As Tradition’s Advocate And Enforcer, Opposed To Merely Provisional Forms Of Trust Disambiguating Faith By Soul Searching With Clergy GuyCHILDREN'S REASONING
Disambiguating Faith: Faith As Corruption Of Children’s Intellectual JudgmentATHEISM DIFFERS FROM FAITH
Evangelical Atheism? Is Reason My “God” In Whom I Have “Faith?” Is Reason My "God" 2: On Authority, Uncertainty, and Inexplicability Is Reason My "God" 3: What It Means To Be A Rational Being Is Reason My God 4: On Reason As An Authority Answering Accusations Against Atheists: The Charge We Naively Blame All War On Religion Atheist Groupthink?DEISM VS. THEISM
On The Possible God Of Philosophy And Cosmology Vs. The Personal, Historical God Of FaithPOLITICAL VALUES
Some Suspicions About The Superiority Of Liberal Moral Values Philosophical Ethics: Hobbes On The Source Of Authority Philosophical Ethics: Rawls’s Maximin Principle Some More Thoughts On Rawls’s Maximin Principle And Fairness Philosophical Ethics: Can We Uphold A Moral Law And A Principle That We Should Break It? How Christian Beliefs And Values Are No More Creditable With America’s Founding Than Islamic OnesEPISTEMOLOGY
Clarifying The Relationships Between Dogmatism, Skepticism, And Properly Proportioned Belief Evolution and Epistemology If Faith Isn’t Publicly Justifiable, How Can It Provide Justification At All?METAETHICISTS
Philosophical Ethics: On G.E. Moore’s Notion Of Good As An Indefinable Non-Natural Property Philosophical Ethics: From G.E. Moore’s Non-Naturalism To C.L. Stevenson’s Emotivism Philosophical Ethics: A.J. Ayer And The Emotivism Of A Positivist Philosophical Ethics: J.L. Mackie’s Error Theory And Jonathan Harrison’s Critique Thereof Philosophical Ethics: R.M. Hare On Moral Consistency As A Form Of Logical Consistency Philosophical Ethics: Bruce Russell On Theories About What Makes An Action Rational Or Not Philosophical Ethics: Does Calling Someone Evil Explain Anything About Them?KANT
Philosophical Ethics: Kant, The Good Will, And Rational Actions Philosophical Ethics: "But Why MUST I?" Kant’s Ironic Formulation Of Liberty As Duty Philosophical Ethics: A Possible Kantian Formula For Determining The Permissibility Of Self-DefenseMOTIVES
Philosophical Ethics: Whether It’s Worth It To Be Just With No Incentives Or With DisincentivesETHICS OF HOMOSEXUALITY
An Argument For Gay Marriage And Against Traditionalism Judge This: No Gay Kissing On Modern Family? Happy National Coming Out Day 2009! Unreal Discrimination?GAYS AND CHRISTIANITY
Bishop of Church of England Doesn’t “Share Same Faith” As Those Who Accept Homosexuality A Follow Up Post On Gays And Christianity Confronting Conservative Christians With The Consequences Of Their Homophobia Gays and Christianity 3: If God Exists and Is Good, He Cannot Oppose Gay Love Contortions Of Catholic Philosophy: Eve Tushnet Argues Gay Sex Is Not OK But Sex Changes AreDISCRIMINATION
Sexism And Sensitivity On Gary Bauer’s Claims That American Muslims Get Better Treatment Than American ChristiansRELIGION'S VICES
Is God Needed For Us To Care About Starving Kids A World Away? Religion As A Morally and Politically Ambivalent Force Answering Accusations Against Atheists: The Charge That Atheists Have Faith TooSCIENCE VS. FAITH
How Belief In “Theistic Evolution” Is Nearly As Much A Denial Of Science As Creationism Defending The Apparent Truth Of Evolution’s Mindlessness The (Jesuit) Father Of The Big Bang Theory In What Sense Religious Scientists Shouldn't Exist What’s Wrong With Religious Scientists? More Thoughts On Scientists In The Public Square When Should A Scientist’s Faith Disqualify Him From Scientific Institutional Authority? On Unjustifiably Leveraging One’s Credibility Against Faith and In Defense of Naturalism and Induction (7)MODERATE RELIGION
Will The Real Atheists Please Stop Kneeling The Value Of Religious Moderates And The Danger Of Isolating Religious And Political Fundamentalists What’s In A Name? On Redefining Belief In God Rather Than Rejecting It Objections to Religious Moderates and Intellecuals 1 Objections to Religious Moderates and Intellectuals 2 Objections to Religious Moderates and Intellectuals 3 Objections to Religious Moderates and Intellectuals 4ANTAGONISTIC ATHEISM
On The Alleged Intolerance Of The New Atheists Towards “Faitheists” In Defense Of Mocking And Embarrassing Religion My Thoughts On Blasphemy Day On The Uses And Abuses Of Religion In Art: The Lines Between Expression, Tolerance, Respect, Fear, and Torture Why Atheists Should Not Give Up Challenging Theism And TheistsBAD BIBLE
Why Progressive Interpretations Of The Old Testament Still Do Not Justify Its God Morally How Genesis Is Not Only Literally False, But Metaphorically False True And False In Adam And Eve The Christian Logic Of Power, Pride, Humility, Free Will, Original Sin, And All-Consuming Divine Narcissism You Are Not A Bible Character You Are Not A Biblical Character 2: Father Freeman’s Reply You Are Not A Bible Character 3: On Believing Without Proof-
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Category Archives: Civil Rights
U.S. District Judge Rules DOMA Unconstitutional
July 8, 2010 – 7:26 pmBy Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Civil Rights, Gay Marriage, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Gay Rights, LGBTQAA, Law, Same Sex Marriage, Same Sex Marriage | Tagged Defense of Marriage Act, DOMA, Gary Buseck, Joseph Tauro | Comments (0)Gay Rights Advocate Decapitated In Uganda
July 6, 2010 – 10:47 pmUnspeakably sad and outraging: A search for a missing pro-gay priest, the Rev Henry Kayizzi Nsubuga, who disappeared almost two and half weeks ago after delivering a scathing speech at St. Paul’s Church, Kanyanya supporting homosexuality in Uganda, led the joint search team of Integrity Uganda and Namirembe Diocese to the severed head of another [...]
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Free Speech, Free Speech, Gay Rights, Homophobia, Homophobia, Homosexuality, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, News, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, World Affairs, World Affairs | Tagged Kill The Gays Bill, Uganda | Comments (2)No Preferred Legal Status For Religion
July 1, 2010 – 2:12 pmHis excellent previous 2 videos on the subject laid out legal arguments that preferred this conclusion. Your Thoughts?
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Civil Rights, Gay Rights, Gay Rights, Law | Tagged Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, ProfMTH, United States Supreme Court | Comments (1)If Atheists Acted Like Politically Conservative Christians
July 1, 2010 – 9:22 amBy Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Atheism, Atheism, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Gay Marriage, Gay Marriage, Political Satire, Political Satire, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Same Sex Marriage, Same Sex Marriage, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State | Tagged Bill O'Reilly, DarkMatter2525, Door To Door Evangelism, In God We Trust On Money, Prayer In Schools, Religious Billboards, Richard Dawkins | Comments (2)Supreme Court Upholds University Non-Discrimination Statement
June 28, 2010 – 5:34 pmZack Ford explains: Here’s a brief recap of the situation: The University of California has a nondiscrimination policy. If you want to be recognized as a student group (i.e. use the university’s name, access funding for student groups, reserve campus spaces, etc.), you must abide by the nondiscrimination policy. The Christian Legal Society at Hastings [...]
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Civil Liberties, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Free Speech, Free Speech, Gay Rights, Gay Rights, Homophobia, Homophobia, Homosexuality, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, Law, Law, Law & Politics, Politics, Politics, Religious Rights, Religious Rights | Tagged United States Supreme Court, Zack Ford | Comments (1)Rational Passional Persuasion
June 25, 2010 – 7:29 pmAndrew writes: So atheists don’t have emotions which inform them of the truth of something? And their rhetoric is completely dispassionate to the point where logic and reason are not fully objective? I have addressed the proper ways to consult the emotions in looking for truth in the post, Disambiguating Faith: Heart Over Reason, so for [...]
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Atheism, Featured, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Homophobia, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, Prejudice, Same Sex Marriage | Tagged Argumentation, Emotional Argumentation, Emotional Reasoning, Human Rights, Persuasion, Value Judgment | Comments (3)On The "Compassion" In The Catholic Bishops’ Letter To Congress Against Gay Rights
June 21, 2010 – 5:17 amRecently, United States bishops petitioned Congress to not protect gays from being fired for their sexual orientation. Andrew Sullivan already precisely attacked the bishops’ immoral political calculation by which they explicitly committed themselves to a perverse moral contradiction whereby they simultaneously concede that homosexuality is to a significant extent not a choice and argue that [...]
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Andrew Sullivan, Authoritarianism, Christianity, Civil Liberties, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Homophobia, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, Law, Law & Politics, Politics, Religion, Religious Rights, Right Wing Politics, Roman Catholic Church, Same Sex Marriage | Tagged ZJ Jones, ZJemptv | Comments (3)Multicultural Human Rights
June 19, 2010 – 7:39 amJohann Hari makes the argument that we have the right to stand up for the rights of those in other cultures without fear that we are not “multicultural” enough: Should you shut up about human rights abuses because they are happening far away, to people you don’t know, who have a different culture or colour [...]
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Civil Liberties, Politics | Tagged Human Rights, Johann Hari | Comments (1)Follow The Closing Arguments Of The Proposition 8 Trial Today
June 16, 2010 – 11:39 amAnd you can follow them as they are live-blogged on the Proposition 8 Trial Tracker website, which was an invaluable resource during testimony, filled with fascinating in-depth accounts of the arguments everyday. They’ve also started rolling already today on their Twitter feed and on their Facebook page. Here is the schedule for the arguments, all [...]
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, Law & Politics, Same Sex Marriage | Tagged California Proposition 8, Proposition 8, Proposition 8 Trial, Proposition 8 Trial Tracker | Comments (2)Iceland Unanimously Approves Gay Marriage
June 11, 2010 – 11:30 pmIceland, the only country in the world to have an openly gay head of state, passed a law on Friday allowing same-sex partners to get married in a vote which met with no political resistance. The Althingi parliament voted 49 to zero to change the wording of marriage legislation to include matrimony between “man and [...]
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, Same Sex Marriage | Tagged Iceland, Johanna Sigurdardottir | Comments (0)Rejecting The Ex-Gay Movement
June 10, 2010 – 5:00 pmMichael Bussee co-founded the “ex-gay” ministry Exodus International. In the videos below he explains the problems with the movement and how he came to reject it. Here are a bunch of the videos, and more can be found on his YouTube channel. Your Thoughts?
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Homophobia, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, Same Sex Marriage | Tagged Exodus International, Michael Bussee | Comments (2)Family Research Council Lobbied Congress NOT To Denounce Uganda Bill
June 10, 2010 – 9:36 amBy Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Christianity, Fundamentalism, Gay Rights, Homophobia, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, Religion, Religious Extremism | Tagged Family Research Council, frc, Kill The Gays Bill, Uganda, Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Legislation, zinnia jones, ZJemptv | Comments (0)Children Of Lesbians Did Better In Study Than Traditionally Raised Children
June 9, 2010 – 9:01 pmNanette Gartrell and Henny Bos (author of Parenting in Planned Lesbian Families (UvA Proefschriften) have the authored the first longitudinal study to track the outcomes of children created through artificial insemination through their teenage years. The results? The authors found that children raised by lesbian mothers — whether the mother was partnered or single — [...]
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, Psychology, Same Sex Marriage, Social Psychology | Tagged Artificial Insemination, Gay Adoption, Gay Parents, Google, Henny Bos, Lesbian Parenting, Nanette Gartrell | Comments (3)Michael Sandel On "The Lost Art Of Democratic Debate"
June 9, 2010 – 11:13 amA good video from Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel, who recently wrote a book on justice for a popular audience, Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?, and who last year released on YouTube high production value videos encapsulating his lectures for his standard introductory level ethics class at Harvard. You can start watching those videos here. [...]
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Epistemology, Ethics, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Historical Philosophy, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Virtues, Law, Morality, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Same Sex Marriage, Teleology, Virtues | Tagged Aristotle, Aristotle's Theory of Justice, Democratic Debate, Golf, Harvard University, Justice, Justice Antonin Scalia, Justice John Paul Stevens, Michael Sandel, Phronesis, Sports, United States Supreme Court | Comments (3)Make Homosexuals Marry
June 8, 2010 – 3:24 amStarring Mike White, writer and co-star of two of my favorite movies (The Good Girl and School of Rock), a look at the realities of gay marriage: Your Thoughts?
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Comedy, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, Parody, Same Sex Marriage | Tagged Justin Long, Mike White, Nora Dunn, Tom Arnold | Comments (0)8: The Mormon Proposition
June 7, 2010 – 12:23 pm8: The Mormon Proposition, a new movie out in theaters next Friday and available on DVD in July, explores the way that a tax exempt organization has waged a “secretive, decades-long campaign against gay rights”: Thanks to Richard for the link. Your Thoughts?
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Christianity, Civil Liberties, Film, Free Speech, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Homophobia, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, Law, Law & Politics, Politics, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Rights, Right Wing Politics, Same Sex Marriage, Theocrats, Videos | Tagged 8: The Mormon Proposition, California Proposition 8, Documentary, Mormons, Proposition 8, Tax Exemptions for Churches | Comments (1)A California Attorney General Candidate Who Supports Gay Marriage
June 5, 2010 – 9:49 amHis name is Steve Cooley and he could use your support in a primary for the Republican party’s nomination. Think about it if you’re qualified to vote for him and live in California: Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley is running for the Republican Party nomination for California State Attorney General. And those readers who [...]
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, LGBTQAA, Law & Politics, Politics, Right Wing Politics, Same Sex Marriage | Tagged Attorney General's Race in California, Los Angelas District Attorney, Steve Cooley | Comments (0)U.S. Bishops Argue Employers Should Be Allowed To Consider Being Gay A Fireable Offense
June 3, 2010 – 1:26 pmThe United States Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote a letter addressed to the United States Congress people opposing ENDA, the Employment Nondiscrimination Act For the sake of clarity, permit us first to state two basic tenets of Catholic Church teaching on this issue. First, persons with a homosexual inclination “must be accepted with respect, compassion, [...]
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Andrew Sullivan, Civil Liberties, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Homophobia, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, Law, Law & Politics, Pope Benedict XVI, Religion, Religious Secularism, Right Wing Politics, Roman Catholic Church, Same Sex Marriage, Separation of Church and State | Tagged Anti-discrimination Laws, Discrimination, Employment Nondiscrimination Act, enda, H.R. 3017, Senate (S. 1584), United States Bishops | Comments (0)Bill O’Reilly Compares Gays To Al-Qaeda
June 3, 2010 – 12:10 amA little over an hour ago, I posted this McDonald’s commercial, running only in France thus far, which gently sends a pro-gay message. Little did I know yet that Bill O’Reilly got seriously O’riled up about it tonight: His physical hostility towards such a remarkably understated and delicate ad and his adamant insistence that the [...]
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Featured, Homophobia, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, Pop Culture, Videos | Tagged Bill O'Reilly, FOX News, Jane Skinner, McDonald's, McDonald's commercial, Pro-Gay Ad | Comments (3)Justice Stevens's Legacy On Liberty
June 1, 2010 – 9:57 pmCliff Sloan, a former clerk of retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, makes a four part case that he was the greatest (non-chief) Justice in American history. His second point of evidence is Justice Stevens’s vigorous defense of personal liberty, including his contribution to the long overdue overturning laws criminalizing gay sex: Second, Justice [...]
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Civil Liberties, Gay Rights, Homosexuality, Law, Law & Politics | Tagged Bowers v. Hardwick, Cliff Sloan, Jamal Greene, Justice John Paul Stevens, Justice Stevens, Lawrence v. Texas, liberty, right to privacy, United States Supreme Court | Comments (0)American Academy Of Pediatrics Reverses Support For Female Circumcision "Compromise"
June 1, 2010 – 4:21 pmThe American Academy of Pediatrics had proposed permitting American doctors to ritually “nick” the clitorises of girls whose parents want to maintain their customs in America. The thinking was that this compromise would prevent such parents from going underground to have a fuller mutilation of the clitoris carried out instead. Ayaan Hirsi Ali argues that [...]
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Atheist Videos, Civil Liberties, Feminism, Islam, Law, Law & Politics, News, News Discussion, Politics, Religious Extremism, Sex, Videos, Women's Issues | Tagged "Nicking" The Clitoris, American Academy of Pediatrics, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Congressman Joseph Crowley, Female Circumcision, Female Genital Mutilation, Infidel, Misogyny, Nomad: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations, Religion and Sex, Religious Atrocities, Religious Hatred Of The Body, The American Academy of Pediatrics, The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam | Comments (0)Missionaries of Hate
May 27, 2010 – 4:14 pmDo American evangelical leaders really oppose Uganda’s “Kill The Gays Bill”? What exactly is the extent of their responsibility for the creation of this mercilessly unjust, religiously motivated law? Mariana van Zeller’s documentary Missionaries of Hate explores the question: Jim Burroway has more interview footage with Ugandan MP David Bahati, who introduced the “Anti-Homosexuality Bill”, including [...]
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Bible, Christianity, Gay Rights, Homophobia, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, Law, Law & Politics, Politics, Religion, Religious Extremism, Right Wing Politics, Separation of Church and State, Theocrats, Videos, World Affairs | Tagged "Defend the Family", "The Pink Swastika", Adam Yamaguchi, Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2009, Christof Putzel, David Bahati, Hillary Clinton, Joyce Meyer, Julius Kaggwa, Kaj Larsen, Kampala, Kill The Gays Bill, Long Jones, Mariana van Zeller, Martin Ssempa, Missionaries of Hate, Neo-Colonialism, Otto Odonga, Rick Warren, Scott Lively, Tammy Baldwin, Uganda, Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Legislation, Vanguard, Vanguard: Missionaries of Hate, Yoweri Museveni | Comments (1)Should Religions Be Exempt From Laws Otherwise Applicable To Others?
May 25, 2010 – 11:10 pmProfMTH explores the issue with a wealth of information, siding against such exemptions: The second video is chock full of legal information. The most interesting bit in here is where he discusses Antonin Scalia’s strong case against religious exemptions and Sonia Sotomayor’s general support for them. 1. Regarding Christian Legal Society v. Martinez– –the decision [...]
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Abortion, Applied Ethics, Atheist Videos, Bio-Medical Ethics, Christianity, Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, Law, Law & Politics, News Discussion, Political Secularism, Racism, Religion, Religious Rights, Roman Catholic Church, Same Sex Marriage, Secularism, Separation of Church and State | Tagged "The Ministerial Exception", Anti-discrimination Laws, Antonin Scalia, Archbishop Donald Wuerl, Archdiocese of Washington DC, Automatic Charitable Deductions, Bob Jones University, Bob Jones University v. United States, Boy Scouts, Catholic Charities, Catholic Charities of Sacramento v. Superior Court, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Albany v. Serio, Christian Legal Society, Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, Connecticut, Contraception, DC Same Sex Marriage Law, Employment Division v. Smith, Establihsment Clause of 1st Amendment, Federal 9th Circuit, Free Exercise Clause of 1st Amendment, Jonathan Turley, LAPD, Los Angelas Police Department, Mandated Benefits Laws, McClure v. The Salvation Army, Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, Palmore v. Sidoti, ProfMTH, Sonia Sotomayor, Special Rights, Supreme Court of the United States of America, Tax Exemptions for Churches, The New York Times, The Supreme Court, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, University of California Hastings College of Law, Wisconsin Supreme Court | Comments (3)The Texas State Board Of Education On Activism
May 23, 2010 – 5:46 pmFrom Dara Lind: Here’s a requirement from the eighth-grade curriculum, under “Citizenship”: The student is expected to…analyze reasons for and the impact of selected examples of civil disobedience in U.S. history such as the Boston Tea Party and Henry David Thoreau’s refusal to pay a tax. Yes, it’s hilarious that the curriculum glosses over the fact [...]
"The Closet Game!"
May 21, 2010 – 5:59 pmZJ responds to Steve King’s oblivious and cruel suggestion to the effect that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act would not be necessary if only gays, lesbians and the transgendered would stay in the closet: Your Thoughts?
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Gay Rights, Homophobia, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, Law, Law & Politics, Politics, Right Wing Politics, Videos | Tagged anti-gay conservatives, bigotry, bisexual, businesses, closeted, Discrimination, employees, employers, employment, enda, Family Research Council, firing, frc, gender identity, glbt, glbtq, heterosexual, hiring, Homophobia, homosexual, Homosexuality, in the closet, iowa congressman, Law, lesbian, LGBT, lgbtq, non-discrimination act, openly gay, promotion decisions, queer, representative, sexual orientation, Sexuality, Steve King, straight, Transgender, zinnia jones, zj, ZJemptv | Comments (0)

