EDS Picks Lesbian Pro-Abortion Fundraiser for President and Dean

The Board of Trustees of the Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) has selected the Rev. Dr. Katherine Ragsdale to be the new President and Dean. In the announcement in Episcopal Life Online, the Rt. Rev. Thomas Ely, EDS trustee and search committee member is quoted citing Ragsdale's "development skills" and the Acting Academic Dean, Dr. Angela Bauer-Levesque, cites Ragsdale's "experience in fundraising". Of course, they cite her many other attributes as well, but this position is understood within academia to be primarily responsible for fundraising. And EDS, like many of the progressive Episcopal seminaries, is in desperate financial condition. For EDS the situation is so extreme that they sold off some of its buildings last year.

Ragsdale has demonstrated success as a fundraiser for her anti-Right Wing think tank Political Research Associates, as well as Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, and other pro-abortion and gay rights groups. I guess this means that the Trustees of EDS see the sources of future dollars for the seminary coming from supporters of abortion and gay rights causes.

While I am concerned with the threat of radical Islam and Sharia Law, Ragsdale and her funders are concerned with the threat of a theocratic state coming from right wing Christians. It seems to me that Ragsdale is still living in the worldview of the time Margaret Atwood wrote The Handmaid's Tale, 1985. She seems to have missed the major event of the new century, 9/11.

Hat Tip to Reformed Pastor

Iran: Death for Bloggers Promoting Christianity

Iran imposes the death penalty for "spreading mischief in the land", a reference to the Quran 5:32. This verse is interpreted to apply to those who encourage conversion from Islam to Christianity. Leaving Islam for another religion is considered "Apostasy". According to Farsi Christian News Service, two Christian bloggers were entrapped and arrested in Isfahan on February 4th. The target of the entrapment operation seems to be bloggers rather than Christian converts as other family members were not arrested.

This Aljazeera video from March 24th acknowledges that bloggers in Iran who encourage conversion to Christianity are in danger of the death penalty for their activities.



Hat Tips to Nova Scotia Scott and Islam in Action

Training for Anti-Prop 8 "Civil Disobedience Action" March to Sacramento

I see that the same group who organized two "civil disobedience actions" in San Francisco last November, the blockade of Market Street on November 7, 2008 and the blockade of the freeway off ramp at Market and Octavia on November 15th, is now planning a "March to Sacramento" to begin this coming Wednesday March 25th. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are funding the action, perhaps from their most recent grant cycle.

No one from the group was arrested for the blockade of Market Street. However, 15 were arrested for the blockade of the freeway off ramp a week later. I think that the local chapter of the Lawyers Guild got them out of any penalties, though.

I am wondering what sort of "civil disobedience actions" are planned for the March to Sacramento. One of my spies has provided me with a more detailed plan than was posted on the website.

They had a "training" this Saturday and have another "training" planned for Monday and a press conference on Tuesday.

The kick-off rally is on Wednesday at Berkeley City Hall. They will be marching to Walnut Creek and staying at the Unitarian Universalist Church for Wednesday night.

Thursday they will march across the Antioch Bridge (civil disobedience action?) and spend the night in Brannon Island State Park.

Well, it goes on and on, arriving at the Sacramento Mall at 2pm Monday March 30th. On the website this is called "Sacramento Day of Action" In the materials provided to me, it says:

Opportunities for civil disobedience and lobby opportunities will be available but have not been organized by the March committee.

Hmmm, I wonder if the local chapter of the National Lawyers Guild had a hand in that language.

I do notice that the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild is holding a "Legal Observer Training" at USF on Tuesday. (Although the University of San Francisco is a Catholic institution, it is Jesuit run and permits promotion of gay activities on the campus.) The training is just in time for those who would like to serve as an "observer" for the March:

The primary role of legal observers is to monitor law enforcement and collect evidence during protests, demonstrations, strikes and other public political actions. Trainees will be required to sign a Confidentiality Agreement with the National Lawyers Guild San Francisco Bay Area Chapter.

I wonder what sort of training would necessitate the signing of a "Confidentiality Agreement"?

Sad news for children this week

Two studies were released this week that are bad news for the children of the United States of America. We learned that 40% of all children born in 2007 in the USA were born to an unmarried mother. And we learned that children raised by lesbian couples are twice as likely to be raised in poverty than those raised by heterosexual married couples.

The study with the numbers on births to unwed mothers comes from the National Center for Health Statistics. The New York Times reported on the racial and ethnic breakdown:

Racial and ethnic differences remain large: 28 percent of white babies were born to unmarried mothers in 2007, compared with 51 percent of Hispanic babies and 72 percent of black babies. The shares of births to unwed mothers among whites and Hispanics have climbed faster than the share among blacks, but from lower starting points.

The AP story on the study results skipped those statistics and got a quote a Professor from Emory University, Dr. Carol Hogue:

Cultural attitudes may be a more likely explanation. Morgan noted the pregnancy of Bristol Palin, the unmarried teen daughter of former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The young woman had a baby boy in December, and plans for a wedding with the father, Levi Johnston, were scrapped.

"She's the poster child for what you do when you get pregnant now," Morgan said.

But shouldn't the "poster child" be a black woman given the much greater percent of black children born out of wedlock? Maybe that is why AP skipped giving those statistics. And the study was based on 2007 birth certificates, and nobody had heard of Bristol Palin in 2007, let alone 2006, when many of those 2007 babies were conceived. And Bristol's baby was born in late 2008. I think the AP reporter was just using this as an excuse to get in another dig at the Palins. Why didn't he interview someone who would talk about the Octo-mom or lesbian unwed mothers?

Which leads me to the study with the high poverty rate for children raised by lesbian couples, titled Poverty in the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Community comes from UCLA's Williams Institute. The study intention is to support the push for gay marriage. But it seems to me that it undermines the claim that lesbians are such good parents. Lesbians chose parenthood while children are the natural result of heterosexual couple sexual behavior. So, I have to wonder why lesbians are choosing to have children that they will be raising in poverty.

Thailand: Sharia Law for Southern Provinces?

Thailand's potential solution to end a five year insurgency in its predominately Muslim southern provinces bordering Malaysia includes "the partial application of Islamic Sharia Law through Islamic Courts" according to Voice of America News:

Policy review options include a specially elected local chamber of government, the partial application of Islamic Sharia Law through Islamic Courts and local administrative organizations based on Muslim community leadership. It also calls for security forces and government officials to be selected from the local Southern community or have language, cultural and knowledge of local customs and traditions before being posted.

Panitan says the empowerment of local communities and application of Sharia law is an option under consideration.

"They are in consideration already in the proposals," he said. "There are at least two different proposals - legislative proposals - proposed by the members of parliament [MPs]. We do not know what will be adopted by the parliament yet but yes - these are the considerations."

Hat Tip: Jihad Watch

Famous Pakistani Rape Victim Becomes 2nd Wife of Constable

Mukhtar Mai (AKA Mukharan Bibi), the brave woman who was gang raped in a tribal punishment and successfully challenged the rapist in court, has been manipulated into marrying a man who was assigned to protect her. While the marriage is being characterized by the the New York Times as further shattering the stigma against rape victims:

By marrying, she has defeated another stigma against rape victims in conservative Pakistani society.

the facts in further paragraphs of the article indicate she has been manipulated into the marriage:

Mr. Gabol had a hard time persuading Ms. Mukhtar to marry. He had been calling her off and on since 2003 but formally proposed a year and a half ago, she said. “But I told my parents I don’t want to get married.”

Finally, four months ago, he tried to kill himself by taking sleeping pills. “The morning after he attempted suicide, his wife and parents met my parents but I still refused,” Ms. Mukhtar said.

Mr. Gabol then threatened to divorce his first wife, Shumaila.

Ms. Shumaila, along with Mr. Gabol’s parents and sisters, tried to talk Ms. Mukhtar into marrying him, taking on the status of second wife. In Pakistan, a man can legally have up to four wives.

It was her concern about Ms. Shumaila, Ms. Mukhtar said, that moved her to relent.

“I am a woman and can understand the pain and difficulties faced by another woman,” Ms. Mukhtar said. “She is a good woman.”

In the end, Ms. Mukhtar put a few conditions on Mr. Gabol. He had to transfer the ownership of his ancestral house to his first wife, agree to give her a plot of land and a monthly stipend of roughly $125.

Asked if she had plans to leave her village to live with her husband in his village, Ms. Mukhtar said no. “I have seen pain and happiness in Meerwala. I cannot think of leaving this place.”

Her husband, she said, “can come here whenever he wants and finds it convenient.”

Remember that in Islam, the man can divorce his wife at any time by merely saying "I divorce you" three times. He is only obligated to provide her with financial support for six months after the divorce. So, Mukhtaran Bibi has taken pity on the first wife of the constable and negotiated for her financial security. But also remember that Islam requires a wife to submit to her husband's sexual desires at any time. So Mukhtaran Bibi ensured the man's first wife financial security, but only by agreeing to be the man's wife, ie, subject to the sexual desires of this man whenever he wishes. Seems like she has been manipulated into being a rape victim for the rest of her life.

Libya: 4 Christian Converts Detained and Tortured

International Christian Concern is reporting:

Libyan intelligence officials have detained and tortured four Christians for converting from Islam. The Christians have been imprisoned for the past seven weeks in Tripoli, Libya's capital.

Libya's External Security Organization appear to be responsible for the detention and torture of the Christians. The families have been barred from visiting the converts by security agents. It is believed that the converts are under severe physical and psychological pressure to force them to reveal the names of other Christian converts.

The leader of Libya, Mouammar Kadhafi believes that the Bible has been falsified to remove the references to predictions of the Prophet Mohamed. Afrique en Ligne reports that Kadhafi spoke during a commemoration ceremony for the birth of the Prophet Mohamed, claiming that:

Quran showed that there did not exist any differences between Islam and Moses and his closest followers because they were Moslems.

“If they had lived during the era of Mohamed, they would have believed in him. Likewise, there is no problem with Jesus and the other prophets, all of them being Moslems and Mohamed the seal of the prophets," Kadhafi said.

He said the discord was “between us and those who refused to follow Mohamed who is the messenger of the Jews, Christians and the entire mankind”.

Afrique en Ligne reports that Kadhafi also claimed that Islam had not been spread by force. I would add that he forgot to mention that Islam holds its religious adherents by force, at least in Libya.

Let's call him on this. Go to International Christian Concern and see their ideas for calling and writing to get these converts released.

Hat Tip: Women Against Shariah