I’ve seen a couple spoofs on Brokeback Mountain, but I just heard of and found this one – Spongeback Mountain, staring Spongebob Squarepants and Patrick.
Watch it – Spongeback Mountain
New Purpose
I used to us blogger for my weblog until a year or so ago when I switched to Moveabletype. My original blog was still available.
I’ve decided to rechristen my original hypersync blog – “hypersync :: reconciled.” I am posting to that blog once again as a place to delve more deeply into the whole “how to live life as a Christian who is also gay and what that all means…” kind of thing.
The ironic aspect of it all is that I am not particularly reconciled with all of it – questions linger. There is always the big question of how to navigate through all the cultural and sub-cultural minefields that plague anyone trying to live out a faithful life, be a witness, and still believe that honest and true relationships are possible. There is always the reality that most gay people have to play catch-up in terms of discovering how to have a relationship, which most straight people learn in their teens and early twenties.
Oscars, Brokeback Mountain, and the hundreds of thousands of ex-gay people
Alan Chambers and Exodus are commenting once again on Brokeback Mountain.
Here are a couple links you might want to go to for the lastest:
The press-release
Ex-gay Watch
Peterson Toscano’s A Musing for some more and good commentary
Oh, brother.
Here’s the latest
Christian anti-gay and Religious Right groups are demanding that a ban on HIV+ people from traveling to the U.S. (which, frankly, I never knew existed) be reinstated before the 2006 Gay Games in Chicago. It seems the organizers of the 2006 Gay Games petitioned that the ban be waived for the upcoming athletic competitions, and it was.
I continue to be amazed that the propaganda and miss-information that the Religious Right and anti-gay activists use in their attempt to foist upon unsuspecting common folk an unabashed fear of homosexuals. Well, it does bring in millions of dollars for these groups! Greed, whether for money or for power, does terrible things to people.
Of course there are a percentage of homosexuals who are sex-addicted, irresponsible, and dedicated to whatever, just like there are a percentage of heterosexuals who are and do the same. But, these groups attempt to convince Jane and Joe Public that all homosexuals are sex-crazed, HIV+, radicals that are dedicated to destroying marriage, Mom, apple-pie, and the American way of life. It is absurd, and these people are intelligent enough to know that they are out-and-out lying! Christians? For them, the end justifies the means and the call of Christ falls flat.
Here is the latest “news” update from CitizenLink, a Focus on the Family daily e-mail update:
HIV Travel Restrictions Lifted for Gay Games
Pro-family advocates are asking President Bush to reinstate a federal ban that prohibits HIV-infected travelers from coming to United States. A lobbying campaign succeeded in getting the ban lifted in time for Chicago’s 2006 Gay Games.
Homosexuals from around the world will travel to Chicago for the event slated for July 15-22. The official Web site claims 8,000 people have registered.
Gay advocates, with the help of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, convinced the federal government to waive restrictions on international travel for those with HIV so they could attend the games. Pro-family analysts argue that such a move is counter to the goal of stopping the spread of the disease.
Peter LaBarbera, executive director of the Illinois Family Institute, is calling on the president and Congress to reinstate the ban. He said the people of Chicago should not be subjected to activities that facilitate immoral and reckless behavior.
“Mayor Daley has forgotten his role as ‘chief protector’ of the people of Chicago,” he said. “The public-health goal of stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS must take precedence over the political wants of homosexual advocates.”
The Gay Games Web site promotes dangerous sexual activity, LaBarbera said. For example, Steamworks, a gay bathhouse that offers anonymous sex for men, is listed as a business sponsor and under “Parties and Events.”
“The evidence is clear: the extracurricular activities surrounding the Gay Games present a real health hazard to those involved and the surrounding community,” he said. “Inviting thousands of HIV-infected visitors to a Gay Games celebration that officially promotes promiscuity will only put Chicagoans at risk and help spread HIV.”
Thousands? Come on.
The Arguments
I’m reading N.T. Wright’s “The Last Word: Beyond the Bible Wars to a New Understanding of the Authority of Scripture” right now. A wonderful book.
You know, it can be fairly easy to go through the few and various verses that are used to condemn all forms of same-sex relationship and present a rational and faithful interpretation that does not come to the same conclusion, to the point where the thread used to tie them all together to sustain the traditional condemnation of all forms of same-sex relationship is frayed beyond its ability to hold up such an interpretation.
For example, one of the favorite arguments used to support the use of the Leviticus condemnation is that while the ceremonial and dietary laws are put aside for Christians, the moral law is not. N.T. Wright decimates that argument (that we Christians are somehow still under this part of the Levitical Code – at least the part that seems to speak to homosexuality) from pages 54-58. I’ve often wondered how anyone can read Galatians and Hebrews and still make the argument that Leviticus 18:22; 20:13 is binding for Christians today.
New Identity
It is difficult attempting to live into my new identity when I am surrounded by my old one. It is hard to realize the coming completion of a long process when the current situation does not encourage its realization.
I remember a movie I saw a few years ago. I don’t remember the title, but it was about the final few Carolingian monks and their fight against evil (or some such thing). There was a scene where the protagonist Carolingian priest was fighting against his attraction to a women and the temptation to stray from his vows. While talking to his mentor about what he should do, the mentor asked him, “Are you a man?” His response was something like, “I am not a man; I am a priest.”
There is an element of truth or reality in that kind of response. Over the last several years, I have gone through a process that has set me aside for a purpose that is fundamentally different than that of most people. Not that I am any better or more enabled or whatever than anyone else in this new identity or purpose, but it is different. It is difficult to really feel the reality of it all when I am not doing the work – much, anyway. It is frustrating. What does it mean to say, “I am not a man; I am a priest!â€?
What is Communion?
Some important theological work is going on by The Inter-Anglican Theological and Doctrinal Commission (IATDC) concerning communion – what it means, how we abide within it, etc. I have heard it often said the Anglicanism presents no unique theological perspectives to world Christianity. I don’t think I agree with that, although perhaps our contribution is the way we approach the issues rather than making declarative statements pertaining to the issues.
Some of the work being done now, however, shows great potential for an Anglican contribution to world Christianity’s understanding of issues pertaining to communion.
There are four Key Questions presented by the commission:
Following the publication of The Virginia Report in 1997, the Inter-Anglican Theological and Doctrinal Commission has been charged to study “The nature, basis and sustaining of communion in the Church, with particular reference to the Anglican Communion”. Four questions have been identified which appear to underlie this issue:
1. When we speak of the Anglican Communion, what do we mean by the word “communion”?
2. What is it that makes some disputes so crucial that failure to resolve them threatens a break in communion?
3. In what ways are Christian teachings about moral behavior integral to the maintenance of communion?
4. In answering these questions we shall be asking how far does the Virginia Report meet the relevant situations that have arisen in the Anglican Communion since its publication?
There are six Propositions that they offer for consideration. These are more detailed and well worth a read-through if these issues are of interest.
A Nation of Addicts
This is an interesting article. Whether everything said is real and true, the idea that we truly are a nation of addicts is, IMHO.
Here is the article from MarketWatch:
Oil? America’s addicted to everything!
And our denial is sabotaging the economy and markets
By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch
Last Update: 1:43 PM ET Feb 14, 2006
ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) — Addicted to oil? Just oil? You’re joking? No, we’re a “nation of addicts,” doing what addicts do best: Denying reality.
In denial the brain can rationalize anything. The more self-destructive an addict’s behavior, the stronger their denial, louder their protests, arrogance, bravado, even optimism: “I’m fine, everything’s under control!”
So when a Texas oilman admits 295 million Americans are addicted to oil, as President Bush did in his State of the Union address, that’s historic!
I’ve worked professionally with people in and out of recovery; politicians, doctors, celebrities, rock stars, pro athletes and royalty, some in the Middle East, many from the Betty Ford Center. Addicts will do anything to get the next fix or drink, oblivious of the destruction around them. They create living hells, losing health, family, kids, careers, wealth, and most of all, their freedom.
Nations are no different! This is not news. Two decades ago psychologist Anne Wilson Schaef wrote “When Society Becomes an Addict.” Her opening line: “Our society is deteriorating at an alarming rate.” The symptoms: Greed, arrogance, ethical deterioration, obsessiveness, rationalism, self-centeredness, tunnel vision. We’re out of touch, living with an illusion of control.
‘After Neoconservatism’ – a commentary
I just started reading this article, which I found this morning on Kendall Harmon’s weblog, titusonenine. Thus far, a good critique of the Bush administration’s foreign policy, our involvement in Iraq, and the consequences of both for the United States on the world stage and at home. I will see whether the whole, long commentary is worthwhile (from my humble perspective, that is). It is timely for me considering my last post.
You can find the full article at The New York Times website. Or, below.
I am an American
I AM AN AMERICAN AND…
– I WANT COMMUNITY
– I WANT NATIONAL SELF-SUFFICIENCY
– I WANT RESPECT FOR OTHERS DIFFERENT THAN OURSELVES
– I WANT FREEDOM FROM CULTURAL INSECURITY
– I WANT FREEDOM FROM GREED AS AN ECONOMIC M.O.
– I WANT PEACE!
– I DO NOT WANT EMPIRE! NO AMERICAN EMPIRE!
– I DO NOT WANT RABID-CONSUMERISM
– I DO NOT WANT HYPER-INDIVIDUALISM
– I DO NOT WANT ISOLATION
I am an American, and I do not want the continuation of the propagation of the worst of us at home and abroad. I am a conservative (albeit a progressive one), and I am tired of the bitter rancor, the intentional polarization for the sake of ideology, and a zero-sum mentality. I am a Christian, and I am tired of arrogant fundamentalism (whether from the liberal or conservative perspective).
I am an American, but what am I first?