Lesbian Muslim activist Irshad Manji: Silence empowers bullies

Born in Uganda: Lesbian Muslim activist Irshad Manji

¨Openly lesbian Muslim activist and author Irshad Manji spoke about her faith after she had one event at a university in Yogyakarta cancelled, and another in Jakarta stopped midway where she had to leave under heavy police escort as religious extremists violently protested the event.

Irshad Manji, the prominent author of The Trouble with Islam Today which has been published in more than 30 languages, including Arabic, Malay and Indonesian is on a book tour in Indonesia promoting her most recent book, Allah, Liberty and Love found herself faced with angry mobs determined to prevent her from speaking or discussing her views at any forum.

Openly lesbian Muslim journalist, activist and author, Irshad ManjiLocal media reported that the South Jakarta police forcibly ended the book launch and discussion which was held the at the Salihara Community's building, Pasar Minggu on May 4 after the event was protested by Islamic Defender Front (FPI) group and people claiming to be local residents. The Jakarta Post reported that the protesters rejected the author because she openly declared that she was a lesbian and that her viewpoint that Islam should accept homosexuality was “unacceptable”; and questioned the organiser’s permit to invite a foreign national.

Manji was born in Uganda to a Gujarati Indian father and an Egyptian mother but her family moved to Canada when she was four....¨ HERE

·  Thanks to Fridae Asia, sidebar
·  Thanks to Irshad Manji
·  Thanks to ¨The Trouble with Islam Today¨
·  Thanks to The Jakarta Post
·  Thanks to ¨Allah, Liberty and Love¨

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY: ¨...what makes someone a misogynist, and am I one?

Recently a Lesbian, not-so-much-a-friend-as-a-remote-acquaintance, suggested to me that ¨Gay¨ men actually treated women with less respect than their/her due. I was flabbergasted and looked throughout the web for ANY information to back up such a, to me, unfair, blusterous and insulting claim.  There was/is none, zip, empty, void, zero. Today I found this ¨commentary¨ at Bilerico Project and it´s the closest thing I ´ve found on the subject of Gay Misogynist speculating...it´s linked below but I especially identified with this part: ¨...if a friend were to call me out for perceived misogyny, I would no doubt listen, for I have found that I become a better person from examining my failings.¨ I´ve listened, I´m still listening and willing and able to listen. However,  I still think ¨Gay¨ men and our respect, admiration and in most cases great trust and friendships with women is the standard amongst us...that basic warmth and natural acceptance of *others* is most often present in our friendships with Lesbians, Bisexual women and Heterosexual women too. Leonardo Ricardo


Of Mother's Day and Misogyny

By Kergan Edwards-Stout

¨...When I contemplate the word "misogyny," I think of anger, hatred, and dislike, which doesn't remotely correspond with my feelings. And when I think of "women," no negative connotations arise, either. Still, if a friend were to call me out for perceived misogyny, I would no doubt listen, for I have found that I become a better person from examining my failings.

Kergan Edwards-Stout,   Songs for the New Depression  HERE

With a creative work, however, linking artist to art can be tenuous at best. In my novel, each and every word Gabriel utters, whether towards women or men, was carefully chosen for effect; sometimes for humor, sometimes for pathos, and other times to offend. It is his nature to live life unfiltered, but for me, I long ago learned the perils of such behavior, and work rigorously to examine my insecurities and feelings in an ongoing attempt to better myself.

While I'm not convinced that I am, indeed, misogynistic, I'm leaving the door open to that possibility, for the best way I can think of to demonstrate my respect for women is to live authentically, treat others honorably, with my eyes open to opportunities in which I can improve myself, those around me, and the greater world at large...¨ please read it all, HERE (emphasis added)

Happy Mother's Day.

·  Thanks to The Bilerico Project, sidebar
·  Thanks to Kergan Edwards-Stout
·  Thanks to Songs for the New Depression, HERE

Happy Mothers Day to my Mother,  Ardythe Beardsley Clark, R.I.P.

¨A beautiful person in every way¨
Gardenias, Mom´s favorite flower

JAY´CORY JONES, R.I.P. -- Shame on accessories to murder who promote difference, bully and spew their ignorance with careless words of hate!

¨You could tell it upset him because like he didn’t understand why people couldn’t accept him for who he was,”

Prayers ascending for Jay´Cory Jones, rest in peace and rise in Glory

Rochester, Minnesota – A 17-year-old openly gay teen succumbed to overwhelming bullying, taking his own life this past Sunday. Jay’Cory Jones jumped to his death into traffic from a pedestrian bridge near Century High School, according to police reports. According to his father, Jones was beaten down by the incessant school bullying he endured for being open and vocal about his sexual orientation. His father, JayBocka Strader, told the  PostBulletin, “He said all of his life they always picked on him. He’d still try to keep his head up at school, but then he’d come home and be really sad about it.” Mr. Strader went on to say that his son was depressed because other boys wouldn’t accept him for who he was.

Jones knew of his sexual orientation since he was a little boy. He took pride in who he was, and declared on his Facebook page that he was “Gay & Proud.” A member of the Century Gay Straight Alliance, he sought help with his feelings from the Gay and Lesbian Youth Services in Rochester where he attended weekly meetings. In the end, the pressure on him from his peers was just too much to bear...¨ please read it all,  HERE

·  Thanks to Unfinished Lives, sidebar
·  Thanks to Post Bulletin, Minnesota

¡CUIDADO, UNA CURVA! Don´t let ¨good manners¨ stand in the way of common sense at the TEC General Convention!

‘If It’s Not Pleasant, It Doesn’t Exist’
By Lay Anglicana

My grandmother never actually said this to me. But it was the leitmotiv of her life, thanks to which she lived to be 99 years old. I know half a dozen other nonagenarians, and they all have this in common: they do not dwell on the global economic downturn, global warming, or why that Mrs Jones down the road is such a bitch has a less than sunny disposition. They pour themselves another gin, play another rubber of bridge or go for a walk. They live without passion of any sort (well, they are in their nineties) but this includes love and hate. They are not passionately for or passionately against anything. They do not discuss politics, religion or sex, or indeed any other topic about which anyone might feel strongly. They do not show feelings in public (the mantra of this class is ‘No PDA’ – no Public Display of Affection). To do so would be bad form. They do not weep in public, or ever evince any pain or self-pity. They offer no sympathy (beyond the most formal expression), and they shudder at the thought of sympathy being shown to them. By definition, they are not needy.



Of course, by the time my grandmother and her kind are in their nineties, they probably are needy, if only physically. For them this is the hardest part of old age, that they have to accept help from others and allow chinks to appear in their armour.


I sometimes think my kind of Anglican is like this. I have just learned that I am technically a liberal Anglo-Catholic – I have always thought of myself as plain old CofE but now see that there are many strands of worshippers who all self-identify as Church of England but whose worshipping style – and beliefs- are very different. Yesterday I attended (and will post about separately) a communion service led by a Charismatic Evangelical. My knee-jerk reaction was to wince at the emotional incontinence, but a part of me – normally severely repressed- also responded.

I think I could happily make the transition to The Episcopal Church (TEC) and feel at home. I was brought up to think that good manners are all-important, and TEC is above all the home of good manners: ‘After you’; ‘No, after you’. ‘No cake until you have had the bread and butter’. And so on.


But word reaches me that these good manners may stand in the way of common sense at the TEC General Convention to be held from July 5-12 in Indianapolis: agreeing with me that the current ‘sorry state of things entire’ of the Anglican Covenant is such that it definitely counts as unpleasant, and being unwilling to intrude on private grief, some say it might be best not to discuss it all, and simply sweep it under the carpet.

Siren voices! Please, fellow Anglicans, do not listen to them! We have managed in the Church of England, diocesan synod by painful diocesan synod, to reject it. But the Secretary-General of the Anglican Communion regards this as merely a little local difficulty. Is he burying his head in the sand like the man in the YouTube video which illustrates this post? That is a matter of opinion.

But my fellow members of the Church of England and I are looking for a lead on this from The Episcopal Church. Please do not let us down!¨  HERE  (emphasis added)

·  Thanks to Lay Anglicana, sidebar
·  Thanks to Laura Sykes
·  No Anglican Covenant Coalition

Dear Members of the Crown Nominations Commission: ¨I do not think a high-church or low-church orientation is important in 2012¨

Dear Members of the Crown Nominations Commission:

¨I am certain there are many bishops who might be wonderful as the next

Archbishop of Canterbury. It seems as though the past practice has been to
alternate Anglo-Catholics with Evangelicals. I do not think a high-church
or low-church orientation is important in 2012.

As opposed to suggesting a specific candidate, I'd like to suggest that you consider and nominate
bishops who are wise, intelligent, experienced pastors, kind in demeanor to
all persons (even those persons with differing opinions), gentle as opposed
to domineering, not claiming to have all of the answers, not manipulative,
and very charitable. Please consider someone who is not a divisive or
hateful figure.

Do not consider someone who --exhibiting extreme poor
judgment-- is desperate and tasteless enough to use a criminally corrupt
tabloid such as "The News of the World" as a regular public forum or pulpit.

These qualifications would exclude anyone remotely similar to George Carey,
perhaps the worst bishop (and clergyman) in all of English Church history.

Also, please conduct your deliberations in an honourable manner. Secret
meetings conducted by Crown Nominations Commission members in men's toilets
are scandalous, indecent, unseemly, quite disgusting, perhaps unsanitary,
and open the Church to well-deserved ridicule by members of the public. No
CNC member (for example, the current Archbishop of York) who has been known
to discuss Church appointments (for recommendation to the Queen) while
cottaging in a public toilet should be considered suitable as a candidate
for Archbishop of Canterbury.

Also, I do not agree with the presence of a
person on the Commission who endorses so-called reparative therapy for gay
persons (a harmful, perverse, and abusive practice discredited by sound
research and repudiated by the medical community). There is no more place
on the CNC for a homophobic medical quack than a racist.

Thank you for permitting me the opportunity to share my suggestions and opinions.¨

Note: This email was sent to the Crown Nominating Commission by an American, cradle Episcopalian living and working in Europe.




ANOTHER RETURN JOURNEY HOME -- FALLS CHURCH EPISCOPAL: ¨All are welcome, all are loved, all are accepted¨

Federal Troops at Falls Church Episcopal (1862) HERE

¨In December 2006, the majority of worshipers at The Falls Church Episcopal decided to disaffiliate from the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and the National Church. However, a number of us felt, for a variety of reasons, called to start worshipping again as Episcopalians. Without access to our church building, we met in the living room of our home on a frigid Sunday in January 2007. An Episcopal Navy Chaplin came and oversaw our first service.

We elected a vestry, held communion, and shared our sadness that we could no longer worship as a group in our beloved church but also our joy that we were creating a new thing in Jesus Christ.

Word got around that we were meeting as Episcopalians and the second Sunday more people came. By the third week, we had too many to sit in our house so my husband called the Falls Church Presbyterian minister Tom Schmid, to ask if there was any possibility of using a space at their church. A kind man, Tom said he and his leadership were waiting for our call and he immediately offered us his loft space overlooking their Fellowship Hall. We moved in the next week!

These last five and half years have been challenging but also tremendously gratifying. In the early days of this new journey, we had nothing but our small group and our faith that we were doing the right thing in God's eyes. We were grateful for our Episcopal friends around Northern Virginia who gave us prayer books, altar linens and communion service items. As we had no offices, our ministers worked out of their cars. We would laughingly call our church "a church in a box" since we had to unpack and pack up every Sunday in the lovely but limited space we had, used by other groups throughout the week.

We shared coffee hour with our friends at the Presbyterian Church, and gradually joined with them in outreach programs to the community and Vacation Bible School. They will always be our friends in Christ.

Over the years, we have become a vibrant 200-plus congregation whose members include energetic families, young couples and our wise seniors such as 98-year-old Jesse Thackery, first female Senior Warden of The Falls Church. Some of our newer members had never worshipped at the historic Falls Church. We are all together now as "a welcoming group of believers whose message is one of trust in the hope-filled promises of Jesus Christ, love for one another, and service to the community." As scripture says, "Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body." (I Corinthians 12: 12-13).

On Easter Sunday, nearly four hundred of us gathered on a glorious day to worship. Although the courts had decided that the departing group should return our buildings, the deadline for that change was still three weeks away so we appreciated greatly the offer by the Falls Church CANA to celebrate in the historic church. It was wonderful to sit in the comfortable smoothness of the old wooden pews, to hear the gorgeous sounds of the organ and the rich voices of the choir, the laughter of the children hunting for Easter Eggs after the service and the friendly banter of hundreds of people sharing the joy of our Lord's resurrection. That day gave us the hope that we would again return in full as Episcopal stewards of God's house.

Many are leaving the church they have called home for decades. We know exactly how it feels.

Late last Friday Judge Bellows of the Fairfax Circuit Court rejected the request of TFC CANA to stay in the building pending final appeal. The Episcopalians will be returning to our historic home in two weeks, with our first service on May 20. The CANA leadership has been very helpful in making this transition. We know it will be enormously difficult for them...please read it all,  by Robin Fetsch, HERE  

·  Thanks to The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, TEC
·  Thanks to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, TEC
·  Thanks to Falls Church Episcopal
·  Thanks to Judge Bellows, Fairfax Circuit Court
·  Thanks to Falls Church News Press, HERE
·  Thanks to Three Rivers Episcopal, sidebar

SAINT AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY: A prayer for the ´return to unity of thy truth´

Archiepiscopal chair in Canterbury Cathedral

Prayer for the Feast of Saint Augustine of Canterbury

O God, Who by the preaching and miracles of blessed Augustine, Thy Confessor and Bishop, didst vouchsafe to shed upon the English people the light of the true faith; grant that, through his intercession, the hearts of those that have gone astray may return to the unity of Thy truth, and that we may be of one mind in doing Thy will. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one world without end. Amen


There have been 104 Archbishops starting in 597 AD with Augustine.

¨Named after the first Archbishop of Canterbury, St Augustine of Canterbury, the chair is made of Purbeck Marble or Bethesda Marble and dates to sometime between the sixth and twelfth centuries. Those who argue for an older date suggest that it may have been used to crown the kings of Kent. It has been in use since at least 1205. Canterbury Cathedral, in which the cathedra is housed, maintains that the chair was once part of the furnishings of the shrine of St Thomas Becket, which was destroyed during the English Reformation.

Since antiquity, it has always had a place in the triple enthronement of an Archbishop of Canterbury. He is seated on the throne in the choir as Diocesan Bishop, in the chapter house as titular abbot, and in St. Augustine's chair as Primate of All England. This is the only occasion in which this cathedra is used. A second one is used for other occasions in which the archbishop is present...¨ HERE

Roles and priorities

The various roles and responsibilities of the Archbishop of Canterbury have developed over more than 1400 years of history. The one constant is his ministry as a senior bishop, though the nature and purpose of his authority differs in different contexts

¨The central role, and the source of the archbishop's authority, is as Bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury (the local church of Canterbury), which covers most of the county of Kent. The worship, teaching, discipleship and mission of that diocese are his particular personal responsibility. All other roles are rooted in this one.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the Primate of All England (the 'first bishop' of England), and shares several roles with the Archbishop of York. For well over a thousand years the distinction of the Diocese of Canterbury has given its bishop formal responsibility as a 'metropolitan' - the first among the bishops of a region. He has authority (also known as 'jurisdiction') at all times in the 30 dioceses of his Province - 29 in southern England, and 1 in Continental Europe. York has the same roles in relation to the 14 dioceses of his Province.

Based on his oversight in the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury became the original sign of the unity of the bishops and local churches of the Anglican Communion, which has developed over the last 200 years or so. He is the focus and spokesman of its unity today, but shares his oversight as president of the Communion with other bodies.

In the last two areas of dialogue and activity - Ecumenical relationships between Christian Churches, and Inter Religious relationships between different traditional world religions - the Archbishop has no formal authority. But his role in England and the UK, and his leadership in the Communion at large, give him significant influence and the responsibility to speak authoritatively for the faith and witness of the Church, the Anglican Church in particular.¨ HERE


·  Thanks to Wikipedia
·  Thanks to St. Augustine of Canterbury
·  Thanks to The Archbishop of Canterbury, Information
·  Thanks to The Crown Nominations Commission
·  Thanks to Thinking Anglicans, HERE

FAITHFILLED RELIGIOUS LEADERS OF COLOR: The Archbishop of York may fail to be nominated as the next Archbishop of Canterbury -- ¨not because he is black¨

Archbishop Desmond Tutu and His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Archbishop of York, John Sentamu

George Pitcher, Archbishop Williams’ former public affairs secretary, writing in his Daily Mail blog, said if Sentamu failed to be elected, it would not be because he is black.

“Lately, it’s true that some of his critics have concluded that their views are as valid and innocent as if he were a white man,” he wrote. “And so I’ve heard these words: capricious, impulsive, vain with the media and quick to temper (as well, I might add, as words such as prophetic, inspirational, generous and kind). None of these words has anything to do with Dr Sentamu’s ethnicity.”  HERE

HOLY SMOKE/POST:

My first disappointing memory of ++John was when he visited the Episcopal Church -- TEC -- General Convention in Minneapolis 2003.  The Archbishop of York was very busy campaigning/lobbying against LGBT people who aspired to participate at all levels of Churchlife and he even made up little unattractive/nasty ¨smearing¨ song lyrics against Gay people while accompaning himself at the piano...such a hurtful and childish bully of a foolish kidder is he. 

Fast forward and he was documented, by The Very Reverend Colin Slee, R.I.P., to have had behind the scenes (mens toilet meet-ups with members of the Crown Nominations Commission) to campaign against The Very Reverend Jeffrey John who had been shortlisted for elevation to Bishop of Southwark.  HERE

Archbishop Sentamu ought know better but it seems he and his ¨promoters¨ do not have a clear understanding of equality.  John Sentamu became a naturalized citizen of the United Kingdom after rushing from Uganda and the persecution of Idi Amin.  John Sentamu became a priest, a  bishop (something he denied Jeffrey John+) and the Archbishop of York at the Church of England. 

I see NO discrimination against him at the Church of England but I do see that the Lord of York has, by fact and real acts, discriminates against others.  My hope is that he will not be enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury and it won´t be because he is a person of color, Ugandan born and black...it will because ++York has failed us as a gracious human being and failed to love all *others* at the body of Christ.  Dr. Sentamu does not love all others equally as he has been loved and his race has continously been embraced (he even says so HERE)...not equally in England, not in The United Kingdom, not in Uganda, not in the Americas or beyond. John Sentamu harms others with his well known prejudice.  
 
The very first thing I read this morning was an article from Reuters covering the ¨Race for new Church of England leader stirs up accusations of racism¨ Avril Ormsby, Reuters May 2, 2012 – 12:55 PM ET  HERE ...the ¨propaganda¨ of the pot calling the kettle black.

Leonardo Ricardo 

MIRA! ¨A Scottish Episcopal church in Edinburgh has unveiled a mural of two men marrying in a religious ceremony.¨

¨St John’s Church on Princes Street, one of Edinburgh’s main streets, has a history of topical murals going back thirty years, displayed in full view to passers-by on the busy road.

Donald Reid, Associate Rector at the church, told PinkNews.co.uk it was on the “progressive end of the spectrum”.

He said many photographs have been taken but there had been no negative feedback to the mural whatsoever since it was erected on Saturday.

The image of two men, one about to place a ring on the other’s finger while a priest looks on under the words ‘God is love’ should stay up on the side of the church for two weeks...¨  there is more, God is love, HERE



·  Thanks to Of Course I Could Be Wrong, sidebar
·  Thanks to The Scottish Episcopal Church, Edinburgh
·  Thanks to The Rev. Donald Reid, St. John´s Church, Princes Street
·  Thanks to Mad Priest
·  Thanks to Pink News, Stephen Gray

NO ANGLICAN COVENANT: ¨Coalition Plans Next Steps¨

The No Anglican Covenant Coalition is an international group of Anglicans concerned about how the proposed Anglican Covenant would radically change the nature of the Anglican Communion

LONDON – With diocesan synod voting in the Church of England completed, and with 26 dioceses having rejected the proposed Anglican Covenant, the No Anglican Covenant Coalition is preparing for the next steps in its international campaign, including the appointment of a new Moderator, the Revd Malcolm French, a parish priest in the Anglican Church of Canada. The Revd Jean Mayland, a retired priest, will be the No Anglican Covenant Coalition Convenor for the Church of England.

“We have accomplished what many thought was an impossible task,” said the Coalition’s first Moderator, the Revd Dr Lesley Crawley. “After a full and fair debate, the Church of England has rejected the Anglican Covenant, and it cannot be considered again prior to 2015. As the campaign moves on to other fronts, this is an opportune time for me to hand over the leadership of the Coalition. Malcolm and Jean have been key members of the Coalition from the start, and I am confident the Coalition will experience continued success under Malcolm’s leadership.”

“Lesley stepped up to lead the Coalition with courage and commitment,” said French. “As we move forward, I will look to Lesley’s example of empowering leadership. The defeat of the Anglican Covenant in the Church of England has changed the playing field in the rest of the Anglican Communion. We are confident that a fair debate on the merits will lead to the defeat of the Covenant in several more Communion churches, just as we saw in the Church of England.”

Over the next six months, several more churches will consider the proposed Covenant, including the Scottish Episcopal Church, in June, and The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, both in July. Canadian dioceses have begun studying the Covenant in preparation for General Synod 2013. A model General Convention resolution has been prepared to assist General Convention deputies in the Episcopal Church who may wish to submit a resolution on the Covenant. The model resolution, along with other supporting material, is available at the No Anglican Covenant website HERE   (emphasis added, Leonardo Ricardo)

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http://blog.noanglicancovenant.org/2012/05/no-anglican-covenant-coalition.html