There was a massive celebration on Twitter as it was happening. If you can’t be at a party to enjoy the good news, Twitter is the place to be. Thousands of people on the hashtag, whoopin’ and hollerin’ and just loving every minute of it. It really feels like a party when Twitter is like that over an important issue such as marriage equality. This is a huge victory in the battle for rights for all people and it was a grand victory too.

It doesn’t take long for the party poopers to start jamming their elbows in people’s noses though. I say this is a state by state fight, because there is almost no support on the federal level for marriage equality. That’s fine with me. As someone reminded us of what President Obama said:

POTUS: Marriage equality “best addressed by the states.”

Some things that Obama said regarding his stance on gay marriage:

1. Gays should not face discrimination but should not marry. (Oct 2004)
2. Decisions about marriage should be left to the states. (Oct 2007)
3. Disentangle gay rights from the word “marriage”. (Aug 2007)
4. Gay marriage is less important that equal gay rights. (Aug 2007)
5. Opposes gay marriage; supports civil union & gay equality. (Oct 2006)
6. Marriage not a human right; non-discrimination is. (Oct 2004)
7. Opposes same-sex marriage, but also opposes a constitutional ban. Says he would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment. As stated on the Obama campaign Web site, he supports full civil unions that “give same-sex couples equal legal rights and privileges as married couples, including the right to assist their loved ones in times of emergency as well as equal health insurance, employment benefits, and property and adoption rights.”
8. The White House front-runner said in an interview with MTV he did not support same-sex weddings and believed “marriage is between a man and a woman”.
   But the Illinois senator reaffirmed his opposition to a proposition on the ballot in California that would change the state constitution to overturn a ruling that recently gave gay couples the right to marry.
   “When you start playing around with constitutions just to prohibit somebody who cares about another person, it just seems to me that’s not what America is about,” the senator said.
   “Usually, our constitutions expand liberties, they don’t contract them,” he added.
   The Democratic presidential nominee voiced strong support for civil unions between same-sex couples “that provide legal rights to same-sex couples (so) that they can visit each other in the hospital if they get sick, (so) they can transfer property to each other. If they’ve got benefits, they can make sure those benefits apply to their partners.”

[all emphasis mine]

That is Barack Obama’s record. That’s fine, because I knew that when I voted for him. Nothing new there. But with this victory in New York, I saw some Progressives claim that it was Obama’s influence that helped get this bill passed. The man who thought that gay rights and marriage should be “disentangled” and that marriage is between a man and a woman and that civil unions (separate but equal) were good enough for LGBT people who were in love and wanted to marry was somehow responsible for a state law calling a marriage between two gays a marriage. No civil union crap. None of that definition of the word marriage crap. Gays can get married in New York. And Obama always, always stated he was against same-sex marriage. How, then, is this his doing? How did he get this ball rolling?

I credit the people who fought the fight. Those on the ground and who were able to win over the hearts of the legislatures who voted for them. That’s where the credit goes– full stop. I am a supporter of Obama, but I was never fond of his distaste for the phrase “gay marriage”. He’s a good Christian man and a politician to boot, so he says what he thinks will get him elected. That’s lovely. But don’t give the man credit for something he didn’t do.

He purposely stayed out of these fights because he believes gay rights are states issues. I’ve provided a quote for that right here. That’s good too. Let’s take Dean’s 50 state strategy and use it for ourselves. One by one, they will fall. And they will fall because of the people who are fighting for it– because of the people who don’t want to settle for separate but equal.

I think Barack Obama is a good President and has followed through with most of his campaign promises. I never expected him to fully support marriage equality, because he specifically said he didn’t. That’s fine with me. He’s the president and when the big change happens in this country it’s usually the people of the country who bring it about– not the man in the Whitehouse. I’m good with that. I’m not good with giving him credit for a fight that’s been going on for decades and is only now starting to gain traction, without aid of the federal government, by the way. This wasn’t his fight and I don’t like people giving him the credit for it.

I’ll also note that this isn’t about his feelings about gay rights as a whole. This is just the marriage issue. I know he opposes constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage and he’s against DOMA. I know that he’s against discrimination based on sexual orientation. I’m there with him on that. But he gave the marriage battle to the states and the people of those states are working hard to win those battles. When we do achieve a victory, like the one in New York today, then that victory belongs to the people who fought for it and the politicians who did the right thing and voted for it.

Maybe someday there will be another case in front of the Supreme Court like Loving v. Virginia, but a gay version. And then the decision will become a federal one. Maybe if enough people decide that their marriage rights in their home state should extend to the states they visit on vacation, the Supreme Court will finally get involved and settle this once and for all. That’s the outcome I’m ultimately hoping for– the final decision from the High Court. Until then, the battles wage on– state by motherfucking state. One at a time. We’re doing it just like the President told us we should do it; leaving his hands clean and giving him no credit. Not for this one.

Because I believe that Obama has been true to his word (quoted above) and don’t expect any help from him, I’ll probably be labeled an emProg or a racist¹ or a bitch (as Rachel Maddow, the most liberal member of the MSM ever, was called the other night). I don’t really care. I know who I voted for. He kept to his word and so, for this, he gets no credit.

Congratulations, New York. Welcome to the brave new world of marriage equality and equal rights for all. Bless the members of your legislature who were bold enough to say “yes” and to those fine fighters on the ground that did all of the work to get them to say “yes”. You rock and have made this Ohioan very proud.

1. Hahahahaahahahaha!

A little background: Other Sis has recently been Born Again. She’s like many other freshly out-of-the-water baby Christians in that she is enthralled with her new religion and wants to discuss it whenever she can. Unlike the others like her, she doesn’t shove it down my throat or try to change me. Of course, she knows I would never go for that kind of coercion, so she’s all subtle and understanding. That’s ok. I accept that. Sometimes she says stuff that makes me want to smack her upside her head, but I’m able to overcome those feelings and not smack anyone.

So, we’re talking about DB and our lives while we were growing up. DB and I have the same father; Other Sis has another father. My father hits the bricks when I was 6 months old and Other Sis’s dad got deported to Mexico when she was 3 (or 2?). None of us grew up with any father in our lives. Not even a step father. DB’s uncle used to come take him a lot, trying to be a dad for him, but it didn’t work. There was a lot of underlying reasons for this, which I don’t want to get into, but this was part of the conversation Other Sis and I were having. We were wondering why DB couldn’t move on from our fucked up childhoods. He was really damaged without his father in his life. And he blames The Mother. So, his life is one big fuck up after another. We were discussing DB’s need for a father in his life and how we (Other Sis and I) managed to grow up not really caring about our fathers. We’re messed up, still, but we’re not fixated on that part of our pasts.

Other Sis says “I don’t need an Earthly Father because I have a Heavenly one.” Hmmm…

So, the conversation goes to religion. I’ve been trying to ignore these temptations I’m sometimes presented with, but I couldn’t ignore it this time. I pulled up The Brick Testament while I was on the phone with her. She was telling me that she was switching churches and other stuff I didn’t quite catch. I asked her why she was leaving her church. She said she didn’t need a home church, she just needed her bible and her pastor. I didn’t get that, but I didn’t tell her I didn’t get it. She told me that since she’s been going to church regularly her life has been better and maybe I should consider going and praying with her. And that’s when I struck.

I start off by telling her a story about Fil and his argument against gay marriage. I tell her that I explained to Fil that because he was previously married and had remarried that he’d become an adulterer and made Millie an adulterer as well. I quote from The Brick Testament for this (because it’s my go-to guide):

Mark 10:11
‘Whoever divorces someone…’
Mark 10:11
‘…and marries another…’
Mark 10:11
‘…commits adultery.’
Matthew 5:32
‘Whoever marries a divorced woman…’
Matthew 5:32
‘…commits adultery.’

She agrees that divorce is bad and all parties are adulterers. Good. I mention stoning of one’s children and she replies “That’s the Old Testament and we’re not bound by those laws anymore.” Interesting.

“Not even the Ten Commandments?” I asked. Ummm…pause. I tell her that I don’t understand that. Why pick which part of the Bible to hold holy and which to scrap? Doesn’t make sense to me, but then it was written by men.

She says she holds the Bible dear because it’s God’s words and how she learns to be a better Christian. Without that book she wouldn’t know what to do. Really?

“I appreciate that you love your church and your book, but really they’re just tools with which you communicate to God. They aren’t necessary for that communication.” Well, that was fighting words right there! I wasn’t worried though, because I could hear her brain turning.

“You could just as easily walk outside, sit in the ground, empty your thoughts and listen to God. Have you ever listened to Him speak to you?” Silence.

“If you listen, he will speak to you. Maybe put a thought in your head about a solution to a problem. Or an idea that would somehow improve your life. You pray, but do you listen?”

She says, no lie, “Ideas don’t just pop in your head. They have to come from somewhere. And usually people get them from the Bible.” Oh, my poor poor sister.

“Have you read about the Internet in the Bible? Or fluorescent lighting? Or flushing toilets? These were originally ideas that were thought of by people who eventually built them. If you rely only on the Bible for guidance and ideas and education, you’re missing out on what God is giving you. You’re not listening.” She’s quiet, but not really buying it. She’s latched on to my assertion that the Bible is just a tool. That bothered her quite a bit.

She asks me “I’ve read the Bible, have you?” Well, as a matter of fact, yes. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know who wrote it. It was stories put together from religious men who wanted to gain followers for their religion. She said something about God giving us Him in Jesus so the stories could be told. I reminded her that we went to my great-grandmother’s church and there we learned that Jesus and God were indeed separate entities. God created Jesus; he did not become him. I said “The Bible even offers proof of that when Jesus says ‘Father, forgive them, they know not what they’ve done.” I tell her I believe that Jesus was a holy prophet, much the same that Mohammad is a holy prophet for Allah, the Muslim God. I asked her why the same God gave two religions opposing prophets¹ and if one is right, how do we know which?

She changed the subject slightly then, because she didn’t even know that Muslims had a God or a prophet. She says those that don’t recognize Jesus will go to hell. I say I don’t believe in hell. She’s astounded. How can I not believe in hell?

“Three things I’ve learned: 1) God is a benevolent and loving Father God and 2) God is omnipotent and 3) God doesn’t make mistakes.” I told her that if we are fashioned in his image and we would never throw our own children into a furnace, then why would he? Why wouldn’t he punish us, teach us a lesson and allow us to learn from it? If we’re not his trash to be thrown away, why would he burn us? And how is it possible that Satan is so powerful that God fears him and uses him to terrorize his children? If Satan had committed such an offense to an omnipotent God, doesn’t it make more sense that God would strike him down and bye-bye Satan? If God is perfect in everything, even the most evil among us have a reason for being here. Just because you don’t believe it doesn’t make it so.

“It’s in the Bible,” she says.

“The Bible is a tool, built by imperfect men who had an agenda. Use it for meditation and for comfort and to read the stories, but it’s not perfect simply because it was written by imperfect people. And apparently it’s not even complete.” I was talking about the Dead Sea Scrolls there. She knew that. She’s curious about them. I told her that I’d read there’s a book by Mary Magdalene but the church omitted it because it would give women too much power. I don’t think she believed me.

She asked me when I started thinking about religion. I said I think about my spirituality every day, but it came on strong when Gabriel died. The worst thing anyone could have told me at that time was “He’s in Heaven now.” I thought about that all the time then. And I spent a great bit of time meditating. Just sitting quietly while peacefulness filled me. I used to sit for hours and hours in the night, just listening and feeling. I heard the breeze and night animals and traffic and far away arguments. I would sit in the grass and feel the earth moving. I told her that my God was all around me, speaking to me in every part of my body. My God expected me to be quiet because she knew already what was in my heart and mind and she didn’t need to hear my words. Words aren’t necessary when you’re communing, I told her. Because He can feel you and hear you and see you and then he’ll talk to you.

“God doesn’t talk to people. That’s crazy.”

“But you believe he spoke to the men in that book? Gave them the words to pen on their parchment? And now he’s said to hell with us all because he hasn’t got anything to say to anyone else ever? You rely too much on your tools and not enough on the world around you. Go to your church for community and read your book for comfort, but sit still and listen when you want God to talk to you. You can’t hear him if you’re being too noisy telling him stuff he already knows.”

She said she couldn’t understand what I was trying to tell her. I wasn’t making sense to her. I told her to think about it and remember any dreams she has over the next few nights. She said she’ll read and see if there’s anything in the Bible about what I said. Which, of course, means she’s going to go to her study group and tell them what a hell child I am and that I’ve completely lost my mind.

At least I didn’t scare her with my polytheism or my reincarnation beliefs. She’d have had a prayer chain circling my house in no time. I think next time I might explain to her the origins of Christmas and Easter. I hate to think that she’s at a point where she will only learn something new if it’s in the Bible or only believe science if it’s in the Bible. It’s good she’s got faith, but when that faith hinders real spiritual growth then it’s a little too much. I mean, Jesus prayed, didn’t he? And he didn’t need a church or a Bible to talk to his father.

1. I didn’t bring up my paganism at all during this conversation.

I have issues with some of my fellow Pagans. Please keep in mind that Paganism itself is not a religion. It’s a term that encompasses a number of religions, traditions, and spiritual paths. Belief is multible Gods and Goddesses is the number one criteria for a Pagan. Though some Pagans only worship two (The God and The Goddess), most of us believe in a host of Gods. Ok, that’s explained. My main issue is the way Pagans are arguing over how to define themselves. You’d think they’d unite if only to give themselves definition. But nooooo! Oh, the frustration!
I look for fellow Pagans online because the area where I live is very…..conservative. If there are any other Pagans here then they are firmly in the broom closet. So, I want to commune with those that believe as I do. But those that I find are often times worse than the ultra-conservative Christian boards that I hide from. I find that to be very irritating, especially since what I believe doesn’t fall into any one catagory (eclectic). They debate everything from why to hate Christians to what a certain holiday should mean.

One thing that really annoys me is “UPG”. I’ve seen that a lot lately. It means “unproven/unverifiable personal gnosis”. They use this to tell you that they think that you don’t know what you’re talking about. If what you believe (to some, not all) is not in some ancient text book or taught in a mythology class then they label it UPG. I am of the opinion that all gnosis is “personal” and pretty much “unproven/unverified”. Just because the ancient Egyptians wrote hieroglyphs about a certain deity doesn’t make that deity real. But not seeing something in (some sort of) print doesn’t make a personal gnosis not true, either. One can neither prove nor disprove anyone’s religious beliefs, in my opinion.

Well, ok, if they believe that their dog, Fido, is a flying pig and grants wishes, then I guess that can be disproven. But you get my point. As Pagans we are not supposed to judge another’s religion as wrong or right. And yet we judge each other all of the time. Just because I don’t have a degree in anthropolgy or mythology doesn’t mean that I don’t believe in my Gods. Just because my beliefs run the gamut doesn’t mean that I’m a “cafeteria” Pagan. Some of us believe because we were called and there was no ignoring that call. And others, in my opinion, just study the old religions to get under others skin. Pagan or not it makes not difference to them.
I especially hate that they bash Christians so much. Yes, it’s true, a lot of Christians are very judgemental and don’t want to learn what we’re about. But most Christians don’t care. They figure their God will sort us to the appropriate place in Hell and all they have to worry about is themselves. More power to them, I say.

Pagans for some reason hate the idea of organizing. And they’re a rebellious lot, anyway. So that makes us hard on ourselves. No one else has to persecute us. We do a good enough job. I don’t think that I’d call myself a Pagan if I had any other options. But my beliefs are deep and strong. Even if my knowledge of the history of the world is weak. I was called by my Goddess and I do what I can to honor her. I just don’t do it in a way that other Pagans find “pagan”. There are others like me, unfortunately. Maybe we should unite and give ourselves a different kind of name.
Next up: Fundamentalists

Bill O’Reilly is a schmuck of the highest order. I determined this before I even started blogging, because he likes to call himself “fair” but honestly…The man is flippin’ unhinged. And over the course of 3-4 years my distaste for the egotistical idiot has grown by leaps and bounds. Of course, the best thing to come out of my feelings for Satan’s helper Bill was when my aunt-in-law tried to give me his latest book. By gods, the laugh I had out of that. She, unfortunately, didn’t get it- being one of those that thinks Jesus speaks in Bill’s ear and all (“He tells it like it is!”). Oh, stop me now. That’s a damned good memory. Ok, moving on.

SJIHBO (as I will now call it) has a YouTube of Bill and Kirk Cameron discussing Kirk’s (at the time) upcoming debate with atheists.

Now, I’m not going to tell you to go watch it (especially if Bill makes you queasy). However, I’m providing the video just in case you don’t believe that they’ve said what I claim they said. Googling, I know, is sometimes very difficult. Also, in the interest of full disclosure I must remind (and perhaps inform) folks that I am a practicing polytheistic solitary Pagan. This, contrary to what Anthrax Coulter will have you believe, does not mean that I’m an atheist. Nor does this mean I am a Wiccan. Please keep that in mind.

Ok, back to the vid. Kirk is trying to tell Bill why evolution is bullshit. To illustrate his point he says “Look at the camera lens. It was designed by someone. And the human eyeball has (however many) lenses in it….blah, blah, blah”^* Now, if you watch the video (I’m sure there’s YouTube somewhere of Kirk on Nightline, but I don’t really want to see it) you’ll see how Kirk insinuates that someone designed the camera and POP it was there. False analogy, Kirk. Unless you’re explaining my Pagan beliefs, which would then make the analogy apt.

His argument is that man designs things which proves, because of man’s complexity, that God created man. But he forgot that it wasn’t just one man that designed that camera, nor was it just one man that put it all together. Different people designed different parts of that camera and then more different people put that bad boy together so that it would work as intended. Yes, it’s probably possible that one person designed every single part of that camera, but that’s not how it happened. This leads me to understand that Kirk believes that many gods worked in concert to design the human form, and therefore Kirk Cameron is a polytheistic Pagan.

Interspersed with Kirk’s proclamation of Paganism (I’m so proud) is Bill telling Kirk how he had Richard Dawkins on and they debated The Big Bang Theory. Bill proudly announces that he won because he told this dude “You cannot explain to me how the world, the Earth, got here. You don’t have it. You can blather all day long, but you don’t have it.” So, he was debating a theory that says BANG! The Earth is here^** and saying that it can’t be proven and yet he states as fact that God created the earth basically like this: BAM! The Earth is here. Do you see the difference there? Yeah, his way is BAM and the other way is BANG. Way to put that guy in his place, Bill! You are the man.

But let’s go back to Kirk.
“Darwin said in order to prove evolution, which is the number one alternative to God, you have to be able to prove transitional forms- one animal transitioning into another. And all through the fossil record and life we don’t find one of these:….”

Here my new buddy Kirk holds up a picture of:

A Crocoduck

All the while he’s declaring “There is no one animal transitioning into another.” (I will refrain from pointing out obvious one very obvious example of evolution just because Kirk and I are so united here).

Oh, Kirk, Kirk, you were doing so well. I just have one question for you, dear guy:

What is this?

Note to Bill: Declaring that someone cannot prove to you that the world just appeared out of nowhere (huh?) does not make you a debate winner. Sorry, old man. You still suck.

_{* Did I mention I suck at transcription? Yeah, I do. I might look up a transcript later, though.
** Very simplistic, I realize. But I hate science. OK?}

I wanted to post this link to remind myself how different GWB feels about certain “lives” with his sanctity of life bullshit. He let a little boy be forcibly (against his parents wishes) taken off of life support because the hospital felt his care would be too expensive. His mother could have taken him to a different hospital, but she didn’t have the money.

Maybe if she would have donated more to GWB’s presidential campaign she’d still have her son.