President Carter Completely Severs Ties to the Southern Baptist Church Where he's Worshipped for over 60 years due to “Repugnant” Sexism.

(ChattahBox)—Former President and Nobel Prize Winner Jimmy Carter, has decided he can no longer stomach the pervasive discrimination against women that is ingrained in the religious beliefs of the Southern Baptist Church. Carter took the unusual step this past week of issuing a formal statement completely severing all ties to the church where he worshipped for over 60 years.

Jimmy Carter and his wife Roselyn had taken steps to publicly distance themselves from the Southern Baptist Church some years ago, in response to racial insensitivities and other forms of discrimination. However, Carter continued to serve as a Deacon and teach Sunday School at his hometown place of worship, the Maranatha Baptist in Plains, Georgia.

Carter is involved in the group the New Baptist Covenant, which seeks to join all branches of the greater Baptist Church to bring black and white worshipers together under one tent.

In his statement, Carter wages a direct assault on the sexism of the Southern Baptist Church by stating, “Women and girls have been discriminated against for too long in a twisted interpretation of the word of God.”

Carter declares that discrimination against women not only violates basic human rights, but goes against “…the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul, Moses and the prophets, Muhammad, and founders of other great religions.”

He places the blame for the worldwide abuse of women directly at the feet of male religious leaders who promote discrimination “…for their own selfish ends,” providing religious “justification for much of the pervasive persecution and abuse of women throughout the world.”


“At their most repugnant, the belief that women must be subjugated to the wishes of men excuses slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and national laws that omit rape as a crime,” wrote Carter.

Carter goes on to describe how sexual discrimination negatively pervades every aspect of our lives, with many countries denying women education, basic health care and the right to choose their own husbands.

Jimmy Carter, now 85-years-old described his decision to leave his lifelong place of worship as “painful,” but he isn’t about to look back.

He described his denouncing of church teachings “…as an unavoidable decision when the convention’s leaders, quoting a few carefully selected Bible verses and claiming that Eve was created second to Adam and was responsible for original sin, ordained that women must be “subservient” to their husbands and prohibited from serving as deacons, pastors or chaplains in the military service.”

Jimmy Carter’s public position against sexism as a respected male leader, and long-time worshiper of the Southern Baptist Church, should go a long way to change the direction of religious discourse towards women.

Carter’s entire statement can be found here:

http://chattahbox.com/us/2009/07/20/jimmy-carter-leaves-southern-baptist-church-for-repugnant-sexism/

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Love is Worth It.

July 1, 2009.

Dear Supporters,

I've got some bad news.

After 10 years of service to our country -- including leading combat patrols, rebuilding schools and translating Arabic in Iraq for 15 months -- the Federal Recognition Board issued its recommendation on Tuesday that I be discharged from the Army for "moral and professional dereliction" under the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

The board's decision to fire me is not the end. Now that this panel of four officers has recommended my discharge, it still must be approved by senior officials in the Army, a process that could take a few weeks to a year. Unless something unexpected happens, it may be just a matter of time before the Army officially fires me.

I will not give up, no matter the odds. Because I know that the only way we will win this fight to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is by facing it head on. And I need your help again to keep up the fight.

I've made my case to President Obama -- supported by more than 140,000 of your signatures. I've made my case to the Army -- supported by more than 160,000 of your signatures. And I will continue to make my case until they fire me for good.

Now we need to make our case to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Will you join me in asking Speaker Pelosi to strongly support legislation currently in Congress that would repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"? Please sign on to our letter before July 4th and I'll personally deliver your signatures to the Speaker ASAP: http://www.couragecampaign.org/RepealDADT

At West Point, I recited the Cadet Prayer every Sunday. It taught me to "choose the harder right over the easier wrong" and to "never be content with a half truth when the whole can be won." The Cadet Honor Code demanded truthfulness and honesty. It imposed a zero-tolerance policy against deception, or hiding behind comfort.

That's why I can't give up now. I've got to keep fighting. My fellow servicemembers -- and the 70 fellow West Point graduates who have also come out of the closet to join Knights Out, the organization I co-founded to push for repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" -- would expect nothing less.

The only way we can win this fight for the truth is if the political cost of discrimination eventually becomes too great for the system to operate successfully. We need to raise the political cost in Congress so that Speaker Nancy Pelosi understands that, as Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall once said, "justice too long delayed is justice denied."

Speaker Pelosi needs to make "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" a priority now and come out strongly in support of legislative action to repeal this discriminatory law. Will you stand by my side now and sign our letter to the Speaker before July 4th? You have my word that I will deliver your signatures to Speaker Pelosi personally:
http://www.couragecampaign.org/RepealDADT

As I said a few days ago, national security means many things, but the thing that makes us secure in our nation and homes is love. What makes me a better soldier, leader, Christian and human being is love. And I'm not going to hide my love.

Love is worth it.

Thank you for your support.
Daniel W. Choi
1LT, IN New York Army National Guard

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Napkin Art by: Marty Coleman. Visit Marty's website here.
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LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

The Minnesota Senate Race Is Over -- Coleman Has Conceded Defeat To Franken.

By: Eric Kleefeld - June 30, 2009, 4:04PM

President Obama has released this statement on Sen.-elect Al Franken's (D-MN) much-litigated and now final victory in the 2008 Minnesota Senate race:

"I look forward to working with Senator-Elect Franken to build a new foundation for growth and prosperity by lowering health care costs and investing in the kind of clean energy jobs and industries that will help America lead in the 21st century."

In a press conference just now, former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) has conceded defeat to the Democratic comedian Franken in the 2008 Senate race -- nearly eight months after Election Day, and six months after the seat went vacant when Coleman's single term had expired. Coleman said that further litigation would damage the state, and congratulated Sen.-elect Franken on his victory. He said his future plans in politics "are a subject for another day."

Coleman also said he would no longer contest the much-litigated matter of which previously-rejected absentee ballots should and should not be let into the count, for which both campaigns had picked out lists to argue over. "I'm not questioning what's counted and what's not counted. The Supreme Court has decided," he said. "We are a nation of laws and not men and women. Now that the court has spoken, it's time to move on and not look back."

Coleman said his phone call with Franken was civil. "It couldn't have been any closer and he understands, what his family has gone through, and what me and my family have gone through," said Coleman. "It was a very personal discussion. I congratulated him and wished him the best, and he responded in kind."

It's been a long and strange journey from there to here. Coleman had initially been ahead of the long-time Democratic activist and dirty comedian right after the election, seemingly winning by around 700 votes the day after the election. But then the state went through the standard process of having the counties all proofread their spreadsheets -- and it turned out he only led by 215.

Then the recount commenced, with ballots from malfunctioning machines or with markings that were too light to be scanned cutting into the lead. Then after the State Canvassing Board adjudicated the ballots that had been challenged by the campaigns for voter intent or illegal voter signatures (and most of these challenges from both sides were completely frivolous, designed to manipulate the totals), it was now Franken who was ahead by 49 votes. Then after extensive litigation on absentee ballot envelopes that had been rejected due to clerical errors by local officials, Franken was then up by 225 votes.

Then Coleman filed a lawsuit to contest the results, contending that a) ballots were let in for Franken that shouldn't have been, b) ballots for Coleman that should have been allowed were not, and c) damaged absentee ballots that had been duplicated ended up being counted twice, favoring Franken. After months and months of litigation, the three-member trial court rejected all of these claims -- and some more previously-rejected ballots that were put in only expanded Franken's victory to 312 votes.

And keep in mind that Coleman's Senate term expired in early January. This seat has been vacant for six months, due to two things. First, a quirk of Minnesota law prevents the certification of a winner in a contested race until the state litigation is over. Second, Senate Republicans declared that they would block any attempts to seat Franken without the full documentation -- indeed, they leveraged Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) attempts to block Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL) from being seated, due to having a certificate of appointment that wasn't fully signed.

The national Republican Party pumped a lot of money into support Norm's fight, with a lot of people starting to suspect that this was motivated at least in part by delaying the Democrats from getting a seat. For example, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has said it could take "years" to resolve this.

But now it's over. Really and truly over. Sen.-Elect Franken is expected to be sworn in early next week, taking the seat once held by the late Sen. Paul Wellstone -- a staunch progressive and close personal friend of Al's, whose death in 2002 plane crash clearly had a profound effect on the comedian, and spurred him to get seriously involved in politics, and to travel down the road that led us here.

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.