terrorized -- like the guy they decided to blame for the anthrax. forced to commit suicide because there was no way no fight them. that leaves the question - will people get exonerated? found guilty by history? will the truth die with democracy as our country loses to fascism?

Dear DRichard,

Actually, this is the first I've heard of him, though I think I remember Ms. Stone referring to him. But thank you for mentioning him. I've just finished asking my library to get all 4 volumes of The Masks of God. Thom is right. He does have the smartest audience ever! Thanks again for sharing!
Anna in Portland

Man these guys are ridiculous, I am so tired of having to apologize for being Christian, but I don't see that day coming anytime soon. I wish I could ditch the whole thing, but I just think the real Jesus is so awesome.

Jesus' message in a nut shell was this. Rules and laws are good until they get in the way of one's ability to love their neighbor, and if that's the case they've got to go. And because he challenged some of those rules that hindered love, which threatened the power structures of his day, they killed him.

Any Christian who thinks that rules and standards an conventional morals are static are not following the way of Jesus. Today, by not accepting homosexual couples as equal with heterosexual couples, it is clear that our laws are prohibitive of the act of love, and are thus NOT reflective of the life and teachings of Jesus.

I found your conversation with Dr. Brown interesting. However, the verse in Romans that he quoted as a proottext against lesbians, if you read it carefully, concerns HETEROSEXUALS who have turned away from their "natural" desires to same sex sex acts. Also, I tend to believe that the so-called "former" gays who have "changed" are possibly bisexual or even people in "transitional" or "temporary" homosexual situations (such as in prisons). In other words, people who are no really gay or lesbian in orientation.

Re: Actually, Thom, I said “you’re getting your church in my state” to Stephanie Miller!

Not that it matters --- it was fun saying it!

(St.) Peter's not so great, either (especially with his misogynic view of the world.)

I want to share a story very few people know about me.

Ever since puberty I knew I was gay. However, it wasn’t until several years later before I came to terms with my sexual preference.

When I was in the ninth grade, I was a total outsider at my school. My family had moved to a small town in Louisiana, and I went to a school where all the other kids had grown up together. I was truly the “outsider”. Not a good environment for a kid trying to figure himself out. I discovered if I could make people laugh, they’d like me better. I went from a total loaner to a semi-loaner.

Mind you, all this time I knew I was gay. I just didn’t know what to do about it because I didn’t want to be gay. And I dared not tell anybody about this. It wasn’t an easy time for me emotionally. I had to live with this secret-terrified somebody would find out.

There was another kid in my class who EVERYBODY knew was gay. His name was Mike. I’m not sure if he was “out of the closet” or not, but it was very evident he was gay. He seemed nice enough, but I don’t know because I never got to know him. No way would I be caught befriending a queer.

All I knew about Mike was that he was very effeminate-his speech, voice, mannerisms, dress. Everything about him screamed faggot. As far as I could tell, he only had one close friend, a black girl, who I can’t remember her name.

Needless to say, Mike was on the receiving end of everybody’s’ jokes-including myself. These joke were both to his face and behind his back. It didn’t seem to bother him much. He kind of played along with it.

One particular incident that stands out to me was when I said something derogatory to him. I don’t remember exactly what I said, probably something about his lisp, or the way he swished his hips when he walked. It didn’t seem to upset him. He laughed along with everybody else. Everybody except the girl who was his only close friend.

Mike left the classroom for some reason. Maybe he went to the bathroom to cry, I have no idea. But after he left, his friend told me what a jerk I was. I mean she let me have it.

After that incident I did let up on the taunts directed to Mike. That black girl had an effect on me. But the other kids never let up, and I still laughed along with everybody, including Mike. Even though I wasn’t directing my jokes at him, I was still participating by laughing along.

Instead of standing up and telling the other kids to knock it off, I just laughed along. If I stood up for him, who knows what they would say about me. God forbid they might think I was just like Mike, just not as effeminate.

One morning toward the end of first period, the principle walked in and whispered into the teacher’s ear and they walked out of the classroom.

After awhile they both walked back in and said they had some sad news. I knew something was wrong. They announced that Mike was dead. No other details. I remember they were both real upset.

I had to look back at his assigned desk to confirm for myself that he wasn’t there. I didn’t even notice he was gone when class had started.

Well, the detail the school failed to mention was that Mike had committed suicide the night before. His parents found his body when they went to check on him because he didn’t wake up for breakfast.

All these years I’ve always wondered if the abuse he got at school played a role in his suicide. The abuse I dished out just as much as anybody. How could it not have played a role?

I made fun of this kid because I was terrified of my own secret. I may not have been directly responsible for him taking his own life, but I damn sure didn’t make his already difficult life easier. After the black girl put me in my place, instead of toning down my taunts I could have done more. I could have befriended him. I could have simply stopped laughing at him. I could have joined forces with his black friend.

This has been with me my entire life. I’ve come to terms with it, and done a lot of soul searching. Since I’ve come out, I’ve gone over this incident countless times. I wanted to find a way to try to make this up to Mike some how.

But, as we all know, nothing could be done. We can’t go back and undo things we aren’t proud of. Life goes on. Just like my life has gone on. But I definitely wanted to make a difference. I couldn’t change how the world looked at kids like myself. But I could change the way I looked at people. I could speak up when I saw prejudice. I came to realize I could not change the worlds bigotry, but I could change how I looked at bigotry and denounce it when it reared it’s ugly head.

Now you can see why I have an enormous amount of obligation to speak up and lend my voice to the fight against oppression and prejudice and bigotry.

I think the real problem is religion. Indoctrinating a child with a myth so powerful it can lead the person that child becomes to commit suicide should be a crime.

wow. san fransisco is a liberal city. sanfran is so liberal that the bogeyman or rather bogeywoman that the conservatives want to use over and over and over again for her scary "san fransisco liberal" values took impeachment immediately off the table as soon as she got into power and drives some of the liberal minded people like me crazy for the stuff that she is not doing.

are we entitled to the same facts that dr. brown is entitled to? i've never been to san fransisco but it sounds like san fransisco is just about as liberal as my hometown of louisville, kentucky which is not surrounded by oceans of progressive thought.

Why not just quit cherry picking the scriptures & admit that the Bible is not the "word of God" and is intead written by many differant people with many differant world veiws?

Anybody notice anything peculiar about the timing of our recent “Economic Meltdown” (aka Global Financial Collapse), and its timing in relation to the Baby Boomers reaching retirement age?

I realize this is could be a construed as a bit of a “tin-foil hat” theory, but hear me out.

The first wave of Boomers was being conceived soon after World War II concluded in August of 1945, and the first wave of boomer began arriving onto the scene in 1946.

Our “Economic Meltdown” came to a head in September 2008.

How ironic is it that just as the first wave of Boomers hit age 62, and can now think of retiring and collecting Social Security and Medicare, we then have our “Economic Meltdown”?

If you were a Boomer and did as so many financial advisers suggested, and had invested in your 401k and purchase a home, and thought you were going to began to sell those assets, you would be in for a rude and cruel surprise.

Many boomer I know that wanted to retire this year, or within the next few, have put those plans off indefinitely, most telling me it will take them several years to recover what they lost based on the current value of their “assets”.

Here is a little more food for thought...

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2009209408_apussocialsecu...