Transgenderism, Sexual Abuse and Educated Fools In NL

Published today to SignOfContradiction.Blogspot.ca

I took the title from an article this week in BarbWire.

What follows is the relevant portion from our illustrious House of Assembly Proceedings of just a few days ago. Themes: Homophobia, Transphobia, Same-Sex Parenting, Tolerance and Diversity.

The controversy at Trinity Western University was even raised and the gauntlet thrown down:

As a member of the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, I will be making a submission that emphatically states that attorneys educated under a homophobic program lack the requisite, character, and fitness to practice law in our Province.

How tolerant!

The inmates have taken over the asylum.

Sick. Unnatural. Godless.

God guard thee Newfoundland.

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HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS                       

Vol. XLVII No. 28

May 15, 2014                 

MS SHEA: Mr. Speaker, I rise today in this hon. House to recognize Saturday, May 17, as International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.  The theme of this year's campaign is Same-sex parenting: I love my two moms, I love my two dads, and it aims to reduce prejudice towards children who grow up in same-sex parented families.

Mr. Speaker, this day aims to raise awareness of homophobia and transphobia, to campaign against it, and to celebrate gender and sexual diversity. 

Celebrating the full diversity of our Province and continuing to educate is the first step to preventing violence against all vulnerable populations, including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, or LGBT individuals. 

Every day, Mr. Speaker, LGBT individuals are subjected to acts of violence in schools, workplaces and communities, and experience higher rates of violent victimization than heterosexual individuals. 

Mr. Speaker, our Violence Prevention Initiative aims to educate and increase awareness about the prevention of violence against women, children and youth, Aboriginal women and children, older persons, persons with disabilities, LGBT individuals, persons of varying race or ethnicity, and persons of different economic status. 

As part of the Violence Prevention Initiative, our Regional Co-ordinating Committees have many events planned throughout the Province to educate and celebrate International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.  For example, the Southwestern Coalition to End Violence arranged a proclamation signing yesterday in Stephenville.  Violence Prevention Labrador has arranged for an individual with same-sex parents to do an interview tomorrow morning with CBC Radio's Labrador Morning Show, and the Western Regional Coalition to End Violence has created stickers promoting facts about same-sex parenting which will be placed on coffee cups provided by Brewed Awakening in Corner Brook.

Mr. Speaker, I invite all of my colleagues to join me in recognizing International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, and acknowledge the hard work that our Regional Co-ordinating Committees do on a daily basis.  The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador remains fully committed to preventing violence against all populations so that residents of Newfoundland and Labrador can live in violence-free communities.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Burgeo – La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of her statement.  Certainly, we in the Official Opposition would also like to recognize the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. 

Gains made in the LGBT community have been hard fought and won by the LGBT community.  The right to marriage, the right to raise children, are accomplishments we should all celebrate because it is reflective of a society that is evolving.  These are rights we should defend in our daily conversations to uphold a tolerant society. 

We are all aware of the controversy surrounding the application of Trinity Western University in British Columbia to establish a law school that requires all students, faculty, and staff to sign a community covenant prohibiting any sexual intimacy outside heterosexual marriage.  How can the pursuit of law proceed unhampered when lawyers are being trained in homophobic institutions, when their institutional homophobia conflicts with our Charter of Rights and Freedoms?

Law Societies across the country are grappling with this issue and our own Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador are seeking feedback from its members on how to deal with graduates from this school.  As a member of the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, I will be making a submission that emphatically states that attorneys educated under a homophobic program lack the requisite, character, and fitness to practice law in our Province.

I appreciate the opportunity to speak to this very important day.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

MS ROGERS: I too thank the minister for an advance copy of her statement. 

As a same sex parent, I am proud to stand in this House to celebrate the incredible work LGBTQ activists have done throughout the ages and around the world with passion, audacity, determination and style to bring us to this point where our rights are enshrined in our human rights legislation.  Rights are not given but hard won. 

Our Department of Education has become a world leader with Egale Canada by developing and implementing a full education program to deal with homophobia and transphobia in our schools.  This will benefit our whole society, Mr. Speaker, as these very students come and teach us all about diversity and acceptance. 

I invite all members here today to join me in the anti-homophobia breakfast tomorrow morning, organized by Planned Parenthood.  It is at the Uptown Club on Kenmount Road at 7:00 a.m. 

Bravo again to all the LGBTQ activists and bravo to Planned Parenthood.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

[full PDF version]

Hate Speech Laws Are Making My Moral World View Illegal

Blogger Lou Iacobelli laments Canada’s obsession with equity and diversity.

So, today's malady of morally misguided compassion, sensitivity and empathy will no doubt continue to spread. Human Right Commissions and so called "hate speech" laws are making sure that there are no objective meanings to words like "truth," "arguments" and "standards." Words and actions are self-defined. "Rights" have become personalized and subjective. Should anyone question what anybody else thinks and does, there's legislated "hate speech" to silence and bring those who disagree into conformity. There's never anything wrong when everybody has a "right" to be and do whatever they want. Society has given itself the power to decouple from nature, from truth, from its past and any objective and meaningful discourse. Political correctness trumps all.

Read the rest here.

The Challenge of Islam: A Christian Perspective

Two days ago, Dr. Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote an opinion piece entitled The Challenge of Islam - A Christian Perspective.

I greatly respect Dr. Mohler and he always seems ready to confront the current issues of the day, regardless of whether they touch on politics or theology.

In this case, he introduces his thoughts with this statement:

President Barack Obama has put the issue of Islam front and center on the international stage. His visit to Turkey, and his very public statements to the Muslim world, have raised a host of questions at home and abroad.

Dr. Mohler goes on to explain in detail what these "host of questions" might be and I invite you to read his article and benefit from all his insights. If you'd like a quick summary, I think his concerns are best expressed in the following paragraphs:

I criticize President Obama, not for stating that America is not at war with Islam, but for failing to be honest in clarifying that we do face a great civilizational challenge in Islam. Islam is, in effect, the single most vital competitor to Western ideals of civilization on the world scene. The logic of Islam is to bring every square inch of this planet under submission to the rule of the Qur'an. Classical Islam divides the world into the "World of Islam" and the "World of War." In this latter world the struggle to bring the society under submission to the Qur'an is still ongoing.

And then finally his conclusion:

I can agree with President Obama that Islam has produced cultural wonders, but I have to see it more fundamentally as a belief system that is taking millions upon millions of persons spiritually captive - leaving them under the curse of sin and without hope of salvation.

For Christians, regardless of nationality, this is the great challenge that should be our urgent concern. Our concern is not mainly political, but theological and spiritual. And, all things considered, Islam almost surely represents the greatest challenge to Christian evangelism of our times.

Dr. Mohler's comments can certainly be termed counter cultural but they urgently need to be stated in our day. Jimmy Akin wrote a piece entitled The Catechism on Islam in This Rock in 2002 trying to clarify Catholic teaching on Islam, particularly in light of Vatican II documents. It's a good summary considering his focus on Vatican II.

A more classical expose on Islam can be found in an article written by Michael Forrest on scripturecatholic.com. In ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY: TWO RELIGIONS OF PEACE? the author issues a series of warnings about Islam, including the following:

Considering the violent beginnings and spread of Islam, one may hard pressed to discount the current violence as an "aberration" or perversion of Islam. A reasonable argument may be made of just the opposite, it would seem that those Muslims who support religious freedom and tolerance today are at odds with their own prophet, holy book and history. We all ought to pray that Muslims one day reject the violent essence and genesis of their faith and make it truly peaceful. Even more, we ought to pray for the intercession of Our Lady of Fatima, that they come to accept Christ, Who is true peace.

Forrest also tries to set the record straight on Islam's view of women and contrasts it with that of Christianity.

It is particularly disconcerting when the so-called “politically correct” among us, especially the feminists, praise Islam. If they find Christian society unfair to them, they ought to look a bit more closely at Islam:

Islam: "Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient...As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them, forsake them in beds apart and beat them." (Women, 34)

Christianity: "As the Church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her; so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies." (Ephesians 5:25-29).

As opposed to Islam, we must also remember that Catholicism celebrates a woman as the highest created creature, the Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth, the Blessed Virgin Mary. I suggest reading Islam Revealed by Dr. Anis Shorrosh, The Life and Times of Muhammad by Sir John Glubb and Answering Islam by Geisler and Saleeb if you want to learn more.

This is obviously a very relevant point in relation to some of today's news headlines:

Women protesters against 'marital rape' law spat on and stoned in ...

Times Online "Women protesting in Kabul against a controversial new law were pelted with stones, jostled and spat on today as they held what is believed to be the first public demonstration calling for equal rights for women in recent Afghan history."

Afghan 'anti-rape' women attacked BBC News

Stone-throwing Afghan crowd swarms women's protest The Associated Press

In an editorial I wrote last year for our local newspaper, I stated:

We as a nation once declared and confessed Christianity to be religion's supreme path, a sure road to heaven through Christ, "…the way, the truth and the life." This same Christ warned, "No man comes to the Father except through me."

We once believed that foreign lands (including those of Islam) could sustain a peaceful, civilized culture and free and democratic process only by embracing a Saviour and Christian truth delivered through zealous missionary activity. Now, spiritually exhausted and corrupted, we and our Christian allies rarely mention missionaries yet expect the same outcome from military troops fighting a "war against terror" on Islamic soil. Far better to die for Christ and the Gospel in Kandahar or Baghdad than to die in a war designed to change no one's heart.

As Dr. Mohler said,

all things considered, Islam almost surely represents the greatest challenge to Christian evangelism of our times.