Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (154215)	12/16/2004 3:14:14 PM
From: neolib	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Good post too neocon! I do not think that it is a religious controversy. If you had left this first sentence out it would have been a great post. It is most assuredly a religious controversy in the USA.

To: Neocon who wrote (154215)	12/16/2004 3:22:32 PM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

You may not think it is not a religious issue, but it's pretty clear from the studies on this that it is one: Is Homosexuality a Sin? Most Americans (55%) believe that homosexual behavior is a sin, while 33% disagree. Strongly religious people are far more likely to see homosexual behavior as sinful than are the less religious. Nearly nine-in-ten (88%) highly committed white evangelicals say homosexual behavior is sinful, and 64% of committed white Catholics agree. Nearly three-quarters of black Protestants (74%) see homosexual conduct as sinful. But just 18% of secular respondents feel this way. ............. Messages From the Pulpit A majority of churchgoers report hearing about homosexuality from their clergy: 55% of those who attend services at least once or twice a month say their clergy talk about issues related to homosexuality, and 41% say they discuss laws regarding homosexuals. The percentage hearing about laws related to homosexuals is up slightly from 1996, when 36% reported this topic mentioned by clergy. Among subjects addressed by clergy, homosexuality is about as common as prayer in the schools (58%) and the situation in Iraq (53%), and somewhat less common than abortion (63%). It is a more commonly mentioned topic than either the death penalty (28%) or candidates and elections (26%). And 40% of churchgoers say they have heard about the recent controversy over the Ten Commandments monument in Alabama. The subject of homosexuality is heard in church much more commonly by white evangelicals than by white mainline Protestants or Catholics. Two-thirds (66%) of white evangelicals say their clergy talk about issues related to homosexuality. This is considerably higher than the incidence in mainline Protestant (36%) or Catholic (44%) churches. Black churchgoers also are much less likely than white evangelicals (42%) to say their clergy discuss the issue. The vast majority of regular churchgoers who hear about homosexuality in church say the message is a negative rather than a neutral or positive one: overall, 76% say their clergy discourage homosexuality, while 4% say clergy favor acceptance of it; only 16% say their clergy take no position when they speak about the issue. Neutral or positive messages about homosexuality are much more common in mainline Protestant than in evangelical churches. ......... It's probably impossible for the really religious, who view homosexuals as sinners (and for people who want to lump them in with adulterers and pedophiles), to treat them fairly, so we'll have to hope that other people, who don't see them that way, WILL be able to protect them from people who would do nothing while they are discriminated against.

To: Neocon who wrote (154215)	12/16/2004 3:26:41 PM
From: cnyndwllr	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Neocon, re: ...It is wrong to be a philanderer, given the breach of trust and unnecessary pain caused. Polygamy is, at least, inadvisable, considering the way it places women in the position of competition for their husband's attention.. Lot's of things are "wrong" in the opinions of some. Lot's of things are "inadvisable." Most of them are not subjected to federal governmental regulation. What is it about homosexuality that makes you believe that the federal government should legislate to prevent the states from enacting and enforcing their own laws? Ed