Diane Vera

Catching up with the Talk to Action blog, about the religious right wing, I find the following: Evangelical Latino Politicians/Pastors Lead Fight Against Same-sex Marriage in New York by Bill Berkowitz, Wednesday, May 20, 2009. About Samuel Rodriguez, President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC), and Ruben Díaz, a New York state senator from the Bronx who is also a Pentecostal minister.

I also came across the following storis about belief in grand conspiracy ideology by "Full Gospel" chaplains in the U.S. military: (1) Conspiracy Theorist Military Chaplains Promote Anti-American Militia Activity by Chris Rodda, Wednesday, May 20, 2009, and (2) Col. Jim Ammerman, Apostle & New World Order Conspiracy Theorist by Ruth, Monday, June 22, 2009. Ruth has also written another recent Talk To Action blog post about grand conspiracy ideology, Conspiracy as Prophecy, Friday, June 12, 2009.

Also on the topic of military chaplains, I found this rather scary post: Obama's [Reported] New Pastor: "First we get the military, then we get the nation" by Chris Rodda, Monday, June 29, 2009, about Lt. Carey Cash, pastor of the chapel at Camp David.

This past Sunday, June 28, I participated in the Gay Pride parade in Manhattan, as I like to do every year. This is a huge annual event, with tens of thousands of people marching.

( Some details of my participation, including a flyer I distributed )

There was a small handful of counter-demonstrators at the traditional barricaded place allotted to them on one of the side streets across Fifth Avenue from St. Patrick's Cathedral. ( Details about the counter-demonstrators )

As usual, there were quite a few liberal Christian religious groups marching in the parade. There were no Pagan groups, as there have not been for the past few years. There used to be a small group called "Witches and Pagans for Gay Rights," which marched every year. But not anymore -- even though there are some Pagan groups that meet at the LGBT Community Center in Manhattan.

( Details on Pagan groups meeting regularly at the LGBT Center )

( Some other groups meeting regularly at the Center, of possible interest to NYARBB )

We shouldn't jump to conclusions as to what the recent power play in the NY State Senate means for same-sex marriage, according to James Withers of 365Gay.com, in What will happen now to marriage in New York?, June 9, 2009. He points out that, contrary to the conclusions some gay bloggers have jumpet to, Pedro Espada Jr. (State Senator from the Bronx) has not only promised to vote "Yes" on marriage equality but is one of the co-sponsors of the marriage equality bill, according to page 2 of the New York Times story G.O.P. Regains Control of New York State Senate by Danny Hakim and Jeremy W. Peters, June 8, 2009.

Even better news: New Senate President Wants Vote on Same-Sex Marriage by Danny Hakim, New York Times City Room Blog, June 9, 2009

( Some recent blog posts, on otherwise worthwhile gay blogs, that jumped to wrong conclusions )

Will the marriage equality bill pass the NY State Senate? That's still very iffy. Meanwhile, the NY State Senate is in a procedural uproar, according to a news story today, State Senate GOP Seizes Control In Political Coup, NY1, June 8, 2009.

Below are more news stories. As usual, I've bolded some who/what/when/where details about the religious right wing that I want to research further.

( Recent news stories about the New York marriage equality bill ) ( News stories about the victory in New Hampshire ) ( News stories about yesterday's Gay Pride parade in Queens ) ( Miscellaneous news stories )

Looks like the religious right wing has succeeded in stalling the same-sex marriage bill in the NY State Senate.

Below are some news stories from June 1. (I've bolded some who/what/when/where details that I should research further later.)

( News stories from June 1 )

And now for some more recent news stories on same-sex marriage, mentioning various religious right wing groups. Some stories from yesterday, June 3:

( News stories from June 3 )

And now for some news stories from today, June 4:

( News stories from June 4 )

On Friday I found a bunch of recent news stories about the same-sex marriage issue. One of the stories inspired me to write this NYARBB blog post, which I may also use as the beginning of a NYARBB pamphlet to be distributed at the Queens Gay Pride march.

( The recent news stories )

Here is a collection of quotes by Maggie Gallagher. From it, I found a bunch of earlier news stories.

( Some of those earlier stories )

Here in New York State, a marriage equality bill has been passed overwhelmingly in the State Assembly, but we're now waiting for the State Senate, where it will be a tighter race.

( Daily News story about state senators, from Queens, who oppose marriage equality )

The Daily News story mentions that there will be a pro-marriage-equality rally in Astoria on Sunday. I found no further information about the rally via Google News.

( CBS News story about poll results showing increased support for same-sex marriage )

In a comment that I've left screened because it contains the person's email address, someone named Jenny asked me about the Necronomicon.

The Necronomicon was originally a nonexistent fictional text that was referred to in H.P. Lovecraft's stories. Since then, a number of different "Necronomicons" have appeared. I am not aware of any good reason to believe that any of these are the "real" Necronomicon originally referred to by Lovecraft.

( Read more )

On Sunday, May 17, there were rallies in Manhattan on both sides of the same-sex marriage issue.

( Links to news stories about the rallies )

What's noteworthy here is the leading role of Hispanic Pentecostals. In years past, here in New York City, our local religious right wing consisted primarily of the Catholic hierarchy plus ultra-Orthodox Jews. Pentecostals and other Protestant evangelicals did not play a major political role around here, as far as I could tell. That seems to be changing.

An even more ominous new (as far as I am aware) development is the direct involvement of a Democratic politician, State Senator Rubén Díaz Sr. in organizing an anti-gay rally. Politicians, even Republican ones, don't usually take a direct leadership role in activist organizing for or against specific political causes. Usually they'll only lend their name to a cause that's already well-organized and popular among their constituents. Evidently there must be lots of well-organized homophobia in Rubén Díaz's neck of the woods.

( P.S., May 19, 2009: Religious right wing in Nassau County )

One of the issues that New Yorkers Against Religion-Based Bigotry will eventually concern itself with is the rights of sex workers. In preparation for this, I've located some relevant organizations and websites.

( List of sites )

None of these groups seem to be holding any events in the near future, other than regular public meetings of SWOP-NYC.

( P.S. (May 16, 2009): A semi-relevant new group )

Yay! It passed the Assembly. Now it's the State Senate's turn. And that is still quite iffy, even though Democrats are now a majority.

( Links to news stories )

The New York State same-sex marriage bill is A07732 in the State Assembly and S4401 in the State Senate. You can look up your State Assembly member here and your State Senator here. Please call your Assembly member TODAY if you have not done so already -- the bill is getting voted on today.

( Links to more information about the bill )

As for rallies here in New York City, I'll post info on the message board of NYARBB's Meetup site, as I come across it. The next rally I know of is on May 17. (Alas, I won't be able to attend.)

Last month, New Governor David Paterson announced he would introduce a bill in the state legislature to legalize same-sex marriage here in New York State. Some relevant news stories:

• New York governor to push same-sex marriage bill by Laurie Segall, CNN, Thu April 16, 2009


• Paterson Unveils Same-Sex Marriage Bill by Jeremy W. Peters AND Sewell Chan, New York Times City Room blog post, April 16, 2009


• NY governor introduces bill to allow same-sex marriage by Michael Virtanen, Associated Press, Gay & Lesbian Times (San Diego, CA), Thursday, 23-Apr-2009

The latter article mentions two of the main opponents of same-sex marriage: (1) State Senator Rubén Díaz Sr., who is also pastor of the (Pentecostal) Christian Community Neighborhood Church in the Bronx, and (2) the new Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan.

( More about Rubén Díaz and other opponents of same-sex marriage in New York )

( Díaz's forthcoming protest, and a pro-gay counterdemonstration )

( More about same-sex marriage in general )

Recently. I've gotten to know someone who is a former Lubavitcher Hasidic Jew, who managed to leave that way of life (rather cult-like, according to her) and build a new life for herself.

( On the difficulties of leaving a Hasidic group. )

( Websites by other Jews (including Orthodox) critical of the Chabad Lubavitch movement. )

I recently came across a really weird website advertising Hindu exorcisms. The site features "Indian Vedic Rituals," "Yagya & Homam," and Hindu "Holy Talismans."

But it's not clear to me who the target audience for this site is. Is it aimed at actual Hindus, or is it aimed at Western New Agers? Offnand, I would guess the former, judging by the site's not-so-great English. It does not appear to be aimed at well-educated, well-to-do Westerners. But the site also draws ideas from Christianity in terms of the kinds of evils it claims to be able to remove, ( such as 'EVIL SATAN' and 'WICCAN SPIRITS'. WTF? )

I've been away for a long time -- very busy with a new job, among other things.

Some good news: As of this past month, I've found a very passionate co-administrator for the budding NYC proto-congregation of the Church of Azazel, and also for New Yorkers Against Religion-Based Bigotry. Hopefully both can now, finally, begin to get off the ground. I cannot launch them all by myself.

( How to reach me in the future, next time I'm away from this blog for a long time. )

Here's a news story I missed during the time I took a break from monitoring online developments having to do with Satanism:

( London Daily Mail story about Pope setting up exorcist squads )

See also the following posts on my Theistic Satanism blog (listed below in forward chronological order):

• Full-blown alleged SRA case in Italy - Friday, April 27, 2007
• Some news from Italy, about Satanism and about the Catholic Church - Monday, April 28, 2008
• More about Satanism and the Catholic Church in Italy - Friday, May 2, 2008
• Blaming "Satanists" for Catholic clergy sex scandals??? - Saturday, May 3, 2008
• How they'll clean up after you at a Maltese hospital - Tuesday, May 13, 2008

In most parts ot the U.S.A., the religious right wing seems to be dominated by evangelical Christians. But here in New York City, it seems to be dominated by ultra-conservative Catholics and ultra-Orthodox Jews.

And one of its leaders is now a judge.

( Read more about Noach Dear, former city council member, now a judge. )

Talk To Action has a weekly series by Frank L. Cocozzelli on "The Catholic Right," about the Catholic religious right wing. The most recent post in the series is Jindal, Rising, about Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal. Frank Cocozzelli apparently lives in Brooklyn, judging by his post My Son's School, in which he identifies his parish as St. Finbar's in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, New York.

( Links to all posts in the series )

P.S.: My list of Frank Cocozzelli's posts includes quite a few posts about Opus Dei, but none about the Legion of Christ. On Talk to Action, I just now posted Catholic religious right wing: Legion of Christ, to inform him about the latter order.

In The End of American Jewry's Golden Era, Daniel Pipes is quoted as saying:

"Militant Islam cannot be compared to any segment of Christianity, Judaism, or Hinduism. These religions do not embody groups with totalitarian utopian ideologies that seek world hegemony.

Yes they do.

Admittedly, the Christian and Jewish equivalents of Islamism (the totalitarian ideology) are a much more marginal fringe, among adherents of their religions, than Islamists now are among Muslims. Hence they are currently far less dangerous on a worldwide scale. But they do exist. And, from my point of view, the Christian counterparts of Islamism do pose a real threat - although not nearly as big a threat, on a worldwide scale, as Islamism.

The Christian counterparts of Islamism are Reconstructionism and Dominionism, whose longterm goal is the restoration of "Biblical civil law." For Christian Reconstructionists and other hardcore Dominionists, this would include a death penalty, by stoning, for "idolators," "blasphemers," and homosexuals. Although they are a fringe, Reconstructionists and other Dominionists are disporportionately active in the Christian religious right wing, still a very powerful political movement.

( Links to info about Christian Reconstructionism and Dominion Theology )

There are also ultra-Orthodox movements within Judaism with a similarly theocratic agenda - and which have enlisted the support of some like-minded non-Jews.

Traditionally, Jews don't try to convert non-Jews to Judaism. However, Jews traditionally do believe that all humans, including non-Jews, are obliged to obey the seven "Noahide laws," one of which is the establishment of courts of justice to enforce the other Noahide laws. At least "theoretically," this would include a death penalty for "idolators," "blasphemers," and homosexuals - albeit by beheading, rather than by stoning. There is now a new and growing "Noahide" religious movement of non-Jews who have not fully converted to Judaism, but who follow the teachings of Jewish rabbis (usually Orthodox or ultra-Orthodox rabbis) regarding the Noahide laws, and whose ultimate aim to establish a worldwide theocracy. Noahide groups differ on whether and to what extent the "death penalty" is to be taken literally, but, as far as I can tell so far, it seems that most Noahide groups, or at least the more visible ones, do call for a literal death penalty for purely religious transgressions.

( Links about theocratic Judaism and Noahidism, with my comments )

( Some info about theocratic movements in Israel )

Still, despite the growing strength of the Israeli religious right wing, it seems that GLBT rights are better in Israel than anywhere else in the Middle East.

( Links to more info on GLBT rights in Israel )

These past several days, in conjunction with writing my responses to Julian Karswell, I've been reviewing and updating my knowledge of economics. To that end, I've managed to find some online textbooks and other online resources.

I may again have occasion to refer to them when debating with LaVeyans and others, so I've put together a list.

( List of online economics resources )

One of my heroes is Brad Hicks, who was one of the earliest activists against the "Satanic Ritual Abuse" scare back in the 1980's. (He discusses this briefly in the following posts of his here on LiveJournal: Wicca Lies (part 3): Hierarchy and Wow, I Haven't Been Threatened for My Writing in More than a Decade.) He was president of the Alliance of Magical and Earth Religions (AMER), in which Michael Aquino, founder of the Temple of Set, was also active.

Anyhow, a recent post of his calls attention to something very scary about Hillary Clinton. Her pastor, Doug Coe, runs a secretive, cultish group called "The Family" or "The Fellowship," to which a lot of religious right wing politicians also belong.

( More here about Doug Coe )

On another topic, another excellent post on Brad Hicks's blog: Republicans and the War on Justice.

P.S., 5/19/2008: Regarding Brad Hicks's fight against the SRA scare, I just now came across another relevant post of his: Personal History: Me versus a Religious Bigot Cop.

Something I missed when it happened, but I just came across it recently: As of January 2008, it seems that the Vatican has revived the hullabaloo about Harry Potter. However, I find two very different accounts of this:

• Potter "Driving Kids to Satanism" by Cameron Millar, Daily Star (U.K.), 16th January 2008


• The Vatican Revives the Harry Potter Debate by Emil Steiner, Washington Post, January 15, 2008

( My observations here )

The Washington Post article ends by asking: "... one has to wonder why the Vatican would want to revive this debate. Could the recent revelations of Dumbledore's sexual orientation have something to do with it?"

On the blog A Heathen's Day, I just now learned about a news story in the Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, North Carolina), SC lawmakers have religion on minds, in bills by Jim Davenport, Associated Press, Tue, May. 13, 2008, in which Democratic Senator Yancey McGill (of South Carolina) says that Wicca is not a religion, and he's not sure about Buddhism.

( More here )

"A Heathen's Day" cited the Wild Hunt blog, which referred to an earlier post, The ACLU, South Carolina, and Religious Minorities, about how South Carolina has generally become one of the "hot zones" for church/state separation and religious freedom issues.

According to the news story What washed up on the Keansburg beach? by Alyssa Passeggio, Bayshore Courier (New Jersey, U.S.A.), May 9, 2008:

Keansburg Police Deputy Chief James Pigott said Patrolman Michael Deaney responded to a finding of four garbage bags and two shopping bags containing headless chickens and the innards on April 17. There are no suspects, Pigott said.

The April incident brought back memories of findings of animal parts on the Keansburg beach last year, which non-traditional faith expert Laurie Cabot characterized as a ritual performed by individuals practicing Santeria, San Paulo, Voodon or Satanism.

"Satanism"??? In a statement by Laurie Cabot??? That's Laurie Cabot, the well-known modern Pagan Witch from Salem, Massachusetts, I presume? Now presenting herself as an "expert," not just on Pagan Witchcraft but on "non-traditional faiths" in general?

Did she really say that "Satanists" might be responsible for a pile of chicken remains??? Or the hoof of a "deer, goat or sheep" mentioned later in the article?

If so, shame on her. Surely she ought to know better by now. She has no excuse for such an ignorant claim.

The best-known form of Satanism, LaVeyan Satanism, specifically prohibits animal sacrifice, as do most other forms of Satanism too, including most forms of theistic Satanism. (LaVeyan Satanists are mostly atheistic and regard Satan as just a symbol.)

( More here about Satanism and animal sacrifice, including my own personal view. )

( More here, including the types of animal sacrifice most likely to be practiced by the few theistic Satanists who do practice it. )

( More here, about Aborishas (Santeros) too )

Thanks to in-person conversations with some people who question or disagree with my antiwar position, I realize I need to bone up on the history of events that led up to the Iraq war, especially the issues of alleged "weapons of mass destructions" and Iraq's compliance or noncompliance with U.N. weapons inspections.

Personally, I knew, on the first day of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, that Iraq did not have WMD's. Moreover, on that day, it was obvious to me that the U.S. government knew that Iraq didn't have WMD's.

How did I know? On the first day of the war, I listened to a radio interview with one of the generals. (Alas I didn't take notes and I don't remember the general's name.) When a reporter asked about the "weapons of mass destruction," the general said something to the effect of "Oh, we'll worry about them later." I thought, wait a minute, if you've just invaded a country that really has weapons of mass destruction, you don't worry about them later, you worry about them immediately.

( Read the rest of this entry - long, with lots of links to news items from 2002-2003 )

Given my interest in building an activist organization against religion-based bigotry (see the blog of New Yorkers Against Religion-Based Bigotry), I should attend the following event, here in New York City: Self-Criticism in the American Muslim and Jewish Communities with Reza Aslan, Moushumi Khan, Rabbi Stern, and others.

"Leading American Muslims and Jews look in the mirror and critique their own communities. They point out where leadership falls short in its efforts to create dialogue bewteen the two communities and explore factors that contribute to hostility and suspicion between the two groups."

( Details here )

P.S., 5/8/2008: Apparently this event has been cancelled.

( More info here )

A while back I noticed a trend, among conservative and traditionalist Catholics, to blame the clergy pedophilia scandals on an alleged conspiracy by Satanists to infiltrate the Catholic hierarchy. For more about this, see my article The "Satanic Ritual Abuse" scare -- it's BAACK! The alleged conspiracy of "Satanic pedophiles" in the Catholic clergy.

Now it seems that this same alleged Satanist conspiracy is being blamed for clargy sex scandals involving adults too. Not only that, but one priest has even used this claim in an attempt to get himself off the hook.

( Read more )

In Florida, there's a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would allow state funding of all manner of religious stuff. Here's an opinion piece against it: Your Tax Money For Madrassas? by Buzz Kelly, The Tampa Tribune, April 10, 2008.

( Read more )

I just now came across the following: Are the Quakers Going Pagan? by Matthew Streib, Religion News Service, Christianity Today, 4/28/2008. Among other things, this article says:
( Read more )