Precepts for Everyday Living

01/04/2006

Coming in 2006 ...Gay Married TV?

As another year turns, we're reminded that the more things change, the more they stay the same. As our popular culture pushes ever further into anything goes, we're reminded that anything-goes has certainly gone before.

Pick up St. Augustine's "Confessions," and find him traveling to Carthage in the year 371, where "I found myself in a hissing cauldron of lust." Looking back, he regretted how in his desperate search for love, "I muddied the stream of friendship with the filth of lewdness and clouded its clear waters with Hell's black river of lust."

This was not the way Augustine saw it in the dissolute days before he found God, and it is certainly not the way our entertainment elite sees love and sex today. But it's interesting how at that time, Augustine found his sorrows drowned at the theater, "because the plays reflected my unhappy plight and were tinder to my fire." He was amazed how no one actually wanted to experience sadness and tragedy firsthand, but many were thrilled to watch it faked before them. They wanted the vicarious experience of risky emotional highs and tragic emotional lows without the actual, nonfictional pain. Curiosity could drag them anywhere, to spy on the ribald and disastrous ways "the other half lived."

That urge still has echoes today. Led by the usual hallowed envelope-pushers of pay cable, Hollywood has marched ever more passionately in this decade into chronicling and celebrating a cavalcade of alternative lifestyles. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation coos over how on this season, Showtime's lesbian drama, "The L Word," will have a full-time "trans-gendered" character. HBO's Wild West drama "Deadwood," previously well-known for its "lyrical" flood of profanities, will feature a new "gay and eccentric theater owner" character in the new year.

But HBO is really trampling new weeds by ushering in a new hot alternative lifestyle this spring -- polygamy. Newsweek is already raving in their "Who's Next" year-end issue about "Big Love," starring Bill Paxton as a man with three wives in three adjoining houses with seven kids between them.

Reporter Marc Peyser explained: "The Henricksons are devoutly religious and wholesome (they are not Mormons but an unspecified offshoot). Most of the action focuses on how Bill, who owns home-improvement stores in Utah, handles the mundane aspects of his overpopulated life." The vicarious appeal is watching this man trying to juggle his work life with keeping three "very desperate" housewives satisfied. "It's everything that every family faces, just times three," claimed co-creator Mark Olsen. "The yuck factor disappears, and you just see human faces. We found it to be a mother lode." Newsweek oozed: "On top of that, it's taboo." For how long?

The secular sexual gospel in this series is quite obvious. Even "non-traditional" families of all kinds of exotic stripes can still qualify as down to earth, even "devoutly religious and wholesome." One of the show's creators, playwright Will Scheffer, is especially fond of envelope-pushing. One of his plays featured a bit "delivered by [cannibal/murderer] Jeffrey Dahmer and takes place in Dahmer's kitchen in Heaven, in which he gives lessons on cooking and other topics."

Hollywood's power to affect the popular culture is awesome, and its dedication to tearing down traditions is frightening. We've seen it repeated time and again. Once upon a time, society saw pre-marital sex as wrong; after years of "Friends"-style programming, today it is commonplace to see unmarried couples living together. It wasn't long ago that American society saw the homosexual lifestyle as immoral -- yes, a sin. Today, after years of Hollywood agitation, promoting gay characters and gay lifestyles, it is to be accepted, and anything short of that is intolerance. It seems like just yesterday that a teacher having sex with his/her underaged student was considered rape. No, there's another word for this: pedophilia. Today? Having been sensitized with enough "Dawson's Creek" episodes, we yawn when we hear about it on the news.

It is a thirst to shock that cannot be quenched. It's an addiction. This element in Hollywood lives to destroy, and must continue destroying to stay alive, so the anti-Western cultural rampage continues. What's next? Nonfictional "group marriage TV" will arrive on the Bravo channel in the spring, with a documentary called "Three of Hearts: A Postmodern Family," featuring a New York triple with two gay men, a woman and two children.

Now, reading that last sentence -- what was your reaction? Perhaps a bit surprised, maybe somewhat disgusted. But you weren't shocked, were you?

21:18 Posted in Blog , Religion , Web | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this

01/01/2006

100 Years ago.........

This will boggle your mind, I know it did mine! The year is 1905. One hundred years ago! What a difference a century makes!

Here are some of the U.S. statistics for the Year 1905:

The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years.

Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.

There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., and only 144 miles of paved roads.
The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California. (Wish they still were.)

With a mere 1.4 million people, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!

The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents per hour. The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year.
A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S.took place at home. Ninety percent of all U.S. doctors had no college education.
Instead, they attended so-called medical schools,
many of which were condemned in the press and
by the government as "substandard."

Sugar cost four cents a pound.

Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.

Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.

Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason. Five leading causes of death in the U.S. were:

1. Pneumonia and Influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars.

Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alask hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.

The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was only 30!!!

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented yet.

There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Two out of every 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write. (Not sure we have improved on this one.)

Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores! Back then pharmacist said, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health." (Shocking!) Eighteen percent of households in the U.S. had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.

There were about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.

14:10 Posted in Blog , Leisure , Religion | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this

12/16/2005

How can this be happening?

Managers in charge of two federally subsidized housing facilities have told residents in one case they cannot sing Christmas carols, and in another they can't decorate their own entry doors with religious symbols, :( according to a religious-liberty law firm.

Attorneys at Liberty Counsel say they have sent two separate letters to housing authorities subsidized by the Department of Housing and Urban Development demanding that they reverse their positions regarding Christmas.

In a statement, the law group says the Housing Resource Development Corporation has informed those senior citizens living in its Winter Park, Fla., subsidized housing facility that they may not sing Christmas carols, nor may they have outside religious groups or churches sing Christmas carols in the facility.

Representing one of the residents, Liberty Counsel sent a demand letter asserting the housing authority is violating the Federal Fair Housing Act, which prohibits religious discrimination. The housing authority was threatened with legal action if it did not lift the carols prohibition.

Liberty Counsel also targeted Bethany Towers, which provides housing to low-income seniors and people with disabilities in Mechanicsburg, Pa. The managers reportedly have barred Christmas decorations from the lobby and the day rooms on each floor, and have prohibited decorations with religious connotations on individuals' entry doors.

"Throughout the year, residents decorate the exterior of their entry doors with cards and stuffed animals, but this year they have been told that they may not have religious Christmas decorations," Liberty Counsel stated.

Mathew Staver is president and general counsel of the law firm.

"Some of these elderly citizens and persons with disabilities will celebrate their final Christmas in these housing facilities," Staver noted. "It is unthinkable that these housing authorities would rob the elderly and the dependent residents of their joy in celebrating Christmas. It is hard to imagine what these officials are thinking when they tell senior citizens that they may not celebrate Christmas, and then in the same breath, seek to justify their discrimination on the basis of inclusion. Forbidding these senior and dependent residents from celebrating Christmas is the most exclusionary act imaginable."

In 2002, a woman living in a government-subsidized housing complex was nearly evicted for refusing to remove a sign from her window that read "24 Hr. Prayer Station." A lawsuit was settled that allowed the woman to stay in her home and keep up the prayer placard. :)

Repeated calls to both the Housing Resource Development Corporation and Bethany Towers were not returned by press time.

How can this possibly be? Who gives them the right to do this?

06:55 Posted in Religion | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this

12/06/2005

Christmas carols banned, but Hanukkah songs OK

Religious-liberty attorneys have contacted a Wisconsin school district that consistently forbids Christian Christmas carols from being sung in music programs but finds nothing wrong with Hanukkah songs.

According to law firm Liberty Counsel, the Glendale-River Hills School District of Glendale, Wis., has a written policy saying songs with "dogmatic religious statements" are strictly forbidden.

A statement from Liberty Counsel tells the story of Barbara Wheeler, whose 9-year-old daughter attends school in the district. In 2003, when the district's music programs excluded religious Christmas songs, Wheeler complained about their absence. School officials said they would get back with her, but they reportedly never did. Last year, Wheeler voiced complaints to the district in mid-November, but school officials said the songs already were set.

This year, when the school's music program contained Hanukkah and secular Christmas songs but no religious Christmas songs, Wheeler again objected.That's when the mother was referred to the district's written policy: "Music programs given at times close to religious holidays should not use the religious aspect of these holidays as the underlying motive or theme. No songs should be sung which contain dogmatic religious statements."
According to Liberty Counsel, Frances Smith, the district administrator, says the Hanukkah songs are more cultural than spiritual and thus are OK to sing.

On behalf of Wheeler, Liberty Counsel has written a demand letter to the district, stating that the school's policy is unconstitutional. Included was the law firm's Friend or Foe Christmas memo, which addresses the legality of celebrating Christmas.

The letter requests that the district immediately change its policy and include religious Christmas songs. Failure to respond favorably will subject the district to a lawsuit, Liberty Counsel says.

"The intent of the school district's policy is clear – 'Frosty the Snowman' is in, 'My Dreidel' is in, 'Silent Night' is out," said Mat Staver, Liberty Counsel president and general counsel. "How much more ridiculous can it get when 96 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas, but the school district pretends like Christmas is merely a ghost of Christmas past."

The organization's Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign urges churches to run Friend or Foe ads in their local newspapers.

Controversy over Christmas and its celebration in the public square has reached a fever pitch this year with battles raging over everything from what to call evergreen trees to whether or not retailers allow their employees to wish customers a "Merry Christmas."

21:50 Posted in Religion | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this

12/05/2005

New School Prayer

Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.

If Scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.

Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That's no offense; it's a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise.
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.

For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all
In silence alone we must meditate,
God's name is prohibited by the state.

We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks.
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.

We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King.
It's "inappropriate" to teach right from wrong,
We're taught that such "judgments" do not belong.

We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd.

It's scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school's a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take!
Amen