DEAR ABALONEMAN10: You write, "Ask anyone the question --- When were you Born Again?" Ever ask a Catholic that question?

DEAR CLOVER: Homosexuals are a minority. Blacks are a minority. Muslims are a minority. Left-handed people are a minority. What's your point? Sure, a 9% unemployment rate should give ANYONE pause, but so should matters of human dignity and social justice. I've no doubt that there were plenty of white supremacists who objected to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and they would probably have said th...more

DEAR CLOVER:

Homosexuals are a minority. Blacks are a minority. Muslims are a minority. Left-handed people are a minority. What's your point? Sure, a 9% unemployment rate should give ANYONE pause, but so should matters of human dignity and social justice. I've no doubt that there were plenty of white supremacists who objected to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and they would probably have said that there were more pressing matters to address, such as the Red Menace and such. But how long should human rights have to wait?less

The Supreme Court of the United States will eventually HAVE to issue a ruling on whether Gay and Straight couples should be treated equally for the purposes of marriage. WHY? Because most of the legal benefits, protections, and responsibilities of marriage come from the federal government, not the states. Those benefits number 1,138 according to the Government Accounting Office (GAO), and they hav...more

The Supreme Court of the United States will eventually HAVE to issue a ruling on whether Gay and Straight couples should be treated equally for the purposes of marriage. WHY? Because most of the legal benefits, protections, and responsibilities of marriage come from the federal government, not the states. Those benefits number 1,138 according to the Government Accounting Office (GAO), and they have to do with tax law, Social Security, inheritance, child support, and a vast array of other issues.

There’s also that pesky “Full Faith & Credit” clause of the Constitution, under which any Straight couple can fly off to Las Vegas for a drunken weekend, get married by an Elvis impersonator, and that marriage is automatically honored in all 50 states … at least until the couple decides to call it quits. Gay couples, however, are held to a different (and hence unconstitutional) legal standard. If a Gay couple gets legally married in Iowa, for example, they automatically become “un-married” once they decide to move south to Missouri.

The only way marriage can be a “States Rights” issue is for the federal government to get out of the marriage business completely, and do away with the 1,138 benefits it grants to married couples. Tell me how thrilled most married couples would be with THAT.

And I don’t think the Supreme Court will be able to delay addressing this issue forever. At the federal level there is the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), under which Gay couples that are legally married in Iowa or Massachusetts, for example, are unrecognized as such by the federal government.

Here’s an example: According to a statement I recently received in the mail from the Social Security Administration, my married spouse would be eligible for over $1400 per month (after retirement) in the event of my death. I think anyone would agree that $1400 per month is a pretty hefty chunk of change. However, it is money that my significant other would not be eligible for, because we would not be allowed to get married. I would like to provide for the financial well-being of my spouse, just as I’m sure any heterosexual would, but in essence I’m throwing away money on a fund that my partner cannot take advantage to in the event of my death, even if we were legally married. And this is one of the effects of DOMA.less

How people, whether Gay or Straight, pursue their personal relationships off-duty has absolutely NOTHING to do with their ability to do their jobs in the military … which, as Rush Limbaugh is fond of saying, is “to kill people and break things.” The reason Gay people are being kicked out of the military is prejudice, pure and simple. Prejudice is prejudice, whether directed at Gays or Blacks...more

How people, whether Gay or Straight, pursue their personal relationships off-duty has absolutely NOTHING to do with their ability to do their jobs in the military … which, as Rush Limbaugh is fond of saying, is “to kill people and break things.” The reason Gay people are being kicked out of the military is prejudice, pure and simple. Prejudice is prejudice, whether directed at Gays or Blacks or Jews, which is why the current controversy over Gays in the military is so similar to what happened back in the 1940s, when so many soldiers claimed they would abandon the military if they had to serve with Blacks.

Kick people out of the military if they conduct themselves inappropriately while on duty. But no one should lose his job just because some soldier said, “I SWEAR, Sarge, I’m afraid some guy will start undressing me with his EYES!”less

If I didn't know better, I'd think it was the 1940s all over again! Troop surveys conducted throughout the 1940s on blacks and Jews, and in the 1970s and 1980s on women, exposed deep rifts within a military that was dominated by white males but becoming increasingly reliant on minorities to help do its job. In a study from July 1947, four of five enlisted men told the Army that they would o...more

If I didn't know better, I'd think it was the 1940s all over again!

Troop surveys conducted throughout the 1940s on blacks and Jews, and in the 1970s and 1980s on women, exposed deep rifts within a military that was dominated by white males but becoming increasingly reliant on minorities to help do its job.

In a study from July 1947, four of five enlisted men told the Army that they would oppose blacks serving in their units even if whites and blacks didn't share housing or food facilities.

The same study also revealed a deep resentment toward Jews. Most enlisted men said Jews had profited greatly from the war and many doubted that Jews had suffered under Adolf Hitler.

"Negro outfits should be maintained separately," an Army master sergeant from North Carolina told the Pentagon in 1947. "To do otherwise is to invite trouble and many complications. The equal rights plan should not be forced on the Army as an example to civilians."


Troops also offered dire predictions for what would happen if whites and black units were forced to serve together.

"For sure, all the GIs will quit the Army or buck like hell to get out," a 20-year-old Army private first class told the surveyors. The service members were quoted anonymously in the 1947 study.

Added another 19-year-old soldier: "If the Negro and the whites were mixed, there would be a civil war among the troops. There would be a lot of useless bloodshed if this happens."

But President Harry S. Truman issued a 1948 order on equal treatment of blacks in the services anyway - paving the way for integration during the Korean War. None of these doomsday scenarios came true.less

DEAR BELIEVER: I don't think any department store employee has ever been prevented from celebrating Christmas on his own terms. But celebrating Christmas on your own terms is not synonymous with proselytizing. Yes, to you and me, a pleasant "Merry Christmas" to a customer may seen innocuous enough, but should for many people religion is a very personal matter, so perhaps saying "Happy Holidays" is...more

DEAR BELIEVER: I don't think any department store employee has ever been prevented from celebrating Christmas on his own terms. But celebrating Christmas on your own terms is not synonymous with proselytizing. Yes, to you and me, a pleasant "Merry Christmas" to a customer may seen innocuous enough, but should for many people religion is a very personal matter, so perhaps saying "Happy Holidays" is just as pleasant especially if you DON'T know if the customer in question is a Hindu, a Muslim, or a Jew. This is not a matter of political correctness, it is a matter of TACT.less

Gungor sure is a SURLY-looking bunch.

You knew it would be just a matter of time before Bill O'Reilly and other revived the whole "War on Christmas" thing. No one is preventing anyone from saying "Merry Christmas." But if a department store says "Happy Holidays" out of deference to their non-Christian customers, should they be targeted with boycotts? I don't think so. Christmas is the ONLY religious holiday that causes all government ...more

You knew it would be just a matter of time before Bill O'Reilly and other revived the whole "War on Christmas" thing. No one is preventing anyone from saying "Merry Christmas." But if a department store says "Happy Holidays" out of deference to their non-Christian customers, should they be targeted with boycotts? I don't think so. Christmas is the ONLY religious holiday that causes all government functions to grind to a halt, meaning non-Christians have no choice but to go along with it. So don't get upset if non-Christians celebrate it on their own terms.less

Actually we are ALL "missing links." Evolution is a continuum, all species and fossils are TRANSITIONAL between what was and what will be. The human beings of today are the "missing links" between our more primative ancestors and our more advanced descendants.

DEAR KETCH: I don't think any of our previous Presidents were sued for mentioning God. Do you think it should be an issue now?

DEAR REVRAN: Just Google "May 21, 2011," and you'll see how many people have become convinced that The Rapture is actually going to occur on that day. I hope they aren't too traumatized when it doesn't. I'm sure we'll be hearing more about this as the day approaches.

The people running that website have been doing a bang-up job getting donations from poor, impressionable people in a bunch of third-world countries. I have to wonder if they'll just shut down the website, take the money and run on May 22nd.

DEAR STEVE: I can guarantee you with absolute, 100% certainty that it WON'T happen. No Rapture, no Second Coming, no Tribulation, NOTHING. Human civilizations will go through disasters and wars and plagues and various other upheavals as it always has, but none of it will be supernatural. There will be no "End of Days." PROMISE. The people here who want to believe it will happen will eventually rea...more

DEAR STEVE: I can guarantee you with absolute, 100% certainty that it WON'T happen. No Rapture, no Second Coming, no Tribulation, NOTHING. Human civilizations will go through disasters and wars and plagues and various other upheavals as it always has, but none of it will be supernatural. There will be no "End of Days." PROMISE. The people here who want to believe it will happen will eventually reach the end of their lives expecting it to happen at some point in the future, and maybe their children and grandchildren will hope for it to happen also. But it won't. And deep inside they know it won't.less

Hey, did y'all hear? The Rapture is going to occur on May 21st, 2011. All the details are at http://www.wecanknow.com

Oh, BROTHER. Do we really have to have more of this apocalyptic mumbo-jumbo? Since the death of Jesus, people in every generation for over 2,000 years and hundreds of generations have wanted to be the one that experiences the end of days. None has. There must be a clue in there somewhere for you. If you waited at a bus stop for 2,000 years, at what point would you conclude that the bus was...more

Oh, BROTHER. Do we really have to have more of this apocalyptic mumbo-jumbo?

Since the death of Jesus, people in every generation for over 2,000 years and hundreds of generations have wanted to be the one that experiences the end of days. None has. There must be a clue in there somewhere for you.

If you waited at a bus stop for 2,000 years, at what point would you conclude that the bus wasn't coming? Or would you just stand there … FOREVER … because somebody had stuck up a "bus stop" sign?less

@Believer: If all the legal benefits of marriage, at all levels of government, could be extended to Gay couples under the term "domestic partnerships," I WOULDN'T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH IT! I'm not one to quibble over terminology! But domestic partnerships, civil unions, and ALL other efforts to extend legal protections to Gay couples have been viciously fought against by so-called "pro-family" organ...more

@Believer: If all the legal benefits of marriage, at all levels of government, could be extended to Gay couples under the term "domestic partnerships," I WOULDN'T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH IT! I'm not one to quibble over terminology! But domestic partnerships, civil unions, and ALL other efforts to extend legal protections to Gay couples have been viciously fought against by so-called "pro-family" organizations. Why is that?less

As someone who believes very strongly in marriage equality for Gay couples, I need to point out that the federal government has complicated the issue more than anyone. While it is true that the Constitution says nothing about marriage, there are 1,138 legal benefits, protections, and responsibilities (according to the Government Accounting Office) that the federal government automatically bestows ...more

As someone who believes very strongly in marriage equality for Gay couples, I need to point out that the federal government has complicated the issue more than anyone. While it is true that the Constitution says nothing about marriage, there are 1,138 legal benefits, protections, and responsibilities (according to the Government Accounting Office) that the federal government automatically bestows on married couples. Much of this has to do with tax law and Social Security. So it simply wouldn't do for a Gay couple that is legally married in Iowa to suddenly become UN-married if they move someplace else.

Straight couples have never had to jump through these kinds of hoops. Thanks to the "Full Faith & Credit" clause, if any Straight couple flies off to Las Vegas for a drunken weekend and gets married by an Elvis impersonator, that marriage is automatically honored in all 50 states. Gay couples, however, are held to a different (and hence unconstitutional) legal standard.

The only way marriage can be a "States Rights" issue is for the federal government to get out of the marriage business completely, and do away with the 1,138 benefits it grants to married couples. Tell me how thrilled most married couples would be with THAT.less

DEAR DANIEL PAUL: A couple of questions for you. 1: Would you prefer it if the United States WAS a Christian theocracy? 2: Do you think that Christianity should take precedence over other faiths in the formulation of public policy?

And here's ANOTHER Christian guide to understanding homosexuality, courtesy of a school board member in Arkansas: http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2010/10/arkansas-school-board-member-celebrates.html

Water is not the only thing necessary for life, but it is pretty important. Beyond that, all you need are organic molecules and sources of energy (whether heat, wave motion, etc.). Anyone familiar with organic chemistry knows that in any such environment, the atoms that make up the building blocks of life (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen) have a natural propensity to organize themselves int...more

Water is not the only thing necessary for life, but it is pretty important. Beyond that, all you need are organic molecules and sources of energy (whether heat, wave motion, etc.). Anyone familiar with organic chemistry knows that in any such environment, the atoms that make up the building blocks of life (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen) have a natural propensity to organize themselves into structures of increasingly complexity. The book "Death by Black Hole and Other Cosmic Conundrums" by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has a great chapter detailing how life can virtually SPRING from the right environment. Or you can cling wistfully to the notion that all of Creation took place in the year 4004 BCE and that people walked side-by-side with dinosaurs. Whatever.less