Homosexuality

A scorecard developed by the Secular Coalition for America has created debate over whether candidates should be allowed religious views or forced to follow a secular constitution.

The scorecard is a review by the coalition based on candidates’ stances on religious based issues. It was developed to help secular and nontheistic Americans to elect a candidate who would support their views. However, most presidential candidates received failing marks for mentioning their religious beliefs.

President Barack Obama was voted to have the most “secular stance,” but still only received average scores. Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum scored all but one “F” on the scorecard. Mitt Romney and Ron Paul also fell somewhere in between with mixed scoring, but few A’s. more >>

A Catholic Archdiocese in Connecticut has created a pro-abstinence group specifically to help counsel gay worshippers struggling with the Roman Catholic Church’s stance on homosexuality.

Dubbed “Courage,” the ministry group launched by the Archdiocese of Hartford would offer confidential services to those trying to reconcile their sexual identity with Catholic teaching.

“The Archbishop asked the deacons to begin this chapter,” said Deacon Robert Pallotti of the Archdiocese of Hartford in an interview with The Christian Post, noting that other chapters of the Courage group can be found at other churches. more >>

As celebrations for the Girl Scouts' 100-year anniversary continue with the introduction of a new cookie for its 2012 Girls Scouts Cookie Season, one teen member from California, is calling for a nationwide boycott of the nonprofit organization overs its admittance of transgenders.

In a press release sent to religious publications and pro-family groups, a group called HonestGirlScouts.com shares a video of a 14-year-old girl giving her reasons as to why she is calling for Americans to boycott Girl Scout Cookies and voice their disagreement with the organization's inclusion of males who identify as females as troop members.

In the video, the teen lays out her argument for why the Girls Scouts of America should be pressured to change its policies regarding the admittance of youths from kindergarden to 12th grade born males but who identify and live as if they are females. more >>

Christian conservative radio host Bryan Fischer recently told his listeners that HIV is man-made and experts attacked his comments as irresponsible.

Fischer, who is Director of Issues Analysis for the American Family Association, recently featured author of "Inventing the AIDS Virus,” Peter Duesberg, on his "Focal Point" radio show.

"The reason HIV was invented as the cause of AIDS is it was a way to get research money," Fischer said. more >>

Increasing boldness by extreme Islamists is one of six top religious news stories that the Institute on Religion & Democracy predicts will make major headlines in 2012.

The religious freedom advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., warns that proclamations such as those made by the terrorist group Boko Haram declaring that all Christians must leave Nigeria indicates more of the same for this year.

“Islamists globally are making more assertive demands against vulnerable religious minorities,” IRD officials stated in their “IRD Predicts Top Church News of 2012” report released Thursday. “Egypt's Coptic Christians may face rule by Islamic parties and accelerated attacks by emboldened militants.” more >>

Some predictions are rather safe to make. 2012 is almost certain to be a determinative year on the issue of same-sex marriage. Multiple courts appear poised to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act [DOMA] and, even more urgently, the appeal on California’s Proposition 8 at the Ninth Circuit U. S. Court of Appeals will set up a certain appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court. Given the facts of this case and the significance of the nation’s most populous state, the Supreme Court is almost certain to take the case. This sets the stage for the courts to make some determinative statement on same-sex marriage within the next several months - a decision that will go a long way toward setting the direction of the larger culture.

At the same time, the same-sex marriage issue will play a part in the 2012 presidential campaign. The reason for this is quite simple. The issue of same-sex marriage is about far more than marriage as a legal institution and about more than sexuality and personal autonomy. It is the great inescapable issue, and we will know in fairly short order what all the candidates believe about the issue.

Then again, maybe not. more >>