David Salisbury (@davidsalisbury) describes himself as “a queer, vegan, Witch . . . chief of the DC Bureau of the Pagan Newswire Collective . . . High Priest of Coven of the Spiral Moon . . . involved with street activism with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and . . . a full time employee with the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBT civil rights organization.” Salisbury’s employment by HRC means that his various forms of “activism” necessarily reflect on the “civil rights organization” that pays him a full time salary.
HRC supported the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) which voters in Houston overwhelmingly rejected at the ballot box earlier this month, in large part because of concerns that the measure would have endangered girls and women by compelling “transgender” access to public restrooms and locker rooms. William Bigelow reported:
On October 5, campaign finance reports showed that the group supporting the measure, Houston Unites, had raised $1.2 million, while the group opposing it, Campaign for Houston, had raised only $275,000.
The Washington Times reported, “The ordinance, which included fines of up to $5,000 for preventing someone from using public accommodations, such as business-owned bathrooms open to the public, based on gender identity.” . .
HERO was openly supported by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton . . .
Despite a 4-to-1 money advantage, and despite the fact that Houston is a Democrat Party stronghold with a lesbian mayor, voters rejected HERO by a 61%-39% margin — a decisive defeat for the effort to “mainstream” transgenderism. The defeat of HERO was widely seen as a conservative victory. Hillary Clinton blamed “the far right” which she said created “a lot of fear, and a lot of anxiety” about “the bathroom issue . . . that was totally without merit, that there was no basis for it.”
The problem with such a claim, however, is that it is rejected by radical feminists, who believe that “the bathroom issue,” as Mrs. Clinton calls it, does have “merit.” There is a petition to “Drop the T” from LGBT:
We are a group of gay/bisexual men and women who have come to the conclusion that the transgender community needs to be disassociated from the larger LGB community; in essence, we ask that organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD, Lambda Legal and media outlets such as The Advocate, Out, Huff Post Gay Voices, etc., stop representing the transgender community as we feel their ideology is not only completely different from that promoted by the LGB community (LGB is about sexual orientation, trans is about gender identity), but is ultimately regressive and actually hostile to the goals of women and gay men. . . .
The vilification and harassment of women and gay/lesbian individuals who openly express disagreement with the trans ideology; a simple disagreement over an issue can result in responses that range from insults (“transphobic bigot”) to threats of physical harm (often, in the case of women, rape) and even death . . .
The infringement of the rights of individuals, particularly women, to perform normal everyday activities in traditional safe spaces based on sex; this is most pernicious in the case of men claiming to be transgender demanding access to bathrooms, locker rooms, women’s shelters and other such spaces reserved for women. . . .
Radical feminist Cathy Brennan says David Salisbury is “harassing lesbians who signed the Drop the T petition,” showing a message in which Salisbury wrote:
And while we’re doing the work of calling out horrible transphobic “elders”, I present you with this, posted just a few days ago. Trying to take the “T” out of LGBT, and claiming that transwomen are actually men who are lying to get into spaces … that too is anti-trans violence that mustn’t be condoned. I ask us all to end this silence. If you support spaces where people like [name redacted] teach, ask yourself, is this really in line with your values?
I am proud to work for the organization that has authored the Equality Act. Because we will NEVER be equal unless we bring everyone along with us.
David Salisbury accuses “horrible transphobic ‘elders'” of engaging in “anti-trans violence” just because they don’t want men in dresses and wigs invading the women’s restroom. Meanwhile, David Marcus at The Federalist interviewed the gay man who authored the Change.org “Drop the T” petition:
Any attempt to rationally discuss issues that gays/lesbians/bisexuals are concerned about regarding the trans movement is met with unparalleled vitriol, harassment, death threats, and silencing—demanding that the person commenting contrary to the trans narrative be banned from forums, for example.
I know that lesbians have for several years been the object of attack from trans activists for their (rightful) desire to enjoy exclusively lesbian and women-only events such as the now shuttered Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, in the wake of the Stonewall brouhaha as well as the recent proliferation of stories about effeminate boys and masculine girls being directed by their parents and health professionals into the trans identity. So many gays and lesbians were “sissies” and “tomboys” as kids, I think they see themselves in these children and are concerned about them being directed down an inaccurate path.
Read the whole thing. This is a serious issue involving real human beings and, as with so many issues today, certain “progressives” (evidently including Hillary Clinton) want to exercise a totalitarian authority to tell us what to think and control what we are allowed to say. It’s like the climate change “consensus” — a clique of influential insiders have anointed themselves Official Experts, decided what the Correct Opinion is, and the rest of us are just supposed to nod our heads in mute assent. How dare we question the Official Experts?
When I first became aware of this conflict in January 2014, I had a lot of laughs about the absurdity of this conflict:
The Competitive Victimhood Derby is ultimately a zero-sum game, you see. There can only be one winner, and the transgender claim to equal victimhood is rejected by radical feminists, who view this as an attempt to usurp their own categorical claim.
It’s like a traffic jam on the Crazyville Road, where two politicized groups of wackjobs are compelled by the implicit logic of their arguments to fight each other for supremacy.
Over the past 22 months, however, I have come to appreciate the seriousness of this issue in the post-Obergefell era. The “vitriol, harassment [and] death threats” directed against Cathy Brennan and other radical feminists who refuse to back away from a scientific fact — i.e., female is a matter of biology, involving XX chromosomes — should alarm everyone who cares about truth. The ideology behind the transgender movement demands that we pretend that Bruce Jenner deserves recognition as “Woman of the Year.” Lunatics want to compel us to cooperate with their delusions, and we are condemned as hateful bigots if we refuse to play along with their make-believe game. So the “Woman of the Year” is 66 years old and has a penis, and you’re not even allowed to call him “Bruce” or mention that he is a grandfather.
Having examined this issue in depth (see “The Queering of Feminism: Why Does ‘Equality’ Require Promoting Perversion?”), I cannot be accused of ignorance in regard to these arguments, and I am indifferent to accusations of “hate.” One can scarcely have any opinion at all nowadays without being accused of “hate,” and the fact that these accusations are flung around so haphazardly should tell us that the Official Experts are afraid of honest debate. The question we should be asking is this: Who authorized these people to tell us what to think?
Are we going to listen to common sense, or are we going to listen to the High Priest of the Coven of the Spiral Moon?
David was first introduced to the Craft at the age of 11 by his stepmother, and then on a deeper more intentional level by a childhood friend at the age of 12. That same year, he began training with a friend’s family coven and initiated a year later.
That’s how you become a “human rights” advocate, I guess.
David Salisbury, LGBT "activist," has been
worshipping at Wicca altars since he was 12.
@BadhbhCatha @JenderFatigue pic.twitter.com/iNs93VTzJW
— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) November 12, 2015
+ + + + +
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NowWayland: “The rule of law and trade did more for Western Civilization than the RCC. That didn’t stop the RCC from taking credit though.”
Where in the hell do you imagine that the very concept of “the rule of law” comes from? It wasn’t the Romans, and it sure wasn’t the Greeks.
I’m no apologist for The One True Bureaucracy; I think it would be far better for Christianity for the Roman denomination to vanish (which result its Bureaucrats seem intent upon achieving). But, truth is truth, and this particular truth is that Western Civilization is indeed a direct result of the Roman Catholic church.
And, as for “trade”, it was Catholics, working within the structure of the Roman bureaucracy who worked out the principles of free-market capitalism centuries before Adam Smith put pen to paper. Of course, in the meantime, the Bureaucracy has decided that it much prefers socialism to individual liberty.
Indeed, at the time of Constantine, there may have been as many Christians outside the Roman Empire as within it.
On top of the fact that they were Zoroastroans, one major reason the Parthians persecuted the Christians within their empire, especially after the Roman Empire made Christianity their state supported religion, was fear that their Christian subjects would aid the Romans during the constant wars between the two empires.
Those darned kids have to make a real effort to get onto my lawn … and they still do it!
You can’t get ’em to expend any effort to produce value, but they seem to have no problem expend twice the effort to destroy value.
His step-mother was part-and-start of the problem … which means that his father was a pussy-whipped eunuch who allowed his (new) wife to ruin his son.
Okay, I gotta say, they only do it once. Problem is, there’s lots more of them and they never seem to wise up…
Is this Salisbury guy for real, or is it an article from The Onion? I can’t tell the difference any more. Poe’s Law strikes again!
On a slightly more serious note, isn’t it hilarious to watch the Red Guards of the crackpot Left eating their own? I think I shall pop some popcorn.
Stars above, I tell people what happens and they STILL do it.
Christians don’t have to borrow legitimacy, they’ve done plenty on their own.
Your only reason for crowing about Christianity being the fulfillment of Judaism is to prevent Jews from calling you on it. You don’t have to be the ultimate product of Biblical prophecy. You just have to be the best person you can be.
Show what you do and you can earn trust. Tell how your dusty book proves that you are Perfectly Awesome and you’ll get laughter.
Are you saying that you should control how people approach the Divine?
A bit arrogant, don’t you think?
Constantine set out to remake the world. That’s what Emperors do.
He did set up the consolidation of the Church under the authority of the Empire. That was something that continued up to at least Napoleon the First. Constantine saw a unified church as a political tool of control, and that’s how he used it.
You mean the same Romans who had so much influence on the Founders that the United States has a Senate? You mean the same Greeks who had such an influence on commerce and contract that our trade today traces it’s roots to their successes?
For all the talk about the left proclaiming One True Way™ that may not be questioned, there’s something we overlook.
They learned it from Christians.
That’s not very polite of me I know. Usually I try not to point that out. But then I read how “the Elect” can do this and their understanding is such that no other group can even approach their level.
It’s the same tactics and it’s meant to suppress dissent.
cont.
When I study Christianity, it’s not about the doctrine and dogma. It’s not chapter and verse in whatever the approved book is this week. And it certainly isn’t small people telling me how they are superior to anyone who would dare question them.
It’s about the mark Christians leave on the world.
Words matter. Actions matter more. Intentions don’t.
And you miss the point as usual.
And, once more, you argue about something on which you are utterly clueless.
You THINK you learned from Christian. You are rattling on about things you are utterly clueless about.
There is a big difference about stating a fact and “crowing” about it. But, you don’t get the point and you won’t as you’re far to arrogant to realize you are arguing from a position of utter cluelessness.
Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the empire. The Church, however, was far from being a department of the Empire, no matter how certain fevered individuals might like to say it. While he was able to temporarily suppress the Arian heresy, including exiling Arian, the heresy was not stamped out, and Arian himself was allowed to return from exile later.
The Church was far from unified, and the east-west differences that later developed into full schism was not even close to being patched over.
Once more, you rattle on about things you are ignorant of.
The bulk of Jews in the Empire were in Judea and surrounding territories directly involved in the two insurrections.
I pointed out before that it’s not the ultimate truth of the universe, it’s your interpretation of selected writings. It’s not universal among Christians, I’d wager it’s not even universal among members of your church.
Although I’m sure it’s not so, your continued attempts to put your version of Christianity at the absolute center of everyone’s existence could speak to massive insecurity.
Look at this. You’re arguing over words on a page to show that Christianity is THE only worthy choice and that your interpretation is THE only one that matters.
Why? What is it that you fear?
And as usual when you can no longer address my point, you move into pointless accusations.
Or do you want to tell me that only True Christians® could possibly understand your argument?
Ah, that’s right. You think that people choosing for themselves is impossible without your god.
Which raises the question of how you could have possibly have chosen your god in the first place…
I think your phonograph needle is stuck.
No Emperor before had decided that there should be an “official religion.” Even mandating that everyone worship the “gods of the state” was an act of the Republic, not the Empire. Oddly enough, early Christians were persecuted because they did not put the “gods of the state,” before their own god. In those days, that was treason.
Constantine saw the potential, no doubt about it. He was a extraordinary general and a brilliant politician. He may not have succeeded fully in his lifetime, but the path was set. The Church would draw it’s authority through the Emperor.
I’d say that the reason why the Christian Church was never fully united is because it never should have been. Humans depend on competition.
Humans compete because of the human condition.
Nah, you just missed the point.
I didn’t say that, you said I thought that. Strawmen are pretty much your specialty.
Heh! Spoken by a man who can do little but make pointless arguments about strawmen about things he utterly no understanding of.
And it wasn’t me that said this:
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1 Corinthians 2:14
To put it in terms that even a man like yourself should be able to understand, but will evade anyway, God said it through Paul. Your argument is with him.
Attempting Psychological analysis in a venue such as this simply makes you look like an idiot.
The only one I fear is God. he’s the only one that can destroy both body and soul in hell.
Given the claims God rightly makes as creator, His way is the only legitimate choice. The choice one has is to bow here, or bow later when it’s too late. I’d say that’s pretty central to everyone’s life whether they like it or not.
The “version” of Christianity I’ve posted here is pretty much universally accepted among Evangelicals. There have been points I’ve made in other threads that don’t concern you here, but have raised questions in the minds of others. That’s fine as some of what I said is not normally discussed within the context I wrote.
OTOH, what you have shown here, and in almost every other thread you have posted in here, is that you are utterly clueless when it comes to Christianity. Given your conceits, that’s no surprise.
No, they weren’t. The population of the Roman Empire in the first century is variously estimated at 60-100 millions. At 10%, the number of Jews in the empire would have been 6-10 millions. You can’t fit the bulk of either figure in a Palestine with first century agriculture.
Only a small number of Jews (in the then defunct Babylonian empire) returned to Jerusalem after the end of the Exile. Those who didn’t return spread throughout the Persian Empire, including into Asia Minor.
After Alexander conquered the Persian Empire, the Diaspora Jews continued to prosper and spread in the Hellenistic world, most of which was in turn conquered by the Romans.
The largest population of Jews outside of Judea and surrounding territories was in Babylon, i.e. Mesopotamia (an area that was within Imperial lines only for a very short period). I don’t know where the 10% thing comes from as I’ve never seen it before. that doesn’t mean it is not a fact, but I think I would have stumbled on it by now if it were.
From everything I’ve seen, Jews were thin on the ground outside of the two areas I’ve mentioned above. They were scattered all over the Mediterranean littoral, but not in large numbers. If one were to look at just the relatively large concentrations, you find them in Rome, and in particular Alexandria. There were some in Athens, but Alexandria was much more attractive to them, but even the largest groups were small next to the Levant and Babylon. After the insurrections, those groups got smaller.
I have no trouble with attempting to meet the opposition on their playing field. people like Ravi Zacharias do a good job of that. But, even he does not cut the opponent any slack and shoves stuff back in their face pretty quickly, and he doesn’t do it hatefully. SJWs pretty much think he’s a hater, but I’ve seen clips where he’s reduced them to babbling wrecks.
And, in the end, he’s said pretty much what I sad above.
If it’s your faith and your beliefs, why is it so important that others give way?
If it’s up to your god, certainly he has the power to compel obedient choice. At least, according to you.
Perhaps choice is the important bit.
Your god doesn’t need to count worshipers and shame “unbelievers.” Perhaps you should ask why you do?
In case you hadn’t noticed, neither your god nor Paul is a direct party to this conversation.
And since you have to borrow another’s words, maybe you aren’t either.
According to you, there can’t be any true choice except your god.
Or perhaps to accept your god.
Somehow you can’t understand that choosing is meaningless if the choice is predetermined. The obvious implication to that is that life itself is meaningless.
The worthy choices are never the easy ones.
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
Not to put too fine a point on it, but humans were designed that way.
I understand why you feel compelled to defend Constantine. If he wasn’t divinely inspired, it really wrecks the assumption that there is a Grand Design with a Faith Triumphant.
Maybe because the design is a simpler one and all the rest is political junk added by priests and potentates to glorify themselves instead of your god.
Maybe it’s really about those simple words “Love one another.”
Love has to be chosen. It can’t be compelled. It can’t be stolen. It can’t be hoarded. It can only be given away.
Maybe choice is really about love.
No, they became that way because of the fall. The Book of James tells the origins of such things.
Physician, heal thyself. There is a basic difference between Philosophy and Theology. You obviously don’t know the difference. Another gap in your knowledge.
And, you haven’t been paying attention. Again.
When a Christian is involved in a discussion like this, scripture will be brought out. Sorry if that troubles you.
The Holy Spirit was sent into the world to convict the world of sin. If those who are so visited reject, that is their choice. But, you aren’t suddenly going to wake up one morning, and decide on your own you need God and repent. With conviction comes the ability to repent. Without it, a sinful man simply will not and, more importantly, can not.
The normal state of man in this age is sinful. A man is bound by it and will choose sin on his own. Without God enabling it, repentance is not possible. If the man rejects God when under conviction, God allows it. Unlike what Calvinists teach, God does not compel a man to accept. God may, or may not, allow another chance.
I have no need to defend Constantine. All I’ve done is deal wit the historical record. It is strongly believed that Constantine’s conversion was one of convenience, and not of the heart. In the final analysis. there are two that know if he was a true convert, God and Constantine. i can look at the historical record and make an educated guess as to his spiritual status while alive, but that is still speculation on my part. I can say what he tried to do, but failed in trying.
Dude.
You got schooled in history and Christian theology by a pagan “infidel.”
You sought it out.
Deliberately. Even after being politely warned about what might happen. You still walked into it.
After it started you begged for more.
You’re begging now.
Let it go.
…And then you woke up.
Your conceit does you no credit. at least here RSM doesn’t threaten to ban you if you keep up that trashy. Vox day would give you one chance, and the second time you tried something so lame, you’d be gone.
Here, it’s OK for an idiot like yourself to trip over his feet as you do, then tell people you actually won. I just chuckle at your lame attempts.
You write like a Vitamix…or a juicer… Are you by any chance, Harvest Gold? (NTTAWT, some of my best friends have grandparents who were Harvest Gold). FYI, TO’s sometimes go by Bi-toastal, but toaster oven is the current hipster terminology. My point is, that if you’re going to exhibit so much counter privilege, you really should do something more useful than heating up frozen mini-pizzas.
Let’s rename the “Houston Equal Rights Ordinance” the HIRO: Houston Ignoring Reality Ordinance.