What's normal?

Okay, here goes. Seems we need to repeat this from to time.

Gender orientation and sexual preference are physiological conditions. They result from perhaps billions of impulses, triggers, and connections within our genetic makeup, any one of which may affect our final condition. One scientific premise, for example, is that all embryos start out as female. Over time, and countless genetic maneuvers, physical folding, merging, and transformations, some develop as male, although with useless breasts, hirsute shortcomings, and a dearth of nurturing synapses.

Over geologic time, the pairings of genetic types of mostly male and mostly female tend to enjoy of the evolutionary advantage of reproduction-capability. Thus the predominance of so-called, “heterosexual” genetic models. Since we don’t believe it aborting rarer genetic types, (Right?) we fully expect to share the planet with models whose sexual preference or identity lies outside the majority but who stand among us nonetheless. In short, we are all brothers and sisters within the genomic bell-curve.

It all evolves from scientific determinants.

On the other hand. Bigotry and prejudice are conditions that erupt like projectile vomit from the basest of human sources, the worst of those among us. We, as individuals, must accept or reject the venomous teaching and societally induced impulses generated by humans, even when they are fed by so-called religious sources. Actually, we should reject those in particular, as they demean and sour the acts of truly spiritual people seeking love, stability and harmony in an unpredictable world.

So there you have it. If you went to church this morning and paid attention to the minister when he or she preached love and grace, go forth in peace. Peace and understanding may yet save the planet.

On the other hand, if you listened to a drooling bigot when he urged hatred and bigotry against a fellow creature whose genetic makeup differs from yours, you need to find another source of religion.

In short, using an exalted position to repeat false witness, hatred, and bigotry to a cult audience deprived of critical-thinking skills is a sin.

Being born with a genetic makeup that differs from that of a hegemonic minority is not.

Quit trying to create a moral equivalency.

Amen. Closing hym: Just As I Am Without One Plea.

Contributions to this sermon may be mailed to my home address or to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, folks who really know how to treat kids.

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Thoughts, random and otherwise

I'm curious. Our governor has committed Arkansas National Guard troops to the president’s "border protection caper." Will they be asked to participate in Jeff Sessions' final solution of tearing babies from their mothers and sending them to tent-city concentration camps as a warning to immigrants?

I know many in our National Guard. They are fine people, among our best. I don't think they will participate, even if ordered to, some from religious principles, some from personal virtue, some from an inborn sense of decency.

More than a few are likely familiar with the word "Nuremberg."

Despite our voting record of late, I still have faith in the people of our state, at least those who are willing to serve in the military. I can't imagine that fine Arkansans will join in this atrocity. Say they refuse. Will this precipitate a crisis or will they simply leave to be replaced by Eric Prince's private army, i.e. "Trump's Troopers?"

When one enlists in the United States Military, active duty or reserve, they take the following oath:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

National Guard enlisted members take a similar oath, except they also swear to obey the orders of the Governor of their state.

Eric Prince’s army takes no such oath.

We may soon learn some fateful information about the American people. With the both the morality bar, and the definition of “normal” having been lowered to such an extent, the news may not comfort us.

Rampage du Jour

I’ll irritate some people today. I don’t care. I’m in one of my “plague on both sides” moods. So stay out of my way.

There are movements in history that started out with the best of intentions, justified in many ways, unarguably benign and understandable, at least by many folks. Then those movements went to hell or found themselves being subverted by the Law of Unintended Consequences. At worst they became monumental tragedies. At best they became fodder for the opposition.

Fodder? Yes fodder. There is an old sports adage among coaches that you never present the opposition with something they can attach to their locker room wall.

Back to good movements that went astray. I think of the French Revolution.

I think of Prohibition in the United States.

I think of the American labor movement.

And maybe I even think of the sexual revolution each time I have to “fast-forward” through increasingly vulgar, tasteless, trite, and gratuitous sex scenes in any mystery novel with which I try to relax, or movie I try to watch.

Well anyway, here comes the “piss-off” part.

I fear that justified movements like “Black Lives Matter,” and “Me-too,” could charge into an overzealous rampage that becomes counter-productive.

I mean, Monica Lewinsky as a victim, for goodness sake.

Now don’t get me wrong. What Bill Clinton did was beyond stupid. Among other things, by letting his “little head” rule the “big head,” he tarnished what may have been, in my opinion as one who enjoyed and profited from his eight years of peace and prosperity, one of the greatest presidential administrations in our country’s history. How could he have been so stupid? His picture will forever grace the locker rooms of conservative opponents who believe the poor deserve poverty, the rich deserve to inherit wealth, and women should keep their damned mouths shut.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. He should attend his foundation and practice both reticence and celibacy, be more Jimmy Carter and less Donald Trump.

But, Monica Lewinsky?

I’ve never worked for state government, but I’ve worked around it a lot. Let me tell you, I’ve known dozens of individuals like Monica Lewinsky. They are seduced by, and obsessed with, power. It is an addiction as strong as alcohol and drug abuse. They deserve treatment, not aggrandizement. They cast a restraining shadow of resentment over the efforts of every hard-working female trying to overcome the systemic prejudice toward and oppression of their gender. This includes the political arena, the job market, and American mythology.

They hang around the seats of governmental power like hyenas waiting for a meal. They grin and drool and show themselves ready like some wild creature needing to expand its species with the most powerful male around. They would chase after and have sex with a rabid skunk if that skunk held high enough elected office. An additional layer of tragedy is that they have the talent to enter the halls of power but not the desire to increase the respect and elevation of their gender while they are there.

Ah. I’ve taken a few deep breaths. Let me just finish by saying, we need, in order to defeat the plans of a fascist government to destroy our democracy, to choose our heroes carefully, not provide matter for the opponents’ postings.

Rosa Parks was a hero. John Lewis was a hero. The Little Rock Nine were heroes. The firefighters and police officers who charged into the bombed buildings on 9-11 were heroes. Michael Brown was not a hero, a sad victim of his own demons and an explosive environment perhaps, but not a hero.

Medgar Evers was a victim. Emmet Till was a victim. Martin Luther King, Jr. was, as many others, both hero and victim. The women hanged in Salem were victims. The Central Park Five were victims, as were all those now represented in the new National Memorial for Peace and Justice (the Lynching Museum) in Montgomery. Every slave in America was a victim. The children being torn from their parents by our government are victims. Workers killed or wounded in the labor wars were victims. The list can go on and on. No thinking person, particularly those who claim the guidance of Christianity, could cast doubt on true victimhood.

But Monica Lewinski? Give me a break.

The progressive side of love, understanding, and fairness has an unending litany of heroes, none of which could offer fodder for the locker rooms of the vile and mendacious. We must choose carefully.

Love and Grace

Saw something unusual yesterday, a post by a Christian espousing love and grace. Yes, of course it was from  a member of one of the mainline religions that still follow the teachings of the Galileans.

You don't hear much about love and grace from the Evangelicals these days. There's lots about the joys of greed and the dangers of not worshiping their new Messiah, nothing about grace or love for our brothers and sisters.

The new Messiah? Oh he's a billionaire who's on his third wife and who doesn't allow an hour to pass during the day in which he doesn't violate the Commandment that we not bear "false witness." I think he's a little light on the adultery one too, maybe some others as well. The Evangelicals don't mind. Situational morality is their newest and strongest doctrine.

Franklin Graham loves him for some reason and pronounces dire punishment to those who don't.

I think I'll take some time today and try to determine what, if anything, the God of the Good Book says about the ownership of vengeance.