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Televangelist Joel Osteen says homosexuality is a sin but he doesn't "preach" about it and isn't against "anybody" who is gay. "I believe that scripture says that it's a sin but I always follow up by saying you know what, we're not against anybody," he added. "There's a lot of things, Larry, and I don't understand — so I just don't want to preach on it, preach about it," Osteen replied.

What is it that really holds us in bondage? What is it that is truly the source of our problem, our sins, our selfishness, our anger, our lust and pride? Original Sin? Yes but where does the wound of sin really set up shop in us and stay open for business? What does it tap into for its strength? Scripture has an interesting answer to this question: Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free...

Moscow, January 10, Interfax - The human rights center of the World Russian People's Council supports the proposal of actor and priest Ivan Okhlobystin to return criminal liability for homosexuality. "The idea to return the criminal article for sodomy seems quite logical to me. The non-acceptance of homosexuality is a sign of healthy moral atmosphere in the society along with the rejection of racism and chauvinism," human rights center director, expert of Islam, Roman Silantyev, told Interfax-Religion on Friday. Homosexuals stopped being satisfied with the cancellation of the relevant article in the Soviet Criminal Code long ago and "are demanding...

Ninety-four percent of Americans believe that "being married and having sex with someone else" is morally wrong, the highest figure on a list of eight actions that CNN asked 1,010 adults to ethically classify earlier this month. "Cheating on your taxes" followed adultery with 90 percent of Americans classifying it as morally wrong. "Having an abortion," "engaging in homosexual behavior" and "looking at a pornographic magazine" came in at 57, 50, and 46 percent, respectively. Glenn Stanton, the director for Family Formation Studies at Focus on the Family, explained Americans' lack of consensus on what made an action morally wrong...

The Church of England is trying out a new baptism service which drops all mention of the devil and sin. Instead of asking parents and godparents to ‘reject the devil and all rebellion against God’, it asks them to make a single broad pledge to ‘reject evil’. Among other phrases abandoned in the experimental new christening rite are those referring to ‘the deceit and corruption of evil’, ‘the sins that separate us from God and neighbor’, and a promise to ‘fight valiantly as a disciple of Christ against sin, the world and the devil.’ …

"The aim is to be the best escort in the world." Josh Brandon's conviction is punctuated by a strong Welsh valleys accent. The twentysomething moved to London four years ago with dreams of modelling and celebrity. But soon after his arrival he began working as an escort. Now he has a price list which includes hourly rates and a discount for block booking. He issues loyalty cards so customers who pay for nine "appointments" get their tenth free. .... "When I won Male Sex Worker of the Year, I texted my dad," says Brandon. "He said: 'I'm proud of you...

In modern America, sex is increasingly where it should be: outside the reach of government. Anti-sodomy statutes have been tossed by the Supreme Court. Contraception is widely accessible. Anyone with a computer can gorge on pornography without fear of prosecution. Same-sex marriage has been legalized in 18 states and the District of Columbia. Now another step has been taken to expel police and legislators from the bedrooms of consenting adults: a federal court decision striking down a key element of Utah's ban on polygamy. Last month, District Judge Clark Waddoups ruled that the law infringes not only on constitutionally protected...

NEW YORK CITY, NY --- The Episcopal Church's COO, Bishop Stacy Sauls announced this week that Katharine Jefferts Schori, the church's Presiding Bishop, had "abolished sin" after well-known intellectual and gay theological heavy-weight Bishop Gene Robinson wrote that she had effectively done so through her words and beliefs. The exchange took place following a meeting of Integrity, the rambunctious, noisy Episcopal Gay organization, following a night on the town (NYC) that was described by one participant as "a night of unbridled debauchery and lechery" in memory of the now deceased Bishop Otis Charles, the first outed gay TEC bishop. The...

The Vatican felt compelled on Tuesday to deny that Pope Francis had “abolished sin”, after a well-known Italian intellectual wrote that he had effectively done so through his words and gestures. The singular exchange began on Sunday when Eugenio Scalfari, an atheist who writes opinion pieces for the left-leaning La Repubblica newspaper, published an article titled “Francis’ Revolution: He has abolished sin”.Scalfari, who held a long private conversation with the pope earlier this year and wrote about it several times, concluded in the complex, treatise-like article that Francis believed sin effectively no longer existed because God’s mercy and forgiveness were...

File photo of another meeting between Pope Francis and Bishop Scicluna. The Pope is “shocked” by Malta’s Civil Unions Bill, which will allow gay couples to adopt children, Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna has told The Sunday Times of Malta.Defending his decision to use his Christmas homily to reiterate that a family had to be built around a man and a woman, Mgr Scicluna said he had aired these concerns with Pope Francis when he met him on December 12.“We discussed many aspects...and when I raised the issue that’s worrying me as a bishop [the right for gay couples to...

We’ve talked a good deal about the decline of marriage on this blog over the years. And our discussion must continue as the Synod on the family is planned in Rome.In my short 25 years as a priest I have experienced a major drop off in marriages. In my early years, I had about thirty weddings a year; now, about five or six. In this urban parish in which I have ministered for the larger part of 20 years, a beautiful and picturesque setting for a matrimonial sacrament, we used to have to turn couples away who were not members....

And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them,Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words...

Jesus never said; “Love the sinner, hate the sin,” but; “For I have not come to call the just, but sinners.” Jesus came to call us sinners to repent. He does not accept sinners so that they can continue to sin. Sin is a terrible offense against God and offends Him greatly.It was St. Augustine who said; “For this reason, the man who lives by God’s standards and not by man’s, must need be a lover of good, and it follows that he must hate what is evil. Further, since no one is evil by nature, but anyone who is...

Geographers from Kansas State University have created a map of the spatial distribution of the Seven Deadly Sins across the United States. How? By mapping demographic data related to each of the Sins. Below are screenshots of the maps in standard deviation units; red naturally is more sinful, blue less sinful.

..... The law was fulfilled by Christ. It can’t be changed for the better by merging with its antithesis...... I’ll fess up to being a few hundred volumes behind on my Approved Smart Guy™ reading list. If it gets any worse, I won’t be one of The Quiz Kids anymore. One that I can say proudly I’ve caught up on is Bobo’s In Paradise by David Brooks. This book, more than anything I’ve read, makes intelligent use of the intellectual compost referred to euphemistically as Marxian Analysis. Unfortunately, like all other Marxian Analysis, it has its limits as far as...

Karen Owen, a writer for the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Virginia, authored a recent column in which she sneered that “the term Christian conservative” is “an oxymoron.” How, she asked, “can we call ourselves – and practically insist that we are – a Christian nation when we seemingly ignore so many teachings of Christ?” So what examples does she cite to make her dubious case? Well, there’s the decision by greeting card giant Hallmark to alter the lyrics of “Deck the Halls” on a Christmas ornament from “don we now our gay apparel” to “don we now our fun apparel.”...

"I would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me. We are all created by the Almighty and like Him, I love all of humanity. We would all be better off if we loved God and loved each other." - Intolerant, bigoted hick, Phil Robertson With the fires barely extinguished on their Barilla pasta boxes, GLAAD has found a new victim to harass: Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty. Phil does not use the New Progressive Bible co-authored by GLAAD and other liberals, but instead chooses to study the outdated traditional Bible. This is a big deal,...

SEATTLE (AP) — Students at a Seattle-area Catholic school are gaining national attention for their protest over the forced departure of a gay vice principal. An online petition started by the senior class president of Eastside Catholic was the third fastest growing U.S. petition on change.org Friday, attracting around 15,000 signatures in one day. The petition was launched after Vice Principal Mark Zmuda resigned under pressure from school administrators after they learned he had married his same-sex partner. Bradley Strode said the students want to effect change within the wider Catholic Church, with an ultimate goal of altering the Catholic...

In homosexuality's assault on the beliefs of churches that once unanimously identified it as sexual perversion—sodomy being "the abominable and detestable crime against nature"—its most potent weapon has been the counter-accusation that identification of homosexuality as sinful is a detestable offense against charity. By these presents, all who hold to the ancient interdict as God's word may be numbered among the crowing yahoos of Westboro Baptist Church with its "God Hates Fags" placards. The churches, thus accused, have divided into those that hold to the Judeo-Christian teaching and those converted to regarding homosexuality as no sin at all, for where...

Yes, there is a red America and a blue America, at least according to television viewing habits. Our friends at National Media, a Republican ad-buying firm, sent us this map of a recent television event. Using data from Rentrak, a company that monitors data from set-top boxes, the map shows what percentage of television viewers in specific designated market areas watched this television event live.