Court: Polygamist sect can't evict couple
PHOENIX – An Arizona court ruled yesterday that leaders of a polygamist sect cannot evict a couple after ousting the man from the sect. However, the Court of Appeals said the case didn't resolve underlying legal issues involving the dispute over property in Colorado City, a polygamist community in northern Arizona on the Utah border...

Take your time - No rush. :-)

[ADDENDUM:] No sarcasm intended.

[CORRECTION:] In 50132 the phrase "self-serving" should have read "self-fulfilling".

Missions to get repair funds but legal challenge awaits $10 million federal outlay

WASHINGTON – Over the objections of the National Park Service and despite a pending legal challenge, President Bush yesterday approved a plan that will give federal money to California's 21 deteriorating missions. The measure thrilled preservationists who have long battled to fix crumbling adobe walls and termite-eaten wood at the state's most visited historical landmarks. But the $10 million appropriation angered critics who plan to sue today on the grounds that spending federal money on buildings that hold religious services violates the separation of church and state...

Networks nix church ad welcoming gays

CLEVELAND – A liberal-leaning church said CBS and NBC rejected a national advertisement spot because it alludes to the condemnation of homosexual relationships by some churches. The 30-second spot launched yesterday highlights the Cleveland-based United Church of Christ's welcoming stance toward gays and lesbians and anyone else who might feel shunned elsewhere. The networks said the spot was too controversial to broadcast because it implied exclusion of same-sex couples by other groups, according to the UCC. A CBS spokesman said such relationships were a matter of public debate and that "we have a long policy of not accepting advocacy advertising." NBC spokesman Alan Wurtzel said the network rejected one of two ads it received from the UCC because it violated the company's policy of not accepting ads that deal with "issues of public controversy." The ad was accepted by ABC Family, AMC, BET, Discovery and TBS, among others, the church said. The ad, part of a 3½-week, $1.7 million campaign, shows a muscular bouncer working a rope line outside a nameless church and deciding who is eligible to enter and worship. "No, step aside, please," he says to two men holding hands. Across the screen comes the message, "Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we." The final scene shows two women embracing. "We're doing it because we made a discovery: There are lots of people out there who don't know we exist," said Ron Buford, who is coordinating the program for the 1.3 million-member denomination, down from 1.7 million in 1989.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Methodist Jury Convicts Lesbian Minister
PUGHTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A jury made up of United Methodist Church clergy convicted a lesbian minister Thursday of violating church law by openly living with her partner in a committed relationship. The Rev. Irene Elizabeth Stroud could be defrocked as a result of the ruling, which came on the second day of her church trial. The same 13-member jury was set to meet Thursday afternoon to decide her penalty. Methodist law bars "self-avowed, practicing homosexuals" from ministry. Nine votes were necessary for a conviction and the jury voted 12-1 to find Stroud guilty. The last time the 8.3 million-member denomination convicted an openly gay cleric was in 1987, when a New Hampshire church court defrocked the Rev. Rose Mary Denman...

>Missions to get $10 million in repair funds from Feds

This is a good one cause the missions hold a prominennt link to California history.
At the same time most are owned by the Catholic church who dont seem to much care if they're a mess.
Of course the govt cant pay for repairs through the church to fix them up but they could always just buy them.
But if the govt bought them, then they couldn't remain missions.
My solution to the whole mess is for the feds to buy them and turn them into government shrines where only tours by elementary school kids, square dances, and barbeques, may be scheduled...cc

A penny for my thoughts. Have two cents.

I've got to admit I've had a problem accepting Leviticus on homosexuality. When you get to the crux of the matter, one is left wondering why it is considered an abomination. Leviticus states that it is, but there must be more to it than just a one-liner like "Becuase I'm God and I say so." Who knows - Maybe He's hiding the real reason from us.

Either way, have you noticed that there's a gender gap in castigation? Gays are to be pelted to death, while lesbians... uhm... er... hmm... I don't see any penalty for it. Am I missing something?

Also, have you noticed the 180° that God pulls in the chapters you cite in comparison to Genesis? In Leviticus, nudity is a bad thing, but in Genesis, it's clothing that's wrong.

>Anyone who accepts them, supports them, or promotes them, is deceived and fighting against God.

So far you've come out pretty hard against the Judaism, Islam, anything remotely 'eastern', spiritists, mystics,gays, scientists, historians, organized religion, anybody who thinks you're silly, all christians besides you and your buddies, and everybody on these boards-
I'm sure I must have left some people out.
Is there anything that's not an abomination besides you?
How can a person love God so much and hate everything else?
Beats me...

>
>

Unfortunitly The shroud of turin was proven a fake....

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Though most of Leviticus seems to be about what you can and can't hump and some rules for barbecueing, there are some other curious rules:

Leviticus|19:19 Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee.

Wear a blended sweater, go to hell. Plant turnips and peas together, go to hell. Breed longhorn cows with holstein, go to hell.

Leviticus|19:27 Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.

There goes my trimmed goatee. I can't see what the rounding of the head's corners mean, unless it was directed at Darth Maul.

Leviticus|19:28 Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I [am] the LORD.

Should have thought twice about that Yosemite Sam tat on your shoulder. Note the pause for station identification.

Leviticus|21:17 Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever [he be] of thy seed in their generations that hath [any] blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God. Leviticus|21:18 For whatsoever man [he be] that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous, Leviticus|21:19 Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded, Leviticus|21:20 Or crookbacked, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken; Leviticus|21:21 No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God.

Verily therefore seminaries and monasteries need not be handicapped accessible. Evidently priests can't even have zits. Rabbi male models?

Fascinating rules. Since homosexuality, fornication, bestiality, and incest are among these Leviticus rules, then if accepting Jesus saves you from these sins, the sexual sins are forgivable. If not, why miss heaven by an inch? A sinful anchor on the arm is as good as a romp in the hay with your sister.

Quite to the contrary! The shroud was real. The claim was a fake.

I remember that NOVA did an investigation on it. If memory serves, the C14 dated the shroud to around 1150CE, but the decay from the deceased was about 1275CE.

Permit me to recommend "Inquest on the Shroud of Turin" by Joe Nickell. Published by Prometheus. The shroud was not meant to deceive. It was a work of art and recognized by the Catholic church as such. It's provenance is well known and disputed only by zealots.

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Dave Nelson

I'm not disputing the artistry - I'm just ruling out it's Jesus's face. That's the real problem with science and religion - The devout will go to far extremes in order to bolster his/her religious claims, while the scientist can use the smallest exception to discard an existing rule.

But the miraculous is fundamental to belief.
If one has faith in a miraculous diety he can believe anything at all.
Attribute it to miracles- why not?
The Almighty is just that.
Because because because because becauaaaaaaaaase...
Because of the wonderful things He does
Bada dada di dada di DAH Di Da !

Each age has it's attendant miracles.
For centuries it was The Shroud of Turin.
In this New Day it's the Blessed Toasted Cheese of E-Bay.