30 June 2005
First farewell
Had my first farewell today. It was light heartening experience to know that I've touch so many lives and made rather a lot of friends.
28 June 2005
Interesting finding
I was searching through google for yoga studios in Melbourne (yes I practise yoga and have been at it for about 4 years now) and chance upon this website Hot Nude Yoga. Yoga in the nude! Cool isn't it.
23 June 2005
*smile*
Mom is happier today. I think my telling her that I'll call everyday, since calling home is so cheap from Australia, she has started to smile and be more herself. *smile* I'm so glad now. At least calling card calls are cheap from Australia to Singapore.
22 June 2005
Grief and sorrow
*sigh* It seems mom is still rather sad that I'm leaving, even though she knows that I wouldn't forget her.
Acceptance is so difficult. I don't blame her for taking a long time to come to acceptance, but it does get on my nerves (a bit) to see her eyes water at the slightest. *sigh* How am I going to leave happily? Doesn't she know that not being happy for me makes it more difficult for me to leave? Is my life destined to be forever ruled by my mother? I know in time she'll get used to me not being around, until then I'll just have to try my best to make this 'transition' so painless as possible. *sigh* Because of mom, I don't really feel like going now. It really hurts to know that she is so sad about it. I know she is still trying to come to terms with it. This is really not easy, even for me. Love really makes things difficult.
At least calling her on a daily basis is very possible, now that I've discovered that calling cards in Australia can charge as low as 1.1c per minute. It was so cool finding that out but knowing her, she'll say I'm wasting money calling home daily. Well, we'll see how it goes.
Acceptance is so difficult. I don't blame her for taking a long time to come to acceptance, but it does get on my nerves (a bit) to see her eyes water at the slightest. *sigh* How am I going to leave happily? Doesn't she know that not being happy for me makes it more difficult for me to leave? Is my life destined to be forever ruled by my mother? I know in time she'll get used to me not being around, until then I'll just have to try my best to make this 'transition' so painless as possible. *sigh* Because of mom, I don't really feel like going now. It really hurts to know that she is so sad about it. I know she is still trying to come to terms with it. This is really not easy, even for me. Love really makes things difficult.
At least calling her on a daily basis is very possible, now that I've discovered that calling cards in Australia can charge as low as 1.1c per minute. It was so cool finding that out but knowing her, she'll say I'm wasting money calling home daily. Well, we'll see how it goes.
17 June 2005
Things are getting difficult
Now that I've only 5 weeks more before I leave, it is starting to become really scary and sad. I realise that with my short life in Singapore, I have so many friends. Friends who have been with me through thick and thin. The ones who were still very good friends with me after I came out to them.
I have been blessed. Really blessed because I have never met people that have turned away from me after they found out I was gay. I cherish my friends and it is starting to get difficult to think that I'll be miles away from them.
I do realise that I'm giving up a lot by moving. My life, my friends, my family but I pray that I will be strong (with the help of the Lord) and trust that this is the path I have to travel. Why? I really don't know but I believe that the Lord will give me a clue soon.
Anyhow, as I work towards my last day, I think of all the beautiful moments in my life with the people I love and I can't help but wonder if I'm doing the right thing.
I have been blessed. Really blessed because I have never met people that have turned away from me after they found out I was gay. I cherish my friends and it is starting to get difficult to think that I'll be miles away from them.
I do realise that I'm giving up a lot by moving. My life, my friends, my family but I pray that I will be strong (with the help of the Lord) and trust that this is the path I have to travel. Why? I really don't know but I believe that the Lord will give me a clue soon.
Anyhow, as I work towards my last day, I think of all the beautiful moments in my life with the people I love and I can't help but wonder if I'm doing the right thing.
14 June 2005
Gay Men Are Found to Have Different Scent of Attraction
A good article that shows gay men are just different and not because they choose to be.
New York Times
May 9, 2005
Gay Men Are Found to Have Different Scent of Attraction
By NICHOLAS WADE
Using a brain imaging technique, Swedish researchers have shown that homosexual and heterosexual men respond differently to two odors that may be involved in sexual arousal, and that the gay men respond in the same way as women.
The new research may open the way to studying human pheromones, as well as the biological basis of sexual preference. Pheromones, chemicals emitted by one individual to evoke some behavior in another of the same species, are known to govern sexual activity in animals, but experts differ as to what role, if any, they play in making humans sexually attractive to one another.
The new research, which supports the existence of human pheromones, is reported in today's issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Dr. Ivanka Savic and colleagues at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
The two chemicals in the study were a testosterone derivative produced in men's sweat and an estrogen-like compound in women's urine, both of which have long been suspected of being pheromones.
Most odors cause specific smell-related regions of the human brain to light up when visualized by a form of brain imaging that tracks blood flow in the brain and therefore, by inference, sites where neurons are active. Several years ago, Dr. Savic and colleagues showed that the two chemicals activated the brain in a quite different way from ordinary scents.
The estrogen-like compound, though it activated the usual smell-related regions in women, lighted up the hypothalamus in men. This is a region in the central base of the brain that governs sexual behavior and, through its control of the pituitary gland lying just beneath it, the hormonal state of the body.
The male sweat chemical, on the other hand, did just the opposite; it activated mostly the hypothalamus in women and the smell-related regions in men. The two chemicals seemed to be leading a double life, playing the role of odor with one sex and of pheromone with another.
The Swedish researchers have now repeated the experiment but with the addition of gay men as a third group. The gay men responded to the two chemicals in the same way as did women, Dr. Savic reports, as if the hypothalamus's response is determined not by biological sex but by the owner's sexual orientation.
Dr. Savic said that she had also studied gay women, but that the data were "somewhat complicated" and not yet ready for publication.
The finding is similar to a report in 1991 by Dr. Simon LeVay that a small region of the hypothalamus is twice as large in straight men as in women or gay men. The brain scanning technique used by the Swedish researchers lacks the resolution to see the region studied by Dr. LeVay, which is a mere millimeter or so across. But both findings suggest that the hypothalamus is organized in a way related to sexual orientation.
The new finding, if confirmed, would break ground in two important directions, those of human pheromones and human sexuality.
Mice are known to influence each other's sexual behavior through emission of chemicals that act like hormones on the recipient's brain and so are known as pheromones. Hopes by the fragrance industry, among others, of finding human pheromones were dashed several years ago when it emerged that a tiny structure in the nose through which mice detect many pheromones, the vomeronasal organ, is largely inactive in humans, having lost its nervous connection with the brain.
Researchers interpreted that to mean that humans, as they evolved to rely on sight more than smell, had no need of the primitive cues that pass for sexual attractiveness in mice. But a role for human pheromones could not be ruled out, especially in light of findings that women living or working together tend to synchronize their menstrual cycles.
Some researchers see Dr. Savic's work as strong evidence in favor of human pheromones. "The question of whether human pheromones exist has been answered. They do," wrote the authors of a commentary in Neuron about Dr. Savic's report of 2001.
Dr. Catherine Dulac, a Harvard University biologist who studies pheromones in mice, said that if a chemical modified the function of the hypothalamus, that might be enough to regard it as a pheromone. She said the Swedish study was extremely interesting, even though "humans are a terrible experimental subject." She noted, however, that the researchers used a far higher dose of the armpit chemical than anyone would be exposed to in normal life.
If human pheromones do exist, Dr. Savic's approach may allow insights into how the brain is organized not just for sexual orientation but also for sexuality in general.
"The big question is not where homosexuality comes from, but where does sexuality come from," said Dr. Dean Hamer, a geneticist at the National Institutes of Health.
The different pattern of activity that Dr. Savic sees in the brains of gay men could be either a cause of their sexual orientation or an effect of it. If sexual orientation has a genetic cause, or is influenced by hormones in the womb or at puberty, then the neurons in the hypothalamus could wire themselves up in a way that permanently shapes which sex a person is attracted to.
Alternatively, Dr. Savic's finding could be just a consequence of straight and gay men's using their brain in different ways.
"We cannot tell if the different pattern is cause or effect," Dr. Savic said. "The study does not give any answer to these crucial questions."
But the technique might provide an answer, Dr. Hamer noted, if it were applied to people of different ages to see when in life the different pattern of response developed.
Dr. LeVay said he believed from animal experiments that the size differences in the hypothalamic region he had studied arose before birth, perhaps in response to differences in the circulating level of sex hormones. Both his finding and Dr. Savic's suggest that the hypothalamus is specifically organized in relation to sexual orientation, he said.
Some researchers believe there is likely to be a genetic component of homosexuality because of its concordance among twins. The occurrence of male homosexuality in both members of a twin pair is 22 percent in nonidentical twins but rises to 52 percent in identical twins.
Gay men have fewer children, meaning that in Darwinian terms, any genetic variant that promotes homosexuality should be quickly eliminated from the population. Dr. Hamer believes that such genes may nevertheless persist because, although in men they reduce the number of descendants, in women they act to increase fertility.
New York Times
May 9, 2005
Gay Men Are Found to Have Different Scent of Attraction
By NICHOLAS WADE
Using a brain imaging technique, Swedish researchers have shown that homosexual and heterosexual men respond differently to two odors that may be involved in sexual arousal, and that the gay men respond in the same way as women.
The new research may open the way to studying human pheromones, as well as the biological basis of sexual preference. Pheromones, chemicals emitted by one individual to evoke some behavior in another of the same species, are known to govern sexual activity in animals, but experts differ as to what role, if any, they play in making humans sexually attractive to one another.
The new research, which supports the existence of human pheromones, is reported in today's issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Dr. Ivanka Savic and colleagues at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
The two chemicals in the study were a testosterone derivative produced in men's sweat and an estrogen-like compound in women's urine, both of which have long been suspected of being pheromones.
Most odors cause specific smell-related regions of the human brain to light up when visualized by a form of brain imaging that tracks blood flow in the brain and therefore, by inference, sites where neurons are active. Several years ago, Dr. Savic and colleagues showed that the two chemicals activated the brain in a quite different way from ordinary scents.
The estrogen-like compound, though it activated the usual smell-related regions in women, lighted up the hypothalamus in men. This is a region in the central base of the brain that governs sexual behavior and, through its control of the pituitary gland lying just beneath it, the hormonal state of the body.
The male sweat chemical, on the other hand, did just the opposite; it activated mostly the hypothalamus in women and the smell-related regions in men. The two chemicals seemed to be leading a double life, playing the role of odor with one sex and of pheromone with another.
The Swedish researchers have now repeated the experiment but with the addition of gay men as a third group. The gay men responded to the two chemicals in the same way as did women, Dr. Savic reports, as if the hypothalamus's response is determined not by biological sex but by the owner's sexual orientation.
Dr. Savic said that she had also studied gay women, but that the data were "somewhat complicated" and not yet ready for publication.
The finding is similar to a report in 1991 by Dr. Simon LeVay that a small region of the hypothalamus is twice as large in straight men as in women or gay men. The brain scanning technique used by the Swedish researchers lacks the resolution to see the region studied by Dr. LeVay, which is a mere millimeter or so across. But both findings suggest that the hypothalamus is organized in a way related to sexual orientation.
The new finding, if confirmed, would break ground in two important directions, those of human pheromones and human sexuality.
Mice are known to influence each other's sexual behavior through emission of chemicals that act like hormones on the recipient's brain and so are known as pheromones. Hopes by the fragrance industry, among others, of finding human pheromones were dashed several years ago when it emerged that a tiny structure in the nose through which mice detect many pheromones, the vomeronasal organ, is largely inactive in humans, having lost its nervous connection with the brain.
Researchers interpreted that to mean that humans, as they evolved to rely on sight more than smell, had no need of the primitive cues that pass for sexual attractiveness in mice. But a role for human pheromones could not be ruled out, especially in light of findings that women living or working together tend to synchronize their menstrual cycles.
Some researchers see Dr. Savic's work as strong evidence in favor of human pheromones. "The question of whether human pheromones exist has been answered. They do," wrote the authors of a commentary in Neuron about Dr. Savic's report of 2001.
Dr. Catherine Dulac, a Harvard University biologist who studies pheromones in mice, said that if a chemical modified the function of the hypothalamus, that might be enough to regard it as a pheromone. She said the Swedish study was extremely interesting, even though "humans are a terrible experimental subject." She noted, however, that the researchers used a far higher dose of the armpit chemical than anyone would be exposed to in normal life.
If human pheromones do exist, Dr. Savic's approach may allow insights into how the brain is organized not just for sexual orientation but also for sexuality in general.
"The big question is not where homosexuality comes from, but where does sexuality come from," said Dr. Dean Hamer, a geneticist at the National Institutes of Health.
The different pattern of activity that Dr. Savic sees in the brains of gay men could be either a cause of their sexual orientation or an effect of it. If sexual orientation has a genetic cause, or is influenced by hormones in the womb or at puberty, then the neurons in the hypothalamus could wire themselves up in a way that permanently shapes which sex a person is attracted to.
Alternatively, Dr. Savic's finding could be just a consequence of straight and gay men's using their brain in different ways.
"We cannot tell if the different pattern is cause or effect," Dr. Savic said. "The study does not give any answer to these crucial questions."
But the technique might provide an answer, Dr. Hamer noted, if it were applied to people of different ages to see when in life the different pattern of response developed.
Dr. LeVay said he believed from animal experiments that the size differences in the hypothalamic region he had studied arose before birth, perhaps in response to differences in the circulating level of sex hormones. Both his finding and Dr. Savic's suggest that the hypothalamus is specifically organized in relation to sexual orientation, he said.
Some researchers believe there is likely to be a genetic component of homosexuality because of its concordance among twins. The occurrence of male homosexuality in both members of a twin pair is 22 percent in nonidentical twins but rises to 52 percent in identical twins.
Gay men have fewer children, meaning that in Darwinian terms, any genetic variant that promotes homosexuality should be quickly eliminated from the population. Dr. Hamer believes that such genes may nevertheless persist because, although in men they reduce the number of descendants, in women they act to increase fertility.
13 June 2005
Done and done
Gosh, I'm so happy. The program that I've been trying to get working is running at last. It really took me a long time to get the script right. It is another achievement for me. :)
Today I've also send my first batch of stuff over to Australia. Gosh, not long now before I'm gone. Time is starting to slip away from me.
Today I've also send my first batch of stuff over to Australia. Gosh, not long now before I'm gone. Time is starting to slip away from me.
10 June 2005
Nation no more
I just reaslied that the annual gay and lesbian dance party, Nation, will not be held in Singapore anymore. Then again it comes as no surprise to anyone from the GLBT community.
It is so sad, the the gahmen and agencies, can only see gay parties = AIDS. And the way the Singapore paper is making it seem that gay men are the only ones getting HIV is really typical.
It is so sad, the the gahmen and agencies, can only see gay parties = AIDS. And the way the Singapore paper is making it seem that gay men are the only ones getting HIV is really typical.
Packing
Gosh, I seem to have so many things to pack. My books alone will take up a number of boxes.
I have decided that I'll not bring everything over since I'll be returning at least once a year to visit my parents.
It is getting terribly exciting. My friend (Australian) has found a nice apartment for us to share and it it very centrally located and the price isn't bad, almost like living in Orchard/Scotts Road. :)
We have booked our tickets though T will be returning to Singapore (for he can't leave as yet).
I have decided that I'll not bring everything over since I'll be returning at least once a year to visit my parents.
It is getting terribly exciting. My friend (Australian) has found a nice apartment for us to share and it it very centrally located and the price isn't bad, almost like living in Orchard/Scotts Road. :)
We have booked our tickets though T will be returning to Singapore (for he can't leave as yet).
29 May 2005
Another wedding banquet
Today I attended a friend’s wedding. It was nice catching up with people whom I’ve not seen for some time. Later on when they were doing a screening of their lives together (the marring couple) I felt sad. Sad because T and I will never have a chance to have family and friends together to enjoy and give us their blessings. The world is just so unfair but then again since when is the world fair.
Even if we are in a place (like Canada) where same-sex marriages are permitted, this type of celebration of the union will never happen. I have thought about this and I realised that in the Asian context, it has never been anything to do with religion or religious views, in face Buddhism never stated that anything is sinful or wrong (except when it causes great harm to another person) unless you indulge in it. Like drinking, sex, etc. In Asia, the important part of getting married is so that you can continue the family name. This is our culture. So unlike in America (yea, the ‘greatest’ human rights country) where the objection to same-sex marriages is based in Christianity, in Asia it is because of carrying on the family line.
So there I was sitting there, enjoying the wedding banquet and my friends but felling very sad that this can never happen to me.
Even if we are in a place (like Canada) where same-sex marriages are permitted, this type of celebration of the union will never happen. I have thought about this and I realised that in the Asian context, it has never been anything to do with religion or religious views, in face Buddhism never stated that anything is sinful or wrong (except when it causes great harm to another person) unless you indulge in it. Like drinking, sex, etc. In Asia, the important part of getting married is so that you can continue the family name. This is our culture. So unlike in America (yea, the ‘greatest’ human rights country) where the objection to same-sex marriages is based in Christianity, in Asia it is because of carrying on the family line.
So there I was sitting there, enjoying the wedding banquet and my friends but felling very sad that this can never happen to me.
18 May 2005
West Wing and more
I just watched the “West Wing” episode 25 (yes, yes I know it is really OLD but hey I just obtained the DVDs recently so don’t flame me. :P I love the show but I think this episode really stands out because of the way the President (played by Martin Sheen) reprimanded a Laura Schlessinger like person. If you are interested to know more about it you can go to this site and read it.
I don’t want to comment anything about it. I want to talk about the fundamentalist christians’ reaction to it.
I’ve read a number of websites dedicated to this ‘speech’ and most of them are by the fundamentalist christians’ who cited reasons why this speech is flawed. And the most important thing that hit me is that they say we (GLTB and the producers of “West Wing”) take these verses out of context. Gosh! The audacity! So when we quote the bible to justify our existence (created not made and still loved by God) we are taking it out of context and when they do it, it is right and proper. No they definitely do not take the quotes against homosexuality out of context. Of course not, why Jesus came to preach separation, discrimination and bigotry. He came to condemn the sinners and to exalt the Jews, especially the Pharisees and Sadducees. He told people to judge because by judging, your Father in heaven will praise you.
These people believed that Jesus will condemn the GLTB community if he was alive today. The same way the Pharisees and Sadducees believed that the Christ would condemn the tax-collectors and prostitutes of that time. Jesus welcomed the outcast, telling them that God loves them because they are his children. And that is the most important part of Jesus teachings, loving the outcast, Jesus never gave lip service, he did these things. That is why Mother Teresa is considered a Saint (note the capital S) because she really was Jesus in the flesh. She loved the outcast and loved being seen with them, like Jesus who preferred to be with the outcast then with the rich, wealthy and effluent.
I don’t want to comment anything about it. I want to talk about the fundamentalist christians’ reaction to it.
I’ve read a number of websites dedicated to this ‘speech’ and most of them are by the fundamentalist christians’ who cited reasons why this speech is flawed. And the most important thing that hit me is that they say we (GLTB and the producers of “West Wing”) take these verses out of context. Gosh! The audacity! So when we quote the bible to justify our existence (created not made and still loved by God) we are taking it out of context and when they do it, it is right and proper. No they definitely do not take the quotes against homosexuality out of context. Of course not, why Jesus came to preach separation, discrimination and bigotry. He came to condemn the sinners and to exalt the Jews, especially the Pharisees and Sadducees. He told people to judge because by judging, your Father in heaven will praise you.
These people believed that Jesus will condemn the GLTB community if he was alive today. The same way the Pharisees and Sadducees believed that the Christ would condemn the tax-collectors and prostitutes of that time. Jesus welcomed the outcast, telling them that God loves them because they are his children. And that is the most important part of Jesus teachings, loving the outcast, Jesus never gave lip service, he did these things. That is why Mother Teresa is considered a Saint (note the capital S) because she really was Jesus in the flesh. She loved the outcast and loved being seen with them, like Jesus who preferred to be with the outcast then with the rich, wealthy and effluent.
17 May 2005
The all loving, all accepting Catholic Church
Gay Catholics Denied Communion
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: May 16, 2005 12:01 am ET
(St. Paul, Minnesota) A group of about 100 gay Roman Catholics and their supporters were denied Holy Communion at Pentecost Mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul on Sunday.
The Rainbow Sash Alliance has been taking Communion on Pentecost at the Cathedral for the past four years, but Archbishop Harry Flynn changed the policy this year, under pressure from the Vatican.
Earlier this month Flynn, in a letter to the Rainbow Sash Alliance, warned that members would be denied communion because their sashes were seen as a protest against Catholic teaching and unacceptable to the Vatican.
"I am asking you to remove your sashes before you receive Holy Communion," Flynn wrote. "I ask you to observe this sign of respect for the Eucharist not only in the Cathedral but in all our parishes. No one wearing the sash will be permitted to receive the Blessed Sacrament."
The Rainbow Sash movement is an international organization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Catholics and their families and friends.
Among those who attended mass Sunday were Dominican Sister Donna Quinn, director of the National Coalition of American Nuns, Joseph and Barbara Parot of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) and long time Catholic gay rights activist Rick Garcia.
After the sash wearers were denied, Sister Donna, the Parots and Garcia approached the altar and received Communion. To the surprise of some, including the sash wearers, the four then approached the sash-wearers and gave them a portion of their consecrated hosts.
"It is a scandal that the Body of Christ would be denied to a baptized Catholic who approached the altar simply because of what he or she was wearing. I am still shocked and in disbelief that the priest would deny these people," said Sister Donna Quinn. "The Eucharist should not be used as a political tool and that is exactly what Cardinal George has made it."
Sister Quinn and the Parots approached the priest after Mass and expressed their displeasure and sadness at his action.
"Some priests and bishops throughout the country have denied communion to sash wearers today. How many of these same priests have ever denied anyone else communion?" Garcia asked. "This has nothing to do with upholding Church teaching and it has everything to do with rank anti-gay sentiment."
©365Gay.com 2005
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Oh yea, Jesus came to teach us discrimination and he came save only the few, I get it now.
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: May 16, 2005 12:01 am ET
(St. Paul, Minnesota) A group of about 100 gay Roman Catholics and their supporters were denied Holy Communion at Pentecost Mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul on Sunday.
The Rainbow Sash Alliance has been taking Communion on Pentecost at the Cathedral for the past four years, but Archbishop Harry Flynn changed the policy this year, under pressure from the Vatican.
Earlier this month Flynn, in a letter to the Rainbow Sash Alliance, warned that members would be denied communion because their sashes were seen as a protest against Catholic teaching and unacceptable to the Vatican.
"I am asking you to remove your sashes before you receive Holy Communion," Flynn wrote. "I ask you to observe this sign of respect for the Eucharist not only in the Cathedral but in all our parishes. No one wearing the sash will be permitted to receive the Blessed Sacrament."
The Rainbow Sash movement is an international organization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Catholics and their families and friends.
Among those who attended mass Sunday were Dominican Sister Donna Quinn, director of the National Coalition of American Nuns, Joseph and Barbara Parot of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) and long time Catholic gay rights activist Rick Garcia.
After the sash wearers were denied, Sister Donna, the Parots and Garcia approached the altar and received Communion. To the surprise of some, including the sash wearers, the four then approached the sash-wearers and gave them a portion of their consecrated hosts.
"It is a scandal that the Body of Christ would be denied to a baptized Catholic who approached the altar simply because of what he or she was wearing. I am still shocked and in disbelief that the priest would deny these people," said Sister Donna Quinn. "The Eucharist should not be used as a political tool and that is exactly what Cardinal George has made it."
Sister Quinn and the Parots approached the priest after Mass and expressed their displeasure and sadness at his action.
"Some priests and bishops throughout the country have denied communion to sash wearers today. How many of these same priests have ever denied anyone else communion?" Garcia asked. "This has nothing to do with upholding Church teaching and it has everything to do with rank anti-gay sentiment."
©365Gay.com 2005
------
Oh yea, Jesus came to teach us discrimination and he came save only the few, I get it now.
11 May 2005
Working in Australia
I have been holding an Australian PR since January last year. I have been planning to work in Australia for a while now and maybe become an Australian or come back after a number of years (thinking for 8 to 10, to gain enough experience). Who knows what the future holds. All I know is that I'm not making any plans that are caste in stone. Just praying for discernment and knowing that the Lord will bless and help me.
A number of people asked my why PR if I just wanted to work there. There is a simple reason, there is no way I'll get a job here if I require a work permit. Unlike in Singapore, getting work permits in Australia is a great hassle and no company would bother to hire a foreigner if there is local equivalent. Less hassle.
I've just sent my CV to a professor that I spoke to earlier today (I was at a conference and so happens his lab is in Melbourne). He gave me a short interview and said that I fit in perfectly to what they required to replace a person that has left. So I'd most probably get this job and I really hope so.
So the wheels have started turning and things seem to be moving very smoothly. I am blessed.
T knows about my plans and because of this he has decided that he would like to do what I'm doing too, get PR to work in Australia for a while. The experience would do us both good. I know things would work out well, with the Lord guiding and blessing me.
A number of people asked my why PR if I just wanted to work there. There is a simple reason, there is no way I'll get a job here if I require a work permit. Unlike in Singapore, getting work permits in Australia is a great hassle and no company would bother to hire a foreigner if there is local equivalent. Less hassle.
I've just sent my CV to a professor that I spoke to earlier today (I was at a conference and so happens his lab is in Melbourne). He gave me a short interview and said that I fit in perfectly to what they required to replace a person that has left. So I'd most probably get this job and I really hope so.
So the wheels have started turning and things seem to be moving very smoothly. I am blessed.
T knows about my plans and because of this he has decided that he would like to do what I'm doing too, get PR to work in Australia for a while. The experience would do us both good. I know things would work out well, with the Lord guiding and blessing me.
06 May 2005
Discrimination - Singapore style
A few days ago, there was an article in the newspaper regarding this condominium in Singapore that told a security agency that they didn’t want Indian security guards, I thought, “wow, Singapore is starting to be very bold in their discrimination”.
Today in the Straits Times forum page, there were a lot of people who cried foul about this, saying that discrimination and bigotry should have no place in a society in Singapore. Now that got me thinking, if it was an ad for no gays wanted or allowing of a gay activity (like a forum, talk or party) would these people still say things the same way or is anti-discrimination only for races or age or religion but not sexual orientation. Well, this is what Martha Luther King predicted when he was fighting racism in America. He said (to paraphrase) “a threat to anyone's basic rights is a threat to everyone's basic rights”. This is so true. I speculate that the committee of the condominium is Chinese (most probably), effluent and English speaking, which makes them think that their own prejudices are valid. It starts off with one group and it will extend to others, this is how discrimination works, especially when one group of people think they are better and more superior to another. And as we can see, it has started. Discrimination against minorities in Singapore is nothing new, starting with older workers, going onto gays and lesbians and now race. Well, we have no anti-discrimination laws here. Lets see how long the gahmen can pretend that these laws are not needed but then even if they do, the GLTB community will NOT benefit from it.
These people, like the right wing Christians in Singapore, who think that their own opinions and values (which are religiously based) are the opinions and values of the whole of Singapore, don’t these people know that Christians only account for at most 20% of Singapore’s population!* It is not even the a simple majority of the population. Gosh, who are they to dictate to the masses? Preaching to a mostly Buddhist population. Good examples are the casino where they believed their opinion hold the ultimate truth because their religion is the ultimate truth, see that is discrimination by itself. The other is the fight against AIDS, they are so against preaching condom usage that it has started to make matters worse. There are more and more people in Singapore who are having sex without a condom, especially with people they don’t know. They believe their own morals is right, but they account for less than 20% of the population, who are they, the minority, to dictate, to the majority that they should be faithful to one partner. Their words fall on deaf ears but do they know that? No! So instead of AIDS support groups like Afa going the, use a condom route, they are forcing them and indeed the gahmen to go the abstinence route. Is this working? Nope, but they still will not change their tune because they believe they have the ultimate true. When will people realise that if another doesn’t belong to your group, they will never listen. Imagine, the LOUD minority.
*In 2000 the number of people who declared that they are Christians was 14.6% (up from 12.7% in 1990). Compare this with people who declared that they were Buddhist in 2000 was 42.5% (up from 31.2% in 1990)
Today in the Straits Times forum page, there were a lot of people who cried foul about this, saying that discrimination and bigotry should have no place in a society in Singapore. Now that got me thinking, if it was an ad for no gays wanted or allowing of a gay activity (like a forum, talk or party) would these people still say things the same way or is anti-discrimination only for races or age or religion but not sexual orientation. Well, this is what Martha Luther King predicted when he was fighting racism in America. He said (to paraphrase) “a threat to anyone's basic rights is a threat to everyone's basic rights”. This is so true. I speculate that the committee of the condominium is Chinese (most probably), effluent and English speaking, which makes them think that their own prejudices are valid. It starts off with one group and it will extend to others, this is how discrimination works, especially when one group of people think they are better and more superior to another. And as we can see, it has started. Discrimination against minorities in Singapore is nothing new, starting with older workers, going onto gays and lesbians and now race. Well, we have no anti-discrimination laws here. Lets see how long the gahmen can pretend that these laws are not needed but then even if they do, the GLTB community will NOT benefit from it.
These people, like the right wing Christians in Singapore, who think that their own opinions and values (which are religiously based) are the opinions and values of the whole of Singapore, don’t these people know that Christians only account for at most 20% of Singapore’s population!* It is not even the a simple majority of the population. Gosh, who are they to dictate to the masses? Preaching to a mostly Buddhist population. Good examples are the casino where they believed their opinion hold the ultimate truth because their religion is the ultimate truth, see that is discrimination by itself. The other is the fight against AIDS, they are so against preaching condom usage that it has started to make matters worse. There are more and more people in Singapore who are having sex without a condom, especially with people they don’t know. They believe their own morals is right, but they account for less than 20% of the population, who are they, the minority, to dictate, to the majority that they should be faithful to one partner. Their words fall on deaf ears but do they know that? No! So instead of AIDS support groups like Afa going the, use a condom route, they are forcing them and indeed the gahmen to go the abstinence route. Is this working? Nope, but they still will not change their tune because they believe they have the ultimate true. When will people realise that if another doesn’t belong to your group, they will never listen. Imagine, the LOUD minority.
*In 2000 the number of people who declared that they are Christians was 14.6% (up from 12.7% in 1990). Compare this with people who declared that they were Buddhist in 2000 was 42.5% (up from 31.2% in 1990)
20 April 2005
Benedict XVI
Well a new pope has been elected, another 'conservative'. Whether he'll be different from John Paul II, the activists around the world don't think so. I still think the church will be as oppressive and they will still have the opinion that the world's problems are 'black and white'. We shall see in the next 6 months if he’s going to let the Spirit work or box it up again.
I think that the word conservative has been overused in practically everything in this world. And it has come to a point where the world means being narrow-minded. If I recall correctly, being conservative used to be someone who favours traditional views and values but not a person who discounts change. When did being conservative mean being a bigot and discriminating?
*sigh* well, we do live in the world where money and power is everything, what makes me think that a church will be any different.
I think that the word conservative has been overused in practically everything in this world. And it has come to a point where the world means being narrow-minded. If I recall correctly, being conservative used to be someone who favours traditional views and values but not a person who discounts change. When did being conservative mean being a bigot and discriminating?
*sigh* well, we do live in the world where money and power is everything, what makes me think that a church will be any different.
18 April 2005
The Church - good, bad and ugly
I read this in the Sunday Times today and was really impressed with Ignatius’ view. He just hit the nail on the head. The parts I have bolded are the good things the pope John Paul II has done. The red/bold parts are the ones that are so ugly about the church and as you can see, the ugly seems to outweigh the good. What good is being part of a Church where you are oppressed? I wonder if the Vatican ever wonder why people are leaving the Church, or even if they really care.
Sometimes people ask why I'm still in a Church that is so oppressive? I have given it alot of thought and I thing Ignatius stated it in a great way some of us reject the teachings outwardly and other inwardly. I'm the ones that reject the Church inwardly. I love my God and I know God loves me. I go and worship him with my community but I do reject some of the Church teachings. As Cannon law has stated, that a person can reject a teaching of the Church if he, guided by the Spirit, learns the truth about something (very badly parapharsed).
#######################
A Plea to the next pope
By Ignatius Low
(Taken from The Sunday Times April 17, 2005)
Someone remarked to me that other day that with a name like mine I should be “eminently qualified” to write about Pope John Paul II.
Well, if being qualified simply means being Catholic, then she is probably right.
I know if only a handful of other guys name “Ignatius” and they are all, without exception, Catholics born and bred. Who else would name themselves after the Spanish saint Ignatius de Loyola, who found the Jesuit order of priests in the 1500s?
Indeed, to the outside world, the name is obscure and extremely difficult to pronounce and spell. To this day, when asked for my name by Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf cashiers, I agonise for a moment before muttering “David”, so as not to hold up the queue behind me.
Despite life’s little inconveniences, I am still proud of the name my parents gave me in the zeal of their conversion to Catholicism in the 1960s.
But I have also stopped practising my religion for almost a decade now. So, I think my name is just about the only thing left that’s “Catholic” about me.
Until the Pope died, that is.
I was holidaying in Tokyo when it happened and rationally speaking, I really shouldn’t have cared.
Yet in the days and hours reading up to the Pope’s death, I found myself glued to the television set in my service apartment, never tiring of the endless updates about this health on CNN and BBC.
My Catholic upbringing came back to me in a flash of nostalgia.
I remembered, for example, kneeling to pray the rosary twice a week and constantly wishing that I could sit down instead. I remembered singing hymns with my younger sister as my dad played the guitar, and feeling rather intimidated by a group of bash girls at my weekly Sunday school class.
I found I could still recall enough of the meanings of strange words like “catechism”, “Eucharist” and “transubstantiation” to explain them excitedly to my Buddhist travelling companion. And I could expertly answer his questions about the difference between “mortal” and “venial” sins, and the significance of the Virgin Mary to the Church.
Buried somewhere deep within me, I realised, is a good Catholic boy. It’s just the on a day-to-day level, most people don’t see it – net even me.
This is arguable the most serious problem Pope John Paul II left the Catholic Church to deal with after his death.
Like me, millions of Catholics around the world have quietly fallen away from the faith. And like me, they seem perfectly comfortable with what they have done.
Of course, religion is a very personal issue and everyone has his own reasons for turning his back on it.
But if there is a general root cause to be found, I would point to the growing disconnect between the Catholic dogma and today’s realities.
For those who don’t already know, the Catholic Church is strongly against divorce, abortion and contraception.
It still refuses to ordain women as priests and regards homosexuality as a “new ideology of evil”.
And it sees all these issues in stark black and white.
Two years ago, a nine-year-old Nicaraguan girl became pregnant after she was raped. Fearing that she would not survive childbirth, her parents sent her for an abortion.
The Catholic Church intervened and nearly stopped the procedure, but the girl’s parents insisted. After the abortion, the whole family was promptly excommunicated from the Church.
There are many mare such moral dilemmas that the Church seems to take an unreasonably hard stand on. It won’t, for example, allow a HIV-positive husband to use condoms to protect his HIV-negative wife. Nor will it grant an abused wife a divorce from a violent husband.
As a result, you will often find that Catholics tend to harbour two views on life’s moral dilemmas.
There is the “Catholic” view which they are suppose to hold, and then there is their own view – which is softer and will admit to exceptions and special circumstances.
Okay, this probably doesn’t stop the average churchgoer from going to Mass every Sunday.
But it deducts from a sense of belonging to a religion whose structure and rituals already make it seem so far away.
The principle does not just apply to religion. If someone does not quite agree with the fundamental ethos of his club, company or even country, can he truly identify himself with it?
And so when push comes to shove, is there something stronger than habit, obligation or sheer inertia that makes him stay?
In his 26 years as Pope, John Paul II did many great things. He helped to bridge the gap between the Church and Islam, and speed up the fall of communism. He also used the mass media in a very effective way to get the Church’s message out globally.
But John Paul II also chose to harden the Church’s conservative stance in livewire moral issues, and throughout this reign, the Church has shown a refusal to engage the population on them.
This is something which this generation of young Catholics have become used to as we grew up. Sadly, it’s also something many of us have come to reject – whether inwardly or outwardly.
The world waits in bated breath is the Catholic Church chooses John Paul II’s successor this week.
Whoever he is, he need to talk to the silent millions around the world, who like me are Catholic, but only really in name.
Sometimes people ask why I'm still in a Church that is so oppressive? I have given it alot of thought and I thing Ignatius stated it in a great way some of us reject the teachings outwardly and other inwardly. I'm the ones that reject the Church inwardly. I love my God and I know God loves me. I go and worship him with my community but I do reject some of the Church teachings. As Cannon law has stated, that a person can reject a teaching of the Church if he, guided by the Spirit, learns the truth about something (very badly parapharsed).
#######################
A Plea to the next pope
By Ignatius Low
(Taken from The Sunday Times April 17, 2005)
Someone remarked to me that other day that with a name like mine I should be “eminently qualified” to write about Pope John Paul II.
Well, if being qualified simply means being Catholic, then she is probably right.
I know if only a handful of other guys name “Ignatius” and they are all, without exception, Catholics born and bred. Who else would name themselves after the Spanish saint Ignatius de Loyola, who found the Jesuit order of priests in the 1500s?
Indeed, to the outside world, the name is obscure and extremely difficult to pronounce and spell. To this day, when asked for my name by Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf cashiers, I agonise for a moment before muttering “David”, so as not to hold up the queue behind me.
Despite life’s little inconveniences, I am still proud of the name my parents gave me in the zeal of their conversion to Catholicism in the 1960s.
But I have also stopped practising my religion for almost a decade now. So, I think my name is just about the only thing left that’s “Catholic” about me.
Until the Pope died, that is.
I was holidaying in Tokyo when it happened and rationally speaking, I really shouldn’t have cared.
Yet in the days and hours reading up to the Pope’s death, I found myself glued to the television set in my service apartment, never tiring of the endless updates about this health on CNN and BBC.
My Catholic upbringing came back to me in a flash of nostalgia.
I remembered, for example, kneeling to pray the rosary twice a week and constantly wishing that I could sit down instead. I remembered singing hymns with my younger sister as my dad played the guitar, and feeling rather intimidated by a group of bash girls at my weekly Sunday school class.
I found I could still recall enough of the meanings of strange words like “catechism”, “Eucharist” and “transubstantiation” to explain them excitedly to my Buddhist travelling companion. And I could expertly answer his questions about the difference between “mortal” and “venial” sins, and the significance of the Virgin Mary to the Church.
Buried somewhere deep within me, I realised, is a good Catholic boy. It’s just the on a day-to-day level, most people don’t see it – net even me.
This is arguable the most serious problem Pope John Paul II left the Catholic Church to deal with after his death.
Like me, millions of Catholics around the world have quietly fallen away from the faith. And like me, they seem perfectly comfortable with what they have done.
Of course, religion is a very personal issue and everyone has his own reasons for turning his back on it.
But if there is a general root cause to be found, I would point to the growing disconnect between the Catholic dogma and today’s realities.
For those who don’t already know, the Catholic Church is strongly against divorce, abortion and contraception.
It still refuses to ordain women as priests and regards homosexuality as a “new ideology of evil”.
And it sees all these issues in stark black and white.
Two years ago, a nine-year-old Nicaraguan girl became pregnant after she was raped. Fearing that she would not survive childbirth, her parents sent her for an abortion.
The Catholic Church intervened and nearly stopped the procedure, but the girl’s parents insisted. After the abortion, the whole family was promptly excommunicated from the Church.
There are many mare such moral dilemmas that the Church seems to take an unreasonably hard stand on. It won’t, for example, allow a HIV-positive husband to use condoms to protect his HIV-negative wife. Nor will it grant an abused wife a divorce from a violent husband.
As a result, you will often find that Catholics tend to harbour two views on life’s moral dilemmas.
There is the “Catholic” view which they are suppose to hold, and then there is their own view – which is softer and will admit to exceptions and special circumstances.
Okay, this probably doesn’t stop the average churchgoer from going to Mass every Sunday.
But it deducts from a sense of belonging to a religion whose structure and rituals already make it seem so far away.
The principle does not just apply to religion. If someone does not quite agree with the fundamental ethos of his club, company or even country, can he truly identify himself with it?
And so when push comes to shove, is there something stronger than habit, obligation or sheer inertia that makes him stay?
In his 26 years as Pope, John Paul II did many great things. He helped to bridge the gap between the Church and Islam, and speed up the fall of communism. He also used the mass media in a very effective way to get the Church’s message out globally.
But John Paul II also chose to harden the Church’s conservative stance in livewire moral issues, and throughout this reign, the Church has shown a refusal to engage the population on them.
This is something which this generation of young Catholics have become used to as we grew up. Sadly, it’s also something many of us have come to reject – whether inwardly or outwardly.
The world waits in bated breath is the Catholic Church chooses John Paul II’s successor this week.
Whoever he is, he need to talk to the silent millions around the world, who like me are Catholic, but only really in name.
11 April 2005
Heterosexism - viewpoint of a father and grandfather
It is very heartening to read e-mails like this about the heterosexism that is so prevalent in ‘loving Christians’.
------------
As a 75 year old man and father of 8 children - 2 whom are gay - I find this all to be very disturbing. Since when did we allow Preachers - deacons & ministers to tell us what GOD wants?
MY children are all grown and range from mid 30's to 50 - they are ALL law abiding citizens and tax payers......do not my gay
children deserve the same rights and the other 6 ?
This whole Right Wing Agenda has gotten way out of control from their original concept of Concern for peoples well-being - to Hate Mongering & Bigotry ... trying to use "God's word" as scare tactics to get people to vote their way.
I'd like to know.... when is this country going to wise up and practice what it preaches. America is constantly telling other countries about Freedoms and Liberty, and the ever famous Justice for All.....All?
Does America mean - only Heterosexuals??? This is the 21st century.....the sky won't be falling. I think heterosexuals have done enough damage to Marriage without trying to blame gay people for ruining it.
I and my wife love our children Equally - we're on our 53rd year of Marriage together...we stuck it out thru thick and thin, and love each other very much - and have 8 happy and healthy, loving and respectful children to prove it.
I fought in WW2 - for Freedom and Liberty -- NOT Hate and Discrimination in America......This needs to stop! I used to vote Republican as did my wife for years - but this last election made us go Democrat --- I will not tolerate discrimination against my children PERIOD!
John Rex Costello
Philadelphia Pa
------------
As a 75 year old man and father of 8 children - 2 whom are gay - I find this all to be very disturbing. Since when did we allow Preachers - deacons & ministers to tell us what GOD wants?
MY children are all grown and range from mid 30's to 50 - they are ALL law abiding citizens and tax payers......do not my gay
children deserve the same rights and the other 6 ?
This whole Right Wing Agenda has gotten way out of control from their original concept of Concern for peoples well-being - to Hate Mongering & Bigotry ... trying to use "God's word" as scare tactics to get people to vote their way.
I'd like to know.... when is this country going to wise up and practice what it preaches. America is constantly telling other countries about Freedoms and Liberty, and the ever famous Justice for All.....All?
Does America mean - only Heterosexuals??? This is the 21st century.....the sky won't be falling. I think heterosexuals have done enough damage to Marriage without trying to blame gay people for ruining it.
I and my wife love our children Equally - we're on our 53rd year of Marriage together...we stuck it out thru thick and thin, and love each other very much - and have 8 happy and healthy, loving and respectful children to prove it.
I fought in WW2 - for Freedom and Liberty -- NOT Hate and Discrimination in America......This needs to stop! I used to vote Republican as did my wife for years - but this last election made us go Democrat --- I will not tolerate discrimination against my children PERIOD!
John Rex Costello
Philadelphia Pa
09 April 2005
Buried at last!
Thank goodness the pope is now buried and gone. All this hype over his ‘death’ is really too much and the fact that people (especially the Catholics) are crying over his death is ridiculous!
We are an ‘Alleluia people’ wrote St. Augustine, where is our Alleluia now? We are to rejoice in the death of a faithful because that is what Christ taught us, death is not the end but a beginning. I agree that we should feel sad because the person is no longer with us but I think for our sadness to over shadow our joy in being an Easter people is really too much, this was really shown in the actions of Catholics the world over. And to think we are still in the Easter season!
Now that he has be buried, we can go back to living our lives again. Has anything changed? No. Has the world become a worse or better place? No. Is God still working in this world? YES! I think what my priest said in his homily on the day the pope died (3rd April 2005) that our faith is built on Christ, our Risen Lord and nothing else, not his birth or his death but by the simple fact that he rose from the dead. It was a real slap in the face for all who were grieving for the pope (a man), provided if the people who heard it could understand the greater meaning of what he said. Christ in the foundation of our faith, nothing else, not the pope, not the Vatican and definitely no the religious. And here we are moaning for the death of a man like there is no tomorrow.
We are an ‘Alleluia people’ wrote St. Augustine, where is our Alleluia now? We are to rejoice in the death of a faithful because that is what Christ taught us, death is not the end but a beginning. I agree that we should feel sad because the person is no longer with us but I think for our sadness to over shadow our joy in being an Easter people is really too much, this was really shown in the actions of Catholics the world over. And to think we are still in the Easter season!
Now that he has be buried, we can go back to living our lives again. Has anything changed? No. Has the world become a worse or better place? No. Is God still working in this world? YES! I think what my priest said in his homily on the day the pope died (3rd April 2005) that our faith is built on Christ, our Risen Lord and nothing else, not his birth or his death but by the simple fact that he rose from the dead. It was a real slap in the face for all who were grieving for the pope (a man), provided if the people who heard it could understand the greater meaning of what he said. Christ in the foundation of our faith, nothing else, not the pope, not the Vatican and definitely no the religious. And here we are moaning for the death of a man like there is no tomorrow.
03 April 2005
The pope has died
I’m glad that he has died. Firstly, at least his suffering is over and he has returned back to the Father’s house. Secondly, it is time for him to let go of the chair (of St. Peter) and let another person take over the duties.
I don’t feel a great loss at the passing of this pope, for the Lord will appoint another person to lead the Church, whether for the better or for the worse, we will not know until the now pope starts his reign.
A lot of people in the world (especially the Catholics) have no idea how much this pope has done to halt the progress of the Church (halting Vatican II). The following are a few things that I can remember:
1) Women are not allowed to preach in Church, he even made it clearer during his reign although there have been Churches that broken this law and I applaud them for it.
2) The no ordination of women as priest. I'm still wondering why? What is wrong with having women priest? I believe that the Church is losing the ideas and inspirations of half of its population because of this bigotry.
3) His Pro-family stance. Of course this is a good thing but his definition of a family is the one father and mother and kids. Because of his non-acceptance of the gay population many families have been broken because a son/daughter came out of the closet. This is so "Pro-family", destroying the ones that don’t meet with his criteria of a family.
4) His unwavering stance against contraception. This really caused uproars in the world because most people are not Catholics but all because of his position as the 'moral compass' the world hears his voice. It made it more difficult for AIDS activist to educate people because most governments frown upon the preaching of condom usage but abstinence. Abstinence is good but how many people believe it? How can you preach to the world when majority of them don't believe in what you preach?
Somehow bringing the Church up to date with the progress of the world was not in his agenda. He would prefer to please the conservative people in the Church and in the ranks then to allow God's love to flow through the land. The Vatican has always had this problem of trying to put the Holy Spirit in a box but the Holy Spirit cannot be contained or controlled, too bad they just don't understand it.
"Give to Caser what belongs to Caser, give to God what belongs to God". I have realised that most preachers and leaders of the Church never follow this teaching of Christ, only one I have encountered was Mother Teressa, who in my heart is a much greater person then pope John Paul II will ever be. Her life was the Gospel and she believed in loving all regardless of race, language, class, sexuality orientation, education qualifications; something I pray that all leaders and preachers of the gospel will be one day.
When will the Vatican realise that God loves everyone and anyone. Not just the people who adhere to their own brand of morality. Too bad they never remember the times when the Church was corrupt and the times when they made mistakes*, too bad they didn't learn.
I pray that the next pope would be a champion for humans, not for popularity or power but for the belief that every human being is a child of God.
* The Church used to preach that people without white skin are spawn of the devil and unnatural. And let us not forget because of the pope's need for power and control the reformation was born.
I don’t feel a great loss at the passing of this pope, for the Lord will appoint another person to lead the Church, whether for the better or for the worse, we will not know until the now pope starts his reign.
A lot of people in the world (especially the Catholics) have no idea how much this pope has done to halt the progress of the Church (halting Vatican II). The following are a few things that I can remember:
1) Women are not allowed to preach in Church, he even made it clearer during his reign although there have been Churches that broken this law and I applaud them for it.
2) The no ordination of women as priest. I'm still wondering why? What is wrong with having women priest? I believe that the Church is losing the ideas and inspirations of half of its population because of this bigotry.
3) His Pro-family stance. Of course this is a good thing but his definition of a family is the one father and mother and kids. Because of his non-acceptance of the gay population many families have been broken because a son/daughter came out of the closet. This is so "Pro-family", destroying the ones that don’t meet with his criteria of a family.
4) His unwavering stance against contraception. This really caused uproars in the world because most people are not Catholics but all because of his position as the 'moral compass' the world hears his voice. It made it more difficult for AIDS activist to educate people because most governments frown upon the preaching of condom usage but abstinence. Abstinence is good but how many people believe it? How can you preach to the world when majority of them don't believe in what you preach?
Somehow bringing the Church up to date with the progress of the world was not in his agenda. He would prefer to please the conservative people in the Church and in the ranks then to allow God's love to flow through the land. The Vatican has always had this problem of trying to put the Holy Spirit in a box but the Holy Spirit cannot be contained or controlled, too bad they just don't understand it.
"Give to Caser what belongs to Caser, give to God what belongs to God". I have realised that most preachers and leaders of the Church never follow this teaching of Christ, only one I have encountered was Mother Teressa, who in my heart is a much greater person then pope John Paul II will ever be. Her life was the Gospel and she believed in loving all regardless of race, language, class, sexuality orientation, education qualifications; something I pray that all leaders and preachers of the gospel will be one day.
When will the Vatican realise that God loves everyone and anyone. Not just the people who adhere to their own brand of morality. Too bad they never remember the times when the Church was corrupt and the times when they made mistakes*, too bad they didn't learn.
I pray that the next pope would be a champion for humans, not for popularity or power but for the belief that every human being is a child of God.
* The Church used to preach that people without white skin are spawn of the devil and unnatural. And let us not forget because of the pope's need for power and control the reformation was born.
30 March 2005
I've had enough
The HIV/AIDS and gay debate has been going on for so long and I’ve decided to stop being fed-up with all the heterosexist remarks and comments. I mean people are all entitled to their opinions so am I. So since I’m an abomination to society, a person who spreads HIV/AIDS (no heterosexuals NEVER spread the virus, they are immune, since HIV/AIDS is a “gay disease”). So laws against my kind is okay to “protect” the innocent heterosexuals, who by the way, are all faithful to their partners (both females and males) and only gays have promiscuous sex and sex outside of marriage. Oops I forgot, we can only have sex outside marriage because it is NEVER for us because it breaks up the family unit and society. I mean, there are no such things as single mothers or fathers in the heterosexual world, no abuse cases, I mean these things only happen because there are gays around. Without gays, these problems will all be solved. The “family” will be sacred again.
So heterosexist people in my book will henceforth be called idiots and ass-holes (or idiotic ass-holes). They spread stupidity and intolerance. So in my book they are incurable. So if you are heterosexist, just remember you are an idiot and ass-hole. Simple. We are gays with a gay disease that is incurable and you are heterosexist with a heterosexist disease that is also incurable. So idiots, try to use condoms and stop spreading your idiotic ass-holism around. The world would be a better place if you don’t have children to spread your idiotic ass-holism in.
Gosh, I feel better now knowing that idiotic ass-holes live just to irritate the world. This would be the last time (I promise myself) that I'll be bothered with idiotic ass-holes. They can believe what they want and I will believe that they are idiots who aren't worth my time at all.
With that done, I’ll now go on to my Church, the Catholic Church. Imagine the first time in 2000 years, the Pope couldn’t give his Easter blessings. It is so very embarrassing. The head of a Church who can’t even do this simple task. Isn’t time he retired? Yes, for those who don’t know, the Pope has to declare that he wants to retire or step down as the Pope then a new one will be elected. But then again the Vatican is more of a political machine than a spiritual place. So please don’t mix the 2 up. The Vatican is the place where politics is played which has nothing to do with the Church proper where spirituality is preached.
So heterosexist people in my book will henceforth be called idiots and ass-holes (or idiotic ass-holes). They spread stupidity and intolerance. So in my book they are incurable. So if you are heterosexist, just remember you are an idiot and ass-hole. Simple. We are gays with a gay disease that is incurable and you are heterosexist with a heterosexist disease that is also incurable. So idiots, try to use condoms and stop spreading your idiotic ass-holism around. The world would be a better place if you don’t have children to spread your idiotic ass-holism in.
Gosh, I feel better now knowing that idiotic ass-holes live just to irritate the world. This would be the last time (I promise myself) that I'll be bothered with idiotic ass-holes. They can believe what they want and I will believe that they are idiots who aren't worth my time at all.
With that done, I’ll now go on to my Church, the Catholic Church. Imagine the first time in 2000 years, the Pope couldn’t give his Easter blessings. It is so very embarrassing. The head of a Church who can’t even do this simple task. Isn’t time he retired? Yes, for those who don’t know, the Pope has to declare that he wants to retire or step down as the Pope then a new one will be elected. But then again the Vatican is more of a political machine than a spiritual place. So please don’t mix the 2 up. The Vatican is the place where politics is played which has nothing to do with the Church proper where spirituality is preached.
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