I got kind of a kick over the weekend out of this short YouTube clip of a sweet couple named David and Paul getting hitched by an Iowa judge in an Iowa courtroom in part because it illustrates two items on that fearful gay agenda preachers and others love to fuss about: A soldier (repeal of DADT; check that one off) marrying his boyfriend (marriage equality; a work in progress).
Golly, how scary is that? Desires to (a) serve, fight and perhaps die for one's country and to (b) form a lifelong committed state-sanctioned relationship with someone else, deeply loved.
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The vicar had a burr under her saddle Sunday about one of those studies, not exactly sure which, indicating a decline of some sort in faith's place in American life. I think it may have been the Pew Research Center's recent survey of the state of religion among millennials (those who came of age about 2000).
Among the findings: One in four adults under 30 is "unaffiliated" --- self-describing as atheist, agnostic or nothing in particular. That's pretty amazing --- not the number of unaffiliated; but the fact 75 percent still consider themselves affiliated.
An equally shocking conclusion: Only 68 percent of millennials never doubt the existence of God. Only? This finding seems to be a fairly good indication that religious people also can be damn liars when it comes to answering survey questions. Don't think I've ever run into anyone of any degree of devoutness who hasn't doubted --- if only briefly --- at one time or another. It's part of the human condition.
My guess would be that the numbers of unaffiliated doubters will increase, but that's largely a factor of organized religion's inability to deal in any sort of useful fashion with the "other." And "other" seems to be subdivided into two categories: the naturally occcuring (at various times for more or less conventional Christians, Jews, black people, women and now --- among others --- LGBT people) and those cast out (dissenters, free-thinkers, recipients of new revelations and the like).
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But back to that gay agenda, here's a link to author and commentator LZ Granderson's exploration of his own --- as well as an assessment that gay lifestyle we've all heard so much about. It's rather long, so I'll summarize: The U.S. Constitution sums up the gay agenda. And the gay lifestyle, for non-Mormons at least, begins most mornings with a cup of coffee.
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As far as my own agenda for the day is concerned --- laundry, two meetings, various phone calls and that grass, which because of the rain is growing again. But it's going to be very hot, high of 97 degrees predicted, so maybe I'll take a subversive gay nap instead after lunch.
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