There is no question that the murders back in 1969 were horrible and that those that committed them deserved punishment. But enough is enough. It is time to grant compassionate release to Susan Atkins, if for no other reason than the cost to the state of guarding her. But there are other reasons. As people of God, we must hold out the hope for redemption for even those that appear to deserve it the least. Susan Atkins is no longer a threat to society. It is time for society to do the right thing.

Trust me, I feel your pain …

Dobson took aim at Obama’s asking which Biblical passages should guide public policy — chapters like Leviticus, which Obama said suggests slavery is OK and eating shellfish is an abomination, or Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. “Folks haven’t been reading their Bibles,” Obama said. Dobson accuses Obama of wrongly equating Old Testament texts and dietary codes that no longer apply to Jesus’ teachings in the New Testament. “I think he’s deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology,” Dobson said. ”He is dragging biblical understanding through the gutter.”

Of course, Obama is hardly the first to raise the question of which Biblical principles should be applied in creating public policy. And he raises an important issue: just which principles are now antiquated and no longer need to be followed? I hardly think Dobson would agree that the Old Testament texts used to justify a Biblical injunction against same sex marriage would be antiquated.

So the question really is—and this is especially important when you look at what Jesus had to say about homosexuality (which is absolutely nothing)—how can we tell which part of the Bible is antiquated and need not be followed, and which part isn’t? Can you answer that for us, James?

What has happened is a lot of love expressed. There are a lot of happier people in California. County coffers are filling up with revenue from the issuance of marriage licenses. The wedding industry is having a field day filling orders for wedding cakes, formal wear, wedding halls, you name it.

In my home of Martinez, a small group from the Westboro Baptist Church, the family (and that all it is—one family) from Kansas led by Fred Phelps who demonstrate all around the country against homosexuality, was spreading their hate here this morning at the wedding of Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder Steve Weir and his partner John Hemm. The CC Times website has video coverage and I’m sure it will be on the news elsewhere tonight.

One’s first reaction tends to be of sadness and disgust, but I will never forget the time this same group showed up in 2001 outside of Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) General Assembly/United Church of Christ General Synod in Kansas City with a big demonstration. The youth of the churches, however, organized on their own an even bigger counter-demonstration across the street, and that evening Mary Donovan Turner, now the dean of Pacific School of Religion, delivered one of the greatest sermons I have ever heard, one that, without mentioning them directly, addressed the events of the day in a way that was as Christ-like as one human being could be. I have never been prouder of my denomination than I was that day.

And I am pretty darn proud of my church today, too. Thank you to Janet Appel, a lay member of First Christian Church Concord for your leadership and grace and for being out in front on such an important day as yesterday by performing the first same sex marriage in Alameda County. Thank you to all of you who support our ministries and our sense of social and individual justice. Not all of us agree on all of the issues of the day all of the time – and that’s certainly okay, in fact it’s the way I think it should be – but we all practice our faith passionately and honestly and with a deep commitment to creating a better world for all of God’s people. My church truly is an inclusive, loving community of faith and justice, seeking, celebrating, and serving Christ through open minds, committed hearts, and willing hands.

It’s a great day to be a person of faith and a Californian.

The program, which critics say is largely symbolic, is part of a nationwide “re-greening” initiative launched by President Yudhoyono at the Bali Conference last November when million of trees were planted across the country. Deforestation has long been a major problem in the country, the result of illegal logging, mining, new oil palm plantations, and slash-and-burn land clearing. 

Having been to that part of the world in 2005, I read with interest stories about the “uncontacted” tribes in the Amazon (of course, they are not “uncontacted” at all, having got close enough to take pictures and be shot at with arrows, as the story relates, but that’s beside the point). 

I’m not really sure whether having further contact with them is a good thing or not, but when I visited a village that was roughly eight hours by powerboat from the nearest town in the state of Para, here’s what I found. Ostensibly, the satellite dish is there to permit the government representative living in the village to communicate with the government offices far away. What the village does every night, however, is gather in the building where a single television exists and watch TV.

It seems that Dunkin’ Donuts—that seductive hangout for local cops the nation over—has dropped an online ad campaign featuring that radical Islamist Rachael Ray because conservative bloggers complained a scarf worn by Ms. Ray around her neck resembled a kaffiyeh, the traditional Arab headdress that nitwits like Michelle Malkin (and no, I’m not going to link to her blog—you’ll have to find it all by yourself) claim have come to symbolize Muslim extremism and terrorism.

I don’t know about you, but when I look at Rachael Ray in that paisley scarve, around her neck, no less, the last thing I’m thinking about is Yassir Arafat.

For his part, McCain, of course, while he once referred to Parsley as “one of the truly great leaders in America, a moral compass, a spiritual guide,” keeps reminding everyone that he was not a member of either Hagee or Parsley’s church for the last twenty years, an obvious reference to Obama’s affiliation with Jeremiah Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. 

McCain has been a member of North Phoenix Baptist Church for a number of years. If I were his pastor, whose name is Dan Yeary, I think I would be rather nervous right about now, wondering what I’ve said that may come back to haunt me … and Senator McCain.

Note also that six of the seven justices are Republicans and that Governor Schwarzenegger has come out against the proposed ballot initiative currently being certified for the November ballot. Some pundits have attributed Bush’s 2004 re-election to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s directive to issue seme-sex marriage licenses (which is what prompted this litigation in the first place). All of this will make for an interesting time come November, and may once again put California in play for the Republicans, or at the very least make the Democrats spend more money and resources in California protecting what would otherwise be a safely blue state. 

“In my zeal to oppose anti-Semitism and bigotry in all its ugly forms, I have often emphasized the darkest chapters in the history of Catholics and Protestant relations with the Jews. In the process, I may have contributed to the mistaken impression that the anti-Jewish violence of the Crusades and the Inquisition defines the Catholic Church. It most certainly does not.”

It was John McCain’s seeking and acceptance of Hagee’s endorsement and McCain’s at least initial refusal to reject Hagee’s controversial statements that prompted increased media scrutiny, especially in light of the problems Barack Obama has faced with his pastor, Jeremiah Wright.

I haven’t been able to find the actual text of the letter, so it is not clear whether Hagee repudiated any of the other controversial positions he has taken over the years, and, other than for political purposes, one has to wonder why he wrote this letter. Hagee has often made references to the Roman Catholic Chruch as ”the apostate church” and the “great whore.” Hagee now says he better understands that his use of those descriptions, taken from the New Testament book of Revelation, are “a rhetorical device long employed in anti-Catholic literature and commentary.” He just figured this out now?

And there is no word on whether he still believes some of his other wacky statements: about Israel, his belief that Katrina was the result of God being angry at a gay pride parade in New Orleans, that the Koran teaches that all Muslims want to kill Jews and Christians, and, well, I could go on.

UPDATE (May 22, 2008): John McCain has just repudiated Hagee’s endorsement after audio has surfaced where Hagee claims Hitler was sent by God to help Jews reach the promised land. In a variant on the old you-can’t-fire-me-I-quit routine, Hagee has released a statement saying he is tired of “baseless attacks” and is removing himself from any active role in the 2008 campaign.