News

Gay rights activist convicted of manslaughter

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Story from CBS News.

Excerpt:

Bruce LaVallee-Davidson, an outspoken gay rights activist who publicly fought for gay marriage, has been convicted of manslaughter in a bizarre sex game accident that included drugs and guns.

[…]Police say that the shooting occurred while a third man, James Pombriant, was engaged in a sex act with Wilson in the dungeon-like basement of Wilson’s Colonial home in a middle-class neighborhood two blocks from the ocean.

[…]The case had garnered publicity because LaVallee-Davidson is a outspoken advocate for same-sex rights and was in a committed relationship when he testified in favor of keeping Maine’s now-overturned gay marriage law at a public hearing, four days after the discovery of the body of 50-year-old Wilson and a couple of weeks before he was indicted.

LaVallee-Davidson faces up to 30 years in prison. Pombriant was not charged in the killing.

My previous post on why people favor traditional marriage.

Comments will be strictly monitored in order to take Obama’s hate crimes law into account.

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News

Judge rules that Rifqa Bary will remain in foster care until age 18

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Rifqa Bary

Story here from Fox Orlando.

Excerpt:

FOX affiliate WTTE-TV in Columbus, Ohio is reporting that Rifqa Bary, the teenage Christian convert who ran away from her Muslim parents to Florida because of claims that her life was in danger, has reached an agreement with her parents.  Reports indicate that they have agreed she will remain in the custody of the Ohio Office of Families and Children until she reaches 18 years of age, or the family, collectively, decides they want to go to counseling.

[…]The judge decided the teen would be able to receive third-party correspondence and that he would not force mediation between Bary and her parents. Bary did not make any public comments as she exited the court room.

This is good news, but she is still in danger.

Commentary

Contrasting Muslim martyrs and Christian martyrs

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Claudia Rosett

Story from Forbes magazine, by Claudia Rosett. (H/T Muddling Towards Maturity)

Excerpt:

This past Christmas Day brought us the stories of two young men, both willing to martyr themselves for their beliefs, but in ways and for visions so utterly different that their tales might serve as a parable for the defining struggles of our time.

One, as you surely know, was the underwear bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a wealthy young Muslim from a prominent Nigerian family. Following his embrace of radical Islam, he tried to sacrifice himself–allegedly–in a botched attempt to sow terror and death by blowing up an American airliner packed with 289 other people, en route to Detroit. Having entered American air space decked out as a suicide bomber, he is now availing himself of U.S. constitutional rights, granted to him by the Obama Administration, to plead not guilty to criminal charges.

The other martyr, in stark contrast, was a 28-year-old Christian missionary, Robert Park. An American of Korean descent, Park offered himself up peacefully, on Christmas Day, for the cause of life and liberty for others. He went to northeast China, and from there walked across the frozen Tumen River into North Korea. Witnesses told reporters that as he went, he called out, in Korean, messages of God’s love, as well as “I am an American citizen.” He took with him a letter to North Korean tyrant Kim Jong-il, asking Kim to open his country and shut down his prison camps.

Are all religions basically the same? Are the beliefs different? Do different beliefs result in different actions? Does it make sense to equate Islam with Christianity? What do people do when they are fully committed to their religion? These are two different versions of full commitment. Two different versions of full commitment.

Park’s final interview with Reuters is here.