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In the culture wars it is all too easy for some Catholics to react against the gay culture by rejecting all people who experience same sex attraction. The difficulties that people with same sex attraction experience are complex and the Catechism of the Catholic Church says they should be treated with compassion, respect and sensitivity.

If people who experience same sex attraction are not bullied and rejected by Catholics they are often ignored. A culture of dont ask dont tell exists in which people with same sex attraction are accepted but expected to keep their sexual orientation under wraps. Instead of this, there are calls for Catholics to build bridges and welcome homosexual people.

One of the challenges in this conversation is the definition of terms. For the vast majority of people the term gay indicates a homosexual person who is sexually active. The word gay began to be associated with homosexuality and the gay liberation movement in the mid 1960s. Gay then became the chosen terminology of homosexual activists.

It is certainly correct therefore, to use the word gay for active homosexuals and homosexual campaigners, but it would not be accurate to use the term for all people who experience same sex attraction. In other words, there are many people who experience same sex attraction who are not gay.

Therefore to use the term gay for them puts them into a category or social group they do not wish to belong to. Some people might choose the word gay as an identifier, but many would not. Saying all people with same sex attraction are gay is to put them into a cultural ghetto.

This is often accompanied by the usual stereotyping. Thus we hear sympathetic Catholics say things like, Gay people bring many gifts to the church. So many of them are wonderful musicians Really? That sounds like the person who says, Gay men are so talented. My friend Randy is just marvelous when it comes to choosing wallpaper and curtains. Such stereotyping is one of the unconscious habits of the prejudiced and contributes to the misunderstanding of people with SSA.

To use the term gay is degrading to people who experience same sex attraction but who are not actively gay. It is degrading because it defines them only by their sexual urges, and all of us are more fascinating, complex and expansive than our sexual inclinations.

Those who would demand that we use the word gay for all people with same sex attraction ignore and marginalize the many Catholics who pursue chastity and reject the gay subculture and gay activism.

Happily, the true Catholic approach is not to marginalize and create a ghetto for a gay community but to welcome and integrate individuals with same sex attraction. All of us are created in Gods image and, although that image is wounded by sin, God looks on all his children and says, Thats good! This is why, as long ago as 1980, Terence Cardinal Cooke of New York established a ministry that built bridges of compassion, respect and sensitivity to people who are attracted to the same sex.

He called on Father John Harvey, a priest who was already working in this field of ministry. With the help of Father Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R., and others, Harvey began the Courage Apostolate with its first meeting in September, 1980 at the Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in New York City.

For nearly forty years the Courage Apostolate has reached out to people with same sex attraction and their families. Endorsed by the Vatican as an authentic apostolate, Courage now has more than a hundred chapters and personal contacts with over 1,500 people worldwide. In addition, hundreds of individuals receive assistance from the main office and website every week.

It is important to understand that Courage works one on one with individualsnot with a vaguely defined gay community or pressure group. Instead of stereotyping, they meet each man or woman and their families where they areeach with their own story and their own set of circumstances.

Courage is sometimes criticized for attempting to pressure people with same sex attraction to change. Former director of Courage, Father Paul Check denies that they use any kind of conversion therapy. Instead they offer counseling, fellowship and support based on the classic twelve step program pioneered by Alcoholics Anonymous.

Courage accepts and welcomes people with same sex attraction as they are, and describes its goals as chastity, prayer and dedication, fellowship, support, good example.

The dissident group New Ways Ministry, on the other hand, suggests that having a lesbian or gay identity is a blessing from God, and that Courage is being anti-pastoral in its work. New Ways Ministry calls for acceptance not only of people with same sex attraction, but for acceptance of those who campaign for gay identity and same sex marriage.

The leaders of New Ways Ministry do not recommend Courage, while the executive director of another dissident group DignityUSA, said in 2014 that Courage is really problematic and very dangerous to peoples spiritual health. And we have been very concerned about it for a lot of years.

The Courage website outlines the resources the apostolate offers to individuals and their families. One of the dynamic things about the Courage apostolate is the diverse background of participants. The testimony of a man who took part in one of the apostolates sports camps, for example, reported the powerful experience of sharing the weeks activities with plenty of non-Catholic Christians, Jews, a Muslim and men from France, Israel, Haiti and every part of the U.S.

The website also connects readers to the resources for chaplains, parish priests and counselors as well as books, websites and an annual conference for support and fellowship. Meanwhile their subset EnCourage offers support and fellowship for family members of people who are attracted to the same sex.

It is easy to put our heads in the sand and ignore people with SSA, but following Jesus example, we are to welcome everyone to the narrow way of following Christ the Lord. We should recall the meeting Jesus had with the tax collector Zacchaeus. Jesus welcomed him, and Zacchaeuss immediate humble response was not pride, but repentance and reparation.

Reaching out to individuals who experience same sex attraction may be difficult, but following Jesus example with Courage it can be done.

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Courage: Offering compassion, respect and sensitivity - Crux: Covering all things Catholic

In the blood-red state of Alabama, afiery, outspoken jurist is running for U.S. Senate by standing up for what he believes.

Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore doesnt shrink from telling voters he has twice been ousted from the bench for defying federal courts over the Ten Commandments and same-sex marriage.

Instead, he wears those rejections as a badge of honor, telling Republican voters that they are akin to battle scars.

I will not only say what is right, I will do what is right, Moore said during a June forum in the east Alabama city of Oxford.

Moore is part of a crowded GOP field vying to fill Attorney General Jeff Sessions old seat in the U.S. Senate. Moores iconic status in the culture wars gives him a strong GOP voter base and makes him a leading contender in the primary on August 15.

But hes also a polarizing figure. Some voters said they are voting for him because of his past fights.

Others said they want someone elsefor the same reasons. Southern Poverty Law Center President Richard Cohen, who filed the complaint that led to Moores removal, last year referred to him as the Ayatollah of Alabama for intertwining his personal religious beliefs and judicial responsibilities.

Incumbent Sen. Luther Strange,appointed last year by the states former governor and backed by Republican establishment, faces multiple challengers. Among them, in addition to Moore, is U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, a member of the House Freedom Caucus who has the endorsement of Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham. The race could lead to a runoff between the top two primary finishers.

The Senate Leadership Fund, whichhas ties to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and tries to bank candidates perceived as winnable in general elections, has put its fiscal force behind Strange.

The Republican National Committee last week authorized its Senate campaign arm, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, to spend $350,000 on the Alabama Senate race, money that is expected to benefit Strange.

Moore is a West Point graduate and former military policeman during Vietnam. He became a prosecutor, circuit judge and then state chief justice.

But Alabamas judicial discipline panel twice stripped him of his chief justice duties. In 2003 he was removed for disobeying a federal judges order to remove a boulder-sized Ten Commandments monument from the state courthouse.

He re-took the chief justicesoffice in 2012, but was suspended for the remainder of his term last year.

The suspension not, technically, a removal came after Moore wrote a memo telling probate judges that they remained under a state court order to deny marriage licenses to gay couples even though the U.S. Supreme Court ruled gays and lesbians have a fundamental right to marry. While he was suspended, Moore left the bench to run for Senate.

I stood up to same-sex marriagelegally by pointing out active injunctions. They didnt like that. I opposed the agenda of the Supreme Court, and they came after me, Moore said in Oxford.

Thirty-nine-year-old Emily Holland said she admires Moore. He goes by what the Bible says, said Holland. He has been to war. He refused to take down the Ten Commandments.

Jean Hobson said she watched the Oxford debate to learn more about the other candidates, but knows shes not voting for Strange or Moore.

Judge Moore has been elected twice and thrown out twice, Hobson said.

Moore also discusses other issues on the campaign trail including a call for increased military spending but its his well-known history that appears to be drivingboth his support and his opposition.

For now, The Judge, as Moore is nicknamed, revels in his outsider status in a year of anti-Washington sentiment.

Washington doesnt want me, evidently, from the money they are pouring behind one of the candidates and from the message we received from Washington. Thats OK, Moore said with a slight grin as he removed his sunglasses during a sweltering June campaign stop on the Alabama Capitol steps. Im looking forward to going and representing the people of Alabama, what they stand for. What they believe in is what I believe in and Ill take it to Washington whether they like it or they dont.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Roy Moore: Former chief justice, fiery and outspoken, stirs far-right base in Alabama Senate race - Fox News

JERUSALEM The U.N. cultural organization declared an ancient shrine in the occupied West Bank a Palestinian heritage site on Friday, prompting Israel to further cut its funding to the United Nations.

UNESCO designated Hebron and the two adjoined shrines at its heart the Jewish Tomb of the Patriarchs and the Muslim Ibrahimi Mosque a Palestinian World Heritage Site in Danger.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called that another delusional UNESCO decision and ordered that $1 million be diverted from Israels U.N. funding to establish a museum and other projects covering Jewish heritage in Hebron.

The funding cut is Israels fourth in the past year, taking its U.N. contribution from $11 million to just $1.7 million, an Israeli official said. Each cut has come after various U.N. bodies voted to adopt decisions which Israel said discriminated against it.

Palestinian Foreign Minister, Reyad Al-Maliki, said the UNESCO vote, at a meeting in Krakow, Poland, was proof of the successful diplomatic battle Palestine has launched on all fronts in the face of Israeli and American pressure on (UNESCO) member countries.

Hebron is the largest Palestinian city in the occupied West Bank with a population of some 200,000. About 1,000 Israeli settlers live in the heart of the city and for years it has been a place of religious friction between Muslims and Jews.

Jews believe that the Cave of the Patriarchs is where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their wives, are buried. Muslims, who, like Christians, also revere Abraham, built the Ibrahimi mosque, also known as the Sanctuary of Abraham, in the 14th century.

The religious significance of the city has made it a focal point for settlers, who are determined to expand the Jewish presence there. Living in the heart of the city, they require intense security, with some 800 Israeli troops protecting them.

Even before Netanyahus budget announcement, Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan signaled Israel would seek to further make its mark at the Hebron shrine, tweeting: UNESCO will continue to adopt delusional decisions but history cannot be erased we must continue to manifest our right by building immediately in the Cave of the Patriarchs.

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CULTURE WARS | Israel cuts funding as UNESCO declares Hebron shrine Palestinian - InterAksyon

The Liberty Conservative

Culture Wars Within the Heart of Texas | The Liberty Conservative The Liberty Conservative When I was growing up in probably the reddest of red states, Texas, it was as easy to spot someone from Austin as it was to spot an NRA member, whose ... and more »

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Culture Wars Within the Heart of Texas | The Liberty Conservative - The Liberty Conservative

Bay VIEW The Bay View Education Department will present a new lecture for this summer called Bridges: Crossing Cultural Divides.

The lecture, sponsored by Donald Loyd long-time friend and supporter of Bay View will discuss the areas of diversity and other cultural issues facing our society.

The event takes place at 7 p.m. on July 11 in Voorhies Hall in Bay View with the selected speaker, Dr. John Corvino, professor and chairman of the Philosophy Department at Wayne State University in Detroit.

Corvino, also an author/lecturer, is the recipient of several awards including the 2012 Professor of the Year Award from the Presidents Council of the State Universities of Michigan and a 2004 Spirit of Detroit Award.

Corvinos specific focus in the lecture is conversation stoppers and the culture wars.

Ill be talking about how the importance of dialogue and how the way the things we say sometimes hinder rather than help dialogue, Corvino said. My hope is to give people some tools for building bridges across moral and cultural divides.

Corvino graduated from Chaminade High School, an all-boys Catholic school, in 1987. He attended St Johns University in New York City, graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in 1990. He earned his Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin in 1998.

Corvinos writing has appeared at The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Advocate, the Huffington Post, The New Republic, and Commonweal Magazine, as well as in numerous academic anthologies and journals.

Known as The Gay Moralist, (his column appeared biweekly in Between The Lines (BTL) from 2002-2007) he has spoken at more than 200 campuses on issues of sexuality, ethics and marriage.

Corvino, who for years has been researching LGBT equality, said weve been seeing remarkable progress in terms of cultural acceptance.

Access to legal marriage is probably the most significant example, but there is also the less tangible but nonetheless crucial fact of greater visibility, Corvino said. At the same time, we are increasingly polarized politically and socially. And while homophobia, racism, sexism and other ideologies may be less prevalent and visible, they remain destructive where they do exist.

Corvino recently completed a point/counterpoint book, Debating Religious Liberty and Discrimination, published by Oxford University Press in June. Ryan T. Anderson and Sherif Girgis co-author the counterpoint.

In it, we explore some emerging conflicts, including those involving clerks who do not wish to authorize same-sex marriages; bakers, florists and other wedding providers who do not wish to sell goods for same-sex weddings; corporations that seek religious exemptions from legal regulations and so on, Corvino said.

I also have written some opinion pieces and released a new series of YouTube videos in conjunction with the book, Corvino added. My main concern is how claims of religious liberty are sometimes used to justify religious privilege and to harm vulnerable minorities.

Corvino also heavily studies metaethics, and based a dissertation on moral theory of the 18th Century Scottish philosopher David Hume.

I have long been interested in questions of how we justify our moral claims, both specific judgements such as moral evaluations of same-sex relationships and more general foundations, Corvino said. Hume was important in developing and defending a moral view that treated sentiments or emotions as crucial and has been receiving renewed attention in light of recent developments in moral psychology.

The July 11 program is open to the public and donations at the door are appreciated and are tax deductible.

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Renowned author/lecturer Corvino to visit Bay View July 11 - Petoskey News-Review