Comments on: Manhattan Declaration Authors Criticize Aspects of Uganda’s “Kill Gays” Bill

By: John Doucette

John Doucette — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:07:31 +0000

If the world governments had any guts, they’d boycott Uganda as they did to South Africa in protest of that country’s apartheid.

By: Emily K

Emily K — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:48:50 +0000

That story from the gospels is rife with falsehood. Not only did hardly anybody at all get stoned through “official” sanction by the Pharisaic Jews (today’s Rabbinical Jews), that form of stoning – randomly throwing rocks at somebody in a street – was not the prescribed legal manner to do so.

If Jesus were a person who followed Jewish law closely, then he would agree with the Pharisees of the day, who imposed stringent restrictions on circumstances that would allow for stoning. Rav Gammaliel said himself that a court that condemns someone to stoning once every 70 years is a murderous court (Makkot 1:10).

By: Richard Rush

Richard Rush — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 23:46:44 +0000

Quo said:

The Manhattan declaration authors are trying to evade the fact that support for capital punishment is perfectly compatible with Christianity, and they’re doing it out of their own squeamishness, rather than for any other reason.

My perception is that, as a group, Evangelical Christians are the most enthusiastic supporters of capital punishment (and of wars) in the United States. And they are the same people who would have us believe they own the concept of “the sanctity of life.”

While it pains me to say something positive about the Roman Catholic Church, they do seem to have evolved into having some consistency on the life issues.

By: Quo

Quo — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 22:48:32 +0000

It’s interesting that the authors of the Manhattan declaration would appeal to the story of the woman caught in adultery in John to argue against capital punishment for homosexuality.

Aside from the fact that it’s a late addition to the text of John that isn’t present in early manuscripts, the Manhatten declaration authors appear to be using it without any regard for its context.

The story describes a scene where scribes and Pharisees are about to commit an act of mob violence, stoning an adulterer on their own initiative. It isn’t about capital punishment carried out by the state. There are other passages in the Gospels, notably Luke 23:39-43, that strongly suggest Jesus would have approved of capital punishment performed by the state, as opposed to random mobs.

The Manhattan declaration authors are trying to evade the fact that support for capital punishment is perfectly compatible with Christianity, and they’re doing it out of their own squeamishness, rather than for any other reason.

By: wackadoodle

wackadoodle — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:15:02 +0000

At this point you could just say “more anti-gay bigots realize their position on Uganda is bad PR and pretend to denounce it while still reminding everyone in Uganda homosexuals are sick evil godless people who deserve whatever they get for their CHOICES”

Its a much shorter article.