Silverfoxesclub-digest
Saturday, January 6 2001
Volume 01 : Number 099

In this issue:

Program Note
Phelps to picket Mary Cheney
Today is Little Christmas

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From: Edward eho01@alumni.poly.edu
Subject: Program Note

For those who are interested, in the US tonight, the news magazine 20/20 will be doing a program about the prevelance of AIDS in the Catholic priesthood. They will be interviewing priests who have AIDS and must remain silent due to the views of the Vatican.
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From: "Ben Boxer"
Subject: Phelps to picket Mary Cheney

Ben Boxer comments: That a man like Phelps is allowed the honor of the title "Reverend" is a disgrace. It has not ceased to amaze me in the past couple of years that the American Christian community has not risen up en masse in protest against the shenanigans of Phelps and his band of Baptist hobgoblins. Of course, the Southern Baptist Convention is really no better than he, just a shade less aggressive in their hateful behavior. If there is an anti-Christ in our time, it must surely be the universal Christian animus toward gays from the top of the Roman Catholic hierarchy to the dregs represented by Phelps. This malevolence (sharp-toothed unkindness) has inverted the Christian message of "Love thy neighbor as thyself" into "Despise those unlike oneself." There is neither spiritual nor social redemption in that.

Headline:
Phelps to picket Mary Cheney
(The Advocate, 01/05/01)

Text:
The Rev. Fred Phelps, the antigay Baptist minister from Topeka, Kan., best known for picketing the funerals of Matthew Shepard and people who have died of AIDS complications, plans to picket Mary Cheney and her father in Conifer, Colo., on January 13. In a press release, Phelps says, "America, beware! Dick Cheney is an arch-deceiver, another Wyoming antichrist pushing the unholy fag agenda, to cover his own sins. Cheney is prepared to sodomize all of America, by pretending it's OK to be gay." Phelps says the vice president-elect is "using his dyke daughters sinful lifestyle for political advantage and spitting in the face of God. Cheney's health is frail. God has set him in slippery places. His foot shall slide."
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From: "Ben Boxer"
Subject: Today is Little Christmas

Ben Boxer wishes a happy day to those who celebrate Epiphany.

Last night was Twelfth Night. Now it's time to take the decorations down. Proper ceremony calls for burning the Christmas tree, but don't do it in the house!

Epiphany [Gr.,=showing], a prime Christian feast, celebrated Jan. 6, is called also Twelfth Day or Little Christmas. Its eve is Twelfth Night. It commemorates three eventsthe baptism of Jesus (Mark 1), the visit of the Wise Men to Bethlehem (Mat. 2), and the miracle at Cana (John 2). In his baptism Jesus' sonship to God was manifested to the world; in the visit of the Wise Men he was manifested as king to the Gentiles; and at the marriage feast at Cana his power to perform miracles (a divine prerogative) was shown.

In popular celebration the feast is far more ancient than Christmas. Technically it is more important than Christmas, ranking after Easter and Pentecost. It is a day of gifts in many countries. In the Eastern Church the waters are blessed on this day. The word epiphany means a manifestation, usually of divine power.

The age old mix of Pagan and Christian rituals that mark the end of Yuletide festivities have been largely forgotten - all that remains in this modern day is the tradition of taking down the tinsel.

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End of silverfoxesclub-digest V1 #99
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