President Obama to speak at the HRC dinner Saturday

HRC National Dinner sold out, President Obama to deliver keynote speech


The Human Rights Campaign announced yesterday that President Barack Obama will deliver the keynote address at the sold-out 13th Annual HRC National Dinner on Saturday, Oct. 10th. Also appearing at the event will be Representative Patrick Kennedy presenting the first Edward M. Kennedy National Leadership Award to Judy and Dennis Shepard.
The New York Times published a story last week examining the extra lifetime cost of being in a same-sex relationship. Factoring in extra taxes, expenses and lack of benefits, the extra lifetime cost for couples fell anywhere between $41,000 and $467,000. The journalists concluded that the legalization of same-sex marriage lowers the cost in almost every area.


SOURCE: http://www.hrc.org/equally_speaking.htm









---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



What will they think of next?
Game show looks to convert atheists
Fri Jul 3, 2009 11:55am EDT
By Daren Butler
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - What happens when you put a Muslim imam, a Christian priest, a rabbi and a Buddhist monk in a room with 10 atheists?
Turkish television station Kanal T hopes the answer is a ratings success as it prepares to launch a gameshow where spiritual guides from the four faiths will seek to convert a group of non-believers.
The prize for converts will be a pilgrimage to a holy site of their chosen religion -- Mecca for Muslims, the Vatican for Christians, Jerusalem for Jews and Tibet for Buddhists.
But religious authorities in Muslim but secular Turkey are not amused by the twist on the popular reality game show format and the Religious Affairs Directorate is refusing to provide an imam for the show.
"Doing something like this for the sake of ratings is disrespectful to all religions. Religion should not be a subject for entertainment programs," High Board of Religious Affairs Chairman Hamza Aktan told state

Oral Roberts University in decay. Photographs by Craig Thurston.

Most of the original buildings on the ORU campus were built in the early and mid-'60s. The post-modern architecture makes the entire campus look futuristic in a Jetson's sort of way. However, these aging structures are getting harder to maintain and are certainly showing their age.

news agency Anatolian after news of the planned program emerged.
The makers of "Penitents Compete" are unrepentant and reject claims that the show, scheduled to begin broadcasting in September, will cheapen religion.
"We are giving the biggest prize in the world, the gift of belief in God," Kanal T chief executive Seyhan Soylu told Reuters.
"We don't approve of anyone being an atheist. God is great and it doesn't matter which religion you believe in. The important thing is to believe," Soylu said.
The project focuses attention on the issue of religious identity in European Union-candidate Turkey, where rights groups have raised concerns over freedom of religion for non-Muslim minorities.
Detractors of the ruling AK Party government, which is rooted in political Islam but officially secular, accuse it of having a hidden Islamist agenda, a charge it denies.
Some 200 people have so far applied to take part in the show and the 10 contestants will be chosen next month.
A team of theologians will ensure that the atheists are truly non-believers and are not just seeking fame or a free holiday.

(Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Dominic Evans)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved

My comment: I am surprised that the Evangelicals in America haven’t thought about doing this here. Maybe they can offer as a prize a trip to Alaska so that Palin’s minister can do an exorcism. What about free tuition at Oral Roberts University?
And then again, what is the incentive to a real Atheist? The trip or being on television? An Atheist by the definition is already convinced that God doesn’t exist therefore the show is doomed to fail.