It’s not like they’re known for helping people anyway.  Look, it’s another faux martyr:

A woman who worked as a counselor for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claims she was wrongly fired because of religious discrimination for refusing to advise a woman in a same-sex relationship, and she asked a federal appeals court Thursday to let her bring a lawsuit against the Atlanta-based agency.

There’s no dispute that a woman came to Marcia Walden in 2007 for advice involving a same-sex relationship, and Walden was let go after she told the woman she couldn’t help because her “personal values” as a devout Christian prevented her from offering any assistance. The woman, who was not named in legal filings, complained to administrators that she felt “judged and condemned” by Walden after the encounter.

The company that the CDC had hired to provide counseling services, Computer Sciences Corporation, terminated Walden at the CDC’s request.

The CDC and the company told the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals that Walden could have simply referred the employee to another counselor without explanation. They argued that Walden’s religious beliefs didn’t require her to tell the client about her moral objections to engaging in same-sex relationship counseling.

“The CDC intervened and said we can’t have a counselor who wants to exclude an entire segment of the population,” said Jeffrey Schwartz, an attorney for the contractor. “It would destroy the integrity of the program. People don’t want to come in and see a counselor if they are going to be kicked in the knees.”

And that’s what Fundamentalist counselors do with anyone who doesn’t conform to their little worldview. They kick them in the knees.

But this seems to be a consistent problem with fundamentalists trying to be counselors, so maybe their “colleges” should simply recommend that they either pursue unaccredited “Christian counseling” or stay away from the field. I imagine it would be better for both sides.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington DC continues to show its true colors:

The Archdiocese of Washington has decided to drop its foster care program over a dispute on pending same-sex marriage law with the District of Columbia.

The decision, posted late yesterday on the archdiocese’ Web site, announced that the archdiocese had ceased its 80-year-old program Feb. 1, the day the city’ contract expired with Catholic Charities, the church’ social services arm.

(…)

Catholic Charities, which runs more than 20 social service programs for the District, transferred its entire foster-care program — 43 children, 35 families and seven staff members — to another provider, the National Center for Children and Families.

Priorities! It’s amazing to me that the Catholic Church still laughably considers itself the one true church, because they don’t seem to know their Bibles very well at all! The Bible mentions same gender marriage exactly, um, zero times, and gay sex six times. Even then, the condemnations involve rape, coercion, domination, and tribal practices, so it’s not really “sexytime” they’re talking about anyway. But that same book has a whole buncha verses about caring for the downtrodden, with a particular emphasis on orphans.

But then again, I guess if the Catholic church can’t keep the kids under close priestly supervision, they’d rather not deal with them at all.

Can we finally stop pretending they’re a moral authority on any subject?

Focus on the Family Promotes Culture of Death, Says TWO

NEW YORK — TruthWinsOut.org (TWO) condemned Focus on the Family today for distorting Centers for Disease Control (CDC) statistics on HIV and encouraging the very sexual behavior that spreads the disease. By doing so, Focus on the Family is promoting a culture of death and encouraging sexually active people to act recklessly and irresponsibly, says TWO.

Last week, the United States acknowledged it had underreported new cases of HIV. It revised the statistics from approximately 40,000 new infections in 2006, to 56,000 – a 40 percent increase. Focus on the Family spokesperson Jeff Johnston shamelessly exploited the revised data to oppose safer-sex practices, which would have prevented nearly all of the reported infections. Instead, he implied that gay men should marry women they did not find sexually attractive:

“Outside of a faithful marriage between a man and a woman, there is no ‘afe sex,’” said Johnston. “It is irresponsible to teach people that you can have ‘afe sex’ or ‘afer sex’ outside of marriage.”

“It is undeniable that safe sex works and has saved the lives of millions of people,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. “Contrary to Focus on the Family’ death-promoting dogma, there is no HIV crisis for gay or straight men who practice the very safe sex techniques that they have irresponsibly dismissed. Furthermore, how is a gay man in a relationship any more at risk than a heterosexual man in a relationship? Focus on the Family’ propaganda defies science, logic and common sense.”

It is also odd that Focus on the Family presumes that marriage is a panacea that makes teaching safe sex unnecessary. Mike Trout, the longtime co-host on Focus on the Family’ radio program, said on Oct. 17, 2000 that he had an inappropriate relationship with a woman other than his wife.

“Right wingers should learn about condoms too, so when they cheat on their spouses, they do so safely and not bring STD’ into the home,” said Besen. “This is particularly true in Bible Belt states which have the highest divorce rates in the nation. It is never helpful to promote ignorance over education — and that is precisely the sex education paradigm embraced by Focus on the Family.”
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