Salvation Army Official: Gays Deserve Death
(From June)
Salvation Army Official: Gays Deserve Death
Just in time to ruin Gay Pride month, a media relations director for the Salvation Army had no problem reminding us and the queer journalists he was talking to that gays should be put to death. In talking to Australian queer journalists Serena Ryan and Pete Dillon on their Salt and Pepper radio show (audio below which was picked up by Truth Wins Out's John Becker), Major Andrew Craibe, a media relations director for one of the organization's Australian branches, had this exchange with the hosts:
Ryan: According to the Salvation Army, [gay people] deserve death. How do you respond to that, as part of your doctrine?
Craibe: Well, that’s a part of our belief system.
Ryan: So we should die.
Craibe: You know, we have an alignment to the Scriptures, but that’s our belief.
The doctrine they're referring to is, as Queerty's Dan Aver reports, the Salvation Story: Salvationist Handbook of Doctrine, which borrows heavily from Romans 1:18-32 and states:
For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error. . .
They know God’s decree, that those who practise such things deserve to die—yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practise them.
Until this weekend, Craibe's media presence had been mostly non-existent, his last remarks that we found were about children with disabilities, social and financial disadvantages, and their visit to a zoo--not something you would expect from a guy who sounds more or less like a hate monger.
Since Craibe's popped this weekend, the Salvation Army has officially distanced itself from Craibe's remarks with a carefully-worded response. In a statement, Salvation Army spokesman Major Bruce Harmer said Craibe's comments were "extremely regrettable" and Salvation Army members did "not believe, and would never endorse, a view that homosexual activity should result in any form of physical punishment." Harmer goes on to apologize, citing a misunderstanding of the "death" passage (he says the passage refers to "spiritual death" and not physical death):
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2012/06/salvation-army-official-gays-deserve-death/53885/
= new reply since forum marked as read
found here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021709626
ETA: to make it the same size as a real bill, edit the dimensions to 6" x 2.625"
But in this particular case my cousin works for them, and she's as tolerant as they come 
. They have an non-official policy of hiring folks who are 'functional', but not necessarily 'clean' to do certain jobs, just so they might catch a break, and I've yet to see any proselytizing.
Homosexuality
The Salvation Army believes that homosexuality can be properly considered only in the broader context of a biblical understanding of human sexuality in general. The creation account set out in the opening chapters of Genesis reveals the following truths:
1. That we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27);
2. That God created us both male and female (Genesis 1:27);
3. That this differentiation of the sexes is a part of the divine image in the human race (Genesis 1:27);
4. That the loneliness of Adam was remedied by God through the creation of a woman, not a second man (Genesis 2:21, 22);
5. That sexual union leading to a one-flesh relationship is intended to be between male and female (Genesis 2:23, 24);
6. That such union is intended to be in the setting of a permanent and publicly acknowledged relationship forming the basis of a new family unit (Genesis 2:24).
The Bible thus teaches that God’s intention for mankind is that society should be ordered on the basis of lifelong, legally sanctioned, heterosexual unions. Such unions (marriages) lead to the formation of social units (families) which are essential to human personal development and therefore to the stability of the community.
Scripture opposes homosexual practices by direct comment (Leviticus 18:22, 23; 20:13; Romans 1:26, 27; 1 Corinthians 6
; 1 Timothy 1:10) and also by clearly implied disapproval (Genesis 19:1-29; Judges 19:1-30; 2 Peter 2:1-22; Jude 3-23). The Bible treats such practices as self-evidently abnormal. They reject both the obvious implications of human physiology and the potential for procreation. Romans 1 sees homosexual acts as a symptom of a deeper refusal to accept the organising scheme of God for the created order (Romans 1:23-25).
The Army recognises that same-sex friendships can be enriching, Christ-honouring relationships, bringing joy through mutual companionship and sharing. However, same-sex relationships which are genitally expressed are unacceptable according to the teaching of Scripture. Attempts to establish or promote such relationships as viable alternatives to heterosexually-based family life do not conform to God’s will for society.
For this reason, and in obedience to the example of Jesus whose compassionate love was all-embracing, Salvationists seek to understand and sensitively to accept and help those of a homosexual disposition and those who express that disposition in sexual acts. Salvationists are opposed to the victimisation of persons on the grounds of sexual orientation and recognise the social and emotional stress and the loneliness borne by many who are homosexual.
The Army regards the origins of a homosexual orientation as a mystery and does not regard a homosexual disposition as blameworthy in itself or rectifiable at will. Nevertheless, while we are not responsible for what we are, we are accountable for what we do; and homosexual conduct, like heterosexual conduct, is controllable and may be morally evaluated therefore in the light of scriptural teaching.
For this reason such practices, if unrenounced, render a person ineligible for Salvation Army soldiership, in the same way that unrenounced heterosexual misconduct is a bar to soldiership. The Army recognises the strength of feeling about sexual identity, and the difficulty many find in expressing this identity in keeping with scriptural standards.
However, it believes firmly in the power of God’s grace to enable the maintenance of a lifestyle pleasing to him, including a lifestyle built upon celibacy and self-restraint for those who will not or cannot marry. No one who yields to the lordship of Christ and who undertakes by his grace to live in accordance with the teaching of Scripture is excluded from Christian fellowship and service in the Army.
St. Paul's letters, of which this quote from Romans is from, is a well-known quite hateful screed to one's fellow man (look up all the fun stuff on women next! ) and in general colors the 4 Gospels -- the core text of Christian faith and generally a pretty revolutionary theosophy based on individual worth (salvation) and the belief of a loving God -- in a horrible light due to association.
i many not expect my 2000 year old theosophers to be as progressive in their thinking as we may be today, but given the contrast within the singular testament corpus itself, it's rather embarrassingly unacceptable. Jesus was very interesting; St. Paul, though crucial to Christianity's modern founding, is pretty much just an asshole.
Monopoly money.
A voided check made out to "Sorry, I don't contribute to homophobia."
A used hanky. 
They make a clink.
