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Religious Upbringing and Culture Affects Rates of Homosexuality

2007-11-14T01:57:47Z

Arthur:

'''Religious upbringing and culture affects rates of homosexuality'''. Dr. Neil Whitehead is a research scientist and [[biochemistry|biochemist]] and is his wife Briar Whitehead is a writer.<ref>[http://www.narth.com/docs/mygenes.html Book Review: My Genes Made Me Do It: A Scientific Look at Sexual Orientation
by Neil and Briar Whitehead]</ref> Dr. Whitehead coauthored a book with with his wife entitled ''My Genes Made Me Do it - a scientific look at sexual orientation'' which argues that there is no [[gene]]tic determinism in regards to homosexuality (homosexuals are "not born that way") and that there is abundant documentation that individuals are able to leave homosexuality and become heterosexuals.<ref>http://www.mygenes.co.nz/download.htm</ref>
[[Image:Rabbi_02.jpg‎|right|225px|thumb|Homosexuality appears to be rare in [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jews]] seen here with their "special partners."]]
Dr. Whitehead and Briar Whitehead state in their aforementioned book the following:
{{Cquote|If homosexuality were significantly influenced by [[gene]]s, it would appear in every culture, but in twenty-nine of seventy-nine cultures surveyed by Ford and Beach in 1952, homosexuality was rare or absent. It was very rare in the [[Siriono]], even though there were no prohibitions on homosexual relationships in that culture. The researcher observed only one man displaying slight homosexual traits but apparently not sexually involved with another man. Homosexuality appears to be rare among [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jews]], so much so that learned rabbis, the interpreters of Jewish law, usually allowed men to sleep in the same bed, because likelihood of sexual contact was considered negligible. [[Alfred Kinsey|Kinsey]] also found very low homosexual incidence among Orthodox Jews...

This evidence comes from missionaries who commonly spend 25 years of their lives living in one culture, far
more than almost any anthropologist....Overall they can be considered as reliable witnesses. For example, in contrast to groups like the [[Sambia]] in the [[New Guinea]] highlands, where homosexuality was compulsory, only about 2-3 percent of Western [[Dani]] (also in the New Guinea highlands) practiced it. However, in another group of Dani who were genetically related, homosexuality was totally unknown. Missionaries report that when they were translating the [[Bible]] into Dani for this group, their tribal assistants, who knew their own culture intimately, were nonplused by references to homosexuality in [[Romans]] 1; they did not understand the concept. Another missionary, with the same group for 25 years, overheard many jests and sexually ribald exchanges among the men, but never a single mention of homosexuality in all that time. When Dani went to help with missionary work among the Sambia, they were astounded at some of the homosexual practices they saw for the first time. Although it is always difficult for a foreigner to be completely sure whether a rare and stigmatized behavior exists, it is certainly true that if three such different experiences of homosexuality can occur in groups of people so closely related genetically, genetically enforced homosexuality is an impossibility.<ref>[http://www.mygenes.co.nz/download.htm My Genes Made Me Do it - a scientific look at sexual orientation by Dr Neil Whitehead and Briar Whitehead - Chapter 6]</ref>}}

Herbert Hendin wrote:
{{Cquote|Anthropologists had observed that relatively uncompetitive primitive cultures such as those that do not distinguish or reward the best hunters in distinction to the other men in the tribe have virtually no homosexuality."<ref>"Kardiner and Linton, in a psychoanalytic anthropological study of Tanala, examined homosexuality in the context of the entire Tanalese culture (1939). They showed that a dramatic rise in homosexuality when social and economic forces inflamed competitiveness was one of several manifestations of frustrated rage (crime was another) among young men who were having particular difficulty with the pressures the culture was exerting on them. [http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=jaa.006.0479a Homosexuality: The Psychosocial Dimension] - ''Journal of American Academy of Psychoanalysis'', 6:479-496(1978) </ref>}}
==See Also==
*[[Homosexuality]]
*[[Homosexuality and Genetics]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Homosexuality]]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Sociology]]

Warren Burger

2007-11-14T01:56:41Z

Arthur:

'''Warren Earl Burger''' (mmmmm. Burgers.) (1907-1995) was born in St. Paul [[Minnesota]] on September 17, 1907. In a family of seven children, Burger earned his way through [[college]] and law school. He practiced law for more than twenty years, but during this period he was active in the Minnesota state [[Republican Party]]. Burger worked for the [[United States Department of Justice]] under [[Dwight Eisenhower|President Eisenhower]], who nominated Burger in 1956 to the [[United States Court of Appeals]] for the [[District of Columbia]] Circuit.

Burger was appointed by President [[Richard Nixon]] in 1969 to replace [[Earl Warren]] as Chief Justice of the [[United States]]. He was a strong advocate of "strict constructionism", a philosophy whereby one attempts to base one's decisions upon the literal text of the [[Constitution]]. Burger identified with the Court's [[conservative]] wing and frequently voted to limit the [[liberal]] decisions of the [[Warren Court]]. Burger was not one-dimensional, however. He authored the Court's opinion upholding the right of trial judges to order busing as a remedy for school [[segregation]] and he spoke for a unanimous Court upholding a [[subpoena]] for the [[Watergate]] tapes which resulted in President Nixon's resignation.

Chief Justice Burger was famously known as someone who "looked the part," dignified in appearance with silver hair and possessing social skills that worked well among top officials in [[Washington, D.C.]]. But his loosely reasoned opinions became fodder for use by the [[liberal]] wing of the Court, as his ''[[Lemon v. Kurtzman]]'' opinion on the [[Establishment Clause]] became a leading precedent for driving religion out of public life. Chief Justice Burger was unable to hold for very long the support of Associate Justice [[Harry Blackmun]], who was appointed by President [[Richard Nixon]] on the hope that Justice Blackmun would follow the lead of his Minnesota colleague.

In ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'', Chief Justice Burger voted with the majority of the court in favor of [[abortion]] but supposedly only did so to enable him to assign the writing of the opinion to Justice Blackmun rather than to Justice [[William Brennan]], who was expected to write a more [[liberal]] decision.<ref>The Chief Justice has the power to assign who writes the opinion for the side that he is on; the writer of the opinion on the other side is determined by the most senior judge on that side.</ref> As it turned out, Justice Brennan had tremendous influence over the writing of the decision anyway.

==External Links==
http://www.oyez.org/justices/warren_e_burger/

== References ==
<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burger, Warren}}

[[Category:United States Supreme Court Justices]]

Burger Court

2007-11-14T01:56:14Z

Arthur:

The Burger Court (mmmmm. Burgers....) consists of the decisions of the United States Supreme Court between 1969, when [[Warren Burger]] began serving as the Chief Justice, and October 1986, when he was replaced by Associate Justice [[William Rehnquist]] after his death.

Members on the court include:

* Chief Justice [[Warren Burger]] (since 1969)
* Associate Justice [[William O. Douglas]]
* Associate Justice [[William Brennan]]
* Associate Justice [[Byron White]]
* Associate Justice [[Thurgood Marshall]]
* Associate Justice [[Harry Blackmun]] (since 1970)
* Associate Justice [[William Rehnquist]] (since 1972)
* Associate Justice [[Lewis Powell]] (since 1972)
* Associate Justice [[John Paul Stevens]] (since 1973)
* Associate Justice [[Sandra Day O'Connor]] (since 1981)

The Burger Court is probably most famous for it's decision on [[Roe v. Wade]]

[[Category: United States Supreme Court]]

Berlin

2007-11-14T01:54:35Z

Arthur:

[[Image:DSC00590_1.jpg|thumb|300|right|The Brandenburg Gate, viewed from the newly restored Paris Place.]]

'''Berlin''' is the capital of [[Germany]], and formerly of the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] and the [[Margravate of Brandenburg]].

During the [[Cold War]] it was divided into an Eastern and a Western part. Both were considered to be under the control of the four WWII Allies. However, in fact, the USSR and East Germany, the German Democratic Republic, made East Berlin into the capital of [[East Germany]], whereas the Western Allies (USA, UK, France) and West Germany, the Federal Republic Germany, insisted on the allied status of all sectors of Berlin and made Bonn into the provisional capital of West Germany. A [[Berlin Wall|wall]] between the two parts was built by East Germany in order to stop people escaping from East Berlin to West Berlin for economic as well as political reasons.

Berlin is well-known for its liberal attitude and its large "alternative scene". During the time of the [[Cold War]], numerous young men from West Germany moved to West-Berlin, in order to avoid military service. They founded numerous communities, mainly in the city district "Kreuzberg". It is also the district with a strong community of Turks.

Central yearly events are the Love Parade with techno music and the Cristopher Street Day Parade. Another typical characteristic of Berliners is their so-called "Berliner Schnauze", prompt and sharp comments or replies. For outsiders it is often mistaken as rudeness.

An event was the current mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, publicly announcing in his election campaign that he is gay. <ref>article in NY Times [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/world/europe/23wowereit.html?ei=5090&en=fab18328b0dbeafe&ex=1316664000&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all]</ref>

===References===
<references/>

[[Category:Cities]]
[[Category:Capital Cities]]
[[Category:Germany]]