California Supreme Court Upholds Ban

A friend of mine passed this onto me. I thought it was worth replicating on this blog as it makes a point, and very well I think, about keeping the govenment out of our private lives.

The California Supreme Court upheld a ban on baptism by sprinkling today, ratifying a decision made by voters last year that runs counter to a growing trend of not recognizing the practice as a valid alternative means to salvation. The decision, however, preserves the salvation of 18,000 individuals that were baptized by sprinkling between the court’s decision last May that baptism by sprinkling was valid alternative means to salvation and the passage by voters in November of Proposition H8te, which banned it. Supporters of the proposition argued that baptism by sprinkling should no longer be recognized by the State as a way of achieving eternal salvation.
Today’s opinion, written by a Chief Justice with a 6-to-1 majority, said that an individual baptized by sprinkling still has salvation, which gives them (after death) the blessing of “living eternally in the presence of God with an officially recognized, and protected spiritual relationship that enjoys all of the biblically-based benefits of salvation.” But the justices said that the voters had clearly expressed their will to limit new salvations to individuals baptized by immersion.
The Justice wrote that Proposition H8te did not “entirely repeal or abrogate” the rite to such a protected relationship, but argued that it “carves out a narrow and limited exception to spiritual rites, reserving the official designation of the terms baptism and salvation as a matter of state constitutional law.”

The legal director for the National Center for Roman Catholic Rites, called the decision “a terrible blow to the thousands of Catholics who woke up this morning hoping and praying their status as equal citizens of Heaven would be assured.”.
Those who backed Proposition H8te were elated. The general counsel for ProtectSalvation.com, the leading group behind last year’s initiative, said he and his allies were “very gratified” by the decision. “This is the culmination of years of hard work to preserve Salvation ‘Only by immersion’”, he said in an e-mail message. “The voters have decided this issue and their views should be respected.”

The same court had ruled in May that “sprinkled individuals” enjoyed the same fundamental “rite to salvation” as “immersed individuals”. That sweeping 4-3 decision provoked a backlash from opponents that led to Proposition H8te, which garnered 52 percent of the vote last November after a bitter electoral fight.
The opinion marks a new round in the long-running battle in California over the issue, and will almost certainly lead to a counter-initiative intended to overturn Proposition H8te, which changed the state constitution, as early as next year.
The justices who had issued the ringing support for baptism by sprinkling in 2008 presented a far less supportive front during the three-hour hearing. A number of justices who had voted in the majority in the 2008 case, strongly suggested in their questions from the bench that they were reluctant to overturn the will of the voters or to undercut the initiative process.
In questions that clearly anticipated the logic of today’s majority opinion, the justices had seemed to be seeking a middle ground that would allow the rites they had affirmed the year before to be preserved in the form of “spiritual unions”, which would be different from salvation in name only. One Justice suggested that the salvation of someone baptized by sprinkling was the same after the proposition, and all that had changed was “the label of baptism.” That distinction was deeply dissatisfying to an attorney for plaintiffs, who argued that without the rite of the word “baptism,” individuals baptized by sprinkling would find themselves in “one hell of a pickle” as “outsiders to the glories of heaven.”

At the same time, attitudes of Americans toward salvation by sprinkling favor liberalization of the practice. In an April CBS/New York Times poll, 42 percent of those surveyed favored entering into redemptive salvation via baptism by sprinkling, up from 21 percent at election time in 2004, when it was a wedge issue during a prenuptial campaign. That poll suggests the trend will continue into the future: 57 percent of the respondents favored recognition for salvation by sprinkling, compared with 31 percent of respondents over the age of 40.

May Flowers

Just some personal thoughts today. I've been doing a lot of planting. I really love my garden and try to spend as much time in it as I can. The patio area is at long last finished and the Heather and Pansy's are in full bloom now, having been watered by our New Hampshire April showers.

What funny about this is when I was a young child I tried to help my mother plant flowers, but frequently killed them, or ended up spreading flower seeds where they didn't want them. I can remember admiring my grandmother’s roses. She always grew the most beautiful and huge roses in Southern California. My folks thought it was cute of me, but eventfully wanted me to stay out of the garden area, with the exception of watering, or trimming the grass under the fence. Since I was forbidden to have anything to do with flowers, with good reason I suppose, I grew to despise doing garden work. I began to consider it a sissy attitude to enjoy flowers, or gardening. But deep down I always enjoyed smelling their aroma. I recall how wonderful the floats at the Rose Parade smelled as they would pass by.

When we bought our first house I was suddenly tasked to finish off our back yard. At first I thought it would be a drag and was severely depressed about having to step into a role that had been left behind as a child. But as I got started that seed within me was cultivated itself and began to take root. Before I knew it I was thoroughly enjoying taking care my yard. When I was done it looked like a mountain retreat with perennial flowers and evergreens. I’m now working on the back yard of our second house. It has helped me to keep my mind off of the other restrictions (and denials) that my spouse has placed upon my femininity. It is another way I can express who I am other than simply high heels and make up. I may not be 100% comfortable in my skin, but I’m leaning more about who I really am inside. Every time I go out now and sit among my plants and terraces it gives validation to my feminine ambitions.

I look to the future now with anticipation that the rainy season in my life will soon pass. That the full flower of femininity will burst forth from the bud of my heart. Maybe soon a beautiful and sweet aroma which will flow out of my life and into the lives of others, bring them joy and peace, if even only for a moment.
Hugs
Roanne

This Too Will Pass

The semester is coming to an end and as I look back on it so many things seemed to be in an upheaval. Way too many things have become unstable. My children and spouse lost their jobs, causing our family to go without health care coverage. The College I work for is crunching their budgets down. Tax's are on the increases. Our bank has implemented a policy of Maxi Fee's driving us to look for another financial institution. We’re off again this weekend to take care of my mother-in-law. Last week it was the grandchildren and next week it will be something or someone else demanding my attention. It’s hard to find a moment for myself it seems. And on top of this we now are wondering if a pandemic is coming. We are always manipulating things so we can make the mortgage or car payment. Thank God we only have three more payments and our credit will be paid off. I've never known a time in my life when so many problems have seemed to pile up. It can seem very overwhelming. And what’s more is that everyone I talk to seems to be living on the knife edge of financial or emotional failure too. Stress is at an all time high among my associates and my staff. Now add to the list the driving desire to transition and watching your and opportunity turn into something that looks like dry salt flats in the Mohave Desert.

Well, if this describes what you’re going though take a deep breath and close your eyes for a moment. ....... Ok now that you’ve opened you eyes back up so you can continue reading let me ask, what did you hear? Was if the whirring fans of a ventilation system? How about a robin outside or a dog barking down the street. Or maybe it was the conversation of others around you. Whatever it was, I can assume that your life has continued and that moment has passed into history. Life continually moves forward with time, and as it does so the moments pass; then the minutes pass, and the hours, days and finally the trials and problems that we are currently facing will pass too. Before we know it they will be distant memories that we will draw upon for wisdom and encouragement. I’ve observed this with many of the folks here on our internet community. I’ve read as they were frustrated with their situation while in transition and now today they are content and moving forward with great expectations. There was a time when folks like us in New Hampshire could face arrest for using the wrong potty for our politically acceptable gender. But now that has passed into history and today we can step into the appropriate stall to take care of our personal business, without the fear of it becoming someone else’s business.

No one wants to go through suffering, whether it is physical discomfort or emotional anxiety. That feeling of being in the wrong skin seems to nag at my mind endlessly. It has been a long time since I’ve been able to be out as myself. But I take great joy in knowing that it will not always be so. That this too will pass. With each small step and passing moment of anguish I move closer to a place of hope. As one endures the pain of electrolysis, the judgmental glares of people or the loss of friends or family, and volatile emotions that come with changing our bodies; comfort can be found in that hope. But why wait for the future. I’ve learned to quiet the raging that comes from within my soul and be content in whatever state I’m in. My flesh and soul are brought into subjection to my mind. And my mind is subject to the Spirit, so that I might be able to reach out and hug those who are going though what I already have endured, encouraging them to know that whatever they are experiencing at the time; this too will pass.

Hugs
Roanne