Religious Institute - Rev. Debra Haffner

Here's to my 100,000 readers! Thank you to all of you who have visited my blog during the past two years. Blessings on your day! Rev. DebraDebra W. Haffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03018331891805010135noreply@blogger.com

This story from the front page of Yahoo News by an AP reporter made me want to scream at the computer at 7:00 am this morning. He reports that faith leaders at the Democratic convention are pressing the party on their positions on restricting abortion, school choice, and other such issues. Not ONE pro-choice faith leader in Denver was interviewed for the article. This is not just a matter of Debra W. Haffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03018331891805010135noreply@blogger.com

Today is Women's Equality Day, the anniversary of the day that women first got the vote. Last night, watching Michelle Obama, I couldn't help but think about how far we've come from the vision of the suffragettes who won the vote. Could they have imagined her? Ten years younger than I am, I thought, "she is the woman that the second wave of feminism created" -- a woman with a full time Debra W. Haffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03018331891805010135noreply@blogger.com

It's a good thing that Mad Men is on Sunday nights (my current must see TV program), because for the next four nights, I'll be glued to CNN or CSPAN. It will be fascinating to see how sexual justice issues play out over the next two weeks. Despite all of the atttention the nation needs to be spending on the economy, the war, health care, and education, I'm wondering how much time will be spent Debra W. Haffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03018331891805010135noreply@blogger.com

In the next 48 hours, according to statcounter.com, I will have my 100,000 reader. I don't think I will be able to tell who you are, but I hope you'll all celebrate with me. I am grateful to those of you who are my regular readers (several thousand each month, which make you a pretty decent size congregation) and invite you to join in the discussions of sexuality and religion, ethics, and Debra W. Haffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03018331891805010135noreply@blogger.com

I know many of you have been glued to the television watching the Olympics these past two weeks. I've watched women's gymnastics and a little bit of swimming, but as a political junkie, the next two weeks of the conventions will be much more "must see TV" for me. Last week, the Religious Institute sent a letter to both presumptive candidates and campaigns, urging them to affirm sexual justice Debra W. Haffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03018331891805010135noreply@blogger.com

Beloit College introduced its "Mindset List" of this year's college freshman. It includes 60 items, that today's freshmen, have "always known", different that those of us from earlier generations. It ranges from ice tea in cans and bottles to Jay Leno as the only host of the Tonight show to electronic filing of tax returns. Only one item has directly to do with sexuality: there have always Debra W. Haffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03018331891805010135noreply@blogger.com

I "borrowed" this picture from a celebrity web site -- it's Ellen and Portia's wedding from this past weekend, and when it popped up as a yahoo headline, I thought to myself "how far we really have come." I am generally an optimist, but there are days when as a minister and an advocate, I feel discouraged, especially when I'm being attacked from either the left or the right. But, this picture Debra W. Haffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03018331891805010135noreply@blogger.com

On Saturday, the Rev. Rick Warren of Saddleback Church (one of America's largest evangelical megachurches and the author of the Purpose Driven Life) is hosting the two presidential candidates for a dialog on values based issues. Like the earlier Compassion Forum, we hope that this dialog will not exclude important sexual justice issues. I've written more extensively about this for Huffington Debra W. Haffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03018331891805010135noreply@blogger.com