Christians...it's starting...

[dmp]

maybe it's started awhile ago...but stories like this will become more promenent...

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Italy's nominee to become the European Union's Justice and Home Affairs commissioner failed on Monday to win the backing of the European Parliament's Justice Committee, days after testifying that he considers homosexuality a sin.

The panel narrowly failed to endorse Rocco Buttiglione, who is currently Italy's European Affairs minister, said Jean-Louis Bourlanges, chairman of the Justice Committee.

The committee voted 27-26 not to recommend Buttiglione, officials said.

The vote caused a political storm in Italy, with politicians on the right coming to Buttiglione's defense and many on the left attacking the government's choice of candidate.


During a confirmation hearing last week, Buttiglione, who is close to the Vatican, faced a barrage of hostile questions over his conservative views. He vowed to defend the rights of gays but told the Justice and Home Affairs Committee he considered homosexuality a sin.


In the past two weeks, the European Parliament held confirmation hearings for 25 men and women who have been named by their governments to serve on the next EU Executive Commission, which begins work Nov. 1 under incoming Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, the former Portuguese prime minister.


The Justice Committee's rejection does not jeopardize the incoming commission, but if it is approved by parliamentary leaders it will force Barroso into a tight spot: he would either have to drop Buttiglione and embarrass the Italian government or accept him as EU commissioner despite misgivings in the parliament. He could also move him to a less contentious post.


Under EU rules, the 732-member parliament cannot reject individual candidates, only the entire incoming commission.


Buttiglione is the only commissioner-designate to be rejected by an EU assembly panel so far.


In last week's hearing, legislators pushed him to reveal his conservative religious views, which many fear could influence his job in drafting anti-discrimination rules.


``I may think that homosexuality is a sin, and this has no effect on politics, unless I say that homosexuality is a crime,'' Buttiglione said.


Sergio Lo Giudice, president of the Italian gay rights group Arcigay, said the decision showed the EU's strong commitment to human rights and its independence from the Roman Catholic Church.


``We are pleased and reassured by the decision. The Vatican's backyard ends at the Alps,'' he told the ANSA news agency.





© Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved

 

[alien21010]

I think the title of your post should be "Christians... It's ending..."

It's about damn time that someone finally assured all people of equal rights, and we stopped oppressing the minority.

 

[5stringJeff]

I think the title of your post should be "Christians... It's ending..."

It's about damn time that someone finally assured all people of equal rights, and we stopped oppressing the minority.

How is speaking about the moral standards of one's religion "oppressing the minority"?

 

[dmp]

I think the title of your post should be "Christians... It's ending..."

True - it's ending; for those who don't acknowledge Christ; that's an accurate way to think of it..

 

[Avatar4321]

I think the title of your post should be "Christians... It's ending..."

It's about damn time that someone finally assured all people of equal rights, and we stopped oppressing the minority.

How is oppressing one minority group (Christians) any different from oppressing another (Homosexuals)?

No, it is beginning. we are about to see Christian persecution at an unprecedented level.

 

[Said1]

How is oppressing one minority group (Christians) any different from oppressing another (Homosexuals)?

No, it is beginning. we are about to see Christian persecution at an unprecedented level.

Scary, no one seems to have a problem with that?? Amazing. Have Christian beliefs really become such a faux pas that's it better to keep quiet.

 

[Zhukov]

With any luck that will drive all the hard-working conservative European christians to America, and I for one would be happy to have them.

Let the European socialists solidify their position. It will only hasten their inevitable collapse.

 

[YoungChristian]

What is really scary to me is that some conservatives that didn't accept God as their Saviour are going to have to live in a very, very liberal society after the rapture. The liberals and the ignorant will be all that is left and the world will truly come to an end.

 

[Shattered]

What is really scary to me is that some conservatives that didn't accept God as their Saviour are going to have to live in a very, very liberal society after the rapture. The liberals and the ignorant will be all that is left and the world will truly come to an end.

What does *that* tell you?

 

[Merlin1047]

Hey -=D=- thought you were pulling our chains. I mean - an anti-gay Italian with the name of Buttiglioni is just a little suspicious.

Fess up.

 

[Said1]

Hey -=D=- thought you were pulling our chains. I mean - an anti-gay Italian with the name of Buttiglioni is just a little suspicious.

Fess up.

YOU probably put him up to it.

 

[deaddude]

How is oppressing one minority group (Christians) any different from oppressing another (Homosexuals)?

No, it is beginning. we are about to see Christian persecution at an unprecedented level.

So by not oppressing homosexuals we are by default oppressing Christians?

No I do not think that the Italian dude should have been dismissed soley for his views on homosexuality.

I am just wondering where the line is drawn between oppressing no one and oppressing Christians.

 

[MJDuncan1982]

I personally don't think the "End Times" are near. Christians have been predicting them for a long time...and we're still here.

 

[Bullypulpit]

How is oppressing one minority group (Christians) any different from oppressing another (Homosexuals)?

No, it is beginning. we are about to see Christian persecution at an unprecedented level.

Seems to me that the "Christians In Name Only" of the religious right are the ones setting up to do any oppressing. If they want a theocracy, they can go live in Iran or Saudi Arabia.

 

[Avatar4321]

Seems to me that the "Christians In Name Only" of the religious right are the ones setting up to do any oppressing. If they want a theocracy, they can go live in Iran or Saudi Arabia.

I was unaware that protecting marriage through Constitutional means is somehow a theocracy.

 

[alien21010]

I was unaware that protecting marriage through Constitutional means is somehow a theocracy.

The point is, it is not the duty of the US Constitution to be legislating what can or cannot be done at the personal level. They tried it with prohibition, it failed miserably.

How can we claim to be a land of liberty when not all are given the essential liberties granted to man? How is that not the ultimate form of hypcrisy.

 

[theim]

Heroin is also a personal decision. Why is the Government regulating Heroin? If I wanna get high in my basement? What's the big deal? The Government is stripping me of liberty by not letting me shoot up!

Gays have the same rights I do. A gay man can marry a woman. So can I. A gay man cannot marry another man. Neither can I.