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User talk:CameronD

2016-09-07T18:55:30Z

CameronD: tidy my talk page

Whatever you do unto the least of my children you do unto me.

Electoral College

2016-06-12T13:25:58Z

CameronD: add missing word

[[Image:Electoralcollege2008.gif|thumb|300px|right|Electoral votes by state, click for larger image.]]
The '''Electoral College''' is the method by which the [[United States]] elects a [[president]] every four years. The [[Founding Fathers|Founders]] wanted Electors to gather in each state rather than in a common place, thereby minimizing intrigue and corruption. Each state then votes on the presidential candidate. The details are specified in the [[U.S. Constitution]], Article II, Section 1, Clause 3.

==Background==
The electoral procedure is as follows:

*Political parties and independent presidential candidates select their electors.

*Political parties nominate presidential and vice presidential candidates.

*On the Tuesday following the first Monday of November, people choose the electors of their state depending on their vote.

*On the Monday following the second Wednesday of December, electors of each state meet in their state capital to cast separate votes for the president and vice president. They are only allowed to cast votes for presidents and vice presidents of their own states.

*The ballots are than sealed and sent to the President of the Senate (the [[Vice President of the United States of America|Vice President]]), who opens them on January 6.

*Candidates who win the majority of ballots for president and vice president will then be declared the winners. If no one wins the majority of the ballots for president, then the [[House of Representatives]] makes the choice from among the top three contenders. In this situation, each state's delegation has one vote and the majority of the states will have to elect the president. If there is no winner for vice president the senate will select between the top two contenders.

*At noon, January 20, the new president and vice president will be sworn into office.

The number of electors from each state is determined as being the same as the combined number of that state's [[United States Senate|senators]] and representatives. As the number of senators is always two, and the number of representatives is roughly proportional to the state's population, this means that larger states have more electors than smaller states, but smaller states have a ''proportionately'' higher number of electors. This mechanism was devised by the Founding Fathers as a compromise between large states (who felt they should have a greater say than the smaller states) and small states (who feared a straight proportional number would leave them too little influence).<ref>http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/8176.html</ref>

Nearly all the states vote on a winner-take-all basis, such that whoever wins a [[plurality]] of the votes in that state then receives all of the Electoral College votes for that state. The only two exceptions are [[Maine]] and [[Nebraska]], which divide their electoral votes along congressional districts. Both states would therefore be able to split their share of votes between candidates. In practise however, this never happened until 2008, when [[Barack Obama]] won Nebraska's second congressional district, therefore winning one of Nebraska's five votes. The remaining four were won by [[John McCain]].

Elections in 1800 and 1824 required the House of Representatives to select a president, as no candidate won a majority. The 1824 vote leader, [[Andrew Jackson]], was later elected in 1828. In 1876, [[Samuel Tilden]] won the popular vote, but [[Rutherford B. Hayes]] won with the elector vote. No one since has won a majority of the popular vote and lost the election, liberal [[Al Gore]] has claimed he won most votes in 2000, but this was [[Liberal deceit]].

In 1888, [[Grover Cleveland]] got a plurality of the popular vote (by a margin of 110,476) but [[Benjamin Harrison]] won the electoral college vote, and became president. In 1960, [[Richard Nixon]] got a plurality of the popular vote, unless you count votes for [[John F. Kennedy]] that actually went to electors that were pledged to vote for someone else. In the 2000 election, [[Al Gore]] narrowly got a plurality of the popular vote, and [[George W. Bush]] narrowly won the electoral vote. After a careful recount of the election results in [[Florida]], [[George W. Bush]] was declared the 43rd President of the [[United States]].

==History==
The electoral college came into being in part because of the work of [[Pierce Butler (Founding Father)]], who was looking for a way to protect the electoral process against corruption and foreign intrigue.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Z_2PcXA9pxoC&pg=PR25 The Letters of Pierce Butler, 1790-1794: Nation Building and Enterprise in the New American Republic]</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
1. Bloom, Sol, and Johnson, Lars. ''The Story of the Constitution''. Christian Liberty Press, 2001.
 2. For an essay on attempts to abolish the '''Electoral College''', see [[Essay:Electoral College]].
[[category:United States]]
[[Category: Election Terms]]

Falkland Islands

2015-04-26T17:40:08Z

CameronD: /* Sovereignty */ The defences had been cut

{{Country
|name=Falkland Islands
|map=Falkland islands.png
|map2=Falkland Islands1.png
|flag=Flag of the Falkland Islands svg.png
|arms=Coa Falkland svg.png
|capital=Stanley
|government=British overseas territory
|language=English
|area=4700 sq mi
|pop=3060
|pop-basis=July 2005 estimate
|gdp=$75 million
|gdp-year=2005
|gdp-pc=$25000
|currency=Falkland pound
|idd=+500
|tld=.fk}}
The '''Falkland Islands''' are a small group of islands situated in the South Atlantic Ocean, 800 miles from [[Buenos Aires]] the capital of [[Argentina]]. The two major islands, West and East Falkland, are separated by Falkland Sound. There are numerous smaller islands. The capital is Stanley, on East Falkland. The islands are known as the "Islas Malvinas" to the Argentines.

==Sovereignty==

The Islands have been a territory of the [[United Kingdom]] for 170 years, but the British claim to sovereignty is disputed by Argentina. A war was fought over the issue when Argentina seized the under defended islands on April 2nd, 1982 without warning. Argentina was run by a military junta at that time and was experiencing a time of economic difficulties and social unrest at home. The new government in Argentina saw capturing of the peaceful Falklands as a perfect solution to the social problems that were happening at the time. The military junta was suported by the [[Communist]] [[Soviet Union]].

The British, under [[Margaret Thatcher]], put together a naval expedition to travel approximately 8,000 miles and retake the islands. Strenuous diplomatic efforts were made to resolve the issue, and the Argentines were given a great deal of time to solve the conflict peacefully as the British slowly came closer, but their refusal to recognise the Islands' right of self-determination forced the British to use military force to expel the invaders. British long-range air attacks (against the Islands' airport, then being used by the Argentinian air force) did not begin until 1st May, a month after the initial Argentinian invasion, with the naval battle beginning the following day.

By the time the British naval fleet had arrived at the Falklands, there were several positions on the map where Argentinean soldiers had been positioned, most notably at the capital where there were 10,000 Argentinean soldiers fortified. 4,000 British Army soldiers and Royal Marines disembarked from Royal Navy vessels on 21st May and progressed on foot across East Falkland, fighting several battles on the way before capturing Stanley. On June 15th, the Falkland Islanders were liberated and the islands were returned to British control.

255 British servicemen and three islanders lost their lives in the war, with many of the British casualties being suffered in air attacks on British ships (five British ships were sunk and others damaged by bombs and French-built [[Exocet]] missiles). The Argentinian government officially states that 655 of its servicemen lost their lives (half of those in the sinking of the cruiser General Belgrano), although this figure has been questioned.

The embarrassing defeat for Argentina helped to hasten the downfall of the military government while in Britain Thatcher's [[Conservative Party]] surged to victory in the general election the following year.

Argentina maintains its claim to the islands<ref>[http://www.argentina.gov.ar/argentina/portal/paginas.dhtml?pagina=4196 List of argentinian provinces]. The official government site of Argentina lists "Islas Malvinas" among the provinces, like "Buenos Aires" or "Chubut"</ref>, although it has not tried to take them by force again. Since the war, Britain has declined Argentinian requests for sovereignty talks. Prior to the war, the British Government had considered handing the territory over to the Argentines, but didn't want to go against the will of the people who lived there, who wanted the Falkland Islands to remain British. France, Spain and even the United States (briefly) have all previously laid claim to the islands.

==Economy==
The Falklands economy is based largely on fishing, although recently evidence of oil deposits around the islands has suggested the possibility of an economic revolution.

==Government==
The elected legislative and executive councils are chaired by the Governor, who is appointed by the UK government. Military and Foreign affairs are the direct responsibility of the [[United Kingdom|British]] government.
[[Image:Boot Hill South Atlantic.jpg|left|thumb|250px|"Boot Hill": When an islander leaves the Falklands, it is tradition to leave an item of footwear behind.]]

==Links==
*[http://www.falklandnews.com/ Falkland Islands News Network]

== References ==
<references />

[[category:South America]]
[[Category:Archipelagos]]

Yorkshire

2014-04-12T17:50:22Z

CameronD: It's still there it was the councils that were abolished not the county

'''Yorkshire''' is a traditional county in Northern [[England]], and is the largest county, divided into three 'Ridings' (OE ''thridings'', 'thirds'). However, the Local Government Act of 1972 broke it into three smaller counties - North, South and West Yorkshire, as well as transferring the East (and part of the West) Riding to Humberside, and parts of the traditional county to Durham, Cumbria and Greater Manchester.

The county has varied geography from the hills and mountains of the [[Pennines]] and North Yorkshire moors, to the flatlands of the Vale of York and the fen country of the Humberhead Levels. Principal cities in Yorkshire include [[Leeds]], Hull, [[Sheffield]], [[York]], and [[Goole]], Britain' most inland seaport.

Yorkshire borders with the counties of Greater Manchester, [[Lancashire]], [[Cumbria]], [[County Durham]], [[Cleveland]], [[Lincolnshire]], [[Nottinghamshire]] and [[Derbyshire]].

Historically, the symbol of Yorkshire was the white [[rose]].

==Sport==

The principle sports in Yorkshire are [[soccer]] (football) and [[rugby league]], with the traditional game of Yorkshire being cricket, though in recent years the county side has lagged. Similarly, Yorkshire football teams no longer occupy their former prominent positions in the football leagues.

==Image==

Yorkshire people are supposed to be dour and of few words, careful with money but loyal friends once their reserve has been penetrated. A traditional rhyme runs:

:''Yorkshire born, Yorkshire bred''
:''Strong in't arm and thick in't head''

Yorkshire is associated with the [[Yorkshire Pudding]], and with the [[Yorkshire Ripper]], the serial killer [[Peter Sutcliffe]] (b. 2 June 1946) of [[Bradford]] who murdered thirteen women in northern [[England]] between 1975 and 1980.

[[Category:English Counties]]

Arabic attack

2014-01-16T18:59:51Z

CameronD: Links

The '''Arabic attack''' was the sinking during [[World War I]] by a [[German]] [[submarine]] of the [[British]] passenger liner ''Arabic.'' It heightened diplomatic tensions and public outrage that led to American entry into the war.

On Aug. 19, 1915, a German submarine torpedoed without warning the British White Star passenger liner ''Arabic,'' with the deaths of two U.S. citizens.<ref>See [http://books.google.com/books?id=ZDEDAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA1000&lpg=RA1-PA1000&dq=arabic+1915+submarine&source=web&ots=7ZMZtISyPk&sig=GspCqoGW72KqLbjT5lXzWXnAPIk&hl=en ''The New York Times Current History'' (April 1915) v 2#1] </ref> This attack occurred soon after the exchange of notes that followed the similar torpedoing of the ''[[Lusitania]]'', in which President [[Woodrow Wilson]] had insisted that the lives of noncombatants could not lawfully be put in jeopardy by the capture or destruction of unresisting merchantmen. The ''Arabic'' attack showed that Germany had not accepted the American position. After seeking to justify the attack on the ground that the ''Arabic'' was attempting to ram the submarine, the German government disavowed the act and offered indemnity.

====notes====
<references/>

[[category:World War I]]

Howard Pyle

2014-01-16T18:56:42Z

CameronD: Nottinghamshire

'''Howard Pyle''' was born in Wilmington, [[Delaware]] in 1853. Pyle wrote ''The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire''. This, his most famous work, is about the legendary [[outlaw]], [[Robin Hood]], and his band.

{{DEFAULTSORT: Pyle, Howard}}
[[category:authors]]

OxyContin

2014-01-16T18:55:19Z

CameronD: remove stray 'a'

'''OxyContin®''' is a prescription painkiller used for moderate to high [[pain]] relief associated with injuries, bursitis, [[dislocate|dislocation]]s, fractures, neuralgia, arthritis, lower back pain, and pain associated with cancer. OxyContin® contains [[oxycodone]], the medication's active ingredient, in a [[timed-release]] tablet. Oxycodone products have been illicitly abused for the past 30 years.

Oxycodone is a Schedule II narcotic analgesic and is widely used in clinical medicine. It is marketed either alone as controlled release (OxyContin®) and immediate release formulations (OxyIR®, OxyFast®), or in combination with other nonnarcotic analgesics such as aspirin (Percodan®) or acetaminophen (Percocet®). The introduction in 1996 of OxyContin®, commonly known on the street as OC, OX, Oxy, Oxycotton, Hillbilly heroin, and kicker, led to a marked escalation of its abuse as reported by drug abuse treatment centers, law enforcement personnel, and health care professionals. Although the diversion and abuse of OxyContin® appeared initially in the eastern US, it has now spread to the western US including Alaska and Hawaii. Oxycodone-related adverse health effects increased markedly in recent years. In 2004, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved for marketing generic forms of controlled release oxycodone products.<ref>http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/oxycontin.html</ref>

In 2003, [[conservative]] radio host [[Rush Limbaugh]] became addicted to the drug after back [[surgery]]. He was subsequently named by [[law enforcement]] officials in [[Palm Beach]], [[Florida]] as a potential buyer connected with the investigation of an illegal [[narcotics]] ring. Limbaugh admitted his addiction, declaring that he was "not making excuses" and that he was "no role model." He soon sought treatment, successfully.<ref>http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/10/10/rush.limbaugh/</ref>

==References==
<references/>

[[category:medicine]][[category:drugs]]

Electoral College

2013-10-26T17:07:30Z

CameronD: Liberal deceit

[[Image:Electoralcollege2008.gif|thumb|300px|right|Electoral votes by state, click for larger image.]]
The '''Electoral College''' is the method by which the [[United States]] elects a [[president]] every four years. The [[Founding Fathers|Founders]] wanted Electors to gather in each state rather than in a common place, thereby minimizing intrigue and corruption. Each state then votes on the presidential candidate. The details are specified in the [[U.S. Constitution]], Article II, Section 1, Clause 3.

The electoral procedure is as follows:

*Political parties and independent presidential candidates select their electors.

*Political parties nominate presidential and vice presidential candidates.

*On the Tuesday following the first Monday of November, people choose the electors of their state depending on their presidential preference.

*On the Monday following the second Wednesday of December, electors of each state meet in their state capital to cast separate votes for the president and vice president. They are only allowed to cast votes for presidents and vice presidents of their own states.

*The ballots are than sealed and sent to the President of the Senate (the [[Vice President of the United States of America|Vice President]]), who opens them on January 6.

*Candidates who win the majority of ballots for president and vice president will then be declared the winners. If no one wins the majority of the ballots for president, then the [[House of Representatives]] makes the choice from among the top three contenders. In this situation, each state's delegation has one vote and the majority of the states will have to elect the president. If there is no winner for vice president the senate will select between the top two contenders.

*At noon, January 20, the new president and vice president will be sworn into office.

The number of electors from each state is determined as being the same as the combined number of that state's [[United States Senate|senators]] and representatives. As the number of senators is always two, and the number of representatives is roughly proportional to the state's population, this means that larger states have more electors than smaller states, but smaller states have a ''proportionately'' higher number of electors. This mechanism was devised by the Founding Fathers as a compromise between large states (who felt they should have a greater say than the smaller states) and small states (who feared a straight proportional number would leave them too little influence).<ref>http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/8176.html</ref>

Nearly all the states vote on a winner-take-all basis, such that whoever wins a [[plurality]] of the votes in that state then receives all of the Electoral College votes for that state. The only two exceptions are [[Maine]] and [[Nebraska]], which divide their electoral votes along congressional districts. Both states would therefore be able to split their share of votes between candidates. In practise however, this never happened until 2008, when [[Barack Obama]] won Nebraska's second congressional district, therefore winning one of Nebraska's five votes. The remaining four were won by [[John McCain]].

Elections in 1800 and 1824 required the House of Representatives to select a president, as no candidate won a majority. The 1824 vote leader, [[Andrew Jackson]], was later elected in 1828. In 1876, [[Samuel Tilden]] won the popular vote, but [[Rutherford B. Hayes]] won with the elector vote. No one since has won a majority of the popular vote and lost the election, liberal [[Al Gore]] has claimed he won most votes in 2000, but this [[Liberal deceit]].

In 1888, [[Grover Cleveland]] got a plurality of the popular vote (by a margin of 110,476) but [[Benjamin Harrison]] won the electoral college vote, and became president. In 1960, [[Richard Nixon]] got a plurality of the popular vote, unless you count votes for [[John F. Kennedy]] that actually went to electors that were pledged to vote for someone else. In the 2000 election, [[Al Gore]] narrowly got a plurality of the popular vote, and [[George W. Bush]] narrowly won the electoral vote. After a careful recount of the election results in [[Florida]], [[George W. Bush]] was declared the 43rd President of the [[United States]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}
1. Bloom, Sol, and Johnson, Lars. ''The Story of the Constitution''. Christian Liberty Press, 2001.
 2. For an essay on attempts to abolish the '''Electoral College''', see [[Essay:Electoral College]].
[[category:United States]]
[[Category: Election Terms]]

Router (computing)

2013-10-26T16:57:40Z

CameronD:

A '''router''' is a [[computer]] device which aggregates the [[network]] needs of many computers, and distributes [[bandwidth]] from a central [[broadband]] connection.

A router works by having a unique address on each port and a map of the network in an internal table. The router reads a packet from an incoming port, looks it up in the table , and sends it out the appropriate port.

There are a number of protocols for managing the network address tables of the routers.

A bridge is similar to a router but no address table is used. All traffic in one port goes out the other port.

[[Category:Computer Science]]

Omnivore

2013-10-21T17:43:09Z

CameronD: We were designed to be omnivorous

An '''omnivore''' is a consumer that eats both [[plant]]s and other consumers.<ref>Wile, Dr. Jay L. ''Exploring Creation With General Science''. Anderson: Apologia Educational Ministries, Inc. 2000</ref> Because they eat a wide variety of foods, many omnivores, such as [[raccoon]]s or [[seagull]]s can live in diverse environments. [[Humans]] have been designed to be omnivorous, as is evident from their teeth and digestive tract.

==See Also==
* [[Herbivore]]
* [[Carnivore]]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Food and Drink]]

Janos Bolyai

2013-08-23T20:29:28Z

CameronD: Look around CP, teenagers often have great achievements

[[Image:JanosBolyai.jpg|thumb|right|200px]]
'''János Bólyai''' (1802-1860) was a [[Hungarian]] [[mathematician]]. He was the son of Farkas Bolyai, another mathematician, who was a friend and colleague of the great [[German]] mathematician [[Carl Friedrich Gauss]]. János Bólyai invented [[non-Euclidean]] [[geometry]] at the same time as and independently of his rival, the [[Russia]]n mathematician and [[astronomer]] Nikolai Lobachevsky. Bolyai's work focused on the construction of what is now known as [[hyperbolic]] geometry. Bolyai's greatest work was carried out while he was still a [[Great Achievements by Teenagers|teenager]].

==See also ==

*[[Bjorn Lomborg]]

{{DEFAULTSORT: Bolyai, Janos}}
[[category:Mathematicians]]
[[Category:Hungary]]

Winston Churchill

2013-08-10T17:47:06Z

CameronD: His nationality was British

{{Prime Minister
|image=Solidgold.jpg
|seq=
|party=Conservative Party
|term_start=May 10, 1940
|term_end=1945
|previous=Neville Chamberlain
|next=Clement Attlee
|term_start2=1950
|term_end2=1955
|previous2=Clement Attlee
|next2=Anthony Eden
|birth_date=1874
|birth_place=
|death_date=1965
|death_place=
|spouse=
|spouse2=
|religion=[[Anglican]]
}}
'''Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill''', KG, OM, CH (1874-1965), was an British statesman, orator, soldier and historian who served as Conservative [[Prime Minister]] of the [[United Kingdom]] for most of the [[Second World War]] and again from 1951-55. He was one of the few leaders to achieve high office in both World Wars and to write profusely about his experiences. Best known for his courageous leadership as British prime minister standing alone against Hitler's Germany, Churchill was a formidable politician over a half-century, as well as the historian whose interpretations shaped English language studies of both world wars. He was a leader of the Liberal party before it collapsed in the 1920s; then he rejoined the Conservative party. Although he supported the beginning of the welfare state around 1910, he was temperamentally and culturally a conservative, and he became a leading opponent of socialism after 1945, as well as an opponent of Gandhi's movement for the independence of India after 1930. Throughout his career he was pro-business and hostile to labour unions.
{{cquote|'''Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.'''}}
A larger-than-life character, famous for his trademark cigar and his reputation as a drinker (which he joyfully exaggerated), Churchill was also a talented amateur landscape painter and pilot, soldier, farmer, and even bricklayer. When he retired from the House of Commons in 1964, he had spent over six decades in public life, a career that ran from the last great British cavalry charge to the nuclear age.

==Career==
===Early life===
Churchill was a younger son of the top aristocracy. He was born in 1874 to Lord [[Randolph Churchill]] and an American mother.
Winston's father, Lord Randolph Churchill (1849–1895) was a third son of a poor English duke with a very famous family name; Randolph became a prominent Conservative politician. He married Jennie Jerome (1854–1921), the daughter of American millionaire Leonard Jerome. She was of colonial American stock of English ancestry and brought a dowry of £50,000. Churchill was born in [[Blenheim Palace]], the palace of the dukes of Marlborough. He had one brother, John Strange Churchill (1880–1947). The parents' marriage faltered, in part because of Lord Randolph's debilitating disease (which resembled syphilis); Lady Randolph became notorious for her romantic attachments, becoming known as "Lady Jane Snatcher." She liked Winston, but largely ignored him.<ref>. H. L. Le May, "Churchill, Jeanette (Lady Randolph Churchill) (1854–1921)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,'' 2004; [http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.cc.uic.edu/view/article/37282, online] </ref> His mother later became his ardent ally, helping him achieve key assignments as a war reporter and smoothing his career in politics. The son idealized his always-absent mother. "She shone for me like the Evening Star," Churchill later wrote. "I loved her dearly—but at a distance." <ref> Jenkins, ''Churchill,'' p. 8</ref>

Winston spent a typical upper-class childhood in the hands of nurses and headmasters at a succession of private schools from the age of eight. While he was no more neglected than most boys of his age and class, his sensitive nature suffered as a result of his parents' aloofness and he always regretted his failure to achieve a close relationship with his father, who died in 1895 at the age of only 45 and Winston was 21. Churchill rarely spoke with his father, who served as Secretary of state for India, Leader of the House and chancellor of the exchequer. However the son systematically adopted his father's ideas and political positions, and thereby became well known in political circles.

He entered Harrow School in 1888 with a track for the Army. Churchill had an independent and rebellious nature; he lacked self-discipline and displayed slovenly or unruly behaviour. His grades were poor apart from English and history; he avoided team sports but was a fencing champion. His father did not think he was smart enough for Oxford, so he went to the military academy at Sandhurst in 1893. He excelled at tactics, fortifications and horsemanship, graduating twentieth out of a class of 130 in 1894; he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant cavalry officer in the 4th Queen's Own Hussars, where he excelled at polo.

===Military experience===
Posted to Bangalore, India, in 1896, he ignored local conditions. His duties were done well before noon; apart from polo he did not socialize with his peers, who considered the slender, short, highly ambitious young man to be pushy, bumptious and not a proper gentleman.In 1902 the intellectual Beatrice Webb found him "egotistical, bumptious, shallow-minded and reactionary, but with a certain personal magnetism, great pluck and some originality, not of intellect but of character. More of the American speculator than the English aristocrat." <ref> Jenkins, ''Churchill,'' p. 148</ref> Churchill became an intellectual, as he immersed himself in the classics, devouring the works of Adam Smith, Gibbon, Macaulay, Hallam, Lecky, and Darwin. He carefully studied the parliamentary debates of the 1870s to 1890s, adding to them his own imaginary speeches. He never learned Latin or Greek so he fashioned a prose style modeled on the two finest writers among English historians, Gibbon and Macaulay. A book on the evolution of civilization that ridiculed Christianity<ref>Winwood Reade ''Martyrdom of Man'' (1872)</ref> led to his loss of religious faith; he believed in evolution and the inevitability of progress.

Between 1897 and 1900, with the aid of his mother's lobbying in London, Churchill fought in three imperial wars while doubling as a war correspondent and writing three books. In 1897 he joined three brigades in fighting a Pathan tribe. His lively account of the skirmishes proved he could write for the popular press; he received £5 per column from the ''Daily Telegraph'' and soon became the highest paid war correspondent in the world.

[[File:Churchill The River War.jpg|thumb|''The River War,'' one of Churchill's first books]]

In late 1899 Churchill went to South Africa as a war correspondent to cover the [[Second Boer War]]; his salary was a remarkable £250 per month plus expenses. Caught in an ambush Churchill was captured and held in a POW camp in Pretoria; he escaped--an adventure that made him a minor national hero. He rejoined General Redvers Buller's army on its march to relieve [[Ladysmith]] and take Pretoria. Churchill was one of the first British troops into Ladysmith and Pretoria. In 1900, he published two books on the Boer war, ''London to Ladysmith via Pretoria''<ref> online at [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14426]</ref> and ''Ian Hamilton's March''<ref> online at [http://books.google.com/books?id=27yKxqljk4gC&dq=inauthor:winston+inauthor:churchill&num=30].</ref>

Churchill's mother used her connections with the prince of Wales to get the her son assigned to the force commanded by Lord Kitchener for the reconquest of the [[Sudan]]. Churchill arrived just in time to join the cavalry charge at the battle of Omdurman (2 September 1898), in which his regiment galloped by accident into a ravine crammed with armed men. Churchill, who shot and killed at least three of the enemy, was cool, courageous and lucky.<ref> Over 30,000 Sudanese were killed, compared with 28 British soldiers. </ref> The ''Morning Post'' ran his stories, and the public snatched up his two-volume ''The River War: An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan'' (1899)<ref> online at [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/4943]</ref>. It displayed a remarkably sympathetic history of the Sudanese revolt against Egyptian rule. A speaking tour of Britain, the U.S. and Canada in 1900 netted £10,000, proving the funding he needed for a political-literary career.<ref> Churchill met [[Theodore Roosevelt]]; they resembled each other in many ways but never became friends.</ref>

===Early politics===
In late 1900, Churchill was elected to Parliament as a Conservative. His independent nature soon saw him at odds with his party, and in 1904 he "crossed the floor" to the Liberals, who won a landslide election in early 1906. He served the Liberal government as President of the Board of Trade and Home Secretary, where he helped pass social reform legislation that laid the foundations of the British welfare state.

When [[Herbert Henry Asquith]] became Prime Minister in 1908, Churchill was promoted to the Cabinet as President of the Board of Trade. Working closely with [[David Lloyd George]] he helped pass major social welfare legislation, called the "New Liberalism.". Churchill focused on the "Trade Boards Bill," a scheme to end the sweatshops in the garment industry; on labour exchanges, designed to reduce unemployment by making job searches easier; and unemployment insurance for 3 million workers in cyclical industries. He supported Lloyd George's highly controversial "People's Budget" of 1909-10 (with spending increase of 11% and multiple tax increases that especially targeted rich landowners), even as it caused a constitutional crisis with the House of Lords.<ref> Jenkins, ''Churchill'' 157-66; Bruce K. Murray, "The Politics of the 'People's Budget'" ''The Historical Journal'', Vol. 16, No. 3 (Sep., 1973), pp. 555-570 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0018-246X(197309)16%3A3%3C555%3ATPOT'B%3E2.0.CO%3B2-W in JSTOR]</ref>

Churchill in 1910 denied that war with Germany was a threat and opposed the tripling of the warship budget proposed by the Admiralty.<ref>Jenkins, ''Churchill,'' 154-56 </ref> Churchill generally was on the winning side, though he was beaten on the warships.<ref> Jenkins, ''Churchill, ch 8</ref>

In 1910, Churchill was promoted to [[Home Secretary]]. Regarding a dispute at the Cambrian Colliery coal mine in Tonypandy, initially Churchill blocked the use of troops fearing a repeat of the 1887 "bloody Sunday" in Trafalgar Square. Nevertheless, he deployed soldiers to protect the mines and to avoid riots when thirteen strikers were tried for minor offences, an action that broke the tradition of not involving the military in civil affairs and led to lingering dislike for Churchill in Wales.

In 1911, he became First Lord of the Admiralty (civilian head of the Royal Navy), working especially to complete the conversion of ships from coal to oil. Together with his two First Sea Lords, Prince Louis of Battenberg and Admiral Lord Fisher, Churchill promoted fast, powerful battleships and outproduced the Germans to maintain British naval supremacy. He founded the Naval Air Service, and made numerous visits to ships and navy bases, where he was admired for his efforts to improve conditions for officers and crews.

===First World War===
At Churchill's direction, the fleet was at its war station before war broke out in 1914, but it was never able to engage the Germans in a decisive early sea battle. Churchill designed and supervised the Gallipoli campaign to force a route to [[Constantinople]] (now [[Istanbul]]). It was a unmitigated failure, and led to his removal from the Admiralty in May 1915. Reporting to his regiment in the trenches of Belgium, he was under fire for three months before returning to Parliament. In 1917, he was appointed Minister of Munitions and in 1919, Secretary for War and Air. He wrote a major 4-volume history of the war that added to his literary reputation.

===1920s===
As Colonial Secretary in 1921-22, he advocated the dropping of poison gas on rebellious tribes of Iraqi Arabs [http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHU407A.html]and during this period Churchill enjoyed two notable diplomatic achievements. At the 1921 Cairo conference, he helped establish the borders of the modern [[Middle East]], though he failed in his attempt to set up a Kurdish homeland "to protect the Kurds against some future bully in [[Iraq]]." Closer to home, he helped to forge the Irish Treaty, which kept the peace in Ireland for 50 years. Michael Collins, the IRA revolutionary with whom Churchill negotiated, said from his deathbed: "Tell Winston we could have done nothing without him."

In 1924, Churchill rejoined the Conservatives, serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer through spring 1929. He returned Britain to the gold standard and ran a government newspaper, ''The British Gazette'', during the general strike of 1926, and is still remembered in South Wales as the politician who sent tanks onto the streets to force striking miners back to work.
===Political exile in 1930s===
[[File:Churchill Sunset over Atlas Mountains, Marrakech 1935.jpg|thumb|Sunset over Atlas Mountains, Marrakesh, 1935.]]
He became increasingly separated from the Conservatives in the 1930s, first over the plan to grant India dominion status; later over Britain's slow rearmament in the face of Hitler's aggression; and finally when he championed King Edward VIII, who abdicated in 1936.

{{Clear}}

===Second World War===
Not until war had broken out again in 1939 was he asked to rejoin the Government, again becoming First Lord of the Admiralty, which according to legend, signaled to its ships: "Winston is Back." He renewed his energetic naval policies but was repulsed in an attempt to wrest Norway from the invading Germans in April 1940, having first had to drop ambitious plans to invade neutral Sweden.

With the Nazi blitzkrieg pouring into the [[Low Countries]] in May, 1940, The British Prime Minister [[Neville Chamberlain]] resigned and Churchill was appointed Prime Minister as head of in an all-party coalition government with Labour and the Liberals. Although Britain continued to be defeated elsewhere, in the [[Battle of Britain]] the German Air Force was unable to gain the air superiority required for an invasion of Britain. In those months, as Edward R. Murrow said, "he mobilized the English language and sent it into battle." Some of Churchill's most famous speeches were given at this time. The Germans turned their attention east, to their ally the Soviet Union.

After Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Churchill saw the chance to defeat Hitler using Soviet manpower. He vowed to help the Soviets, declaring, "If Hitler invaded hell I would at least make a favorable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons."

By 1940 Churchill had developed close ties with U.S. President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], he secured American military aid and financial support, but his ultimate goal was to have America fighting at Britain's side. Together they proclaimed the "[[Atlantic Charter]]" in 1941. The U.S. became the "Arsenal of Democracy," using [[Lend Lease]] to send $50 billion in military supplies to the Allies; most went to Britain, which in turn sent munitions to Russia.<ref>Lend Lease was free and did not have to be repaid, although transport ships were to be returned after the war, and some were.</ref> When the United States declared war after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in December, 1941, Churchill admitted that he "slept the sleep of the saved and the thankful."

Europe was the centre of his attention; the Australians complained about his neglect of their interests (and turned to the U.S. for protection). Recalling the horrible death tolls of 1914-1918, he was reluctant to invade France, proposing instead invasions of North Africa and Italy (which took place in 1942-43) and the Balkans (which did not happen). Churchill strongly supported the strategic air campaign that bombed enemy cities, railyards and oil refineries. He worked very well with [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], the American general in overall command of the invasion of France that was launched successfully in June 1944. Despite complaints by senior generals and admirals that Churchill interfered too much in military matters, he was successful in balancing the economic, manpower, diplomatic, psychological and military dimensions of the war.

===Defeat in 1945===
Churchill was disappointed by the failure to control an expansionist Soviet Union toward the end of the war, and watched with mounting concern another totalitarian state rise dominant in Europe. To the amazement of many outside Britain, his party was routed in the 1945 general election and he became Leader of the Opposition. His famous "Iron Curtain" speech at Fulton, Missouri, in 1946 was the opening salvo and warning of the Cold War, unpopular at the time but later considered prophetic. In 1949, he predicted the demise of Communism, "ignited by a spark coming from God knows where, and in a moment the whole system of lies and oppression is on trial for its life."
===Return in 1951===
In 1951 the Conservatives regained an electoral majority and Churchill became prime minister again, but he was disappointed in his effort to achieve a peaceful settlement of cold war antagonisms, and his domestic record was indifferent. He became a Knight of the Garter, acquiring the title "Sir Winston" in 1953.

Suffering from age and poor health, he retired in April 1955, but remained a Member of Parliament for another nine years. He declined a peerage in order to remain in Commons. In 1963 he was declared an Honorary Citizen of the United States by President [[John F. Kennedy]]. He died at age 90 on January 24, 1965. [http://www.churchill.navy.mil/site%20pages/history.aspx]
==Churchill as historian==
Churchill was a prolific historian with a lively style and a very wide audience. won the 1953 [[Nobel Prize]] for [[Literature]], bestowed for his numerous books on history, biography and politics. His greatest biography was ''Marlborough'' (4 volumes, 1933-38); his best-known historical work was ''A History of the English-Speaking Peoples'' (4 volumes, 1956-1958). His personal memoirs, ''My Early Life'' (1930), ''The World Crisis'' (5 volumes, 1923-31) and ''The Second World War'' (6 volumes, 1948-53) are readable personal accounts of his Victorian youth and the two world wars. In all, Churchill wrote over 40 titles in over 60 volumes, nearly 1,000 articles and uncounted speeches.

Churchill wrote ''Lord Randolph Churchill'', a two-volume biography of his father which was published in 1906 and received much critical acclaim. Some historians suggest Churchill used the book in part to vindicate his own career and in particular to justify crossing the floor.<ref>James, ''Churchill a study in failure'' p34-35</ref> His ''The World Crisis'' (six volumes, 1923–31) was a broad-scale history of the First World War, with Churchill never far offstage. His greatest work was , ''The Second World War'' (six volumes, 1948–53), using secret papers not available to other for many years; he did not reveal the prime secret of breaking the German codes (which was revealed in the early 1970s). Churchill's highly detailed narrative structured much of the historiography for the first decade or two after the war, especially in his analysis and denunciation of the appeasement policy of the late 1930s.<ref> See Reynolds (2001) and Reynolds (2005)</ref>

===Evaluation===
Asked to summarize Churchill in one sentence, his biographer Martin Gilbert said: "He was a great humanitarian who was himself distressed that the accidents of history gave him his greatest power at a time when everything had to be focused on defending the country from destruction, rather than achieving his goals of a fairer society."

To Martin Gilbert also we owe these last lines from Sir Winston's biography: "When at last his life's great impulses were fading, Churchill's daughter Mary paid him perhaps the most eloquent tribute of all: 'In addition to all the feelings a daughter has for a loving, generous father, I owe you what every Englishman, woman & child does--Liberty itself.'"

Margot Asquith said it was not his mind or uneven judgment Britons respected but rather "his courage and colour — his amazing mixture of industry and enterprise." "He never shirks, hedges or protects himself; he takes huge risks."<ref> quoted in David Fromkin, ''A Peace to End All Peace'' (2001) p. 54</ref>

[[Image:Sir Winston Churchill.jpg|right]]

== Famous Quotes ==

*Churchill wrote, "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."

*"There are two places where socialism will work, in heaven where it is not needed, and in hell where they already have it."

*"The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is."

*Winston Churchill, election broadcast (May, 1945) '''"I must tell you that a socialist policy is abhorrent to British ideas on freedom. There is to be one State, to which all are to be obedient in every act of their lives. This State, once in power, will prescribe for everyone: where they are to work, what they are to work at, where they may go and what they may say, what views they are to hold, where their wives are to queue up for the State ration, and what education their children are to receive. A socialist state could not afford to suffer opposition - ''no socialist system can be established without a political police''. They (the Labour government) would have to fall back on some form of Gestapo."'''

*"Never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."

*"Delight in smooth-sounding platitudes, refusal to face unpleasant facts, desire for popularity and electoral success irrespective of the vital interests of the State, genuine love of peace and pathetic belief that love can be its sole foundation, obvious lack of intellectual vigor in both leaders of the British coalition government,… the strong and violent pacifism which at this time dominated the Labour-Socialist Party, the utter devotion of the Liberals to sentiment apart from reality … constituted a picture of British fatuity and fecklessness which, though devoid of guile, was not devoid of guilt, and, though free from wickedness or evil design, played a definite part in unleashing upon the world of horrors and miseries which even so far as they have unfolded, are already beyond comparison in human experience." (Referring to Britain's culpability in the rise of Hitler's Germany and its results.) <ref>Winston S. Churchill, ''The Second World War: The gathering storm'', p. 80</ref>

*"Winston, if I were married to you I'd put poison in your coffee"...."Nancy, if I were married to you I'd drink it." ''(Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor, Viscountess Astor, b.1879, speaking to Sir Winston, and his reply, this occurred during a weekend house party at Blenheim Palace in the early 1930's)''

*"'''I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival. Let that be realized; no survival for the British Empire, no survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival for the urge and impulse of the ages, that mankind will move forward towards its goal. But I take up my task with buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men. At this time I feel entitled to claim the aid of all, and I say, "come then, let us go forward together with our united strength."'''[http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=435]

*The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers, is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist" -- Winston Churchill, November 21, 1943.

*We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing-grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender! ''Speech in the House of Commons, 4 June 1940, following the evacuation of British and French armies from Dunkirk, as the German tide swept through France.[http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=388#Never_give_in]

*What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may more forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their Finest Hour." ''Speech in the House of Commons, 18 June 1940, following the collapse of France. Many thought Britain would follow. [http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=388#Finest]

*The gratitude of every home in our island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the world war by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. ''Tribute to the Royal Air Force, House of Commons, 20 August 1940. He had worked out the phrase about "The Few" in his mind as he visited the Fighter Command airfields in Southern England.'' [http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=388#so_much_owed]

*"To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day."

==See also==
* [[Yalta conference]]
* [[Charles de Gaulle]]
* [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]

==Bibliography==
===Biographies===
* Addison, Paul. "Churchill, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer (1874–1965)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,'' [http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.cc.uic.edu/view/article/32413, online]
* Addison, Paul. ''Churchill: The Unexpected Hero.'' (2005). 320 pp. [http://www.amazon.com/Churchill-Unexpected-Hero-Paul-Addison/dp/0199297436/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226209264&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Best, Geoffrey. ''Churchill: A Study in Greatness'' (2003), 400pp; very well received biography
* Blake, Robert. ''Winston Churchill. Pocket Biographies'' (1997), 110 pages
* Charmley, John. ''Churchill, The End of Glory: A Political Biography'' (1993). revisionist; favors Chamberlain; says Churchill weakened Britain
* D'Este, Carlo. ''Warlord: A Life of Winston Churchill at War, 1874-1945'' (2008), stresses his many military roles.
* Gilbert, Martin. ''Churchill: A Life'' (1992); one volume version of 8-volume life (8900 pp); amazing detail but as Rasor complains, "no background, no context, no comment, no analysis, no judgments, no evaluation, and no insights." [http://www.amazon.com/Churchill-Life-Martin-Gilbert/dp/0805023968/ref=pd_bbs_11?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226208898&sr=8-11 excerpt and text search]
* Heywood, Samantha. ''Churchill'' (2003) 162 pp, [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=104529861 online edition]
* James, Robert Rhodes. ''Churchill: A Study in Failure, 1900-1939'' (1970), 400 pp.
* Jenkins, Roy. ''Churchill: A Biography'' (2001), 1000 pp; strong on Parliamentary roles [http://www.amazon.com/Churchill-Roy-Jenkins/dp/0452283523/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226209134&sr=8-3 excerpt and text search]
* Keegan, John. ''Winston Churchill'' (2002) 208 pp [http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0670030791/ref=sib_dp_pop_ex/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&p=S00F#reader-link online excerpt]
* Manchester, William. ''The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Visions of Glory 1874-1932'', 1983; vol 2 is ''The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Alone 1932-1940'', 1988,; no more published [http://www.amazon.com/Last-Lion-Winston-Spencer-Churchill/dp/0316545031/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226208898&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Pelling, Henry. ''Winston Churchill'' (1974), 736pp; comprehensive biography
* Rose, Norman. ''Churchill: An Unruly Life'' (1994), full-length biography [http://www.amazon.com/Churchill-Unruly-Giant-Norman-Rose/dp/0028740092/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226209166&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Wrigley, Chris. ''Winston Churchill: A Biographical Companion.'' ABC-CLIO, 2002. 367 pp.; online at some libraries

===Specialized studies===
* Addison, Paul. ''Churchill on the Home Front 1900-1955'' (1992)
* Ball, Stuart. "Churchill and the Conservative Party," ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society'' 6th Ser., Vol. 11 (2001), pp. 307-330 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0080-4401%282001%296%3A11%3C307%3ACATCP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-D in JSTOR]
* Bell, Christopher M. "Winston Churchill, Pacific Security, and the Limits of British Power, 1921-41," in John H. Maurer, ed. ''Churchill and Strategic Dilemmas before the World Wars'' (2003) pp 51-120 [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=108530166# online edition]
* Ben-Moshe, Tuvia. ''Churchill, Strategy and History.'' 1992, covers world wars [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=98438222 online edition]
* Beschloss, Michael R. ''The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1941-1945'' (2002) [http://www.amazon.com/Conquerors-Roosevelt-Destruction-Hitlers-1941-1945/dp/0743244540/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226208863&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Best, Geoffrey. ''Churchill and War.'' 2005. 353 pp.
* Blake, Robert and Louis William Roger, eds. ''Churchill: A Major New Reassessment of His Life in Peace and War'' Oxford UP, 1992, 581 pp; 29 essays by scholars on specialized topics[http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=26340770 online edition]
* Callahan, Raymond. ''Churchill and His Generals,'' (2007) 310pp
* Cannadine, David. "Churchill and the British Monarchy," ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society'' 6th Ser., Vol. 11 (2001), pp. 249-272 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0080-4401%282001%296%3A11%3C249%3ACATBM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-G in JSTOR]
* Charmley, John. ''Churchill's Grand Alliance: The Anglo-American Special Relationship 1940-57'' (1996)
* Charmley, John. "Churchill and the American Alliance," ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society'' 6th Ser., Vol. 11 (2001), pp. 353-371 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0080-4401%282001%296%3A11%3C353%3ACATAA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-U in JSTOR]
* Danchev, Alex. "'Dilly-Dally', or Having the Last Word: Field Marshal Sir John Dill and Prime Minister Winston Churchill," ''Journal of Contemporary History'' Vol. 22, No. 1 (Jan., 1987), pp. 21-44 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-0094%28198701%2922%3A1%3C21%3A%27OHTLW%3E2.0.CO%3B2-E in JSTOR]
* Delaney, Douglas E. "Churchill and the Mediterranean Strategy: December 1941 to January 1943." ''Defence Studies'' 2002 2(3): 1-26. Issn: 1470-2436 Fulltext: in Ebsco
* Gilbert, Martin. ''Churchill and America'' 2005. 352 pp.
* Gorodetsky, Gabriel. "The Origins of the Cold War: Stalin, Churchill and the Formation of the Grand Alliance," ''Russian Review'' Vol. 47, No. 2 (Apr., 1988), pp. 145-170 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0036-0341%28198804%2947%3A2%3C145%3ATOOTCW%3E2.0.CO%3B2-5 in JSTOR] 7
* Jablonsky, David. "Churchill and Technology," in John H. Maurer, ed. ''Churchill and Strategic Dilemmas before the World Wars'' (2003) pp 121-158 [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=108530166# online edition]
* Keegan, John, ed. ''Churchill's Generals'' (1991) 17 essays by experts
* Kersaudy, François. ''Churchill and De Gaulle'' 1981
* Kimball, Warren. ''Forged in war: Churchill, Roosevelt and the Second World War'' (1997)
* Lambakis, Steven James. ''Winston Churchill, Architect of Peace: A Study of Statesmanship and the Cold War'' (1994) 194 pp. [http://www.questia.com/library/book/winston-churchill-architect-of-peace-a-study-of-statesmanship-and-the-cold-war-by-steven-james-lambakis.jsp online edition]
* Larres, Klaus. ''Churchill's Cold War: The Politics of Personal Diplomacy.'' Yale U. Press, 2002. 569 pp.
* Lawlor, Sheila. ''Churchill and the politics of war, 1940–1941'' (1993)
* Lewin, Ronald. ''Churchill as warlord'' (1973)
* Lukacs, John. ''Churchill: Visionary, Statesman, Historian'' 2002. 202pp, interpretive essays
* Marder, Arthur. ''Winston is back: Churchill at the admiralty, 1939–1940'' (1973)
* Massie, Robert ''Dreadnought: Britain, Germany and the Coming of the Great War''; ch 40-41 on Churchill at Admiralty
* Maurer, John H. "The 'Ever-Present Danger': Winston Churchill's Assessment of the German Naval Challenge before the First World War" in John H. Maurer, ed. ''Churchill and Strategic Dilemmas before the World Wars'' (2003) pp 7-50 [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=108530166# online edition]
* Miner, Steven Merritt. ''Between Churchill and Stalin: The Soviet Union, Great Britain, and the Origins of the Grand Alliance'' (1988) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=3063617 online edition]
* Parker, R. A. C. ed. ''Winston Churchill: studies in statesmanship'' (1995), scholarly studies
* Parker, R. A. C. ''Churchill and appeasement'' (2000)
* Wrigley, Chris. "Churchill and the Trade Unions," ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society'' 6th Ser., Vol. 11 (2001), pp. 273-293 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0080-4401%282001%296%3A11%3C273%3ACATTU%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q in JSTOR]
* Young, John W. ''Winston Churchill's Last Campaign: Britain and the Cold War, 1951-5'' 1996 [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=9663209 online edition]
* Young, John W. "Churchill and East-West Detente," ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society'' 6th Ser., Vol. 11 (2001), pp. 373-392 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0080-4401%282001%296%3A11%3C373%3ACAED%3E2.0.CO%3B2-1 in JSTOR]

===Historiography===
* Ashley, Maurice. "Churchill and History," ''International Affairs'' Vol. 42, No. 1. (Jan., 1966), pp. 87-94. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0020-5850%28196601%2942%3A1%3C87%3ACAH%3E2.0.CO%3B2-D in JSTOR], Churchill as author
* Ramsden, John. ''Man of the Century: Winston Churchill and His Legend since 1945.'' Columbia U. Press, 2003. 672 pp.
* Rasor, Eugene L. ''Winston S. Churchill, 1874-1965: A Comprehensive Historiography and Annotated Bibliography.'' Greenwood Press. 2000. 710 pp. describes several thousand books and scholarly articles. [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=71893658 online edition]
* Reynolds, David. ''In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War.'' 2005. 631 pp.
* Reynolds, David. "Churchill's writing of history: appeasement, autobiography and ''The Gathering Storm''", ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society'', 6th ser., 11 (2001), 221–48 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0080-4401(2001)6%3A11%3C221%3ACWOHAA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-2 online edition]
* Stansky, Peter, ed. ''Churchill: A Profile'' 1973, 270 pp. essays for and against Churchill by leading scholars
* Wood, Ian S. ''Churchill'' 2000. 209pp evaluates numerous studies

===Primary sources===
* Churchill, Winston. ''Lord Randolph Churchill'' (1906) [http://books.google.com/books?id=u_PW93hcmBAC&pg=PA1&dq=inauthor:winston+inauthor:churchill&num=30#PPR13,M1 online edition]
* Churchill, Winston. ''The World Crisis'' (six volumes, 1923–31), 1-vol edition (2005); on World War I. Vol. I, 1911-1914; Vol. II, 1915; Vol. III, 1916-1918 Part I; Vol. IV, 1916-1918 Part II; and Vol. V: The Aftermath.
* Churchill, Winston. ''The Second World War'' (six volumes, 1948–53); ''Vol. I, The Gathering Storm; Vol. II, Their Finest Hour; Vol. III, The Grand Alliance; Vol. IV, The Hinge of Fate; Vol. V, Closing the Ring; and Vol. VI, Triumph and Tragedy;'' [http://www.amazon.com/Memoirs-Second-World-Abridgement-Volumes/dp/0395599687/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226208898&sr=8-3 excerpt and text search from 1-vol. abridged edition (1991)]; [http://www.amazon.com/Second-World-War-Six-Boxed/dp/039541685X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226208898&sr=8-4 excerpt and text search complete edition]
* Churchill, Winston. ''Lord Randolph Churchill'' (1907) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5477600 online edition], biography of his father
* Gilbert, Martin, ed. ''Winston S. Churchill: Companion'' 15 vol (14,000 pages) of Churchill and other official and unofficial documents. Part 1: I. Youth, 1874-1900, 1966, 654 pp. (2 vol); II. Young Statesman, 1901-1914, 1967, 796 pp. (3 vol); III. The Challenge of War, 1914-1916, 1971, 1024 pp. (3 vol); IV. The Stricken World, 1916-1922, 1975, 984 pp. (2 vol); Part 2: The Prophet of Truth, 1923-1939, 1977, 1195 pp. (3 vol); II. Finest Hour, 1939-1941, 1983, 1328 pp. (2 vol entitled The Churchill War Papers); III. Road to Victory, 1941-1945, 1986, 1437 pp. (not published, 4 volumes are anticipated); IV. Never Despair, 1945-1965, 1988, 1438 pp. (not published, 3 volumes anticipated, See the editor's memoir, Martin Gilbert, ''In Search of Churchill: A Historian's Journey,'' (1994).
* James, Robert Rhodes, ed. ''Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches, 1897-1963.'' 8 vols. London: Chelsea, 1974, 8917 pp.
*David Coombs, ''Sir Winston Churchill, His life through his paintings,'' Pegasus, 2003
* Winston Churchill. ''Victory: War Speeches by the Right Hon. Winston S. Churchill,'' (1946) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=13536012 online edition]
* Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. ''Roosevelt and Churchill: Their Secret Wartime Correspondence'' ed by Francis L. Loewenheim, Harold D. Langley and Manfred Jonas (1975) 807 pgs [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=7896020 online edition]
* Winston Churchill and Dwight D. Eisenhower. ''The Churchill-Eisenhower Correspondence, 1953-1955'' ed by Peter G. Boyle; University of North Carolina Press, 1990 [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=35246690 online edition]
* Winston Churchill and Harry S. Truman. ''Defending the West: The Truman-Churchill Correspondence, 1945-1960'' ed by G. W. Sand; (2004) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=106807897 online edition]

==External links==
*[http://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/archives/churchill_papers/biography/churchill_chronology.php Churchill College Biography of Winston Churchill]
*[http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=452 Books written by Churchill]
* [http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=110 online Winston S. Churchill, "Churchill's American Heritage'' ], essay by his grandson
*[http://www.iwm.org.uk Imperial War Museum]: [[Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms]]. Comprising the original underground War Rooms perfectly preserved since 1945, from which Churchill ran the War, including the Cabinet Room, the Map Room and Churchill's bedroom, and the new Museum dedicated to Churchill's life.
*[http://www.badley.info/history/Churchill-Winston-Leonard-Spencer-Great-Britain.biog.html Winston Churchill Chronology World History Database]
*[http://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/archives/home.shtml Churchill Archives Centre, based at Churchill College, Cambridge]
* [http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/churchill/interactive Churchill and the Great Republic]. WC'a lifelong relationship with the United States.
* [http://www.churchill.nls.ac.uk documents edited by the National Library of Scotland]
*[http://speakingofhistory.blogspot.com/2006_03_01_speakingofhistory_archive.html Audio about the Winston Churchill Memorial and Library at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri from the Speaking of History podcast #17 - site also includes video slideshow of the museum]
*'''War Cabinet Minutes''' [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/cab_195_1_transcript.pdf (1942 - 42)], [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/cab_195_2_transcript.pdf (1942 - 43)], [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/cab_195_3_transcript.pdf (1945 - 46)], [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/cab_195_4_transcript.pdf (1946 - 46)]
*[http://www.ena.lu MCE European NAvigator] European Union History tool, contains a number of Churchill recordings etc.
===Speeches===
*[http://www.churchill-speeches.com/ http://www.churchill-speeches.com/]
*[http://www.historychannel.com/broadband/clipview/index.jsp?id=v3t4 Audio of Churchill's "finest hour" speech]
*[http://web.archive.org/web/20050206200958/http://www.blenheimpalace.com/Time_line_the_family.htm Timeline of the Spencer-Churchill family]
*[http://www.soundboard.com/sb/winston.aspx Winston Churchill Audio Soundboard]

====notes====
<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Churchill, Winston}}
[[Category:United Kingdom Prime Ministers]]
[[Category:World War I]]
[[Category:World War II]]
[[Category:1920s]]
[[Category:Cold War]]
[[Category:Historians]]
[[Category:Conservatives]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Literature]]
[[Category:British History]]
[[Category:Diplomacy]]
[[Category:Painters]]

Seppuku

2013-08-03T19:48:59Z

CameronD: crime against God

'''Seppuku''' (literally meaning "belly cutting") is a form of [[suicide]] practiced by [[Japanese]] samurai to avoid being captured or to restore one's [[honor]]. It involves the samurai using a short knife or his tanto and cutting his abdomen in one of several ways that ammounted to three cuts so as to open his abdomen. The process was thought to demonstrate to onlookers that the man was not a dishonorable man because the gut is to Japanese cultural belief as the heart is to Western belief; as Westerners may talk about someone having a black heart, the Japanese would talk about someone having a black belly.

The ceremony was performed with a "kaishaku" or second. This person was usually someone close to the man committing seppuku and their responsibility was to cut off the head of the first person after at least one cut was made. It was to spare them the pain and prolonged agonizing death of opening the intestines after having proved they had the courage to mortally wound themselves.

In recent years the most notable person to commit suicide in this manner was the novelist and ultra-nationalist [[Yukio Mishima]], who chose seppuku after a failed comic-opera coup, in which he had kidnapped the Japanese Minister of Defence.

As suicide is a crime against God, seppuku is considered wrong by Christians.

[[Category:Culture]]
[[Category:Japan]]

User:CameronD

2013-08-03T19:45:03Z

CameronD: Back

Whatever you do unto the least of my children you do unto me.

Liberals should not be allowed guns. Guns are for law and order, they (liberals) are against law order so they are dangerous with them.

Glad to be back unable to access for too long. Probably my liberal ISP's fault preventing me seeing the truth.

Manumitted slave

2013-06-12T17:33:23Z

CameronD: owner

'''Manumission''' is the [[act]] of freeing a particular [[slave]] by his owner. Often it was done to reward the slave, but sometimes it was done for unethical reasons, like letting a very old and sick slave "free" so the owner did not have to provide adequate food, clothing or shelter for the old slave.
[[Category:Slavery]]

Conservative Party (UK)

2013-05-18T15:22:10Z

CameronD: /* The modern Party */ Conservative party now behind as right wing UKIP picks up support

[[Image:Conservatives.png|right|thumb|300px|The Conservative Party logo]]
The '''Conservative Party''' is the largest right of center party in the [[United Kingdom]], and is one of that country's three major political parties. Its full official name is the ''Conservative and Unionist Party'', and it is commonly referred to as the ''Tory Party'' after its historical predecessor. Its current leader as of 2012 is [[David Cameron]]. Aside from moderate fiscal conservatism, there is little actually conservative about the modern party which is, along with all the main political parties in the UK, [[pro-abortion]], pro-gay marriage and pro-[[gun control]].

==British conservatism==
British conservatism has its own distinctive tradition, separate both from that of continental European conservatism and from that of American conservatism. Traditional British conservatism is rooted in pragmatism, practicality and concrete experience: this reflects a broader historical preference in British culture for the practical over the theoretical and for the concrete over the abstract. In continental Europe, many conservatives in past times, such as the Frenchman [[Joseph de Maistre]], were strongly ideological and defended causes such as absolute monarchy and Roman Catholicism. By contrast, the heroes of British conservatism (such as Sir [[Edmund Burke]] in the eighteenth century, Sir [[Robert Peel]] and [[Benjamin Disraeli]] in the nineteenth, and Sir [[Winston Churchill]] in the twentieth) were moderate, pragmatic and non-ideological. While a more ideological strand of conservatism was in the ascendant during the leadership of [[Margaret Thatcher|Lady Thatcher]] (1975-1990), the older, pragmatic trend has reasserted itself in more recent years.

==The Conservative Party in recent years==
The modern British Conservative Party ran the United Kingdom for nearly 20 years, beginning with Margaret Thatcher's victory for the Party in 1979. She came into office facing a British economy that had been crippled by industrial disputes, strikes, high unemployment, and collapsing public services, especially during the so-called 'Winter of Discontent' of 1978-9. Mrs. Thatcher turned that around, broke the iron grip of the trade unions, and restored the British economy to a free enterprise system that has continued to this day. She was succeeded by John Major in 1990, and, to the surprise of the media, Major won the general election in 1992 and extended the Conservative Party's power until 1997.

By 1997 the Labour Party had finally embraced the more conservative direction for the country and abandoned many of its socialist economic policies of the past. Economic difficulties, including a dispute over whether the UK should join the currency of the European Union, hurt the Conservative Party further. This was coupled with a perception that the party had become corrupt, with a number of high-profile members of the party being involved in financial and sexual scandals. The Labour Party won in a landslide in 1997 and held power until 2010.

Major was soon after replaced by [[William Hague]], whose election as party leader was seen as an affirmation that the party wanted to continue with its Thatcherite policies. Hague was the victim of smears and attacks by a media which became Labour-biased to an extent never before seen in British history, and any attempt he made to state his policies or attack the government was routinely ignored (the UK has media regulations similar to the [[Fairness Doctrine]], but does not regulate what the media are supposed to report, only how much time they allocate to each party). The 2001 election went little better than the previous for the Conservatives, for which Hague accepted responsibility and stepped down as leader. [[Iain Duncan Smith]] replaced Hague, seemingly getting elected for no reason other than the fact that he was endorsed by Thatcher, and made no real impact as party leader. After passing up chances to attack the government for their role in [[Operation Iraqi Freedom]] (which had far less support in the UK than it did in the US), the party decided that enough was enough and Duncan Smith was removed as leader in late 2003. [[Michael Howard]] was seen by many as the only possible man to take the Conservatives forward, and was elected as the new party leader without opposition. A far more adept period of leadership saw a recovery at the 2005 election, halving Labour's majority in the House of Commons. A few weeks later, Howard announced that while the recovery of the Conservative Party had begun, he had done all he could as party leader, and so would step down once a successor had been elected.

==The modern Party==

Since the early 2000s, the Conservative Party leaders have softened its conservative stance on social and fiscal issues, and this has increased its popularity with the voters. Particularly since David Cameron - a self-declared "liberal conservative" (which in British English means "moderate conservative") - became leader of the Conservative Party, their support in the country has risen dramatically, however this is also due to the media-perpetuated anti-war feeling within the United Kingdom following [[Tony Blair]]'s era, coupled with the unpopularity of [[Gordon Brown]]'s government<ref>http://politics.guardian.co.uk/speeches/story/0,,1869970,00.html</ref> and recent polls. <ref>http://www.icmresearch.co.uk/reviews/2007/Guardian%20-%20Jan/guardian-jan-2007.asp</ref> <ref> http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour/story/0,,2016791,00.html </ref>

Cameron can be seen as a more moderate conservative than many previous leaders. His party policies have gravitated towards a more "green" outlook as the concern about [[global warming]] has grown within the UK. He has also praised Britain's socialized healthcare system, the [[National Health Service|NHS]]; but has also considered privatisation of sections of the service in an attempt to decrease the deficit at which it currently operates. The party has also continued to support some traditional elements of Conservative policy, such as support for the family.

Since forming the Coalition Government in 2010, Cameron's popularity has been rapidly declining, as indicated by various opinion polls conducted by the media. Current polls suggest the conservatives would be beaten with the Labour party while the Liberal Democrats have slumped in popularity.

David Cameron has established his own website. [http://www.webcameron.org.uk/]

==See also==

* [[British politics]]
* [[British conservatives]]
* [[David Cameron]]
* [[Margaret Thatcher]]
* [[Conservative Party of New York State|Conservative Party of New York State (CPNYS)]]
* [[American Conservative Party|American Conservative Party (ACP)]]

==External Links==

* [http://www.conservatives.com/ Conservative Party Official Website]
* [http://www.conservatives.com/Policy/Manifesto.aspx Conservative Party Manefesto for the 2010 General Election]
* [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-miliband-would-beat-cameron--unlike-ed-6292887.html]

==References==

<references/>

[[category:British Political Parties]]
[[Category:British History]]

Liberal Democrats

2013-05-18T15:20:02Z

CameronD: /* 2011 referendum */ Not in ref and not so-called alternative vote.Removing pro-labour bias

The '''Liberal Democrats''', often known as the "'''Lib Dems'''", are a political party in the [[United Kingdom]]. They have traditionally occupied the centre of the political spectrum, between the [[Labour Party]] on the left and the [[Conservative Party]] on the right ("liberal" in British political parlance means "centrist" or "moderate" rather than "left-wing", as it does in the United States). They have also been described as "radical centre", a political philosophy of having no inherent bias towards the left or right wings, and attempting to resolve political policy and events by taking input and/or advice from all salient viewpoints, and being willing to at least consider radically different new policies, provided those policies are well thought-out and examined. At the present time, the party is seen as being moderately left-leaning.

Along with the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats currently make up the ruling coalition in the UK, with party leader [[Nick Clegg]] <ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/7148179.stm Clegg nicks it</ref> serving as deputy Prime Minister under [[David Cameron]].

== History ==
The Liberal Democrats were formed in 1988 by a merger between the centrist [[British Liberal Party]] and the moderately left-wing [[Social Democratic Party]], which had split off from the Labour Party in the early 1980s when the latter became too strongly socialist. The Liberal Party was one of the oldest political parties in the world, tracing its roots back to the [[Whigs]] of the era of [[William of Orange]], but it had been in decline ever since the rise of the Labor movement in the early 20th Century, and had not had a prime minister since [[David Lloyd George]].

Since its foundation, the party had steadily increased its presence in the [[House of Commons]] at each successive election, until 2010. The party won 62 seats in the 2005 general election<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/ Election 2005 results</ref> - the most that the party or its predecessors had won since the election of 1923. However, in the general election of 2010, the number of Liberal Democrat MPs elected fell to 57<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/ Election 2010 results</ref>.

== Policies ==
Their policies can be broadly described as social-democratic, with a libertarian bent. They are in favour of legalization and government regulation of marijuana, and decriminalizing the possession (but not supply) of other illegal recreational drugs, believing that medical treatment for drug addicts is more helpful than prosecution or imprisonment. They also argue for a rationalization of the currently confused status of the various components of the [[United Kingdom]], such as simplifying the benefits system for disabled people<ref name="policies">http://www.libdems.org.uk/what_we_stand_for.aspx Liberal Democrat policies</ref>.

They support laws against discrimination based on race, gender, disability, religion and sexuality.<ref>http://www.libdems.org.uk/media/documents/policies/11CivilLiberties.pdf Protecting Civil Liberties</ref> The party traditionally advocated higher spending funded from higher taxes, but from 2007 onwards have advocated replacing or cutting some taxes, particularly Council Tax, which takes a higher proportion from the poor than the rich.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3130988.stm Lib Dems vote to axe council tax</ref> They opposed the [[Iraq War]], but were in favour of the Bosnian and Kosovo wars. They are the most pro-European Union party in [[British politics]], and support an amnesty for illegal migrants that have lived in the UK for a decade without a criminal record,<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/18/nlibdem718.xml Lib Dems want amnesty for illegal immigrants</ref> however, they wish to tighten control on immigration, especially illegal immigration, through reforms of immigration law and the creation of an integrated border police force, returning the UK to a policy of entry and exit controls, to monitor movement in and out of the UK<ref name="policies"/>. Lib Dems, like most other parties in the UK, want the UK and the EU to take the lead in combating [[Global Warming]]. The Lib Dems want to stop global temperatures rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above the 1990 average, by making the UK a zero-carbon economy by 2050, and having more efficient buildings and transport.<ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2007/aug/29/uk.greenpolitics Lib Dems see zero-carbon Britain setting the global green agenda</ref>
The party's terms for a coalition have always included introducing [[proportional representation]] for elections, and their terms for the 2009/10 election include: to reform government by capping private donations, reducing the number of MPs, having a 100% elected [[House of Lords]] (it is currently made of bishops, party appointees, and hereditary peers), and having a written [[constitution]] and a [[Bill of Rights]], as current UK constitutional law is confusingly spread out over parts of several legal documents.<ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/mar/10/liberaldemocrats.nickclegg Clegg's terms for deal in hung parliament</ref>

== 2011 referendum ==
Part of the deal with them going into partnership with the Tories was a referendum on the alternative vote, this was rejected by the UK voters<ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13297573</ref>.

Had this passed it would have gave the Lib Dems the whip hand, as under this system it is unlikely that either the Conservative or Labour parties would ever win an overall majority in The House of Commons, giving the Lib Dems the balance.

==Funding==
The party is poorly funded in comparison to its main rivals, leading to them accepting money from almost any source.

Their largest ever donor is convicted fraudster Michael Brown<ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4424450.ece Arrest warrant issued after Liberal Democrat donor Michael Brown skips bail], TimesOnline, July 30, 2008</ref>, a former bonds dealer who was convicted of stealing £30 million from his clients, who donated £2.4 million to the party.<ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article5252726.ece Lib Dems face repaying £2.4m after Michael Brown, party's biggest donor, convicted], TimeOnline, November 29, 2008</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7754234.stm Top Lib Dem donor stole millions], BBC, November 28 2008</ref>. They managed to avoid repaying the money after exploiting a technicality in the rules after a year long battle. <ref>[http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/news-and-media/news-releases/electoral-commission-media-centre/news-releases-donations/donations-by-5th-avenue-partners-limited-to-the-liberal-democrats-statementreindex1 Donations by 5th Avenue Partners Limited to the Liberal Democrats: statement], November 20, 2009</ref>

==References==
<references/>

==External Link==
* [http://www.libdems.org.uk/ Official Liberal Democrats website]
* [http://www.libdems.org.uk/our_manifesto.aspx Liberal Democrat Manefesto for 2010 General Election]
[[Category:British Political Parties]]
[[Category:British History]]
[[Category:British Politics]]

Liberal Democrats

2013-05-18T15:17:54Z

CameronD: /* 2011 referendum */ not relevant to an American website

The '''Liberal Democrats''', often known as the "'''Lib Dems'''", are a political party in the [[United Kingdom]]. They have traditionally occupied the centre of the political spectrum, between the [[Labour Party]] on the left and the [[Conservative Party]] on the right ("liberal" in British political parlance means "centrist" or "moderate" rather than "left-wing", as it does in the United States). They have also been described as "radical centre", a political philosophy of having no inherent bias towards the left or right wings, and attempting to resolve political policy and events by taking input and/or advice from all salient viewpoints, and being willing to at least consider radically different new policies, provided those policies are well thought-out and examined. At the present time, the party is seen as being moderately left-leaning.

Along with the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats currently make up the ruling coalition in the UK, with party leader [[Nick Clegg]] <ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/7148179.stm Clegg nicks it</ref> serving as deputy Prime Minister under [[David Cameron]].

== History ==
The Liberal Democrats were formed in 1988 by a merger between the centrist [[British Liberal Party]] and the moderately left-wing [[Social Democratic Party]], which had split off from the Labour Party in the early 1980s when the latter became too strongly socialist. The Liberal Party was one of the oldest political parties in the world, tracing its roots back to the [[Whigs]] of the era of [[William of Orange]], but it had been in decline ever since the rise of the Labor movement in the early 20th Century, and had not had a prime minister since [[David Lloyd George]].

Since its foundation, the party had steadily increased its presence in the [[House of Commons]] at each successive election, until 2010. The party won 62 seats in the 2005 general election<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/ Election 2005 results</ref> - the most that the party or its predecessors had won since the election of 1923. However, in the general election of 2010, the number of Liberal Democrat MPs elected fell to 57<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/ Election 2010 results</ref>.

== Policies ==
Their policies can be broadly described as social-democratic, with a libertarian bent. They are in favour of legalization and government regulation of marijuana, and decriminalizing the possession (but not supply) of other illegal recreational drugs, believing that medical treatment for drug addicts is more helpful than prosecution or imprisonment. They also argue for a rationalization of the currently confused status of the various components of the [[United Kingdom]], such as simplifying the benefits system for disabled people<ref name="policies">http://www.libdems.org.uk/what_we_stand_for.aspx Liberal Democrat policies</ref>.

They support laws against discrimination based on race, gender, disability, religion and sexuality.<ref>http://www.libdems.org.uk/media/documents/policies/11CivilLiberties.pdf Protecting Civil Liberties</ref> The party traditionally advocated higher spending funded from higher taxes, but from 2007 onwards have advocated replacing or cutting some taxes, particularly Council Tax, which takes a higher proportion from the poor than the rich.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3130988.stm Lib Dems vote to axe council tax</ref> They opposed the [[Iraq War]], but were in favour of the Bosnian and Kosovo wars. They are the most pro-European Union party in [[British politics]], and support an amnesty for illegal migrants that have lived in the UK for a decade without a criminal record,<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/18/nlibdem718.xml Lib Dems want amnesty for illegal immigrants</ref> however, they wish to tighten control on immigration, especially illegal immigration, through reforms of immigration law and the creation of an integrated border police force, returning the UK to a policy of entry and exit controls, to monitor movement in and out of the UK<ref name="policies"/>. Lib Dems, like most other parties in the UK, want the UK and the EU to take the lead in combating [[Global Warming]]. The Lib Dems want to stop global temperatures rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above the 1990 average, by making the UK a zero-carbon economy by 2050, and having more efficient buildings and transport.<ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2007/aug/29/uk.greenpolitics Lib Dems see zero-carbon Britain setting the global green agenda</ref>
The party's terms for a coalition have always included introducing [[proportional representation]] for elections, and their terms for the 2009/10 election include: to reform government by capping private donations, reducing the number of MPs, having a 100% elected [[House of Lords]] (it is currently made of bishops, party appointees, and hereditary peers), and having a written [[constitution]] and a [[Bill of Rights]], as current UK constitutional law is confusingly spread out over parts of several legal documents.<ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/mar/10/liberaldemocrats.nickclegg Clegg's terms for deal in hung parliament</ref>

== 2011 referendum ==
There is a growing consensus that the Liberal Democrats have no real policy goals at all, or if they do they are irrelevant. Part of the deal with them going into partnership with the Tories was a referendum on the so called alternative vote, this was rejected by the UK voters<ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13297573</ref>.

Had this passed it would have gave the Lib Dems the whip hand, as under this system it is unlikely that either the Conservative or Labour parties would ever win an overall majority in The House of Commons, giving the Lib Dems the balance, far more power than they will ever be mandated to hold. With this power they would be able to support, and withdraw support to either of the larger parties at a whim, being able to switch sides whenever it suited them, thus becoming the most powerful force in British politics and undermining British democracy.

==Funding==
The party is poorly funded in comparison to its main rivals, leading to them accepting money from almost any source.

Their largest ever donor is convicted fraudster Michael Brown<ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4424450.ece Arrest warrant issued after Liberal Democrat donor Michael Brown skips bail], TimesOnline, July 30, 2008</ref>, a former bonds dealer who was convicted of stealing £30 million from his clients, who donated £2.4 million to the party.<ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article5252726.ece Lib Dems face repaying £2.4m after Michael Brown, party's biggest donor, convicted], TimeOnline, November 29, 2008</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7754234.stm Top Lib Dem donor stole millions], BBC, November 28 2008</ref>. They managed to avoid repaying the money after exploiting a technicality in the rules after a year long battle. <ref>[http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/news-and-media/news-releases/electoral-commission-media-centre/news-releases-donations/donations-by-5th-avenue-partners-limited-to-the-liberal-democrats-statementreindex1 Donations by 5th Avenue Partners Limited to the Liberal Democrats: statement], November 20, 2009</ref>

==References==
<references/>

==External Link==
* [http://www.libdems.org.uk/ Official Liberal Democrats website]
* [http://www.libdems.org.uk/our_manifesto.aspx Liberal Democrat Manefesto for 2010 General Election]
[[Category:British Political Parties]]
[[Category:British History]]
[[Category:British Politics]]

Liberal Democrats

2013-05-18T15:16:56Z

CameronD: /* Policies */ and again

The '''Liberal Democrats''', often known as the "'''Lib Dems'''", are a political party in the [[United Kingdom]]. They have traditionally occupied the centre of the political spectrum, between the [[Labour Party]] on the left and the [[Conservative Party]] on the right ("liberal" in British political parlance means "centrist" or "moderate" rather than "left-wing", as it does in the United States). They have also been described as "radical centre", a political philosophy of having no inherent bias towards the left or right wings, and attempting to resolve political policy and events by taking input and/or advice from all salient viewpoints, and being willing to at least consider radically different new policies, provided those policies are well thought-out and examined. At the present time, the party is seen as being moderately left-leaning.

Along with the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats currently make up the ruling coalition in the UK, with party leader [[Nick Clegg]] <ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/7148179.stm Clegg nicks it</ref> serving as deputy Prime Minister under [[David Cameron]].

== History ==
The Liberal Democrats were formed in 1988 by a merger between the centrist [[British Liberal Party]] and the moderately left-wing [[Social Democratic Party]], which had split off from the Labour Party in the early 1980s when the latter became too strongly socialist. The Liberal Party was one of the oldest political parties in the world, tracing its roots back to the [[Whigs]] of the era of [[William of Orange]], but it had been in decline ever since the rise of the Labor movement in the early 20th Century, and had not had a prime minister since [[David Lloyd George]].

Since its foundation, the party had steadily increased its presence in the [[House of Commons]] at each successive election, until 2010. The party won 62 seats in the 2005 general election<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/ Election 2005 results</ref> - the most that the party or its predecessors had won since the election of 1923. However, in the general election of 2010, the number of Liberal Democrat MPs elected fell to 57<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/ Election 2010 results</ref>.

== Policies ==
Their policies can be broadly described as social-democratic, with a libertarian bent. They are in favour of legalization and government regulation of marijuana, and decriminalizing the possession (but not supply) of other illegal recreational drugs, believing that medical treatment for drug addicts is more helpful than prosecution or imprisonment. They also argue for a rationalization of the currently confused status of the various components of the [[United Kingdom]], such as simplifying the benefits system for disabled people<ref name="policies">http://www.libdems.org.uk/what_we_stand_for.aspx Liberal Democrat policies</ref>.

They support laws against discrimination based on race, gender, disability, religion and sexuality.<ref>http://www.libdems.org.uk/media/documents/policies/11CivilLiberties.pdf Protecting Civil Liberties</ref> The party traditionally advocated higher spending funded from higher taxes, but from 2007 onwards have advocated replacing or cutting some taxes, particularly Council Tax, which takes a higher proportion from the poor than the rich.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3130988.stm Lib Dems vote to axe council tax</ref> They opposed the [[Iraq War]], but were in favour of the Bosnian and Kosovo wars. They are the most pro-European Union party in [[British politics]], and support an amnesty for illegal migrants that have lived in the UK for a decade without a criminal record,<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/18/nlibdem718.xml Lib Dems want amnesty for illegal immigrants</ref> however, they wish to tighten control on immigration, especially illegal immigration, through reforms of immigration law and the creation of an integrated border police force, returning the UK to a policy of entry and exit controls, to monitor movement in and out of the UK<ref name="policies"/>. Lib Dems, like most other parties in the UK, want the UK and the EU to take the lead in combating [[Global Warming]]. The Lib Dems want to stop global temperatures rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above the 1990 average, by making the UK a zero-carbon economy by 2050, and having more efficient buildings and transport.<ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2007/aug/29/uk.greenpolitics Lib Dems see zero-carbon Britain setting the global green agenda</ref>
The party's terms for a coalition have always included introducing [[proportional representation]] for elections, and their terms for the 2009/10 election include: to reform government by capping private donations, reducing the number of MPs, having a 100% elected [[House of Lords]] (it is currently made of bishops, party appointees, and hereditary peers), and having a written [[constitution]] and a [[Bill of Rights]], as current UK constitutional law is confusingly spread out over parts of several legal documents.<ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/mar/10/liberaldemocrats.nickclegg Clegg's terms for deal in hung parliament</ref>

== 2011 referendum ==
There is a growing consensus that the Liberal Democrats have no real policy goals at all, or if they do they are irrelevant. Part of the deal with them going into partnership with the Tories was a referendum on the so called alternative vote, thankfully this was rejected by the UK voters<ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13297573</ref>.

Had this passed it would have gave the Lib Dems the whip hand, as under this system it is unlikely that either the Conservative or Labour parties would ever win an overall majority in The House of Commons, giving the Lib Dems the balance, far more power than they will ever be mandated to hold. With this power they would be able to support, and withdraw support to either of the larger parties at a whim, being able to switch sides whenever it suited them, thus becoming the most powerful force in British politics and undermining British democracy. This rather goes against their baby hugging, every-bodies friend image. Thankfully this very real example of [[liberal creep]] failed

==Funding==
The party is poorly funded in comparison to its main rivals, leading to them accepting money from almost any source.

Their largest ever donor is convicted fraudster Michael Brown<ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4424450.ece Arrest warrant issued after Liberal Democrat donor Michael Brown skips bail], TimesOnline, July 30, 2008</ref>, a former bonds dealer who was convicted of stealing £30 million from his clients, who donated £2.4 million to the party.<ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article5252726.ece Lib Dems face repaying £2.4m after Michael Brown, party's biggest donor, convicted], TimeOnline, November 29, 2008</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7754234.stm Top Lib Dem donor stole millions], BBC, November 28 2008</ref>. They managed to avoid repaying the money after exploiting a technicality in the rules after a year long battle. <ref>[http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/news-and-media/news-releases/electoral-commission-media-centre/news-releases-donations/donations-by-5th-avenue-partners-limited-to-the-liberal-democrats-statementreindex1 Donations by 5th Avenue Partners Limited to the Liberal Democrats: statement], November 20, 2009</ref>

==References==
<references/>

==External Link==
* [http://www.libdems.org.uk/ Official Liberal Democrats website]
* [http://www.libdems.org.uk/our_manifesto.aspx Liberal Democrat Manefesto for 2010 General Election]
[[Category:British Political Parties]]
[[Category:British History]]
[[Category:British Politics]]

Liberal Democrats

2013-05-18T15:16:17Z

CameronD: UK spelling on UK articles

The '''Liberal Democrats''', often known as the "'''Lib Dems'''", are a political party in the [[United Kingdom]]. They have traditionally occupied the centre of the political spectrum, between the [[Labour Party]] on the left and the [[Conservative Party]] on the right ("liberal" in British political parlance means "centrist" or "moderate" rather than "left-wing", as it does in the United States). They have also been described as "radical centre", a political philosophy of having no inherent bias towards the left or right wings, and attempting to resolve political policy and events by taking input and/or advice from all salient viewpoints, and being willing to at least consider radically different new policies, provided those policies are well thought-out and examined. At the present time, the party is seen as being moderately left-leaning.

Along with the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats currently make up the ruling coalition in the UK, with party leader [[Nick Clegg]] <ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/7148179.stm Clegg nicks it</ref> serving as deputy Prime Minister under [[David Cameron]].

== History ==
The Liberal Democrats were formed in 1988 by a merger between the centrist [[British Liberal Party]] and the moderately left-wing [[Social Democratic Party]], which had split off from the Labour Party in the early 1980s when the latter became too strongly socialist. The Liberal Party was one of the oldest political parties in the world, tracing its roots back to the [[Whigs]] of the era of [[William of Orange]], but it had been in decline ever since the rise of the Labor movement in the early 20th Century, and had not had a prime minister since [[David Lloyd George]].

Since its foundation, the party had steadily increased its presence in the [[House of Commons]] at each successive election, until 2010. The party won 62 seats in the 2005 general election<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/ Election 2005 results</ref> - the most that the party or its predecessors had won since the election of 1923. However, in the general election of 2010, the number of Liberal Democrat MPs elected fell to 57<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/ Election 2010 results</ref>.

== Policies ==
Their policies can be broadly described as social-democratic, with a libertarian bent. They are in favor of legalization and government regulation of marijuana, and decriminalizing the possession (but not supply) of other illegal recreational drugs, believing that medical treatment for drug addicts is more helpful than prosecution or imprisonment. They also argue for a rationalization of the currently confused status of the various components of the [[United Kingdom]], such as simplifying the benefits system for disabled people<ref name="policies">http://www.libdems.org.uk/what_we_stand_for.aspx Liberal Democrat policies</ref>.

They support laws against discrimination based on race, gender, disability, religion and sexuality.<ref>http://www.libdems.org.uk/media/documents/policies/11CivilLiberties.pdf Protecting Civil Liberties</ref> The party traditionally advocated higher spending funded from higher taxes, but from 2007 onwards have advocated replacing or cutting some taxes, particularly Council Tax, which takes a higher proportion from the poor than the rich.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3130988.stm Lib Dems vote to axe council tax</ref> They opposed the [[Iraq War]], but were in favour of the Bosnian and Kosovo wars. They are the most pro-European Union party in [[British politics]], and support an amnesty for illegal migrants that have lived in the UK for a decade without a criminal record,<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/18/nlibdem718.xml Lib Dems want amnesty for illegal immigrants</ref> however, they wish to tighten control on immigration, especially illegal immigration, through reforms of immigration law and the creation of an integrated border police force, returning the UK to a policy of entry and exit controls, to monitor movement in and out of the UK<ref name="policies"/>. Lib Dems, like most other parties in the UK, want the UK and the EU to take the lead in combating [[Global Warming]]. The Lib Dems want to stop global temperatures rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above the 1990 average, by making the UK a zero-carbon economy by 2050, and having more efficient buildings and transport.<ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2007/aug/29/uk.greenpolitics Lib Dems see zero-carbon Britain setting the global green agenda</ref>
The party's terms for a coalition have always included introducing [[proportional representation]] for elections, and their terms for the 2009/10 election include: to reform government by capping private donations, reducing the number of MPs, having a 100% elected [[House of Lords]] (it is currently made of bishops, party appointees, and hereditary peers), and having a written [[constitution]] and a [[Bill of Rights]], as current UK constitutional law is confusingly spread out over parts of several legal documents.<ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/mar/10/liberaldemocrats.nickclegg Clegg's terms for deal in hung parliament</ref>

== 2011 referendum ==
There is a growing consensus that the Liberal Democrats have no real policy goals at all, or if they do they are irrelevant. Part of the deal with them going into partnership with the Tories was a referendum on the so called alternative vote, thankfully this was rejected by the UK voters<ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13297573</ref>.

Had this passed it would have gave the Lib Dems the whip hand, as under this system it is unlikely that either the Conservative or Labour parties would ever win an overall majority in The House of Commons, giving the Lib Dems the balance, far more power than they will ever be mandated to hold. With this power they would be able to support, and withdraw support to either of the larger parties at a whim, being able to switch sides whenever it suited them, thus becoming the most powerful force in British politics and undermining British democracy. This rather goes against their baby hugging, every-bodies friend image. Thankfully this very real example of [[liberal creep]] failed

==Funding==
The party is poorly funded in comparison to its main rivals, leading to them accepting money from almost any source.

Their largest ever donor is convicted fraudster Michael Brown<ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4424450.ece Arrest warrant issued after Liberal Democrat donor Michael Brown skips bail], TimesOnline, July 30, 2008</ref>, a former bonds dealer who was convicted of stealing £30 million from his clients, who donated £2.4 million to the party.<ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article5252726.ece Lib Dems face repaying £2.4m after Michael Brown, party's biggest donor, convicted], TimeOnline, November 29, 2008</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7754234.stm Top Lib Dem donor stole millions], BBC, November 28 2008</ref>. They managed to avoid repaying the money after exploiting a technicality in the rules after a year long battle. <ref>[http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/news-and-media/news-releases/electoral-commission-media-centre/news-releases-donations/donations-by-5th-avenue-partners-limited-to-the-liberal-democrats-statementreindex1 Donations by 5th Avenue Partners Limited to the Liberal Democrats: statement], November 20, 2009</ref>

==References==
<references/>

==External Link==
* [http://www.libdems.org.uk/ Official Liberal Democrats website]
* [http://www.libdems.org.uk/our_manifesto.aspx Liberal Democrat Manefesto for 2010 General Election]
[[Category:British Political Parties]]
[[Category:British History]]
[[Category:British Politics]]

Nehemiah

2013-05-18T13:56:24Z

CameronD: Fix spelling. Nobody is perfect

Nehemiah is the leading figure of the [[Book of Nehemiah]]. Nehemiah lead a rebuilding of of the city of [[Jerusalem]].

== Nehemiah's ignoring of his opponents' time wasting criticisms ==

The website christianstandard.com offers this commentary on how Nehemiah efficiently handled his opponents' time wasting criticisms:
{{cquote|Nehemiah understood that effective leadership often requires ignoring criticism. His opponents wanted to meet and discuss their criticisms of his work. Nehemiah answered, “I am doing a great work and cannot go down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?” (Nehemiah 6:3).

Leaders need to understand that criticism is almost always little more than a distraction. Nehemiah ignored his critics and refused to give them the time and energy that belonged to his ministry. As persistent as his opponents were, Nehemiah held his ground. He explained, “Four times they sent me the same proposal, and I gave them the same reply” (6:4). Nehemiah teaches us that leaders must never let criticism distract us from the work!<ref>[http://christianstandard.com/2013/04/how-to-handle-criticism/ How Nehemiah handled his opponents]</ref>}}

== Notes ==
{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Biblical Persons]]
[[Category:Jewish People]]
[[Category:Old Testament]]

Apartheid

2013-05-15T20:02:34Z

CameronD: /* Verwoerd and the Bantustans */ Coloured was the term used.

'''Apartheid''' (meaning ''separateness'' in [[Afrikaans language|Afrikaans]]), was a social, economic and political policy of racial [[segregation]] which was enforced by white minority governments in [[South Africa]] from 1948 until June 17 1991 when the final Apartheid laws were abolished in Parliament.

==Verwoerd and the Bantustans==
Laws passed in 1950 forced a separation of non-whites from whites in South African society. The first, the ''Population Registration Act'', had people register with a racial classification board to determine "officially" if they belonged to one of four racial groups: White, African, or Coloured (the later split into Coloured and Indian). The second, the Group Areas Act, was the enforced relocation of non-whites into designated urban areas; to compel these people into the new "townships", which were in essence little more than shanty towns. The government ordered the bulldozing of once-vibrant mixed-race communities; the non-white inhabitants, especially the Africans, were ordered to carry passbooks to go from place to place in white areas. [http://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/unit.php?id=5&page=2] Likewise, whites were ordered to relocate from the areas which they settled, that historically belonged to blacks.

Dr. [[Hendrik F. Verwoerd]], Prime Minister of South Africa from 1957 until 1966, designed a system that expanded the scope and impact of apartheid. Blacks were given a limited education which guaranteed them menial job opportunities as opposed to Whites [http://www.stanford.edu/~jbaugh/saw/Chloe_Bantu_Education.html]. The ''Reservation of Separate Amenities Act'', passed in 1953, ordered the segregation of blacks at all public facilities, including post offices, public transportation, beaches, sports venues, parks, toilets, and even cemeteries. [http://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/unit.php?id=5&page=2]

:''"There is no place for him [the African] in the European community above the level of certain forms of labor. Within his own community, however, all doors are open. For that reason it is to no avail for him to receive a training which has as its aim absorption in the European community, where he cannot be absorbed."'' Hendrik F. Verwoerd (1954) [http://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/unit.php?id=5]

Verwoerd had also insisted, and succeeded in getting, limited self-administration in the black reservations (called "homelands") of the Transkei, Ciskei, Bophuthatswana, Venda, Ganzankulu, KwaNdebele, KwaZulu, [[Lebowa]], and QwaQwa, which meant they were semi-autonomous. This had also meant that the homelands were now responsible for their own societal and economic problems. 'Africans' were denied citizenship and were instead granted full voting rights in several 'homelands' or bantustans. [http://www.suedafrika.net/history/eh_apart2.htm]

==Independence of four Bantustans==
Four of the Bantustans, Transkei (1976), Ciskei (1981), Bophuthatswana (1977), and Venda (1979), were eventually declared independent nations by South Africa, albeit without any international recognition other than from each other.

During their period of independence, these four nations were often derided by critics claiming they were [[puppet government]]s of South Africa, but the Transkei government had a rocky relationship with South Africa, breaking diplomatic relations between 1978 and 1980 over territorial disputes, and then undergoing a military [[coup d'etat]] in 1987 after which Transkei became an ally of, and safe haven for, the [[African National Congress]].

In Bophuthatswana on the other hand, an attempted coup in 1988 was suppressed by South Africa, who restored president Kgosi Lucas Manyane Mangope. The Sun City [[casino]] was located in Bophuthatswana, where [[gambling]] was legal (it was illegal in South Africa). Ciskei and Venda both underwent military coups in 1990, which South Africa did not suppress.

All four countries were re-incorporated into South Africa in April 1994 following the end of Apartheid and the adoption of a new South African constitution, but Bophuthatswana and Ciskei at first declared their refusal to re-integrate and their intention to remain independent nations. Both stand-offs ended after mutinies and coup d'etats deposed their respective leaders within two weeks of each other in March 1994.

==1983 Whites-only referendum==
In 1983 President PW Botha put the question of allowing Colored and Indian representation to the White electorate. 66% of whites voted to allow Coloreds and Indians their own houses of parliament (called the House of Representatives and the House of Delegates respectively).

Although many ultra-nationalistic and conservative Whites attacked the move as it was power-sharing (which they feared would result in Black rule)

==The Troubles==
The followers of Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi (Zulu King) and his Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) were staunchly pro-separation and even entered into a short-lived non-aggression pact with the [[Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging|AWB]] in 1993.

However the African National Congress, who drew members from most other Black tribes, were pro-integration and, as such, Zulu workers who had migrated to White South Africa were frequently involved in clashes with ANC supporters in the townships (Black areas adjoining many White towns and cities).

Between 1986 and 1994 some 10,000 IFP members were murdered by ANC supporters, many in a brutal fashion, the practice of "necklacing" was very popular amongst ANC members. Necklacing entailed placing a petrol-filled tire around the neck of a victim and then setting it alight.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*''Apartheid: A History'' by Brian Lapping

[[Category:Apartheid]]
[[Category:South Africa]]

Cricket (game)

2013-05-15T19:59:58Z

CameronD: * Canada not a test match nation

[[Image:Cricket_match.jpg|right|thumb|350px|Australia vs India, Sydney Cricket Ground, January 2004. Note how the pitch being used is merely one of many that can be in various stages of preparation.]]
'''Cricket''' is a bat and ball game played between two teams of eleven (with a "12th man" on hand in case of injury), normally in the local summer season. At international level, it is played primarily in three forms: Test cricket (played over five days), one-day cricket (a shortened form of the game, with each team batting one innings of up to 50 overs), and recently innovated "Twenty20" matches (20 overs per side).

Cricket is also played at state, provincial and county levels, and traditional matches between club, village and public house teams are still played in summer on the village greens of [[England]] and the playing fields, parks, school grounds and even, on a less formal level, the streets, backyards and beaches of cricket playing nations. See [[Backyard cricket]].

==International Game==
The International Cricket Council (ICC) governs the game internationally, and recognizes the national cricket administrations of each country.

On a global scale cricket is only surpassed by [[soccer]] in terms of popularity; it is the primary spectator sport in [[India]], [[Pakistan]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Sri Lanka]], and the [[West Indies]], and of major importance in [[England]], [[Australia]], [[New Zealand]], and [[South Africa]], and in many other places that were historically affected by British colonial influence. Cricket has a low profile in the United States, where baseball is the dominant bat and ball sport, but it is played in various regions. (As of March 2007, the ICC rejected the recognition of the [[USA Cricket Association]] until it adopted a viable constitution and rules, and created a workable administration.)

===Code of Laws===
Marylebone Cricket Club in [[London]], which operates The Lord's ground, was formed in 1787. A year later, it composed a Code of Laws that were adopted throughout the game. The MCC remains the custodian and arbiter of Laws relating to cricket around the world.

==The Pitch==
Cricket is played on a [[pitch]] which is a dry [[grass]] playing field steamrolled flat. It is 22 yards (66 feet or 1 chain or 20.12 m) long and 10 feet wide.

The pitch is marked with various lines or 'creases', and is double-ended so that alternate 'overs' are played from both ends:
*One 'bowling crease' is drawn at each end of the pitch to mark the ends of the pitch. The three stumps in the set of stumps at that end of the pitch are along this crease. The bowling creases may be used to determine whether there is a 'no ball' because a fieldsman has encroached on the pitch or the wicket keeper has moved in front of the wicket before he is permitted to do so.
*One 'popping crease' is drawn at each end of the pitch in front of each of the two sets of stumps, 4 feet (1.22 m) in front of and parallel to the bowling crease. The popping crease is used in one test of whether the bowler has bowled a 'no ball'. To avoid a no ball, some part of the bowler's front foot in the delivery stride (that is, the stride when he releases the ball) must be behind the popping crease (although the bowler's front foot does not have to be grounded).
*A return crease is drawn on each side of each set of the stumps, 4 feet 4 inches (1.32 m) either side of and parallel to the imaginary line joining the centres of the two middle stumps. The return creases are primarily used to determine whether the bowler has bowled a no ball. To avoid a no ball, some part of the bowler's back foot in the delivery stride must land within and not touching the return crease.

As imperfections in the playing surface may affect the behavior of the ball, the pitch is considered high-maintenance as it has to be regularly rolled, watered and cut to ensure suitability for play. A [[groundskeeper]] is usually employed for this purpose.

An ideal pitch has fine grass growing in the turf to retain the consistency of the pitch and to prevent cracking, yet its grass has been cut so that the underlying ground is fully exposed.

An innovation in recent years has been the 'drop-in pitch', which is prepared and tended away from the field of play and then dropped into a specially constructed slot in the ground in place of normal turf. Final preparation is done after the pitch is in place.

Alternatives to the grass pitch are:
*Concrete topped with plastic 'grass' carpet, matting, or rubber (crushed or granulated, or a section of rubber conveyor belt);
*Concrete pitch (often with green pigment, or painted green);
*Clay surface, watered and rolled;
*A vulcanized rubber surface (introduced to England's famous Gloucester Cricket Ground in response to the floods of summer 2007);

==Equipment==
Cricket balls are made from [[cork]] with a [[leather]] cover, and are traditionally red (but white balls in limited over cricket (ODI's and Twenty20's). Bats are [[willow]] treated with linseed oil.

The normal clothing for cricketers is white, or it may coloured for limited over matches:
*long trousers;
*long sleeves shirt (may be short sleeved for night matches);
*stud soled shoes; and
*cap or hat.

A normal cricketer's cap has a small beak at the front. Members of national teams are 'capped' (given their own team cap) when they are picked for their team. In recent times, it is normal to have cricketers optionally wearing a soft, canvas, broad-brimmed hat (often colloquially called a "floppy"

In recent years, team member's shirts often bear a number [[enbroidery|embroidered]] below the national or team crest. This number is their 'cap' ranking, their number in the players who have been selected to play, since the national, state, or county first played (perhaps as early as the 1800s.) For example: the Australian team captain, [[Ricky Ponting]], wears number 366 in the national side and 123 for Australia's One Day International team<ref>[http://www.cricket.com.au/default.aspx?s=playersmendetails&profileid=30 Ponting], Cricket Australia, accessed 16 February 2008</ref>.

The batsman uses pads (shin, arm and body guards), padded gloves, a 'box' (a protection for the groin), and protective headgear in response to the hazards of modern fast-bowling techniques.

The wicketkeeper is the only fielder allowed to wear gloves, which are made of soft leather with rubber palms to help grip the ball.

==Officials==
Two umpires take to the field for major matches. The umpire at the bowler's end stands behind the stumps and watches the delivery stride of the bowler, the flight of the ball to adjudicate 'wide' or 'no ball' deliveries, and where it might strike the batsman or his bat.

The 'leg' umpire normally stands behind the batsman (on the 'leg' side of the field) and watches the flight of the ball and any deflection from the bat, in order to assist the other umpire in making a decision about a 'wide' or 'no ball' or a catch behind the stumps.

A 'third umpire' has been instituted for test and some state/county matches in recent years to decide close decisions for stumpings and run-outs, using video equipment and slow speed replays.

The captain of the fielding side is also considered an umpire for the specific circumstance where he believes a batsman has been unfairly been give 'out' by the other umpires. He may call the batsman back to continue his innings at bat. The captain is often fielding closer to the batsman than the umpires, and may have seen or heard the circumstances more clearly. This prerogative is rarely exercised, but shows high levels of sportsmanship as it effectively counters the wishes of other members of his team.

The scorers are considered to be officials. The field umpires use a system of hand and body gestures to indicate runs scored and other matters to the scorers, who are off the field.

In major games, such as international tests and national competitions, a referee is appointed by the convening body. This person does not go on the field of play, but watches from the stands. In hierarchy above the umpires, he can independently decide or be appealed to for decisions on matters of [[gamesmanship]], etiquette, or cricket rules.

==Test (First Class) cricket - an overview==
Test cricket is played between the national teams of two countries. Most test series are 'best of' three or five matches. Typically, various limited over matches are also played as part of the 'season', including several 'warm-up' matches to assist the visiting team to become familiar with local conditions. As each major city in a country has a premier ground, a season normally involves matches in various cities.

A day's play consists of 90 overs of 6 balls (540 'legal' balls), usually divided into three 2 hour sessions with breaks for lunch and tea.

===The Ground===
The size of the field of play varies widely between cricket grounds, but the '''''pitch''''' in the centre is always 22 yards long and 10 feet wide. At either end of this pitch are two sets of '''''wickets''''', consisting of three wooden posts ('''''stumps''''') upon which rest two wooden '''''bails'''''. While most 'international' grounds are of generally similar size, most matches are now played with a '''''boundary rope''''' at a standard distance from the pitch around the edge of the field inside the white picket fence fence.

===Getting Out===
A batsman can be dismissed ('''''given out''''') in a number of different ways. These are:
* '''Bowled''' – the ball hits the stumps (wicket) and removes the bails direct from the bowler’s delivery, or after hitting only the bat or the batsman's hands (gloves) which are on the bat handle.
* '''Caught''' – the batsman hits the ball and it is caught by the fielding side before it touches the ground.
* '''LBW''' (leg before wicket) – the batsman fails to hit the ball and it strikes him in such a way that the umpire judges it would have gone on to hit the stumps. Note: This mode of dismissal depends on a number of other factors.
* '''Stumped''' – This is a particular case of 'run out' when the wicket keeper takes the ball immediately after delivery and breaks the stumps while the batsman has been attempting a shot while ahead of his crease.
* '''Run out''' – The fielding team get the ball to the wickets and 'breaks' the bails from the stumps while the batsman is outside the crease.
* '''Hit wicket''' - The batsman hits the stumps with his bat, or steps on the stumps while rearing back from a ball, breaking the bails.
* '''Handled the ball''' - The batsman touches the ball without the permission of the fielding side.
* '''Hit the ball twice''' - The batsman hits the ball twice without the intent of guarding his wicket. Tapping the ball from rolling onto your stumps is legal while hitting a throw away is an out.
* '''Obstructing the field''' - The batsman stops a fielder from fielding. This does not include unintentional bumping or running between the ball and a fielder.
* '''Timed out''' - If the batsman takes more than three minutes to get onto the pitch he is declared out. If the delay is even longer, the umpire may decide the batting team has forfeited.
* '''Retired hurt''' - The batsman loses the will to bat/keep batting or is too seriously injured. In the case of an injury sustained during the present game, the batsman may return to the crease at a later date if his injury is repaired.

===Win, Draw, or Tie===
In order to win, a team must dismiss the opposition twice (that is, take 20 wickets) and have scored more runs, within the five days. A match is a 'draw' if either team fails to dismiss the other twice, irrespective of how many runs may have been scored. A 'tie' is when the scores are level at the end of all sessions of play; no extra play is normally used to break a tie in a test match, but extra overs are played in some limited over matches.

===Batting and fielding===
The batting side must always have two batsmen operating in partnership, and each member of the batting team is allowed to bat once and only once in an innings. Thus, although they have eleven players, once ten wickets have fallen they are '''''all out''''' and their '''''innings''''' is over. The batting and fielding sides then swap roles and this cycle is repeated so that both teams have two opportunities to bat.

The game begins with the toss of a coin between the two captains, supervised by the field umpires. The winning captain then elects to bat or field.

Two batsmen (the '''''openers''''') take to the field accompanied by the entire fielding side and two umpires. The batsman who is to receive the first ball is '''''on strike''''' and takes guard in front of his wicket. His '''''non-striking''''' partner waits at the other end of the pitch.

The fielding side nominates a bowler, who has six balls (six balls = one '''''over''''') with which to dismiss the batsman. Bowlers normally bowl overarm, and must not straighten the elbow during the delivery of the ball. (Underarm delivery, similar to that used in [[Softball]], was at one time the only form of delivery. It is now banned. A famous case of its use in an Australia-New Zealand test match resulted in derision for the Australian captain who asked a bowler to use this technique in order to stop the batting side from making a necessary run to win.)

Typically, bowlers take a run up before delivering a ball. A bowler may not bowl consecutive overs, so that typically two bowlers will bowl alternative overs until the captain decides to make a switch. In theory any player may bowl, but in practice no more than five or six of the eleven will usually participate. One other member of the fielding side acts as the wicket-keeper, standing directly behind the wicket to catch any missed balls, or any balls where the batsman managed only a faint touch. The remaining members of the fielding side (who are specialist batsmen) spend the entire innings fielding.

====Batting theory====
Batsmen may be either left or right handed: The bat is the same for each.

The batsmen can run any number of runs at any time, even if the ball has not been struck.

The batsman aims to hit the ball in such a way that he and his fellow batsman can run safely to the other end and ground his bat, or a piece of his body (foot, hand, etc), within the popping crease before the fielding side can effect a run out. Hitting the ball well into the outfield causes the fielding side to chase the ball and throw it back to the wicket keeper or another player who 'backs up' at the bowling end of the pitch.

Long hits to poorly defended parts of the ground may allow the batsmen to run four, or the ball may get to the fence for four.

At certain times the ball is deemed to be 'dead' and the batsmen can wander safely on the pitch between the creases, for example to converse on tactics.

A good batsman in the top order (batting at positions 1-6) is normally capable of getting 20-50 runs and possibly 100 or many more. The 'lower order' batsmen in a good team, normally the specialist bowlers, may be able to 'slash' 20 runs on a good day.

====Bowling theory====
The bowler has two goals, which are not mutually exclusive:
*get the batsmen out, as they can no longer score in that innings; and
*prevent the batsman from scoring.

It may seem that the bowler should always aim at the batsman's legs, which are in front of the stumps. This is normally easily defended and easy to score from. Hence, bowlers normally bowl a range of balls away from the stumps hoping to lure the batsman into playing a rash or mis-timed shot that goes to a catch or allows the fielders to create a run out.

Bowlers come in three types: Quick, Medium, and Slow (or 'spin'). A top-level team will normally have a bowling attack with two or three quick bowlers, one specialist slow (spin) bowler, and several general players capable of medium pace bowling.

'''Quick''' or fast bowlers may be delivering balls travelling at 136 to 150 kmh (85 to 95 mph). The ball is intended to either:
*hit the pitch on the seam (between the two halves of the leather) and thereby to bounce (un)predictably, or
*swing in the air towards or away from the bat.
*intimidate the batsman into making an error out of fear. Note that in cricket, unlike in baseball it is considered a legitimate tactic to attempt to injure the batsman by striking him with the ball in the head or other parts of the body. With the advent of helmets and other protective devices there are far fewer serious injuries now than there were as recently as 20 years ago.

'''Medium''' pace bowlers use similar tactics to fast bowlers but aim to create more diversity within the speed of their bowling so as to trick the batsman's timing of his swing at the ball.

'''Slow''' (or '''spin''') bowlers use either wrist or finger spinning techniques to get the ball to swing in the air, or bounce markedly off the pitch in either direction, and thereby snick the bat and be caught or bounce behind the batsman's guard into the stumps.

Normally, the quick bowlers will open the attack, and bowl for about two hours (or to the end of the first session.) The bowling will then be mixed up, with medium and slow, or quick-medium. At any time in between overs, the captain may call for a change of bowling to 'mix up' the batsmen and seek to induce lax shots that can obtain a wicket.

=====Over versus around=====
Whether the bowler is right or left handed, they have two options for approaching the pitch to bowl the ball.
*Over the wicket: The bowler's bowling arm is nearer the stumps. (A right handed bowler passes to the left of the stumps.)
*Around the wicket: The bowler typically crosses in front of the umpire who is standing back slightly, and the bowler's bowling arm is away from the stumps. (A right handed bowler crosses the mid-line of the wicket and passes the stumps to the left and behind him.)

Bowlers will often change delivery direction in order land the ball in a patch of rough or cracked turf. The irregular or uneven bounce that results is intended to reduce the scoring rate or induce desperate or intemperate shots by the batsman.

By changing his distance away from the stumps (while remaining within the delivery crease), the bowler can achieve a range of approach angles which, when combined with spin and delivery speed, offers the attacking side a broad range of options.

While it is possible for the bowler to change deliveries at each ball, typically a whole over will be bowled using one or the other of these possible delivery methods. In any case, before the delivery, the bowler must inform the umpire who will in turn inform the batsman.

=====Grip and concealment=====
The bowlers are under no obligation to inform the batsman about their particular technique for delivering the ball. Bowlers have certain grips on the ball that, if the batsman is able to pick up the shape of the fist or the splay of the fingers, will give a fraction of a second's advantage in determining what shot the batsman may use, or whether to take a step down or across the wicket.

Bowlers will often adopt strategies to prevent the batsman seeing the delivery hand, such as:
*holding their 'off' hand over the delivery hand during their strides to the crease;
*holding the ball in the 'off' hand until the last delivery stride;
*cocking the hand so that the bowler sees the back of the hand and not the fingers (and their particular grip on the ball);
*striding in with the delivery arm behind their body.

===Fielding positions===

The fielding team has eleven players on the field. One is the bowler, and one the wicket-keeper, leaving nine players to be distributed around the field in such a way as to maximise the fielding team's chances of preventing runs being scored and/or taking a wicket. Different situations call for different distributions, and part of the tactical and strategic skill of cricket (sometimes referred to as its chess-like nature) is to position the fielders to maximum advantage. Each position has a name, and some of the names (such as "silly mid off" and "short fine leg") can seem amusing to non-cricketers. Only the wicket-keeper is permitted to wear gloves, though some of the close in fieldsman will often wear other protective equipment such as helmets or leg pads. <ref>[http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ABOUT_CRICKET/fielding-positions.pdf Diagram of fielding positions from cricinfo.com]</ref>

===Scoring===

The batsman’s aim is to score '''''runs''''' whilst protecting his wicket. Generally speaking, in order to score a run, he must first hit the ball. He and his partner must then decide whether or not they can run to each other’s end of the pitch before the fielding side have time to break either wicket with the ball. They may run as many times as they are able per hit and the ''on strike'' batsman scores one run for his team each time they do so.

If the ball reaches the boundary rope, the batsman automatically scores four runs. If it clears the rope without first touching the ground, it scores six runs. (If a fielder is in contact with the ball when they touch the fence/rope then it is counted as a four or six depending on whether the ball has previously touched the ground or would have carried over the fence/rope.)

A 'no ball' may be called by an umpire according to various infractions by a bowler. The batting team gets one run counted to its score, and the ball is rebowled. A batsman can not be caught (out) on a no ball. Bowling infractions may include overstepping the popping crease, or delivering a ball that goes outside the return crease at the batsman's end or over the batsman's head (a wild delivery).

A 'bye' is a run scored when the ball is not hit. This may occur when the ball hits the batsman's apparel (clothes or protective equipment) and is deflected off into the field of play, or when a bowler delivers a ball that the wicket keeper fails to gather up. Batsmen may either 'run' or, if the ball goes to the boundary, a 'four' may be awarded even if the batsmen have run fewer.

The notation for scoring leads to a particular term, 'dot ball', as in the scoring sheet a ball that does not get a run is noted with a dot. Accordingly, an over with a single, dot, no ball, dot, three, dot, single, would be marked 1.nb.3.1 (six 'legal' deliveries) and the score has increased by 6 runs including one for the no ball.

====Example of Match Scoring====

The scoring of matches, and especially the way results are presented, can sometimes be confusing. As an example, let us imagine that, at the end of the first day’s play, Sri Lanka have scored 286 runs and have lost 5 wickets. This would be written as '''286-5'''.

Playing Australia, the match pans out as follows:

* Sri Lanka – 1st innings: 431
* Australia – 1st innings: 390

* Sri Lanka – 2nd innings: 360

Australia now need 402 runs to win. At the end of the 4th day, they find themselves 100-3 in their 2nd innings. Thus, they require 302 more runs to win on the final day with 7 wickets in hand.

If Australia are bowled out for a 2nd innings total of 300, then they would have fallen short by 102. Sri Lanka would be said to have '''won by 101 runs''' (if Australia had scored exactly 401, the game would have been a tie).

If, however, Australia reached their target only having lost another three wickets (402-6), they would be said to have '''won by 4 wickets'''.

If at the end of the fifth day's play Australia were 350-8, they would not yet have reached their target, and Sri Lanka would not yet have taken 10 wickets. In this instance both teams would have failed to win and the game would be declared a draw. This occurrence is not uncommon.

===Test playing nations===
Only countries approved by the International Cricket Council may compete in test cricket. The following ten teams currently have that status:
* England (since 1877)
* Australia (1877)
* South Africa (1889)
* West Indies (1928)
* New Zealand (1930)
* India (1932)
* Pakistan (1952)
* Sri Lanka (1982)
* Zimbabwe (1992)
* Bangladesh (2000)
Not all these teams have had continuous tenure among the test playing nations. South Africa, for example, were excluded in response to their [[apartheid]] policy. Ireland have recently expressed the desire to become full ICC members and get to test status.

==Other aspects of the game==
===Grounds===
Grounds in different parts of one country, let along different parts of the world, play differently: Wickets in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, are renowned for being 'hard'; English wickets are 'green' (have grass obvious in the playing surface); the ground in [[Perth, Western Australia]] has a daily sea breeze in the afternoon.

Then, there are oddities:
*The "Lord's" ground, the home of the Marylebone Cricket Club (established 1787) in London, has a slant of about 2.5m (8 feet) from one side of the ground to the other, so a shot made 'down the hill' typically goes further into the field than a shot made 'up the hill'.
*Grounds in the West Indies and India often have hundreds of people sitting in or hanging from trees in order to get an unobstructed view.
*"The Gabba" ground (at Woolloongabba in [[Brisbane, Queensland]]) has cantilevered spectator stands that protrude over the surrounding streets<ref>[http://www.onesteel.com/images/db_images/casestudies/sports17cbp.pdf Structural Steel Casebook, Issue 17, October 2000, pp4/6/8, OneSteel, accessed 5 January 2008</ref>.
*The cricket ground at [[Scarborough]] in [[Yorkshire]] is inside the walls of the town's medieval castle, and this leads to a number of "local" rules; for example, if a ball is caught by a spectator the batsman is given out if he is batting at the "town" end of the ground, but is awarded six runs of he is at the "sea" end.

===Day and Night===
Play is normally during the day, but an innovation since the 1970s has been the introduction of light towers at cricket grounds that allow play to continue through dusk and into the night. This is only for "One-day" (50 overs a side or shorter matches.) As yet, Test cricket is limited to the daylight hours.

===Sight Screen===
At each end of a major cricket ground is a 'sight screen', which is of a contrasting colour to the ball; white screen for a red 'day' ball; black screen for a white 'night' ball. The screen is moved so as to be behind the bowler from the perspective of the batsman. The ball thus stands out from the background and assists the batsman in making decisions about his shot.

==='Walking'===
High sportsmanship is shown when a batsman 'walks' from the field, conceding his wicket, when he knows that he has been 'out' by the rules of the game, but was not given out by the umpires. The fielding side may not even have 'appealed' to the umpire. For instance, this may occur when he feels the ball 'nick' his gloves or the bat and the ball is then caught by the wicket keeper.

Conversely, a batsman does not have to walk unless the umpire gives him 'out'. He may know that he was out by the rules of the game (for example, he felt a nick) but, after the fielding side has 'appealed' for the wicket (out), the umpire decides that it was 'not out'; and, the batsman is within his rights to 'stand his ground' based on the umpires decision.

===Winter===
Cricket grounds are generally of a size that allows them to be marked out during winter for playing football: [[soccer]], [[Rugby]], [[Rugby Union]], or [[Australian Rules]].

===Women's Cricket===
A strong international competition exists for women playing cricket. This is based on national competitions at various levels (state/county, regional and local).

===Blind Cricket===
People with vision impairment, along with fully sighted people, can play [[Blind]] Cricket. (Sighted people are fitted with special spectacles that distort their vision.)

The ball is normally a white plastic ball of similar size to a cricket ball or softball, and has inside it a bell or metal pieces that make a noise as the ball moves.

The bowler calls out to the batsman, "Are you ready?", which allows the batsman to line up for the delivery. Similarly, the batsman's reply, or a call from the wicket keeper, allows the bowler to line up.

The batsman can be got 'out' in the same ways as for sighted cricket, except that catching is not permitted.

===Duckworth-Lewis scoring===
In the event that a limited over match is affected by rain or other stops to play, a system of score amendment is used developed by statisticians Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis. This allows the umpires to calculate a new score target to win for the second side batting for any given amount of time remaining for normal play, less an allowance for the ratio of runs scored to wickets remaining, corrected for the number of minutes remaining until sunset. If a game may be rain affected, it is in the interests of the first side batting to score at a rapid and even rate, so that a revised target is difficult for the following side to achieve. The Duckworth-Lewis system is also used in Twenty20, however due to the short nature of the game the required targets can be a major point of confusion.

==Famous Cricketers==
===Batsmen===
*Dr [[W.G. Grace]] (1848-1915), English - "the best-known Englishman of his time"
*Sir [[Donald Bradman]] (1908-2001), Australian, "The Don" - "the greatest batsman of all time" (test match average of 99.94 runs; top score 334; 29 100s & 13 50s; 6,996 runs in 52 matches; first class average 95.14)<ref>http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/australia/content/player/4188.html</ref>
*[[Sachin Tendulkar]] (1973-), Indian - "the greatest One-Day International cricketer of all time" (Tests: ~12,000 @ 55 av; ODI: ~16,000 @ 44 av; First Class: ~20,000 @ 59 av; List A: ~19,000 @ 45 av; still playing)<ref>http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/india/content/player/35320.html</ref> Tendulkar now holds the records for the most runs scored in Tests and One Day Internationals, as well as the records for the most individual centuries scored by batsman in both Tests and One Day Internationals.
*Sir [[Gary Sobers|Garry Sobers]] (1936-), Barbadian - "the greatest all-rounder of all time". The first player to hit six sixes in one over of first-class cricket.<ref>http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/westindies/content/player/52946.html</ref>
*Sir [[Vivian Richards|Viv Richards]] (1952-), Antigua, West Indies - "the greatest ODI batsman of all time" until Tendulkar (Tests: 8,540 runs @ 50.23 av; ODI: 6721 @ 47.00 av; First Class: 36,212 @ 49.40 av; List A: 16,995 @ 41.96 av)<ref>http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/westindies/content/player/52812.html</ref>
*Sanath Jayasuriya (1969-), Sri Lankan- "The Matara Mauler" (Batting - Tests: 6,973 runs @ 40.07 av; ODI: 12,785 runs @32.69. Bowling - Tests: 98 wickets @ 34.34; ODIs: 310 wickets @ 36.55)<ref>http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/srilanka/content/player/49209.html</ref>
*Jacques Kallis (1975-), South Africa. (Batting - Tests: ~9,700 runs @ 55.46; ODI: ~9,600 runs @ 44.69. Bowling - Tests: 240 wickets @ 31.22, ODI: 243 wickets @ 31.38). Still playing <ref>http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/southafrica/content/player/45789.html</ref>

===Bowlers===
*[[Shane Warne]] (1969-), Australian - spin bowler, one of the five Wisden "cricketers of the century" (Tests: 17,995 runs for 708 wickets @ 25.41 runs/wicket; ODI: 7,541 for 293 @ 25.73 ave; First Class: 34,449 for 1,319 @ 26.11 av; List A: 11,642 for 473 @ 24.61 ave; retired in 2007)<ref>http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/australia/content/player/8166.html</ref>
*[[Muttiah Muralitharan]] (1972-), Sri Lankan - spin bowler, "the greatest non-Christian Test match bowler ever" (still playing; as at September 2008 - Tests: 16,604 runs for 756 wickets @ 21.96 runs/wicket; ODI: 11,030 for 479 @ 23.02 av; First Class: 25,421 for 1,330 @ 19.11 ave; List A: 13,471 for 602 @ 22.37 av)<ref>http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/srilanka/content/player/49636.html</ref>
*[[Glenn McGrath]] (1970-), Australian - quick bowler, "holds the world record for the highest number of Test wickets by a fast bowler" (Retired from test cricket in 2007; and all cricket in 2008) Tests: 12,186 runs for 563 wickets @ 21.64 runs/wicket; ODI: 8,391 for 381 @ 22.02 ave; First Class: 17,414 for 835 @ 20.85 ave; List A: 9,943 for 458 @ 21.70 ave)<ref>http://content-rsa.cricinfo.com/australia/content/player/6565.html</ref>

===Dream Team===
According to [[Richie Benaud]], former Captain of the Australian Cricket Team and since then known internationally as "The Voice of Cricket" (commentator, both ball-by-ball and expert opinion):

''The Opening Batsmen:''

1. Sir John Berry 'Jack' Hobbs (1882-1963) (England) - The Greatest Opener, and the first English cricket player to be [[knight|knighted]] (1953)

2. [[Sunil Gavaskar]] (India) - The Most Difficult Batsman to Dismiss, and a Fine Opener

''Middle Order Batsmen:''

3. Sir Don Bradman (Australia) - The Best Batsman to Walk the Earth, and the first cricket player to be knighted (1949)

4. Sir Viv Richards (West Indies) - The Master Blaster

5. Sachin Tendulkar (India) - The Greatest ODI Batsman

''All-rounders:''

6. Sir Gary Sobers (West Indies) - The Greatest Allrounder Ever

7. [[Imran Khan]] Naizi (Pakistan) - the finest Cricketer/Captain to emerge from Pakistan; picked ahead of [[Kapil Dev]], [[Ian Botham]] & [[Richard Hadlee]]

''Wicket Keeper:''

8. [[Adam Gilchrist]] (Australia) - The Finest Wicketkeeper-batsman the world has seen

''Spinner:''

9. Shane Warne (Australia) - The Finest Leg spin Bowler of All time

''Fast Bowlers:''

10. [[Dennis Lillee]] (Australia) - A Great Australian Fast Bowler

11. [[Sydney Barnes]] (England) - A Fast-bowling Legend

==External links==
* [http://www.icc-cricket.com International Cricket Council]
* [http://www.lords.org The Lord's ground and the Marylebone Cricket Club]
* [http://www.cricket.com.au 'Cricket Australia']
* [http://stats.rleague.com/tc/players/player_index.html Player statistics (index)] - by country
* [http://www.championships.vbca.org.au/ Vision Australia 29th National 'Blind Cricket' Championships, 29 December 2007 - 11 January 2008]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Cricket]]

Talk:Great Achievements by Teenagers

2013-05-10T19:03:36Z

CameronD: /* Cameron D */ Further reply

==Clarification==
Nearly all of those who accomplished great deeds while being teenagers made even greater contributions when they became adults. Especially, this list can't be used to bolster up the claim that ''most of the greatest works in history were accomplished by people who were teenagers''
[[User:BRichtigen|BRichtigen]] 16:49, 26 December 2008 (EST)

== Heavenly voices ==

Is hearing heavenly voices an acheivement? Is was it leading France to victory that was the acheivement? It rather reads as if the hearing of voices was the acheivement. --[[User:TCochrane|TCochrane]] 18:26, 26 December 2008 (EST)

== Reversion ==

Obviously if someone produced a work ''before'' becoming a teenager it proves the same point; hence the reversion.--[[User:Aschlafly|aschlafly]] 21:34, 26 December 2008 (EST)

:Then how about renaming the page to keep it accurate? "Great Achievements by Minors", maybe? [[User:DRussell|DRussell]] 21:40, 26 December 2008 (EST)

== Karl Benz ==

I removed [[Karl Benz]]: Though he was a child prodigy, at the given age ('''15'''), he ''"only"'' passed the entrance exam of the University of [[Karlsruhe]]. His genius really flourished in his late thirties. --[[User:BRichtigen|BRichtigen]] 07:10, 27 December 2008 (EST)

==Later Achievments==
* '''7''' - Yehudi Menuhin: made his last recording age 82
* '''8''' - [[Pablo Picasso]] Cubism: age 30
* '''8''' - [[Frederic Chopin]] Piano Concert No. 1: age 20
* '''12''' - [[Blaise Pascal]] "Traité du triangle arithmétique": age 30
* '''13''' - [[John]] stays a mistery
* '''13''' - [[Joan of Arc]] inspired and led [[France]] to victory in the [[Hundred Years War]]
* '''13''' - [[Anne Frank]] began writing her diary, later published as "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl"
* '''14''' - chess-player [[Bobby Fischer]] World Chess Champion: age 29
* '''14''' - [[Mozart]]"Don Giovanni": age 32
* '''15''' - [[Louis Braille]] invented the [[Braille]] system
* '''15''' - [[Christopher Paolini]] writes the first draft of his [[Eragon]] trilogy which is published when he is 19.
* '''16''' - Jean-François Champollion: deciphers the [[Rosetta Stone]] age 32
* '''18''' - [[Mary Shelley]] writes Frankenstein (The Modern Prometheus) - it is only published when she is 21, however.
* '''20''' - Carl Friedrich Gauss makes his first mathematical discoveries, which will lead to the completion of "Disquisitiones Arithmeticae", his magnum opus, at the age of 21.

So, most of the persons in the list made contributions to their field works overshadowing there achievements as teenagers.

[[User:BRichtigen|BRichtigen]] 08:57, 27 December 2008 (EST)
:A corrosive attitude is not beneficial. If, as Andy suggested, you opened your mind you might find nmany more examples to support this case. Bear in mind: demolition is easy, to build takes effort! [[User:Bugler|Bugler]] 08:59, 27 December 2008 (EST)

==Jesus==

I'm not entirely certain I'm comfortable with including Jesus on a list of "teenagers." Part of that may just be a visceral reaction against applying the term to the Almighty, but setting that aside, I'm still not entirely sure he belongs on the list. After all, despite His physical age at the time he preached, He was still God, and therefore timeless and eternal. It's going to be a little hard for anyone, teenager or adult, to measure up to His list of accomplishments! --[[User:Benp|Benp]] 14:18, 28 December 2008 (EST)

==IQ Peak==

Although it is a hotly debated subject, there is no concrete evidence to suggest that IQ peaks in the pre-teen/teenage years. The linked article provides evidence to support that the rate of brain development peaks at this time, but this is idependant of a person's IQ.

To highlight the diparate viewpoints, it is possible to show an IQ peak at anywhere from 14-16yrs old, all the way up to 50yrs+ - depending on what you measure, how you measure and how you interpret your findings (as with many stats i suppose).

More info: http://www.albion.edu/psychology/fac_psyc/jwilson/psy101/intell.htm

Hope my edit is satisfactory --[[User:J00ni|J00ni]] 18:22, 28 December 2008 (EST)

==Mary as "17"==

Can I suggest using the word "uncertain" for Mary's age instead of assuming that it's 17? That takes nothing away from the assumption that she was a teenager when she gave birth, but it doesn't seem right for CP to state a specific age as if it were a fact when the comment goes on to acknowledge that the actual age was unknown. --[[User:DinsdaleP|DinsdaleP]] 09:20, 30 December 2008 (EST)

: The footnote is clear enough. No one doubts she was a teenager, and 17 was an average age of betrothal. The purpose of this list is plainly not to pinpoint precise ages, but merely to show the teenagers as a group.--[[User:Aschlafly|aschlafly]] 09:24, 30 December 2008 (EST)

:: I don't disagree with that. I've added an asterisk after her age to highlight that it's an approximation, and leaving the rest as-is. --[[User:DinsdaleP|DinsdaleP]] 10:03, 30 December 2008 (EST)

:::It could be even earlier; in the middle ages it was not uncommon for girls to give birth at 14, so in this case I think it could be as young as 15 (but I think it's 16, personally). [[User:ETrundel|ETrundel]] 14:29, 30 December 2008 (EST)

:::: I too was given to believe she was younger than 17 at the time. My maternal family line has a long tradition of Mary-derived names in firstborn daughters, (I'm Regina, yes, that's Mary Derived, have "Ave Regina") and my mother always told the story that she was around 15. When I was little that seemed quite grown up, but when I was 15 myself, it struck me just how very brave she was, and how young. I think the note of approximation is important for this reason, it is true she could have been as old as 17, but at that young age, two years is a world of difference in maturity and self assurance. If she was indeed younger than 17, bumping up her age underestimates the greatness of her faith. Best err on the side of caution and reverence. [[User:BirdieA|Birdie]] 13:25, 30 December 2008 (EST)

::::: I side with Birdie, I have always understood it as the age of 15. --Jpatt 14:27, 30 December 2008 (EST)

==Bill Gates==

A 13-year-old programming is not a remarkable achievement, and Gates' significant accomplishments occurred as a young adult, not a teen. --[[User:DinsdaleP|DinsdaleP]] 14:06, 30 December 2008 (EST)

:I understand your point and I for one do not wish to glorify an atheist. By todays standards, that is not an achievement. At age thirteen in 1968, think about the computer he was working with? It is a bright child that succeeded, is it a great achievement? --Jpatt 14:24, 30 December 2008 (EST)

::Under further scrutiny, I have decided against including Bill Gates. What did he achieve at 13? computer skills, not a great achievement. Also, he has enough accolades, believes in the God of nothing (catch that prying eyes?), listed next to Anne, no way the two should reside together :) --Jpatt 20:28, 31 December 2008 (EST)

== remove some or move the page? ==

If it is going to be Great achievements be teenagers, then we need to limit the list to teenagers only, not 8 and 10 year olds and 20 year olds. We need to remove the non-teenagers from the list, or else change it to something like "great achievements by young people" --[[User:CPAdmin1|Tim]] (CPAdmin1)[[User talk:CPAdmin1|talk]] 19:55, 30 December 2008 (EST)

:12 year olds are also not teenagers. It sounds like we're getting technical, but saying that 8, 10, 12 and 20 year olds are teenagers is effectively the same as saying girls who wear pants are boys. [[User:NormanS|NormanS]] 20:02, 30 December 2008 (EST)

::not really. It is more like saying that 4 is an odd number because it is close to 5 which is an odd number. --[[User:CPAdmin1|Tim]] (CPAdmin1)[[User talk:CPAdmin1|talk]] 20:06, 30 December 2008 (EST)

== Roger Mason entry ==

The Roger Mason entry does not rise to the level of achievement of the others. Even if it was a meaningful discovery, which is dubious, we don't have the shepherd who discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls and I don't see why would include Mason's "discovery" as a great achievement either.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 19:53, 13 August 2009 (EDT)

:Although I didn't add that entry, I did feel it was right to change it to state it as ''what some believed'' rather state it as scientific fact. --[[User:TK|'''ṬK''']]/Admin[[User_Talk:TK|/Talk]] 20:11, 13 August 2009 (EDT)

:: I agree with your edit, and am suggesting that we go further and either toss the entry or downgrade it further in an appropriate way. It just does not rise to the level of, say, David slaying Goliath.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 20:37, 13 August 2009 (EDT)

::: OK, so I see there's been some discussion of Roger Mason. The point is that he didn't just stumble over some strange markings in the rock: he knew they were fossils and he knew the rocks were pre-Cambrian. His teenage open-mindedness led him to see what older, more closed-minded professors did not see. He had the confidence to go to a professor and tell him what he'd discovered - the professor didn't believe him till he'd seen it with his own eyes. A whole new era of biological life? A big discovery by anyone's standards. I've part-reverted the deletion, i.e. I've made it clear why it was such a big deal. [[User:BenjyB|BenjyB]] 18:30, 3 February 2011 (EST)

Mason's achievement is that he discovered the first fossil to come from rocks that were undoubtedly of a Pre-Cambrian era. Before that, the consensus of professional scientists was that there were no complex lifeforms before the Cambrian. Mason knew the rocks were Pre-Cambrian and he knew that what he found was a fossil. The fossil is named for the place it was found, Charnwood Forest, and for him: ''Charnia masoni''. Very very few people have revolutionised a whole area of science as teenages - Mason is one of them. You can read about it in New Scientist, issue of April 14, 2007.

The text I wrote looks pretty much correct (bar one spelling mistake). I suggest you re-insert it in the article:
'''16''' - Roger Mason discovers fossils from a whole era of complex life, the Ediacran (c.600 million years ago). His open-mindedness leads to an insight which overturns the limited preconceptions of earlier scientists, including Darwin, about life on Earth. [[User:BenjyB|BenjyB]] 19:26, 5 February 2011 (EST)
: There have been no objections to this text so I've added it to the page. [[User:BenjyB|BenjyB]] 14:57, 6 February 2011 (EST)
::And I've removed it again. When the site owner and a senior administrator agree something should be removed, and tell you to discuss it on the talk page, you don't just add it back in without their input. Wait for their response. [[User:JacobB|JacobB]][[User talk:JacobB|Shout out!]] 15:10, 6 February 2011 (EST)
::: 1. When's he going to respond?
::: 2. I thought this was an encyclopedia that gathers knowledge from the public, not one person's private website.
::: 3. OK, I'll wait a little while longer. [[User:BenjyB|BenjyB]] 15:17, 6 February 2011 (EST)

:::: Your edits are heavy on opinion without links to back it up. "Roger Mason" is a name few have heard of, and perhaps for good reason. You'll need to back up your claim with far more than you have before it merits inclusion in this impressive list. Godspeed.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 15:36, 6 February 2011 (EST)

Responding to your request on my talk page, here are two key references and a brief commentary:
* http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/gsl/geoscientist/geonews/page4300.html: Explains the importance of the Ediacaran period in geology and explains the great importance of the discoveries made by teenager Roger Mason in revealing the origins of complex life forms in the pre-Cambrian period.
* http://wapedia.mobi/en/Charnia: Explains the importance of the fossils of the genus ''Charnia'' to studies of pre-Cambrian life and the important role that Roger Mason, as a teenager, played in discovering fossils within pre-Cambrian rocks.
* A ''New Scientist'' article (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19425991.500-ediacarans-the-long-fuse-of-the-cambrian-explosion.html) reports the importance of the Ediacaran fauna and the personal role played by Mason but you need a subscription to read it in full.
[[User:BenjyB|BenjyB]] 19:55, 6 February 2011 (EST)
:::Perhaps you can also explain what is meant by "600 million years ago," given the fact that Biblical inerrancy as a pretty big deal 'round these parts. [[User:Martyp|Martyp]] 19:58, 6 February 2011 (EST)

:::Benjy, greatness is not apparent from your descriptions, or the links. At best it appears that some teenagers stumbled upon some fossils, of which there are millions, and then speculation by some professors followed. This hardly ranks with, for example, the achievements of the author of the [[Gospel of Mark]], wbich is part of the most influential book of all time.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 20:27, 6 February 2011 (EST)

::::Perhaps the better comparison would be with Kathryn Aurora Gray. --[[User:CecilQ|CecilQ]] 21:29, 6 February 2011 (EST)

Aschlafly, you're missing the point: Mason's breakthrough was that '''''as a schoolboy''''' he recognised fossils in what he knew were pre-Cambrian rocks. The very strong consensus among professional / academic geologists at the time was that there were '''no''' complex life-forms in the pre-Cambrian - and hence no complex fossils in pre-Cambrian rocks. Mason, as a teenager, was not hide-bound by the preconceptions of the academic world. This exactly fits your own criterion of "the natural open-mindedness of young people before they may experience attempts to indoctrinate them towards certain worldviews".

As for the the scale of his achievement, there are 11 recognized geological eras and Mason discovered the first fossils recognized to definitely come from one of them ''and knew exactly what he had done'' (i.e. unlike the shephard discovering the Dead Sea Scrolls, who had no idea what the pieces of parchment were). That's a pretty big deal

Another good reference is this radio programme (''In Our Time'', a weekly science-for-non-scientists programme on a talk radio channel over here): http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lh2s3.

Martyp, young earth creationism may be a big deal for some people round here but evidently not everybody: I've read enough CP to know that.

I'll give it an hour or so to let others respond further, then make the appropriate edit to the page. [[User:BenjyB|BenjyB]] 15:32, 7 February 2011 (EST)

: Well, it's now ''two'' hours later and there haven't been any adverse comments. So as there are no further objections, I've restored the entry for Roger Mason. [[User:BenjyB|BenjyB]] 17:44, 7 February 2011 (EST)

:: Aschlafly, just taking the entry out isn't good enough. You need to give a reason. It's getting late on this side of the pond so I leave it up to your conscience whether you let another day go by with or without one of the outstanding teenage scientists in your encyclopedia. [[User:BenjyB|BenjyB]] 19:42, 21 February 2011 (EST)
:::What are you trying to achieve here BenjyB? Why not try making some substantive contributions instead of trying to push your bizarre agenda and insulting the owner and founder of the site? [[User:PeterUker|PeterUker]] 20:06, 21 February 2011 (EST)
::::He's gone. Just another UK troll from a ragwiki elsewhere.--[[User:Jpatt|Jpatt]] 20:19, 21 February 2011 (EST)
:::::I only noticed that after I'd posted, sorry! What's a 'ragwiki'? Is that a UK term as I'm not familiar with it? [[User:PeterUker|PeterUker]] 20:30, 21 February 2011 (EST)
::::::Just a gathering of like minded troublemakers from anonymous proxies who lead lives of lutz.--[[User:Jpatt|Jpatt]] 20:38, 21 February 2011 (EST)
:::::::Ah, you mean [[Encyclopedia Dramatica]]? I should have known that such trolls would be from that online gutter! [[User:PeterUker|PeterUker]] 20:52, 21 February 2011 (EST)

== ''Teen''agers ==

I noticed that there are a few people on this list that are not teenagers and so must have been added by mistake - shall I go ahead and remove them so that the article's content matches its title? I don't want to do so without asking as I'm new here.  [[User:BobG|BobG]] 12:55, 5 January 2011 (EST)

:You haven't said what you think are mistakes. Go ahead and edit the content entry and let's what you think are mistakes.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 13:14, 5 January 2011 (EST)

:Bob, the individuals listed with a non-teen year obviously had remarkable contributions as teenagers also.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 13:45, 5 January 2011 (EST)

::Sorry, I hadn't realized that! Shall we rephrase their entries in order to make that clear, such as by listing the teenage achievements primarily (along with the age at that point) and giving the currently listed achievements as footnotes or 'also achieved' in parentheses)? If you can help me finding information on these teenage achievements I'd be delighted to take on the task! Thanks. [[User:BobG|BobG]] 14:45, 5 January 2011 (EST)

Apart from the interesting idea that 10 year-old Kathryn Aurora Gray is a [[teenager]], is a source (from main page news report - which I added to entry) like [[CNN]], owned by [[leftist]] mogul [[Ted Turner]], with its [[liberal bias]] and support for the [[liberal]] agenda really a reliable source? The article claims the supernova happened 240 million years ago which is patent nonsense since that predates [[creation]]. CNN also claim that the girl’s father was an amateur astronomer, however, according to [http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/01/10-year-old-girl-becomes-youngest-person-to-discover-a-supernova/68911/ this source] the girl’s father is a professional astronomer, so it seems extremely likely that this is an example of [[liberal deceit]] and [[professor values]] where unjustified claims of expertise and knowledge are being made on behalf of a child in a [[Narcissism|narcissistic]] frenzy of publicity seeking [[liberal arrogance]]. [[User:AmandaBunting|AmandaBunting]] 14:21, 6 January 2011 (EST)

:The quibble is over the term "teenagers", and this suggestion could be made into a constructive one if we renamed the article to something like [[Great achievements by young people]].

:As a middle aged man, I am far from discouraging the next generation to make contributions. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] [[User talk:Ed Poor|Talk]] 12:45, 7 February 2011 (EST)

== Zuckerberg "commercializes" Facebook==

I'm curious about the choice of words for the Zuckerberg entry. Why "commercialized" instead of "created"? Is it because there's an argument over who really created the site? "Commercializing" doesn't seem like such a great achievement. [[User:EMorris|EMorris]] 11:47, 7 February 2011 (EST)

:My understanding is that Facebook was created for Harvard students, and existed in that form before it was commercialized. I agree that commercializing something is not as great an achievement as other items on the list.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 12:02, 7 February 2011 (EST)

== A question about achievements ==

''Most of the great achievements throughout history in the fields of art, culture, science and technology have been by teenagers.'' If this is so, the list of remarkble teenager should include only those whose achievement is impressive for a man (or woman!) of any age. Aschlafly, you ''trimmed'' away some teenagers who don't fall into this category, but there are more dubious case, like:

*Michael Kerney: ''the world's youngest university graduate''
*Jonathan Krohn: ''homeschooled, actor, internet radio host, guest speaker at CPAC, author of Defining Conservatism.''

[[User:AugustO|AugustO]] 09:01, 7 October 2011 (EDT)

== Cameron D ==

Please don't delete huge chucks of the page like that. First of all, the "age" question is already addressed in three places here on the talk page - did you read the discussion before editing? And if you claim the "19" info is incorrect please prove it - I've seen several sources that say 19 was the average age. It's just not cool to go around deleting information from articles when there is no need, we are trying to build an encyclopedia, so why don't you add some information to an existing page or create a new page, instead of tearing down existing articles? Thanks, [[User:Taj|Taj]] 21:23, 9 May 2013 (EDT)

I don't come here to be cool. When I have used talk pages on CP nothing happens, so I went for it. I suspect the '19' was just a joke based on the Paul Hardcastle record. There is information on this page [http://www.vhfcn.org/stat.html] [[User:CameronD|CamD]] 14:58, 10 May 2013 (EDT)
Also, The discussions above never really come to a final conclusion.
Surely correcting what is wrong is as important as adding new information, I mainly come here to learn, but if I see an error I try to correct it. [[User:CameronD|CamD]] 15:03, 10 May 2013 (EDT)

Talk:Great Achievements by Teenagers

2013-05-10T18:58:33Z

CameronD: /* Cameron D */ 19

Great Achievements by Teenagers

2013-05-09T20:40:51Z

CameronD: /* Achievements, listed by age at which they were made */ Cannot be true as the minimum draft age was 19

Most of the '''great achievements''' throughout history in the fields of art, culture, science and technology have been by '''teenagers'''. This may be because they are able to think in new and innovative ways, or their thinking is not hidebound by discredited nostrums. It may be due to the emergence of God-given talent at an early age, and the natural open-mindedness of young people before they may experience attempts to indoctrinate them towards certain worldviews. Biologically the rate of brain development, and according to some studies [[IQ]], reportedly peak in smart individuals just prior to their teenage years.<ref>http://articles.latimes.com/2006/mar/30/science/sci-brain30</ref>

==Achievements, listed by age at which they were made==


* '''13''' - [[John]] wrote the first draft of the [[Gospel of John]], the greatest written work of all time.<ref>[[Mystery:Was John a Child?]]</ref>
* '''13''' - [[Joan of Arc]] was inspired and led [[France]] five years later to victory over the English in the [[Hundred Years War]]; was martyred at age 19.<ref>http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/History/Joan_of_Arc.shtml</ref>
* '''13''' - [[Anne Frank]] began writing her diary, later published as "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl."
* '''14''' - [[David]] slays [[Goliath]].
* '''14''' - Ismail founded the Safavid dynasty and became its "shah" (military and spiritual ruler)
* '''14''' - [[Bobby Fischer]] became an International [[Chess]] Grandmaster.
* '''14''' - [[Mozart]] wrote the opera, "Mitridate Rè di Ponto."
* '''14''' - [[Nadia Comaneci]] "achieved in her sport what no [[Olympian]], male or female, ever had before: perfection."<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/events/1996/olympics/daily/july25/flashback.html</ref>
* '''14''' - [[St. Theresa of Lisieux]] rejected by Bishop Hugonin, pleads with Pope Leo XIII so she may enter the Carmelites. Became Carmelite nun at age 15.
* '''14''' - Bernadette Soubirous (St Bernadette of Lourdes) has a vision of the Virgin Mary
* '''14''' - The publication of Charles Schulz's first drawing of a dog, which became an inspiration for his cartoon strip ''Peanuts'' about a dog named Snoopy<ref>http://www.ripleys.com/weird/daily-dose-of-weird-wtf-blog/unbelievable-but-true/charles-schults-snoopy-was-first-a-believe-it-or-not/</ref>
* '''14''' - Aaron Swartz develops RSS. Swartz would go on to contest the private ownership of data by trying to liberate millions of academic articles from a corporation.
*'''15''' - Jack Andraka developed a new method to detect pancreatic [[cancer]]. <ref>[http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/education/competitions/international-science-and-engineering-fair/winners.htl]
</ref>
* '''15''' - [[Louis Braille]] invented the [[Braille]] system.
* '''15''' - [[Christopher Paolini]] writes the first draft of his [[Eragon]] trilogy which is published when he is 19.
* '''16''' - Jean-François Champollion, can speak a dozen languages and delivers a paper on the Coptic language to the Grenoble Academy. By 20, he can speak another 13 languages and at 32 he deciphers the [[Rosetta Stone]].
* '''16''' - Boy sailor Jack Cornwall, of HMS Chester, is awarded a [[posthumous]] [[VC]] for gallantry at the [[Battle of Jutland]].
* '''16''' - the average age of 58 [[homeschooled]] teenagers who founded Conservapedia, so that the light of truth would continue to shine and darkness would not overcome it.
* '''16''' - [[Franz Schubert]] wrote his First Symphony; having already composed songs, chamber pieces etc.,
* '''16''' - [[Sun Myung Moon]] writes [[Crown of Glory]].
* '''17''' - Cassie Bernall defended her [[faith]] in front of an [[atheistic]] gunman at the [[Columbine massacre]], and was martyred for it<ref>Two witnesses, Craig Scott and Joshua Lapp, confirmed a question-and-answer confrontation; others said Cassie was praying when murdered.[http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/c/cassie.htm]</ref>
* '''17''' - [[Georges Bizet]] wrote his Symphony in C of which is heard frequently today.
* '''17*''' - [[Mary]] accepts [[God]]'s will to conceive [[Jesus]] by the [[Holy Spirit]], and gives birth nine months later.<ref>Mary's exact age is not known, but she was old enough to marry under Jewish law and was almost certainly a teenager.[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15464b.htm]</ref>
* '''17''' - Shawn Fanning develops the first large-scale peer-to-peer file sharing program, Napster
* '''17''' - Private 1st Class Jacklyn H. Lucas, [[United States Marine Corps]], earned the [[Medal of Honor]] five days after his 17th birthday during the [[Iwo Jima]] battle in [[World War II]]; he was a Marine for ''three years''. [http://www.homeofheroes.com/moh/citations_living/ii_mc_lucas.html]
* '''17''' - [[Mendelssohn]] composed his Octet, widely considered the best of its genre. He had already written 12 string symphonies by age 14.
* '''17''' - [[Pele]] scored six goals in four games in the 1958 [[World Cup]], including perhaps the finest goal ever in the finals, leading [[Brazil]] to the championship.
* '''18''' - Lila Rose, a [[UCLA]] student who had been [[homeschooled]], goes undercover and does a stinging expose of an [[abortion]] clinic.<ref>http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/archive/ldn/2007/may/07051504</ref>
* '''18''' - Shawn Goldsmith from Long Island has earned all 121 merit badges offered by the Boy Scouts. <ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,473964,00.html Boy Scout Earns All 121 Merit Badges] AP, December 30, 2008</ref>
* '''18''' - [[Mary Shelley]] writes Frankenstein (The Modern Prometheus), later published when she was 21.
* '''18''' - [[Kasparov|Garry Kasparov]], considered the greatest [[chess]] player ever, won the [[U.S.S.R.]] championship.
* '''19''' - Captain Albert Ball, [[VC]], MC, DSO and 2 bars, commences his career as a British fighter pilot. By the time he is killed, aged 20, in 1917, he has become one of the [[First World War]]'s greatest air aces, accounting for at least 44 [[German]] aircraft.

* '''19''' - [[Evariste Galois]] applies [[group theory]] to the unsolvability of polynomial equations, before his death in a duel at age 20.
* '''19''' - [[Babe Ruth]] began playing for the Boston Red Sox, in what would become the greatest baseball career in history.
* '''19''' - Kirani James won the first [[Olympics|Olympic]] gold medal for the small nation of [[Grenada]], as the first non-[[America]]n to run 400 meters in less than 44 seconds.
* '''19''' - [[John D. Rockefeller]] starts a new company, turning an enormous profit in its first year, and became the most influential businessman in history.<ref>http://www.notablebiographies.com/Pu-Ro/Rockefeller-John-D.html</ref>
* '''19''' - [[Steve Jobs]] begins collaborating in electronics with Steve Wozniak<ref>http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/jobs.htm</ref> in electronics, and developed the personal computer within two years.
* '''19''' - Jim Ryun broke the world record for running the mile.
* '''19''' - [[Bill Gates]] co-founds [[Microsoft]].

(add more, sorted by age and then alphabetically)

== See also ==

*[[Gallery of American Heroes]]
*[[Gallery of British Heroes]]

==External Links==
*[http://listverse.com/miscellaneous/top-10-child-prodigies/ Top 10 Child Prodigies]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Achievement]]

Great Achievements by Teenagers

2013-05-09T20:38:21Z

CameronD: /* Achievements, listed by age at which they were made */ Remove non teenagers and Liberal facebook

Most of the '''great achievements''' throughout history in the fields of art, culture, science and technology have been by '''teenagers'''. This may be because they are able to think in new and innovative ways, or their thinking is not hidebound by discredited nostrums. It may be due to the emergence of God-given talent at an early age, and the natural open-mindedness of young people before they may experience attempts to indoctrinate them towards certain worldviews. Biologically the rate of brain development, and according to some studies [[IQ]], reportedly peak in smart individuals just prior to their teenage years.<ref>http://articles.latimes.com/2006/mar/30/science/sci-brain30</ref>

==Achievements, listed by age at which they were made==


* '''13''' - [[John]] wrote the first draft of the [[Gospel of John]], the greatest written work of all time.<ref>[[Mystery:Was John a Child?]]</ref>
* '''13''' - [[Joan of Arc]] was inspired and led [[France]] five years later to victory over the English in the [[Hundred Years War]]; was martyred at age 19.<ref>http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/History/Joan_of_Arc.shtml</ref>
* '''13''' - [[Anne Frank]] began writing her diary, later published as "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl."
* '''14''' - [[David]] slays [[Goliath]].
* '''14''' - Ismail founded the Safavid dynasty and became its "shah" (military and spiritual ruler)
* '''14''' - [[Bobby Fischer]] became an International [[Chess]] Grandmaster.
* '''14''' - [[Mozart]] wrote the opera, "Mitridate Rè di Ponto."
* '''14''' - [[Nadia Comaneci]] "achieved in her sport what no [[Olympian]], male or female, ever had before: perfection."<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/events/1996/olympics/daily/july25/flashback.html</ref>
* '''14''' - [[St. Theresa of Lisieux]] rejected by Bishop Hugonin, pleads with Pope Leo XIII so she may enter the Carmelites. Became Carmelite nun at age 15.
* '''14''' - Bernadette Soubirous (St Bernadette of Lourdes) has a vision of the Virgin Mary
* '''14''' - The publication of Charles Schulz's first drawing of a dog, which became an inspiration for his cartoon strip ''Peanuts'' about a dog named Snoopy<ref>http://www.ripleys.com/weird/daily-dose-of-weird-wtf-blog/unbelievable-but-true/charles-schults-snoopy-was-first-a-believe-it-or-not/</ref>
* '''14''' - Aaron Swartz develops RSS. Swartz would go on to contest the private ownership of data by trying to liberate millions of academic articles from a corporation.
*'''15''' - Jack Andraka developed a new method to detect pancreatic [[cancer]]. <ref>[http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/education/competitions/international-science-and-engineering-fair/winners.htl]
</ref>
* '''15''' - [[Louis Braille]] invented the [[Braille]] system.
* '''15''' - [[Christopher Paolini]] writes the first draft of his [[Eragon]] trilogy which is published when he is 19.
* '''16''' - Jean-François Champollion, can speak a dozen languages and delivers a paper on the Coptic language to the Grenoble Academy. By 20, he can speak another 13 languages and at 32 he deciphers the [[Rosetta Stone]].
* '''16''' - Boy sailor Jack Cornwall, of HMS Chester, is awarded a [[posthumous]] [[VC]] for gallantry at the [[Battle of Jutland]].
* '''16''' - the average age of 58 [[homeschooled]] teenagers who founded Conservapedia, so that the light of truth would continue to shine and darkness would not overcome it.
* '''16''' - [[Franz Schubert]] wrote his First Symphony; having already composed songs, chamber pieces etc.,
* '''16''' - [[Sun Myung Moon]] writes [[Crown of Glory]].
* '''17''' - Cassie Bernall defended her [[faith]] in front of an [[atheistic]] gunman at the [[Columbine massacre]], and was martyred for it<ref>Two witnesses, Craig Scott and Joshua Lapp, confirmed a question-and-answer confrontation; others said Cassie was praying when murdered.[http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/c/cassie.htm]</ref>
* '''17''' - [[Georges Bizet]] wrote his Symphony in C of which is heard frequently today.
* '''17*''' - [[Mary]] accepts [[God]]'s will to conceive [[Jesus]] by the [[Holy Spirit]], and gives birth nine months later.<ref>Mary's exact age is not known, but she was old enough to marry under Jewish law and was almost certainly a teenager.[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15464b.htm]</ref>
* '''17''' - Shawn Fanning develops the first large-scale peer-to-peer file sharing program, Napster
* '''17''' - Private 1st Class Jacklyn H. Lucas, [[United States Marine Corps]], earned the [[Medal of Honor]] five days after his 17th birthday during the [[Iwo Jima]] battle in [[World War II]]; he was a Marine for ''three years''. [http://www.homeofheroes.com/moh/citations_living/ii_mc_lucas.html]
* '''17''' - [[Mendelssohn]] composed his Octet, widely considered the best of its genre. He had already written 12 string symphonies by age 14.
* '''17''' - [[Pele]] scored six goals in four games in the 1958 [[World Cup]], including perhaps the finest goal ever in the finals, leading [[Brazil]] to the championship.
* '''18''' - Lila Rose, a [[UCLA]] student who had been [[homeschooled]], goes undercover and does a stinging expose of an [[abortion]] clinic.<ref>http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/archive/ldn/2007/may/07051504</ref>
* '''18''' - Shawn Goldsmith from Long Island has earned all 121 merit badges offered by the Boy Scouts. <ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,473964,00.html Boy Scout Earns All 121 Merit Badges] AP, December 30, 2008</ref>
* '''18''' - [[Mary Shelley]] writes Frankenstein (The Modern Prometheus), later published when she was 21.
* '''18''' - [[Kasparov|Garry Kasparov]], considered the greatest [[chess]] player ever, won the [[U.S.S.R.]] championship.
* '''19''' - Captain Albert Ball, [[VC]], MC, DSO and 2 bars, commences his career as a British fighter pilot. By the time he is killed, aged 20, in 1917, he has become one of the [[First World War]]'s greatest air aces, accounting for at least 44 [[German]] aircraft.
* '''19''' - was the average age of front-line [[US]] service personnel fighting to defend democracy in [[Indochina]] during the [[Vietnam War]].
* '''19''' - [[Evariste Galois]] applies [[group theory]] to the unsolvability of polynomial equations, before his death in a duel at age 20.
* '''19''' - [[Babe Ruth]] began playing for the Boston Red Sox, in what would become the greatest baseball career in history.
* '''19''' - Kirani James won the first [[Olympics|Olympic]] gold medal for the small nation of [[Grenada]], as the first non-[[America]]n to run 400 meters in less than 44 seconds.
* '''19''' - [[John D. Rockefeller]] starts a new company, turning an enormous profit in its first year, and became the most influential businessman in history.<ref>http://www.notablebiographies.com/Pu-Ro/Rockefeller-John-D.html</ref>
* '''19''' - [[Steve Jobs]] begins collaborating in electronics with Steve Wozniak<ref>http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/jobs.htm</ref> in electronics, and developed the personal computer within two years.
* '''19''' - Jim Ryun broke the world record for running the mile.
* '''19''' - [[Bill Gates]] co-founds [[Microsoft]].

(add more, sorted by age and then alphabetically)

== See also ==

*[[Gallery of American Heroes]]
*[[Gallery of British Heroes]]

==External Links==
*[http://listverse.com/miscellaneous/top-10-child-prodigies/ Top 10 Child Prodigies]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Achievement]]

Muammar al-Gaddafi

2013-05-07T18:31:54Z

CameronD: /* Rise to power */ spelling as title

[[File:Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi in Dimashq.jpg|thumb|right|200px|"Leader and Guide of the 1969 Revolution."]]
Colonel '''Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi''' ([[Arabic language|Arabic]]: معمر القذافي, b. 1942 - d. October 20, 2011) was the Head of State of [[Libya]], a [[socialist]] and [[leader]] until the 2011 [[Libyan War|Libyan civil war]]. He rose to power through a coup that he led in 1969, and he ruled Libya for more than forty years ending with his capture and death. Once he became the leader of Libya, he renamed all the months in the calendar and published the Green Book, which was a series of pamphlets on democracy, economics, and sociology.

==Rise to power==
In the 1970s, Gaddafi attempted to assume the leadership of a pan-Arabic movement, a position left open by the death of President [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] of [[Egypt]]; however, other Arab nations mostly ignored him. He attempted to extend his influence in Africa by supporting [[Uganda]]'s [[Idi Amin]] in the [[Uganda-Tanzania War]] with military aid and equipment, including [[Tupolev Tu-22|Tu-22]] jet bombers. In the 1980s, Gaddafi became a sponsor of [[terrorism]] and President [[Ronald Reagan]] ordered a retaliatory bombing of his palace and key Libyan targets (Operation El Dorado Canyon). (In August 2003, Libya agreed to pay $2.7 billion to families of the 270 killed on board flight 103, when it blew up in December 1988 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Just six months after the settlement, Gaddafi was visited by British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Tripoli.) <ref> [http://www.nndb.com/people/641/000026563/ Muammar Qaddafi.] </ref>

==Relations with Israel and Palestinians==
Gaddafi was a lifelong enemy of [[Israel]] and under his reign Israel was not recognized by Libya. He also expelled Palestinian Arabs from Libya.<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/05/world/libya-s-leader-urges-other-arab-countries-to-expel-palestinians.html</ref>

==Renounces terrorism and restoration to the international community==
[[File:Cockpit Nose section of Clipper Maid of the Seas.jpg|thumb|250px|Cockpit of Clipper "Maid of the Seas" (Pan Am 103).]]
In the 1990s, Gaddafi changed course and severed all ties with terrorism to normalize relations with the West. He formally renounced terrorism in a letter to the UN Security Council in August 2003 and publicly condemned [[al Qaeda]] for the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]].<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=P95pldoe_hgC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=muammar+qaddafi+religious+tolerance&source=bl&ots=We02LNtRVy&sig=ICqlN8kClfhziphrdOZASO9DQeU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Lq8rUYe8CIn7igLh9YBo&ved=0CDMQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=muammar%20qaddafi%20religious%20tolerance&f=false Islamic Peacemaking Since 9/11,] Volume 31 (Google eBook), David R. Smock, Qamar-ul Huda, DIANE Publishing, 2009.</ref>

In 1999, the Libyan government surrendered two Libyans suspected of involvement in the Pan Am 103 bombing, leading to the suspension of UN sanctions. On January 31, 2001, a Scottish court seated in the Netherlands found one of the suspects, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, guilty of murder in connection with the bombing, and acquitted the second suspect, Al-Amin Khalifa Fhima. Megrahi's conviction was upheld on March 14, 2002, but an appeals hearing was granted in June 2007 by the Scottish High Court.

UN sanctions were lifted on September 12, 2003 following Libyan compliance with its remaining UNSCR requirements on Pan Am 103, including acceptance of responsibility for the actions of its officials and payment of appropriate compensation. Libya paid compensation in 1999 for the death of British policewoman Yvonne Fletcher, a move that preceded the reopening of the British Embassy in Tripoli, and paid damages to the families of the victims in the bombing of UTA Flight 772. With the lifting of UN sanctions in September 2003, each of the families of the victims of Pan Am 103 received $4 million of a maximum $10 million in compensation. After the lifting of U.S. IEEPA-based sanctions on September 20, 2004, the families received a further $4 million.

On November 13, 2001, a German court found four persons, including a former employee of the Libyan embassy in East Berlin, guilty in connection with the 1986 La Belle disco bombing, in which two U.S. servicemen were killed. The court also established a connection to the Libyan government. The German Government demanded that Libya accept responsibility for the La Belle bombing and pay appropriate compensation. A compensation deal for non-U.S. victims was agreed to in August 2004. U.S. victims continue to pursue their claims in federal court.

By 2003, Libya appeared to have curtailed its support for international terrorism, although it may have retained residual contacts with some of its former terrorist clients. In August 2004, the Department of Justice entered into a plea agreement with Abdulrahman Alamoudi, in which he stated that he had been part of a 2003 plot to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdallah (now King Abdallah) at the behest of Libyan government officials.

In 2005, the Saudi Government pardoned the individuals accused in the assassination plot. During the 2005 UN General Assembly session, Foreign Minister Shalgam issued a statement that reaffirmed Libya's commitment to the statements made in its letter addressed to the Security Council on August 15, 2003, renouncing terrorism in all its forms and pledging that Libya will not support acts of international terrorism or other acts of violence targeting civilians, whatever their political views or positions. Libya also expressed its commitment to continue cooperating in the international fight against terrorism. On June 30, 2006, the U.S. rescinded Libya's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.

In 2006 the BBC reported, the "decision of the US to restore full diplomatic relations with Libya marks the crowning success of his efforts to have his country accepted back into the international community." <ref> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3336059.stm</ref>

U.S. [[Secretary of State]] [[Condoleezza Rice]] praised Libya for its "excellent co-operation" in the US-led war on terror. <ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4773617.stm] (BBC News).</ref> Full diplomatic relations with the United States were restored in 2006, and the Gaddafi regime's turnaround has been heralded by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as a model for others to follow.
[[File:Gaddafi and Mandela 1.JPG|thumb|300px|Nobel Peace Prize winner [[Nelson Mandela]] greets an old friend and ally, Muammar Gaddafi.]]

==Relations with Africa==
===Brother in arms with Nelson Mandela===
[[Nobel Peace Prize]] recipient [[Nelson Mandela]] speaking of the values he shares with Gaddafi, said,
{{Cquote|In a world where the strong may seek to impose upon the more vulnerable; and where particular nations or groups of nations may still seek to decide the fate of the planet - in such a world respect for multilateralism, moderation of public discourse and a patient search for compromise become even more imperative to save the world from debilitating conflict and enduring inequality. When we dismissed criticism of our friendship with yourself, My Brother Leader, and of the relationship between South Africa and Libya, it was precisely in defence of those values.<ref>http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71656?oid=222537&sn=Detail</ref>}}

===African Satellite Control Center===
An observer spelled out one of Gaddafi’s motivations for proposing an African Union:
{{Cquote|It began in 1992, when 45 African nations established RASCOM (Regional African Satellite Communication Organization) so that Africa would have its own satellite and slash communication costs in the continent. This was a time when phone calls to and from Africa were the most expensive in the world because of the annual US$500 million fee pocketed by Europe for the use of its satellites like Intelsat for phone conversations, including those within the same country.

An African satellite only cost a one-time payment of $400 million and the continent no longer had to pay a $500 million annual lease. Which banker wouldn't finance such a project? But the problem remained – how can [[slave]]s, seeking to free themselves from their master’s exploitation ask the master’s help to achieve that freedom? Not surprisingly, the [[World Bank]], the [[International Monetary Fund]], the USA, Europe only made vague promises for 14 years. Gaddafi put an end to these futile pleas to the western ‘benefactors’ with their exorbitant interest rates. The Libyan guide put $300 million on the table; the African Development Bank added $50 million more and the West African Development Bank a further $27 million – and that’s how Africa got its first communications satellite on 26 December 2007.<ref>http://www.vtcommons.org/blog/2011/04/21/ethan-allen-qaddafi</ref>}}

==Domestic affairs==
[[File:Schoolboys chant pro-Gaddafi slogans Reuters.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Schoolboys chant pro-Gaddafi slogans, Photograph: Reuters.]]
The Libyan people thrived under his leadership. A delegation of medical professionals from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus wrote in an appeal "Russian President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin that after becoming acquainted with Libyan life, it was their view that in few nations did people live in such comfort".

"China is a different kind of competitor. It is a rising economic power and America is unable to stop it. It has an unprecedented human wealth. In addition, it is a nuclear-weapon state and a permanent member of the Security Council. Everywhere in the world, China is making economic, human and political inroads. Unlike America which unwisely has chosen the harsh military approach, China is making those inroads using soft power. America continues its brazen interference in the internal affairs of states in the name of democracy and human rights. Africom is a case in point. Such interference is no longer acceptable. America itself is condemned in the field of human rights. It makes a habit of taking losers as allies... America is aware of the danger China poses. [http://www.algathafi.org/html-english/cat_1_11.htm China..America..The inevitable Confrontation.]"

===Libyan Central Bank===
In an article posted on the Market Oracle, Eric Encina observed:
{{Cquote|One seldom mentioned fact by western politicians and media pundits: the Central Bank of Libya is 100% State Owned.... Currently, the Libyan government creates its own money, the Libyan Dinar, through the facilities of its own central bank. Few can argue that Libya is a [[sovereign]] nation with its own great resources, able to sustain its own economic destiny. One major problem for globalist banking cartels is that in order to do business with Libya, they must go through the Libyan Central Bank and its national currency, a place where they have absolutely zero dominion or power-broking ability. Hence, taking down the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) may not appear in the speeches of Obama, Cameron and Sarkozy but this is certainly at the top of the globalist agenda for absorbing Libya into its hive of compliant nations.<ref>Eric Encina,''[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27208.html Globalists Target 100% State Owned Central Bank of Libya,]'' Market Oracle.</ref>}}
Ellen Brown adds,
{{Cquote|Libya not only has oil. According to the IMF, its central bank has nearly 144 tons of gold in its vaults. With that sort of asset base, who needs the BIS (Bank of International Settlements), the IMF and their rules.<ref>Ellen Brown, ''[http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/289-134/5625-libya-all-about-oil-or-all-about-banking Libya: All About Oil, or All About Banking,]'' Reader Supported News, April 15, 2011.</ref>}}
Gaddafi’s proposal to introduce a gold dinar for Africa contravenes IMF rules and is designed to bypass them.

==Capture and murder==
Gadafi was brutally murdered by [[NATO]]-armed and -equipped [[jihad]]i rebels during [[President Obama]]'s "humanitarian intervention" in the [[Libyan War of 2011]].<ref>http://socioecohistory.wordpress.com/2011/11/01/corbett-gaddafi-murder-shows-hypocrisy-of-nato-humanitarian-intervention/</ref>

== External links ==
*[http://www.nndb.com/people/641/000026563/ Muammar Qaddafi.]
*[http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/dictators/muammar-qaddafi/ Muammar Qaddafi.]
*[http://www.algathafi.org/html-english/index.htm Official web site.] {{dead link}}
*[http://israelstreams.com/?israelinsider.html?http://israelinsider.com/Articles1/Diplomacy/4062.htm Gadhafi ready to compensate Jews who fled Libya.] Israel Insider.
*[http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/142593 Qaddafi is Jewish and I'm His Cousin.]

== References ==

<references/>
{{DEFAULTSORT:Al-Gadafi, Muammar}}
[[Category:Libya]]
[[Category:Africa]]
[[Category:Muslims]]
[[Category:Heads of State]]
[[Category:Terrorists]]

Muammar al-Gaddafi

2013-05-07T18:30:55Z

CameronD: Remember the Lockabie outrage? Why wasn't that terrorism?

[[File:Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi in Dimashq.jpg|thumb|right|200px|"Leader and Guide of the 1969 Revolution."]]
Colonel '''Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi''' ([[Arabic language|Arabic]]: معمر القذافي, b. 1942 - d. October 20, 2011) was the Head of State of [[Libya]], a [[socialist]] and [[leader]] until the 2011 [[Libyan War|Libyan civil war]]. He rose to power through a coup that he led in 1969, and he ruled Libya for more than forty years ending with his capture and death. Once he became the leader of Libya, he renamed all the months in the calendar and published the Green Book, which was a series of pamphlets on democracy, economics, and sociology.

==Rise to power==
In the 1970s, Gaddafi attempted to assume the leadership of a pan-Arabic movement, a position left open by the death of President [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] of [[Egypt]]; however, other Arab nations mostly ignored him. He attempted to extend his influence in Africa by supporting [[Uganda]]'s [[Idi Amin]] in the [[Uganda-Tanzania War]] with military aid and equipment, including [[Tupolev Tu-22|Tu-22]] jet bombers. In the 1980s, Gaddafi became a sponsor of [[terrorism]] and President [[Ronald Reagan]] ordered a retaliatory bombing of his palace and key Libyan targets (Operation El Dorado Canyon). (In August 2003, Libya agreed to pay $2.7 billion to families of the 270 killed on board flight 103, when it blew up in December 1988 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Just six months after the settlement, Qaddafi was visited by British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Tripoli.) <ref> [http://www.nndb.com/people/641/000026563/ Muammar Qaddafi.] </ref>

==Relations with Israel and Palestinians==
Gaddafi was a lifelong enemy of [[Israel]] and under his reign Israel was not recognized by Libya. He also expelled Palestinian Arabs from Libya.<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/05/world/libya-s-leader-urges-other-arab-countries-to-expel-palestinians.html</ref>

==Renounces terrorism and restoration to the international community==
[[File:Cockpit Nose section of Clipper Maid of the Seas.jpg|thumb|250px|Cockpit of Clipper "Maid of the Seas" (Pan Am 103).]]
In the 1990s, Gaddafi changed course and severed all ties with terrorism to normalize relations with the West. He formally renounced terrorism in a letter to the UN Security Council in August 2003 and publicly condemned [[al Qaeda]] for the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]].<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=P95pldoe_hgC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=muammar+qaddafi+religious+tolerance&source=bl&ots=We02LNtRVy&sig=ICqlN8kClfhziphrdOZASO9DQeU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Lq8rUYe8CIn7igLh9YBo&ved=0CDMQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=muammar%20qaddafi%20religious%20tolerance&f=false Islamic Peacemaking Since 9/11,] Volume 31 (Google eBook), David R. Smock, Qamar-ul Huda, DIANE Publishing, 2009.</ref>

In 1999, the Libyan government surrendered two Libyans suspected of involvement in the Pan Am 103 bombing, leading to the suspension of UN sanctions. On January 31, 2001, a Scottish court seated in the Netherlands found one of the suspects, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, guilty of murder in connection with the bombing, and acquitted the second suspect, Al-Amin Khalifa Fhima. Megrahi's conviction was upheld on March 14, 2002, but an appeals hearing was granted in June 2007 by the Scottish High Court.

UN sanctions were lifted on September 12, 2003 following Libyan compliance with its remaining UNSCR requirements on Pan Am 103, including acceptance of responsibility for the actions of its officials and payment of appropriate compensation. Libya paid compensation in 1999 for the death of British policewoman Yvonne Fletcher, a move that preceded the reopening of the British Embassy in Tripoli, and paid damages to the families of the victims in the bombing of UTA Flight 772. With the lifting of UN sanctions in September 2003, each of the families of the victims of Pan Am 103 received $4 million of a maximum $10 million in compensation. After the lifting of U.S. IEEPA-based sanctions on September 20, 2004, the families received a further $4 million.

On November 13, 2001, a German court found four persons, including a former employee of the Libyan embassy in East Berlin, guilty in connection with the 1986 La Belle disco bombing, in which two U.S. servicemen were killed. The court also established a connection to the Libyan government. The German Government demanded that Libya accept responsibility for the La Belle bombing and pay appropriate compensation. A compensation deal for non-U.S. victims was agreed to in August 2004. U.S. victims continue to pursue their claims in federal court.

By 2003, Libya appeared to have curtailed its support for international terrorism, although it may have retained residual contacts with some of its former terrorist clients. In August 2004, the Department of Justice entered into a plea agreement with Abdulrahman Alamoudi, in which he stated that he had been part of a 2003 plot to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdallah (now King Abdallah) at the behest of Libyan government officials.

In 2005, the Saudi Government pardoned the individuals accused in the assassination plot. During the 2005 UN General Assembly session, Foreign Minister Shalgam issued a statement that reaffirmed Libya's commitment to the statements made in its letter addressed to the Security Council on August 15, 2003, renouncing terrorism in all its forms and pledging that Libya will not support acts of international terrorism or other acts of violence targeting civilians, whatever their political views or positions. Libya also expressed its commitment to continue cooperating in the international fight against terrorism. On June 30, 2006, the U.S. rescinded Libya's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.

In 2006 the BBC reported, the "decision of the US to restore full diplomatic relations with Libya marks the crowning success of his efforts to have his country accepted back into the international community." <ref> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3336059.stm</ref>

U.S. [[Secretary of State]] [[Condoleezza Rice]] praised Libya for its "excellent co-operation" in the US-led war on terror. <ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4773617.stm] (BBC News).</ref> Full diplomatic relations with the United States were restored in 2006, and the Gaddafi regime's turnaround has been heralded by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as a model for others to follow.
[[File:Gaddafi and Mandela 1.JPG|thumb|300px|Nobel Peace Prize winner [[Nelson Mandela]] greets an old friend and ally, Muammar Gaddafi.]]

==Relations with Africa==
===Brother in arms with Nelson Mandela===
[[Nobel Peace Prize]] recipient [[Nelson Mandela]] speaking of the values he shares with Gaddafi, said,
{{Cquote|In a world where the strong may seek to impose upon the more vulnerable; and where particular nations or groups of nations may still seek to decide the fate of the planet - in such a world respect for multilateralism, moderation of public discourse and a patient search for compromise become even more imperative to save the world from debilitating conflict and enduring inequality. When we dismissed criticism of our friendship with yourself, My Brother Leader, and of the relationship between South Africa and Libya, it was precisely in defence of those values.<ref>http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71656?oid=222537&sn=Detail</ref>}}

===African Satellite Control Center===
An observer spelled out one of Gaddafi’s motivations for proposing an African Union:
{{Cquote|It began in 1992, when 45 African nations established RASCOM (Regional African Satellite Communication Organization) so that Africa would have its own satellite and slash communication costs in the continent. This was a time when phone calls to and from Africa were the most expensive in the world because of the annual US$500 million fee pocketed by Europe for the use of its satellites like Intelsat for phone conversations, including those within the same country.

An African satellite only cost a one-time payment of $400 million and the continent no longer had to pay a $500 million annual lease. Which banker wouldn't finance such a project? But the problem remained – how can [[slave]]s, seeking to free themselves from their master’s exploitation ask the master’s help to achieve that freedom? Not surprisingly, the [[World Bank]], the [[International Monetary Fund]], the USA, Europe only made vague promises for 14 years. Gaddafi put an end to these futile pleas to the western ‘benefactors’ with their exorbitant interest rates. The Libyan guide put $300 million on the table; the African Development Bank added $50 million more and the West African Development Bank a further $27 million – and that’s how Africa got its first communications satellite on 26 December 2007.<ref>http://www.vtcommons.org/blog/2011/04/21/ethan-allen-qaddafi</ref>}}

==Domestic affairs==
[[File:Schoolboys chant pro-Gaddafi slogans Reuters.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Schoolboys chant pro-Gaddafi slogans, Photograph: Reuters.]]
The Libyan people thrived under his leadership. A delegation of medical professionals from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus wrote in an appeal "Russian President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin that after becoming acquainted with Libyan life, it was their view that in few nations did people live in such comfort".

"China is a different kind of competitor. It is a rising economic power and America is unable to stop it. It has an unprecedented human wealth. In addition, it is a nuclear-weapon state and a permanent member of the Security Council. Everywhere in the world, China is making economic, human and political inroads. Unlike America which unwisely has chosen the harsh military approach, China is making those inroads using soft power. America continues its brazen interference in the internal affairs of states in the name of democracy and human rights. Africom is a case in point. Such interference is no longer acceptable. America itself is condemned in the field of human rights. It makes a habit of taking losers as allies... America is aware of the danger China poses. [http://www.algathafi.org/html-english/cat_1_11.htm China..America..The inevitable Confrontation.]"

===Libyan Central Bank===
In an article posted on the Market Oracle, Eric Encina observed:
{{Cquote|One seldom mentioned fact by western politicians and media pundits: the Central Bank of Libya is 100% State Owned.... Currently, the Libyan government creates its own money, the Libyan Dinar, through the facilities of its own central bank. Few can argue that Libya is a [[sovereign]] nation with its own great resources, able to sustain its own economic destiny. One major problem for globalist banking cartels is that in order to do business with Libya, they must go through the Libyan Central Bank and its national currency, a place where they have absolutely zero dominion or power-broking ability. Hence, taking down the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) may not appear in the speeches of Obama, Cameron and Sarkozy but this is certainly at the top of the globalist agenda for absorbing Libya into its hive of compliant nations.<ref>Eric Encina,''[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27208.html Globalists Target 100% State Owned Central Bank of Libya,]'' Market Oracle.</ref>}}
Ellen Brown adds,
{{Cquote|Libya not only has oil. According to the IMF, its central bank has nearly 144 tons of gold in its vaults. With that sort of asset base, who needs the BIS (Bank of International Settlements), the IMF and their rules.<ref>Ellen Brown, ''[http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/289-134/5625-libya-all-about-oil-or-all-about-banking Libya: All About Oil, or All About Banking,]'' Reader Supported News, April 15, 2011.</ref>}}
Gaddafi’s proposal to introduce a gold dinar for Africa contravenes IMF rules and is designed to bypass them.

==Capture and murder==
Gadafi was brutally murdered by [[NATO]]-armed and -equipped [[jihad]]i rebels during [[President Obama]]'s "humanitarian intervention" in the [[Libyan War of 2011]].<ref>http://socioecohistory.wordpress.com/2011/11/01/corbett-gaddafi-murder-shows-hypocrisy-of-nato-humanitarian-intervention/</ref>

== External links ==
*[http://www.nndb.com/people/641/000026563/ Muammar Qaddafi.]
*[http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/dictators/muammar-qaddafi/ Muammar Qaddafi.]
*[http://www.algathafi.org/html-english/index.htm Official web site.] {{dead link}}
*[http://israelstreams.com/?israelinsider.html?http://israelinsider.com/Articles1/Diplomacy/4062.htm Gadhafi ready to compensate Jews who fled Libya.] Israel Insider.
*[http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/142593 Qaddafi is Jewish and I'm His Cousin.]

== References ==

<references/>
{{DEFAULTSORT:Al-Gadafi, Muammar}}
[[Category:Libya]]
[[Category:Africa]]
[[Category:Muslims]]
[[Category:Heads of State]]
[[Category:Terrorists]]

Talk:Limitations of science

2013-05-07T18:29:06Z

CameronD:

take the five bullet points of the first external link and create an article. [[User:Conservative|Conservative]] 03:27, 27 April 2013 (EDT)

==Which sense detects miniscule levels of a contaminant==

Which sense does HPLC analysis require? HPLC is used for detecting very low levels of chemicals such as though that could be possible in life saving drugs? [[User:CameronD|CamD]] 14:29, 7 May 2013 (EDT)

Muammar al-Gaddafi

2013-05-05T18:57:52Z

CameronD: As he was a socialist I think the categories are appropriate.

[[File:Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi in Dimashq.jpg|thumb|right|200px|"Leader and Guide of the 1969 Revolution."]]
Colonel '''Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi''' ([[Arabic language|Arabic]]: معمر القذافي, b. 1942 - d. October 20, 2011) was the Head of State of [[Libya]], a [[socialist]] and [[leader]] until the 2011 [[Libyan War|Libyan civil war]]. He rose to power through a coup that he led in 1969, and he ruled Libya for more than forty years ending with his capture and death. Once he became the leader of Libya, he renamed all the months in the calendar and published the Green Book, which was a series of pamphlets on democracy, economics, and sociology.

==Rise to power==
In the 1970s, Gaddafi attempted to assume the leadership of a pan-Arabic movement, a position left open by the death of President [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] of [[Egypt]]; however, other Arab nations mostly ignored him. He attempted to extend his influence in Africa by supporting [[Uganda]]'s [[Idi Amin]] in the [[Uganda-Tanzania War]] with military aid and equipment, including [[Tupolev Tu-22|Tu-22]] jet bombers. In the 1980s, Gaddafi became a sponsor of [[terrorism]] and President [[Ronald Reagan]] ordered a retaliatory bombing of his palace and key Libyan targets (Operation El Dorado Canyon). (In August 2003, Libya agreed to pay $2.7 billion to families of the 270 killed on board flight 103, when it blew up in December 1988 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Just six months after the settlement, Qaddafi was visited by British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Tripoli.) <ref> [http://www.nndb.com/people/641/000026563/ Muammar Qaddafi.] </ref>

==Relations with Israel and Palestinians==
Gaddafi was a lifelong enemy of [[Israel]] and under his reign Israel was not recognized by Libya. He also expelled Palestinian Arabs from Libya.<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/05/world/libya-s-leader-urges-other-arab-countries-to-expel-palestinians.html</ref>

==Renounces terrorism and restoration to the international community==
[[File:Cockpit Nose section of Clipper Maid of the Seas.jpg|thumb|250px|Cockpit of Clipper "Maid of the Seas" (Pan Am 103).]]
In the 1990s, Gaddafi changed course and severed all ties with terrorism to normalize relations with the West. He formally renounced terrorism in a letter to the UN Security Council in August 2003 and publicly condemned [[al Qaeda]] for the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]].<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=P95pldoe_hgC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=muammar+qaddafi+religious+tolerance&source=bl&ots=We02LNtRVy&sig=ICqlN8kClfhziphrdOZASO9DQeU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Lq8rUYe8CIn7igLh9YBo&ved=0CDMQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=muammar%20qaddafi%20religious%20tolerance&f=false Islamic Peacemaking Since 9/11,] Volume 31 (Google eBook), David R. Smock, Qamar-ul Huda, DIANE Publishing, 2009.</ref>

In 1999, the Libyan government surrendered two Libyans suspected of involvement in the Pan Am 103 bombing, leading to the suspension of UN sanctions. On January 31, 2001, a Scottish court seated in the Netherlands found one of the suspects, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, guilty of murder in connection with the bombing, and acquitted the second suspect, Al-Amin Khalifa Fhima. Megrahi's conviction was upheld on March 14, 2002, but an appeals hearing was granted in June 2007 by the Scottish High Court.

UN sanctions were lifted on September 12, 2003 following Libyan compliance with its remaining UNSCR requirements on Pan Am 103, including acceptance of responsibility for the actions of its officials and payment of appropriate compensation. Libya paid compensation in 1999 for the death of British policewoman Yvonne Fletcher, a move that preceded the reopening of the British Embassy in Tripoli, and paid damages to the families of the victims in the bombing of UTA Flight 772. With the lifting of UN sanctions in September 2003, each of the families of the victims of Pan Am 103 received $4 million of a maximum $10 million in compensation. After the lifting of U.S. IEEPA-based sanctions on September 20, 2004, the families received a further $4 million.

On November 13, 2001, a German court found four persons, including a former employee of the Libyan embassy in East Berlin, guilty in connection with the 1986 La Belle disco bombing, in which two U.S. servicemen were killed. The court also established a connection to the Libyan government. The German Government demanded that Libya accept responsibility for the La Belle bombing and pay appropriate compensation. A compensation deal for non-U.S. victims was agreed to in August 2004. U.S. victims continue to pursue their claims in federal court.

By 2003, Libya appeared to have curtailed its support for international terrorism, although it may have retained residual contacts with some of its former terrorist clients. In August 2004, the Department of Justice entered into a plea agreement with Abdulrahman Alamoudi, in which he stated that he had been part of a 2003 plot to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdallah (now King Abdallah) at the behest of Libyan government officials.

In 2005, the Saudi Government pardoned the individuals accused in the assassination plot. During the 2005 UN General Assembly session, Foreign Minister Shalgam issued a statement that reaffirmed Libya's commitment to the statements made in its letter addressed to the Security Council on August 15, 2003, renouncing terrorism in all its forms and pledging that Libya will not support acts of international terrorism or other acts of violence targeting civilians, whatever their political views or positions. Libya also expressed its commitment to continue cooperating in the international fight against terrorism. On June 30, 2006, the U.S. rescinded Libya's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.

In 2006 the BBC reported, the "decision of the US to restore full diplomatic relations with Libya marks the crowning success of his efforts to have his country accepted back into the international community." <ref> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3336059.stm</ref>

U.S. [[Secretary of State]] [[Condoleezza Rice]] praised Libya for its "excellent co-operation" in the US-led war on terror. <ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4773617.stm] (BBC News).</ref> Full diplomatic relations with the United States were restored in 2006, and the Gaddafi regime's turnaround has been heralded by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as a model for others to follow.
[[File:Gaddafi and Mandela 1.JPG|thumb|300px|Nobel Peace Prize winner [[Nelson Mandela]] greets an old friend and ally, Muammar Gaddafi.]]

==Relations with Africa==
===Brother in arms with Nelson Mandela===
[[Nobel Peace Prize]] recipient [[Nelson Mandela]] speaking of the values he shares with Gaddafi, said,
{{Cquote|In a world where the strong may seek to impose upon the more vulnerable; and where particular nations or groups of nations may still seek to decide the fate of the planet - in such a world respect for multilateralism, moderation of public discourse and a patient search for compromise become even more imperative to save the world from debilitating conflict and enduring inequality. When we dismissed criticism of our friendship with yourself, My Brother Leader, and of the relationship between South Africa and Libya, it was precisely in defence of those values.<ref>http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71656?oid=222537&sn=Detail</ref>}}

===African Satellite Control Center===
An observer spelled out one of Gaddafi’s motivations for proposing an African Union:
{{Cquote|It began in 1992, when 45 African nations established RASCOM (Regional African Satellite Communication Organization) so that Africa would have its own satellite and slash communication costs in the continent. This was a time when phone calls to and from Africa were the most expensive in the world because of the annual US$500 million fee pocketed by Europe for the use of its satellites like Intelsat for phone conversations, including those within the same country.

An African satellite only cost a one-time payment of $400 million and the continent no longer had to pay a $500 million annual lease. Which banker wouldn't finance such a project? But the problem remained – how can [[slave]]s, seeking to free themselves from their master’s exploitation ask the master’s help to achieve that freedom? Not surprisingly, the [[World Bank]], the [[International Monetary Fund]], the USA, Europe only made vague promises for 14 years. Gaddafi put an end to these futile pleas to the western ‘benefactors’ with their exorbitant interest rates. The Libyan guide put $300 million on the table; the African Development Bank added $50 million more and the West African Development Bank a further $27 million – and that’s how Africa got its first communications satellite on 26 December 2007.<ref>http://www.vtcommons.org/blog/2011/04/21/ethan-allen-qaddafi</ref>}}

==Domestic affairs==
[[File:Schoolboys chant pro-Gaddafi slogans Reuters.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Schoolboys chant pro-Gaddafi slogans, Photograph: Reuters.]]
The Libyan people thrived under his leadership. A delegation of medical professionals from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus wrote in an appeal "Russian President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin that after becoming acquainted with Libyan life, it was their view that in few nations did people live in such comfort".

"China is a different kind of competitor. It is a rising economic power and America is unable to stop it. It has an unprecedented human wealth. In addition, it is a nuclear-weapon state and a permanent member of the Security Council. Everywhere in the world, China is making economic, human and political inroads. Unlike America which unwisely has chosen the harsh military approach, China is making those inroads using soft power. America continues its brazen interference in the internal affairs of states in the name of democracy and human rights. Africom is a case in point. Such interference is no longer acceptable. America itself is condemned in the field of human rights. It makes a habit of taking losers as allies... America is aware of the danger China poses. [http://www.algathafi.org/html-english/cat_1_11.htm China..America..The inevitable Confrontation.]"

===Libyan Central Bank===
In an article posted on the Market Oracle, Eric Encina observed:
{{Cquote|One seldom mentioned fact by western politicians and media pundits: the Central Bank of Libya is 100% State Owned.... Currently, the Libyan government creates its own money, the Libyan Dinar, through the facilities of its own central bank. Few can argue that Libya is a [[sovereign]] nation with its own great resources, able to sustain its own economic destiny. One major problem for globalist banking cartels is that in order to do business with Libya, they must go through the Libyan Central Bank and its national currency, a place where they have absolutely zero dominion or power-broking ability. Hence, taking down the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) may not appear in the speeches of Obama, Cameron and Sarkozy but this is certainly at the top of the globalist agenda for absorbing Libya into its hive of compliant nations.<ref>Eric Encina,''[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27208.html Globalists Target 100% State Owned Central Bank of Libya,]'' Market Oracle.</ref>}}
Ellen Brown adds,
{{Cquote|Libya not only has oil. According to the IMF, its central bank has nearly 144 tons of gold in its vaults. With that sort of asset base, who needs the BIS (Bank of International Settlements), the IMF and their rules.<ref>Ellen Brown, ''[http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/289-134/5625-libya-all-about-oil-or-all-about-banking Libya: All About Oil, or All About Banking,]'' Reader Supported News, April 15, 2011.</ref>}}
Gaddafi’s proposal to introduce a gold dinar for Africa contravenes IMF rules and is designed to bypass them.

==Capture and murder==
Gadafi was brutally murdered by [[NATO]]-armed and -equipped [[jihad]]i rebels during [[President Obama]]'s "humanitarian intervention" in the [[Libyan War of 2011]].<ref>http://socioecohistory.wordpress.com/2011/11/01/corbett-gaddafi-murder-shows-hypocrisy-of-nato-humanitarian-intervention/</ref>

== External links ==
*[http://www.nndb.com/people/641/000026563/ Muammar Qaddafi.]
*[http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/dictators/muammar-qaddafi/ Muammar Qaddafi.]
*[http://www.algathafi.org/html-english/index.htm Official web site.] {{dead link}}
*[http://israelstreams.com/?israelinsider.html?http://israelinsider.com/Articles1/Diplomacy/4062.htm Gadhafi ready to compensate Jews who fled Libya.] Israel Insider.
*[http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/142593 Qaddafi is Jewish and I'm His Cousin.]

== References ==

<references/>
{{DEFAULTSORT:Al-Gadafi, Muammar}}
[[Category:Libya]]
[[Category:Africa]]
[[Category:Muslims]]
[[Category:Heads of State]]
[[Category:Lunatics]]
[[Category:Terrorists]]

Limitations of science

2013-04-27T19:45:36Z

CameronD: Lets have serious quotes that do not play in to liberal hands

A few of the limitations of science are: "the scientific method is limited to what can be observed with the senses; the scientific method is limited to the present; the scientific method is limited to telling us “how” a process works, not “why.”; the scientific method is limited in that it is amoral (non-moral); and the scientific method is limited in that it cannot deal with the unique."<ref>[http://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=9&article=315 Limitations of science and its method]</ref>

Another limitation of science is that science is a social enterprise and current societal ideological fashions can impinge on the objectivity of scientists and squash dissent. Also, the [[fall of man]] and man's sinful nature introduces problems into the scientific community such as scientific fraud, scientists engaging in immoral research such as [[eugenics]], egotistical scientists making proclamations beyond their expertise and scientists actively suppressing various truths (see: [[Suppression of alternatives to evolution]] and [[Evolution and Cases of Fraud, Hoaxes and Speculation]] and [[Atheism and deception]]).

== Quotes ==

*"The great climate science centres around the world are more than well aware how weak their science is. If you talk to them privately they're scared stiff of the fact that they don't really know what the clouds and the aerosols are doing." <ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/mar/29/james-lovelock James Lovelock on the value of sceptics and why Copenhagen was doomed]</ref>

== See also ==

*[[Science]]
*[[Christianity and science]]

== External links ==

*[http://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=9&article=315 Limitations of science and its method] - Apologetics Press
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAOCDSyBlwU John Lennox - Limitations Of Science] - video

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

[[Category:Science]]

Limitations of science

2013-04-27T19:43:53Z

CameronD: Far more than the five tradional senses

A few of the limitations of science are: "the scientific method is limited to what can be observed with the senses; the scientific method is limited to the present; the scientific method is limited to telling us “how” a process works, not “why.”; the scientific method is limited in that it is amoral (non-moral); and the scientific method is limited in that it cannot deal with the unique."<ref>[http://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=9&article=315 Limitations of science and its method]</ref>

Another limitation of science is that science is a social enterprise and current societal ideological fashions can impinge on the objectivity of scientists and squash dissent. Also, the [[fall of man]] and man's sinful nature introduces problems into the scientific community such as scientific fraud, scientists engaging in immoral research such as [[eugenics]], egotistical scientists making proclamations beyond their expertise and scientists actively suppressing various truths (see: [[Suppression of alternatives to evolution]] and [[Evolution and Cases of Fraud, Hoaxes and Speculation]] and [[Atheism and deception]]).

== Quotes ==

*"The great climate science centres around the world are more than well aware how weak their science is. If you talk to them privately they're scared stiff of the fact that they don't really know what the clouds and the aerosols are doing." <ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/mar/29/james-lovelock James Lovelock on the value of sceptics and why Copenhagen was doomed]</ref>

*"If you're so smart, why are you bald, Mr. Science?" - Barney Miller show

== See also ==

*[[Science]]
*[[Christianity and science]]

== External links ==

*[http://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=9&article=315 Limitations of science and its method] - Apologetics Press
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAOCDSyBlwU John Lennox - Limitations Of Science] - video

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

[[Category:Science]]

Ireland

2013-04-21T19:42:07Z

CameronD: Undo revision 1048182 by CameronD (talk) could not add comment explaining about Micheal Collins

{{Country
|name =''Ireland''
|map =Ireland.jpg
|flag =
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|capital =Dublin and Belfast
|capital-raw =
|government =Republic and Parliamentary Democracy and Constitutional Monarchy
|government-raw =
|language =Irish and English
|king =
|queen =
|monarch-raw =
|president =
|president-raw =
|chancellor =
|chancellor-raw =
|pm =
|pm-raw =
|area =27,133 sq mi
|pop =4,239,848 (2007)
|pop-basis =
|gdp =
|gdp-year =$177.2 billion (2006)
|gdp-pc =$43,600 (2006)
|currency =euro and Pound
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}}
'''Ireland''' (Irish: ''Éire'') is a European island to the west of mainland Europe. It is separated from the mainland by several islands, including the [[Isle of Man]], [[Great Britain]] and the [[Channel Islands]].

In 1920, it was divided into two states:
* [[Republic of Ireland]] (or simply '''Ireland''') is an independent state occupying 83% of Ireland's landmass. The state's descriptive name since the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 is the '''[[Republic of Ireland]]''' (Irish: Poblacht na hÉireann). It consists of 26 of Ireland's 32 counties in the island's four provinces of Leinster, Munster, Connacht and Ulster. However, only 3 of the 9 counties in [[Ulster]] are under the control of the Republic of Ireland. According to the last census the Republic of Ireland has a population of 4,234,925 <ref>[http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/environment/copy_of_census/ Census data]</ref>
*'''[[Northern Ireland]]''' is a [[constituent country]] of the [[United Kingdom]] which comprises six counties of the province of Ulster. Northern Ireland has a population of 1,685,267 (2002 est.) <ref>[http://www.nicensus2001.gov.uk/nica/browser/profile.jsp?profile=Demography&mainArea=&mainLevel= U.K. Census]</ref>



==People==
The Irish people are mainly of Celtic origin, with the country's only significant sized minority having descended from the [[Normans]]. English is the common language, but Irish (Gaelic/Gaeilge) is the first official language of the Republic of Ireland; Irish is taught in schools, appears on all official documents, and all road signs are also bilingual. In Northern Ireland, Irish has official recognition under the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Schools teaching through the medium of Irish known as Gaelscoileanna have experienced considerable growth in the past two decades in both parts of Ireland. Although initially reluctant, both the British state in Northern Ireland and the Irish state in the Republic of Ireland have funded this development following protests and requests from parents.

Irish writers such as [[Jonathan Swift]], [[Richard Brinsley Sheridan]], [[Oliver Goldsmith]], [[Edmund Burke]], [[Oscar Wilde]], [[James Joyce]], [[William Butler Yeats]], [[George Bernard Shaw]], [[C. S. Lewis]] and [[Samuel Beckett]] have made a major contribution to world literature over the past 350 years.

===Religion===
The majority of the Irish population describe themselves as [[Roman Catholic]] (86.8%). Atheists and the non-religious account for 4.4% of the population <ref>[http://www.cso.ie/census/documents/Final%20Principal%20Demographic%20Results%202006.pdf ]</ref>while membership of the [[Anglican Communion|Church of Ireland]] runs at about 3%, with most of the rest of the population belonging to other Protestant/Christian denominations. Southern Protestantism had been in decline since independence due to the ''ne temere'' decree (in which the Catholic church required children of mixed Catholic/Protestant marriages to be raised Catholic) <ref>[http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/ncd05730.htm]</ref> and emigration. However, it has experienced a revival of late due to immigration and some converts from Catholicism. There is a small Jewish community in Ireland. The Muslim community has grown recently due to immigration. The worship of nature and the pagan gods of ancient Ireland has seen a recent resurgence as well.
<ref>[http://www.cso.ie/statistics/popnclassbyreligionandsex2002.htm Census; Population Class by Religion/sex]</ref>

The Republic has maintained a nominally Catholic ethos since independence. [[Abortion]] remains controversially illegal (although information on obtaining abortions in other jurisdictions is a constitutional entitlement, and many thousands of women travel to the UK for treatment <ref>[http://www.crisispregnancy.ie/pub/statistical_report_2005.pdf Crisis Pregnancy; Report, 2005]</ref> ). However, since the separation of church and state in the late eighties and a lessening of church influence on secular life, restrictions on the availability of contraception were removed in 1972; homosexuality was decriminalized in 1993; and the right to divorce was enshrined in the constitution in 1995. Equal Rights legislation guarantees homosexuals the same legal rights as heterosexuals, and the Irish parliament is currently debating the possible legalization of [[same-sex marriage]].

Northern Ireland has a Protestant majority (53%), the main denominations being Presbyterian and Church of Ireland (Anglican/Episcopal). Roughly 44% of the population is Roman Catholic, with most of the remainder professing no religion. <ref>[http://www.nicensus2001.gov.uk/nica/browser/profile.jsp?profile=Cultural&mainArea=&mainLevel=]</ref>

==Government and Political Conditions==
The Republic of Ireland is a sovereign, independent, democratic state with a parliamentary system of government. The president (or Uachtarán), who serves as head of state in a largely ceremonial role, is elected for a 7-year term and can be re-elected only once. The current president is Mary McAleese, who is serving her second term after having succeeded President Mary Robinson - the first instance worldwide where one woman has followed another as an elected head of state. In carrying out certain constitutional functions, the president is aided by the Council of State, an advisory body. On the [[Taoiseach]]'s advice, the president also dissolves the Oireachtas (Parliament).

The [[Taoiseach]] (pronounced "TEE-shock") is elected by the Dáil (lower house of Parliament) as the leader of the political party, or coalition of parties, which wins the most seats in the national elections, held approximately every 5 years (unless called earlier). Executive power is vested in a cabinet whose ministers are nominated by the Taoiseach and approved by the Dáil.

The bicameral ''[[Oireachtas]]'' (Parliament) consists of [[Seanad Éireann]] (Senate) and the [[Dáil Éireann]] (House of Representatives). The Seanad is composed of 60 members--11 nominated by the [[Taoiseach]], 6 elected by the national universities, and 43 elected from panels of candidates established on a vocational basis. The Seanad has the power to delay legislative proposals and is allowed 90 days to consider and amend bills sent to it by the Dail, which wields greater power in Parliament. The Dáil has 166 members popularly elected to a maximum term of 5 years under a complex system of proportional representation. A member of the Dáil is known as a Teachta Dála, or TD.

Judges are appointed by the president on nomination by the government and can be removed from office only for misbehavior or incapacity and then only by resolution of both houses of Parliament. The ultimate court of appeal is the Supreme Court, consisting of the chief justice and five other justices. The Supreme Court also can decide upon the constitutionality of legislative acts if the president asks for an opinion.

Local government is by elected county councils and--in the cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and Waterford--by county borough corporations. County councils/corporations in turn select city mayors. In practice, however, authority remains with the central government.

Irish politics remain dominated by the two political parties that grew out of Ireland's bitter 1922-23 civil war. Fianna Fáil was formed by those who opposed the 1921 treaty that partitioned the island. Although treaty opponents lost the civil war, Fianna Fáil soon became Ireland's largest political party. Fine Gael, representative of the pro-treaty forces, remains the country's second-largest party. Labour, The Green Party and Sinn Féin are the other significant parties.

The May 2007 national elections brought the Fianna Fáil party and its leader Bertie Ahern back to power in a coalition government for an unprecedented third five-year term. Coalition members joining Fianna Fáil were the Green Party and the Progressive Democrats. In recent months the Mahon Tribunal has been investigating allegations of corruption against Ahern when he was Minister of Finance in the early 1990s. However, although he survived a vote of no confidence on the issue in September 2007, increasing revelations about his finances led to his resignation in May 2007. The new [[Taoiseach]] is his former [[Tánaiste]], Brian Cowen. The new minister for Foreign Affairs is [[Mícheál Martin]], who is the minister who introduced Ireland's ban on smoking in public bars, the first such ban by any state in the [[European Union]].

Local and European elections took place in June 2004 and saw gains for opposition parties. The election also featured a referendum on citizenship. Until that time, Ireland had granted citizenship on the basis of birth on Irish soil. Concerns about security and social welfare abuse prompted the government to seek to bring citizenship laws in line with the more restrictive policies prevalent in the rest of Europe, and the 2004 referendum measure passed by a wide majority. Now, persons with non-Irish parents can acquire Irish citizenship at birth only if at least one parent has been resident in Ireland for three years preceding the birth.

In 1993, [[homosexual]]s were given the right to engage in their [[homosexual act|activities]] freely in the country, without fear of legal action. However, the deeply conservative [[Catholic]] roots of the country have produced a strong cultural deterrent to homosexuality, so that impressionable children are not exposed to perversity.

===Political Parties===
* '''Fianna Fáil''': (Pronounced ''Fee-Na Fall'' which is Irish for 'Soldiers of Destiny'). Ireland's main political party, they do not class themselves as either left or right wing but rather as pragmatic centrists and republicans (In the sense of opposing the notion of formal classes in society, in particular the monarchy. Typically republicans in Ireland seek to unite Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland into a single Republic separate from the United Kingdom.). The party was founded as a splinter from Official Sinn Féin by [[Eamon de Valera]]. Traditionally the party of small farmers and the urban working class community, and generally conservative on social issues. Currently the largest party in the ruling coalition. Led by Brian Cowen, current [[Taoiseach]] of the Republic of Ireland. Fianna Fáil generally opposes any action that would be seen to erode Ireland's neutrality and independence in foreign policy, including joining [[NATO]].<ref>[http://www.fiannafail.ie/]</ref>
* '''Fine Gael''': (Pronounced ''Finna Gale'', Irish for 'tribe of the Irish'). Ireland's second largest party. Fine Gael is traditionally socially and fiscally conservative. Under the leadership of [[Garret FitzGerald]] in the 1980's, the party embraced [[social democracy]]. Today the party likes to characterize itself as a party of the "progressive centre". Led by [[Enda Kenny]]. Many of the party's elected members would like to see Ireland join NATO and at least one has called for Ireland to rejoin the [[British Commonwealth]].<ref>[http://www.finegael.com/index.cfm]</ref>
* '''Labour Party''': A social democratic left-wing party, similar to the British Labour Party under [[Tony Blair]]. [[Eamon Gilmore]] is the current leader of the Labour Party.<ref>[http://www.labour.ie/]</ref>
* '''Green Party''': A left-wing party in favor of environmental protection, renewable energy and a stronger system of social security. [[John Gormley]] is the current leader.<ref>[http://www.greenparty.ie/]</ref>
* '''Sinn Féin''': (Pronounced ''Shin Fane'', Irish for 'Ourselves') Claims to be a remnant of Ireland's oldest political party, it is closely connected with the Provisional [[IRA]], a paramilitary movement that sought the reunification of Ireland under a republican form of government free from British rule. As with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil before it- both parties which originated in Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Army's war of indepdencence against Britain- Sinn Féin has sought to achieve its aim through non-violent methods since the 1990s. Sinn Féin is, traditionally, strongly influenced by revolutionary socialist ideals, and are one of Ireland's more liberal parties on issues such as gay marriage and abortion. They organize in all 32 counties of Ireland, and are the largest nationalist party in Northern Ireland today. Led by Gerry Adams. <ref>[http://www.sinnfein.ie/]</ref>
* '''Socialist Party''': A left-wing Trotskyite party. They oppose capitalism and seek a United Socialist Ireland. Led by Joe Higgins. <ref> [http://www.socialistparty.net/] </ref>

===Northern Ireland===
Consolidating the peace process in Northern Ireland and encouraging the full implementation of the 1998 [[Belfast Agreement | Good Friday Agreement]] (GFA) and the 2006 St. Andrews Agreement remain U.S. priorities in Ireland.

The conflict in Northern Ireland stems from a history of British rule, historical animosity between Catholics and Protestants, and the various armed and political attempts to unite Northern Ireland with the rest of the island. "Nationalist" and "Republican" groups seek a united Ireland, while "Unionists" and "Loyalists" want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom. After decades of violence by both Republican and Loyalist paramilitaries, most notably the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the British and Irish governments negotiated an IRA ceasefire in 1994, which was followed by the landmark U.S.-brokered [[Belfast Agreement | Good Friday Agreement]] (GFA) in 1998.

The GFA established a power-sharing legislative assembly to serve as the autonomous local government of Northern Ireland. The 108-member [[Northern Ireland Assembly]] is led by a first minister and deputy first minister, one from each of the two communities, and a 10-minister executive. The GFA also provided for changes in both the British and Irish constitutions. Ireland ceded territorial claim to Northern Ireland, and the U.K. agreed that Northern Ireland could become part of Ireland if a majority (North and South) so voted in the future. Finally, the GFA provided the blueprint for "normalization," to include the eventual removal of British forces, devolution of police and justice functions, and guarantees of human rights and equal opportunity for all individuals. The agreement was approved in a 1998 referendum by 71% of Northern Ireland voters and 95% of Irish voters.

The major political parties in Northern Ireland are:
* '''Democratic Unionist Party''' (DUP): Currently the largest unionist party in Northern Ireland. The DUP is a right-wing, ultra-conservative, hardline unionist party currently led by its founder, the Reverend Doctor Ian RK Paisley. The party has strong links with Rev. Doc. Paisley's Free Presbyterian Church. <ref>[http://www.dup.org.uk/]</ref>
* '''Sinn Féin''' Currently the largest nationalist party in Northern Ireland, they sit in the Irish parliament and [[Northern Ireland Assembly]], but refuse to take their seats in the British Parliament in Westminster.
* '''Ulster Unionist Party''' (UUP): A moderate right-wing party, which had strong links with the British Conservative Party. Nobel Peace Prize laureate David Trimble is a former leader. Currently in decline, with voters turning to the DUP. Currently led by Sir Reg Empey. <ref> [http://www.uup.org/]</ref>
* '''Social Democratic and Labour Party''' (SDLP): A left-wing nationalist party. Nobel Peace Prize laureate John Hume is a former leader. The SDLP were the largest nationalist party until recently, when they were overtaken by Sinn Féin. Unlike SF, the SDLP have always advocated a non-violent and constitutional approach to achieving a United Ireland. Current leader is Mark Durkan. <ref>[http://www.sdlp.ie/]</ref>
* '''Alliance Party''': The Alliance party identifies as neither unionist or nationalist and thus receives support from both communities. The current leader is David Ford. <ref>[http://www.allianceparty.org/]</ref>

In October 2002, the British Government suspended (for the fourth time) the Assembly, following a breakdown in trust between Unionists and Republicans. The British and Irish Governments began discussions with the parties to try to resolve longstanding unresolved differences between the communities, and to secure a commitment from Sinn Fein that Republicans would divest themselves of all paramilitary activities and capabilities. Efforts to restore the political process in time to stage new elections to the Assembly in May 2003 broke down when the two governments concluded they did not have sufficient assurances from the Republicans. However, the governments proceeded to publish a joint declaration, mapping out the timetable to full implementation of the GFA. The governments also created an International Monitoring Commission to serve as a forum to hear complaints of alleged breaches of GFA commitments by the political parties and/or by British authorities. The four-member commission includes a representative from the United States.

Beginning in 2005, there were significant steps to reinvigorate the peace process. In July 2005, the IRA unilaterally announced that it would end its "armed struggle" and rely upon solely peaceful and democratic means to achieve its political objectives. The Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) confirmed in September 2005 that the IRA had effectively put its weapons "beyond use." A series of reports by the International Monitoring Commission also noted significant progress by the IRA in its move away from criminality. Following upon this momentum, the British and Irish Governments in April 2006 launched a new negotiation process that envisioned the restoration of the Assembly and the selection of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister by year's end.

This process led to a summit at St. Andrews, Scotland, in October 2006, brokered by the then [[Taoiseach]], Bertie Ahern, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, which achieved agreement between [[Sinn Féin]] and the [[DUP]] on the process for restoring power to the Northern Ireland Assembly. Elections for the Assembly took place on March 7, 2007, which led to the restoration of the [[Northern Ireland Assembly]] on May 8, 2007. DUP leader Rev.Doc.[[Ian Paisley]] was elected First Minister, while Sinn Fein leader Martin McGuinness became Deputy First Minister. Two breakthroughs enabled this historic agreement to proceed: Sinn Fein's decision at an extraordinary Ard Fheis ("AR-desh," party conference) on January 28 to endorse policing and justice; and the DUP's decision to contest the March 7 election, signaling that the party would agree to share power with Sinn Fein in a restored Assembly. In the meantime, both the British and Irish Governments have offered significant new financial packages for the new Assembly.

The Special Envoy for the Northern Ireland Peace Process is Paula Dobriansky, who coordinates with the U.S. Missions in London, Belfast and Dublin to reinforce the views of the British and Irish Governments that the newly restored [[Northern Ireland Assembly]] must govern effectively in order to achieve economic growth and community reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

The United States also continues to provide funding ($13.5 million in 2007) for projects administered under the International Fund for Ireland (IFI), created in 1986 to generate economic opportunity and cross-community engagement in the border areas, both North and South. Since the IFI's establishment, the U.S. Government has contributed over $482 million, roughly half of total IFI funding.

===Principal Government Officials===
*[[Uachtaráin]] (President)--Mary McAleese
*[[Taoiseach]]--[[Brian Cowen]]
*[[Tánaiste]] and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment--[[Mary Coughlan (politician)]]
*Ambassador to the United States--Michael Collins

=== Northern Ireland ===
*[[Queen]]--[[Elizabeth II]]
*[[Prime Minister]]--[[David Cameron]]
*[[First Minister]]--[[Peter Robinson]]
*[[deputy First Minister]]--[[Martin McGuinness]]

===Foreign Relations===
Ireland is a member of numerous international organizations, including the [[United Nations]], the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the [[European Union]]. Ireland has been an important contributor to numerous international peacekeeping missions, such as in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Liberia (UNIMIL), and the Balkans (KFOR and EUFOR). Ireland's overseas development assistance focuses on Sub-Saharan Africa and stands at 5 percent of GDP.

==Economy==
Ireland boasts a vibrant, globalized economy, with GDP per capita second only to Luxembourg's in the EU. The "Celtic Tiger" period of the mid to late 1990s saw several years of double-digit GDP growth, driven by a progressive industrial policy that boosted large-scale foreign direct investment and exports. GDP growth dipped during the immediate post-9/11 global economic slowdown, but has averaged roughly 5 percent yearly since 2004, the best performance for this period among the original EU 15 Member States. Since 2004, the Irish economy has generated roughly 90,000 new jobs annually, attracting over 200,000 foreign workers, mostly from the new EU Member states, in an unprecedented immigration influx. The construction sector has accounted for approximately one-quarter of these jobs, and economists caution that any slowdown in Ireland's vibrant housing market would have ramifications for continued GDP growth.

Economic and trade ties are an important facet of overall U.S.-Irish relations. In 2005, U.S. exports to Ireland were valued at $9 billion, while Irish exports to the U.S. totaled $28 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. The range of U.S. exports includes electrical components and equipment, computers and peripherals, drugs and pharmaceuticals, and livestock feed. Irish exports to the United States represent approximately 20% of all Irish exports, and have roughly the same value as Irish exports to the UK (inclusive of Northern Ireland). Exports to the United States include alcoholic beverages, chemicals and related products, electronic data processing equipment, electrical machinery, textiles and clothing, and glassware. According to Ireland's Central Statistical Office, Irish exports to the United States from January to September 2006 rose by 7% compared to the same period in 2005, while Irish imports from the United States from January to September 2006 fell by 14% compared to the same period in 2005.

U.S. investment has been particularly important to the growth and modernization of Irish industry over the past 25 years, providing new technology, export capabilities, and employment opportunities. As of year-end 2006, the stock of U.S. foreign direct investment in Ireland stood at $84 billion, more than double the U.S. total for China and India combined ($31.2 billion). Currently, there are approximately 620 U.S. subsidiaries in Ireland, employing roughly 100,000 people and spanning activities from manufacturing of high-tech electronics, computer products, medical supplies, and pharmaceuticals to retailing, banking, finance, and other services. In more recent years, Ireland has also become an important research and development (R&D) center for U.S. firms in Europe.

Many U.S. businesses find Ireland an attractive location to manufacture for the EU market, since it is inside the EU customs area and uses the euro. In 2005, U.S. firms accounted for 61% of Ireland's total exports of euro 89 billion. Other reasons for Ireland's attractiveness include: a 12.5 percent corporate tax rate for domestic and foreign firms; the quality and flexibility of the English-speaking work force; cooperative labor relations; political stability; pro-business government policies; a transparent judicial system; strong intellectual property protection; and, the pulling power of existing companies operating successfully (a "clustering" effect). Factors that negatively affect Ireland's ability to attract investment include: increasing labor and energy costs (especially when compared to low-cost countries in Eastern Europe and Asia), skilled labor shortages, inadequate infrastructure (such as in the transportation and internet/broadband sectors), and price levels that are ranked among the highest in Europe.

==History==
{{Main|History of Ireland}}
===Early History===
The earliest inhabitants--people of a mid-Stone Age culture--arrived about 6000 BC. About 4,000 years later, tribes from southern Europe arrived and established a high Neolithic culture, leaving behind gold ornaments and huge stone monuments. The [[Bronze Age]] people, who arrived during the next 1,000 years, produced elaborate gold and bronze ornaments and weapons.

The [[Iron Age]] arrived abruptly in the fourth century BC with the invasion of the Celts, a tall, energetic people who had spread across Europe and Great Britain in the preceding centuries. The Celts, or Gaels, and their more numerous predecessors divided into five kingdoms in which, despite constant strife, a rich culture flourished.

===Early Christian Ireland===
The coming of Christianity from across the Irish Sea brought major changes and civilizing influences. Ireland's first bishop, Palladius, arrived from [[France]] around 431 AD, evidence that Christianity had already arrived due to trading or other outside contacts. St. Patrick's mission most likely took place later, in the mid-to-late 5th century AD. Modern scholarship has discovered that many dates and facts attributed previously to Saint Patrick were likely the work of Palladius, and that the two had become blended into a single figure in the historical record.

The pagan druid tradition collapsed before the spread of the new faith, and Irish scholars excelled in the study of Latin learning and Christian theology in the monasteries that flourished. Missionaries went forth from Ireland to England and the continent, spreading news of the flowering of learning, and scholars from other nations came to Irish monasteries. The excellence and isolation of these monasteries helped preserve Latin and Greek learning during the Dark Ages. The arts of manuscript illumination, metalworking, and sculpture flourished and produced such treasures as the Book of Kells, ornate jewelry, and the many carved stone crosses that dot the island.

===Medieval Ireland===
At the end of the 8th Century, Norse and Danish raiders (commonly called [[Vikings]]) began to appear on Ireland's shores (as they were appearing in much of Europe at the same time). Several waves of attacks followed. The first were small, quick raids by small groups of boats on outlying areas (coastal settlements, islands off the coast, etc). Later raiding parties grew much larger, and began making inroads into the island. Eventually, the raiders began to build longphorts in Ireland, which were the first towns. Among these were Dublin, Waterford, and Wexford. The Vikings eventually became integrated into Irish politics and culture, and had major effects on many aspects of Irish life.

In the 12th century, Norman lords invaded Ireland at the behest of Diarmait MacMurrough who wanted their help to regain land that he had lost. While they quickly spread across most of the island, their conquest was incomplete. The Native Irish later began to retake much of the land that was lost and many Normans began to adopt Gaelic culture, which made the island very difficult to govern from England. The English were unable to bring the entire island under their control until the 17th century, after the defeat of the Irish in the Nine Years War. King James I of England (King James VI of Scotland) decided to plant Ulster, in the North of Ireland, with English and Scottish Protestant settlers, in an attempt to prevent future rebellions.<ref>[http://www.hoganstand.com/general/Identity/stories/ulster.htm]</ref>

===Modern Ireland===
[[File:Irish countryside.jpg|300px|right]]
In 1690, the Catholic King James II and his Irish allies were defeated by the Protestant William of Orange at the Battle of the Boyne. This defeat ushered in an era of Protestant dominance in Ireland. A series of regulations limiting the status of the Catholic majority were passed between 1691 and 1760, known as the Penal Laws. These laws also discriminated against Presbyterians and other dissenting Protestants, who along with Catholics were forced to pay tithes to the Anglican Church.<ref>[http://www.risingroadtours.com/a7_penallaws.htm]</ref> <ref>[http://prorev.com/irish.htm]</ref>

In 1800 the Irish Parliament passed the Act of Union with Great Britain, and Ireland was an official part of the United Kingdom until 1921. Religious freedom, outlawed in the 18th century, was restored in 1829, but this victory for the Irish Catholic majority was overshadowed by a severe economic depression and the great famine from 1846-48 when the potato crop failed. Millions died, and the millions that emigrated spawned the first mass wave of Irish emigration to the United States. A decade later, in 1858, the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB--also known as the Fenians) was founded as a secret society dedicated to armed rebellion against the British. An aboveground political counterpart, the [[Home Rule]] Movement, was created in 1874, advocating constitutional change for independence.

Galvanized by the leadership of Charles Stewart Parnell, the party was able to force British governments after 1885 to introduce several home rule bills. The turn of the century witnessed a surge of interest in Irish nationalism, including the founding of Sinn Fein ("Ourselves Alone") as an open political movement.

Nationalism was and is a potent populist force in Irish politics. A home rule bill passed in 1914, but its implementation was suspended until war in Europe ended. Believing the mantra: "England's problem is Ireland's opportunity," and tapping into a mood of Gaelic revivalism, Padraic Pearse and James Connolly led the unsuccessful Easter Rising of 1916. Pearse and the other 1916 leaders declared an independent Irish republic, but a lack of popular support doomed the rebellion, which lasted a week and resulted in the British military destroying large portions of Dublin. The decision by the British military government to execute the leaders of the rebellion, coupled with the British Government's threat of conscripting the Irish to fight in the Great War, alienated public opinion and produced massive support for Sinn Fein in the 1918 general election. Under the leadership of Eamon de Valera, the elected Sinn Fein deputies constituted themselves as the first Dail. Tensions only increased: British attempts to smash Sinn Fein ignited the Irish War of Independence of 1919-1921.

The end of the war brought the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921, which established the Irish Free State of 26 counties within the British Commonwealth and recognized the partition of the island into Ireland and Northern Ireland, though supposedly as a temporary measure. The four predominantly unionist counties (Antrim, Down, Armagh and Derry/Londonderry (disputed)) plus the two equally unionist/nationalist counties (Tyrone and Fermanagh) of northeast Ulster--Northern Ireland--remained a part of the United Kingdom with limited self-government. A significant Irish minority repudiated the treaty settlement because of the continuance of subordinate ties to the British monarch and the partition of the island. This opposition led to further hostilities--the Irish Civil War (1922-23), which was won by the pro-treaty forces.

In 1932, Eamon de Valera, the political leader of the forces initially opposed to the treaty, became Prime Minister, and a new Irish constitution was enacted in 1937. The last British military bases were soon withdrawn, and the ports were returned to Irish control. Ireland was neutral in World War II. The government formally declared Ireland a republic in 1948; however, it does not normally use the term "Republic of Ireland," which tacitly acknowledges the partition, but refers to the country simply as "Ireland."

====Premiers of the Republic of Ireland====
President of the Executive Council

* '''William Thomas Cosgrave''' (Cummann na nGaedheal): 1922-1932.
* '''Éamon de Valera''' (Fianna Fáil): 1932-1937

An Taoiseach
* '''Éamon de Valera''' (Fianna Fáil): 1937-1948, 1951-1954, 1957-1959.
* '''John A.Costello''' (Fine Gael): 1948-1951, 1954-1957.
* '''Seán Lemass''' (Fianna Fáil): 1959-1966.
* '''Jack Lynch''' (Fianna Fáil): 1966-1973.
* '''Liam Cosgrave''' (Fine Gael): 1973-1977.
* '''Jack Lynch''' (Fianna Fáil): 1977-1979.
* '''Charles Haughey''' (Fianna Fáil): 1979-1981, March 1982 - December 82 and March 1987 - February 1992.
* '''Garret FitzGerald''' (Fine Gael): 30 June 1981- 9 March 1982 and 14 December 1982 - 10 March 1987.
* '''Albert Reynolds''' (Fianna Fáil): February 1992-1994.
* '''John Bruton''' (Fine Gael): 1994-1997.
* '''Bertie Ahern''' (Fianna Fáil): 1997-2008.
* '''Brian Cowen''' (Fianna Fáil): 2008- <ref> [http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/index.asp?locID=349&docID=-1] </ref>

====Premiers of Northern Ireland====
Prime Minster of Northern Ireland (1921-1972)
*''Government of Ireland Act''
* '''Sir James Craig''' (UUP): 1921-1940
* '''John Miller Andrews''' (UUP): 1940-1943
* '''Sir Basil Brooke''' (UUP): 1943-1963
* '''Terence O'Neill''' (UUP): 1963-1969
* '''Brian Faulkner''' (UUP): 1969-1972
*''Post abolished in 1972.''

Chief Executive of Northern Ireland (1973–1974)
*''Sunningdale Agreement''
* '''Brian Faulkner''' (UUP) 1973–1974
*''Post abolished in 1972.''

First Minister of Northern Ireland (1998-present)
*''Belfast Agreement''
* '''David Trimble''' (UUP) 1998-July 2001, November 2001-October 2002
* '''Sir Reg Empey''' (UUP) (Acting): July 2001-October 2001
* ''Executive abolished''
*''St Andrews Agreement''
* '''Rev Dr Ian Paisley''' (DUP)/'''Martin McGuinness''' (Sinn Féin) 2007-present
<ref>[http://www.worldstatesmen.org/United_Kingdom.html#Northern]</ref>

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

{{European Union}}

[[Category:European Countries]]
[[Category:Ireland]]
[[Category:United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Islands]]

Ireland

2013-04-21T19:36:47Z

CameronD: /* Principal Government Officials */ Add note about Michael Collins I checked as I thought it might be misinformation

{{Country
|name =''Ireland''
|map =Ireland.jpg
|flag =
|arms =
|capital =Dublin and Belfast
|capital-raw =
|government =Republic and Parliamentary Democracy and Constitutional Monarchy
|government-raw =
|language =Irish and English
|king =
|queen =
|monarch-raw =
|president =
|president-raw =
|chancellor =
|chancellor-raw =
|pm =
|pm-raw =
|area =27,133 sq mi
|pop =4,239,848 (2007)
|pop-basis =
|gdp =
|gdp-year =$177.2 billion (2006)
|gdp-pc =$43,600 (2006)
|currency =euro and Pound
|idd =
|tld =
}}
'''Ireland''' (Irish: ''Éire'') is a European island to the west of mainland Europe. It is separated from the mainland by several islands, including the [[Isle of Man]], [[Great Britain]] and the [[Channel Islands]].

In 1920, it was divided into two states:
* [[Republic of Ireland]] (or simply '''Ireland''') is an independent state occupying 83% of Ireland's landmass. The state's descriptive name since the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 is the '''[[Republic of Ireland]]''' (Irish: Poblacht na hÉireann). It consists of 26 of Ireland's 32 counties in the island's four provinces of Leinster, Munster, Connacht and Ulster. However, only 3 of the 9 counties in [[Ulster]] are under the control of the Republic of Ireland. According to the last census the Republic of Ireland has a population of 4,234,925 <ref>[http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/environment/copy_of_census/ Census data]</ref>
*'''[[Northern Ireland]]''' is a [[constituent country]] of the [[United Kingdom]] which comprises six counties of the province of Ulster. Northern Ireland has a population of 1,685,267 (2002 est.) <ref>[http://www.nicensus2001.gov.uk/nica/browser/profile.jsp?profile=Demography&mainArea=&mainLevel= U.K. Census]</ref>



==People==
The Irish people are mainly of Celtic origin, with the country's only significant sized minority having descended from the [[Normans]]. English is the common language, but Irish (Gaelic/Gaeilge) is the first official language of the Republic of Ireland; Irish is taught in schools, appears on all official documents, and all road signs are also bilingual. In Northern Ireland, Irish has official recognition under the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Schools teaching through the medium of Irish known as Gaelscoileanna have experienced considerable growth in the past two decades in both parts of Ireland. Although initially reluctant, both the British state in Northern Ireland and the Irish state in the Republic of Ireland have funded this development following protests and requests from parents.

Irish writers such as [[Jonathan Swift]], [[Richard Brinsley Sheridan]], [[Oliver Goldsmith]], [[Edmund Burke]], [[Oscar Wilde]], [[James Joyce]], [[William Butler Yeats]], [[George Bernard Shaw]], [[C. S. Lewis]] and [[Samuel Beckett]] have made a major contribution to world literature over the past 350 years.

===Religion===
The majority of the Irish population describe themselves as [[Roman Catholic]] (86.8%). Atheists and the non-religious account for 4.4% of the population <ref>[http://www.cso.ie/census/documents/Final%20Principal%20Demographic%20Results%202006.pdf ]</ref>while membership of the [[Anglican Communion|Church of Ireland]] runs at about 3%, with most of the rest of the population belonging to other Protestant/Christian denominations. Southern Protestantism had been in decline since independence due to the ''ne temere'' decree (in which the Catholic church required children of mixed Catholic/Protestant marriages to be raised Catholic) <ref>[http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/ncd05730.htm]</ref> and emigration. However, it has experienced a revival of late due to immigration and some converts from Catholicism. There is a small Jewish community in Ireland. The Muslim community has grown recently due to immigration. The worship of nature and the pagan gods of ancient Ireland has seen a recent resurgence as well.
<ref>[http://www.cso.ie/statistics/popnclassbyreligionandsex2002.htm Census; Population Class by Religion/sex]</ref>

The Republic has maintained a nominally Catholic ethos since independence. [[Abortion]] remains controversially illegal (although information on obtaining abortions in other jurisdictions is a constitutional entitlement, and many thousands of women travel to the UK for treatment <ref>[http://www.crisispregnancy.ie/pub/statistical_report_2005.pdf Crisis Pregnancy; Report, 2005]</ref> ). However, since the separation of church and state in the late eighties and a lessening of church influence on secular life, restrictions on the availability of contraception were removed in 1972; homosexuality was decriminalized in 1993; and the right to divorce was enshrined in the constitution in 1995. Equal Rights legislation guarantees homosexuals the same legal rights as heterosexuals, and the Irish parliament is currently debating the possible legalization of [[same-sex marriage]].

Northern Ireland has a Protestant majority (53%), the main denominations being Presbyterian and Church of Ireland (Anglican/Episcopal). Roughly 44% of the population is Roman Catholic, with most of the remainder professing no religion. <ref>[http://www.nicensus2001.gov.uk/nica/browser/profile.jsp?profile=Cultural&mainArea=&mainLevel=]</ref>

==Government and Political Conditions==
The Republic of Ireland is a sovereign, independent, democratic state with a parliamentary system of government. The president (or Uachtarán), who serves as head of state in a largely ceremonial role, is elected for a 7-year term and can be re-elected only once. The current president is Mary McAleese, who is serving her second term after having succeeded President Mary Robinson - the first instance worldwide where one woman has followed another as an elected head of state. In carrying out certain constitutional functions, the president is aided by the Council of State, an advisory body. On the [[Taoiseach]]'s advice, the president also dissolves the Oireachtas (Parliament).

The [[Taoiseach]] (pronounced "TEE-shock") is elected by the Dáil (lower house of Parliament) as the leader of the political party, or coalition of parties, which wins the most seats in the national elections, held approximately every 5 years (unless called earlier). Executive power is vested in a cabinet whose ministers are nominated by the Taoiseach and approved by the Dáil.

The bicameral ''[[Oireachtas]]'' (Parliament) consists of [[Seanad Éireann]] (Senate) and the [[Dáil Éireann]] (House of Representatives). The Seanad is composed of 60 members--11 nominated by the [[Taoiseach]], 6 elected by the national universities, and 43 elected from panels of candidates established on a vocational basis. The Seanad has the power to delay legislative proposals and is allowed 90 days to consider and amend bills sent to it by the Dail, which wields greater power in Parliament. The Dáil has 166 members popularly elected to a maximum term of 5 years under a complex system of proportional representation. A member of the Dáil is known as a Teachta Dála, or TD.

Judges are appointed by the president on nomination by the government and can be removed from office only for misbehavior or incapacity and then only by resolution of both houses of Parliament. The ultimate court of appeal is the Supreme Court, consisting of the chief justice and five other justices. The Supreme Court also can decide upon the constitutionality of legislative acts if the president asks for an opinion.

Local government is by elected county councils and--in the cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and Waterford--by county borough corporations. County councils/corporations in turn select city mayors. In practice, however, authority remains with the central government.

Irish politics remain dominated by the two political parties that grew out of Ireland's bitter 1922-23 civil war. Fianna Fáil was formed by those who opposed the 1921 treaty that partitioned the island. Although treaty opponents lost the civil war, Fianna Fáil soon became Ireland's largest political party. Fine Gael, representative of the pro-treaty forces, remains the country's second-largest party. Labour, The Green Party and Sinn Féin are the other significant parties.

The May 2007 national elections brought the Fianna Fáil party and its leader Bertie Ahern back to power in a coalition government for an unprecedented third five-year term. Coalition members joining Fianna Fáil were the Green Party and the Progressive Democrats. In recent months the Mahon Tribunal has been investigating allegations of corruption against Ahern when he was Minister of Finance in the early 1990s. However, although he survived a vote of no confidence on the issue in September 2007, increasing revelations about his finances led to his resignation in May 2007. The new [[Taoiseach]] is his former [[Tánaiste]], Brian Cowen. The new minister for Foreign Affairs is [[Mícheál Martin]], who is the minister who introduced Ireland's ban on smoking in public bars, the first such ban by any state in the [[European Union]].

Local and European elections took place in June 2004 and saw gains for opposition parties. The election also featured a referendum on citizenship. Until that time, Ireland had granted citizenship on the basis of birth on Irish soil. Concerns about security and social welfare abuse prompted the government to seek to bring citizenship laws in line with the more restrictive policies prevalent in the rest of Europe, and the 2004 referendum measure passed by a wide majority. Now, persons with non-Irish parents can acquire Irish citizenship at birth only if at least one parent has been resident in Ireland for three years preceding the birth.

In 1993, [[homosexual]]s were given the right to engage in their [[homosexual act|activities]] freely in the country, without fear of legal action. However, the deeply conservative [[Catholic]] roots of the country have produced a strong cultural deterrent to homosexuality, so that impressionable children are not exposed to perversity.

===Political Parties===
* '''Fianna Fáil''': (Pronounced ''Fee-Na Fall'' which is Irish for 'Soldiers of Destiny'). Ireland's main political party, they do not class themselves as either left or right wing but rather as pragmatic centrists and republicans (In the sense of opposing the notion of formal classes in society, in particular the monarchy. Typically republicans in Ireland seek to unite Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland into a single Republic separate from the United Kingdom.). The party was founded as a splinter from Official Sinn Féin by [[Eamon de Valera]]. Traditionally the party of small farmers and the urban working class community, and generally conservative on social issues. Currently the largest party in the ruling coalition. Led by Brian Cowen, current [[Taoiseach]] of the Republic of Ireland. Fianna Fáil generally opposes any action that would be seen to erode Ireland's neutrality and independence in foreign policy, including joining [[NATO]].<ref>[http://www.fiannafail.ie/]</ref>
* '''Fine Gael''': (Pronounced ''Finna Gale'', Irish for 'tribe of the Irish'). Ireland's second largest party. Fine Gael is traditionally socially and fiscally conservative. Under the leadership of [[Garret FitzGerald]] in the 1980's, the party embraced [[social democracy]]. Today the party likes to characterize itself as a party of the "progressive centre". Led by [[Enda Kenny]]. Many of the party's elected members would like to see Ireland join NATO and at least one has called for Ireland to rejoin the [[British Commonwealth]].<ref>[http://www.finegael.com/index.cfm]</ref>
* '''Labour Party''': A social democratic left-wing party, similar to the British Labour Party under [[Tony Blair]]. [[Eamon Gilmore]] is the current leader of the Labour Party.<ref>[http://www.labour.ie/]</ref>
* '''Green Party''': A left-wing party in favor of environmental protection, renewable energy and a stronger system of social security. [[John Gormley]] is the current leader.<ref>[http://www.greenparty.ie/]</ref>
* '''Sinn Féin''': (Pronounced ''Shin Fane'', Irish for 'Ourselves') Claims to be a remnant of Ireland's oldest political party, it is closely connected with the Provisional [[IRA]], a paramilitary movement that sought the reunification of Ireland under a republican form of government free from British rule. As with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil before it- both parties which originated in Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Army's war of indepdencence against Britain- Sinn Féin has sought to achieve its aim through non-violent methods since the 1990s. Sinn Féin is, traditionally, strongly influenced by revolutionary socialist ideals, and are one of Ireland's more liberal parties on issues such as gay marriage and abortion. They organize in all 32 counties of Ireland, and are the largest nationalist party in Northern Ireland today. Led by Gerry Adams. <ref>[http://www.sinnfein.ie/]</ref>
* '''Socialist Party''': A left-wing Trotskyite party. They oppose capitalism and seek a United Socialist Ireland. Led by Joe Higgins. <ref> [http://www.socialistparty.net/] </ref>

===Northern Ireland===
Consolidating the peace process in Northern Ireland and encouraging the full implementation of the 1998 [[Belfast Agreement | Good Friday Agreement]] (GFA) and the 2006 St. Andrews Agreement remain U.S. priorities in Ireland.

The conflict in Northern Ireland stems from a history of British rule, historical animosity between Catholics and Protestants, and the various armed and political attempts to unite Northern Ireland with the rest of the island. "Nationalist" and "Republican" groups seek a united Ireland, while "Unionists" and "Loyalists" want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom. After decades of violence by both Republican and Loyalist paramilitaries, most notably the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the British and Irish governments negotiated an IRA ceasefire in 1994, which was followed by the landmark U.S.-brokered [[Belfast Agreement | Good Friday Agreement]] (GFA) in 1998.

The GFA established a power-sharing legislative assembly to serve as the autonomous local government of Northern Ireland. The 108-member [[Northern Ireland Assembly]] is led by a first minister and deputy first minister, one from each of the two communities, and a 10-minister executive. The GFA also provided for changes in both the British and Irish constitutions. Ireland ceded territorial claim to Northern Ireland, and the U.K. agreed that Northern Ireland could become part of Ireland if a majority (North and South) so voted in the future. Finally, the GFA provided the blueprint for "normalization," to include the eventual removal of British forces, devolution of police and justice functions, and guarantees of human rights and equal opportunity for all individuals. The agreement was approved in a 1998 referendum by 71% of Northern Ireland voters and 95% of Irish voters.

The major political parties in Northern Ireland are:
* '''Democratic Unionist Party''' (DUP): Currently the largest unionist party in Northern Ireland. The DUP is a right-wing, ultra-conservative, hardline unionist party currently led by its founder, the Reverend Doctor Ian RK Paisley. The party has strong links with Rev. Doc. Paisley's Free Presbyterian Church. <ref>[http://www.dup.org.uk/]</ref>
* '''Sinn Féin''' Currently the largest nationalist party in Northern Ireland, they sit in the Irish parliament and [[Northern Ireland Assembly]], but refuse to take their seats in the British Parliament in Westminster.
* '''Ulster Unionist Party''' (UUP): A moderate right-wing party, which had strong links with the British Conservative Party. Nobel Peace Prize laureate David Trimble is a former leader. Currently in decline, with voters turning to the DUP. Currently led by Sir Reg Empey. <ref> [http://www.uup.org/]</ref>
* '''Social Democratic and Labour Party''' (SDLP): A left-wing nationalist party. Nobel Peace Prize laureate John Hume is a former leader. The SDLP were the largest nationalist party until recently, when they were overtaken by Sinn Féin. Unlike SF, the SDLP have always advocated a non-violent and constitutional approach to achieving a United Ireland. Current leader is Mark Durkan. <ref>[http://www.sdlp.ie/]</ref>
* '''Alliance Party''': The Alliance party identifies as neither unionist or nationalist and thus receives support from both communities. The current leader is David Ford. <ref>[http://www.allianceparty.org/]</ref>

In October 2002, the British Government suspended (for the fourth time) the Assembly, following a breakdown in trust between Unionists and Republicans. The British and Irish Governments began discussions with the parties to try to resolve longstanding unresolved differences between the communities, and to secure a commitment from Sinn Fein that Republicans would divest themselves of all paramilitary activities and capabilities. Efforts to restore the political process in time to stage new elections to the Assembly in May 2003 broke down when the two governments concluded they did not have sufficient assurances from the Republicans. However, the governments proceeded to publish a joint declaration, mapping out the timetable to full implementation of the GFA. The governments also created an International Monitoring Commission to serve as a forum to hear complaints of alleged breaches of GFA commitments by the political parties and/or by British authorities. The four-member commission includes a representative from the United States.

Beginning in 2005, there were significant steps to reinvigorate the peace process. In July 2005, the IRA unilaterally announced that it would end its "armed struggle" and rely upon solely peaceful and democratic means to achieve its political objectives. The Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) confirmed in September 2005 that the IRA had effectively put its weapons "beyond use." A series of reports by the International Monitoring Commission also noted significant progress by the IRA in its move away from criminality. Following upon this momentum, the British and Irish Governments in April 2006 launched a new negotiation process that envisioned the restoration of the Assembly and the selection of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister by year's end.

This process led to a summit at St. Andrews, Scotland, in October 2006, brokered by the then [[Taoiseach]], Bertie Ahern, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, which achieved agreement between [[Sinn Féin]] and the [[DUP]] on the process for restoring power to the Northern Ireland Assembly. Elections for the Assembly took place on March 7, 2007, which led to the restoration of the [[Northern Ireland Assembly]] on May 8, 2007. DUP leader Rev.Doc.[[Ian Paisley]] was elected First Minister, while Sinn Fein leader Martin McGuinness became Deputy First Minister. Two breakthroughs enabled this historic agreement to proceed: Sinn Fein's decision at an extraordinary Ard Fheis ("AR-desh," party conference) on January 28 to endorse policing and justice; and the DUP's decision to contest the March 7 election, signaling that the party would agree to share power with Sinn Fein in a restored Assembly. In the meantime, both the British and Irish Governments have offered significant new financial packages for the new Assembly.

The Special Envoy for the Northern Ireland Peace Process is Paula Dobriansky, who coordinates with the U.S. Missions in London, Belfast and Dublin to reinforce the views of the British and Irish Governments that the newly restored [[Northern Ireland Assembly]] must govern effectively in order to achieve economic growth and community reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

The United States also continues to provide funding ($13.5 million in 2007) for projects administered under the International Fund for Ireland (IFI), created in 1986 to generate economic opportunity and cross-community engagement in the border areas, both North and South. Since the IFI's establishment, the U.S. Government has contributed over $482 million, roughly half of total IFI funding.

===Principal Government Officials===
*[[Uachtaráin]] (President)--Mary McAleese
*[[Taoiseach]]--[[Brian Cowen]]
*[[Tánaiste]] and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment--[[Mary Coughlan (politician)]]
*Ambassador to the United States--Michael Collins <!--Not a mistake he has the same name as the Irish patriot->>

=== Northern Ireland ===
*[[Queen]]--[[Elizabeth II]]
*[[Prime Minister]]--[[David Cameron]]
*[[First Minister]]--[[Peter Robinson]]
*[[deputy First Minister]]--[[Martin McGuinness]]

===Foreign Relations===
Ireland is a member of numerous international organizations, including the [[United Nations]], the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the [[European Union]]. Ireland has been an important contributor to numerous international peacekeeping missions, such as in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Liberia (UNIMIL), and the Balkans (KFOR and EUFOR). Ireland's overseas development assistance focuses on Sub-Saharan Africa and stands at 5 percent of GDP.

==Economy==
Ireland boasts a vibrant, globalized economy, with GDP per capita second only to Luxembourg's in the EU. The "Celtic Tiger" period of the mid to late 1990s saw several years of double-digit GDP growth, driven by a progressive industrial policy that boosted large-scale foreign direct investment and exports. GDP growth dipped during the immediate post-9/11 global economic slowdown, but has averaged roughly 5 percent yearly since 2004, the best performance for this period among the original EU 15 Member States. Since 2004, the Irish economy has generated roughly 90,000 new jobs annually, attracting over 200,000 foreign workers, mostly from the new EU Member states, in an unprecedented immigration influx. The construction sector has accounted for approximately one-quarter of these jobs, and economists caution that any slowdown in Ireland's vibrant housing market would have ramifications for continued GDP growth.

Economic and trade ties are an important facet of overall U.S.-Irish relations. In 2005, U.S. exports to Ireland were valued at $9 billion, while Irish exports to the U.S. totaled $28 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. The range of U.S. exports includes electrical components and equipment, computers and peripherals, drugs and pharmaceuticals, and livestock feed. Irish exports to the United States represent approximately 20% of all Irish exports, and have roughly the same value as Irish exports to the UK (inclusive of Northern Ireland). Exports to the United States include alcoholic beverages, chemicals and related products, electronic data processing equipment, electrical machinery, textiles and clothing, and glassware. According to Ireland's Central Statistical Office, Irish exports to the United States from January to September 2006 rose by 7% compared to the same period in 2005, while Irish imports from the United States from January to September 2006 fell by 14% compared to the same period in 2005.

U.S. investment has been particularly important to the growth and modernization of Irish industry over the past 25 years, providing new technology, export capabilities, and employment opportunities. As of year-end 2006, the stock of U.S. foreign direct investment in Ireland stood at $84 billion, more than double the U.S. total for China and India combined ($31.2 billion). Currently, there are approximately 620 U.S. subsidiaries in Ireland, employing roughly 100,000 people and spanning activities from manufacturing of high-tech electronics, computer products, medical supplies, and pharmaceuticals to retailing, banking, finance, and other services. In more recent years, Ireland has also become an important research and development (R&D) center for U.S. firms in Europe.

Many U.S. businesses find Ireland an attractive location to manufacture for the EU market, since it is inside the EU customs area and uses the euro. In 2005, U.S. firms accounted for 61% of Ireland's total exports of euro 89 billion. Other reasons for Ireland's attractiveness include: a 12.5 percent corporate tax rate for domestic and foreign firms; the quality and flexibility of the English-speaking work force; cooperative labor relations; political stability; pro-business government policies; a transparent judicial system; strong intellectual property protection; and, the pulling power of existing companies operating successfully (a "clustering" effect). Factors that negatively affect Ireland's ability to attract investment include: increasing labor and energy costs (especially when compared to low-cost countries in Eastern Europe and Asia), skilled labor shortages, inadequate infrastructure (such as in the transportation and internet/broadband sectors), and price levels that are ranked among the highest in Europe.

==History==
{{Main|History of Ireland}}
===Early History===
The earliest inhabitants--people of a mid-Stone Age culture--arrived about 6000 BC. About 4,000 years later, tribes from southern Europe arrived and established a high Neolithic culture, leaving behind gold ornaments and huge stone monuments. The [[Bronze Age]] people, who arrived during the next 1,000 years, produced elaborate gold and bronze ornaments and weapons.

The [[Iron Age]] arrived abruptly in the fourth century BC with the invasion of the Celts, a tall, energetic people who had spread across Europe and Great Britain in the preceding centuries. The Celts, or Gaels, and their more numerous predecessors divided into five kingdoms in which, despite constant strife, a rich culture flourished.

===Early Christian Ireland===
The coming of Christianity from across the Irish Sea brought major changes and civilizing influences. Ireland's first bishop, Palladius, arrived from [[France]] around 431 AD, evidence that Christianity had already arrived due to trading or other outside contacts. St. Patrick's mission most likely took place later, in the mid-to-late 5th century AD. Modern scholarship has discovered that many dates and facts attributed previously to Saint Patrick were likely the work of Palladius, and that the two had become blended into a single figure in the historical record.

The pagan druid tradition collapsed before the spread of the new faith, and Irish scholars excelled in the study of Latin learning and Christian theology in the monasteries that flourished. Missionaries went forth from Ireland to England and the continent, spreading news of the flowering of learning, and scholars from other nations came to Irish monasteries. The excellence and isolation of these monasteries helped preserve Latin and Greek learning during the Dark Ages. The arts of manuscript illumination, metalworking, and sculpture flourished and produced such treasures as the Book of Kells, ornate jewelry, and the many carved stone crosses that dot the island.

===Medieval Ireland===
At the end of the 8th Century, Norse and Danish raiders (commonly called [[Vikings]]) began to appear on Ireland's shores (as they were appearing in much of Europe at the same time). Several waves of attacks followed. The first were small, quick raids by small groups of boats on outlying areas (coastal settlements, islands off the coast, etc). Later raiding parties grew much larger, and began making inroads into the island. Eventually, the raiders began to build longphorts in Ireland, which were the first towns. Among these were Dublin, Waterford, and Wexford. The Vikings eventually became integrated into Irish politics and culture, and had major effects on many aspects of Irish life.

In the 12th century, Norman lords invaded Ireland at the behest of Diarmait MacMurrough who wanted their help to regain land that he had lost. While they quickly spread across most of the island, their conquest was incomplete. The Native Irish later began to retake much of the land that was lost and many Normans began to adopt Gaelic culture, which made the island very difficult to govern from England. The English were unable to bring the entire island under their control until the 17th century, after the defeat of the Irish in the Nine Years War. King James I of England (King James VI of Scotland) decided to plant Ulster, in the North of Ireland, with English and Scottish Protestant settlers, in an attempt to prevent future rebellions.<ref>[http://www.hoganstand.com/general/Identity/stories/ulster.htm]</ref>

===Modern Ireland===
[[File:Irish countryside.jpg|300px|right]]
In 1690, the Catholic King James II and his Irish allies were defeated by the Protestant William of Orange at the Battle of the Boyne. This defeat ushered in an era of Protestant dominance in Ireland. A series of regulations limiting the status of the Catholic majority were passed between 1691 and 1760, known as the Penal Laws. These laws also discriminated against Presbyterians and other dissenting Protestants, who along with Catholics were forced to pay tithes to the Anglican Church.<ref>[http://www.risingroadtours.com/a7_penallaws.htm]</ref> <ref>[http://prorev.com/irish.htm]</ref>

In 1800 the Irish Parliament passed the Act of Union with Great Britain, and Ireland was an official part of the United Kingdom until 1921. Religious freedom, outlawed in the 18th century, was restored in 1829, but this victory for the Irish Catholic majority was overshadowed by a severe economic depression and the great famine from 1846-48 when the potato crop failed. Millions died, and the millions that emigrated spawned the first mass wave of Irish emigration to the United States. A decade later, in 1858, the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB--also known as the Fenians) was founded as a secret society dedicated to armed rebellion against the British. An aboveground political counterpart, the [[Home Rule]] Movement, was created in 1874, advocating constitutional change for independence.

Galvanized by the leadership of Charles Stewart Parnell, the party was able to force British governments after 1885 to introduce several home rule bills. The turn of the century witnessed a surge of interest in Irish nationalism, including the founding of Sinn Fein ("Ourselves Alone") as an open political movement.

Nationalism was and is a potent populist force in Irish politics. A home rule bill passed in 1914, but its implementation was suspended until war in Europe ended. Believing the mantra: "England's problem is Ireland's opportunity," and tapping into a mood of Gaelic revivalism, Padraic Pearse and James Connolly led the unsuccessful Easter Rising of 1916. Pearse and the other 1916 leaders declared an independent Irish republic, but a lack of popular support doomed the rebellion, which lasted a week and resulted in the British military destroying large portions of Dublin. The decision by the British military government to execute the leaders of the rebellion, coupled with the British Government's threat of conscripting the Irish to fight in the Great War, alienated public opinion and produced massive support for Sinn Fein in the 1918 general election. Under the leadership of Eamon de Valera, the elected Sinn Fein deputies constituted themselves as the first Dail. Tensions only increased: British attempts to smash Sinn Fein ignited the Irish War of Independence of 1919-1921.

The end of the war brought the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921, which established the Irish Free State of 26 counties within the British Commonwealth and recognized the partition of the island into Ireland and Northern Ireland, though supposedly as a temporary measure. The four predominantly unionist counties (Antrim, Down, Armagh and Derry/Londonderry (disputed)) plus the two equally unionist/nationalist counties (Tyrone and Fermanagh) of northeast Ulster--Northern Ireland--remained a part of the United Kingdom with limited self-government. A significant Irish minority repudiated the treaty settlement because of the continuance of subordinate ties to the British monarch and the partition of the island. This opposition led to further hostilities--the Irish Civil War (1922-23), which was won by the pro-treaty forces.

In 1932, Eamon de Valera, the political leader of the forces initially opposed to the treaty, became Prime Minister, and a new Irish constitution was enacted in 1937. The last British military bases were soon withdrawn, and the ports were returned to Irish control. Ireland was neutral in World War II. The government formally declared Ireland a republic in 1948; however, it does not normally use the term "Republic of Ireland," which tacitly acknowledges the partition, but refers to the country simply as "Ireland."

====Premiers of the Republic of Ireland====
President of the Executive Council

* '''William Thomas Cosgrave''' (Cummann na nGaedheal): 1922-1932.
* '''Éamon de Valera''' (Fianna Fáil): 1932-1937

An Taoiseach
* '''Éamon de Valera''' (Fianna Fáil): 1937-1948, 1951-1954, 1957-1959.
* '''John A.Costello''' (Fine Gael): 1948-1951, 1954-1957.
* '''Seán Lemass''' (Fianna Fáil): 1959-1966.
* '''Jack Lynch''' (Fianna Fáil): 1966-1973.
* '''Liam Cosgrave''' (Fine Gael): 1973-1977.
* '''Jack Lynch''' (Fianna Fáil): 1977-1979.
* '''Charles Haughey''' (Fianna Fáil): 1979-1981, March 1982 - December 82 and March 1987 - February 1992.
* '''Garret FitzGerald''' (Fine Gael): 30 June 1981- 9 March 1982 and 14 December 1982 - 10 March 1987.
* '''Albert Reynolds''' (Fianna Fáil): February 1992-1994.
* '''John Bruton''' (Fine Gael): 1994-1997.
* '''Bertie Ahern''' (Fianna Fáil): 1997-2008.
* '''Brian Cowen''' (Fianna Fáil): 2008- <ref> [http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/index.asp?locID=349&docID=-1] </ref>

====Premiers of Northern Ireland====
Prime Minster of Northern Ireland (1921-1972)
*''Government of Ireland Act''
* '''Sir James Craig''' (UUP): 1921-1940
* '''John Miller Andrews''' (UUP): 1940-1943
* '''Sir Basil Brooke''' (UUP): 1943-1963
* '''Terence O'Neill''' (UUP): 1963-1969
* '''Brian Faulkner''' (UUP): 1969-1972
*''Post abolished in 1972.''

Chief Executive of Northern Ireland (1973–1974)
*''Sunningdale Agreement''
* '''Brian Faulkner''' (UUP) 1973–1974
*''Post abolished in 1972.''

First Minister of Northern Ireland (1998-present)
*''Belfast Agreement''
* '''David Trimble''' (UUP) 1998-July 2001, November 2001-October 2002
* '''Sir Reg Empey''' (UUP) (Acting): July 2001-October 2001
* ''Executive abolished''
*''St Andrews Agreement''
* '''Rev Dr Ian Paisley''' (DUP)/'''Martin McGuinness''' (Sinn Féin) 2007-present
<ref>[http://www.worldstatesmen.org/United_Kingdom.html#Northern]</ref>

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

{{European Union}}

[[Category:European Countries]]
[[Category:Ireland]]
[[Category:United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Islands]]

Criminology

2013-04-21T19:23:41Z

CameronD: despised by Liberals as it reveals truth

'''Criminology''' is the sociology-based study of [[crime]] and the [[criminal justice system]] despised by Liberals as it reveals truth.

[[Category:Criminology]]

History of homosexuality

2013-04-21T19:21:49Z

CameronD: /* Lesbianism */ missing bracket

The study of the '''history of [[homosexuality]]''' attempts to catalog evidence of [[homosexual behavior]] from its earliest occurrences to the present, with this manner of perversion being manifested in different sources from ancient times.

==Terminology relating to the history of homosexuality ==
The use of the term ''[[homosexuality]]'' in the study of ancient sexuality has found some dissatisfaction, due to the lack of a specific term in ancient literature corresponding to the modern concept of persons who are consistently sexually attracted to their own gender, versus the opposite sex. However, ancient literature refers to those who by their actions seem to have manifested such, especially as regards the male who played the female partner.<ref>Aristotle, "Problemata," 4.26; 879b-880a</ref> The primary moral authority on the subject, the Bible, does not explicitly refer to homosexual inclination, though it is reasonable to believe that the word ''malakos'', translated ''effeminate'' (1Cor. 6:9) in the [[KJV]] may denote homosexual ''orientation'', and men lusting after one another in Romans 1:27 is seen as a typical manifestation of homosexuality. In contrast to modern times however, to be the effeminate partner in Greece or Rome was considered shameful for a man.<ref>Homosexuality and the Ancient Greeks, ReligionFacts.com</ref> The lack of terms in the Bible for certain behaviors which correspond to modern psychological diagnostics may also be explained as being due to the fact that the Bible does not justify inherently unlawful actions even if one has an inner inclination to do them, but calls and enables victory over such. (Gn. 4:7; Col. 3:5-8)

==Homosexuality in the Bible==
''Main article: [[Homosexuality and biblical interpretation]]''

''See also [[Homosexuality and the Bible]]''

Homosexuality, as evidenced by homosexual acts, or ''homoeroticism'', was manifested not long after the [[fall of man]] and its resultant harmful effects, with man realizing an Adamic nature and its tendency to sin, which may somewhat vary in intensity as to a type of sin.

The history of homosexuality in the Bible may begin in Genesis 9:2-24, in which many Christian scholars believe that [[Ham]], the youngest son of [[Noah]], committed a homosexual act on his father,<ref>[http://www.robgagnon.net/2Views/HomoViaRespNotesRev.pdf Notes to Gagnon’s Essay in the Gagnon-Via Two Views Book, #32, by Robert A. J. Gagnon, Ph.D.]</ref><ref>The Bible and Homosexual Practice, pp. 63-78, 91-110</ref> while the latter was asleep, having been overcome with wine.

[[Leviticus 18]] universally outlaws men laying with men as with women, with this being a capital crime, (Lv. 18:22; 20:13), with an additional separate prohibition evidently forbidding homosexual religious prostitution. (Dt. 23:17) The context of these commands is one which invokes the practice of Israel's surrounding culture as an example of what not to do, thus evidencing that homosexual relations and other sexual sins were pagan cultural practices. Additional evidence shows that homosexual practice was generally not outlawed in the Ancient Near East (ANE), and was certainly tolerated in that area and time in private as well as religious life.<ref>Mesopotamia: Writing, Reasoning, and the Gods, Jean Bottero, Univ of Chicago:1992, pp. 190-192</ref> Miller adds that in contrast, "Israel's God condemned this behavior in EVERY culture in which it was mentioned(!): ANE (i.e. Sodom), Canaanite and Egyptian (i.e. Lev 18:3), Israelite (Lev 18, 20), Roman (Rom 1), Hellenistic (I Tim 1.9), and Greek (I Cor 6.9)."<ref>[http://www.christian-thinktank.com/qamorite.html Good Question... Homosexual practices]</ref>

Homosexuality is overall revealed in the Bible to be an effect of idolatry,<ref>with the latter being manifest the mother of all sins: Ex. 20:2-5</ref>, and which may consist of formal or informal false gods.<ref>a false god being whatever is your ultimate object of affection or allegiance, or source of security</ref> (Is. 44:15-20; Jer. 2:27; Rm. 6:16; 1Jn. 2:16; 5:21)

In [[Romans 1]] the apostle Paul delineates stages of degeneration, with homoerotic desire and acts being a particular effect of making the God of creation, who uniquely created the women of the man and joined them in marriage, into an image of corruptible man. This type of this idolatry is yet seen to be taking place today by pro homosexual authors, such as Roman Catholic priest Daniel A. Helminiak<ref>pro homosexual priest Daniel Helminiak, Sex and the sacred, p. 192</ref> who assert that the incorruptible [[Jesus Christ]] engaged in homosexual relations. Such extreme blasphemous attempts are refuted by Derrick K. Olliff and Dewey H. Hodges<ref>[http://www.reformed.org/social/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/social/hodges_response_helminiak.html A Reformed Response to Daniel Helminiak's Gay Theology]</ref> and others.<ref>[http://www.robgagnon.net/BelovedDisciple.htm] by Robert A. J. Gagnon,]</ref><ref>Patrick Holding, Does John 21:20 Show That Jesus Was Gay?[http://www.tektonics.org/gk/gayjesus.html]</ref>

Homosexual behavior was especially manifest in Rome and Greece at that time, but which was and is a historical constant among all peoples, in differing but deleterious forms, and with different degrees of [[moral degeneration]] being realized. For the follower of the Bible therefore, homosexuality is not new, nor unexpected, but neither is it justified, rather it is unequivocally condemned, while God is revealed as giving man grace to resist and overcome sin. (Gn. 4:7; Ja. 1:12-15' 1Cor. 6:9-11)

==Jewish and early ecclesiastical attitudes toward homosexuality==

The history of homosexuality as regards the position of Judaism and Christianity is testified to by extra-biblical accounts of ancient historians, commentators and leaders. As concerns Jewish beliefs, Gagnon notes in the study of [[homosexuality and biblical interpretation]], that "every piece of evidence that we have about Jewish views of same-sex intercourse in the Second Temple period and beyond is unremittingly hostile to such behavior.<ref>The Bible and Homosexual Practice, pp. 159-83</ref><ref>[http://www.robgagnon.net/2VOnlineNotes.htm Gagnon, Notes to Gagnon’s Essay in the Gagnon-Via Two Views Book]</ref><ref>Gagnon, The Bible and Homosexual Practice, pp. 159-83</ref>

First Century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (AD 37-100) wrote in his Commentary on the history of the Jews,

*As for adultery, Moses forbade it entirely, as esteeming it a happy thing that men should be wise in the affairs of wedlock; and that it was profitable both to cities and families that children should be known to be genuine. He also abhorred men’s lying with their mothers, as one of the greatest crimes; and the like for lying with the father’s wife, and with aunts, and sisters, and sons’ wives, as all instances of abominable wickedness. He also forbade a man to lie with his wife when she was defiled by her natural purgation: and not to come near brute beasts; nor to approve of the lying with a male, which was to hunt after unlawful pleasures on account of beauty. To those who were guilty of such insolent behavior, he ordained death for their punishment.” (Antiquities, 3:12.1)<ref>http://www.godrules.net/library/flavius/flaviusb3c12.htm</ref>

Also,

*And why do not the Eleans and Thebans abolish that unnatural (para physin) and impudent lust, which makes them lie with males? For they will not shew sufficient sign of their repentance of what they of old thought to be very excellent, and very advantageous in their practices, unless they entirely avoid all such actions for the time to come: nay, such things are inserted into the body of their laws, and had once such a power among the Greeks, that they ascribed these sodomitical practices to the gods themselves, as part of their good character; and indeed it was according to the same manner that the gods married their own sisters. This the Greeks contrived as an apology for their own absurd and unnatural (para physin) pleasures. (Against Apion, 2.273-75)<ref>[http://www.reformed.org/social/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/social/response_to_helminiak_2.html A Further Look at Pro-Homosexual Theology, by Derrick K. Olliff and Dewey H. Hodges]</ref>

More abundant are statements by early church leaders on the subject, which, though not wholly inspired as the Scriptures, are, manifest a Biblical response to homosexuality, and sometimes also testify to the existence of homosexuality among the Greeks and Romans.

*You shall not commit fornication; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not be a corrupter of youth. - Letter of Barnabas 10 (A.D. 74).

*You shall not commit murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit pederasty, you shall not commit fornication, you shall not steal, you shall not practice magic, you shall not practice witchcraft, you shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill one that has been born. - Didache 2:2 (A.D. 90).

*...to expose newly-born children is the part of wicked men; and this we have been taught lest we should do anyone harm and lest we should sin against God, first, because we see that almost all so exposed (not only the girls, but also the males) are brought up to prostitution. And for this pollution a multitude of females and hermaphrodites, and those who commit unmentionable iniquities, are found in every nation...And there are some who prostitute even their own children and wives, and some are openly mutilated for the purpose of sodomy; and they refer these mysteries to the mother of the gods. - Justin Martyr, First Apology 27 (A.D. 151).

*All honor to that king of the Scythians, whoever Anacharsis was, who shot with an arrow one of his subjects who imitated among the Scythians the mystery of the mother of the gods . . . condemning him as having become effeminate among the Greeks, and a teacher of the disease of effeminacy to the rest of the Scythians. Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Greeks 2 (A.D. 190).

*For your gods did not even abstain from boys, one having loved Hylas, another Hyacinthus, another Pelops, another Chrysippus, another Ganymede. - Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Greeks 2 (A.D. 190).

*[A]ll other frenzies of the lusts which exceed the laws of nature, and are impious toward both bodies and the sexes, we banish, not only from the threshold but also from all shelter of the Church, for they are not sins so much as monstrosities. - Tertullian, Modesty 4 (A.D. 220).

*[T]urn your looks to the abominations, not less to be deplored, of another kind of spectacle…Men are emasculated, and all the pride and vigor of their sex is effeminated in the disgrace of their enervated body; and he is more pleasing there who has most completely broken down the man into the woman. He grows into praise by virtue of his crime; and the more he is degraded, the more skillful he is considered to be. Such a one is looked upon--oh shame!--and looked upon with pleasure…nor is there wanting authority for the enticing abomination…that Jupiter of theirs [is] not more supreme in dominion than in vice, inflamed with earthly love in the midst of his own thunders…now breaking forth by the help of birds to violate the purity of boys. And now put the question: Can he who looks upon such things be healthy-minded or modest? Men imitate the gods whom they adore, and to such miserable beings their crimes become their religion. - Cyprian of Carthage, Letters 1:8 (A.D. 253).

"[T]he mother of the gods loved [the boy Attis] exceedingly, because he was of most surpassing beauty; and Acdestis [the son of Jupiter] who was his companion, as he grew up fondling him, and bound to him by wicked compliance with his lust…Afterwards, under the influence of wine, he [Attis] admits that he is…loved by Acdestis…Then Midas, king of Pessinus, wishing to withdraw the youth from so disgraceful an intimacy, resolves to give him his own daughter in marriage…Acdestis, bursting with rage because of the boy's being torn from himself and brought to seek a wife, fills all the guests with frenzied madness; the Phrygians shriek, panic-stricken at the appearance of the gods . . . [Attis] too, now filled with furious passion, raving frantically and tossed about, throws himself down at last, and under a pine tree mutilates himself, saying, `Take these, Acdestis, for which you have stirred up so great and terribly perilous commotions.'" - Arnobius, Against the Pagans 5:6-7 (A.D. 305).

“But we do not say so of that mixture that is contrary to nature, or of any unlawful practice; for such are enmity to God. For the sin of Sodom is contrary to nature, as is also that with brute beasts. But adultery and fornication are against the law; the one whereof is impiety, the other injustice, and, in a word, no other than a great sin. But neither sort of them is without its punishment in its own proper nature. For the practicers of one sort attempt the dissolution of the world, and endeavor to make the natural course of things to change for one that is unnatural; but those of the second son — the adulterers — are unjust by corrupting others’ marriages, and dividing into two what God hath made one, rendering the children suspected, and exposing the true husband to the snares of others. And fornication is the destruction of one’s own flesh, not being made use of for the procreation of children, but entirely for the sake of pleasure, which is a mark of incontinency, and not a sign of virtue. All these things are forbidden by the laws; for thus say the oracles: Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind. For such a one is accursed, and ye shall stone them with stones: they have wrought abomination.” - Methodius, bishop of Olympus and Patara (AD 260-312), Commentary on the sin of Sodom.

"[H]aving forbidden all unlawful marriage, and all unseemly practice, and the union of women with women and men with men, he [God] adds: `Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for in all these things the nations were defiled, which I will drive out before you. And the land was polluted, and I have recompensed [their] iniquity upon it, and the land is grieved with them that dwell upon it' [Lev. 18:24-25]." - Eusebius of Caesarea, Proof of the Gospel 4:10 (A.D. 319).

"“They who have committed sodomy with men or brutes, murderers, wizards, adulterers, and idolaters, have been thought worthy of the same punishment; therefore observe the same method with these which you do with others." - Basil, Letters 217:62 (A.D. 367).

"[The pagans] were addicted to the love of boys, and one of their wise men made a law that pederasty…should not be allowed to slaves, as if it was an honorable thing; and they had houses for this purpose, in which it was openly practiced. And if all that was done among them was related, it would be seen that they openly outraged nature, and there was none to restrain them… As for their passion for boys, whom they called their 'paedica,' it is not fit to be named." - John Chrysostom, Homilies on Titus 5 (A.D. 390]).

"[Certain men in church] come in gazing about at the beauty of women; others curious about the blooming youth of boys. After this, do you not marvel that [lightning] bolts are not launched [from heaven], and all these things are not plucked up from their foundations? For worthy both of thunderbolts and hell are the things that are done; but God, who is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forbears awhile his wrath, calling you to repentance and amendment." - John Chrysostom, Homilies on Matthew 3:3 (A.D. 391).

"All of these affections [in Rom. 1:26-27]… were vile, but chiefly the mad lust after males; for the soul is more the sufferer in sins, and more dishonored than the body in diseases." - John Chrysostom, Homilies on Romans 4 (A.D. 391).

"[The men] have done an insult to nature itself. And a yet more disgraceful thing than these is it, when even the women seek after these intercourses, who ought to have more shame than men." - John Chrysostom, Homilies on Romans 4 (A.D. 391).

"And sundry other books of the philosophers one may see full of this disease. But we do not therefore say that the thing was made lawful, but that they who received this law were pitiable, and objects for many tears. For these are treated in the same way as women that play the whore. Or rather their plight is more miserable. For in the case of the one the intercourse, even if lawless, is yet according to nature; but this is contrary both to law and nature. For even if there were no hell, and no punishment had been threatened, this would be worse than any punishment." - John Chrysostom, Homilies on Romans 4 (A.D. 391).

"[T]hose shameful acts against nature, such as were committed in Sodom, ought everywhere and always to be detested and punished. If all nations were to do such things, they would be held guilty of the same crime by the law of God, which has not made men so that they should use one another in this way." - Augustine, Confessions 3:8:15 (A.D. 400).

"[Christians] abhor all unlawful mixtures, and that which is practiced by some contrary to nature, as wicked and impious." - Apostolic Constitutions 6:11 (A.D. 400).

==Historical data concerning the history of homosexuality ==
The two most principal areas of historical inquiry which have been studied by historians in relation to ancient occurrences of homosexuality are [[Greek Homosexuality|Greek homosexuality]] and [[Roman Homosexuality|Roman homosexuality]] (see also [[Romans 1]]) but to which other societies, ancient to modern, are included.

It should be noted here that most of the research for the information referenced here comes through pro-homosexual writers, who sometimes interpret obscure or indefinite data as positively denoting homosexuality, while tending to render negative comments on homosexuality as being due to [[homophobia]]. And or as Boswell,<ref>Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe</ref> they may seek to contrive a history more usable to them,<ref>[http://www.leaderu.com/ftissues/ft9411/articles/darling.html Gay Marriage: Reimagining Church History Robin Darling Young]</ref> (which they are not alone in doing). Some assert that in some cases, pro-homosexual authors have extrapolated prevalent homosexuality out of little real evidence.<ref>http://homosexualityinancientgreece.wordpress.com/</ref> The inclusion of these sources is for reference purposes, and not as recommended reading. However, much clear data is provided which testifies to some degree of acceptance of homoeroticism (mostly pederastic), concomitant with idolatry. Biblically, this also included Israel at times when they forsook worship of "the living and true God" (1Thes. 1:9) of the Bible, who uniquely forbade such. A primary source on the subject of history and homosexuality, pro homosexual author Dr. David E. Greenberg, noted that, other than the Jews, "none of the archaic civilizations prohibited homosexuality per se",<ref>Greenberg, "The Construction of Homosexuality" p. 124</ref> (though he himself forced homosexuality into the story of [[David and Jonathan]]).

Dynes and Donaldson also note that the literary and archaeological records of Mediterranean societies have overall revealed that the ancient patterns of same-gender sexual behavior

:did not, for the most part, conform to the androphile model of modern industrial societies — a model that involves pairs of adults, both considered to be of the same gender, of roughly equal social status, and reciprocal and their behavior. Instead they generally adhered to gender-and-age differentiated patterns, Egypt being a partial exception. The best known types are the male temple prostitution of the near east and the institutionalized pederasty of Greece. <ref>Wayne R. Dynes, Stephen Donaldson Homosexuality in the ancient world'', p. 7</ref>

===Homosexuality in Greece===

The largest amount of material pertinent to the history of homosexuality is from Greece, from notable philosophers and writers such as Plato, Xenophon, Plutarch, and pseudo-Lucian, to plays by Aristophanes, to Greek artwork and vases. James B. De Young notes that homosexuality seems to have existed more widely among the ancient Greeks more than among any other ancient culture. The main form of this was pederasty, a custom that seems to have been practiced mostly among the upper classes, in which an older man (the ''erastest'') would make a young free boy (the ''eromenos'') his sex partner, and become his mentor. This was regulated by the State as an institution. However, this practice was usually a supplement to marriage,<ref>Dover, K.J., Greek Homosexuality (Harvard University Press, 1989, as summarized in "Homosexuality," Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, August 2002)</ref> and thus is seen as being done by bisexuals. The practice of pederasty is mentioned in Homer's ''Illiad'', and is evidenced to have existed at least 4500 years ago in ancient Egypt.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=ZXAVf8m_HKgC&pg=PA322&lpg=PA322&dq=Plato%27s+Laws+636c&source=bl&ots=ZjVFYZcdwc&sig=qh8nqrP0-_GCl1p49MgogdYs7E8&hl=en&ei=0sUeSqOxIqbWlQfpnPjPBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=19 Homosexuality, By James B. DeYoung p. 322]</ref>

{{Main|Greek Homosexuality}}

===Homosexuality in Rome===

After Greece, Rome is the next most significant entity in the history of homosexuality, and this cultural practice in both is understood by scholars as being what the apostle Paul is immediately referring to in condemning homosexuality in [[Romans 1.]]<ref>Homosexuality by James B. DeYoung, pp. 152-192ff</ref> Romans emperors were sometimes the most notorious examples of homosexuality. Edward Gibbon, in his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, wrote that "of the first fifteen emperors Claudius was the only one whose taste in love was entirely correct (not homo-sexual].<ref>Edward Gibbon. History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Vol. 1, London. 1898, p. 313. note 40</ref>

Juvenal (60-140 A.D.) and Martial (c. 40-102 A.D.) wrote of formal marriage unions between homosexuals. Some moral philosophers around the time of the apostle Paul questioned the merits of homosexual behaviors. Seneca (4 B.C-65 A.D.), a statesmen and tutor to the homosexual emperor Nero, reproved homosexual exploitation, such which which forced a slave to shave his beard, and dress and behave as a women,<ref>Moral epistles 47.7-8</ref> though Nero himself castrated a boy, and dressed him as female and married him, after killing his wife.<ref>Suetonius "Nero," XVIII-XVIX De Vita Caeasarum; Dio Cassius, LXII, xvii</ref> Dio Chrysostom (A.D. 40) likewise condemned such exploitation, and commended ''natural intercourse" and union of the male and female.''<ref>Discourse, 7.133, 135; 151-52; 21:6-10; 77/78.36</ref> Later, in 226 B.C., the Lex Scantinia (149 B.C.) is understood to have penalized homosexual practice.

According to psychiatrist and sexual historian Norman Sussman, "In contrast to the self-conscious and elaborate efforts of the Greeks to glorify and idealize homosexuality, the Romans simply accepted it as a matter of fact and as an inevitable part of human sexual life. Pederasty was just another sexual activity. Many of the most prominent men in Roman society were bisexual if not homosexual. Julius Caesar was called by his contemporaries every woman's man and every man's woman."<ref>Sussman p. 19</ref>

Many see Rome realizing a deleterious change in aspects of social morality beginning in the second century B.C, due to the influence and adaptation of "Asiatic luxury and Greek manners", including homosexuality, resulting in a "moral crises from which she never recovered (historian D. Earl)<ref>Young, Homosexuality, p. 153</ref>

Edward Gibbon, stated in his “History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” that marital faithfulness in the Roman Empire was virtually unknown, and that “The dignity of marriage was restored by the Christians.”<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=Ib7KaA717U0C&pg=RA1-PA478&lpg=RA1-PA478&dq=Gibbon,+dignity+of+marriage+was+restored+by+the+Christians.%E2%80%9D+p.&source=bl&ots=vLEsgM9AST&sig=Rw9ZVE-9MmInLQORPnl5NNQunxs&hl=en&ei=jbhGSrimC8b6tgeQ0NmMCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1 The history of the decline and fall of the Roman empire. p. 478, by Edward Gibbon, John Bagnell Bury]</ref>

===Homosexuality in China===

Art, poetry, historical and legal documents infer or attest to the practice of homosexuality in China (the type or degree of which is often somewhat dependent on the bias of the researcher, with most major works today being by by pro homosexual writers). The earliest references to such are from the period of the Han Dynasty (Western: 202 B.C. to 9 A.D; Eastern: 25 to 22 A.D.) The ''Da-le-fu'' by Bo Xingjian (775-826) in an official ancient medical text ''History of the Former Hans Dynasty'' is seen by some to speak of homoeroticism, especially among emperors, in highly euphemistic language.

Heissig states that in the fourteenth century, the Chinese found homosexual Tibetan religious rites practiced at the court of a Mongol emperor.<ref>Walther Heissig, A Lost Civilization</ref>

Sex historian Arno Karlen reports that "two Arab travelers trekked through India and China m the ninth century, and in tneir chronicle said the Chinese were addicted to sodomy and even performed it in their shrines."<ref>Arno Kjrlen. Sexuality and Homosexuality. 1971, Norton, p. 229</ref>

During the Song dynasty (960-1279 A.D.) Tao Gu noted in his ''Records of the Extraordinary''

Everywhere people single out Nanhai for its 'Misty Moon Worships, a term referring the custom of esteeming lewdness. Nowadays those in the capital those who sell themselves number more than ten thousand . As to the men who offer their bodies for sale, then enter and leave place shamelessly. A law later enacted during Xhenghe reign (1111-1118) which punished male prostitutes with "one hundred strokes of a bamboo rod and a fine of fifty thousand in cash." However, it seems to have fallen into disuse over time.

Male prostitutes were known to have their own god, Tcheou--Wang.<ref>The Construction of Homosexuality, by David F. Greenberg, pp. 161-62</ref>

During the latter part of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.), Xie Zhaozhe, (1567-1624) - a contemporary of Shakespeare - recorded in his encyclopedia, the Wu za zu (Fivehold Miscellany),

In today's Peking, there are young boys singers who go to all the gentry's wine parties, and no matter how many official prohibitions there are, everybody uses them.

A fuller description of homosexual relations, and one that may be likened to [[same-sex marriage]], is found in the writings of Ming commentator Shen Defu (1578-1642), which tells of homosexual relationships which sometimes were part of the family order in the southern province of Fujian. He states that among all social ranks and physical attractiveness, Fujianese men found a same sex partner of their status, with the older becoming a "brother" to the younger (a custom termed ''nanfeng'') and paying for his later marriage to a female. "And that at the age of thirty they are still sleeping in the same bed like husband and wife." However, this is not known to have lasted more than twenty years, as they were to later marry a female.

In the latter part of the 16th century Roman Catholic missionaries commented on the perverse homosexual practices they saw in China. In a book published in 1569, Dominican Gaspar da Cruz attributed the [[earthquakes]] which had recently shaken China (its most fatal earthquake in history was in 1556[http://www.drgeorgepc.com/EarthquakesChina.html]) to being due to their indifference to [[sodomy]]. Shortly after his arrival in 1583, noted Jesuit astronomer Matteo Ricci found that male [[prostitution]] was lawful and practiced openly:

there are public streets full of boys dressed up like prostitutes. And there are people who buy these boys and teach them to play music, sing and dance. And than, gallantly dressed up and made up with rouge like women, these miserable men are initiated into this terrible vice.<ref>Spence (1984: p. 220)</ref>

He also wrote to his superior lamenting "the horrible sin to which everyone here is much given, and about which there seems to be no shame or impediment." No long before his death in 1610, he grieved that such was "neither forbidden by law nor thought to be illicit, nor even a cause of shame. It is spoken of in public, practiced everywhere, without there being anyone to prevent it."

An official Chinese historian named Mao Qiling (1623- 1716) wrote in a supplementary historical account regarding Emperor Wuzong (1491-1521), that had a passion of military uniforms and maneuvers, and broke precedent by sleeping at his new Leopard House, which accommodated his generals. He had so close friendship with one general in particular,that is recorded that they sleep and rose with together (tong wo-qi).

Open sexual expression was expanded under the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.), but increasing moral disorder, and invasion by warriors who captured Peking in 1644, establishing the Qing Dynasty, worked to somewhat morally awaken China, and resulted in laws for moral reform. Chinese conservatives labored to restore the more chaste values of orthodox Confucianism, while the Manchu conquerors sought to discourage fornication, including sexual offenses between males. The second Qing Emperor, Kang Xi, was an esteemed ruler who was hostile to pederasty and child prostitution, and declared that he himself was not waited on by "pretty boys."

In 1679 extensive legislation was written and confirmed in the Qing code of 1740, which made the abduction and rape of boys under twelve a capital crime, and penalized consensual sodomy with one hundred strokes of the heavy bamboo, and the wearing of the cangue (a flat wooden board) for one month. As in Biblical law, it appears that actually being caught in the act was required, and enforcement seems to have been rather selective. However, Kang Xi's own son and heir to the throne was found to be sexually involved with palace officials, and was executed. <ref>Homosexuality & Civilization, pp. 224-228,237-239, by Louis Crompton (pro homosexual)</ref>

Despite these reforms, later some Qing rulers are said to have engaged in homosexual relationships, and China saw a resurgence of homosexuality. Even during the reign of Kang Xi a contemporary writer wrote that "it is considered bad taste not to have singing boys around when inviting guests for dinner." Art began to abandoned its discrete nature in relation to sexual expression, and began to make the sexual act explicit.<ref> Passions of the Cut Sleeve, p. 146, by Bret Hinsch</ref>

Englishman John Barrow, secretary to the Macartney Embassy of 1793, and later the founder of the Royal Geographical Society, stated in ''Travels in China'' (1806),

Many of the first officers of state seemed to make no hesitation in publicly avowing [homosexuality]!"<ref<Sir John Barrow. Travels in China. T. Cadell & W. Davics (London), 1804 Cited In Karlen, op. cit . p. 229</ref>

Barrows also wrote that the exclusion of women had the effect of

"promoting that sort of connexion which, being one of the greatest violations of nature, ought to be considered among the first of moral crimes - a connexion that sinks a man many degrees below the brute. The commission of this detestable and unnatural act is attended to with so little sense of shame, or feeling of delicacy, that many first officers of state seemed to make no hesitation in publicly avowing it. Each of these officer is attended to by his pipe-bearer, who is generally a handsome boy, from fourteen to eighteen years of age, and is always well dressed.<ref>Hinsch, p. 141</ref>

In Judaism's Sexual Revolution: Why Judaism Rejected Homosexuality, Dennis Prager also notes that the low state of women has been linked to widespread homosexuality, and writes that a French physician reported from China in the nineteenth century that, "Chinese women were such docile, homebound dullards that the men, like those of ancient Greece, sought courtesans and boys."

In contrast, a commentator of Napoleonic France provided commendation for such.<ref>Crompton, pp. 239-240</ref>

Sir Richard Burton summed up the Chinese in these words: "their systematic bestiality with ducks, goats and other animals is equaled only by their pederasty."<ref>Sir Richard Burton, The Erotic Traveler, 1967. Norton. Cited in Karlen p. 230</ref>

Eberhardt understands that "Chinese Buddhism considered homosexuality to be a minor transgression." <ref>Wolfram Eberhardt, Guilt and Sin in Traditional China. 1967. University of California, pp. 29-32. Cited in Greenberg, p. 26l. note 101</ref>

A western visitor to the port city of Tianjin estimated that there were approximately eight hundred boys in its thirty-five brothels, trained for pederastic prostitution.<ref>Hinsch, p. 141</ref>

However, homoeroticism apparently was not a religious part of Chinese folk religion, as "the Chinese were shocked and indignant at the homoerotic Tibetan rites practiced at the court of Shun-Ti Heissig, the last Mongul emperor in the fourteenth century."<ref>1996; pp. 52-54, referenced by Greenberg, p. 161</ref>

During the Chinese cultural revolution (1966 - 76), government considered homosexuality to be a social offense or a form of mental illness, and homosexuality is said to been punished more than in all previous times.

In 1989 the "Chinese Classification and Diagnostic Criteria of Mental Disorders", released by the Chinese Psychiatric Association, defined homosexuality as a "psychiatric disorder of sexuality", providing more tolerance toward this class of sin.<ref>Shanghai Star October 4, 2002</ref>

===Homosexuality in Japan===

Greenberg understands that during the feudal age in Japan, homosexuality flourished among military aristocracy, "with samurai sometimes fighting duels on behalf of their lovers",<ref>Greenberg, p 260</ref> and that Japanese Buddhism appears to have disregarded homosexuality.<ref>Greenberg, p. 261, note 101</ref>

[[Buddhist]] [[monks]] are said to not have allowed intercourse with women, though "male partners were not explicitly prohibited, and that many monks took youthful male lovers, a practice that was considered quite acceptable..." "Legal codes of the period do not even mention homosexuality." <ref>Greenberg, p. 261</ref>

===Homosexuality among the Celts===

[[Aristotle]] stated that the Celts esteemed homosexuality."<ref>Politics 2 9 7 Cited in Greenberg, p 111</ref> In addition, Diodorus Siculus wrote in the first century B.C., "The men are much keener on their own sex; they lie around on animal skins and enjoy themselves, with a lover on each side. Furthermore, this isn't looked down on, or regarded in any way disgraceful."<ref>Cited in Gerhard Herm. The Celts. St Martin's. 1977. p 58.</ref>

===Homosexuality among the America Indians===

Pre-Columbian Americas: In North America, the Spanish and French explorers and missionaries who visited the New World quickly became aware of widespread Indian transvestism (men dressing as women) and homosexuality. Writing in 1776, Father Charlevoix, a [[Jesuit]] [[priest]], found the Iroquois to have “an excess of effeminacy and lewdness. There are men unashamed to wear women’s clothing and to practice all the occupations of women, from which follows corruption that I cannot express. They pretend that its usage comes from their religion. These effeminates never marry and abandon themselves to the most infamous passions.”

Greenberg reports that there was widespread male homosexuality among the Mayans in Central America: “A strong homosexual component pervades close friendships of young married Mayan men as well as bachelors in southern Mexico and among Guatemalan Indians.”

Among the Aztecs, “Sodomy was virtually universal, involving even children as young as six. Cortez also found sodomy to be widespread among the Aztecs, and admonished them to give it up – along with human sacrifice and cannibalism. One of the Aztec gods, [[Xochipili]], was the patron of male homosexuality and male prostitution.”<ref>[http://vesler.blogspot.com/2006/04/why-judaism-rejected-homos_114634268752564895.html Why Judaism Rejected Homosexuality -- Part 2, referencing Greenberg]</ref>

===Homosexuality in ancient Mesopotamia===

Certain other ancient societies provide some evidence in regards to the history of homosexuality. Gordon J Wenham in "The Old Testament Attitude to Homosexuality" refers to ''Homosexualität'' Reallexicon der Assyriologie (4. 559-68) as a prime source, and states,

From iconographic evidence dating from 3000 BC to the Christian era it is clear that homosexual practice was an accepted part of the Mesopotamian scene. This conclusion is confirmed by many literary and legal texts in which homosexual activity is mentioned.<ref>[http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article_attitude_wenham.html Wenham, The Old Testament Attitude to Homosexuality, p. 360]</ref>

Within the ''Middle Assyrian Laws'' (c. 1450-1250 B.C.) does seem to provide one or two relevant laws. MAL 19 provides a penalty for false accusation of passive homosexuality, requiring the false witness to be beaten, fined and suffer a mark of shame on him.<ref>So G. Cardascia, Les lois assyriennes (du Cerf [1969]), p. 130.</ref>

MAL 20 is more specific, "If a man has lain with his male friend and a charge is brought and proved against him, the same thing shall be done to him and he shall be made a eunuch."<ref>H.W.F Saggs, The Greatest That was Babylon, (New York: Hawthorn, 1962), p. 212</ref>

Wenham comments,

This is what Cardascia, Les lois assyriennes, 134-35 suggests. Bottero and Petschow in Reallexicon der Assyriologie 4, 462 are more dogmatic. 'The verb niku/ náku ... implies a certain constraint on the part of the protagonist. Its literal translation would be "to do violence to" and almost "violate". It is precisely because the victim submits to violence that obliges its author to submit in his turn to violence himself.''<ref>Wenham, footnote #8</ref> Unlike in the Bible where both parties are guilty and are to be punished, (Lv. 18:22; 20:13) here only the active male partner is punished.

He further states,

Nor were homosexuals shut away in Mesopotamia. There were homosexual cult prostitutes, who took part in public processions, singing, dancing, wearing costumes, sometimes wearing women's clothes and carrying female symbols, even at times pretending to give birth...Sometimes they are called 'dogs'. 'It therefore appears that these types of person, as in other places and periods including our own, formed a shady sub-culture where all sorts of ambiguities, mixtures and transformations were possible.<ref>ibid. Wenham</ref>

Greenberg states that in Mesopotamiam Hammurabi, the author of the famous legal code bearing his name, had male lovers (Greenberg, p. 126)

In addition, it is understood that Assyrian men prayed for divine blessing on homosexual love.<ref>[Reallexicon der Assyriologie p. 465</ref> This is seen to stand in contrast to the Bible, which nowhere offers sanction for homoeroticism, in contrast to its explicit Divine blessing on heterosexual relations in marriage. The Bible is also seen to separately forbid homosexual activity near the Temple, (Dt. 23:17,18) this likely being homosexual prostitutes, called ''dogs''.

The Reallexicon der Assyriologie concludes:

Homosexuality in itself is thus nowhere condemned as licentiousness, as immorality, as social disorder, or as transgressing any human or divine law. Anyone could practise it freely, just as anyone could visit a prostitute, provided it was done without violence and without compulsion, and preferably as far as taking the passive role was concerned, with specialists.'' <ref>Reallexicon der Assyriologie pp. 4, 467, 68</ref>

The Bible states that because of such immorality the Lord drove out the people whose land Israel possessed. (Dt. 9:3-5; 18:12)

Among the Hittites, Law 189 states, ''If a man violates his daughter it is a capital crime. If a man violates his son, it is a capital crime''. However, the violation here may be more due to its incestuous nature, than the homosexual aspect.<ref> H. A. Hoffner, 'Incest, Sodomy, and Bestiality in the Ancient Near East' in (Orient and Occident: Essays in Honor of C. H. Gordon, Neukirchen, Neukirchener Verlag [1973]), 83</ref>

===Homosexuality among the Jews===

As [[Leviticus 18]] and other texts evidence, homosexuality was forbidden among the Jews, with violation being a capital offense. In providing Israel with a superior moral standard, as well in other areas, God invoked the example of immoral nations, fitted for destruction, as manifesting the behavior which Israel was ''not'' to follow. This means of contrast, which does not limit the forbidden behavior to only that culture, is seen in the [[New Testament]] as well. (Rm. 1:19-32; Eph. 5:1-7) 1Pt. 4:2-4)

Israel was established as an overall victorious nation as they overall followed God, as He promised. (Dt. 28) However, when Israel backslid into idolatry then homosexuality was seen among them, though it is not evidenced to have degenerated past the stage of idolatrous ceremony, (Dt. 23:17,18) into pederasty and household homoeroticism. What was sanctioned by the temple set the moral example for the rest of the nation, and when Israel responded to the chastening of God under good kings, then cultic prostitutes were driven out of the land. (1Kg. 14:24; 15:12; 22:46; 2Kg. 23:7)

The terrible chastisements Israel suffered, after being warned by God for hundreds of years to return to obedient faith, appears to have cured them from outward idolatry, and homosexuality in any form. The author of the Syballine Oracles, thought to be an Egyptian Jew (approx. 163 - 45 B.C.), compared Jews to the other nations, stating,

The Jews "are mindful of holy wedlock, and they do not engage in impious intercourse with male children, as do Phoenicians, Egyptians, and Romans, specious Greece and many nations of others, Persians and Galatians and all Asia."<ref>Greenberg, p. 200, footnote 88</ref>

In contemporary times, according to sex researcher sex historian Arno Karlen [[Alfred Kinsey]] stated that "homosexuality was phenomenally rare among Orthodox Jews" (even though his flawed research otherwise exaggerated the number of homosexuals).

===Homosexuality in Egypt===

The [[Old Testament]] of the Bible mentions Egypt as one of the nations exampling sins which Israel is to avoid, including homosexuality. (Lv. 18:3) While no legal texts are yet possessed, other stories testify of homosexual acts and attitudes.

The earliest and longest version of the Contendings of Horus and Seth (Greek transliterations, or Heru and Set from Egyptian), dated c. 1160 B.C., late in the 20th Dynasty in the New Kingdom, with elements of religious mythology which are likely older, tells of Set, who is before manifested as heterosexual, perpetrating a homosexual act upon Horus. This is seen as shameful by Ruler Ennead. Seth is also said to have become pregnant by eating lettuce with the semen of Horus on it, placed there by his mother.<ref>The Contendings of Horus and Seth, by Khenmetaset and Marie Parsons</ref> An earlier version (est. 2,000 B.C.) is similar.<ref>from Kahun, from Griffith, F., Hieratic Papyri from Kahun and Gurob, 1908</ref> Historians see this indicating that to be anally penetrated was looked upon as humiliating and shameful.<ref>Montserrat, 1996, p. 71; Bullough, p. 65.</ref>

The Egyptian Book of the Dead (c. 14.50 century B.C.) is the name given by Egyptologists to a collection of mortuary texts written on sheets of papyrus covered with magical texts and accompanying illustrations. The earliest record of Book of the Dead is dated from approx. 1650-1550 B.C., though it is thought that some of the spells originated in the Pyramid Texts carved more than 1000 years earlier.<ref>[http://www.touregypt.net/boda.htm] The Book of the Dead, An Introduction</ref><ref>[http://www.egyptologyonline.com/book_of_the_dead.htm The book of the dead, EGYPTOLOGY ONLINE]</ref> In chapter 125 are two sets of “negative confessions”, in which the deceased was to testify before Osiris and forty-two other gods of his righteousness and worthiness of eternal life. In the first set of declarations (before Osiris) is the statement (as translated), ''I have not penetrated the penetrater of a penetrater''<ref>[Book of the Dead Chapter 125A http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/literature/religious/bd125a.html]</ref>, while in the second set (before the 42 judges) it is declared (as translated), ''I have committed no acts of impurity nor have I had sexual intercourse with a man.''<ref>[The Book of the Dead, chapter 125, by Richard Hooker http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/EGYPT/BOD125.HTM]</ref>

Part of an incomplete text dating from approximately 2200 B.C. has been termed, ''Neferkare’s Affair with General Sisene.'' It tells of a common man discovering that King Neferkare (Pepi 2) was making regular nightly visit to a man living without a wife,<ref>Egyptian Myth: A Very Short Introduction, by Geraldine Pinch</ref> and which may imply a homosexual affair as part of royal corruption.<ref>Egyptologist J. Gywn Griffths</ref>

The Teaching of Vizier Ptahhotep (c. 2200 B.C.), has a difficult to translate text (32) which may read, ''Do not copulate with a woman-boy,for You know that one will fight against the water upon her heart.''<ref>The Maxims of Good Discourse, by vizier Ptahhotep</ref>

Later, a homosexual liaison is described between the Governor of Egypt C. Vibius Maximus (103-107 A. D.) and a 17 year old ''still beardless...and handsome youth'' who ate and traveled with him rather than attending school and the gymnasium. His sexual relations with the politician were known, and the young man is described as exhibiting an attitude often seen in contemporary society today:

Once accustomed to this shame this handsome and rich young youth gave himself airs and became so impudent..in the presence of everyone, and laughed long and freely in the middle of the clients.

Partly because of this conduct the Governor incurred ''damnatio memoriaem'', with his name being removed from public documents.<ref>R. Syme, C. Vibius Maximus, Prefect of Egypt, Historia 6 (1957), p. 184</ref><ref>After Paul left Corinth, by Bruce W. Winter, p. 114</ref>

===Homosexuality in the Arab and Islamic worlds===

Greenberg contends that male homosexuality has been "pervasive and highly visible" in the Arab and Islamic worlds.<ref>Greenberg, p. 175</ref>

A Dutch traveler among the Moguls (Muslims who ruled in India), wrote that male homosexuality "is not only universal in practice among them, but extends to a bestial communication with brutes, and in particular with sheep."<ref>Johan Stavorinus, Voyages to the East Indies, G G. Robinson (London), 1798, pp. 453-57. Cited in Grcenberg, p. 180.</ref>

John Chardin, a visitor to Persia the late seventeenth century, reported that he had found "numerous houses of male prostitution, but none offering females;" and "some of the greatest Persian love poetry is written to boys."<ref>Greenberg , p. 180</ref>

Louis Dupree, perhaps the West's leading scholar on Afghanistan, wrote in his 1973 book on Afghanistan chat male homosexuality remains common there. (Louis Dupree, Afghani- stan, Princeton University, 1973, p. 198.)

Khaled El-Rouayheb in ''Before homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic world'', 1500-1800" states that "Arabic literature of the Ottoman period (1516-1798) is replete with causal and sometimes sympathetic references to homosexual love", most of it pederastic in content, such as between poets and young boys.

In his ''Music from a Distant Drum'', Bernard Lewis writes that

Homosexuality is condemned and forbidden by the holy law of Islam, but there are times and places in Islamic history when the ban on homosexual love seems no stronger than the ban on adultery in, say, Renaissance Italy or seventeenth century France. Some [of the Arabic, Persian and Turkish] poems are openly homosexual; some poets, in their collected poems, even have separate sections for for love poems addressed to males and females.

In ''The Venture of Islam'' author Marshal Hodegson wrote that in medieval Islamic civilization,

despite strong Shari disapproval, the sexual relations of a mature man with a subordinate youth were so readily accepted in middle class circles that there was little or no efforts to conceal their existence. The fashion entered poetry, especially the Persians.

Records from European travelers attest to the prevalence such, with the content of some revealing the distinction in cultural attitudes. One example is from Englishman Joesph Pitts, a sailor who was captured and sold into slavery at Algiers in 1678 but escaped fifteen years later. He later stated,

The horrible sin of Sodomy is so far from being punish'd among them, that it is part of their ordinary Discourse to boast of their detestable Actions of that kind. 'Tis common for Men there to fall in love with Boys, as 'tis here in England to be in love with Women.

The French traveler C. S. Sonnini, after visiting Egypt between 1777 and 1780, similary noted,

The passion contrary to nature...the inconceivable appetite which dishonored the Greek and Persians of antiquity, constitute the delight, or, to use a juster term, the infamy of the Egyptians. It is not for the women that that their amorous ditties are composed: it is not on them that tender caresses are lavished; far different objects inflame them.

Affirming this contrast, Muslim travelers who "rediscovered Europe" in the first half of the 1800s found it notable that the European men were ''not'' found courting or eulogizing male youth.

Moroccan scholar Muhammad Al-Saffar, who visited Paris in 1845-46, recorded,

Flirtation, romance, and courtship for them take place only with women, for they are not inclined to boys or young men. Rather, that is extremely disgraceful to them.

Likewise, El-Rouayheb also writes that Egyptian scholar Rifa'ah Rafi' al-Tahtaw who was in Paris between 1826 and 1831, noted,

Amongst the laudable traits of their character, similar really to those of the Bedouin, is their not being inclined to toward loving male youths and eulogizing them in poetry, for this is something unmentionable for them and contrary to their nature and morals. One of the positive aspects of their language and poetry is that it does not permit the saying of love poetry of someone of the same sex.<ref>Before homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic world, 1500-1800,
by Khaled El-Rouayheb, pp. 1-3</ref>

===Homosexuality in England===

Homosexuality was known to occur to certain degrees in [[England]]. Saint Boniface wrote in 744 that the people of England "have been leading a shameful life, despising lawful marriages, committing adultery and lusting after the fashion of cutlic people of Sodom. "<ref>Peter Coleman. Christian Attitudes to Homosexuality, 1980, SPCK (London), p 131 Cited in Greenberg, p. 250</ref> Yet especially in latter times England is evidenced to possesses a healthy abhorrence of homosexuality, with both laws and the public attitude being contrary to it.<ref>Rictor Norton (Ed.), Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook. Updated 31 May 2009</ref>

Sodomy (buggery) was described as "a sin against nature" and was prohibited as a capital offense along with bestiality from 1533 until 1861, which saw the penalty reduced to 10 years to life in prison. Later legislation broadened the description while lessening the penalty.<ref>History Of Homosexuality In Europe, 1919-1939. pp. 305-06, by Florence Tamagne (X rated, w/ pro homosexual bias)</ref>

Prior to this a number of medieval legal sources do discuss "sodomy."<ref>The Law in England, www.fordham.edu</ref>

A German traveler wrote in 1768,

The English women are so handsome, and the desire to please them, and to obtain their favours, is so ardent and so general, that it is not in the least surprising, that those islanders should hold a certain unnatural crime in the utmost abhorrence. They speak in no part of the world with so much horror of this infamous passion, as in England. The punishment by law is imprisonment, and the pillory. It is very uncommon to see a person convicted, and punished for this crime; not on account of the paucity of the numbers charged with perpetrating it, but because they never yield to such a brutal appetite but with the utmost precaution.<ref>M. D’Archenholz, A Picture of England, 2 vols, London, 1789, vol. 2, pp. 102-4.</ref><ref>Rictor Norton (Ed.), "A Picture of England, 1789," Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook. 6 January 2005</ref>

The Societies for Reformation of Manners was founded in 1690, and by 1701 there were about twenty such Societies. They purposed to clean up public vice, particularly prostitution. Eight or nine members of the society worked undercover to observe gay cruising areas and attract solicitation. From 1707 through 1709, one cleric, "Reverend Bray," directed several raids, in affiliation with Constables who were also members of the Societies. By their annual meeting in 1710 they were able to attest that "our streets have been very much cleansed from the lewd night-walkers and most detestable sodomites."<ref>Victor Norton, Ed., "The Tryal and Conviction of Several Reputed Sodomites, 1707", Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook. 1 December 1999, updated 15 June 2008</ref>

Attitudes regarding homosexuality varied throughout the history of England, depending on its spiritual condition, and while sodomy between men remained unlawful until the 1930s, increased tolerance toward homosexuality was seen in post [[World War 1]] The precursor to modern sexual revolution is understood by some to have begun among an intellectual class in England termed the ''Neo-Pagans'', whose lifestyle was one of worship of the body, freedom of sexual expression, nudism, etc.<ref>Tamagne</ref> This lifestyle was one which would later characterize the sexual revolution of the 1960s in the West. As seen in Romans 1:25, referring to "those who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen", this resulted in a modern prevalence of [[homosexuality]] in the [[United States]] and England, with its resultant deleterious effects.

==Lesbianism==

Lesbianism was termed ''lesbian passion'' by the Greeks, being derived from the name of the Greek island Lesbos, after its female poet Sappho wrote about love between women.<ref>www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Cities/Lesbos.html</ref> The term sapphism also came to describe traditional sex practices among women through the ages.<ref>Andre, 2003</ref> However, this is not seen as obtaining the same-sex social sanction as pederasty. Nor does Greek mythology offers legends of the goddesses which parallel the homosexual acts seen as having occurred between male Greek gods.

In Lucian's Amores 28, the Greek character Charicles states that it would be better for a women to invade the dominion of male wantonness (homosexuality) than for men to become effeminate, and also warns of lesbianism: ''If you concede homosexual love to males, you must in justice grant the same to females; you will have to sanction carnal intercourse between them; monstrous instruments of lust will have to be permitted, in order that their sexual congress may be carried out; that obscene vocable, tribad, which so rarely offends our ears--I blush to utter it--will become rampant, and Philænis will spread androgynous orgies throughout our harems.'' <ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=sclZnr2SUIgC&pg=PA113&lpg=PA113&dq=Amores+of+Lucian,+Charicles&source=bl&ots=wZNTllKdeA&sig=vh6J9B9uPzFXES6yaoyAYfwPGOg&hl=en&ei=LxYfStb2IsXMlQeZuqXFBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=25#PPA113,M1 After Paul left Corinth, by Bruce W. Winter]</ref>

[[Romans 1]] of the New Testament clearly refers to lesbianism, as ''even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature'', as a result of rejecting the creational revelation given them.

==Ancient laws against homosexual acts==

Greek laws existed which regulated pederasty, while later Romans laws went further in restricting it. Although there is some debate among scholars, Roman literature of the republic and early empire may indicate that men who engaged in consensual homosexual relations were often mocked as effeminate, but such was not illegal. Laws instituted in the later Roman Empire would change explicitly outlaw such.

On Dec 16, 342 A.D., Constantius and Constans issued a legal decision which was included in the later Theodosian Code:

Cod.Theod. IX. Viii. 3: (Cod. Justin IX.ix.31):

''When a man marries in the manner of a woman, a woman about to renounce men {quum vir nubit in feminam viris porrecturam), what does he wish, when sex has lost all its significance; when the crime is one which it is not profitable to know; when Venus is changed to another form; when love is sought and not found? We order the statutes to arise, the laws to be armed with an avenging sword, that those infamous persons who are now, or who hereafter may be, guilty may be subjected to exquisite punishment.''

The meaning of this is somewhat obscure, more explicit is the law issued by Valentinian II, Theodoisus and Arcadius on Aug 6, 390, and which also survives in the Theodosian Code:

Cod.Theod. IX. Vii. 6:

''All persons who have the shameful custom of condemning a man's body, acting the part of a woman's to the sufferance of alien sex (for they appear not to be different from women), shall expiate a crime of this kind in avenging flames in the sight of the people.''

During the Roman Imperial period the Lex Julia de adulteris (originally of c. 17 B.C.) was expanded by legal commentators to include first offenses against boys, and possibly all male homosexual acts. Under Justinian, the Eastern Roman Emperor from 527 A.D. to his death, historical accounts in Procopius and Malalas indicate that there was punishment of some homosexuals. In addition, under Justinian's legislative activity there was the strict Institutes of the Corpus Juris Civilis (effective Dec 30, 533), which is understood by some to sum up the legal opinons:<ref>Paul Halsall, Justinian I: Novel 77 [538] and Novel 141 [544 AD]</ref>

Institutes IV. xviii .4:

''In criminal cases public prosecutions take place under various statutes, including the Lex Julia de adulteris, "…which punishes with death (gladio), not only those who violate the marriages of others, but also those who dare to commit acts of vile lust with [other] men (qui cim masculis nefandum libidinem exercere audent)."

More significantly, two "Novels" by Justinian issued were directed against homosexual activity:

NOVEL 77 [358 AD] (extract)

…since certain men, seized by diabolical incitement practice among themselves the most disgraceful lusts, and act contrary to nature: we enjoin them to take to heart the fear of God and the judgment to come, and to abstain from suchlike diabolical and unlawful lusts, so that they may not be visited by the just wrath of God on account of these impious acts, with the result that cities perish with all their inhabitants. For we are taught by the Holy Scriptures that because of like impious conduct cities have indeed perish, together with all the men in them.<ref>[trans. in Derrick Sherwin Bailey, Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition, (London: Longmans, Green, 1955), 73-74]</ref>

NOVEL 141 [344 AD]

#1: For, instructed by the Holy Scriptures, we know that God brought a just judgment upon those who lived in Sodom, on account of this very madness of intercourse, so that to this very day that lands burns with inextinguishable fire. By this God teaches us, in order that by means of legislation we may avert such an untoward fate. Again, we know what the blessed Apostle says about such things, and what laws our state enacts. Wherefore it behoves all who desire to fear God to abstain from conduct so base and criminal that we do not find it committed even by brute beasts. Let those who have not taken part in such doings continue to refrain in the future. But as for those who have been consumed by this kind of disease, let them not only cease to sin in the future, but let them alos duly do penance, and fall down before God and renounce their plague [in confession] to the blessed Patriarch; let them understand the reason for this charge, and, as it is written, bring forth the fruits of repentance. So may God the merciful, in abundance of pity, deem us worthy of his blessing, that we may all give thanks to him for the salvation of the penitents, who we have now bidden [to submit themselves] in order that the magistrates too may follow up our action, [thus] reconciling to themselves God who is justly angry with us.

Late Roman pagan lawyers had already applied the Lex Julia to homosexual acts when Christian emperors enacted laws and issued exhortations against homosexuals, four in a two-hundred year period, with the two by Justinian (527-565) being as much concerned with penance as penalty.<ref>Bailey, pp. 79-81</ref>

Under Roman Emperor Charles V, (A.D. 1539), Lex Carolina (Die peinliche Halsgerichtsordnung) was promulgated:

§116 Punishment of the Unchastity that occurs against Nature.

Moreover, if a human being commits unchastity with an animal, [or] a man with a man, [or] a woman with a woman, they have forfeited life, and, according to the common custom, they shall be banished from life unto death by fire.

==History of homosexuality and myths==

Myths play a substantial part in the study of the history of homosexuality, which is seen by many among mythological Greek gods (similar Romans gods had Latin names<ref>[http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/mythology/myths.html Roman and greek mythology of gods and goddesses]</ref><ref>[http://www.americanbible.org/absport/news/item.php?id=80 Greek and Roman Gods and Goddesses]</ref><ref>http://messagenet.com/myths/immortals.html</ref>). Instances and possibilities include

*Zeus and Ganymede,
*Apollo and Hyacinthus,
*Achilles and Patroclus,
*Heracles (or Hercules) and Hylas,
*Narcissus and Ameinias.
*Other gods who to homosexual affairs are attributed include Orpheus ("the first man to love boys"), Boreas (god of the North Wind) and Thamyris.<ref>[http://everything2.com/title/Homosexuals%2520of%2520Greek%2520Mythology Homosexuals of Greek Mythology]</ref>

==Non-uniform occurrence==

An notable interesting aspect in regards to the history of homosexuality is that it has been rare in a number of cultures or been absent in some cultures. Dr. Neil Whitehead and Briar Whitehead state regarding various cultures: "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."<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>

==Modern prevalence and influence==

The history of homosexuality in modern times is one which evidences a growth from that which is shameful to mainstream acceptance in the West. This change may be seen as a product of the [[sexual revolution]] beginning in the 1960s, which saw widespread rebellion toward moral authority, and against prohibitions against illicit sex in particular. Gay and lesbian rights groups had existed before and grown during that time, but the rebellion which marked that era was distinctly manifested by homosexuals on June 28, 1969 in the [[Stonewall Riots]] which occurred in Greenwich Village, injuring police and bystanders. This is seen as marking the beginning of the modern organizing of gay and lesbian groups, and the promotion of what [[conservatives]] term the [[homosexual agenda]]. Gay Democratic clubs began in every major city, and one fourth of all college campuses had gay and lesbian groups.<ref>(Shilts, 1993, ch.28</ref>. The [[American Psychiatric Association]] was pressured to removed homosexuality from its official listing of mental disorders, and to treat it as an optional lifestyle. It is contended by some that such changes were due to pressure from the homosexual lobby, which Nicholas Cummings, former president of the APA, states, "is very strong in the APA."<ref>http://www.narth.com/docs/study.html</ref><ref>[http://www.narth.com/docs/insiders.html Psychology Losing Scientific Credibility, Say APA Insiders]</ref>

Since Stonewall, the visibility of gays and lesbians has become an increasing aspect of American life, despite the fact that the [[homosexual lifestyle]] was the primary cause of the spread of [[AIDS]], which has resulted in the death of over a half million Americans, and many more world wide.<ref>[http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5521a1.htm Twenty-Five Years of HIV/AIDS --- United States, 1981--2006</ref><ref>[http://www.avert.org/aroundworld.htm AIDS around the world]</ref> In addition to the decreased moral influence by Christians or others, and the increase in erotic sensuality overall, many credit effective homosexual public relations strategy for the increasing acceptance of homosexuality.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=cbfVg_1qhe0C&pg=PP1&lpg=PP1&dq=David+W.+Virtue+scots+college&source=bl&ots=aDW7a615Gn&sig=Y1cLsx5sCQTgUUDJ88b5AKPRkNg&hl=en&ei=8skISpP1AcGktgfi2PzsCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#PPR14,M1 Homosexuality, by F. Earle Fox, David W. Virtue]</ref>Instrumental in this strategy were Harvard trained marketing experts and social scientists Marshall Kirk (1957 - 2005) and Hunter Madsen, who advocated avoiding portraying gays as aggressive challengers, but as victims, while making those who opposed them as evil persecutors.<ref>http://www.leaderu.com/socialsciences/sellinghomosexuality.html http://www.article8.org/docs/gay_strategies/after_the_ball.htm </ref><ref>After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90’s, p. 152-153 (1989, Doubleday/Bantam)</ref> The widespread use of the term [[homophobia]] against any who oppose homosexuality has been effective in the latter effort.

Various estimates are given for the percentage of homosexuals (though who sexually desire their same genders over the opposite). The early figure of 10% as based upon a report by Alfred E. Kinsey, though often quoted, is not generally considered accurate by profession researchers, due to serious flaws (and even criminal practices) in his studies.<ref>such as 25 percent of his information coming from present or former prison inmates, many of whom were sex offenders, while a additional 5 percent were male prostitutes: Kinsey, Sex and Fraud: The Indoctrination of a People, Judith A. Reisman, Ph.D. and Edward W. Eichel</ref> A more recent national study found that 1.51% of total U.S. population identified themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual.<ref>National study published in Laumann, et al., The Social Organization of Sex: Sexual Practices in the United States(1994), cited in Amicus Curiae in support of petitioners. Lawrence and Garner v. State of Texas, No. 02-102 (U.S. March 26, 2003), pg. 16.</ref> Various sources compiled by Thomas E.Schmidt resulted in a figure of 1.8% of the U.S. population being gay or lesbian.<ref>Straight & Narrow: Compassion & Clarity in the Homosexuality Debate, pg. 102-103. [Original sources: P. Painton, "The Shrinking Ten Percent," Time, April 26, 1993, pp. 27-29; P. Rogers, "How Many Gays Are There?" Newsweek, February 15, 1993, pg. 46</ref> With the promotion of homosexuality in schools and society, these figures are expected to rise.<ref>www.massresistance.org</ref>

==Contemporary conflict==

In modern times in the [[United States]] the term "[[Culture War]]" has been used to describe the polarization on various issues between [[conservatives]] and [[liberals]] and the issue of homosexuality is part of this conflict. Conservatives point out that the weight of evidence shows there is a [[Homosexuality Research|significant body of research showing the homosexuality inordinately harms individuals and the larger society as a whole in comparison to heterosexuality]] (for example, through higher rates of diseases, higher domestic violence rates, etc.).

==Consequences of prevalent homosexuality==

As with Sodom and its region, (Jude 1:7) widespread fornication and its abominable homosexual form are Biblically seen by traditional Christians as concomitant with “pride, fullness of bread and abundance of idleness, and selfishness. (Ezek. 16:49,50), and is a preclude to national travail and ultimate destruction, if such prevalence continued.<ref>[http://www.leaderu.com/common/nationsdie.html When Nations Die, by Kerby Anderson]</ref> Historically, societies that have embraced homosexuality have perished, whereas those that have upheld traditional values have endured. For example, ancient Rome's decline and its eventual fall in A.D. 476 were due in no small part to a growing tolerance of homosexual acts beginning in the Late Republic period ending in 27 B.C.

We also see this today, both internationally and nationally. Internationally, those countries that preserve conservative social morality and family values are the leaders in both freedom and prosperity, while those that grant special rights to homosexuals lag in both areas. Nationally, in America's big [[city|cities]], the "gayborhoods" have the highest rates of [[crime]] and other social dysfunctions and the lowest property values, whereas the reverse is true in neighborhoods in which socially conservative [[Christian]] [[church]]es are prevalent.

==See also==
*[[Homosexuality and English Speaking Countries]]
*[[Homosexuality in other cultures]]
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
[[Category:Homosexuality]]
[[Category:History]]

History of homosexuality

2013-04-21T19:20:38Z

CameronD: /* Homosexuality among the America Indians */ links

The study of the '''history of [[homosexuality]]''' attempts to catalog evidence of [[homosexual behavior]] from its earliest occurrences to the present, with this manner of perversion being manifested in different sources from ancient times.

==Terminology relating to the history of homosexuality ==
The use of the term ''[[homosexuality]]'' in the study of ancient sexuality has found some dissatisfaction, due to the lack of a specific term in ancient literature corresponding to the modern concept of persons who are consistently sexually attracted to their own gender, versus the opposite sex. However, ancient literature refers to those who by their actions seem to have manifested such, especially as regards the male who played the female partner.<ref>Aristotle, "Problemata," 4.26; 879b-880a</ref> The primary moral authority on the subject, the Bible, does not explicitly refer to homosexual inclination, though it is reasonable to believe that the word ''malakos'', translated ''effeminate'' (1Cor. 6:9) in the [[KJV]] may denote homosexual ''orientation'', and men lusting after one another in Romans 1:27 is seen as a typical manifestation of homosexuality. In contrast to modern times however, to be the effeminate partner in Greece or Rome was considered shameful for a man.<ref>Homosexuality and the Ancient Greeks, ReligionFacts.com</ref> The lack of terms in the Bible for certain behaviors which correspond to modern psychological diagnostics may also be explained as being due to the fact that the Bible does not justify inherently unlawful actions even if one has an inner inclination to do them, but calls and enables victory over such. (Gn. 4:7; Col. 3:5-8)

==Homosexuality in the Bible==
''Main article: [[Homosexuality and biblical interpretation]]''

''See also [[Homosexuality and the Bible]]''

Homosexuality, as evidenced by homosexual acts, or ''homoeroticism'', was manifested not long after the [[fall of man]] and its resultant harmful effects, with man realizing an Adamic nature and its tendency to sin, which may somewhat vary in intensity as to a type of sin.

The history of homosexuality in the Bible may begin in Genesis 9:2-24, in which many Christian scholars believe that [[Ham]], the youngest son of [[Noah]], committed a homosexual act on his father,<ref>[http://www.robgagnon.net/2Views/HomoViaRespNotesRev.pdf Notes to Gagnon’s Essay in the Gagnon-Via Two Views Book, #32, by Robert A. J. Gagnon, Ph.D.]</ref><ref>The Bible and Homosexual Practice, pp. 63-78, 91-110</ref> while the latter was asleep, having been overcome with wine.

[[Leviticus 18]] universally outlaws men laying with men as with women, with this being a capital crime, (Lv. 18:22; 20:13), with an additional separate prohibition evidently forbidding homosexual religious prostitution. (Dt. 23:17) The context of these commands is one which invokes the practice of Israel's surrounding culture as an example of what not to do, thus evidencing that homosexual relations and other sexual sins were pagan cultural practices. Additional evidence shows that homosexual practice was generally not outlawed in the Ancient Near East (ANE), and was certainly tolerated in that area and time in private as well as religious life.<ref>Mesopotamia: Writing, Reasoning, and the Gods, Jean Bottero, Univ of Chicago:1992, pp. 190-192</ref> Miller adds that in contrast, "Israel's God condemned this behavior in EVERY culture in which it was mentioned(!): ANE (i.e. Sodom), Canaanite and Egyptian (i.e. Lev 18:3), Israelite (Lev 18, 20), Roman (Rom 1), Hellenistic (I Tim 1.9), and Greek (I Cor 6.9)."<ref>[http://www.christian-thinktank.com/qamorite.html Good Question... Homosexual practices]</ref>

Homosexuality is overall revealed in the Bible to be an effect of idolatry,<ref>with the latter being manifest the mother of all sins: Ex. 20:2-5</ref>, and which may consist of formal or informal false gods.<ref>a false god being whatever is your ultimate object of affection or allegiance, or source of security</ref> (Is. 44:15-20; Jer. 2:27; Rm. 6:16; 1Jn. 2:16; 5:21)

In [[Romans 1]] the apostle Paul delineates stages of degeneration, with homoerotic desire and acts being a particular effect of making the God of creation, who uniquely created the women of the man and joined them in marriage, into an image of corruptible man. This type of this idolatry is yet seen to be taking place today by pro homosexual authors, such as Roman Catholic priest Daniel A. Helminiak<ref>pro homosexual priest Daniel Helminiak, Sex and the sacred, p. 192</ref> who assert that the incorruptible [[Jesus Christ]] engaged in homosexual relations. Such extreme blasphemous attempts are refuted by Derrick K. Olliff and Dewey H. Hodges<ref>[http://www.reformed.org/social/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/social/hodges_response_helminiak.html A Reformed Response to Daniel Helminiak's Gay Theology]</ref> and others.<ref>[http://www.robgagnon.net/BelovedDisciple.htm] by Robert A. J. Gagnon,]</ref><ref>Patrick Holding, Does John 21:20 Show That Jesus Was Gay?[http://www.tektonics.org/gk/gayjesus.html]</ref>

Homosexual behavior was especially manifest in Rome and Greece at that time, but which was and is a historical constant among all peoples, in differing but deleterious forms, and with different degrees of [[moral degeneration]] being realized. For the follower of the Bible therefore, homosexuality is not new, nor unexpected, but neither is it justified, rather it is unequivocally condemned, while God is revealed as giving man grace to resist and overcome sin. (Gn. 4:7; Ja. 1:12-15' 1Cor. 6:9-11)

==Jewish and early ecclesiastical attitudes toward homosexuality==

The history of homosexuality as regards the position of Judaism and Christianity is testified to by extra-biblical accounts of ancient historians, commentators and leaders. As concerns Jewish beliefs, Gagnon notes in the study of [[homosexuality and biblical interpretation]], that "every piece of evidence that we have about Jewish views of same-sex intercourse in the Second Temple period and beyond is unremittingly hostile to such behavior.<ref>The Bible and Homosexual Practice, pp. 159-83</ref><ref>[http://www.robgagnon.net/2VOnlineNotes.htm Gagnon, Notes to Gagnon’s Essay in the Gagnon-Via Two Views Book]</ref><ref>Gagnon, The Bible and Homosexual Practice, pp. 159-83</ref>

First Century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (AD 37-100) wrote in his Commentary on the history of the Jews,

*As for adultery, Moses forbade it entirely, as esteeming it a happy thing that men should be wise in the affairs of wedlock; and that it was profitable both to cities and families that children should be known to be genuine. He also abhorred men’s lying with their mothers, as one of the greatest crimes; and the like for lying with the father’s wife, and with aunts, and sisters, and sons’ wives, as all instances of abominable wickedness. He also forbade a man to lie with his wife when she was defiled by her natural purgation: and not to come near brute beasts; nor to approve of the lying with a male, which was to hunt after unlawful pleasures on account of beauty. To those who were guilty of such insolent behavior, he ordained death for their punishment.” (Antiquities, 3:12.1)<ref>http://www.godrules.net/library/flavius/flaviusb3c12.htm</ref>

Also,

*And why do not the Eleans and Thebans abolish that unnatural (para physin) and impudent lust, which makes them lie with males? For they will not shew sufficient sign of their repentance of what they of old thought to be very excellent, and very advantageous in their practices, unless they entirely avoid all such actions for the time to come: nay, such things are inserted into the body of their laws, and had once such a power among the Greeks, that they ascribed these sodomitical practices to the gods themselves, as part of their good character; and indeed it was according to the same manner that the gods married their own sisters. This the Greeks contrived as an apology for their own absurd and unnatural (para physin) pleasures. (Against Apion, 2.273-75)<ref>[http://www.reformed.org/social/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/social/response_to_helminiak_2.html A Further Look at Pro-Homosexual Theology, by Derrick K. Olliff and Dewey H. Hodges]</ref>

More abundant are statements by early church leaders on the subject, which, though not wholly inspired as the Scriptures, are, manifest a Biblical response to homosexuality, and sometimes also testify to the existence of homosexuality among the Greeks and Romans.

*You shall not commit fornication; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not be a corrupter of youth. - Letter of Barnabas 10 (A.D. 74).

*You shall not commit murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit pederasty, you shall not commit fornication, you shall not steal, you shall not practice magic, you shall not practice witchcraft, you shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill one that has been born. - Didache 2:2 (A.D. 90).

*...to expose newly-born children is the part of wicked men; and this we have been taught lest we should do anyone harm and lest we should sin against God, first, because we see that almost all so exposed (not only the girls, but also the males) are brought up to prostitution. And for this pollution a multitude of females and hermaphrodites, and those who commit unmentionable iniquities, are found in every nation...And there are some who prostitute even their own children and wives, and some are openly mutilated for the purpose of sodomy; and they refer these mysteries to the mother of the gods. - Justin Martyr, First Apology 27 (A.D. 151).

*All honor to that king of the Scythians, whoever Anacharsis was, who shot with an arrow one of his subjects who imitated among the Scythians the mystery of the mother of the gods . . . condemning him as having become effeminate among the Greeks, and a teacher of the disease of effeminacy to the rest of the Scythians. Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Greeks 2 (A.D. 190).

*For your gods did not even abstain from boys, one having loved Hylas, another Hyacinthus, another Pelops, another Chrysippus, another Ganymede. - Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Greeks 2 (A.D. 190).

*[A]ll other frenzies of the lusts which exceed the laws of nature, and are impious toward both bodies and the sexes, we banish, not only from the threshold but also from all shelter of the Church, for they are not sins so much as monstrosities. - Tertullian, Modesty 4 (A.D. 220).

*[T]urn your looks to the abominations, not less to be deplored, of another kind of spectacle…Men are emasculated, and all the pride and vigor of their sex is effeminated in the disgrace of their enervated body; and he is more pleasing there who has most completely broken down the man into the woman. He grows into praise by virtue of his crime; and the more he is degraded, the more skillful he is considered to be. Such a one is looked upon--oh shame!--and looked upon with pleasure…nor is there wanting authority for the enticing abomination…that Jupiter of theirs [is] not more supreme in dominion than in vice, inflamed with earthly love in the midst of his own thunders…now breaking forth by the help of birds to violate the purity of boys. And now put the question: Can he who looks upon such things be healthy-minded or modest? Men imitate the gods whom they adore, and to such miserable beings their crimes become their religion. - Cyprian of Carthage, Letters 1:8 (A.D. 253).

"[T]he mother of the gods loved [the boy Attis] exceedingly, because he was of most surpassing beauty; and Acdestis [the son of Jupiter] who was his companion, as he grew up fondling him, and bound to him by wicked compliance with his lust…Afterwards, under the influence of wine, he [Attis] admits that he is…loved by Acdestis…Then Midas, king of Pessinus, wishing to withdraw the youth from so disgraceful an intimacy, resolves to give him his own daughter in marriage…Acdestis, bursting with rage because of the boy's being torn from himself and brought to seek a wife, fills all the guests with frenzied madness; the Phrygians shriek, panic-stricken at the appearance of the gods . . . [Attis] too, now filled with furious passion, raving frantically and tossed about, throws himself down at last, and under a pine tree mutilates himself, saying, `Take these, Acdestis, for which you have stirred up so great and terribly perilous commotions.'" - Arnobius, Against the Pagans 5:6-7 (A.D. 305).

“But we do not say so of that mixture that is contrary to nature, or of any unlawful practice; for such are enmity to God. For the sin of Sodom is contrary to nature, as is also that with brute beasts. But adultery and fornication are against the law; the one whereof is impiety, the other injustice, and, in a word, no other than a great sin. But neither sort of them is without its punishment in its own proper nature. For the practicers of one sort attempt the dissolution of the world, and endeavor to make the natural course of things to change for one that is unnatural; but those of the second son — the adulterers — are unjust by corrupting others’ marriages, and dividing into two what God hath made one, rendering the children suspected, and exposing the true husband to the snares of others. And fornication is the destruction of one’s own flesh, not being made use of for the procreation of children, but entirely for the sake of pleasure, which is a mark of incontinency, and not a sign of virtue. All these things are forbidden by the laws; for thus say the oracles: Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind. For such a one is accursed, and ye shall stone them with stones: they have wrought abomination.” - Methodius, bishop of Olympus and Patara (AD 260-312), Commentary on the sin of Sodom.

"[H]aving forbidden all unlawful marriage, and all unseemly practice, and the union of women with women and men with men, he [God] adds: `Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for in all these things the nations were defiled, which I will drive out before you. And the land was polluted, and I have recompensed [their] iniquity upon it, and the land is grieved with them that dwell upon it' [Lev. 18:24-25]." - Eusebius of Caesarea, Proof of the Gospel 4:10 (A.D. 319).

"“They who have committed sodomy with men or brutes, murderers, wizards, adulterers, and idolaters, have been thought worthy of the same punishment; therefore observe the same method with these which you do with others." - Basil, Letters 217:62 (A.D. 367).

"[The pagans] were addicted to the love of boys, and one of their wise men made a law that pederasty…should not be allowed to slaves, as if it was an honorable thing; and they had houses for this purpose, in which it was openly practiced. And if all that was done among them was related, it would be seen that they openly outraged nature, and there was none to restrain them… As for their passion for boys, whom they called their 'paedica,' it is not fit to be named." - John Chrysostom, Homilies on Titus 5 (A.D. 390]).

"[Certain men in church] come in gazing about at the beauty of women; others curious about the blooming youth of boys. After this, do you not marvel that [lightning] bolts are not launched [from heaven], and all these things are not plucked up from their foundations? For worthy both of thunderbolts and hell are the things that are done; but God, who is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forbears awhile his wrath, calling you to repentance and amendment." - John Chrysostom, Homilies on Matthew 3:3 (A.D. 391).

"All of these affections [in Rom. 1:26-27]… were vile, but chiefly the mad lust after males; for the soul is more the sufferer in sins, and more dishonored than the body in diseases." - John Chrysostom, Homilies on Romans 4 (A.D. 391).

"[The men] have done an insult to nature itself. And a yet more disgraceful thing than these is it, when even the women seek after these intercourses, who ought to have more shame than men." - John Chrysostom, Homilies on Romans 4 (A.D. 391).

"And sundry other books of the philosophers one may see full of this disease. But we do not therefore say that the thing was made lawful, but that they who received this law were pitiable, and objects for many tears. For these are treated in the same way as women that play the whore. Or rather their plight is more miserable. For in the case of the one the intercourse, even if lawless, is yet according to nature; but this is contrary both to law and nature. For even if there were no hell, and no punishment had been threatened, this would be worse than any punishment." - John Chrysostom, Homilies on Romans 4 (A.D. 391).

"[T]hose shameful acts against nature, such as were committed in Sodom, ought everywhere and always to be detested and punished. If all nations were to do such things, they would be held guilty of the same crime by the law of God, which has not made men so that they should use one another in this way." - Augustine, Confessions 3:8:15 (A.D. 400).

"[Christians] abhor all unlawful mixtures, and that which is practiced by some contrary to nature, as wicked and impious." - Apostolic Constitutions 6:11 (A.D. 400).

==Historical data concerning the history of homosexuality ==
The two most principal areas of historical inquiry which have been studied by historians in relation to ancient occurrences of homosexuality are [[Greek Homosexuality|Greek homosexuality]] and [[Roman Homosexuality|Roman homosexuality]] (see also [[Romans 1]]) but to which other societies, ancient to modern, are included.

It should be noted here that most of the research for the information referenced here comes through pro-homosexual writers, who sometimes interpret obscure or indefinite data as positively denoting homosexuality, while tending to render negative comments on homosexuality as being due to [[homophobia]]. And or as Boswell,<ref>Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe</ref> they may seek to contrive a history more usable to them,<ref>[http://www.leaderu.com/ftissues/ft9411/articles/darling.html Gay Marriage: Reimagining Church History Robin Darling Young]</ref> (which they are not alone in doing). Some assert that in some cases, pro-homosexual authors have extrapolated prevalent homosexuality out of little real evidence.<ref>http://homosexualityinancientgreece.wordpress.com/</ref> The inclusion of these sources is for reference purposes, and not as recommended reading. However, much clear data is provided which testifies to some degree of acceptance of homoeroticism (mostly pederastic), concomitant with idolatry. Biblically, this also included Israel at times when they forsook worship of "the living and true God" (1Thes. 1:9) of the Bible, who uniquely forbade such. A primary source on the subject of history and homosexuality, pro homosexual author Dr. David E. Greenberg, noted that, other than the Jews, "none of the archaic civilizations prohibited homosexuality per se",<ref>Greenberg, "The Construction of Homosexuality" p. 124</ref> (though he himself forced homosexuality into the story of [[David and Jonathan]]).

Dynes and Donaldson also note that the literary and archaeological records of Mediterranean societies have overall revealed that the ancient patterns of same-gender sexual behavior

:did not, for the most part, conform to the androphile model of modern industrial societies — a model that involves pairs of adults, both considered to be of the same gender, of roughly equal social status, and reciprocal and their behavior. Instead they generally adhered to gender-and-age differentiated patterns, Egypt being a partial exception. The best known types are the male temple prostitution of the near east and the institutionalized pederasty of Greece. <ref>Wayne R. Dynes, Stephen Donaldson Homosexuality in the ancient world'', p. 7</ref>

===Homosexuality in Greece===

The largest amount of material pertinent to the history of homosexuality is from Greece, from notable philosophers and writers such as Plato, Xenophon, Plutarch, and pseudo-Lucian, to plays by Aristophanes, to Greek artwork and vases. James B. De Young notes that homosexuality seems to have existed more widely among the ancient Greeks more than among any other ancient culture. The main form of this was pederasty, a custom that seems to have been practiced mostly among the upper classes, in which an older man (the ''erastest'') would make a young free boy (the ''eromenos'') his sex partner, and become his mentor. This was regulated by the State as an institution. However, this practice was usually a supplement to marriage,<ref>Dover, K.J., Greek Homosexuality (Harvard University Press, 1989, as summarized in "Homosexuality," Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, August 2002)</ref> and thus is seen as being done by bisexuals. The practice of pederasty is mentioned in Homer's ''Illiad'', and is evidenced to have existed at least 4500 years ago in ancient Egypt.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=ZXAVf8m_HKgC&pg=PA322&lpg=PA322&dq=Plato%27s+Laws+636c&source=bl&ots=ZjVFYZcdwc&sig=qh8nqrP0-_GCl1p49MgogdYs7E8&hl=en&ei=0sUeSqOxIqbWlQfpnPjPBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=19 Homosexuality, By James B. DeYoung p. 322]</ref>

{{Main|Greek Homosexuality}}

===Homosexuality in Rome===

After Greece, Rome is the next most significant entity in the history of homosexuality, and this cultural practice in both is understood by scholars as being what the apostle Paul is immediately referring to in condemning homosexuality in [[Romans 1.]]<ref>Homosexuality by James B. DeYoung, pp. 152-192ff</ref> Romans emperors were sometimes the most notorious examples of homosexuality. Edward Gibbon, in his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, wrote that "of the first fifteen emperors Claudius was the only one whose taste in love was entirely correct (not homo-sexual].<ref>Edward Gibbon. History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Vol. 1, London. 1898, p. 313. note 40</ref>

Juvenal (60-140 A.D.) and Martial (c. 40-102 A.D.) wrote of formal marriage unions between homosexuals. Some moral philosophers around the time of the apostle Paul questioned the merits of homosexual behaviors. Seneca (4 B.C-65 A.D.), a statesmen and tutor to the homosexual emperor Nero, reproved homosexual exploitation, such which which forced a slave to shave his beard, and dress and behave as a women,<ref>Moral epistles 47.7-8</ref> though Nero himself castrated a boy, and dressed him as female and married him, after killing his wife.<ref>Suetonius "Nero," XVIII-XVIX De Vita Caeasarum; Dio Cassius, LXII, xvii</ref> Dio Chrysostom (A.D. 40) likewise condemned such exploitation, and commended ''natural intercourse" and union of the male and female.''<ref>Discourse, 7.133, 135; 151-52; 21:6-10; 77/78.36</ref> Later, in 226 B.C., the Lex Scantinia (149 B.C.) is understood to have penalized homosexual practice.

According to psychiatrist and sexual historian Norman Sussman, "In contrast to the self-conscious and elaborate efforts of the Greeks to glorify and idealize homosexuality, the Romans simply accepted it as a matter of fact and as an inevitable part of human sexual life. Pederasty was just another sexual activity. Many of the most prominent men in Roman society were bisexual if not homosexual. Julius Caesar was called by his contemporaries every woman's man and every man's woman."<ref>Sussman p. 19</ref>

Many see Rome realizing a deleterious change in aspects of social morality beginning in the second century B.C, due to the influence and adaptation of "Asiatic luxury and Greek manners", including homosexuality, resulting in a "moral crises from which she never recovered (historian D. Earl)<ref>Young, Homosexuality, p. 153</ref>

Edward Gibbon, stated in his “History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” that marital faithfulness in the Roman Empire was virtually unknown, and that “The dignity of marriage was restored by the Christians.”<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=Ib7KaA717U0C&pg=RA1-PA478&lpg=RA1-PA478&dq=Gibbon,+dignity+of+marriage+was+restored+by+the+Christians.%E2%80%9D+p.&source=bl&ots=vLEsgM9AST&sig=Rw9ZVE-9MmInLQORPnl5NNQunxs&hl=en&ei=jbhGSrimC8b6tgeQ0NmMCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1 The history of the decline and fall of the Roman empire. p. 478, by Edward Gibbon, John Bagnell Bury]</ref>

===Homosexuality in China===

Art, poetry, historical and legal documents infer or attest to the practice of homosexuality in China (the type or degree of which is often somewhat dependent on the bias of the researcher, with most major works today being by by pro homosexual writers). The earliest references to such are from the period of the Han Dynasty (Western: 202 B.C. to 9 A.D; Eastern: 25 to 22 A.D.) The ''Da-le-fu'' by Bo Xingjian (775-826) in an official ancient medical text ''History of the Former Hans Dynasty'' is seen by some to speak of homoeroticism, especially among emperors, in highly euphemistic language.

Heissig states that in the fourteenth century, the Chinese found homosexual Tibetan religious rites practiced at the court of a Mongol emperor.<ref>Walther Heissig, A Lost Civilization</ref>

Sex historian Arno Karlen reports that "two Arab travelers trekked through India and China m the ninth century, and in tneir chronicle said the Chinese were addicted to sodomy and even performed it in their shrines."<ref>Arno Kjrlen. Sexuality and Homosexuality. 1971, Norton, p. 229</ref>

During the Song dynasty (960-1279 A.D.) Tao Gu noted in his ''Records of the Extraordinary''

Everywhere people single out Nanhai for its 'Misty Moon Worships, a term referring the custom of esteeming lewdness. Nowadays those in the capital those who sell themselves number more than ten thousand . As to the men who offer their bodies for sale, then enter and leave place shamelessly. A law later enacted during Xhenghe reign (1111-1118) which punished male prostitutes with "one hundred strokes of a bamboo rod and a fine of fifty thousand in cash." However, it seems to have fallen into disuse over time.

Male prostitutes were known to have their own god, Tcheou--Wang.<ref>The Construction of Homosexuality, by David F. Greenberg, pp. 161-62</ref>

During the latter part of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.), Xie Zhaozhe, (1567-1624) - a contemporary of Shakespeare - recorded in his encyclopedia, the Wu za zu (Fivehold Miscellany),

In today's Peking, there are young boys singers who go to all the gentry's wine parties, and no matter how many official prohibitions there are, everybody uses them.

A fuller description of homosexual relations, and one that may be likened to [[same-sex marriage]], is found in the writings of Ming commentator Shen Defu (1578-1642), which tells of homosexual relationships which sometimes were part of the family order in the southern province of Fujian. He states that among all social ranks and physical attractiveness, Fujianese men found a same sex partner of their status, with the older becoming a "brother" to the younger (a custom termed ''nanfeng'') and paying for his later marriage to a female. "And that at the age of thirty they are still sleeping in the same bed like husband and wife." However, this is not known to have lasted more than twenty years, as they were to later marry a female.

In the latter part of the 16th century Roman Catholic missionaries commented on the perverse homosexual practices they saw in China. In a book published in 1569, Dominican Gaspar da Cruz attributed the [[earthquakes]] which had recently shaken China (its most fatal earthquake in history was in 1556[http://www.drgeorgepc.com/EarthquakesChina.html]) to being due to their indifference to [[sodomy]]. Shortly after his arrival in 1583, noted Jesuit astronomer Matteo Ricci found that male [[prostitution]] was lawful and practiced openly:

there are public streets full of boys dressed up like prostitutes. And there are people who buy these boys and teach them to play music, sing and dance. And than, gallantly dressed up and made up with rouge like women, these miserable men are initiated into this terrible vice.<ref>Spence (1984: p. 220)</ref>

He also wrote to his superior lamenting "the horrible sin to which everyone here is much given, and about which there seems to be no shame or impediment." No long before his death in 1610, he grieved that such was "neither forbidden by law nor thought to be illicit, nor even a cause of shame. It is spoken of in public, practiced everywhere, without there being anyone to prevent it."

An official Chinese historian named Mao Qiling (1623- 1716) wrote in a supplementary historical account regarding Emperor Wuzong (1491-1521), that had a passion of military uniforms and maneuvers, and broke precedent by sleeping at his new Leopard House, which accommodated his generals. He had so close friendship with one general in particular,that is recorded that they sleep and rose with together (tong wo-qi).

Open sexual expression was expanded under the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.), but increasing moral disorder, and invasion by warriors who captured Peking in 1644, establishing the Qing Dynasty, worked to somewhat morally awaken China, and resulted in laws for moral reform. Chinese conservatives labored to restore the more chaste values of orthodox Confucianism, while the Manchu conquerors sought to discourage fornication, including sexual offenses between males. The second Qing Emperor, Kang Xi, was an esteemed ruler who was hostile to pederasty and child prostitution, and declared that he himself was not waited on by "pretty boys."

In 1679 extensive legislation was written and confirmed in the Qing code of 1740, which made the abduction and rape of boys under twelve a capital crime, and penalized consensual sodomy with one hundred strokes of the heavy bamboo, and the wearing of the cangue (a flat wooden board) for one month. As in Biblical law, it appears that actually being caught in the act was required, and enforcement seems to have been rather selective. However, Kang Xi's own son and heir to the throne was found to be sexually involved with palace officials, and was executed. <ref>Homosexuality & Civilization, pp. 224-228,237-239, by Louis Crompton (pro homosexual)</ref>

Despite these reforms, later some Qing rulers are said to have engaged in homosexual relationships, and China saw a resurgence of homosexuality. Even during the reign of Kang Xi a contemporary writer wrote that "it is considered bad taste not to have singing boys around when inviting guests for dinner." Art began to abandoned its discrete nature in relation to sexual expression, and began to make the sexual act explicit.<ref> Passions of the Cut Sleeve, p. 146, by Bret Hinsch</ref>

Englishman John Barrow, secretary to the Macartney Embassy of 1793, and later the founder of the Royal Geographical Society, stated in ''Travels in China'' (1806),

Many of the first officers of state seemed to make no hesitation in publicly avowing [homosexuality]!"<ref<Sir John Barrow. Travels in China. T. Cadell & W. Davics (London), 1804 Cited In Karlen, op. cit . p. 229</ref>

Barrows also wrote that the exclusion of women had the effect of

"promoting that sort of connexion which, being one of the greatest violations of nature, ought to be considered among the first of moral crimes - a connexion that sinks a man many degrees below the brute. The commission of this detestable and unnatural act is attended to with so little sense of shame, or feeling of delicacy, that many first officers of state seemed to make no hesitation in publicly avowing it. Each of these officer is attended to by his pipe-bearer, who is generally a handsome boy, from fourteen to eighteen years of age, and is always well dressed.<ref>Hinsch, p. 141</ref>

In Judaism's Sexual Revolution: Why Judaism Rejected Homosexuality, Dennis Prager also notes that the low state of women has been linked to widespread homosexuality, and writes that a French physician reported from China in the nineteenth century that, "Chinese women were such docile, homebound dullards that the men, like those of ancient Greece, sought courtesans and boys."

In contrast, a commentator of Napoleonic France provided commendation for such.<ref>Crompton, pp. 239-240</ref>

Sir Richard Burton summed up the Chinese in these words: "their systematic bestiality with ducks, goats and other animals is equaled only by their pederasty."<ref>Sir Richard Burton, The Erotic Traveler, 1967. Norton. Cited in Karlen p. 230</ref>

Eberhardt understands that "Chinese Buddhism considered homosexuality to be a minor transgression." <ref>Wolfram Eberhardt, Guilt and Sin in Traditional China. 1967. University of California, pp. 29-32. Cited in Greenberg, p. 26l. note 101</ref>

A western visitor to the port city of Tianjin estimated that there were approximately eight hundred boys in its thirty-five brothels, trained for pederastic prostitution.<ref>Hinsch, p. 141</ref>

However, homoeroticism apparently was not a religious part of Chinese folk religion, as "the Chinese were shocked and indignant at the homoerotic Tibetan rites practiced at the court of Shun-Ti Heissig, the last Mongul emperor in the fourteenth century."<ref>1996; pp. 52-54, referenced by Greenberg, p. 161</ref>

During the Chinese cultural revolution (1966 - 76), government considered homosexuality to be a social offense or a form of mental illness, and homosexuality is said to been punished more than in all previous times.

In 1989 the "Chinese Classification and Diagnostic Criteria of Mental Disorders", released by the Chinese Psychiatric Association, defined homosexuality as a "psychiatric disorder of sexuality", providing more tolerance toward this class of sin.<ref>Shanghai Star October 4, 2002</ref>

===Homosexuality in Japan===

Greenberg understands that during the feudal age in Japan, homosexuality flourished among military aristocracy, "with samurai sometimes fighting duels on behalf of their lovers",<ref>Greenberg, p 260</ref> and that Japanese Buddhism appears to have disregarded homosexuality.<ref>Greenberg, p. 261, note 101</ref>

[[Buddhist]] [[monks]] are said to not have allowed intercourse with women, though "male partners were not explicitly prohibited, and that many monks took youthful male lovers, a practice that was considered quite acceptable..." "Legal codes of the period do not even mention homosexuality." <ref>Greenberg, p. 261</ref>

===Homosexuality among the Celts===

[[Aristotle]] stated that the Celts esteemed homosexuality."<ref>Politics 2 9 7 Cited in Greenberg, p 111</ref> In addition, Diodorus Siculus wrote in the first century B.C., "The men are much keener on their own sex; they lie around on animal skins and enjoy themselves, with a lover on each side. Furthermore, this isn't looked down on, or regarded in any way disgraceful."<ref>Cited in Gerhard Herm. The Celts. St Martin's. 1977. p 58.</ref>

===Homosexuality among the America Indians===

Pre-Columbian Americas: In North America, the Spanish and French explorers and missionaries who visited the New World quickly became aware of widespread Indian transvestism (men dressing as women) and homosexuality. Writing in 1776, Father Charlevoix, a [[Jesuit]] [[priest]], found the Iroquois to have “an excess of effeminacy and lewdness. There are men unashamed to wear women’s clothing and to practice all the occupations of women, from which follows corruption that I cannot express. They pretend that its usage comes from their religion. These effeminates never marry and abandon themselves to the most infamous passions.”

Greenberg reports that there was widespread male homosexuality among the Mayans in Central America: “A strong homosexual component pervades close friendships of young married Mayan men as well as bachelors in southern Mexico and among Guatemalan Indians.”

Among the Aztecs, “Sodomy was virtually universal, involving even children as young as six. Cortez also found sodomy to be widespread among the Aztecs, and admonished them to give it up – along with human sacrifice and cannibalism. One of the Aztec gods, [[Xochipili]], was the patron of male homosexuality and male prostitution.”<ref>[http://vesler.blogspot.com/2006/04/why-judaism-rejected-homos_114634268752564895.html Why Judaism Rejected Homosexuality -- Part 2, referencing Greenberg]</ref>

===Homosexuality in ancient Mesopotamia===

Certain other ancient societies provide some evidence in regards to the history of homosexuality. Gordon J Wenham in "The Old Testament Attitude to Homosexuality" refers to ''Homosexualität'' Reallexicon der Assyriologie (4. 559-68) as a prime source, and states,

From iconographic evidence dating from 3000 BC to the Christian era it is clear that homosexual practice was an accepted part of the Mesopotamian scene. This conclusion is confirmed by many literary and legal texts in which homosexual activity is mentioned.<ref>[http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article_attitude_wenham.html Wenham, The Old Testament Attitude to Homosexuality, p. 360]</ref>

Within the ''Middle Assyrian Laws'' (c. 1450-1250 B.C.) does seem to provide one or two relevant laws. MAL 19 provides a penalty for false accusation of passive homosexuality, requiring the false witness to be beaten, fined and suffer a mark of shame on him.<ref>So G. Cardascia, Les lois assyriennes (du Cerf [1969]), p. 130.</ref>

MAL 20 is more specific, "If a man has lain with his male friend and a charge is brought and proved against him, the same thing shall be done to him and he shall be made a eunuch."<ref>H.W.F Saggs, The Greatest That was Babylon, (New York: Hawthorn, 1962), p. 212</ref>

Wenham comments,

This is what Cardascia, Les lois assyriennes, 134-35 suggests. Bottero and Petschow in Reallexicon der Assyriologie 4, 462 are more dogmatic. 'The verb niku/ náku ... implies a certain constraint on the part of the protagonist. Its literal translation would be "to do violence to" and almost "violate". It is precisely because the victim submits to violence that obliges its author to submit in his turn to violence himself.''<ref>Wenham, footnote #8</ref> Unlike in the Bible where both parties are guilty and are to be punished, (Lv. 18:22; 20:13) here only the active male partner is punished.

He further states,

Nor were homosexuals shut away in Mesopotamia. There were homosexual cult prostitutes, who took part in public processions, singing, dancing, wearing costumes, sometimes wearing women's clothes and carrying female symbols, even at times pretending to give birth...Sometimes they are called 'dogs'. 'It therefore appears that these types of person, as in other places and periods including our own, formed a shady sub-culture where all sorts of ambiguities, mixtures and transformations were possible.<ref>ibid. Wenham</ref>

Greenberg states that in Mesopotamiam Hammurabi, the author of the famous legal code bearing his name, had male lovers (Greenberg, p. 126)

In addition, it is understood that Assyrian men prayed for divine blessing on homosexual love.<ref>[Reallexicon der Assyriologie p. 465</ref> This is seen to stand in contrast to the Bible, which nowhere offers sanction for homoeroticism, in contrast to its explicit Divine blessing on heterosexual relations in marriage. The Bible is also seen to separately forbid homosexual activity near the Temple, (Dt. 23:17,18) this likely being homosexual prostitutes, called ''dogs''.

The Reallexicon der Assyriologie concludes:

Homosexuality in itself is thus nowhere condemned as licentiousness, as immorality, as social disorder, or as transgressing any human or divine law. Anyone could practise it freely, just as anyone could visit a prostitute, provided it was done without violence and without compulsion, and preferably as far as taking the passive role was concerned, with specialists.'' <ref>Reallexicon der Assyriologie pp. 4, 467, 68</ref>

The Bible states that because of such immorality the Lord drove out the people whose land Israel possessed. (Dt. 9:3-5; 18:12)

Among the Hittites, Law 189 states, ''If a man violates his daughter it is a capital crime. If a man violates his son, it is a capital crime''. However, the violation here may be more due to its incestuous nature, than the homosexual aspect.<ref> H. A. Hoffner, 'Incest, Sodomy, and Bestiality in the Ancient Near East' in (Orient and Occident: Essays in Honor of C. H. Gordon, Neukirchen, Neukirchener Verlag [1973]), 83</ref>

===Homosexuality among the Jews===

As [[Leviticus 18]] and other texts evidence, homosexuality was forbidden among the Jews, with violation being a capital offense. In providing Israel with a superior moral standard, as well in other areas, God invoked the example of immoral nations, fitted for destruction, as manifesting the behavior which Israel was ''not'' to follow. This means of contrast, which does not limit the forbidden behavior to only that culture, is seen in the [[New Testament]] as well. (Rm. 1:19-32; Eph. 5:1-7) 1Pt. 4:2-4)

Israel was established as an overall victorious nation as they overall followed God, as He promised. (Dt. 28) However, when Israel backslid into idolatry then homosexuality was seen among them, though it is not evidenced to have degenerated past the stage of idolatrous ceremony, (Dt. 23:17,18) into pederasty and household homoeroticism. What was sanctioned by the temple set the moral example for the rest of the nation, and when Israel responded to the chastening of God under good kings, then cultic prostitutes were driven out of the land. (1Kg. 14:24; 15:12; 22:46; 2Kg. 23:7)

The terrible chastisements Israel suffered, after being warned by God for hundreds of years to return to obedient faith, appears to have cured them from outward idolatry, and homosexuality in any form. The author of the Syballine Oracles, thought to be an Egyptian Jew (approx. 163 - 45 B.C.), compared Jews to the other nations, stating,

The Jews "are mindful of holy wedlock, and they do not engage in impious intercourse with male children, as do Phoenicians, Egyptians, and Romans, specious Greece and many nations of others, Persians and Galatians and all Asia."<ref>Greenberg, p. 200, footnote 88</ref>

In contemporary times, according to sex researcher sex historian Arno Karlen [[Alfred Kinsey]] stated that "homosexuality was phenomenally rare among Orthodox Jews" (even though his flawed research otherwise exaggerated the number of homosexuals).

===Homosexuality in Egypt===

The [[Old Testament]] of the Bible mentions Egypt as one of the nations exampling sins which Israel is to avoid, including homosexuality. (Lv. 18:3) While no legal texts are yet possessed, other stories testify of homosexual acts and attitudes.

The earliest and longest version of the Contendings of Horus and Seth (Greek transliterations, or Heru and Set from Egyptian), dated c. 1160 B.C., late in the 20th Dynasty in the New Kingdom, with elements of religious mythology which are likely older, tells of Set, who is before manifested as heterosexual, perpetrating a homosexual act upon Horus. This is seen as shameful by Ruler Ennead. Seth is also said to have become pregnant by eating lettuce with the semen of Horus on it, placed there by his mother.<ref>The Contendings of Horus and Seth, by Khenmetaset and Marie Parsons</ref> An earlier version (est. 2,000 B.C.) is similar.<ref>from Kahun, from Griffith, F., Hieratic Papyri from Kahun and Gurob, 1908</ref> Historians see this indicating that to be anally penetrated was looked upon as humiliating and shameful.<ref>Montserrat, 1996, p. 71; Bullough, p. 65.</ref>

The Egyptian Book of the Dead (c. 14.50 century B.C.) is the name given by Egyptologists to a collection of mortuary texts written on sheets of papyrus covered with magical texts and accompanying illustrations. The earliest record of Book of the Dead is dated from approx. 1650-1550 B.C., though it is thought that some of the spells originated in the Pyramid Texts carved more than 1000 years earlier.<ref>[http://www.touregypt.net/boda.htm] The Book of the Dead, An Introduction</ref><ref>[http://www.egyptologyonline.com/book_of_the_dead.htm The book of the dead, EGYPTOLOGY ONLINE]</ref> In chapter 125 are two sets of “negative confessions”, in which the deceased was to testify before Osiris and forty-two other gods of his righteousness and worthiness of eternal life. In the first set of declarations (before Osiris) is the statement (as translated), ''I have not penetrated the penetrater of a penetrater''<ref>[Book of the Dead Chapter 125A http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/literature/religious/bd125a.html]</ref>, while in the second set (before the 42 judges) it is declared (as translated), ''I have committed no acts of impurity nor have I had sexual intercourse with a man.''<ref>[The Book of the Dead, chapter 125, by Richard Hooker http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/EGYPT/BOD125.HTM]</ref>

Part of an incomplete text dating from approximately 2200 B.C. has been termed, ''Neferkare’s Affair with General Sisene.'' It tells of a common man discovering that King Neferkare (Pepi 2) was making regular nightly visit to a man living without a wife,<ref>Egyptian Myth: A Very Short Introduction, by Geraldine Pinch</ref> and which may imply a homosexual affair as part of royal corruption.<ref>Egyptologist J. Gywn Griffths</ref>

The Teaching of Vizier Ptahhotep (c. 2200 B.C.), has a difficult to translate text (32) which may read, ''Do not copulate with a woman-boy,for You know that one will fight against the water upon her heart.''<ref>The Maxims of Good Discourse, by vizier Ptahhotep</ref>

Later, a homosexual liaison is described between the Governor of Egypt C. Vibius Maximus (103-107 A. D.) and a 17 year old ''still beardless...and handsome youth'' who ate and traveled with him rather than attending school and the gymnasium. His sexual relations with the politician were known, and the young man is described as exhibiting an attitude often seen in contemporary society today:

Once accustomed to this shame this handsome and rich young youth gave himself airs and became so impudent..in the presence of everyone, and laughed long and freely in the middle of the clients.

Partly because of this conduct the Governor incurred ''damnatio memoriaem'', with his name being removed from public documents.<ref>R. Syme, C. Vibius Maximus, Prefect of Egypt, Historia 6 (1957), p. 184</ref><ref>After Paul left Corinth, by Bruce W. Winter, p. 114</ref>

===Homosexuality in the Arab and Islamic worlds===

Greenberg contends that male homosexuality has been "pervasive and highly visible" in the Arab and Islamic worlds.<ref>Greenberg, p. 175</ref>

A Dutch traveler among the Moguls (Muslims who ruled in India), wrote that male homosexuality "is not only universal in practice among them, but extends to a bestial communication with brutes, and in particular with sheep."<ref>Johan Stavorinus, Voyages to the East Indies, G G. Robinson (London), 1798, pp. 453-57. Cited in Grcenberg, p. 180.</ref>

John Chardin, a visitor to Persia the late seventeenth century, reported that he had found "numerous houses of male prostitution, but none offering females;" and "some of the greatest Persian love poetry is written to boys."<ref>Greenberg , p. 180</ref>

Louis Dupree, perhaps the West's leading scholar on Afghanistan, wrote in his 1973 book on Afghanistan chat male homosexuality remains common there. (Louis Dupree, Afghani- stan, Princeton University, 1973, p. 198.)

Khaled El-Rouayheb in ''Before homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic world'', 1500-1800" states that "Arabic literature of the Ottoman period (1516-1798) is replete with causal and sometimes sympathetic references to homosexual love", most of it pederastic in content, such as between poets and young boys.

In his ''Music from a Distant Drum'', Bernard Lewis writes that

Homosexuality is condemned and forbidden by the holy law of Islam, but there are times and places in Islamic history when the ban on homosexual love seems no stronger than the ban on adultery in, say, Renaissance Italy or seventeenth century France. Some [of the Arabic, Persian and Turkish] poems are openly homosexual; some poets, in their collected poems, even have separate sections for for love poems addressed to males and females.

In ''The Venture of Islam'' author Marshal Hodegson wrote that in medieval Islamic civilization,

despite strong Shari disapproval, the sexual relations of a mature man with a subordinate youth were so readily accepted in middle class circles that there was little or no efforts to conceal their existence. The fashion entered poetry, especially the Persians.

Records from European travelers attest to the prevalence such, with the content of some revealing the distinction in cultural attitudes. One example is from Englishman Joesph Pitts, a sailor who was captured and sold into slavery at Algiers in 1678 but escaped fifteen years later. He later stated,

The horrible sin of Sodomy is so far from being punish'd among them, that it is part of their ordinary Discourse to boast of their detestable Actions of that kind. 'Tis common for Men there to fall in love with Boys, as 'tis here in England to be in love with Women.

The French traveler C. S. Sonnini, after visiting Egypt between 1777 and 1780, similary noted,

The passion contrary to nature...the inconceivable appetite which dishonored the Greek and Persians of antiquity, constitute the delight, or, to use a juster term, the infamy of the Egyptians. It is not for the women that that their amorous ditties are composed: it is not on them that tender caresses are lavished; far different objects inflame them.

Affirming this contrast, Muslim travelers who "rediscovered Europe" in the first half of the 1800s found it notable that the European men were ''not'' found courting or eulogizing male youth.

Moroccan scholar Muhammad Al-Saffar, who visited Paris in 1845-46, recorded,

Flirtation, romance, and courtship for them take place only with women, for they are not inclined to boys or young men. Rather, that is extremely disgraceful to them.

Likewise, El-Rouayheb also writes that Egyptian scholar Rifa'ah Rafi' al-Tahtaw who was in Paris between 1826 and 1831, noted,

Amongst the laudable traits of their character, similar really to those of the Bedouin, is their not being inclined to toward loving male youths and eulogizing them in poetry, for this is something unmentionable for them and contrary to their nature and morals. One of the positive aspects of their language and poetry is that it does not permit the saying of love poetry of someone of the same sex.<ref>Before homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic world, 1500-1800,
by Khaled El-Rouayheb, pp. 1-3</ref>

===Homosexuality in England===

Homosexuality was known to occur to certain degrees in [[England]]. Saint Boniface wrote in 744 that the people of England "have been leading a shameful life, despising lawful marriages, committing adultery and lusting after the fashion of cutlic people of Sodom. "<ref>Peter Coleman. Christian Attitudes to Homosexuality, 1980, SPCK (London), p 131 Cited in Greenberg, p. 250</ref> Yet especially in latter times England is evidenced to possesses a healthy abhorrence of homosexuality, with both laws and the public attitude being contrary to it.<ref>Rictor Norton (Ed.), Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook. Updated 31 May 2009</ref>

Sodomy (buggery) was described as "a sin against nature" and was prohibited as a capital offense along with bestiality from 1533 until 1861, which saw the penalty reduced to 10 years to life in prison. Later legislation broadened the description while lessening the penalty.<ref>History Of Homosexuality In Europe, 1919-1939. pp. 305-06, by Florence Tamagne (X rated, w/ pro homosexual bias)</ref>

Prior to this a number of medieval legal sources do discuss "sodomy."<ref>The Law in England, www.fordham.edu</ref>

A German traveler wrote in 1768,

The English women are so handsome, and the desire to please them, and to obtain their favours, is so ardent and so general, that it is not in the least surprising, that those islanders should hold a certain unnatural crime in the utmost abhorrence. They speak in no part of the world with so much horror of this infamous passion, as in England. The punishment by law is imprisonment, and the pillory. It is very uncommon to see a person convicted, and punished for this crime; not on account of the paucity of the numbers charged with perpetrating it, but because they never yield to such a brutal appetite but with the utmost precaution.<ref>M. D’Archenholz, A Picture of England, 2 vols, London, 1789, vol. 2, pp. 102-4.</ref><ref>Rictor Norton (Ed.), "A Picture of England, 1789," Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook. 6 January 2005</ref>

The Societies for Reformation of Manners was founded in 1690, and by 1701 there were about twenty such Societies. They purposed to clean up public vice, particularly prostitution. Eight or nine members of the society worked undercover to observe gay cruising areas and attract solicitation. From 1707 through 1709, one cleric, "Reverend Bray," directed several raids, in affiliation with Constables who were also members of the Societies. By their annual meeting in 1710 they were able to attest that "our streets have been very much cleansed from the lewd night-walkers and most detestable sodomites."<ref>Victor Norton, Ed., "The Tryal and Conviction of Several Reputed Sodomites, 1707", Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook. 1 December 1999, updated 15 June 2008</ref>

Attitudes regarding homosexuality varied throughout the history of England, depending on its spiritual condition, and while sodomy between men remained unlawful until the 1930s, increased tolerance toward homosexuality was seen in post [[World War 1]] The precursor to modern sexual revolution is understood by some to have begun among an intellectual class in England termed the ''Neo-Pagans'', whose lifestyle was one of worship of the body, freedom of sexual expression, nudism, etc.<ref>Tamagne</ref> This lifestyle was one which would later characterize the sexual revolution of the 1960s in the West. As seen in Romans 1:25, referring to "those who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen", this resulted in a modern prevalence of [[homosexuality]] in the [[United States]] and England, with its resultant deleterious effects.

==Lesbianism==

Lesbianism was termed ''lesbian passion'' by the Greeks, being derived from the name of the Greek island Lesbos, after its female poet Sappho wrote about love between women.<ref>www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Cities/Lesbos.html</ref> The term sapphism also came to describe traditional sex practices among women through the ages.<ref>Andre, 2003</ref> However, this is not seen as obtaining the same-sex social sanction as pederasty. Nor does Greek mythology offers legends of the goddesses which parallel the homosexual acts seen as having occurred between male Greek gods.

In Lucian's Amores 28, the Greek character Charicles states that it would be better for a women to invade the dominion of male wantonness (homosexuality) than for men to become effeminate, and also warns of lesbianism: ''If you concede homosexual love to males, you must in justice grant the same to females; you will have to sanction carnal intercourse between them; monstrous instruments of lust will have to be permitted, in order that their sexual congress may be carried out; that obscene vocable, tribad, which so rarely offends our ears--I blush to utter it--will become rampant, and Philænis will spread androgynous orgies throughout our harems.'' <ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=sclZnr2SUIgC&pg=PA113&lpg=PA113&dq=Amores+of+Lucian,+Charicles&source=bl&ots=wZNTllKdeA&sig=vh6J9B9uPzFXES6yaoyAYfwPGOg&hl=en&ei=LxYfStb2IsXMlQeZuqXFBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=25#PPA113,M1 After Paul left Corinth, by Bruce W. Winter]</ref>

[Romans 1]] of the New Testament clearly refers to lesbianism, as ''even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature'', as a result of rejecting the creational revelation given them.

==Ancient laws against homosexual acts==

Greek laws existed which regulated pederasty, while later Romans laws went further in restricting it. Although there is some debate among scholars, Roman literature of the republic and early empire may indicate that men who engaged in consensual homosexual relations were often mocked as effeminate, but such was not illegal. Laws instituted in the later Roman Empire would change explicitly outlaw such.

On Dec 16, 342 A.D., Constantius and Constans issued a legal decision which was included in the later Theodosian Code:

Cod.Theod. IX. Viii. 3: (Cod. Justin IX.ix.31):

''When a man marries in the manner of a woman, a woman about to renounce men {quum vir nubit in feminam viris porrecturam), what does he wish, when sex has lost all its significance; when the crime is one which it is not profitable to know; when Venus is changed to another form; when love is sought and not found? We order the statutes to arise, the laws to be armed with an avenging sword, that those infamous persons who are now, or who hereafter may be, guilty may be subjected to exquisite punishment.''

The meaning of this is somewhat obscure, more explicit is the law issued by Valentinian II, Theodoisus and Arcadius on Aug 6, 390, and which also survives in the Theodosian Code:

Cod.Theod. IX. Vii. 6:

''All persons who have the shameful custom of condemning a man's body, acting the part of a woman's to the sufferance of alien sex (for they appear not to be different from women), shall expiate a crime of this kind in avenging flames in the sight of the people.''

During the Roman Imperial period the Lex Julia de adulteris (originally of c. 17 B.C.) was expanded by legal commentators to include first offenses against boys, and possibly all male homosexual acts. Under Justinian, the Eastern Roman Emperor from 527 A.D. to his death, historical accounts in Procopius and Malalas indicate that there was punishment of some homosexuals. In addition, under Justinian's legislative activity there was the strict Institutes of the Corpus Juris Civilis (effective Dec 30, 533), which is understood by some to sum up the legal opinons:<ref>Paul Halsall, Justinian I: Novel 77 [538] and Novel 141 [544 AD]</ref>

Institutes IV. xviii .4:

''In criminal cases public prosecutions take place under various statutes, including the Lex Julia de adulteris, "…which punishes with death (gladio), not only those who violate the marriages of others, but also those who dare to commit acts of vile lust with [other] men (qui cim masculis nefandum libidinem exercere audent)."

More significantly, two "Novels" by Justinian issued were directed against homosexual activity:

NOVEL 77 [358 AD] (extract)

…since certain men, seized by diabolical incitement practice among themselves the most disgraceful lusts, and act contrary to nature: we enjoin them to take to heart the fear of God and the judgment to come, and to abstain from suchlike diabolical and unlawful lusts, so that they may not be visited by the just wrath of God on account of these impious acts, with the result that cities perish with all their inhabitants. For we are taught by the Holy Scriptures that because of like impious conduct cities have indeed perish, together with all the men in them.<ref>[trans. in Derrick Sherwin Bailey, Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition, (London: Longmans, Green, 1955), 73-74]</ref>

NOVEL 141 [344 AD]

#1: For, instructed by the Holy Scriptures, we know that God brought a just judgment upon those who lived in Sodom, on account of this very madness of intercourse, so that to this very day that lands burns with inextinguishable fire. By this God teaches us, in order that by means of legislation we may avert such an untoward fate. Again, we know what the blessed Apostle says about such things, and what laws our state enacts. Wherefore it behoves all who desire to fear God to abstain from conduct so base and criminal that we do not find it committed even by brute beasts. Let those who have not taken part in such doings continue to refrain in the future. But as for those who have been consumed by this kind of disease, let them not only cease to sin in the future, but let them alos duly do penance, and fall down before God and renounce their plague [in confession] to the blessed Patriarch; let them understand the reason for this charge, and, as it is written, bring forth the fruits of repentance. So may God the merciful, in abundance of pity, deem us worthy of his blessing, that we may all give thanks to him for the salvation of the penitents, who we have now bidden [to submit themselves] in order that the magistrates too may follow up our action, [thus] reconciling to themselves God who is justly angry with us.

Late Roman pagan lawyers had already applied the Lex Julia to homosexual acts when Christian emperors enacted laws and issued exhortations against homosexuals, four in a two-hundred year period, with the two by Justinian (527-565) being as much concerned with penance as penalty.<ref>Bailey, pp. 79-81</ref>

Under Roman Emperor Charles V, (A.D. 1539), Lex Carolina (Die peinliche Halsgerichtsordnung) was promulgated:

§116 Punishment of the Unchastity that occurs against Nature.

Moreover, if a human being commits unchastity with an animal, [or] a man with a man, [or] a woman with a woman, they have forfeited life, and, according to the common custom, they shall be banished from life unto death by fire.

==History of homosexuality and myths==

Myths play a substantial part in the study of the history of homosexuality, which is seen by many among mythological Greek gods (similar Romans gods had Latin names<ref>[http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/mythology/myths.html Roman and greek mythology of gods and goddesses]</ref><ref>[http://www.americanbible.org/absport/news/item.php?id=80 Greek and Roman Gods and Goddesses]</ref><ref>http://messagenet.com/myths/immortals.html</ref>). Instances and possibilities include

*Zeus and Ganymede,
*Apollo and Hyacinthus,
*Achilles and Patroclus,
*Heracles (or Hercules) and Hylas,
*Narcissus and Ameinias.
*Other gods who to homosexual affairs are attributed include Orpheus ("the first man to love boys"), Boreas (god of the North Wind) and Thamyris.<ref>[http://everything2.com/title/Homosexuals%2520of%2520Greek%2520Mythology Homosexuals of Greek Mythology]</ref>

==Non-uniform occurrence==

An notable interesting aspect in regards to the history of homosexuality is that it has been rare in a number of cultures or been absent in some cultures. Dr. Neil Whitehead and Briar Whitehead state regarding various cultures: "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."<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>

==Modern prevalence and influence==

The history of homosexuality in modern times is one which evidences a growth from that which is shameful to mainstream acceptance in the West. This change may be seen as a product of the [[sexual revolution]] beginning in the 1960s, which saw widespread rebellion toward moral authority, and against prohibitions against illicit sex in particular. Gay and lesbian rights groups had existed before and grown during that time, but the rebellion which marked that era was distinctly manifested by homosexuals on June 28, 1969 in the [[Stonewall Riots]] which occurred in Greenwich Village, injuring police and bystanders. This is seen as marking the beginning of the modern organizing of gay and lesbian groups, and the promotion of what [[conservatives]] term the [[homosexual agenda]]. Gay Democratic clubs began in every major city, and one fourth of all college campuses had gay and lesbian groups.<ref>(Shilts, 1993, ch.28</ref>. The [[American Psychiatric Association]] was pressured to removed homosexuality from its official listing of mental disorders, and to treat it as an optional lifestyle. It is contended by some that such changes were due to pressure from the homosexual lobby, which Nicholas Cummings, former president of the APA, states, "is very strong in the APA."<ref>http://www.narth.com/docs/study.html</ref><ref>[http://www.narth.com/docs/insiders.html Psychology Losing Scientific Credibility, Say APA Insiders]</ref>

Since Stonewall, the visibility of gays and lesbians has become an increasing aspect of American life, despite the fact that the [[homosexual lifestyle]] was the primary cause of the spread of [[AIDS]], which has resulted in the death of over a half million Americans, and many more world wide.<ref>[http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5521a1.htm Twenty-Five Years of HIV/AIDS --- United States, 1981--2006</ref><ref>[http://www.avert.org/aroundworld.htm AIDS around the world]</ref> In addition to the decreased moral influence by Christians or others, and the increase in erotic sensuality overall, many credit effective homosexual public relations strategy for the increasing acceptance of homosexuality.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=cbfVg_1qhe0C&pg=PP1&lpg=PP1&dq=David+W.+Virtue+scots+college&source=bl&ots=aDW7a615Gn&sig=Y1cLsx5sCQTgUUDJ88b5AKPRkNg&hl=en&ei=8skISpP1AcGktgfi2PzsCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#PPR14,M1 Homosexuality, by F. Earle Fox, David W. Virtue]</ref>Instrumental in this strategy were Harvard trained marketing experts and social scientists Marshall Kirk (1957 - 2005) and Hunter Madsen, who advocated avoiding portraying gays as aggressive challengers, but as victims, while making those who opposed them as evil persecutors.<ref>http://www.leaderu.com/socialsciences/sellinghomosexuality.html http://www.article8.org/docs/gay_strategies/after_the_ball.htm </ref><ref>After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90’s, p. 152-153 (1989, Doubleday/Bantam)</ref> The widespread use of the term [[homophobia]] against any who oppose homosexuality has been effective in the latter effort.

Various estimates are given for the percentage of homosexuals (though who sexually desire their same genders over the opposite). The early figure of 10% as based upon a report by Alfred E. Kinsey, though often quoted, is not generally considered accurate by profession researchers, due to serious flaws (and even criminal practices) in his studies.<ref>such as 25 percent of his information coming from present or former prison inmates, many of whom were sex offenders, while a additional 5 percent were male prostitutes: Kinsey, Sex and Fraud: The Indoctrination of a People, Judith A. Reisman, Ph.D. and Edward W. Eichel</ref> A more recent national study found that 1.51% of total U.S. population identified themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual.<ref>National study published in Laumann, et al., The Social Organization of Sex: Sexual Practices in the United States(1994), cited in Amicus Curiae in support of petitioners. Lawrence and Garner v. State of Texas, No. 02-102 (U.S. March 26, 2003), pg. 16.</ref> Various sources compiled by Thomas E.Schmidt resulted in a figure of 1.8% of the U.S. population being gay or lesbian.<ref>Straight & Narrow: Compassion & Clarity in the Homosexuality Debate, pg. 102-103. [Original sources: P. Painton, "The Shrinking Ten Percent," Time, April 26, 1993, pp. 27-29; P. Rogers, "How Many Gays Are There?" Newsweek, February 15, 1993, pg. 46</ref> With the promotion of homosexuality in schools and society, these figures are expected to rise.<ref>www.massresistance.org</ref>

==Contemporary conflict==

In modern times in the [[United States]] the term "[[Culture War]]" has been used to describe the polarization on various issues between [[conservatives]] and [[liberals]] and the issue of homosexuality is part of this conflict. Conservatives point out that the weight of evidence shows there is a [[Homosexuality Research|significant body of research showing the homosexuality inordinately harms individuals and the larger society as a whole in comparison to heterosexuality]] (for example, through higher rates of diseases, higher domestic violence rates, etc.).

==Consequences of prevalent homosexuality==

As with Sodom and its region, (Jude 1:7) widespread fornication and its abominable homosexual form are Biblically seen by traditional Christians as concomitant with “pride, fullness of bread and abundance of idleness, and selfishness. (Ezek. 16:49,50), and is a preclude to national travail and ultimate destruction, if such prevalence continued.<ref>[http://www.leaderu.com/common/nationsdie.html When Nations Die, by Kerby Anderson]</ref> Historically, societies that have embraced homosexuality have perished, whereas those that have upheld traditional values have endured. For example, ancient Rome's decline and its eventual fall in A.D. 476 were due in no small part to a growing tolerance of homosexual acts beginning in the Late Republic period ending in 27 B.C.

We also see this today, both internationally and nationally. Internationally, those countries that preserve conservative social morality and family values are the leaders in both freedom and prosperity, while those that grant special rights to homosexuals lag in both areas. Nationally, in America's big [[city|cities]], the "gayborhoods" have the highest rates of [[crime]] and other social dysfunctions and the lowest property values, whereas the reverse is true in neighborhoods in which socially conservative [[Christian]] [[church]]es are prevalent.

==See also==
*[[Homosexuality and English Speaking Countries]]
*[[Homosexuality in other cultures]]
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
[[Category:Homosexuality]]
[[Category:History]]

History of homosexuality

2013-04-21T19:17:27Z

CameronD: decades

The study of the '''history of [[homosexuality]]''' attempts to catalog evidence of [[homosexual behavior]] from its earliest occurrences to the present, with this manner of perversion being manifested in different sources from ancient times.

==Terminology relating to the history of homosexuality ==
The use of the term ''[[homosexuality]]'' in the study of ancient sexuality has found some dissatisfaction, due to the lack of a specific term in ancient literature corresponding to the modern concept of persons who are consistently sexually attracted to their own gender, versus the opposite sex. However, ancient literature refers to those who by their actions seem to have manifested such, especially as regards the male who played the female partner.<ref>Aristotle, "Problemata," 4.26; 879b-880a</ref> The primary moral authority on the subject, the Bible, does not explicitly refer to homosexual inclination, though it is reasonable to believe that the word ''malakos'', translated ''effeminate'' (1Cor. 6:9) in the [[KJV]] may denote homosexual ''orientation'', and men lusting after one another in Romans 1:27 is seen as a typical manifestation of homosexuality. In contrast to modern times however, to be the effeminate partner in Greece or Rome was considered shameful for a man.<ref>Homosexuality and the Ancient Greeks, ReligionFacts.com</ref> The lack of terms in the Bible for certain behaviors which correspond to modern psychological diagnostics may also be explained as being due to the fact that the Bible does not justify inherently unlawful actions even if one has an inner inclination to do them, but calls and enables victory over such. (Gn. 4:7; Col. 3:5-8)

==Homosexuality in the Bible==
''Main article: [[Homosexuality and biblical interpretation]]''

''See also [[Homosexuality and the Bible]]''

Homosexuality, as evidenced by homosexual acts, or ''homoeroticism'', was manifested not long after the [[fall of man]] and its resultant harmful effects, with man realizing an Adamic nature and its tendency to sin, which may somewhat vary in intensity as to a type of sin.

The history of homosexuality in the Bible may begin in Genesis 9:2-24, in which many Christian scholars believe that [[Ham]], the youngest son of [[Noah]], committed a homosexual act on his father,<ref>[http://www.robgagnon.net/2Views/HomoViaRespNotesRev.pdf Notes to Gagnon’s Essay in the Gagnon-Via Two Views Book, #32, by Robert A. J. Gagnon, Ph.D.]</ref><ref>The Bible and Homosexual Practice, pp. 63-78, 91-110</ref> while the latter was asleep, having been overcome with wine.

[[Leviticus 18]] universally outlaws men laying with men as with women, with this being a capital crime, (Lv. 18:22; 20:13), with an additional separate prohibition evidently forbidding homosexual religious prostitution. (Dt. 23:17) The context of these commands is one which invokes the practice of Israel's surrounding culture as an example of what not to do, thus evidencing that homosexual relations and other sexual sins were pagan cultural practices. Additional evidence shows that homosexual practice was generally not outlawed in the Ancient Near East (ANE), and was certainly tolerated in that area and time in private as well as religious life.<ref>Mesopotamia: Writing, Reasoning, and the Gods, Jean Bottero, Univ of Chicago:1992, pp. 190-192</ref> Miller adds that in contrast, "Israel's God condemned this behavior in EVERY culture in which it was mentioned(!): ANE (i.e. Sodom), Canaanite and Egyptian (i.e. Lev 18:3), Israelite (Lev 18, 20), Roman (Rom 1), Hellenistic (I Tim 1.9), and Greek (I Cor 6.9)."<ref>[http://www.christian-thinktank.com/qamorite.html Good Question... Homosexual practices]</ref>

Homosexuality is overall revealed in the Bible to be an effect of idolatry,<ref>with the latter being manifest the mother of all sins: Ex. 20:2-5</ref>, and which may consist of formal or informal false gods.<ref>a false god being whatever is your ultimate object of affection or allegiance, or source of security</ref> (Is. 44:15-20; Jer. 2:27; Rm. 6:16; 1Jn. 2:16; 5:21)

In [[Romans 1]] the apostle Paul delineates stages of degeneration, with homoerotic desire and acts being a particular effect of making the God of creation, who uniquely created the women of the man and joined them in marriage, into an image of corruptible man. This type of this idolatry is yet seen to be taking place today by pro homosexual authors, such as Roman Catholic priest Daniel A. Helminiak<ref>pro homosexual priest Daniel Helminiak, Sex and the sacred, p. 192</ref> who assert that the incorruptible [[Jesus Christ]] engaged in homosexual relations. Such extreme blasphemous attempts are refuted by Derrick K. Olliff and Dewey H. Hodges<ref>[http://www.reformed.org/social/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/social/hodges_response_helminiak.html A Reformed Response to Daniel Helminiak's Gay Theology]</ref> and others.<ref>[http://www.robgagnon.net/BelovedDisciple.htm] by Robert A. J. Gagnon,]</ref><ref>Patrick Holding, Does John 21:20 Show That Jesus Was Gay?[http://www.tektonics.org/gk/gayjesus.html]</ref>

Homosexual behavior was especially manifest in Rome and Greece at that time, but which was and is a historical constant among all peoples, in differing but deleterious forms, and with different degrees of [[moral degeneration]] being realized. For the follower of the Bible therefore, homosexuality is not new, nor unexpected, but neither is it justified, rather it is unequivocally condemned, while God is revealed as giving man grace to resist and overcome sin. (Gn. 4:7; Ja. 1:12-15' 1Cor. 6:9-11)

==Jewish and early ecclesiastical attitudes toward homosexuality==

The history of homosexuality as regards the position of Judaism and Christianity is testified to by extra-biblical accounts of ancient historians, commentators and leaders. As concerns Jewish beliefs, Gagnon notes in the study of [[homosexuality and biblical interpretation]], that "every piece of evidence that we have about Jewish views of same-sex intercourse in the Second Temple period and beyond is unremittingly hostile to such behavior.<ref>The Bible and Homosexual Practice, pp. 159-83</ref><ref>[http://www.robgagnon.net/2VOnlineNotes.htm Gagnon, Notes to Gagnon’s Essay in the Gagnon-Via Two Views Book]</ref><ref>Gagnon, The Bible and Homosexual Practice, pp. 159-83</ref>

First Century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (AD 37-100) wrote in his Commentary on the history of the Jews,

*As for adultery, Moses forbade it entirely, as esteeming it a happy thing that men should be wise in the affairs of wedlock; and that it was profitable both to cities and families that children should be known to be genuine. He also abhorred men’s lying with their mothers, as one of the greatest crimes; and the like for lying with the father’s wife, and with aunts, and sisters, and sons’ wives, as all instances of abominable wickedness. He also forbade a man to lie with his wife when she was defiled by her natural purgation: and not to come near brute beasts; nor to approve of the lying with a male, which was to hunt after unlawful pleasures on account of beauty. To those who were guilty of such insolent behavior, he ordained death for their punishment.” (Antiquities, 3:12.1)<ref>http://www.godrules.net/library/flavius/flaviusb3c12.htm</ref>

Also,

*And why do not the Eleans and Thebans abolish that unnatural (para physin) and impudent lust, which makes them lie with males? For they will not shew sufficient sign of their repentance of what they of old thought to be very excellent, and very advantageous in their practices, unless they entirely avoid all such actions for the time to come: nay, such things are inserted into the body of their laws, and had once such a power among the Greeks, that they ascribed these sodomitical practices to the gods themselves, as part of their good character; and indeed it was according to the same manner that the gods married their own sisters. This the Greeks contrived as an apology for their own absurd and unnatural (para physin) pleasures. (Against Apion, 2.273-75)<ref>[http://www.reformed.org/social/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/social/response_to_helminiak_2.html A Further Look at Pro-Homosexual Theology, by Derrick K. Olliff and Dewey H. Hodges]</ref>

More abundant are statements by early church leaders on the subject, which, though not wholly inspired as the Scriptures, are, manifest a Biblical response to homosexuality, and sometimes also testify to the existence of homosexuality among the Greeks and Romans.

*You shall not commit fornication; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not be a corrupter of youth. - Letter of Barnabas 10 (A.D. 74).

*You shall not commit murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit pederasty, you shall not commit fornication, you shall not steal, you shall not practice magic, you shall not practice witchcraft, you shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill one that has been born. - Didache 2:2 (A.D. 90).

*...to expose newly-born children is the part of wicked men; and this we have been taught lest we should do anyone harm and lest we should sin against God, first, because we see that almost all so exposed (not only the girls, but also the males) are brought up to prostitution. And for this pollution a multitude of females and hermaphrodites, and those who commit unmentionable iniquities, are found in every nation...And there are some who prostitute even their own children and wives, and some are openly mutilated for the purpose of sodomy; and they refer these mysteries to the mother of the gods. - Justin Martyr, First Apology 27 (A.D. 151).

*All honor to that king of the Scythians, whoever Anacharsis was, who shot with an arrow one of his subjects who imitated among the Scythians the mystery of the mother of the gods . . . condemning him as having become effeminate among the Greeks, and a teacher of the disease of effeminacy to the rest of the Scythians. Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Greeks 2 (A.D. 190).

*For your gods did not even abstain from boys, one having loved Hylas, another Hyacinthus, another Pelops, another Chrysippus, another Ganymede. - Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Greeks 2 (A.D. 190).

*[A]ll other frenzies of the lusts which exceed the laws of nature, and are impious toward both bodies and the sexes, we banish, not only from the threshold but also from all shelter of the Church, for they are not sins so much as monstrosities. - Tertullian, Modesty 4 (A.D. 220).

*[T]urn your looks to the abominations, not less to be deplored, of another kind of spectacle…Men are emasculated, and all the pride and vigor of their sex is effeminated in the disgrace of their enervated body; and he is more pleasing there who has most completely broken down the man into the woman. He grows into praise by virtue of his crime; and the more he is degraded, the more skillful he is considered to be. Such a one is looked upon--oh shame!--and looked upon with pleasure…nor is there wanting authority for the enticing abomination…that Jupiter of theirs [is] not more supreme in dominion than in vice, inflamed with earthly love in the midst of his own thunders…now breaking forth by the help of birds to violate the purity of boys. And now put the question: Can he who looks upon such things be healthy-minded or modest? Men imitate the gods whom they adore, and to such miserable beings their crimes become their religion. - Cyprian of Carthage, Letters 1:8 (A.D. 253).

"[T]he mother of the gods loved [the boy Attis] exceedingly, because he was of most surpassing beauty; and Acdestis [the son of Jupiter] who was his companion, as he grew up fondling him, and bound to him by wicked compliance with his lust…Afterwards, under the influence of wine, he [Attis] admits that he is…loved by Acdestis…Then Midas, king of Pessinus, wishing to withdraw the youth from so disgraceful an intimacy, resolves to give him his own daughter in marriage…Acdestis, bursting with rage because of the boy's being torn from himself and brought to seek a wife, fills all the guests with frenzied madness; the Phrygians shriek, panic-stricken at the appearance of the gods . . . [Attis] too, now filled with furious passion, raving frantically and tossed about, throws himself down at last, and under a pine tree mutilates himself, saying, `Take these, Acdestis, for which you have stirred up so great and terribly perilous commotions.'" - Arnobius, Against the Pagans 5:6-7 (A.D. 305).

“But we do not say so of that mixture that is contrary to nature, or of any unlawful practice; for such are enmity to God. For the sin of Sodom is contrary to nature, as is also that with brute beasts. But adultery and fornication are against the law; the one whereof is impiety, the other injustice, and, in a word, no other than a great sin. But neither sort of them is without its punishment in its own proper nature. For the practicers of one sort attempt the dissolution of the world, and endeavor to make the natural course of things to change for one that is unnatural; but those of the second son — the adulterers — are unjust by corrupting others’ marriages, and dividing into two what God hath made one, rendering the children suspected, and exposing the true husband to the snares of others. And fornication is the destruction of one’s own flesh, not being made use of for the procreation of children, but entirely for the sake of pleasure, which is a mark of incontinency, and not a sign of virtue. All these things are forbidden by the laws; for thus say the oracles: Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind. For such a one is accursed, and ye shall stone them with stones: they have wrought abomination.” - Methodius, bishop of Olympus and Patara (AD 260-312), Commentary on the sin of Sodom.

"[H]aving forbidden all unlawful marriage, and all unseemly practice, and the union of women with women and men with men, he [God] adds: `Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for in all these things the nations were defiled, which I will drive out before you. And the land was polluted, and I have recompensed [their] iniquity upon it, and the land is grieved with them that dwell upon it' [Lev. 18:24-25]." - Eusebius of Caesarea, Proof of the Gospel 4:10 (A.D. 319).

"“They who have committed sodomy with men or brutes, murderers, wizards, adulterers, and idolaters, have been thought worthy of the same punishment; therefore observe the same method with these which you do with others." - Basil, Letters 217:62 (A.D. 367).

"[The pagans] were addicted to the love of boys, and one of their wise men made a law that pederasty…should not be allowed to slaves, as if it was an honorable thing; and they had houses for this purpose, in which it was openly practiced. And if all that was done among them was related, it would be seen that they openly outraged nature, and there was none to restrain them… As for their passion for boys, whom they called their 'paedica,' it is not fit to be named." - John Chrysostom, Homilies on Titus 5 (A.D. 390]).

"[Certain men in church] come in gazing about at the beauty of women; others curious about the blooming youth of boys. After this, do you not marvel that [lightning] bolts are not launched [from heaven], and all these things are not plucked up from their foundations? For worthy both of thunderbolts and hell are the things that are done; but God, who is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forbears awhile his wrath, calling you to repentance and amendment." - John Chrysostom, Homilies on Matthew 3:3 (A.D. 391).

"All of these affections [in Rom. 1:26-27]… were vile, but chiefly the mad lust after males; for the soul is more the sufferer in sins, and more dishonored than the body in diseases." - John Chrysostom, Homilies on Romans 4 (A.D. 391).

"[The men] have done an insult to nature itself. And a yet more disgraceful thing than these is it, when even the women seek after these intercourses, who ought to have more shame than men." - John Chrysostom, Homilies on Romans 4 (A.D. 391).

"And sundry other books of the philosophers one may see full of this disease. But we do not therefore say that the thing was made lawful, but that they who received this law were pitiable, and objects for many tears. For these are treated in the same way as women that play the whore. Or rather their plight is more miserable. For in the case of the one the intercourse, even if lawless, is yet according to nature; but this is contrary both to law and nature. For even if there were no hell, and no punishment had been threatened, this would be worse than any punishment." - John Chrysostom, Homilies on Romans 4 (A.D. 391).

"[T]hose shameful acts against nature, such as were committed in Sodom, ought everywhere and always to be detested and punished. If all nations were to do such things, they would be held guilty of the same crime by the law of God, which has not made men so that they should use one another in this way." - Augustine, Confessions 3:8:15 (A.D. 400).

"[Christians] abhor all unlawful mixtures, and that which is practiced by some contrary to nature, as wicked and impious." - Apostolic Constitutions 6:11 (A.D. 400).

==Historical data concerning the history of homosexuality ==
The two most principal areas of historical inquiry which have been studied by historians in relation to ancient occurrences of homosexuality are [[Greek Homosexuality|Greek homosexuality]] and [[Roman Homosexuality|Roman homosexuality]] (see also [[Romans 1]]) but to which other societies, ancient to modern, are included.

It should be noted here that most of the research for the information referenced here comes through pro-homosexual writers, who sometimes interpret obscure or indefinite data as positively denoting homosexuality, while tending to render negative comments on homosexuality as being due to [[homophobia]]. And or as Boswell,<ref>Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe</ref> they may seek to contrive a history more usable to them,<ref>[http://www.leaderu.com/ftissues/ft9411/articles/darling.html Gay Marriage: Reimagining Church History Robin Darling Young]</ref> (which they are not alone in doing). Some assert that in some cases, pro-homosexual authors have extrapolated prevalent homosexuality out of little real evidence.<ref>http://homosexualityinancientgreece.wordpress.com/</ref> The inclusion of these sources is for reference purposes, and not as recommended reading. However, much clear data is provided which testifies to some degree of acceptance of homoeroticism (mostly pederastic), concomitant with idolatry. Biblically, this also included Israel at times when they forsook worship of "the living and true God" (1Thes. 1:9) of the Bible, who uniquely forbade such. A primary source on the subject of history and homosexuality, pro homosexual author Dr. David E. Greenberg, noted that, other than the Jews, "none of the archaic civilizations prohibited homosexuality per se",<ref>Greenberg, "The Construction of Homosexuality" p. 124</ref> (though he himself forced homosexuality into the story of [[David and Jonathan]]).

Dynes and Donaldson also note that the literary and archaeological records of Mediterranean societies have overall revealed that the ancient patterns of same-gender sexual behavior

:did not, for the most part, conform to the androphile model of modern industrial societies — a model that involves pairs of adults, both considered to be of the same gender, of roughly equal social status, and reciprocal and their behavior. Instead they generally adhered to gender-and-age differentiated patterns, Egypt being a partial exception. The best known types are the male temple prostitution of the near east and the institutionalized pederasty of Greece. <ref>Wayne R. Dynes, Stephen Donaldson Homosexuality in the ancient world'', p. 7</ref>

===Homosexuality in Greece===

The largest amount of material pertinent to the history of homosexuality is from Greece, from notable philosophers and writers such as Plato, Xenophon, Plutarch, and pseudo-Lucian, to plays by Aristophanes, to Greek artwork and vases. James B. De Young notes that homosexuality seems to have existed more widely among the ancient Greeks more than among any other ancient culture. The main form of this was pederasty, a custom that seems to have been practiced mostly among the upper classes, in which an older man (the ''erastest'') would make a young free boy (the ''eromenos'') his sex partner, and become his mentor. This was regulated by the State as an institution. However, this practice was usually a supplement to marriage,<ref>Dover, K.J., Greek Homosexuality (Harvard University Press, 1989, as summarized in "Homosexuality," Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, August 2002)</ref> and thus is seen as being done by bisexuals. The practice of pederasty is mentioned in Homer's ''Illiad'', and is evidenced to have existed at least 4500 years ago in ancient Egypt.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=ZXAVf8m_HKgC&pg=PA322&lpg=PA322&dq=Plato%27s+Laws+636c&source=bl&ots=ZjVFYZcdwc&sig=qh8nqrP0-_GCl1p49MgogdYs7E8&hl=en&ei=0sUeSqOxIqbWlQfpnPjPBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=19 Homosexuality, By James B. DeYoung p. 322]</ref>

{{Main|Greek Homosexuality}}

===Homosexuality in Rome===

After Greece, Rome is the next most significant entity in the history of homosexuality, and this cultural practice in both is understood by scholars as being what the apostle Paul is immediately referring to in condemning homosexuality in [[Romans 1.]]<ref>Homosexuality by James B. DeYoung, pp. 152-192ff</ref> Romans emperors were sometimes the most notorious examples of homosexuality. Edward Gibbon, in his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, wrote that "of the first fifteen emperors Claudius was the only one whose taste in love was entirely correct (not homo-sexual].<ref>Edward Gibbon. History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Vol. 1, London. 1898, p. 313. note 40</ref>

Juvenal (60-140 A.D.) and Martial (c. 40-102 A.D.) wrote of formal marriage unions between homosexuals. Some moral philosophers around the time of the apostle Paul questioned the merits of homosexual behaviors. Seneca (4 B.C-65 A.D.), a statesmen and tutor to the homosexual emperor Nero, reproved homosexual exploitation, such which which forced a slave to shave his beard, and dress and behave as a women,<ref>Moral epistles 47.7-8</ref> though Nero himself castrated a boy, and dressed him as female and married him, after killing his wife.<ref>Suetonius "Nero," XVIII-XVIX De Vita Caeasarum; Dio Cassius, LXII, xvii</ref> Dio Chrysostom (A.D. 40) likewise condemned such exploitation, and commended ''natural intercourse" and union of the male and female.''<ref>Discourse, 7.133, 135; 151-52; 21:6-10; 77/78.36</ref> Later, in 226 B.C., the Lex Scantinia (149 B.C.) is understood to have penalized homosexual practice.

According to psychiatrist and sexual historian Norman Sussman, "In contrast to the self-conscious and elaborate efforts of the Greeks to glorify and idealize homosexuality, the Romans simply accepted it as a matter of fact and as an inevitable part of human sexual life. Pederasty was just another sexual activity. Many of the most prominent men in Roman society were bisexual if not homosexual. Julius Caesar was called by his contemporaries every woman's man and every man's woman."<ref>Sussman p. 19</ref>

Many see Rome realizing a deleterious change in aspects of social morality beginning in the second century B.C, due to the influence and adaptation of "Asiatic luxury and Greek manners", including homosexuality, resulting in a "moral crises from which she never recovered (historian D. Earl)<ref>Young, Homosexuality, p. 153</ref>

Edward Gibbon, stated in his “History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” that marital faithfulness in the Roman Empire was virtually unknown, and that “The dignity of marriage was restored by the Christians.”<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=Ib7KaA717U0C&pg=RA1-PA478&lpg=RA1-PA478&dq=Gibbon,+dignity+of+marriage+was+restored+by+the+Christians.%E2%80%9D+p.&source=bl&ots=vLEsgM9AST&sig=Rw9ZVE-9MmInLQORPnl5NNQunxs&hl=en&ei=jbhGSrimC8b6tgeQ0NmMCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1 The history of the decline and fall of the Roman empire. p. 478, by Edward Gibbon, John Bagnell Bury]</ref>

===Homosexuality in China===

Art, poetry, historical and legal documents infer or attest to the practice of homosexuality in China (the type or degree of which is often somewhat dependent on the bias of the researcher, with most major works today being by by pro homosexual writers). The earliest references to such are from the period of the Han Dynasty (Western: 202 B.C. to 9 A.D; Eastern: 25 to 22 A.D.) The ''Da-le-fu'' by Bo Xingjian (775-826) in an official ancient medical text ''History of the Former Hans Dynasty'' is seen by some to speak of homoeroticism, especially among emperors, in highly euphemistic language.

Heissig states that in the fourteenth century, the Chinese found homosexual Tibetan religious rites practiced at the court of a Mongol emperor.<ref>Walther Heissig, A Lost Civilization</ref>

Sex historian Arno Karlen reports that "two Arab travelers trekked through India and China m the ninth century, and in tneir chronicle said the Chinese were addicted to sodomy and even performed it in their shrines."<ref>Arno Kjrlen. Sexuality and Homosexuality. 1971, Norton, p. 229</ref>

During the Song dynasty (960-1279 A.D.) Tao Gu noted in his ''Records of the Extraordinary''

Everywhere people single out Nanhai for its 'Misty Moon Worships, a term referring the custom of esteeming lewdness. Nowadays those in the capital those who sell themselves number more than ten thousand . As to the men who offer their bodies for sale, then enter and leave place shamelessly. A law later enacted during Xhenghe reign (1111-1118) which punished male prostitutes with "one hundred strokes of a bamboo rod and a fine of fifty thousand in cash." However, it seems to have fallen into disuse over time.

Male prostitutes were known to have their own god, Tcheou--Wang.<ref>The Construction of Homosexuality, by David F. Greenberg, pp. 161-62</ref>

During the latter part of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.), Xie Zhaozhe, (1567-1624) - a contemporary of Shakespeare - recorded in his encyclopedia, the Wu za zu (Fivehold Miscellany),

In today's Peking, there are young boys singers who go to all the gentry's wine parties, and no matter how many official prohibitions there are, everybody uses them.

A fuller description of homosexual relations, and one that may be likened to [[same-sex marriage]], is found in the writings of Ming commentator Shen Defu (1578-1642), which tells of homosexual relationships which sometimes were part of the family order in the southern province of Fujian. He states that among all social ranks and physical attractiveness, Fujianese men found a same sex partner of their status, with the older becoming a "brother" to the younger (a custom termed ''nanfeng'') and paying for his later marriage to a female. "And that at the age of thirty they are still sleeping in the same bed like husband and wife." However, this is not known to have lasted more than twenty years, as they were to later marry a female.

In the latter part of the 16th century Roman Catholic missionaries commented on the perverse homosexual practices they saw in China. In a book published in 1569, Dominican Gaspar da Cruz attributed the [[earthquakes]] which had recently shaken China (its most fatal earthquake in history was in 1556[http://www.drgeorgepc.com/EarthquakesChina.html]) to being due to their indifference to [[sodomy]]. Shortly after his arrival in 1583, noted Jesuit astronomer Matteo Ricci found that male [[prostitution]] was lawful and practiced openly:

there are public streets full of boys dressed up like prostitutes. And there are people who buy these boys and teach them to play music, sing and dance. And than, gallantly dressed up and made up with rouge like women, these miserable men are initiated into this terrible vice.<ref>Spence (1984: p. 220)</ref>

He also wrote to his superior lamenting "the horrible sin to which everyone here is much given, and about which there seems to be no shame or impediment." No long before his death in 1610, he grieved that such was "neither forbidden by law nor thought to be illicit, nor even a cause of shame. It is spoken of in public, practiced everywhere, without there being anyone to prevent it."

An official Chinese historian named Mao Qiling (1623- 1716) wrote in a supplementary historical account regarding Emperor Wuzong (1491-1521), that had a passion of military uniforms and maneuvers, and broke precedent by sleeping at his new Leopard House, which accommodated his generals. He had so close friendship with one general in particular,that is recorded that they sleep and rose with together (tong wo-qi).

Open sexual expression was expanded under the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.), but increasing moral disorder, and invasion by warriors who captured Peking in 1644, establishing the Qing Dynasty, worked to somewhat morally awaken China, and resulted in laws for moral reform. Chinese conservatives labored to restore the more chaste values of orthodox Confucianism, while the Manchu conquerors sought to discourage fornication, including sexual offenses between males. The second Qing Emperor, Kang Xi, was an esteemed ruler who was hostile to pederasty and child prostitution, and declared that he himself was not waited on by "pretty boys."

In 1679 extensive legislation was written and confirmed in the Qing code of 1740, which made the abduction and rape of boys under twelve a capital crime, and penalized consensual sodomy with one hundred strokes of the heavy bamboo, and the wearing of the cangue (a flat wooden board) for one month. As in Biblical law, it appears that actually being caught in the act was required, and enforcement seems to have been rather selective. However, Kang Xi's own son and heir to the throne was found to be sexually involved with palace officials, and was executed. <ref>Homosexuality & Civilization, pp. 224-228,237-239, by Louis Crompton (pro homosexual)</ref>

Despite these reforms, later some Qing rulers are said to have engaged in homosexual relationships, and China saw a resurgence of homosexuality. Even during the reign of Kang Xi a contemporary writer wrote that "it is considered bad taste not to have singing boys around when inviting guests for dinner." Art began to abandoned its discrete nature in relation to sexual expression, and began to make the sexual act explicit.<ref> Passions of the Cut Sleeve, p. 146, by Bret Hinsch</ref>

Englishman John Barrow, secretary to the Macartney Embassy of 1793, and later the founder of the Royal Geographical Society, stated in ''Travels in China'' (1806),

Many of the first officers of state seemed to make no hesitation in publicly avowing [homosexuality]!"<ref<Sir John Barrow. Travels in China. T. Cadell & W. Davics (London), 1804 Cited In Karlen, op. cit . p. 229</ref>

Barrows also wrote that the exclusion of women had the effect of

"promoting that sort of connexion which, being one of the greatest violations of nature, ought to be considered among the first of moral crimes - a connexion that sinks a man many degrees below the brute. The commission of this detestable and unnatural act is attended to with so little sense of shame, or feeling of delicacy, that many first officers of state seemed to make no hesitation in publicly avowing it. Each of these officer is attended to by his pipe-bearer, who is generally a handsome boy, from fourteen to eighteen years of age, and is always well dressed.<ref>Hinsch, p. 141</ref>

In Judaism's Sexual Revolution: Why Judaism Rejected Homosexuality, Dennis Prager also notes that the low state of women has been linked to widespread homosexuality, and writes that a French physician reported from China in the nineteenth century that, "Chinese women were such docile, homebound dullards that the men, like those of ancient Greece, sought courtesans and boys."

In contrast, a commentator of Napoleonic France provided commendation for such.<ref>Crompton, pp. 239-240</ref>

Sir Richard Burton summed up the Chinese in these words: "their systematic bestiality with ducks, goats and other animals is equaled only by their pederasty."<ref>Sir Richard Burton, The Erotic Traveler, 1967. Norton. Cited in Karlen p. 230</ref>

Eberhardt understands that "Chinese Buddhism considered homosexuality to be a minor transgression." <ref>Wolfram Eberhardt, Guilt and Sin in Traditional China. 1967. University of California, pp. 29-32. Cited in Greenberg, p. 26l. note 101</ref>

A western visitor to the port city of Tianjin estimated that there were approximately eight hundred boys in its thirty-five brothels, trained for pederastic prostitution.<ref>Hinsch, p. 141</ref>

However, homoeroticism apparently was not a religious part of Chinese folk religion, as "the Chinese were shocked and indignant at the homoerotic Tibetan rites practiced at the court of Shun-Ti Heissig, the last Mongul emperor in the fourteenth century."<ref>1996; pp. 52-54, referenced by Greenberg, p. 161</ref>

During the Chinese cultural revolution (1966 - 76), government considered homosexuality to be a social offense or a form of mental illness, and homosexuality is said to been punished more than in all previous times.

In 1989 the "Chinese Classification and Diagnostic Criteria of Mental Disorders", released by the Chinese Psychiatric Association, defined homosexuality as a "psychiatric disorder of sexuality", providing more tolerance toward this class of sin.<ref>Shanghai Star October 4, 2002</ref>

===Homosexuality in Japan===

Greenberg understands that during the feudal age in Japan, homosexuality flourished among military aristocracy, "with samurai sometimes fighting duels on behalf of their lovers",<ref>Greenberg, p 260</ref> and that Japanese Buddhism appears to have disregarded homosexuality.<ref>Greenberg, p. 261, note 101</ref>

[[Buddhist]] [[monks]] are said to not have allowed intercourse with women, though "male partners were not explicitly prohibited, and that many monks took youthful male lovers, a practice that was considered quite acceptable..." "Legal codes of the period do not even mention homosexuality." <ref>Greenberg, p. 261</ref>

===Homosexuality among the Celts===

[[Aristotle]] stated that the Celts esteemed homosexuality."<ref>Politics 2 9 7 Cited in Greenberg, p 111</ref> In addition, Diodorus Siculus wrote in the first century B.C., "The men are much keener on their own sex; they lie around on animal skins and enjoy themselves, with a lover on each side. Furthermore, this isn't looked down on, or regarded in any way disgraceful."<ref>Cited in Gerhard Herm. The Celts. St Martin's. 1977. p 58.</ref>

===Homosexuality among the America Indians===

Pre-Columbian Americas: In North America, the Spanish and French explorers and missionaries who visited the New World quickly became aware of widespread Indian transvestism (men dressing as women) and homosexuality. Writing in 1776, Father Charlevoix, a Jesuit priest, found the Iroquois to have “an excess of effeminacy and lewdness. There are men unashamed to wear women’s clothing and to practice all the occupations of women, from which follows corruption that I cannot express. They pretend that its usage comes from their religion. These effeminates never marry and abandon themselves to the most infamous passions.”

Greenberg reports that there was widespread male homosexuality among the Mayans in Central America: “A strong homosexual component pervades close friendships of young married Mayan men as well as bachelors in southern Mexico and among Guatemalan Indians.”

Among the Aztecs, “Sodomy was virtually universal, involving even children as young as six. Cortez also found sodomy to be widespread among the Aztecs, and admonished them to give it up – along with human sacrifice and cannibalism. One of the Aztec gods, [[Xochipili]], was the patron of male homosexuality and male prostitution.”<ref>[http://vesler.blogspot.com/2006/04/why-judaism-rejected-homos_114634268752564895.html Why Judaism Rejected Homosexuality -- Part 2, referencing Greenberg]</ref>

===Homosexuality in ancient Mesopotamia===

Certain other ancient societies provide some evidence in regards to the history of homosexuality. Gordon J Wenham in "The Old Testament Attitude to Homosexuality" refers to ''Homosexualität'' Reallexicon der Assyriologie (4. 559-68) as a prime source, and states,

From iconographic evidence dating from 3000 BC to the Christian era it is clear that homosexual practice was an accepted part of the Mesopotamian scene. This conclusion is confirmed by many literary and legal texts in which homosexual activity is mentioned.<ref>[http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article_attitude_wenham.html Wenham, The Old Testament Attitude to Homosexuality, p. 360]</ref>

Within the ''Middle Assyrian Laws'' (c. 1450-1250 B.C.) does seem to provide one or two relevant laws. MAL 19 provides a penalty for false accusation of passive homosexuality, requiring the false witness to be beaten, fined and suffer a mark of shame on him.<ref>So G. Cardascia, Les lois assyriennes (du Cerf [1969]), p. 130.</ref>

MAL 20 is more specific, "If a man has lain with his male friend and a charge is brought and proved against him, the same thing shall be done to him and he shall be made a eunuch."<ref>H.W.F Saggs, The Greatest That was Babylon, (New York: Hawthorn, 1962), p. 212</ref>

Wenham comments,

This is what Cardascia, Les lois assyriennes, 134-35 suggests. Bottero and Petschow in Reallexicon der Assyriologie 4, 462 are more dogmatic. 'The verb niku/ náku ... implies a certain constraint on the part of the protagonist. Its literal translation would be "to do violence to" and almost "violate". It is precisely because the victim submits to violence that obliges its author to submit in his turn to violence himself.''<ref>Wenham, footnote #8</ref> Unlike in the Bible where both parties are guilty and are to be punished, (Lv. 18:22; 20:13) here only the active male partner is punished.

He further states,

Nor were homosexuals shut away in Mesopotamia. There were homosexual cult prostitutes, who took part in public processions, singing, dancing, wearing costumes, sometimes wearing women's clothes and carrying female symbols, even at times pretending to give birth...Sometimes they are called 'dogs'. 'It therefore appears that these types of person, as in other places and periods including our own, formed a shady sub-culture where all sorts of ambiguities, mixtures and transformations were possible.<ref>ibid. Wenham</ref>

Greenberg states that in Mesopotamiam Hammurabi, the author of the famous legal code bearing his name, had male lovers (Greenberg, p. 126)

In addition, it is understood that Assyrian men prayed for divine blessing on homosexual love.<ref>[Reallexicon der Assyriologie p. 465</ref> This is seen to stand in contrast to the Bible, which nowhere offers sanction for homoeroticism, in contrast to its explicit Divine blessing on heterosexual relations in marriage. The Bible is also seen to separately forbid homosexual activity near the Temple, (Dt. 23:17,18) this likely being homosexual prostitutes, called ''dogs''.

The Reallexicon der Assyriologie concludes:

Homosexuality in itself is thus nowhere condemned as licentiousness, as immorality, as social disorder, or as transgressing any human or divine law. Anyone could practise it freely, just as anyone could visit a prostitute, provided it was done without violence and without compulsion, and preferably as far as taking the passive role was concerned, with specialists.'' <ref>Reallexicon der Assyriologie pp. 4, 467, 68</ref>

The Bible states that because of such immorality the Lord drove out the people whose land Israel possessed. (Dt. 9:3-5; 18:12)

Among the Hittites, Law 189 states, ''If a man violates his daughter it is a capital crime. If a man violates his son, it is a capital crime''. However, the violation here may be more due to its incestuous nature, than the homosexual aspect.<ref> H. A. Hoffner, 'Incest, Sodomy, and Bestiality in the Ancient Near East' in (Orient and Occident: Essays in Honor of C. H. Gordon, Neukirchen, Neukirchener Verlag [1973]), 83</ref>

===Homosexuality among the Jews===

As [[Leviticus 18]] and other texts evidence, homosexuality was forbidden among the Jews, with violation being a capital offense. In providing Israel with a superior moral standard, as well in other areas, God invoked the example of immoral nations, fitted for destruction, as manifesting the behavior which Israel was ''not'' to follow. This means of contrast, which does not limit the forbidden behavior to only that culture, is seen in the [[New Testament]] as well. (Rm. 1:19-32; Eph. 5:1-7) 1Pt. 4:2-4)

Israel was established as an overall victorious nation as they overall followed God, as He promised. (Dt. 28) However, when Israel backslid into idolatry then homosexuality was seen among them, though it is not evidenced to have degenerated past the stage of idolatrous ceremony, (Dt. 23:17,18) into pederasty and household homoeroticism. What was sanctioned by the temple set the moral example for the rest of the nation, and when Israel responded to the chastening of God under good kings, then cultic prostitutes were driven out of the land. (1Kg. 14:24; 15:12; 22:46; 2Kg. 23:7)

The terrible chastisements Israel suffered, after being warned by God for hundreds of years to return to obedient faith, appears to have cured them from outward idolatry, and homosexuality in any form. The author of the Syballine Oracles, thought to be an Egyptian Jew (approx. 163 - 45 B.C.), compared Jews to the other nations, stating,

The Jews "are mindful of holy wedlock, and they do not engage in impious intercourse with male children, as do Phoenicians, Egyptians, and Romans, specious Greece and many nations of others, Persians and Galatians and all Asia."<ref>Greenberg, p. 200, footnote 88</ref>

In contemporary times, according to sex researcher sex historian Arno Karlen [[Alfred Kinsey]] stated that "homosexuality was phenomenally rare among Orthodox Jews" (even though his flawed research otherwise exaggerated the number of homosexuals).

===Homosexuality in Egypt===

The [[Old Testament]] of the Bible mentions Egypt as one of the nations exampling sins which Israel is to avoid, including homosexuality. (Lv. 18:3) While no legal texts are yet possessed, other stories testify of homosexual acts and attitudes.

The earliest and longest version of the Contendings of Horus and Seth (Greek transliterations, or Heru and Set from Egyptian), dated c. 1160 B.C., late in the 20th Dynasty in the New Kingdom, with elements of religious mythology which are likely older, tells of Set, who is before manifested as heterosexual, perpetrating a homosexual act upon Horus. This is seen as shameful by Ruler Ennead. Seth is also said to have become pregnant by eating lettuce with the semen of Horus on it, placed there by his mother.<ref>The Contendings of Horus and Seth, by Khenmetaset and Marie Parsons</ref> An earlier version (est. 2,000 B.C.) is similar.<ref>from Kahun, from Griffith, F., Hieratic Papyri from Kahun and Gurob, 1908</ref> Historians see this indicating that to be anally penetrated was looked upon as humiliating and shameful.<ref>Montserrat, 1996, p. 71; Bullough, p. 65.</ref>

The Egyptian Book of the Dead (c. 14.50 century B.C.) is the name given by Egyptologists to a collection of mortuary texts written on sheets of papyrus covered with magical texts and accompanying illustrations. The earliest record of Book of the Dead is dated from approx. 1650-1550 B.C., though it is thought that some of the spells originated in the Pyramid Texts carved more than 1000 years earlier.<ref>[http://www.touregypt.net/boda.htm] The Book of the Dead, An Introduction</ref><ref>[http://www.egyptologyonline.com/book_of_the_dead.htm The book of the dead, EGYPTOLOGY ONLINE]</ref> In chapter 125 are two sets of “negative confessions”, in which the deceased was to testify before Osiris and forty-two other gods of his righteousness and worthiness of eternal life. In the first set of declarations (before Osiris) is the statement (as translated), ''I have not penetrated the penetrater of a penetrater''<ref>[Book of the Dead Chapter 125A http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/literature/religious/bd125a.html]</ref>, while in the second set (before the 42 judges) it is declared (as translated), ''I have committed no acts of impurity nor have I had sexual intercourse with a man.''<ref>[The Book of the Dead, chapter 125, by Richard Hooker http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/EGYPT/BOD125.HTM]</ref>

Part of an incomplete text dating from approximately 2200 B.C. has been termed, ''Neferkare’s Affair with General Sisene.'' It tells of a common man discovering that King Neferkare (Pepi 2) was making regular nightly visit to a man living without a wife,<ref>Egyptian Myth: A Very Short Introduction, by Geraldine Pinch</ref> and which may imply a homosexual affair as part of royal corruption.<ref>Egyptologist J. Gywn Griffths</ref>

The Teaching of Vizier Ptahhotep (c. 2200 B.C.), has a difficult to translate text (32) which may read, ''Do not copulate with a woman-boy,for You know that one will fight against the water upon her heart.''<ref>The Maxims of Good Discourse, by vizier Ptahhotep</ref>

Later, a homosexual liaison is described between the Governor of Egypt C. Vibius Maximus (103-107 A. D.) and a 17 year old ''still beardless...and handsome youth'' who ate and traveled with him rather than attending school and the gymnasium. His sexual relations with the politician were known, and the young man is described as exhibiting an attitude often seen in contemporary society today:

Once accustomed to this shame this handsome and rich young youth gave himself airs and became so impudent..in the presence of everyone, and laughed long and freely in the middle of the clients.

Partly because of this conduct the Governor incurred ''damnatio memoriaem'', with his name being removed from public documents.<ref>R. Syme, C. Vibius Maximus, Prefect of Egypt, Historia 6 (1957), p. 184</ref><ref>After Paul left Corinth, by Bruce W. Winter, p. 114</ref>

===Homosexuality in the Arab and Islamic worlds===

Greenberg contends that male homosexuality has been "pervasive and highly visible" in the Arab and Islamic worlds.<ref>Greenberg, p. 175</ref>

A Dutch traveler among the Moguls (Muslims who ruled in India), wrote that male homosexuality "is not only universal in practice among them, but extends to a bestial communication with brutes, and in particular with sheep."<ref>Johan Stavorinus, Voyages to the East Indies, G G. Robinson (London), 1798, pp. 453-57. Cited in Grcenberg, p. 180.</ref>

John Chardin, a visitor to Persia the late seventeenth century, reported that he had found "numerous houses of male prostitution, but none offering females;" and "some of the greatest Persian love poetry is written to boys."<ref>Greenberg , p. 180</ref>

Louis Dupree, perhaps the West's leading scholar on Afghanistan, wrote in his 1973 book on Afghanistan chat male homosexuality remains common there. (Louis Dupree, Afghani- stan, Princeton University, 1973, p. 198.)

Khaled El-Rouayheb in ''Before homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic world'', 1500-1800" states that "Arabic literature of the Ottoman period (1516-1798) is replete with causal and sometimes sympathetic references to homosexual love", most of it pederastic in content, such as between poets and young boys.

In his ''Music from a Distant Drum'', Bernard Lewis writes that

Homosexuality is condemned and forbidden by the holy law of Islam, but there are times and places in Islamic history when the ban on homosexual love seems no stronger than the ban on adultery in, say, Renaissance Italy or seventeenth century France. Some [of the Arabic, Persian and Turkish] poems are openly homosexual; some poets, in their collected poems, even have separate sections for for love poems addressed to males and females.

In ''The Venture of Islam'' author Marshal Hodegson wrote that in medieval Islamic civilization,

despite strong Shari disapproval, the sexual relations of a mature man with a subordinate youth were so readily accepted in middle class circles that there was little or no efforts to conceal their existence. The fashion entered poetry, especially the Persians.

Records from European travelers attest to the prevalence such, with the content of some revealing the distinction in cultural attitudes. One example is from Englishman Joesph Pitts, a sailor who was captured and sold into slavery at Algiers in 1678 but escaped fifteen years later. He later stated,

The horrible sin of Sodomy is so far from being punish'd among them, that it is part of their ordinary Discourse to boast of their detestable Actions of that kind. 'Tis common for Men there to fall in love with Boys, as 'tis here in England to be in love with Women.

The French traveler C. S. Sonnini, after visiting Egypt between 1777 and 1780, similary noted,

The passion contrary to nature...the inconceivable appetite which dishonored the Greek and Persians of antiquity, constitute the delight, or, to use a juster term, the infamy of the Egyptians. It is not for the women that that their amorous ditties are composed: it is not on them that tender caresses are lavished; far different objects inflame them.

Affirming this contrast, Muslim travelers who "rediscovered Europe" in the first half of the 1800s found it notable that the European men were ''not'' found courting or eulogizing male youth.

Moroccan scholar Muhammad Al-Saffar, who visited Paris in 1845-46, recorded,

Flirtation, romance, and courtship for them take place only with women, for they are not inclined to boys or young men. Rather, that is extremely disgraceful to them.

Likewise, El-Rouayheb also writes that Egyptian scholar Rifa'ah Rafi' al-Tahtaw who was in Paris between 1826 and 1831, noted,

Amongst the laudable traits of their character, similar really to those of the Bedouin, is their not being inclined to toward loving male youths and eulogizing them in poetry, for this is something unmentionable for them and contrary to their nature and morals. One of the positive aspects of their language and poetry is that it does not permit the saying of love poetry of someone of the same sex.<ref>Before homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic world, 1500-1800,
by Khaled El-Rouayheb, pp. 1-3</ref>

===Homosexuality in England===

Homosexuality was known to occur to certain degrees in [[England]]. Saint Boniface wrote in 744 that the people of England "have been leading a shameful life, despising lawful marriages, committing adultery and lusting after the fashion of cutlic people of Sodom. "<ref>Peter Coleman. Christian Attitudes to Homosexuality, 1980, SPCK (London), p 131 Cited in Greenberg, p. 250</ref> Yet especially in latter times England is evidenced to possesses a healthy abhorrence of homosexuality, with both laws and the public attitude being contrary to it.<ref>Rictor Norton (Ed.), Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook. Updated 31 May 2009</ref>

Sodomy (buggery) was described as "a sin against nature" and was prohibited as a capital offense along with bestiality from 1533 until 1861, which saw the penalty reduced to 10 years to life in prison. Later legislation broadened the description while lessening the penalty.<ref>History Of Homosexuality In Europe, 1919-1939. pp. 305-06, by Florence Tamagne (X rated, w/ pro homosexual bias)</ref>

Prior to this a number of medieval legal sources do discuss "sodomy."<ref>The Law in England, www.fordham.edu</ref>

A German traveler wrote in 1768,

The English women are so handsome, and the desire to please them, and to obtain their favours, is so ardent and so general, that it is not in the least surprising, that those islanders should hold a certain unnatural crime in the utmost abhorrence. They speak in no part of the world with so much horror of this infamous passion, as in England. The punishment by law is imprisonment, and the pillory. It is very uncommon to see a person convicted, and punished for this crime; not on account of the paucity of the numbers charged with perpetrating it, but because they never yield to such a brutal appetite but with the utmost precaution.<ref>M. D’Archenholz, A Picture of England, 2 vols, London, 1789, vol. 2, pp. 102-4.</ref><ref>Rictor Norton (Ed.), "A Picture of England, 1789," Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook. 6 January 2005</ref>

The Societies for Reformation of Manners was founded in 1690, and by 1701 there were about twenty such Societies. They purposed to clean up public vice, particularly prostitution. Eight or nine members of the society worked undercover to observe gay cruising areas and attract solicitation. From 1707 through 1709, one cleric, "Reverend Bray," directed several raids, in affiliation with Constables who were also members of the Societies. By their annual meeting in 1710 they were able to attest that "our streets have been very much cleansed from the lewd night-walkers and most detestable sodomites."<ref>Victor Norton, Ed., "The Tryal and Conviction of Several Reputed Sodomites, 1707", Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook. 1 December 1999, updated 15 June 2008</ref>

Attitudes regarding homosexuality varied throughout the history of England, depending on its spiritual condition, and while sodomy between men remained unlawful until the 1930s, increased tolerance toward homosexuality was seen in post [[World War 1]] The precursor to modern sexual revolution is understood by some to have begun among an intellectual class in England termed the ''Neo-Pagans'', whose lifestyle was one of worship of the body, freedom of sexual expression, nudism, etc.<ref>Tamagne</ref> This lifestyle was one which would later characterize the sexual revolution of the 1960s in the West. As seen in Romans 1:25, referring to "those who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen", this resulted in a modern prevalence of [[homosexuality]] in the [[United States]] and England, with its resultant deleterious effects.

==Lesbianism==

Lesbianism was termed ''lesbian passion'' by the Greeks, being derived from the name of the Greek island Lesbos, after its female poet Sappho wrote about love between women.<ref>www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Cities/Lesbos.html</ref> The term sapphism also came to describe traditional sex practices among women through the ages.<ref>Andre, 2003</ref> However, this is not seen as obtaining the same-sex social sanction as pederasty. Nor does Greek mythology offers legends of the goddesses which parallel the homosexual acts seen as having occurred between male Greek gods.

In Lucian's Amores 28, the Greek character Charicles states that it would be better for a women to invade the dominion of male wantonness (homosexuality) than for men to become effeminate, and also warns of lesbianism: ''If you concede homosexual love to males, you must in justice grant the same to females; you will have to sanction carnal intercourse between them; monstrous instruments of lust will have to be permitted, in order that their sexual congress may be carried out; that obscene vocable, tribad, which so rarely offends our ears--I blush to utter it--will become rampant, and Philænis will spread androgynous orgies throughout our harems.'' <ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=sclZnr2SUIgC&pg=PA113&lpg=PA113&dq=Amores+of+Lucian,+Charicles&source=bl&ots=wZNTllKdeA&sig=vh6J9B9uPzFXES6yaoyAYfwPGOg&hl=en&ei=LxYfStb2IsXMlQeZuqXFBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=25#PPA113,M1 After Paul left Corinth, by Bruce W. Winter]</ref>

[Romans 1]] of the New Testament clearly refers to lesbianism, as ''even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature'', as a result of rejecting the creational revelation given them.

==Ancient laws against homosexual acts==

Greek laws existed which regulated pederasty, while later Romans laws went further in restricting it. Although there is some debate among scholars, Roman literature of the republic and early empire may indicate that men who engaged in consensual homosexual relations were often mocked as effeminate, but such was not illegal. Laws instituted in the later Roman Empire would change explicitly outlaw such.

On Dec 16, 342 A.D., Constantius and Constans issued a legal decision which was included in the later Theodosian Code:

Cod.Theod. IX. Viii. 3: (Cod. Justin IX.ix.31):

''When a man marries in the manner of a woman, a woman about to renounce men {quum vir nubit in feminam viris porrecturam), what does he wish, when sex has lost all its significance; when the crime is one which it is not profitable to know; when Venus is changed to another form; when love is sought and not found? We order the statutes to arise, the laws to be armed with an avenging sword, that those infamous persons who are now, or who hereafter may be, guilty may be subjected to exquisite punishment.''

The meaning of this is somewhat obscure, more explicit is the law issued by Valentinian II, Theodoisus and Arcadius on Aug 6, 390, and which also survives in the Theodosian Code:

Cod.Theod. IX. Vii. 6:

''All persons who have the shameful custom of condemning a man's body, acting the part of a woman's to the sufferance of alien sex (for they appear not to be different from women), shall expiate a crime of this kind in avenging flames in the sight of the people.''

During the Roman Imperial period the Lex Julia de adulteris (originally of c. 17 B.C.) was expanded by legal commentators to include first offenses against boys, and possibly all male homosexual acts. Under Justinian, the Eastern Roman Emperor from 527 A.D. to his death, historical accounts in Procopius and Malalas indicate that there was punishment of some homosexuals. In addition, under Justinian's legislative activity there was the strict Institutes of the Corpus Juris Civilis (effective Dec 30, 533), which is understood by some to sum up the legal opinons:<ref>Paul Halsall, Justinian I: Novel 77 [538] and Novel 141 [544 AD]</ref>

Institutes IV. xviii .4:

''In criminal cases public prosecutions take place under various statutes, including the Lex Julia de adulteris, "…which punishes with death (gladio), not only those who violate the marriages of others, but also those who dare to commit acts of vile lust with [other] men (qui cim masculis nefandum libidinem exercere audent)."

More significantly, two "Novels" by Justinian issued were directed against homosexual activity:

NOVEL 77 [358 AD] (extract)

…since certain men, seized by diabolical incitement practice among themselves the most disgraceful lusts, and act contrary to nature: we enjoin them to take to heart the fear of God and the judgment to come, and to abstain from suchlike diabolical and unlawful lusts, so that they may not be visited by the just wrath of God on account of these impious acts, with the result that cities perish with all their inhabitants. For we are taught by the Holy Scriptures that because of like impious conduct cities have indeed perish, together with all the men in them.<ref>[trans. in Derrick Sherwin Bailey, Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition, (London: Longmans, Green, 1955), 73-74]</ref>

NOVEL 141 [344 AD]

#1: For, instructed by the Holy Scriptures, we know that God brought a just judgment upon those who lived in Sodom, on account of this very madness of intercourse, so that to this very day that lands burns with inextinguishable fire. By this God teaches us, in order that by means of legislation we may avert such an untoward fate. Again, we know what the blessed Apostle says about such things, and what laws our state enacts. Wherefore it behoves all who desire to fear God to abstain from conduct so base and criminal that we do not find it committed even by brute beasts. Let those who have not taken part in such doings continue to refrain in the future. But as for those who have been consumed by this kind of disease, let them not only cease to sin in the future, but let them alos duly do penance, and fall down before God and renounce their plague [in confession] to the blessed Patriarch; let them understand the reason for this charge, and, as it is written, bring forth the fruits of repentance. So may God the merciful, in abundance of pity, deem us worthy of his blessing, that we may all give thanks to him for the salvation of the penitents, who we have now bidden [to submit themselves] in order that the magistrates too may follow up our action, [thus] reconciling to themselves God who is justly angry with us.

Late Roman pagan lawyers had already applied the Lex Julia to homosexual acts when Christian emperors enacted laws and issued exhortations against homosexuals, four in a two-hundred year period, with the two by Justinian (527-565) being as much concerned with penance as penalty.<ref>Bailey, pp. 79-81</ref>

Under Roman Emperor Charles V, (A.D. 1539), Lex Carolina (Die peinliche Halsgerichtsordnung) was promulgated:

§116 Punishment of the Unchastity that occurs against Nature.

Moreover, if a human being commits unchastity with an animal, [or] a man with a man, [or] a woman with a woman, they have forfeited life, and, according to the common custom, they shall be banished from life unto death by fire.

==History of homosexuality and myths==

Myths play a substantial part in the study of the history of homosexuality, which is seen by many among mythological Greek gods (similar Romans gods had Latin names<ref>[http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/mythology/myths.html Roman and greek mythology of gods and goddesses]</ref><ref>[http://www.americanbible.org/absport/news/item.php?id=80 Greek and Roman Gods and Goddesses]</ref><ref>http://messagenet.com/myths/immortals.html</ref>). Instances and possibilities include

*Zeus and Ganymede,
*Apollo and Hyacinthus,
*Achilles and Patroclus,
*Heracles (or Hercules) and Hylas,
*Narcissus and Ameinias.
*Other gods who to homosexual affairs are attributed include Orpheus ("the first man to love boys"), Boreas (god of the North Wind) and Thamyris.<ref>[http://everything2.com/title/Homosexuals%2520of%2520Greek%2520Mythology Homosexuals of Greek Mythology]</ref>

==Non-uniform occurrence==

An notable interesting aspect in regards to the history of homosexuality is that it has been rare in a number of cultures or been absent in some cultures. Dr. Neil Whitehead and Briar Whitehead state regarding various cultures: "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."<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>

==Modern prevalence and influence==

The history of homosexuality in modern times is one which evidences a growth from that which is shameful to mainstream acceptance in the West. This change may be seen as a product of the [[sexual revolution]] beginning in the 1960s, which saw widespread rebellion toward moral authority, and against prohibitions against illicit sex in particular. Gay and lesbian rights groups had existed before and grown during that time, but the rebellion which marked that era was distinctly manifested by homosexuals on June 28, 1969 in the [[Stonewall Riots]] which occurred in Greenwich Village, injuring police and bystanders. This is seen as marking the beginning of the modern organizing of gay and lesbian groups, and the promotion of what [[conservatives]] term the [[homosexual agenda]]. Gay Democratic clubs began in every major city, and one fourth of all college campuses had gay and lesbian groups.<ref>(Shilts, 1993, ch.28</ref>. The [[American Psychiatric Association]] was pressured to removed homosexuality from its official listing of mental disorders, and to treat it as an optional lifestyle. It is contended by some that such changes were due to pressure from the homosexual lobby, which Nicholas Cummings, former president of the APA, states, "is very strong in the APA."<ref>http://www.narth.com/docs/study.html</ref><ref>[http://www.narth.com/docs/insiders.html Psychology Losing Scientific Credibility, Say APA Insiders]</ref>

Since Stonewall, the visibility of gays and lesbians has become an increasing aspect of American life, despite the fact that the [[homosexual lifestyle]] was the primary cause of the spread of [[AIDS]], which has resulted in the death of over a half million Americans, and many more world wide.<ref>[http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5521a1.htm Twenty-Five Years of HIV/AIDS --- United States, 1981--2006</ref><ref>[http://www.avert.org/aroundworld.htm AIDS around the world]</ref> In addition to the decreased moral influence by Christians or others, and the increase in erotic sensuality overall, many credit effective homosexual public relations strategy for the increasing acceptance of homosexuality.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=cbfVg_1qhe0C&pg=PP1&lpg=PP1&dq=David+W.+Virtue+scots+college&source=bl&ots=aDW7a615Gn&sig=Y1cLsx5sCQTgUUDJ88b5AKPRkNg&hl=en&ei=8skISpP1AcGktgfi2PzsCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#PPR14,M1 Homosexuality, by F. Earle Fox, David W. Virtue]</ref>Instrumental in this strategy were Harvard trained marketing experts and social scientists Marshall Kirk (1957 - 2005) and Hunter Madsen, who advocated avoiding portraying gays as aggressive challengers, but as victims, while making those who opposed them as evil persecutors.<ref>http://www.leaderu.com/socialsciences/sellinghomosexuality.html http://www.article8.org/docs/gay_strategies/after_the_ball.htm </ref><ref>After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90’s, p. 152-153 (1989, Doubleday/Bantam)</ref> The widespread use of the term [[homophobia]] against any who oppose homosexuality has been effective in the latter effort.

Various estimates are given for the percentage of homosexuals (though who sexually desire their same genders over the opposite). The early figure of 10% as based upon a report by Alfred E. Kinsey, though often quoted, is not generally considered accurate by profession researchers, due to serious flaws (and even criminal practices) in his studies.<ref>such as 25 percent of his information coming from present or former prison inmates, many of whom were sex offenders, while a additional 5 percent were male prostitutes: Kinsey, Sex and Fraud: The Indoctrination of a People, Judith A. Reisman, Ph.D. and Edward W. Eichel</ref> A more recent national study found that 1.51% of total U.S. population identified themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual.<ref>National study published in Laumann, et al., The Social Organization of Sex: Sexual Practices in the United States(1994), cited in Amicus Curiae in support of petitioners. Lawrence and Garner v. State of Texas, No. 02-102 (U.S. March 26, 2003), pg. 16.</ref> Various sources compiled by Thomas E.Schmidt resulted in a figure of 1.8% of the U.S. population being gay or lesbian.<ref>Straight & Narrow: Compassion & Clarity in the Homosexuality Debate, pg. 102-103. [Original sources: P. Painton, "The Shrinking Ten Percent," Time, April 26, 1993, pp. 27-29; P. Rogers, "How Many Gays Are There?" Newsweek, February 15, 1993, pg. 46</ref> With the promotion of homosexuality in schools and society, these figures are expected to rise.<ref>www.massresistance.org</ref>

==Contemporary conflict==

In modern times in the [[United States]] the term "[[Culture War]]" has been used to describe the polarization on various issues between [[conservatives]] and [[liberals]] and the issue of homosexuality is part of this conflict. Conservatives point out that the weight of evidence shows there is a [[Homosexuality Research|significant body of research showing the homosexuality inordinately harms individuals and the larger society as a whole in comparison to heterosexuality]] (for example, through higher rates of diseases, higher domestic violence rates, etc.).

==Consequences of prevalent homosexuality==

As with Sodom and its region, (Jude 1:7) widespread fornication and its abominable homosexual form are Biblically seen by traditional Christians as concomitant with “pride, fullness of bread and abundance of idleness, and selfishness. (Ezek. 16:49,50), and is a preclude to national travail and ultimate destruction, if such prevalence continued.<ref>[http://www.leaderu.com/common/nationsdie.html When Nations Die, by Kerby Anderson]</ref> Historically, societies that have embraced homosexuality have perished, whereas those that have upheld traditional values have endured. For example, ancient Rome's decline and its eventual fall in A.D. 476 were due in no small part to a growing tolerance of homosexual acts beginning in the Late Republic period ending in 27 B.C.

We also see this today, both internationally and nationally. Internationally, those countries that preserve conservative social morality and family values are the leaders in both freedom and prosperity, while those that grant special rights to homosexuals lag in both areas. Nationally, in America's big [[city|cities]], the "gayborhoods" have the highest rates of [[crime]] and other social dysfunctions and the lowest property values, whereas the reverse is true in neighborhoods in which socially conservative [[Christian]] [[church]]es are prevalent.

==See also==
*[[Homosexuality and English Speaking Countries]]
*[[Homosexuality in other cultures]]
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
[[Category:Homosexuality]]
[[Category:History]]

Hoover

2013-04-21T19:15:17Z

CameronD: Vacuum cleaner

'''Hoover''' can refer to several people or things:
* [[Herbert Hoover]], 31st [[President of the United States of America]]
* [[J. Edgar Hoover]], former director of the [[FBI]]
* [[Hoover Dam]]
* A genericized trademark for a [[vacuum cleaner]]

{{disambiguation}}

Talk:Shoplifting

2013-04-21T19:12:25Z

CameronD: Created page with "==This needs adding to the Liberal Traits template== I cannot add it or use the template talkpage ~~~~"

==This needs adding to the Liberal Traits template==

I cannot add it or use the template talkpage [[User:CameronD|CamD]] 15:12, 21 April 2013 (EDT)

Carl Baugh

2013-04-21T19:09:49Z

CameronD: Remove smears

[[File:CreationEvidenceMuseum.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Baugh's original Creation Evidence Museum]]
'''Carl Baugh''' is a [[Young Earth Creationist]]. Baugh received his doctorates from [[Pacific International University]] and [[Louisiana Baptist University]]. He is a forceful speaker who has helped many come to [[Jesus Christ]]. Some of Baugh's arguments are controversial not only with mainstream scientists but with his fellow creationists. [[Answers in Genesis]] considers Baugh's reports of finding human footprints next to dinosaur prints to be questionable and lists it as an argument that creationists should not use. <ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/dont_use.asp</ref>

==References==
<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baugh, Carl}}

[[Category:Scientists]]
[[Category:Young Earth Creationists]]

River Avon

2013-04-21T19:07:46Z

CameronD: near Bo'ness

The '''River Avon''' is the name of several [[river]]s in [[Great Britain]]. The name is so common because it derives from the Old British ''Abona'', meaning simply 'river', and which has given rise to the [[Welsh]], [[Cornish]] and [[Irish]] word for river: ''afon'', ''avon'' and ''abhann'' respectively.

Probably the best-known River Avon is the [[Warwickshire]] Avon, which flows through the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, birthplace of [[William Shakespeare]] (who is also known as the 'Bard of Avon').

Another River Avon flows through the city of [[Bristol]] and enters the [[Bristol Channel]] at the port of Avonmouth.

A further River Avon flows north-south across central southern England through the towns of Pewsey and Amesbury and the city of [[Salisbury]] to enter the [[English Channel]] between Bournemouth and Christchurch.

In [[Scotland]], a River Avon flows between Stirlingshire and West Lothian to enter the Firth of Forth near Bo'ness.

[[Category:United Kingdom Rivers|Avon]]

River Avon

2013-04-21T19:06:38Z

CameronD: Not that Christchurch

The '''River Avon''' is the name of several [[river]]s in [[Great Britain]]. The name is so common because it derives from the Old British ''Abona'', meaning simply 'river', and which has given rise to the [[Welsh]], [[Cornish]] and [[Irish]] word for river: ''afon'', ''avon'' and ''abhann'' respectively.

Probably the best-known River Avon is the [[Warwickshire]] Avon, which flows through the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, birthplace of [[William Shakespeare]] (who is also known as the 'Bard of Avon').

Another River Avon flows through the city of [[Bristol]] and enters the [[Bristol Channel]] at the port of Avonmouth.

A further River Avon flows north-south across central southern England through the towns of Pewsey and Amesbury and the city of [[Salisbury]] to enter the [[English Channel]] between Bournemouth and Christchurch.

In [[Scotland]], a River Avon flows between Stirlingshire and West Lothian to enter the Firth of Forth bear Bo'ness.

[[Category:United Kingdom Rivers|Avon]]

Talk:California condor

2013-04-21T19:03:23Z

CameronD: Created page with "==Can this page be moved?== Can it moved to Califonia Condor? ~~~~"

==Can this page be moved?==

Can it moved to Califonia Condor? [[User:CameronD|CamD]] 15:03, 21 April 2013 (EDT)

User talk:Brenden

2013-04-12T17:45:44Z

CameronD: /* CameronD */ new section

{{Useful links}}
[[User talk:Brenden/Archive]]

== Regarding the Anonymous page ==

I've looked into the Anon/WBC incident before for an essay on freedom of speech as it relates to Internet culture, and while both WBC and Anon showed their typical lack of civility and good manners towards each other they didn't violate the 1st Amendment in any way. I might have made a mistake in the report, though, so if you could show me where one side or the other violated 1st Amendment rights I'd be happy to concede the point. [[User:JGrant|Blessings of the Almighty on you :)]] 16:25, 3 October 2012 (EDT)

== Seeing as you've blocked me in the past for sometimes having a less-than-cheerful attitude... ==

....you'll love [http://conservapedia.com/Special:Contributions/PaulDiFoglio this guy's] stream of edit comments. Hugs and kisses, [[User:MattyD|MattyD]] 21:00, 31 October 2012 (EDT)

== What the hell are you doing? ==

Why have you just unblocked this user - you better have a good reason! [[User:EJamesW|EJamesW]] 17:23, 2 November 2012 (EDT)
:No need to block non-malicious morons. Just let them know that they are being ignored.[[User:Brenden|Brenden]] 17:39, 2 November 2012 (EDT)

::DON'T DO IT AGAIN~! Look at the history you moron! [[User:EJamesW|EJamesW]] 17:46, 2 November 2012 (EDT)

You've just made yourself look a total idiot. I can't believe I was the one who recommended for promotion. [[User:EJamesW|EJamesW]] 17:58, 2 November 2012 (EDT)
:::[Comments retracted by poster]<del>Thank you, EJamesW </sarcasm>[[User:Brenden|brenden]] 18:00, 2 November 2012 (EDT)</del>

What does </sarcasm> mean?

Does that mean you're trying to be sarcastic? But you can't think of anything witty or amusing to type?

Brenden, why don't you just say sorry and leave it at that? (Have you looked at the history of User:Reactionary22, you will see that I gave this guy a chance to respond and chandged his block settings.)

I suppose some Christians never can admit they're wrong...

[[User:EJamesW|EJamesW]] 18:17, 2 November 2012 (EDT)

:Ease up E, Brendan has done the same on more than one occasion. Normally we frown upon adjusting others' blocks but no harm, no foul.--[[User:Jpatt|Jpatt]] 19:04, 2 November 2012 (EDT)
::My apologies, I failed to take a look at the history, and the tone you took kind of distracted me from looking. Sorry about that.[[User:Brenden|brenden]] 16:54, 3 November 2012 (EDT)
==Editing==
Editing is fully restored. Sorry I didn't notice this earlier.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 23:55, 11 November 2012 (EST)
:Thanks, Mr. Schlafly[[User:Brenden|brenden]] 00:39, 12 November 2012 (EST)

==Conservative==
If you have a personal problem with a sysop, you take it up with Aschlafly. [[User:Karajou|Karajou]] 11:12, 19 November 2012 (EST)

== Personal Honeypot ==

Just registered. I think an interesting experiment/test could be to add a few articles copied from wikipedia into the wiki after deleting all the spam and see if the content of those articles changes what is being written in the spam. Dvergne 23:57, 17 December 2012 (EST)
:I also think we should start and anti-spam squad here to help combat the spam by collecting the IP's and the like and adding those to such sites as Stopforumspam. I also think that copying the spam IP block list from wikipedia is a good Idea as I imagine they would have to have pretty good countermeasures against spam over there. Dvergne 00:02, 18 December 2012 (EST)
==Thanks==
Thank you for your thoughtfulness. My only concern is accuracy and credibility. I think that sometimes, people can't see how a stranger will react to their writing because we all have internal writing voices which remember all of our intentions rather than what is on the page. [[User:Wschact|Wschact]] 01:34, 6 January 2013 (EST)

:Thank you for your tireless work against vandals. Your efforts are appreciated. :-) Regards, [[User:Taj|Taj]] 17:27, 13 January 2013 (EST)

== Spambots ==

It seems the spambots are active again. I might start to port over the new spambot IP blocks from Wikipedia again, as that seamed to be quite efficient at stopping them for a while last time. [[User:Dvergne|Dvergne]] 06:29, 3 February 2013 (EST)

:I think I might upgrade that to very active! Have you been getting much spam at your honeypot mate? [[User:Dvergne|Dvergne]] 19:27, 3 February 2013 (EST)
::It's been ok-ish. I blocked most of the ranges that were targeting my honeypot. [[User:Brenden|brenden]] 19:50, 3 February 2013 (EST)

== I removed your latest round of "personal attacks removed" censorship ==
I think it is poor form to edit talk page comments left by others. If an editor wishes to run afoul of the rules by speaking their mind, it should be their freedom to do so. If that editor happens to be immune to the rules (as with the user in this case), then I think their unfettered comments should stand as testimony to their true nature. Thanks --[[User:DonnyC|DonnyC]] 21:16, 7 February 2013 (EST)
:Well, the last time that specific user left his comments, a lot of people were offended. While I agree, that generally, it is inappropriate to censor users, in certain cases, especially when personal attacks are involved, it should be fine. Furthermore, the use of such tags, causes the poster understand that such attacks are not welcome on Conservapedia.

Thanks for your input anyways, though. [[User:Brenden|brenden]] 22:04, 7 February 2013 (EST)

== Editing should work now ==

Try now - your account has been promoted.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 00:25, 19 February 2013 (EST)
:Thanks! [[User:Brenden|brenden]] 14:59, 19 February 2013 (EST)

==Maybe you're right==

I still retain my suspicion, but if that contributor wants to reregister we should let him. I probably should have enabled account recreation after the block. - [[User:Markman|Markman]] 14:34, 1 March 2013 (EST)

==AlanE==
Thanks Brenden. I needed that! [[User:AlanE|AlanE]] 21:20, 6 March 2013 (EST)
:NP [[User:Brenden|brenden]] 21:30, 6 March 2013 (EST)

== Reverting admins ==

Hi Brenden. You do not have the authority to undo admin's blocks. If you have an issue, you raise it. [[User:DouglasA|DouglasA]] 15:30, 7 March 2013 (EST)
:KK got it. [[User:Brenden|brenden]] 13:47, 12 March 2013 (EDT)

== Block ==

Thanks. [[User:JohanZ|JohanZ]] 11:56, 9 April 2013 (EDT)
:No problem[[User:Brenden|brenden]] 13:25, 9 April 2013 (EDT)

== CameronD ==

Sorry I had been playing around with my signature I have now corrected it. [[User:CameronD|CameronD]] 13:45, 12 April 2013 (EDT)

Dexter

2013-03-31T18:20:39Z

CameronD: as

'''Dexter''' is a TV series on [[Showtime]], about a murderous vigilante. Dexter himself is an [[atheist]]. However, the show does depict ''normal people'' as being religious, and although Dexter is glorified as a serial killer, the show downplays other criminals, liars, murders, and adulterers. In the very first episode of the series, Dexter criticizes adultery.

Conservative media watchdogs have criticized the show as perverse but liberal television critics give their approval. <ref>[http://www.mrc.org/BozellColumns/entertainmentcolumn/2006/col20061005.asp TV’s Serial Killer Chic, MRC, October 15, 2006]</ref>

==References==
<references/>
[[Category:Television Shows]]

Cellular telephone

2013-03-15T17:59:13Z

CameronD: Germany

[[Image:400px-Mobile phone evolution.jpg|right|thumb|Mobile phones ranging from a 1980s-era phone to a 2000s phone]]
A '''cellular telephone''' is a hand held device used for [[communication|communicating]], commonly known as a "cell phone" in the [[United States]], and also known as a "mobile phone" in [[Britain]], [[Ireland]] and [[Australia]]. In Germany they are known as 'Handies'

==History==

The principle behind cell phones, transmitting waves modulated with sound signals (see methodology) was first seen in radio communications developed in the 1920s. However the potential of this [[Cellular technology|technology]] was not realised for many years, and the move towards the networks used today did not begin until 1947, when Bell Laboratory engineers Douglas Ring and Rae Young proposed using hexagonal grids with base towers at the corners (rather than in the centers) to allow communication. This creation of the "cellular concept" resulted in increased research into the possibility of evolving commonly used 2-way radio communication into real time speech.

The following is a summary of jurisdictions that have regulated the use of hand-held cell phones while driving (as of April 2008):

*[[California]], [[Connecticut]], [[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia]], [[New York]], [[New Jersey]] and, beginning July 2008, [[Washington]]<ref>http://www.komotv.com/news/local/7470007.html</ref> ban the use of hand-held cell phones while driving.

*[[Illinois]], [[Massachusetts]], [[Michigan]], [[New Mexico]], [[Ohio]], and [[Pennsylvania]] permit local municipalities to ban handheld cell phone use. Localities that have already done this include: Chicago, IL; Brookline, MA; Detroit, MI; Santa Fe, NM; Brooklyn, North Olmstead and Walton Hills, OH; and Conshohocken, Lebanon and West Conshohocken, PA.

*[[Florida]], [[Kentucky]], [[Louisiana]], [[Mississippi]], [[Nevada]], [[Oklahoma]], [[Oregon]], and [[Utah]] do not allow local governments to ban cell phone use.

*[[Arizona]], [[Arkansas]], [[California]], [[Connecticut]], [[Delaware]], District of Columbia, Illinois, Massachusetts, [[New Jersey]], [[Rhode Island]], [[Tennessee]], and [[Texas]] ban the use of all cell phones while driving a school bus.

*[[Colorado]], Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, [[Maine]], [[Maryland]], [[Minnesota]], New Jersey, [[North Carolina]], [[Rhode Island]], Tennessee, Texas, and [[West Virginia]] have restrictions on the use of cell phones by young drivers.

*In [[Montana]] it was for many years technically illegal to even possess a cell phone inside a car, due to an archaic law which was repealed in 2001.

*All except four states with cell phone bans allow police to stop and ticket drivers for breaking the law. The exceptions are New Jersey, which is a secondary enforcement law except for school bus drivers and learner’s permit and intermediate license holders, and Colorado, Maryland, and West Virginia which have secondary enforcement laws. Secondary enforcement laws require observation of another violation before stopping the driver.

==Safety record==

Despite repeated media scare stories, no [[cell phone cancer]] link has ever been proved (Also see: [[Mobile phones and brain tumor risk]]).

== References ==

<references/>

== External links ==

*[http://tech.yahoo.com/blog/null/1225 10 Commandments of Cell Phone Etiquette] Christopher Null.
*[http://tech.yahoo.com/blog/null/7691 Six Ways Cell Phones Can Hurt Your Business] Christopher Null.
* [http://www.sri.com/policy/csted/reports/sandt/techin2/chp4.html SRI - The Cellular Telephone]
* [http://www.privateline.com/mt_cellbasics/ Privateline - The Cellular Telephone]

[[Category:Technology]]

User:CameronD

2013-03-15T17:58:15Z

CameronD: No longer banned for supporting gun rights!

Quora

2012-09-07T20:56:10Z

CameronD: correct it's to its

'''Quora''' is a question-and-answer website. The website's community of users create, edit and organize its content. Quora was founded in June of 2009. It is known for its inability to accurately measure web traffic, despite claims that the rival [[Alexa]]. Quora is also a favorite website qouted by internet [[quack|conspiracy theorists]], to support their claims, which cite themselves ([[circular reasoning|See Circular Reasoning]]).

== External links ==

[http://www.quora.com/ Quora website]