Pride and My Response to the Baptists, in language they might understand...

“The Southern Baptist Convention overwhelmingly voted to call for the overturning of the Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage.” >It is difficult to comprehend how a religion that purports to represent God could endorse the discrimination and prejudice which the above vote indicates. Apparently neither you nor your congregation truly understand the tolerant, inclusive compassion that defines spiritual love and enlightenment. Your emphasis on sexual acts rather than the love and respect shared between homosexuals is not what the bible emphasizes. Your complete trust in ancient texts written by middle eastern males during a time of patriarchy rather than following the spirit of love within each of us is also questionable. In truth, homosexuality is common within God's creations: “ While the exact reasons for homosexual behavior in animals are still being studied, scientists believe it can play a role in social bonding, strengthening relationships, and even co-parenting. Dolphins, bonobos, lions, giraffes, and sheep are known for same-sex sexual behavior. Some male sheep exhibit a lifelong preference for other males. Penguins, albatrosses, and flamingos have been observed engaging in homosexual behaviors, including pair-bonding. Squid, snails, fruit flies, and roundworms also exhibit same-sex sexual behavior. Same-sex interactions have also been documented in reptiles like garter snakes and amphibians like the American toad. The prevalence of homosexual behavior in the animal kingdom challenges traditional views of sexuality and challenges the notion that it is unnatural." As the Creator of all things and the giver of free will to humans, Love is the reason we are here. Compassion for humanity and other life forms is why we are here. To spread joy and acceptance rather than hate and division are why we are here. Lofty goals which your beliefs do not embrace, no matter how you attempt to justify them with biblical references. The separation of church and state exists for the precise purpose of preventing the bigotry of some religious beliefs. The government does not force you to believe in or practice homosexuality, it seeks to protect gay relationships with the same legal protections that heterosexual marriage entails. In fact, one wonders why some ‘Christian’ businesses seek to exclude serving homosexuals, but do not ask a customer if they beat their wives or abuse their children. Please re -examine the origins of your views and endorse a more inclusive, holistic interpretation of the Bible that includes All of God's wondrous Creations.< -W. Jacobs

Insect Decline

"In 2019, researchers found that almost a third of US birds – about 3 billion – had disappeared from the skies since the 1970s. The losses, however, were not evenly distributed: those birds that ate insects as their main food had declined by 2.9 billion. Those that didn’t depend on insects had actually gained, increasing by 26 million. More recent research from the US found a decline in three-quarters of nearly 500 bird species studied – with the steepest downward trend in stronghold areas, where they once thrived. In Puerto Rico’s Luquillo rainforest, scientists in 2018 mapped how the loss of insects set other dominoes falling: as bugs declined, so too did the populations of lizards, frogs and birds. Their disappearance, they wrote, had triggered “a bottom-up trophic cascade and consequent collapse of the forest" >>I have written about the insect decline in earlier posts,a decline which rises by a few percentage points each year, worldwide. Climate change, pesticides, habitat loss and other factors are catching up to us, which is why I say alarmist things such as humanity will not survive beyond 2100. Insects are not in the forefront of peoples attention, except when buying traps and chemicals to kill them, but they are crucial to the ecosystem. I am old enough to remember Pennsylvania fields filled with thousands of insects and species that simply do not exist anymore. Gone in fifty years. Worldwide. Everywhere. To believe that this can continue without major repercussions is ignorant denial. I have no solution other than to try not to needlessly kill...Although I have seen a few honeybees and 'sweat' bees and flies and bumblebees, they are very much reduced over last year-possibly because of the wet, cool spring. Tiger Swallowtails,fritillary butterflies,cabbage butterflies,and Blackwing damselflies do not appear to have suffered. One comparatively rare insect that I am thankful is still on the flowers is the hummingbird moth, which

I managed to photograph today.