According to The Los Angeles Times, scores of United Methodist pastors in Southern California are planning to defy church law by performing same-sex marriages. The paper provides rather extensive detail about these plans, acknowledging that performing same-sex marriages could lead to disciplinary action against the pastors.

In addition, a large group of retired United Methodist ministers in the region has volunteered to perform the marriages on behalf of pastors who might be defrocked or disciplined if they performed the marriages themselves.

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Why do you do what is right, rather than what is wrong? That is hardly a new question. It troubled the minds of the ancients. Some felt that humans are naturally drawn to virtue, but they were hard-pressed to explain why some individuals seemed to resist this impulse. Others argued that society had to make a firm impression upon the young, inculcating a desire for virtue and character that was more external than internal.

Fast forward and the Victorians in Britain were convinced that a lack of virtue could be traced to either heredity or deprivation. Assuming the British middle class as normative, the Victorians offered the advice famously advocated by Jiminy Cricket to Pinocchio -- "Let your conscience be your guide."

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Ellen Goodman is an institution at the Boston Globe and one of the nation's most recognized liberal columnists. She has a keen eye for detail, which often makes her columns interesting, and she is an unreconstructed liberal and feminist, undoubtedly shaped by her education in the 1960s at Radcliffe College and her personal experiences.

In her column published today Goodman addresses the controversy surrounding Thomas Beatie, the "man" who gave birth to a baby girl just weeks ago. Here is how Goodman described the situation:

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[Note: I'm taking a brief vacation. Regular blogging will resume on July 21.] "That movie was totally overrated. Now if you want to see a really worthwhile flick you should see..." Because film buffs like me say this type of...

[Note: I'm taking a brief vacation. Regular blogging will resume on July 21.] Last year while discussing bioethics with fellow blogger Jim Smalls, I expressed my disgust and dismay about ethicist Peter Singer. How could anyone with his intellect, I...

1. God Is Not Dead Yet -- How current philosophers argue for his existence. °°°°°° 2. William F. Vallicella on God in the Declaration of Independence By my count, there are four references to God in the Declaration of Independence....