A Prominent Psychiatrist Says Being Transgender Is a Psychological Issue

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Dr. Joseph Berger, a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, states that from “a scientific perspective,” being “transgendered” is a psychological issue – “emotional unhappiness” – and “cosmetic surgery” is not the “proper treatment.”

Dr. Berger, who also is a past president of the Ontario District Branch of the American Psychiatric Association, presented his remarks before the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights when it was considering a bill (C-279) in 2013 to “include gender identity as a prohibited ground of discrimination.”

The proposed legislation, popularly known as the “bathroom bill,” essentially would prohibit discrimination against the transgendered. In the bill, “gender identity” is defined as “the individual’s deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex that the individual was assigned at birth” . . .

“‘Transgendered’ are people who claim that they really are or wish to be people of the sex opposite to which they were born, or to which their chromosomal configuration attests,” he stated. “Sometimes, some of these people have claimed that they are ‘a woman trapped in a man’s body’ or alternatively ‘a man trapped in a woman’s body.’”

“Scientifically, there is no such thing,” he said. (Read more from “A Prominent Psychiatrist Says Being Transgender Is a Psychological Issue” HERE)

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Mystery Surrounds Muslim Cleric in U.S. Mountain Compound

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The influential Muslim cleric lives quietly on a gated 26-acre compound in the Pocono Mountains, where he prays, works, meets admirers and watches from afar as terrorism accusations that have landed him on Turkey’s most-wanted list unfold in court.

Rarely seen in public, Fethullah Gulen has long been one of Turkey’s most important scholars, with multitudes of followers in his native country and around the world. More recently, Turkey’s increasingly autocratic president, Recip Erdogan, has accused Gulen of plotting to overthrow the officially secular government from his Pennsylvania idyll some 5,000 miles away.

Gulen’s supporters call the charge baseless and, so far, the U.S. has shown little inclination to send him back to Turkey to face a trial that began without him Jan. 6 and is expected to last several months. A second trial, involving accusations that his movement took part in espionage, opened Monday . . .

“He said that the United States has a long tradition of democracy and rule of law,” said Y. Alp Aslandogan, who sees Gulen about once a week as president of the New York-based Alliance for Shared Values, a group that promotes Gulen’s ideas. “They will see that these are politically oriented charges, and they will not allow Erdogan to spread his ambition into the United States.” (Read more from “Mystery Surrounds Muslim Cleric in U.S. Mountain Compound” HERE)

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Seattle Woman Who Raised $400G as Cancer Survivor Reportedly Never Had the Disease

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A prominent Seattle cancer advocate and fundraiser has been accused of lying about her breast cancer diagnoses while she raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Susan G. Komen for the Cure, KOMO News reported.

Tracy Dart, who has raised more than $400,000 over the past decade for the Komen Foundation, is under fire for reportedly lying about her three cancer spells.

A Washington state car dealer who helped Dart raise thousands to fight the disease said a member of Dart’s “Team Tracy” contacted him to reveal that Dart had never been ill.

“She doesn’t have cancer—she never had cancer,” the representative said, according to Auburn Volkswagen owner Matthew Welch. (Read more from “Seattle Woman Who Raised $400G as Cancer Survivor Reportedly Never Had the Disease” HERE)

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Trump Just Made an Embarrassing Mistake in Church That Has Many Shaking Their Heads [+video]

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While attending a church service in Iowa Sunday, Donald Trump momentarily mistook the silver communion plate for an offering plate and started to dig into his pockets for cash.

The candidate, who was attending the First Christian Church – Orchard Campus in Council Bluffs with his wife Melania, quickly realized his mistake and took the communion element instead . . .

Trump gave an offering to the church (which is part of the Four Square denomination) several minutes later, when the appropriate plates were passed, the Associated Press reported.

“As Trump was leaving, one of the church pastors put his hand on Trump’s shoulder and offered a prayer, ‘That Jesus would guide his decisions and that only Christ could guide his decisions,’ the pastor later said. Trump gladly accepted, bowing his head,” according to the AP . . .

Last summer, Trump spoke about partaking in Holy Communion. “When I drink my little wine — which is about the only wine I drink — and have my little cracker, I guess that is a form of asking for forgiveness, and I do that as often as possible because I feel cleansed,” he said, according to CNN. “I think in terms of ‘Let’s go on and let’s make it right.’”

On Saturday, Trump released a new video with him holding up a Bible, which he said was given to him by his mother. “In fact, it’s her writing, right here,” he said opening to a page near the front of the Holy book. “She wrote the name and the address, and it’s just very special to me.” (Read more from “Trump Just Made an Embarrassing Mistake in Church That Has Many Shaking Their Heads” HERE)

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This Is the Most Godless City in America

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Portland, Ore., is No. 1 on the list of metropolitan areas with the most religiously unaffiliated residents (42%), according to the nonpartisan and nonprofit Public Religion Research Institute’s American Values Atlas, a survey of 50,000 people. Seattle and San Francisco were tied at second place (with 33%) on the list, and Denver (32%) and Phoenix (26%) were third and fourth.

On the other end of the spectrum, Nashville was the metropolitan area with the fewest people without any religious affiliation (15%), followed by Charlotte, N.C. (17%), and Atlanta, Dallas, Orlando and Pittsburgh (all with 18%). Some caveats: While many people who don’t believe in God may not attend religious services, there are (of course) faith traditions such as Unitarian Universalism that welcome and include humanists and atheists; many people who might not believe in God may just as likely go to church for spiritual reasons too, or merely because they like it . . .

“The strong religious culture in the South reflects a variety of factors, including history, cultural norms and the fact that these states have high Protestant and black populations — both of which are above average in their self-reported religious service attendance,” according to a separate Gallup survey of over 177,030 U.S. adults this year on church attendance. And 10 of the 12 states with the highest self-reported religious-service attendance are in the South, along with Utah and Oklahoma. (Utah ranked as No. 1 because of the 59% Mormon population there, and Mormons have the highest religious attendance of any major religious group in the U.S.) (Read more from “This Is the Most Godless City in America” HERE)

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Satanists to Give ‘Prayer’ at Arizona City Council Meeting

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Photo: Screenshot of Satanic Temple websiteMembers of a satanic group are set to give the prayer at an upcoming meeting of the Phoenix City Council, triggering a debate about religious freedom and whether such a display is appropriate for the venue.

Satanic Temple members Michelle Shortt and Stu de Haan are expected to give the invocation at the council’s Feb. 17 meeting after the group submitted a request in December. Despite the objections of some council members, the city has decided to let the satanists speak as scheduled.

Phoenix City Attorney Brad Holm released a statement Thursday evening, defending the city’s position. The city typically holds a short invocation at the start of formal council meetings and has included members from a variety of faiths, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Sikhism.

“Consistent with the U.S. Supreme Court’s direction, the city cannot dictate religious viewpoints or the content of a prayer,” Holm wrote. “In addition, government may not exclude a denomination or a religion from praying under these circumstances.”

Councilman Jim Waring said he thinks the city should have told the Satanic Temple members “no,” and let them fight the issue in court. He said he thinks the action is intended to be offensive to residents and questioned whether it’s a gimmick to get the city to stop doing a prayer at council meetings altogether. (Read more from “Satanists to Give ‘Prayer’ at Arizona City Council Meeting” HERE)

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Parents Say Public School Forced Their Child to Convert to Islam

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A public high school has been accused of radical Islamic indoctrination by forcing children to profess the Muslim statement of faith, ordering them to memorize the Five Pillars of Islam and teaching that the faith of a Muslim is stronger than the average Christian, according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday.

Thomas More Law Center filed the lawsuit on behalf of John and Melissa Wood. They accuse La Plata High School in Maryland of subjecting their teenage daughter to Islamic indoctrination and propaganda. And when Mr. Wood complained – the school banned him from campus.

“Defendants forced Wood’s daughter to disparage her Christian faith by reciting the Shahada, and acknowledging Mohammed as her spiritual leader,” Thomas More president Richard Thompson said.

The Shahada is the Islamic Creed, “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah” . . .

If La Plata High School wanted to teach children about jihad, they should’ve replayed the video footage of what happened on September 11, 2001 – or the Boston Marathon bombing – or the San Bernardino massacre or the Chattanooga attacks. (Read more from “Parents Say Public School Forced Their Child to Convert to Islam” HERE)

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Washington State May Abolish Rule Forcing Businesses to Let Men Into Women’s Bathrooms

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A Republican-led Senate committee narrowly passed a bill that would repeal Washington State’s new law requiring public buildings and most businesses to let people with gender dysphoria use the restroom, locker room, and other facilities of their choice.

On Wednesday, the Senate’s Commerce and Labor Committee heard from 300 people on both sides of the issue. While transgender activists said the law prevents discrimination, parents and others said they were concerned about the potential of sexual assaults. Some noted that the Human Rights Commission, which approved the so-called “non-discrimination” law, is not a legislative body.

One business owner, Thrive Community Fitness’s Paul MacLurg, told legislators that “now I have no good choices” when it comes to protecting women from men who would harass them. He has assigned a private restroom and locker room for transgender people.

Bill sponsor Senator Doug Ericksen described the measure as a “compromise” effort that would allow local jurisdictions to handle the issue on a case-by-case basis. “The state shouldn’t have a mandate on men using the women’s locker room,” he said.

Ramona Calquhoun told The Associated Press that, in addition to opening possibilities for sexual predators, “[e]ven mentioning anything puts you in a legally bad position to get sued.” (Read more from “Washington State May Abolish Rule Forcing Businesses to Let Men Into Women’s Bathrooms” HERE)

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Look What Donald Trump Has Donated to Charities Over the Last Five Years

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With GOP candidate Donald Trump bowing out of tonight’s Fox News debate, he’s been the talk of the town. I know what you’re thinking. When hasn’t he been, right?

I know how you feel. You either love him or you hate him.

Well a photo is making its way around the Internet that might actually boost him just a touch with those who aren’t quite ready to jump on the Trump train.

It’s a picture of his personal finances and shows how much money he’s given to charities over the last five years.

It’s a pretty substantial amount. (Read more from “Look What Donald Trump Has Donated to Charities Over the Last Five Years” HERE)

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US Schools Get Failing Grade for Financial Literacy Education

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The number of states that require high school students to complete a course in economics has dropped over the last two years, and mandates for personal finance education in the upper grades remain stagnant, a new survey shows.

The biennial Survey of the States by the Council for Economic Education, released exclusively to CNBC.com, found 20 states currently mandate that high school students take economics — two fewer than in 2014.

There has been no change since then in the number of states that require standardized testing of economic concepts. Currently, 16 states require testing, which is down significantly from 25 in 1998.

At the same time, the Council for Economic Education survey found the number of states that require high school students to take a course in personal finance has remained unchanged at 17 since 2014 . . .

Yet from a historical perspective, some progress has been made. Forty-five states now include personal finance in their K–12 standards, up from 21 in 1998. (Alaska, California, Montana, New Mexico, Wyoming and the District of Columbia still do not.) (Read more from “US Schools Get Failing Grade for Financial Literacy Education” HERE)

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