7/27/2010 – Fr. Johannes Jacobse -

Sacred ground is more easily understood by European Christians than their American counterparts. Some events are so catastrophic, or prove to be so historically significant, that they transcend the categories we normally employ to explain them. These events must reference something higher to make sense to us.

NAPLES (Catholic Online) – Muslims have it over secularists, but not Christians – at least the clear thinking ones anyway. The Muslim proposal to build a mosque two blocks from Ground Zero is not only an affront to all people who died there, but another chapter in a cultural jihad that seeks to replace the cultural traditions of Christendom with Sharia, the code of law derived from the Koran and from the teachings and example of Mohammed.

First the caveats. Yes, most Muslims are not jihadists; they may see the non-Muslim as an infidel but won’t resort to violence to defeat him . Yes, Muslim believers pose no threat to American cultural norms and legal structures as long as their numbers remain small. Yes, every Muslim citizen should be afforded the rights due to all Americans regardless of their religion. Continue Reading »

7/25/2010 – Miguel A. Guanipa -

Most evolutionary scientists are unacquainted with the nearly extinct brand of academic deference which comes from a humbling realization that a science degree does not automatically confer a plenary understanding of the vast complexity of the universe. The least diffident ones in the field are not shy about airing their personal grievances against what they view as Religion’s insolent encroachment on the scientific enterprise.

In response, Christians often feel compelled by necessity to point out that these men of science step outside of their boundaries, when they advise the former not to engage in polemics about scientific matters too lofty for their intellects to comprehend. Christians are hence tasked with reminding overzealous scientists that their discipline is more suited to probe the sundry observable schemes that animate our meticulously woven universe, and not to pronounce moral judgments. Continue Reading »

Patriarch Kirill - Pope Benedict

7/23/2010 – Fr. Johannes Jacobse -

We are witnessing the emergence of a new kind of ecumenical work, one that respects theological differences, but recognizes that if the de-Christianization of culture continues, it would lead to cultural catastrophe (most likely a capitulation to Islam). This recognition also sharpens both the beliefs and values the Christian Churches share in common so that ecumenical activity in the future would be formed around cooperation in strengthening them.

MOSCOW, JULY 19, 2010 (Zenit.org). – Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russias says he and Benedict XVI often see eye-to-eye on many issues, especially with regard to those of a moral nature.

The Patriarch said this in statements on the occasion of his trip to Ukraine, reported today by the Russian agency Interfax. “I must say that the position of the present Pope, Benedict XVI, leaves room for optimism,” he said in an interview on Ukrainian television channels, on the eve of his visit to that country. Continue Reading »

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7/22/2010 – J. Robert Smith -

Five decades after liberalism began to fail, it’s still with us and finding potent ways to diminish liberty. Liberalism has — or seems to have — more lives than a cat. It’s sustained principally by two things, both powerful: myth and interest. If liberalism as a political and societal force is ever to be marginalized, it first must be separated from the myth that it grows in the same garden of liberty and republican virtues as conservatism and libertarianism. Voters and the public need to learn and appreciate that liberalism is largely a statist creed alien to the nation’s heritage. Continue Reading »

7/20/2010 – John Griffing -

If President Obama is to be believed, health care is a dwindling, finite resource that must be rationed. According to Obama, quality health care for some deprives the less fortunate of quality care. The only good health care in Obama’s worldview is that which is “redistributional.”

So says Dr. Donald Berwick, Obama’s new health care czar, appointed to oversee the distribution of $800 billion worth of benefits payments. This mostly means denying life-extending treatment to seniors, in practice. Of course, Obama lacks the constitutional authority to appoint an individual with this kind of authority without Senate confirmation, but using the “recess appointment” ruse, shocking even Democrat senators, Berwick now holds vast power over who gets what medical treatment.

But no matter. Obama has decided. Illegality has not stopped other contentious Obama appointments. Obama does what he wants, when he wants, regardless of his sworn oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution. Continue Reading »

7/20/2010 – Victor Davis Hanson -

I think most of our problems transcend politics, which is increasingly a reflection of an elite, insider culture that is completely at odds with the majority of the country that it oversees.

So what is a cultural elite?
It is a sloppy term that might include the academic class in the university that educates our children in college. The upper echelons that run government departments constitute part of this cultural elite. So does an entertainment cadre that oversees television and Hollywood. Corporate managers are elites as well.

There is no racial, regional, religious, or tribal commonality. One shared allegiance perhaps is to higher education that certifies the cultural elite by diplomas of all sorts from a “good school,” as well as a respectable salary and a nice home with appurtenances. The good life of the elite is defined by both the absence of worry about necessities, and a certain status that accrues from properly recognized advanced education and sensitivity. Continue Reading »

Chuck Colson

7/19/2010 – Chuck Colson -

Everywhere you turn, someone is warning Americans about the dangers of childhood obesity. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver toured the country preaching the gospel of healthier school lunches. The first lady has made fighting childhood obesity her top priority.

While I’m all for healthier eating and exercise, I can’t help but think, however, that in our concern over our kids’ waistlines, we have overlooked a far bigger threat—the one to their souls.

The threat I’m referring to is pornography. Continue Reading »

7/16/2010 – Stuart Koehl -

In the pending court case for overturning California’s Proposition 8, which banned “gay marriage,” two leading conservative legal scholars face off: Charles J. Cooper, taking the classical conservative line that organic social institutions such as marriage have an inherent value and cannot be redefined by legal fiat, and Theodore Olson, taking the more libertarian line that government should simply regulate contractual relationships between individuals and not become involved in private matters. Continue Reading »

7/14/2010 – Conn Carroll -

Last week the Obama administration began rolling out new campaign titled, we kid you not, “Yes, we did.” Did what exactly? Waste nearly a trillion dollars on an economic stimulus that by every objective measure has completely failed to perform as advertised? Then yes you did. A new CBS poll out today shows that 74 percent of Americans believe the Obama stimulus either damaged the economy or had no effect. Clearly the White House is on a different planet than the rest of the country.

In another dispatch from Planet Obama, the White House Council of Economic Advisers released a report today purporting to prove that President Obama’s stimulus has saved or created 3 million jobs and is on track to meet its goal of 3.5 million jobs by the end of this year. Where do they come up this slop? Continue Reading »

Professor Ken Howell

7/12/2010 – Deacon Keith Fournier -
Professor Howell is a victim of the “Dictatorship of Relativism” which Pope Benedict XVI warned of. This is an egregious violation of constitutional rights and overt censorship of speech unpopular to the Cultural revolutionaries who have grabbed the reigns of Western society. Warning to all who hold that truth exists in an age which has followed the pied piper of relativism.

URBANA, IL (Catholic Online) – From every indicator, Professor Ken Howell was an exemplary professor at the University of Illinois in Champaign. He is a faithful Catholic, in fact a convert from the Presbyterian Church and ministry, who was asked to teach courses on the Catholic faith and intellectual tradition. He is extraordinarily qualified on every front. He taught those courses in complete fidelity to the magisterium, the teaching office, of the Catholic Church.

He is now a victim of the “Dictatorship of Relativism” which Pope Benedict XVI warned of in the homily he gave prior to the Conclave wherein he was chosen to become the successor of the Apostle Peter. This egregious violation of the Professors constitutional rights and overt censorship of speech which is unpopular to the Cultural revolutionaries who have grabbed the reigns of Western society, is now being reviewed by the Alliance Defense Fund for a legal response. Continue Reading »

Chuck Colson

7/9/2010 – Chuck Colson -
Should American taxpayers pay for economic aid to a nation that persecutes Christians? This isn’t a trick question.

Imagine that you are a government official in a country I will call “M.” Despite your efforts to promote economic growth, unemployment and poverty rates remain high. As a result, many of your citizens have gone abroad in search of work.

What has been called “the human face of a long catalogue of socio-economic ills” are the many thousands of orphaned and abandoned children living throughout your country. Their plight has been the subject of news reports and even an award-winning film.

So what do you do about it? Well, if you are Morocco, you declare war on those seeking to help them. Continue Reading »

7/6/2010 – Mark Tooley -

Predictably, Jim Wallis’s Religious Left Sojourners blog dishonored Independence Day by featuring an op-ed headlined “Why Christianity and July 4th are Incompatible.”

In it, a young pacifist pastor explained why Christians can’t “celebrate” having “killed thousands upon thousands of people because they [the British] were taxing us without giving us representation in parliament.” Continue Reading »

Alexi Giannoulias

7/8/2010 – Fr. Johannes Jacobse -

Alexi Giannoulias, Illinois Democratic nominee for US Senator, [and member of the Greek Orthodox Church] supports homosexual marriage. Here’s the introduction from the Greek Star (a Chicago newspaper with Greek readership):

Alexi Giannoulias, Democratic nominee for US Senator, shares why he supports the freedom to marry for all, including people of the same sex. This is something that many of his supporters, and especially Greek-Americans may be opposed to. The Greek-American politician chose to be honest and he should be given credit for being brave to state his opinion on a difficult subject. He stated, “There may be many individuals that may not be happy with my particular stance”. The Greek Orthodox church does not allow, or support, same sex marriage. Giannoulias in the video continues “To me faith has always been less about how you treat God and more about how you treat people.”

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7/7/2010 – Robin of Berkeley -

I’m not easily shocked. I’ve been a therapist for a couple of decades not just anywhere, but in the leftest place around. But still, when I received a flyer in the mail last week, it absolutely stunned me.

The flyer announced a conference for children and teens, age 13 to 18, by a group called Gender Spectrum. The advertisement reads as follows:

Come join other transgender, gender bending, gender nonconforming teens, children and families for three days of celebrating individuality, making new friends, and having fun. Meet other trans and gender nonconforming teens and adults, hang out, and explore different topics on gender: school, making friends, dating.

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