Religious Freedom is Necessary for Other Freedoms to Flourish

Religious Freedom key to all other freedomsby Thomas Farr –
Is religious freedom necessary for other freedoms to flourish? This is indeed a big question. It implicates an array of philosophical issues and scholarly disciplines, but it also has distinctly practical, even strategic, dimensions. That is to say, it raises questions not only about human nature and human flourishing, but about the freedom and stability of whole societies, as well as international peace.

The “other freedoms” with which we are here concerned typically exist in a mature democratic system of civil society and ordered liberty. They include the freedoms of expression, association, assembly, economic activity, and equality under the law, and freedom from persecution or unjust violence. [Read more…]

Obama: A Man Without a Conscience

Obama: A Man Without a Conscienceby Daren Jonescu –
For a long time, intrepid critics of Barack Obama have described him, accurately, as a pathological liar. The Benghazi affair must force even the most circumspect among us to recognize that the problem is even more serious: the president of the United States has no conscience.

Most men do bad things during their lives. But most men know when they are doing a bad thing, and, more importantly, they feel bad about it. This is why, for most of us, bad behavior has its limits. There is a point beyond which we simply will not go, even for a greatly desired advantage. Our minds will not let us do it. We say things like “I couldn’t live with myself if I did that.” [Read more…]

Hope in God, Do Not Despair

St. Cyprian of Carthageby Fr. Brian Mullady, OP –
There are those who despair and have no hope when things do not go their way in the political order. This cannot be a Christian attitude.
“The world itself now bears witness to its approaching end by its fading powers. […] The peasant is failing and disappearing from the fields, the sailor at sea, the soldier in the camp, uprightness in the forum, justice in the court, concord in friendships, skill in the arts, discipline in morals.”

Someone might think these words were written today in response to a decline in American society witnessed by the attempt to so centralize the government that the freedom of the Church is threatened. Yet these words were written by St. Cyprian, an early Church Father, around the year 250.

At the time, the Christians thought that the world was coming to an end as they knew it. Yet St. Cyprian, as all good Christians, was not moved to despair. [Read more…]

My Country Gives to Me, Sweet Land of Everything is Free

Obamunism Communism in Americaby Ted State –
When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the Republic. ~ Ben Franklin.

What was really lost in this election was not the GOP hopes and dreams of a new future. It was actually a lot more than that. What was really lost was the sense of the American individualist spirit. No more pulling yourself up by your bootstraps (if you are lucky enough to find a store that has them), no more starting a business (apparently we really didn’t build it) and no working hard to get ahead (at some point you have made enough money.) Instead of all that, the people voted to give themselves more at the expense of others and that is a much more serious loss than the mere presidency.

Economists have long theorized that there would come a day where the people riding in the cart would outnumber the people pulling the cart and that day has arrived. Congratulations Democrats. You did it. Free healthcare, free cell phones, food stamps, section 8 housing and a whole host of free goodies are now not only the law of the land, they are what the people have come to demand and worse, what they have come to expect. [Read more…]

The Death of Ordinary Decency

Obama radical marxist hates Americaby James Lewis-
This has been a mean-spirited campaign, and the meanest, most destructive people won.

So be it.

In the last two Democratic administrations we have seen a sleazier, angrier and more selfish part of America rising up more and more in our political class. The Founders told us that ultimately our elected politicians are a mirror of ourselves. Just like you, before November 7, 2012, I lived in the fervent hope that the degradation of the Clinton and Obama years might be an exception to the long trend of American history. But two times eight years of radical leftists in high office can’t be an accident. We can’t just blame our sleazy media, or just the leftist political class, as corrupt and malevolent as they truly are.

No — the balance of decency in America has changed. Every society has normal, decent people and the other kind. The America we grew up in was fundamentally decent. Decency was the expected standard.

Now the balance has changed. [Read more…]

America is Going John Galt

America is Going John Galtby James McAlister –
Many of us are numb today. Numb with the implications of what happened last night. Numb with dread.

Endless days and countless lines of print will be expended in the post mortem of the election, from a conservative perspective. Romney’s failures and shortcomings will be examined with electron microscopes. Why didn’t he do this? Shouldn’t he have done that? “For all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these…”

But these things don’t really amount to much. Because the real reason for our election results were neatly summarized by Bill O’Reilly at about 7:00 last night, as the faint shape of events to come began to emerge. [Read more…]

This Year’s Elections and Moral Choices

Voting and Moral Choicesby Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon –
This year’s elections involve an attempt to usurp an authority that belongs properly to God. Vote wisely, therefore, and in the fear of God. This year—more than any time in my memory—our votes in the election are going to be recorded in eternity.

Since political elections normally deal with matters of policy, I do not normally make them the subject of pastoral concern. This year, however, the national elections in our country are not concerned simply with policies but with principles.

My first comment, I suppose, should address that difference.

About policies—most questions of political concern—we may expect some legitimate disagreements among Christians. Among these we should include questions about the application of civil punishments, the funding of public education, the tax code, the authority of federal agencies, this or that social program, and so forth. These matters, properly governed by prudence, leave much room for legitimate disagreements among Christians. [Read more…]

Obama’s Communist Cooperation Campaign Proceeds Apace

Useful Idiots Communism Obama Marxist Radicalby Daren Jonescu –
America’s most prominent, dedicated communists support Barack Obama and are actively campaigning on his behalf. If that sentence makes you uncomfortable, then you have two choices: continue reading and face your fear, or stop reading and get back to whatever activities you normally use to drown out disturbing thoughts.

In an age of mass media disinformation and distraction, one expects the politically neutered majority to find the legitimate vocabulary of open political discussion — freedom, communism, socialism, oppression — uncomfortable and strange. These words disturb their moral tranquility — that sense of “no big deal” normalcy that allows them to carry on with everyday activities, unperturbed by the kinds of questions that [Read more…]

Going to Heaven, Piece by Piece

Jesus Christ Healing Icon Peters Mother-in-Law by Fr. Steven Belonick –
Over the course of thirty-four years as an Orthodox priest, I have visited countless people with varying degrees of sickness—some with curable ailments and others with grave diseases. Each visit presented me with an opportunity to witness not only human anxiety and frailty but also heroic and steadfast faith. Each visit, as well, magnified my own fear and revealed my own paltry belief in God, teaching me valuable lessons. Two such visits still stand out in my memory: my first trip to a nursing home, and going to see a diabetic named “Alex.”

Impressions of my first visit to local nursing home as a newly assigned pastor in Binghamton, New York, remain fresh. Infirm and abandoned, their own names lost amid their decaying neuro-pathways, the “residents” would continually call out for help—but would receive no response. Confined to wheelchairs and beds, they hungrily sought acknowledgement of their presence, searching for someone to talk to within their shrinking world. [Read more…]