Thursday,
August 31 2006 | View
from the left: 'Christianity is a dark force of ignorance seeking to halt the
advances of science'
| | Thomas
Brewton in The View from 1776: "In a First
Things posting dated August 28, 2006, Stephen Barr discussed the falsity of
what students are taught regarding religion’s role in science. ¶ 'There is
a template that many books on science or science history follow when they touch
upon the relations of science and religion: Bold Scientist Persecuted by the Church
for Thinking New Thoughts. The Galileo case does to a large extent fit the template,
but few if any other cases do. Darwin was not persecuted by any church and was
buried with great honor in Westminster Abbey. Giordano Bruno was not burned at
the stake for believing in a plurality of worlds, as suggested by countless books
on astronomy. Teilhard de Chardin was not disciplined by the Church because he
believed in evolution. (The June 30, 1962, monitum of the Holy Office explicitly
said that that it was 'prescinding from a judgment about those points that concern
the positive sciences.') On and on goes the list of manufactured martyrs to scientific
truth at the hands of bigoted ecclesiastics.'" |
| I
seldom stay on a single topic as much as this week's treatment of
materialism (so-called science) versus religion. But this has been where the lot
has been falling. Wednesday,
August 30 2006 | A
plethora of books opposing religion in the public square coming for fall
| | AP
via CBS News: "'I feel that there's a growing sentiment among thoughtful
people in general, whether they're religious or not, that religious belief has
gotten us into many of the problems we now find ourselves in — from 9/11 to the
Israel-Lebanon conflict to the ban on stem cell research,' says Dolan, Houghton
Mifflin's vice president and editor in chief." |
| Dolan
is completely right, of course, if one uses the definition of religion Jesus taught:
"where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matthew 6:21). Your heart
is your religion. Whatever is the most important to people is that for which they
are most likely to fight or defend themselves to preserve. So yes, treasures of
the heart are the cause of most of the "problems" not only in current days but
throughout human history. But
religion as the liberal establishment would have it—as something run by a
hierarchy in some foreign capital or a branch of imperialistic Christianity—doesn't
fit Dolan's mold. Tuesday,
August 29 2006 | When
people give up religious faith, they turn to 'science' to explain their origins
| | Natalie
Lombardo, the Oakland Press: "The survey found about one-third
of American adults don't believe in evolution—a figure much higher than found
in similar European questionnaires. 'In terms of American tradition, this country
has been influenced by Protestant Christianity. And people who have faith have
an explanation that mankind goes beyond a biological criteria,' said Monica Migliorino
Miller, who has a doctorate in theology. For the past 40 years in Europe, she
said, secularism has been increasing. 'When people give up their religious faith,
they have to cast out to science to explain the origins of man.' The research
of Jon Miller, Michigan State University professor of integrative studies, is
published in the Aug. 11 issue of the journal Science." |
| I
believe in evolution, but not religiously. I can be open minded about it. Monday,
August 28 2006 | Jackie
Mason sues Jews for Jesus for using his 'likeness'
| | Ezra
HaLevi in Israel National News: "Famed Jewish comedian and ordained rabbi
Jackie Mason is suing a Christian missionary group for using his likeness and
implying he has embraced the Christian deity. The Christian evangelical group,
Jews for Jesus, which aims to convince Jews that the Christian faith does not
conflict with Judaism, distributed a pamphlet featuring Mason’s likeness and the
words, 'Jackie Mason…A Jew For Jesus!?' On the other side, it says: 'Jackie’s
shtick is that there’s a difference between Jews and Gentiles,' and explains why
there is, in fact, no difference and Jews can embrace the Christian deity." |
| Courts
have repeatedly ruled that media may use anyone's likeness in a news type of context
without permission. Being in public makes you susceptible to public discussion,
including your public appearance as recorded in photographs. I think the principle
will pertain here. Sunday,
August 27 2006 | Rob
Reiner appoints himself Mel Gibson's moral judge, and probably yours, as well
| | AP
via Myrtle Beach Online: "Mel Gibson's apology for making drunken anti-Semitic
remarks isn't enough to redeem him, actor-producer Rob Reiner said. The actor
also must acknowledge that 'his work reflects anti-Semitism,' particularly the
2004 hit movie 'The Passion of the Christ,' Reiner told Associated Press Radio.
'When he comes to the understand-ing that he has done that, and can come out and
say, you know, "My views have been reflected in my work and I feel bad that I've
done that," then that will be the beginning of some reconciliation for him,' Reiner
said. Some critics attacked Gibson's movie as portraying Jews as evil. Supporters
said the movie was merely being faithful to Gospel accounts of Jesus' arrest and
crucifixion." | |
The only critics who called Gibson's Passion movie
anti-semitic, that I heard from, were anti-Christian liberals grinding their axes.
So what does that make Rob Reiner? It's not for me to say. Yes,
in the New Testament Judas and the Temple leaders are presented as Jewish, but
not as much so as Jesus and His more faithful disciples. Gibson deigned to keep
to the New Testament on this aspect of the story line. Anyone who has read the
Bible knows this. Saturday,
August 26 2006 | Christian
TV documentary links Darwin with Hitler, other atrocities
| | Allie
Martin and Jenni Parker in AgapePress: "Darwin's Deadly Legacy even connects
evolutionary theory to Adolph Hitler's policies during his Third Reich. The documentary
makes the case that the Holocaust can be linked to efforts by the German dictator
to speed up the evolutionary process, as he understood it. This supposition has
drawn criticism from the Jewish group, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which
has blasted the documentary and called it 'an outrageous and shoddy attempt ...
to trivialize the horrors of the Holocaust.' In a statement, ADL National Director
Abraham H. Foxman said this program is the result of 'ignorance at best or, at
worst, a mendacious attempt to score political points in the culture war on the
backs of six million Jewish victims and others who died at the hands of the Nazis.'" |
| Could be.
Or it could also be that, as he has so often done in the past, Foxman's comments
are exploiting his own people to advance his real religious agenda, liberalism,
which some think is as foreign to God-fearing Judaism as it is to serious Christianity.
Friday,
August 25 2006 | Conservative
Catholic scholar M. Novak debates conservative 'nonbeliever' H. Mac Donald
| | In
National Review Online: "My favorite story of how to choose a religion for
oneself comes from C. S. Lewis. I may misremember the details, and am away from
my Lewis books, but one day, after many months of reflection kept bringing him
up empty, Lewis became aware that he actually did believe in God. He sought out
a church in which to sit in silence. And pondered, unsatisfied. Over time, he
was pretty convinced that any true religion could not be merely private; it must
be shared with many others. In fact, it would have to at least aim at being universal,
belonging to all humans. Otherwise, it would be like a tribe, and seem to have
a local, ethnic god." | |
I chose this as a masterful
apologetic for Christian believing, despite of its less than "Mere Christianity"
promotion of Catholicism as "the only one true church." But I find it
interesting that the two modern apologists Novak called to bolster his case are
Eastern Orthodox Dostoyevski (by way of the fictional Ivan Karamazov) and the
evangelical Anglican C. S. Lewis. Thursday,
August 24 2006 | Newspaper
says the Vatican astronomer was replaced for advocating Darwinist doctrines
| | Simon
Caldwell, Daily Mail, UK: "Although the Vatican did not give reasons
for Father Coyne’s replacement, sources close to the Holy See say that Benedict
would have been unhappy with the priest’s public opposition to intelligent design
theory. Father Coyne’s most notable intervention came after Cardinal Christoph
Schonborn of Vienna, a former student of the Pope, put the case for intelligent
design in an article in the New York Times in July last year. The cardinal,
responding to an explosive debate on evolution in the US, had argued that Darwinian
concepts of 'random variation and natural selection' were incompatible with the
Catholic belief that there is a divine purpose and design to nature." |
| Though
I'm no scientist, it has always seemed obvious to me that the "God"
of Darwinian "random variation and natural selection" is incompatible
with orthodox Christian teachings about the Creator. Wednesday,
August 23 2006 | Christian
Coalition survey questions to candidates get down to basics
| | AP
via Christian Post: "Some questions in the Christian Coalition survey, which
ask candidates for the Legislature if they would support: • Education vouchers
that allow parents to choose a public or private school for their children • Public
schools teaching that homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle • Allowing school-based
clinics to dispense birth control devices without parental consent • Increasing
state income taxes or income tax rates • Requiring voter approval for state tax
increases • Capital punish-ment for certain crimes, like first-degree murder •
Prohibiting abortion in all cases, except where the life of the mother is endangered
• Taxpayer fund-ing of abortions • Allowing homosexuals in the National Guard...." |
| These and
the other questions linked seem helpful in defining candidates' worldviews and
how they would affect their performance in public service. Though there is no
declaration of the intent of the questions, the pattern is clearly supportive
of traditional social standards and stemming the erosion of values. Tuesday,
August 22 2006 | 'Red
letter Christians' adopted as favorite nickname of the 'Christian left'
| | Matt
Friedeman in Agape Press: "Many heretics get their start by differentiating
between parts of Scripture they want to believe and parts they don't. Soon, the
object of their faith becomes only a reflection of themselves and their preferences
in the current cultural milieu. If Campolo and others want to build a movement
only on the 'red letters,' they are making a mockery of the preincarnate Jesus
and of the Christ who sent Spirit-filled apostles into the world to make disciples
of all the nations." | |
Those who say "Jesus never
used the word homosexual" or "never spoke a word against homosexuality" are attempting
to drive a wedge between Jesus and the Bible, and Jesus and the church, which
compiled the Bible and gave it canonicity as the plenarily inspired word of God
in written form. "Red-letter" editions of the Bible put the
words of Jesus in red letters, which critics have always said is driving a wedge
between Jesus' words and those of His apostles, the prophets, and the Old Testament
patriarchs. Monday,
August 21 2006 | Leftwing
aid agency opposes sexual abstinence programs to curb African AIDS
| | Ekklesia:
"ABC refers to Abstain, Be faithful and use a Condom, a prevention programme that
is often credited which decreasing the HIV infection rates in Uganda. ABC is now
seen by many, including church agencies such as Christian Aid, as being too dogmatic
and simplistic. Human sexuality is too complex for neat categories, say campaigners.
Is it appropriate to expect people in different stages of life to abstain and
can faithfulness be a guarantee against infection if one’s partner is not faithful?" |
| Anyone
who calls the biblical standards on sexual conduct "too
dogmatic and simplistic [because h]uman sexuality is too complex for neat categories"
is by defnition unChristian or, if claiming to be Christian, leftwing or, more
accurately, secular humanist. A true agenda of the AIDS Conference is shown by
this as being to promote and/or encourage the continuation of promiscuity. Though
this is not the only agenda of anti-AIDS programs, making the world safe for promiscuity
has always been evident in the anti-AIDS programs here in the San Francisco area
where I live. The woman who got AIDS from her husband, along
with her clergy, should be asking why he did not abstain, rather than blaming
abstinence in the abstract for her misfortune. Are premarital blood tests not
required in that part of Africa, plagued by AIDS? If not, I propose that that
has more to do than a failure of the abstinance campaign with the rising rate
of AIDS among married women. Leftists calling themselves Christians always want
to throw away the baby of God's moral law with the bath water of the church's
representation of divine revelation and will. Sunday,
August 20 2006 | 'Useful
Idiots' described as the 'best soldiers' of the current brand of totalitarians
| | Amil
Imani FrontPageMagazine.com, via AINA: "Useful Idiots are naïve, foolish,
ignorant of facts, unrealistically idealistic, dreamers, willfully in denial or
deceptive. They hail from the ranks of the chronically unhappy, the anarchists,
the aspiring revolutionaries, the neurotics who are at war with life, the disaffected
alienated from government, corporations, and just about any and all institutions
of society. The Useful Idiot can be a billionaire, a movie star, an academe of
renown, a politician, or from any other segment of the population. Arguably, the
most dangerous Useful Idiot is the 'Politically Correct.' He is the master practitioner
of euphemism, hedging, doubletalk, and outright deception. The Useful Idiot derives
satisfaction from being antiestablishment. He finds perverse gratification in
aiding the forces that aim to dismantle an existing order, whatever it may be:
an order he neither approves of nor he feels he belongs to." |
| Just as
during the cold war against Communism when the term "Useful Idiot" originated,
it still describes the American academic, media, and public education liberal
establishment's most vocal representatives. I would not describe all of Islam
as totalitarian in political philosophical terms, but it does pertain to the Islamofascist
movement. Saturday,
August 19 2006 | Colleges
usually turn incoming students to the left, and they're often unable to stand
up to it
| | Rebecca
Grace in AgapePress: "'Being a "good kid" wasn't going to be nearly
enough to survive college ....' Wheaton wrote of his first few weeks at Stanford
University. 'My [paltry] desire to adhere to the Christian values with which I
had been raised was overwhelmed by the temptations and pleasures of college life.'
These temptations can turn to assaults when exacerbated by sin. Kaufman said students
should expect to be assaulted intellectually, emotionally and socially. To combat
the intellectual assault, Kaufman believes Christian students 'shouldn't have
an inferiority complex about Christianity.' Rather they should deepen their thinking
and consider what it means to be a Christian by immersing themselves in great
Christian literature. '[K]nowing that the Christian worldview is viable and that
it makes sense to look at the world from a biblical standpoint [is so important],'
Riner added." | |
The headline as rewritten above is more fitting
than the misleading "Colleges Turn Left; Students Think That's Right"
that appears on the linked version. It's not really about the colleges, and their
being "left" is hardly news. But Ms. Grace's point, and that of the
author she's reviewing, David Wheaton, is much needed (and is what my 15 years
in campus ministry was all about). Beyond a book review, this
article (and we hope, the sequel promised next week) is a portal to Christian
worldview studies, which are foundational to living in an intellectually qualified
world as a follower of Jesus Christ. Friday,
August 18 2006 | Former
Muslim author of When Worldviews Collide says the West has gone from post-modern
to 'transmodern'
| | Florida
Baptist Witness: "The 9/11 attacks represent a quantum shift in the
culture and opened up the world of apologetics on a global scale, [Ergan Caner]
said. 'Al Mohler, president of Southern [Baptist Theological] Seminary has said
that literally, theology was on those airplanes because from then on to this day
we have discussed issues of belief on the front page of the newspapers. Now everybody
discusses their beliefs,' Caner said. Christians, he said, need to understand
the conversation and articulate their message in a way that doesn’t isolate the
faith by using church language that only church people understand, or get co-opted
by the trendy translations of today’s culture." |
| This is
a fitting follow-up on yesterday's discussion of Michael Medved's analysis of
Islamo Fascism. Thursday,
August 17 2006 | Analyzing
Muslim claims that prejudice against them in the West drives Islamo-Fascism
| | Michael
Medved via Townhall: "The core problem involves the Koran’s teaching that
Mohammed represents the last prophet, that his revelations amount to the ultimate
'seal of knowledge,' and that a just, well-ordered world will place his faithful
followers in positions of greater power, prosperity and peacefulness than their
infidel neighbors. For anyone who takes Islamic teaching seriously, the current
state of the world offers a glaring, painful example of cognitive dissonance:
the backwardness, poverty, and endemic misery of Muslim societies—particularly
compared to the privilege and prosperity of the West—either undermines the validity
of the Holy Koran, or proves that evil infidel conspirators have upset the natural,
proper, and Godly order of things. In the 1930’s, the passion behind Nazism arose
from a burning sense that the German people had been gypped, that the infamous
'stab in the back' of the Versailles Treaty had deprived the nation of its rightful
position of world leadership. Islamo-Nazis feel an even more galling sense of
injustice, oppression and unfairness, since hostile forces have, in the view of
the devout, denied them the chance to live out their divine endowment of world
dominance." | |
This is the best argument I've seen directly linking
Hitler's version of fascism with Islamo-Fascism. From his seriously Jewish religious
perspective, Medved has raised the bar in this discourse. Wednesday,
August 16 2006 | DVD
attempts to clarify 'talking points' in the campaign against same-sex 'marriage'
| | By
Michael Foust, Baptist Press: "The DVD...aimed at both individuals and small
groups...features 10 questions, each on a separate track. The answers range from
two to 10 minutes. Among the questions: —How will my 'same-sex marriage'
hurt your marriage?...'It hurts my marriage by teaching my children that their
gender does not matter....Stanton quotes the authors of The Lesbian Parenting
Book as [saying], 'It will be interesting to see over time whether lesbians'
sons have an easier or harder time developing their gender identity than do boys
with live-in fathers.' 'No society at any time, primitive or developed, ancient
or modern, has ever raised a generation of children in same-sex homes,' Stanton
says on the DVD.'...Same-sex marriage is a vast, untested social experiment on
children.' —Could 'gay marriage' lead to polygamy? Some homosexual men, Stanton
says, already are living in multiple-partner 'open' relation-ships. 'There is
no logical stopping point,' Stanton says. 'Once we say that there's no real definition
of marriage, then marriage becomes everything and marriage becomes nothing.'" |
| Let the
talk begin. This seems to be a worthy place to start. Tuesday,
August 15 2006 | Presbyterian
publishing house releases book calling 9/11 a US government plot
| | Peter
Smith, Louisville Courier-Journal via Campus Watch: "Griffin argues,
among other things, that the World Trade Center towers collapsed because of secretly
planted explosives—he quotes eyewitnesses who claim that's what it looked
and sounded like—and not because airliners crashed into the buildings, causing
fires. Writers on conservative Presbyterian Web sites have been responding by
saying officials of the Louisville-based denomination are out of touch with members
and by calling for a boycott of Presbyterian Publishing Corp. The corporation
funds itself from book sales and has editorial independence in deciding what to
publish, although its board is elected by the denomination's legislative General
Assembly." | |
What religion is it again that's known as the religion
of love? Monday,
August 14 2006 | Canadian
columnist: 'conservative, faithful Christians...are the best friends Jews and
Israel have'
| | Michael
Coren in the Toronto Sun: "Something needs to be said clearly and loudly.
Conservative, faithful Christians, Catholic and evangelical alike, are the best
friends Jews and Israel have. Goodness, in some places they are the only friends
Jews and Israel have. If we want to see authentic hatred and bigotry, we only
need to read the newspapers and watch television. There, one finds daily venom
against Christianity from the mainstream and the most vitriolic contempt from
the fringes." | |
Though the linked article contains excellent food
for thought, I chose it also because it gives me a chance to share another thought
I've been having on this. I've never been drunk (not even "under the influence"—well,
maybe, once on Nyquil) in my life, so I was reluctant to say anything about Mel
Gibson's outrageous outburst. But I have noticed that when I have road rage and
the cause of it is someone I can tell is of a minority race or ethnicity, my immeidte
reaction is "you blasted [insert minority name here]!" And always
I immediately think, "where is that coming from?" Am I a racist? I don't
think so, but for my rationale on that, please follow the link below to the blog,
for "more comments." NB: The blog updates are not
published until after midnight, Eastern Standard Time, because the blog "engine"
automatically and I don't want them to have permanent time glitches (as a few
of those already posted already have). Sunday,
August 13 2006 | Does
the liberal party need a 'smokescreen of religiosity' to regain power?
| | James
K. Fitzpatrick in Catholic Exchange: "why ... are we getting hit with ...
calls from liberal intellectuals for Democrats to make a William Jennings Bryan-like
overture to Middle Americans whose lives revolve around their religious beliefs?
Don’t the Democrats who are pushing for this overture understand that their constituents
will bristle at the suggestion? They do. Let’s go back to James Pinkerton’s analysis
of what the Democrats will need to carry out the overture. It will give us a clue
to what the Democrats are up to. The Democrats, said Pinkerton, need someone like
Bill Clinton, who was able to 'embody the basic cultural conservatism of the American
people, including their religiosity' on his way to the White House. What that
means is giving the appearance of respect for 'religiosity,' without an iota of
commitment to work for public policies that will stem the tide on the secular
humanist agenda. In other words, the Left is looking for a con man capable of
throwing up a smoke screen behind which they will be able to push for their agenda,
which Pinkerton describes as 'raising taxes, hiring more bureaucrats and multiculturalists,
keeping the borders open, endorsing gay marriage, cutting defense, and putting
more trust in international organizations.' The Democrats, he continues, 'have
an ideology that dare not speak its name.'" |
| The linked
article is an excellent summary that cuts through the issues with surgical precision.
The scary thing is that it's most likely true that a phony
religionist like Bill Clinton is all it would take to overtake the White House
and Congress. And there's one candidate at the top level who fills the Clinton
mold quite adequately. Saturday,
August 12 2006 | Private
school fires teacher who refusing to allow seventh grader to opt out of sex ed
class
| | Hilary
White in LifeSite: "Agape Press reports that...physical education teacher
Joel Chase ignored the parents’ request [to excuse their daughter], and led his
class in a discussion of sexual practices including his private views on dating.
Knowledge Quest Academy in Milliken, a small commun-ity north of Denver, dismissed
Chase after Liberty Counsel sent a letter to the school on behalf of the [parents].
Liberty Counsel president Mat Staver said that parents have the right to have
their children educated according to their religious beliefs and moral principles." |
| The school
did the right thing, of course, but it's safe to assume that in a public school
where faculty members are represented by a liberal union with deep pockets, the
outcome would probably have been much different. Friday,
August 11 2006 | Christian
reviewer raves for 'Christian content' in Oliver Stone's World Trade Center
| | Marc
T. Newman in AgapePress: "How is a viewer to react to Karnes' claim in the
film that he was gifted and called by God to locate and help rescue victims at
the World Trade Center? Stone simply presents the facts and lets the viewer decide.
In doing so, Stone has done about as much to redeem soldiering as a vocation as
Spielberg did with Saving Private Ryan's Christian sniper, Private Daniel
Jackson, with one crucial difference: Staff Sergeant Karnes is no fictional character—he
is the real deal. Maintaining Karnes' Christian witness was integral to the telling
of his story, and Stone did not hesitate. Throughout the film, viewers are also
confronted with scenes of unimaginable sacrifice. The debris pile on which the
rescue workers labor is unstable, threatening to engulf them at any moment. They
continue without flinching. Even each of the buried men, whom one would suppose
would do anything to get out, is willing to literally sacrifice himself for the
other. If a film more beautifully depicting greater self-sacrifice has been released
this year, I haven't seen it. Virtue upon virtue, it is stunning to behold." |
| I think
I remain one of the few film critics (a hat I've long since taken off) who considered
Oliver Stone's JFK a masterpiece. Politically correct critics couldn't
get past the damage, in the form of additional grief, the film could, they thought,
visit on the Kennedy dynasty. So they lambasted it as discredited though that
film wasn't about the Kennedys nor about the government's conclusion on the conspiracy
theories about the JFK assassination, but about New Orleans District Attorney
Jim Garrison's "calling" to follow his own quest, which JFK the movie faithfully
depicts. That tradition seems to have held in Stone's new movie, and to whatever
extent that is true (for I haven't seen it), we're all enriched by the fact. Thursday,
August 10 2006 | To
hear some tell it, 'Christianism' may be as bad as—even worse than—Islamism
| | Kathleen
Parker via Dallas Morning News: "'Christianist' is a relatively new
term that roughly refers to a virulent strain of right-wing political Christianity
that, supposedly, parallels Islamist lunacy. Although both groups may be 'true
believers,' those who try to connect the dots of Christian belief to Islamism
seem willing to overlook the fact that Islamists praise Allah and fly airplanes
into buildings while Christianists praise Jesus and pass the mustard." |
| Come on,
Kathleen. Quit making sense. Wednesday,
August 9 2006 | Mideast
war said to be giving some evangelicals hope the rapture is near
| | Miami
Herald: "'We believe 100 percent [of] what the Scripture has to say about
this,' said Jack Heintz, a South Florida businessman and president of the Christian
group Peace for Israel, who recruited 23 evangelical Christians to join a July
telephone fundraising event for Israel. 'There's going to be a total battle, the
battle of Armageddon, and I believe that's very close to happening.'" |
| Actually,
the believers in a rapture preceding the Second Coming (which all orthodox Christians
await) believe even more than 100 percent of what the Bible says on the
topic, considering the word rapture doesn't appear in the Bible. All the traditional
churches (Protestant as well as Catholic and Orthodox) teach that the great tribulation
occurred in the Roman-Jewish war in the early decades of the church, and the meeting
in the air some call the rapture is a metaphorical description of the uniting
of our spirits with the Lord at the Second Coming. None of the churches believed
otherwise before 1800. And any doctrine—even taught as a "dogma" in many
circles in today's Pentecostal and Dispensationalist branches of Protestantism—any
teaching of such recent origin should be suspect. Tuesday,
August 8 2006 | Study:
Teens' music tastes related to their sexual behavior
| | Local6.com,
Orlando: "Exposure to lots of sexually degrading music 'gives them a specific
message about sex,' said lead author Steven Martino, a researcher for Rand Corp.
in Pittsburgh. Boys learn they should be relentless in pursuit of women and girls
learn to view themselves as sex objects, he said. 'We think that really lowers
kids' inhibitions and makes them less thoughtful' about sexual decisions and may
influence them to make decisions they regret, he said. The study, based on telephone
interviews with 1,461 participants aged 12 to 17, appears in the August issue
of Pediatrics, being released Monday. Most participants were virgins when they
were first questioned in 2001. Follow-up interviews were done in 2002 and 2004
to see if music choice had influenced subsequent behavior." |
| Having been
a popular music fan in my own teens, I can well confirm the claim that youth often
hear a song many times without having the words "register." I have more
than once heard a song that was a favorite then (and I still probably like now)
to realize for the first time how silly, humorous, or absurd the lyrics can be.
Monday,
August 7 2006 | Dr.
Albert Mohler sets out the dangers of 'the culture of offendedness'
| | Column
via the Christian Post: "The very idea of civil society assumes the
very real possibility that individuals may at any time be offended by another
member of the community. Civilization thrives when individuals and groups seek
to minimize unnecessary offendedness, while recognizing that some degree of real
or perceived offendedness is the cost the society must pay for the right to enjoy
the free exchange of ideas and the freedom to speak one's mind." |
| This is
a significant point of contention in the culture war, a point in which Christian
concepts cross and challenge secular human (aka "liberal") ones. Of
course Christians are not allowed by their principles (such as "love thy
neighbor") to purposely set out to offend anyone and, as Dr. Mohler says,
should attempt to minimize offending positions. But as the New Testament says,
the cross of Jesus Christ is an offense, a stumblingblock, to those who don't
believe, and yet our highest calling is to preach the cross, even at the cost
of offending. To some on the opposite side, the very word
"sin" is offensive, and certainly to describe anything they find acceptable
(such as homosexual behavoir or other kinds of fornication) as sin offends them.
This was the heart of the issue in the T-shirt case discussed
here on Saturday. The court was not interested in whether "homosexuality
is shameful" or whether that opinion has support in the mainstream of western
civilization history, but whether some might be offended by it. They were, so
the court put it on the same level as burning a cross, as hate speech not protected
by the First Amendment. Down this road lies the destruction
of Western Civilization. Sunday,
August 6 2006 | Charles
Colson takes on Gregory Boyd's stance of 'no politics in evangelical pulpits'
| | On
Townhall.com: "Particularly some younger evangelicals are suggest-ing that
we stay away from divisive issues like abortion and homosexuality altogether and
just go back and be like the first-century Church—stay out of politics, tend
to our spiritual knitting. I wonder what early Church they are talking about.
Take just the issue of abortion. The early Church was outspokenly pro-life right
from the beginning just as the Jews had been. In the second chapter of the Didache,
one of the first discipleship books for young Christians written in the first
century, was this stern injunction: 'Thou shall not murder a child by abortion
nor kill them when born.' Justin Martyr wrote about this in his first apology.
And in the second century, Athenagoras wrote a plea to Emperor Marcus Aurelius:
'We say that women that use drugs to bring abortion commit murder and will have
to give an account to God for the abortion.' And you can be sure that that was
not a hot-button issue then." | |
Of course the First-Century
church was the church in the pagan Roman Empire, a chuch that became increasingly
marginalized and eventually outlawed for its insistence that Jesus was Lord (God)
and His lordship was shared with none, including the Caesars who claimed divinity
and required worship. It was at that early date a church without a pedigree, much
less able to claim a history of being the main fountainhead of the civilization
of its time, as Christianity was considered at the founding of America and throughout
our country's history. But despite its political powerlessness,
the First Century church, as all the epistles demonstrate, was fearless in its
denounciation of moral deviance (which, by definition, is social sin). I humbly
submit that if that church had had a recognized platform on which to speak, it
would have been just as forthright in its denunciations of sins on the part of
political leaders of Rome as John the Baptist was in the First Century in the
face and the condemnation of Herod's sexual sins. The church—now
and then—has no
business (as Gregory Boyd claims) being nationalistic or flag waving. Our kingdom
is not of this world. But our kingdom is very much directed to this world and
its salvation and it's encumbent of all who follow Jesus and the Apostles to share
as much of it with America, and with Iran and Israel and Lebanon and Syria as
we possibly can. That is Jesus' Great Commission. As usual,
Charles Colson has hit the nail on the head, and eloquently. Saturday,
August 5 2006 | US
Court ruling describes sexual orientation as equal to race in determining minority
protections
| | Concerned
Women for America: "Sophomore Tyler Chase Harper wore a T-shirt to his San
Diego County school that read: “Be ashamed, our school has embraced what God has
condemned” on the front and, on the back, “Homosexuality is shameful” with a Biblical
citation. In an opinion...Judge Stephen Reinhardt compared Harper’s T-shirt to
an anti-Semitic shirt saying 'Hitler had the Right Idea' or a racist shirt saying
'Hide Your Sisters—the Blacks are Coming.' In his concurrence, Judge Ronald Gould
called Harper’s shirt 'hate speech' that, like cross-burning, is not protected
by the First Amendment." | |
This confirms yesterday's point
that civil rights for homosexuals must rest upon defining homosexuals as equal
to racial minorities. The difference is, of course, that racial minorities are
not defined based on what they say (as homosexuals are), but by their racial characteristics.
Homosexuals are sometimes opposed for things they say. Harper's shirt was "saying"
an opposing point of view (and not advocating anything other than becoming aware
of Christian teachings on sexual practices). Friday,
August 4 2006 | 'Pagan
friar' claims civil right to have sex with consenting underage males
| | Internet
Broadcasting Systems, Inc., via NBC10, Philadelphia: "The admitted pedophile
offered a surprising defense Wednesday to 74 charges of rape, drugs and pandering
obscenity to minors. Appearing in an Ohio court for a pretrial hearing, Phillip
Distasio, 34, of Rocky River, Ohio ...told the judge, 'I'm a pedophile. I've been
a pedophile for 20 years. The only reason I'm charged with rape is that no one
believes a child can consent to sex. The role of my ministry is to get these cases
out of the courtrooms.' Distasio, a self-professed pagan friar, is representing
himself on 74 charges. He said he's the leader of a church called Arcadian Fields
Ministries, and that some of his congregants are among the victims in his case." |
| I chose
the linked article because in 25 years or so the line of "reasoning" the pedophile
Phillip Distasio is
pushing today will probably be a plank of mainline liberal thinking. Maybe 50
years? (Maybe 20?) I'm just comparing the "gay rights movement" of the mid-1970s,
when gay spokesmen in San Francisco considered it ludicrous that conservatives
were saying they would eventually want to "marry" members of their own
sex. At that time, no "reasonable" person, liberal or conservative, took demands
for gay civil rights seriously. "Minority" status based on sexual professions
and proclivities? How absurd! Thursday,
August 3 2006 | Beverly
Hills rabbi invites Mel Gibson to speak to his Yom Kippur congregants
| | AFP
via Yahoo News: "A well-known American rabbi has invited actor Mel Gibson,
who has come under fire for recent anti-Semitic remarks, to speak at his synagogue
for Yom Kippur. 'I wish to invite you to come and speak in order that you might
directly express to the Jewish community your remorse,' Rabbi David Baron, of
the Beverly Hills-based Temple of the Arts, wrote in a letter to the actor dated
August 1. Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, falls on October 1 this year." |
| Gibson had
asked Jewish leaders to meet with him to hear his apologies for his inflammatory
remarks when being arrested on drunk driving charges last Friday morning. This
is not the type of story I generally consider "signifying," but it has
much of the western world from Sydney to Hollywood to London abuzz. And since
Xnmp was among the first news sites to report on Gibson's Catholic devotion and
his plans to produce The Passion of the Christ, it seems obligatory to
treat the controversy in some way. Christians know no one is perfect and anyone
is capable of a great fall. Gibson's
apology seems sincere and a major step toward repentance. I'm
inclined to roll my eyes at a synogogue called the Temple of the Arts, but the
location may be the right place for Mel Gibson to lay some of his burden down
come October. Wednesday,
August 2 2006 | Suit
wants to segregate Christian clubs similar to under 'separate but equal' status
| | Gudrun
Schultz, LifeSiteNews.com: "Two students sued Kentridge [Washington] High
School five years ago over the school’s refusal to ratify a bible club that excluded
non-Christians from voting rights and member-ship privileges. After a lower court
ruled in favour of Kentridge, the case went before the 9th U.S. circuit Court
of Appeals. Lawyer for the Kentridge schools, Mike Tierney, told Judge Raymond
Fisher of the federal court that as an 'arm of the state' a public school district
must not sanction any club that is discriminatory, the Seattlepi.com reported
Friday. Judge Fisher, however, is reported to have pointedly questioned why the
school singled out religion for discrimination charges, when other clubs, such
as the Gay-Straight Alliance that focused on those 'who believe in a gay way of
life,' were not. Judge Fisher suggested Tierney was calling for a double standard
of treatment similar to that utilized by racial segregation. 'Separate, but equal?'
Judge Fisher retorted, according to the Seattlepi. 'Essentially, yes,' Tierney
responded." | |
A sufficient reason for creating parent-controlled
voucher schools should be to make it clear that our children's education is not
the responsibility of "an arm of the state." Tuesday,
August 1 2006 | Scoop
du jour: New York Times article treats Conservatism respectfully
| | Jason
DeParle: "At a foundation event last year, Ms. Pajak met a fellow student
who urged her to join him in reading The Politics of Prudence. Their long-distance
romance now includes comparing notes about which of Kirk’s 10 conservative principles
they find most compelling. (Ms. Pajak is partial to No. 1: 'There exists an enduring
moral order.') Many conserva-tives say they have to promote their own thinkers
because scholars and journalists ignore them. 'They don’t study us; they’re ignorant
of who we are,' said Floyd Brown, who runs the foundation’s West Coast office.
'You can find college courses on all sorts of radical left-wing ideas, but you
can’t find a course on Russell Kirk.'" | |
The "Jason" author
of the linked article doesn't have a "y" (lest he be confused with Times
former celebrity writer Jayson
Blair). But seriously, this kind of occasional article
in the Times (and also in the equally liberal-leaning Washington Post
and Los Angeles Times) is the reason it is (they are) considered America's
"newspaper(s) of record." But I'd have to say the exception doesn't prove the
rule here (the "rule" being that this kind of exception makes such papers worth
patronizing and taking as authorities the rest of the time). See
my additional comments on the article itself on the blog, linked below. |
