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June
2 2004 | Is the
Catholic Church playing politics in its talk of communion bans? This
is a fresh and resonant response to a deluge of sophomoric essays,
columns, and letters to editors that have been railing against the Catholic bishops'
"meddling in politics" by raising the question if politicians who stand
against the Christian community's consistent, biblical, and ancient doctrine that
abortion violates the commandment: "Thou shalt not kill" are thereby
disqualified to receive the church's communion. Obviously, such writers look at
Christianity as something tolerable in America as civil religion, but not something
to be taken seriously as the way to the living Creator-Redeemer God and our only
true King and our Salvation. Thousands,
tens of thousands, died before the Caesars for refusing to make less compromise
of the Christian faith than Senators Kerry, and Kennedy, and governors like Schwarzenegger
and their co-civil-religionists make every day in our time. Anyone who has read
the Old Testament knows that one of the highest callings of God's priests and
prophets is calling the polis, the nation, and its leaders to reformation, return
to the faith of the Fathers. When
Israel wasn't receptive to the prophets' messages, God sent the nation His judgment
in the form of wicked and apostate rulers. God
have mercy on our generation and the generations
to come.
June
1 2004 | Now
they're even trying to ban baptisms in God's own free-flowing river Haven't
the Democrats ever heard of something called the First Amendment? What's
next? Signs that say "no swimming by Christians"?
"This river reserved for use by secularists and atheists only"? It's
time the state of Virginia gets up with the rest of the nation and understands
that segregation is no longer tolerated.
May
31 2004 | Quest for 'perfect babies'
cited as causing a sharp increase in abortions "...at
what cost to its own humanity?"
May
30 2004 | CBS-affiliated
MTV sets launch of all-gay-all-the-time cable channel "We
don't think it's indecent," said Tom Freston, MTV Networks Chairman and CEO....
"This will be mainstream programming... targeting lesbian[s] and gay[s]....
We think it's a legitimate and growing community."
I
have doubts about whether 60 Minutes will be doing a segment on how the
gay community is "growing" if it's not recruiting, which its spokespersons
have consistently denied for decades. I also doubt that anyone at Viacom will
give us their definition of a "legitimate community" or care to comment
on why gays are legitimate and Christians are not (considering they ignore that
community that, by any metric encompasses at least 40 percent of Americans, contrasted
with the two to 10 percent of the population that social research finds is homosexual).
Nor do they cater to the "senior" community, though it is likewise a
much larger slice of the American pie. Obviously, LOGO (the very name of
the gay-TV channel is an affront to the Christian community, as Logos is one of
the names used in Scripture for Jesus Christ; John 1:1) is just the latest tactic
in CBS-Viacom's culture war, another battleground on which to wage their war against
Christian, traditional, or any other humane values. From the conglomerate's
website: "Viacom's well-known brands
include CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, VH1, BET, Paramount Pictures, Infinity
Broadcasting, Viacom Outdoor, UPN, TV Land, Comedy Central, CMT: Country Music
Television, Spike TV, Showtime, Blockbuster, and Simon & Schuster."
May
29 2004 | Scholars
say simplistic interpretations of Apostle Paul are misleading I
have read N. T. Wright's What Saint Paul Really Said: Was Paul of Tarsus the
Real Founder of Christianity? and enthusiastically recommend his books on
the Apostle. An article like the one
linked here seems a recent development in the American press, in that it provides
a corrective balance to the anti-Christian sophistry of the likes of Nicholas
von Hoffman and other skeptics.
May
28 2004 | Group plans action
to educate public about Disney World's 'Gay Days' This
appears to be a creative alternative to boycotting and threatening economic reprisals.
Let's hope I'm wrong, but if I'm not, remember you read it here first: Expect
interference from Disney Corp. and/or gay organizations trying to get law enforcement
agents to curtail the Christian Action Network's exercise of their First Amendment
prerogatives.
May
27 2004 | British
Catholic bishops issue new 'life-affirming' ethical guidelines for faithful Interestingly
the document specifically calls upon Catholics to vote according to their religious
convictions, something that has, somehow, become controversial in the United States,
as though asking Catholics to follow Catholic ethics is presumptuous (at least
in the take on the question by John Kerry, "Vickie K" and others.
I have to hope the British Catholic bishops are taken more seriously than their
American counterparts. And of course our reason
for linking to this report is its educational value. It's always to be assumed
that newcomers to Christianity and younger generations are in need of educating
on such ethical issues. Admittedly the teachings of various Christian communions
vary, but it's usually a safe bet that Catholic ethical guidelines are built upon
the earliest traditions of Christendom, and there's no doubt about the abortion
part of the teaching being received from the apostolic martyr/fathers. Click
here for
a radically different newspaper "take" on the same new document.
May
26 2004 | Liberals'
rules may force the Salvation Army out of New York City Already
Canada has passed legislation that defines preaching against same-sex fornication
as a hate crime and is predicted to lead to the closing of churches. The same
will be coming to the rest of the Western world soon, barring divine intervention.
This kind of fight is the great challenge of the next generation of Christians
and is likely to be as relentless as the past 35 years' crusade for "gay civil
rights"—including marriage—has been.
May
25 2004 | Orthodox
Jewish writer nails the Democratic pols' beef with Catholic bishops Ben
Shapiro puts his case brilliantly and it's a pleasure to "discover" him as a new
ally to the cause. Contrast his depth with the shallowness of "Vickie K," Ted
Kennedy's current wife's, op-ed piece in the Washington Post trying to
make the opposite point (as reported here
in the Boston Herald). To compare the slaughter of innocent babies to the
execution of tried and convicted murderers is so fatuous it can only be called
an outrage against humanity. Again, neither
the Bible nor Christian tradition ever unilaterallly oppose the death penalty,
nor does contemporary Catholic doctrine hold the two issues to be on a par; to
pretend such a claim is to appeal to her readers' (and perhaps her own) ignorance.
May
24 2004 | Media
workers much more liberal than general population, Pew study finds Naive
assumptions and suspicions confirmed.
May
23 2004 | Rising
popularity of Christian books is hurting Christian booksellers The
irony of success. We earlier
reported the importance of Christian merchandise to Wal-Mart.
May
22 2004 | Report
says one gay complaint led Kroger to curtail rights of all customers Today's
linked article is a much more thorough one than the one linked on April 30 and
it reports important subsequent developments. It also confirms everything I said
in that day's NewsComment.
Since then, the grocery retail conglomerate has gone on to alienate itself from
thousands more of its constituents. As both a former publisher of a "secular
magazine with a Christian point of view" that was distributed mostly through
free super market outlets, and a former super market employee who has followed
the industry closely for 40 years, I must admit this development hits close to
home; so please indulge me. No matter how
you approach it, Kroger Corp's stance is untenable, its statements on the rights
of its customers to find the publications they're accustomed to seeing in its
stores—the main marketplace in their communities—is bologna no matter
how thinly you slice them, and this stand is totally incompatible with American
standards of fairness and Constitutional guarantees of expression and conscience.
Everyone who supports these standards should let Kroger know they oppose and will
vote by their feet and the withholding of their dollars on their outrageously
un-American and anti-Christian (even anti-liberal, it now becomes clear) stance.
(But of course it has the right, as a corporation in a free society, to
alienate any public(s) it wants to or to be as un-American as it wants to be!
Just as we also have the freedom to shop in environments less hostile to our convictions.) Click
here for a page showing many of the Kroger store brands. For example, in California
the major Kroger subsidiary is Ralphs, which claims to be the state's grocery
sales leader. In 2002, the last year for which we have found statistics, Kroger
was the third-largest retailer in the United States, after Wal-Mart and Home Depot. Finally,
as this portal not only links to significant developments but we comment on the
workings and theory bases of various media, a word is appropriate on Albert Mohler,
the author of today's linked article. As the president of what is, arguably, the
most important seminary in the most important Protestant denomination in the United
States, I find his articles often to be amazingly well researched and written.
I have found many of his commentaries helpful and have linked several of them
previously. His journalism illustrates the old bromide: "If you want something
done right, find a busy man to do it."
May
21 2004 | Reviewer
compares importance of N.T. Wright's book series to Passion film Admittedly,
this was a "soft news" day, but it is significant that reviewer Roberts compares
Wright's book series to Mel Gibson's Passion movie in terms of potential
social impact. If only it would happen! Wright
is a religious conservative and a political liberal, a combination that strikes
me as suspicious ("let's get 'souls' to heaven while we accompany our society's
descent into hell on our fiddles"). Of course there have been times when
liberals have been the advocates of the more Christian social programs, but that
time has long passed. I don't know what his stand is (if any) on abortion, but
Wright has made it clear he considers the liberation of Iraq to be war-mongering
or pure jingoism. It would also be interesting to learn what he thinks of Mel
Gibson's movie.
May
20 2004 | School
district sued for barring motivational speaker over Christian views The
Kerry campaign should call these Montanta whizbang attorneys. They might be able
to get the Supreme Court to disqualify George W. Bush on the same grounds (I hear
he has been known to talk religion from a government platform or two). If successful,
it might eliminate the Democrats' need to put a lot of effort into an expensive
campaign and give Kerry an education program ("remove all Christians and
all references to Christianity from our schools") to start championing at
the same time! (It beats the Kerry education platform John Stewart has discerned:
"no child left awake.") And yes, the news in the linked
article is today's nominee for "liberal attack on the First Amendment—every
provision of it—for the merry month of May."
May
19 2004 | Humbled
rock star Bono says the FCC controversy taught him a lesson Humility
isn't expected in rock stars, so when it occurs it's newsworthy, and I think the
reformed attitude underscores the seriousness of Bono's charitable intentions.
Having been critical of his
slip-up at the Golden Globes show, it's appropriate that I give his correction
of the record and his intent equal consideration. And as always, I happily support
his campaign for Africa and against its mistreatment geopolitically.
May
18 2004 | In run-up
to Olympics, religious freedom is called Greece's Achilles' heel I'm
flush with questions, but no answers, showing my general ignorance of Greece.
I'm wondering how the Greek Orthodox clerics interpret the Golden Rule ("do
unto others...") when it comes to opening religious options and freedom of
conscience. However, I do know the modern Greek state is less than two centuries
old, since overthrowing its Turkish Islamic captors and regaining their free (in
some sense) Orthodox republic. And I hear
that Greece is also the Euorpean country that has been closer than any other to
freely electing Communism as its system of government, with that party still strong
there. Which raises the question, why persecution of other monotheistic religions
but not atheists? Or is that not even a legitimate question? I'm planning a first-person
fact-finding mission...but not before the Olympics.
May
17 2004 | Standing
ovation, no protests, at President Bush's graduation speech The
main significance here is not that this is from the New York Times, which
isn't small potatoes (though I haven't seen a link to it on the Times'
own website), but that it doesn't seem to include a "twist of the knife"
that's usually found in any liberal media coverage of nonliberals. Of
course, the headline I made up for it—my take on what the real news is there—is
not likely to appear in the liberal press. We can't expect that much. Yet. Maybe
never.
May
16 2004 | Conservative—and
liberal—perspectives on Catholic 'range of discipline' The
significance here I think is the depth of the problems facing Catholicism the
linked article reveals, especially in the Latin communion's American brand. Still,
compared with most Protestant denominations in which the whole concept of "discipline"
is unknown, there seems to be some life left in Rome. Journalists
and educators might also lament the ignorance not only of religion but of English
language when a writer assumes there to be a qualititative difference between
"excommunication" and "withdrawal of communion."
May
15 2004 | Fox
TV special will take 'gay-themed reality' shows to a new low level Can
you say postmodernism?
May
14 2004 | Liberal
radio network fixated on attacking Catholics, evangelicals, and Jews
No news here, which may be why
"Air America" is being described as already on the ropes. Be
it noted that on the day in review, at least not as the Daily News tells
us, the "on-air personalities" didn't identify their evangelical targets (mainly
President Bush) as such.
May
13 2004 | Slow
population growth said to be turning Europe into an Islamic province Combined
with the eclipsing of Christianity and high Islamic immigration to the continent.
This fascinating column for a Jewish publication
seems to be supporting Pope John Paul II's repeated calls for including references
to Christian formative influence in the European Union's constitution.
May
12 2004 | Some
Israeli rabbis suspicious of American evanglicals' friendship
Well of course a primary intent of
evangelicals is to convert those they interact with. It's basic to the definition
of the word "evangelical"; they do it even to one another! And aren't we always
hearing that much of the United States' support of Israel is because that country
is the only strong democracy in the Middle East? Methinks, then, the definitions
of "democracy" must be different for evangelicals and Jewish Israelis and their
American cousins. For evangelicals, democracy is considering all the options and
choosing which doctrine to support. For these rabbis, it would seem, democracy
depends on their people being shielded from hearing certain options. Or
am I missing something? Then there's "academic
freedom," often held up as a "Jewish value"...or is that just when it suits those
doing the holding up? Or can you have it both ways? Not
that I'm saying anyone should be happy about having their sheep "stolen."
But can we talk like frank, earnest, and honest adults?
May
11 2004 | Historian:
'the realm of popular culture now seems alive with divine purpose' Armstrong's
quick survey of the current landscape gives refreshing insights. New to me are
his comments on French actor Gerard Depardieu who, it seems, like Mel Gibson was
forced to take a new look at his life after "bottoming out" and found hope in
the Gospel.
May
10 2004 | US
News' John Leo on the bishops' dilemma with Catholic proabortion pols A
letter writer in a Southern
newspaper on Saturday wrote: "It is not right that the Lord's Supper
be used as a litmus test for right thinking, or following the party line, or any
other test of one's Christian faith." But to anyone who has ever read the
Lord's Sermon on the Mount, in which He requires perfect attainment to the Law
as prerequisite of entering His Kingdom, or the Apostle's warning that "whoever
eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty
of the body and blood of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 11:27) must recognize that
any clergyman not "guarding" the communion is complicit in the eternal
judment of the one unworthily taking it. To claim (as she does farther on) that
because Judas sat at the table of the Lord he was "accepted" by Him
in the Kingdom flies in the face of all the Gospel testimony concerning the son
of perdition (John 17:3). Of course abortion is not a matter of "right
thinking" or a "party line," but of human life and death. Today
it's fashionable for laymen, and women, to elevate themselves to the stature of
the church fathers, the undivided tradition of the First Millenium Church, even
the Apostolic writers of the New Testament. Such pride of the flesh may be fashionable,
post-modern, even democratic, but none of these make it true or Christian.
May
9 2004 | Anti-Christian
novel spurs serious look at origin of the New Testament Again
AP religion writer Richard Ostling deserves high
marks for presenting a tradtional Christian historical view of a keystone of the
faith.
May
8 2004 | Antiabortion
campaign aims to nudge Cardinal McCarrick to stronger stand Deal
Hudson, editor of Crisis
magazine, takes up the issue of Catholic hierarchs' (including Cardinal McCarrick)
standing and failing to stand on proabortion Catholic politicians in a letter
I received on Friday. As usual, I generally agree with his points and, not being
a Catholic myself, couldn't have put them nearly as authoritatively. Excerpts
follow: Bishops Take A Stand
CRISIS Magazine - e-Letter
May 7, 2004 ********************************************** Dear
Friend, With John Kerry and so many other pro-abortion "Catholic" politicians
in the news these days, it's easy for us to get discouraged with our Church's
leaders when we don't see them responding to the challenge these politicians represent.
That's why it's so important for us to acknowledge those priests and bishops
who DO stand up to defend the Faith. They need to hear how much we appreciate
their witness to the Truth. And if they were assured of our public support, perhaps
some of our more timid leaders would follow suit and stand up as well. But
even more than that, we laity need encouragement, too. All too often we let ourselves
get bogged down in the bad news that surrounds us -- and I know there's plenty
of it -- instead of stopping for a minute to acknowledge the many positive developments
that go unnoticed. So to that end, let me take the opportunity today to
bring you some very encouraging words from a few bishops who have recently stood
up to defend the Church's teaching on life issues... and the Catholic voter's
responsibility to act accordingly. I think you'll enjoy the good news...
First, Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark released a wonderful pastoral
statement on Wednesday titled "A Time for Honesty." In it, the archbishop does
a fantastic job of explaining the Church's uncompromising support of life and
what that means for the laity. He takes great care to emphasize our responsibility
to form our consciences in light of the Truth and to be in full communion with
the Church and Her teachings before presenting ourselves to receive the Eucharist.
But I'll let Archbishop Myers speak for himself... "There is no
right more fundamental than the right to be born and reared with all the dignity
the human person deserves. On this grave issue, public officials cannot hold themselves
excused from their duties, especially if they claim to be Catholic. Every faithful
Catholic must be not only 'personally opposed' to abortion, but also must live
that opposition in his or her actions. "Catholics who publicly dissent from
the Church's teaching on the right to life of all unborn children should recognize
that they have freely chosen by their own actions to separate themselves from
what the Church believes and teaches. "To receive communion when one has,
through public or private action, separated oneself from unity with Christ and
His Church, is objectively dishonest. ...Because the Eucharist is the source and
summit of our faith, the most sacred action of our Church, to misuse the Eucharistic
symbol by reducing it to one's private 'feeling' of communion with Christ and
His Church while objectively not being in such union is gravely disordered." And
here's the section that has pro-abortion "Catholic" politicians in a panic...
"As voters, Catholics are under an obligation to avoid implicating themselves
in abortion, which is one of the gravest of injustices. Certainly, there are other
injustices, which must be addressed, but the unjust killing of the innocent is
foremost among them." I don't think anyone could have said it better! I've
always been impressed by Archbishop Myers' strong leadership, and this pastoral
letter makes me grateful for his clear voice of reason in our Church. I encourage
you to read the rest of the letter for yourself. You can find it here:
http://www.rcan.org/archbish/jjm_letters/ATimeforHonesty.htm.
As you can tell, we at CRISIS are big fans of the Archbishop. In fact,
he has an article in our current issue on the war between our Church and our culture.
If you haven't read it yet, you'll definitely want to take a look. But
Archbishop Myers isn't the only prelate who has recently defended Church teaching
on this point. Just last Sunday, Bishop Samuel J. Aquila of Fargo, North Dakota
gave a stirring homily on these same issues. Again, it's best just to let him
do the talking: "The Council Fathers [of Vatican II] went on to teach,
'Therefore, let there be no false opposition between professional and social activities
on the one part, and religious life on the other. The Christian who neglects his
temporal duties, neglects his duties towards his neighbor and even God, and jeopardizes
his eternal salvation' (Gaudium et Spes, 43). My sisters and brothers, 'pro-choice'
Catholics, 'Catholics for a free choice,' must listen to those words, for they
are the truth rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has taught us
that we are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We are to
proclaim His Gospel, the Gospel of Life, to the world. "As Jesus Christ
posed the question to Peter, so, too, does He pose the question to each one of
us, 'Do you love Me?' If we respond with yes, then we must live that out no matter
what the cost. We cannot separate our professional life from our faith life. We
must always put the law of God above the law of man, especially as it concerns
the dignity of the human person and the life of the unborn." Even Theodore
Cardinal McCarrick, who has been criticized lately, just wrote a letter to journalist
Robert Novak, encouraging him to clarify the Cardinal's words in a recent Catholic
News Service interview. The quote in that interview, which received a lot of publicity,
made it sound as if the Cardinal thought the pro-life issue was merely one of
many issues that Catholics should be worried about. But in his letter to
Novak, he clarifies his position, saying, "The defense of human life, especially
the life of the unborn child, comes first because 'without life you cannot have
any other human values.' This position in favor of life and of the obligation
to defend it is essential according to the constant teaching of the Church, and
has always been my own constant teaching." He went on to explain that while we
can't neglect other important social justice issues, human life "is the first
principle on which all other rights depend." I'm glad the Cardinal took
the chance to clarify his position. END EXCERPTS
FROM DEAL HUDSON
May
7 2004 | Christian
messages become 'fashionable' among the trendy and teens Pre-evangelism?
Possibly. But I suspect this excerpt— Meanwhile,
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.'s United Artists is planning to release Saved!,
a subversive comedy about a girl named Mary at a Christian high school who gets
pregnant by her gay boyfriend.
—says
it all.
May
6 2004 | Acceptance
of lying, cheating found to be on the rise in school studies say I've
never found a satisfactory definition of "post-modernism" ("what comes after the
decline of modernism" not quite getting it), but I think I recognize it when I
see it. This finding relates, I think, to the American military personnel's
abuse of prisoners held in Iraq that's now high on the national agenda. The
comedians on Comedy Central's "Tough Crowd"—undoubtedly post-moderns all—agreed
that the photos depicting abuse were more "funny" that abusive. One suspects that
to many youths raised in an environment permeated with pornography, who grew up
in the era of Bill and Monica, where fornication is more a joke or a pleasure
than a sin, such acts may mean nothing more to them than just that, "acts," almost
"photo ops." One wonders if they may have even considered themselves doing their
captives a "favor" by "liberating" them from inhibitions. And
though we might hope that the students at "religious schools" are more honest
about, or even more cognizant of, their lying and cheating than their "secular"
peers, it's just as likely that they are even more "post-modern" in the sense
that as "religious" they may feel their whole lives are a double-minded existence.
May
5 2004 | US
Methodists: 'bitter disagreement over homosexuality since 1972' Having
grown up in the "United" section of the United Methodist Church, I must say I
thought the denomiantion would capitulate on this issue much earlier. Despite
that suggestion that optimism about the denomination may be possible, and admitting
that there are still some evangelical Methodists "out there," it still seems only
a matter of time. Personally, I see no moral
distinction between allowing divorced and remarried clergy (Matt. 5:32), which
Methodism has long since permitted, and practitioners of other forms of biblically
proscribed sexual immorality.
May
4 2004 | Pope
renews call for putting Christian values at base of enlarged EU Predictably,
the opposition
to his appeal has come from self-declared "secularists." Some brazenly
accuse the call an affront to Muslim Turkey, which is also hoping to join the
Union. Surely
the Turks are not so naive as to think atheistic secularists are better friends
to their values and interests than Monotheistic Christians?
May
3 2004 | Professor:
evangelicals will be more changed by culture than vice vers The
angle of this story highlighted by the headline I've used and the excerpt chosen
is not the sum total of its value, by far. However, I share Professor Wolfe's
skepticism about the longterm benefits of the megachurches and the way in which
they are built. Is Christianity about us, or is it primarily to be aimed
at God and His Christ, aimed at holiness and worship and service of Him? Is the
megachurch movement a form of manipulation that starts by throwing out the baby
while adding more bath water? I'm
not sure, but when I left the megachurch movement that I was in to become Orthodox,
I cast my lot with the likelihood of its eventual decline and demise. I had already
seen the Dutch "Kuyperian movement" modernized into a religion of accommodation
to the world's agenda, and I believe the mainstream of evangelicalism will continue
to flow in that direction. "Thou
shalt not follow a multitude to do evil," (Exodus 23:2).
May
2 2004 | Former
Christian Coalition leader thankful liberal media monopoly broken
Can
I have an "Amen"?
May
1 2004 | Family,
money, and health more important than spirituality, men tell pollsters
The research team is emphasizing the poor ranking of "spirituality," but I'm not
convinced that that's the nub of their findings. "Spirituality" is an elusive
quality which, if understood—or intuited—properly permeates everything,
including family life, money acquisition and disposition, health, and everything
else. So it's just possible that a sizeable cross-section of the polled male Christian
population is speaking of spirituality as an end in itself rather than the matrix
for everything else in life. Maybe. The wording doesn't seem to have been "an
improved personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ," so I'm saying give
the respondents a little slack. And
as for only "marginal satisfaction with their church experiences," what else is
new?. I think we always want more from our churches than we generally, experience...almost
always. That has certainly been my history, but it doesn't mean it isn't worth
continuing to work at. In fact, it doesn't mean that "my satisfaction" is one
of the top reasons I stick with a church. It ought to be more about God and how
I can worship and serve him through the help of a church than about how satisfied
I am with its programs, utilization of my potential, "gifts" or anything
thing else that's me-centered.
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