Steele is a good pick
Jan 30, 2009 Five Non-Negotiable Issues
The RNC has chosen a new leader. Pro-life, and otherwise solid. Here’s an encouraging post at RedState.
Tags: Five Non-Negotiable Issues, Michael Steele, pro-life, RNC
Who, really, is intolerant?
Jan 30, 2009 Five Non-Negotiable Issues
Quite often political discussions on issues with moral relevance (even if the arguments against them have far reach into areas other than religious belief) are quickly squashed by a comment to the effect of “Catholics are not tolerant of other views.” Even if that were the case, that doesn’t score any points in favor of “choice” in the example of abortion. The idea that Catholics are intolerant (false as it is) is a non sequitur to such a discussion.
Ironically, at the point where a person brings this kind of a statement into the mix on abortion, it is generally the statement-maker who is the intolerant one. An example of this comes with the news today that the Academy of Holy Angels has stripped an award that it had given to a local lawyer who has worked on behalf of the DFL on abortion rights issues. The award placed AHA alum, Paul Thissen, into the “Activities Hall of Fame” which is recognition for people who ”through their citizenship and achievements, have brought honor to themselves, their school and the community.” Clearly if you are tolerant of others’ beliefs you also would extend that right to Catholics who do not hold that there is “honor” in supporting abortion rights.
I think this point is often missed on both sides of the coin. Catholics, ever punished with such accusations of intolerance, are increasingly sensitive and looking for ways to prove otherwise. At varying rates they are giving up the views they once held in the name of tolerance. On the other side of the coin, they are unable to look in the mirror and realize that tolerance is a two-way street. If someone should be allowed to have the view that abortion should be legal in this country there is no need to worry, they do have that right — even when the law is one way we are allowed to believe the opposite should be true — but so, too, do Catholics have the right to disagree with that view and keep their highest honors for people who uphold their own standards. It has never been a secret that the Church is pro-life. The only fault AHA might have in this was not coming to this conclusion before causing the commotion it did. (Then again, this might be good for a point. God works in mysterious ways.)
Update: The Trog also weighs in. He has a more personal connection to all of it.
Tags: Abortion, Academy of Holy Angels, Five Non-Negotiable Issues, Intolerance, The Trog, Thissen
Government should go out of business
Jan 29, 2009 Governmental Reach
A couple of Minnesota lawmakers are introducing an idea to have a “government garage sale” to raise funds to alleviate the deficit and, even better, put them out of business. The main component: sell the airport
“The airport is a significant asset,” Brod adds. “Why is the state running the airport, which provides restaurants and shops and the functions and the operations that a private business probably would do very well?
“So what we’re looking at is just … raising the real question of ‘what should government be doing?’”
The government has proven not only to be poor business people, but often-times corrupt. We have several very recent examples, including our own Treasury Secretary, Charles Rangel, and a Governor who tried to make a business of appointing a replacement Senator. One can imagine what we might find when we drill down into businesses who aren’t entirely motivated to make a dollar, for if they fail they can simply ask for more taxpayer funding.
On top of that, we are in a situation that needs a little creativity at this point.
“The discussion is often ‘do you tax more, [or] do you spend less?’” Brod says. “But it seems to me that there is a third option out there, and that’s reforming how government operates.”
The bigger question, as State Senator Michel and Representative Brod point out, is in regards to what government should have their noses in at all. Some other places, outside of business, they should relinquish non-watchdog interests are in education, medicine, religion, and science.
Tags: airport, business, Government, twin cities
Church, Obama to clash early and often
Jan 28, 2009 Five Non-Negotiable Issues, Obama Administration
One of Obama’s first moves as President of the United States was to punch the Catholic people of his country in the face, reneg on his promise to do all he can to limit the need for abortions, and overturn key life-saving orders the Bush Administration had held. If Obama thinks he’s going to get the free pass that many other politicians have gotten (including many so-called Catholics), he’s got another think coming. It’s clear that the Church is toughening up.
“My impression is they’ve gotten more militant and assertive on the life issue, where they’re more willing to say we’re not just going to state our position and look the other way,” said Richard Esenberg, a law professor at Marquette University whose expertise includes religion. He noted that Catholic politicians have been excommunicated in recent years for not supporting positions consistent with the church’s teachings.
It is very important that Church avoid scandal and make an example of someone who professes to be Catholic, yet holds a public view that is not in accordance with the Holy See. The true Catholics will feel emboldened and will come to the Church’s defense, while the so-called Catholics will take notice and question their own political priorities.
“Among the many good things that he could have done, Barack Obama instead chose the worst,” said Monsignor Elio Sgreccia, a top official with the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life.
“If this is one of President Obama’s first acts, I have to say, in all due respect, that we’re heading quickly toward disappointment,” said Monsignor Rino Fisichella, who heads the Academy.
I believe the Church’s leaders not only have the right, but the duty to do all they can to make Her followers understand the weight and severity of putting political affiliation at a higher priority than their own eternal soul. It is time to forget about tax exemptions. If the Church needs to spell out who a Catholic voter should vote for in our country, for instance, they should do so without regard to money. You can put no pricetag on souls, and God has always promised to provide everything needed and “the gates of hell should not prevail against it.”
To all Catholics: It is time to stand up and fight for what we know is right. Engage in conversation, pray, pray, pray, donate to worthy (and only worthy) causes, and pray. Teach your children well and, more importantly, know what your children are being taught. And pray. This is not for us in this lifetime but our reward shall be in heaven.
Tags: Catholic, Esenberg, Five Non-Negotiable Issues, Holy See, Obama
Hope for the pro-life movement
Jan 28, 2009 Blogging's Best, Five Non-Negotiable Issues, Obama Administration
The Trog gives us five solid reasons to have hope. I’m particularly encouraged by the varying #3s I’ve read about or heard about recently. It seems that we are getting better leadership from within the Church and even other Christian denominations. Science is also acting as an agent for our cause, and rarely do we hear a play on science vs. religion in the abortion debate anymore. Generally the pro-choice movement sinks to the “don’t tell me what to do with my body” routine because science has gone so far in proving life begins at conception.
In any case, print out The Trog’s list and pin it up. There are bad days in our movement, and we’ve had several of them in the last 3-4 months (including the election, inauguration, and some of Obama’s first actions in office), but we have a lot to be encouraged about, including great grass-roots efforts online and in the streets. And, of course, our true hope is God, Himself.
Tags: Five Non-Negotiables, hope, pro-life, The Troglodyte
Interesting moral question from The Trog
Jan 27, 2009 Blogging's Best
The Trog asks a very interesting moral question about the use of technology as it affects a person’s reputation (of sorts).
In reading last week the story of how a Google bomb of George W. Bush has now been predictably and avoidably redirected to Barack Obama on the White House web site, I was faced with the puzzle of whether Google bombing the president, in general, is morally licit. Typical Google bombings ought to strike any one as a cross between mildly clever and slightly amusing.
As someone once said, “I guess it depends on what your definition of the word ‘is’ is.”
If you don’t already, make sure to frequent The Troglodyte’s blog. You never know what you might find over there.
Tags: Google Bomb, Morality, Obama, The Troglodyte
Bork: Religious Freedom in Jeopardy
Jan 27, 2009 Five Non-Negotiable Issues
Former Supreme Court nominee, Robert Bork says that religious freedom in the United States is in danger. He cites the example of doctors who are unwilling to perform abortions and may soon be forced to. This represents an inability to exercise religion freely.
Judge Bork said he also thought that America is “now going down a path towards kind of a happy-go-lucky nihilism.”
“A lot of people are nihilists,” he continued. “They don’t think about religion. They don’t think about ultimate questions. They go along. They worry about consumer goods, comfort, and so forth.
“As a matter of fact, the abortion question is largely a question about convenience. If you look at the polls about why people have abortions, 90 percent of it has nothing to do with medical conditions. It’s convenience. And that’s I think an example of the secularization of an issue that ought to have a religious dimension.”
It’s the natural progression from the war against Christmas trees in the workplace several years ago (and there was probably something smaller before that). It is time for a major Christian rally of sorts. Time for us to end our silence while we are being asked to give, give, give without any concession from the other side. We are at a point now (if we weren’t there already) where giving further ground endangers souls. Christians who are forced into performing abortions will have to leave the medical profession. Christian hospitals will have to close (it will not be sufficient to merely sell off to a group of people who will perform them). We need to start pushing back in this war against religion; the war against Christianity.
Tags: Abortion, Bork, doctors, freedom of religion, nurses, religion
Getting off on the wrong foot
Jan 27, 2009 Media Bias, Obama Administration
President Obama, today, gave the first sit-down television interview he has done as President to, who else, but an Arab television station. This is symbolicly detrimental to him on so many levels.
First, this will surely have Israel wondering whose side he is on. In the midst of terrible chaos between Israel and Palestine, surely they are more sensitive than ever to the statements that people make directly or indirectly. The fact that Obama would give credence to the people of the nation in the battle that have acted incredibly undignified is alarming.
Second, the American people are worried about his Muslim…ties. He has been linked both to Muslims as well as to people with similar viewpoints of the United States of America (including people residing in this very country).
Third, and to speak to his darling-nature with the media, I’m sure NBC, CNN, and the several other Obama Campaign Network affiliates are thrilled that after they worked so hard to seat Obama in the White House that he would go forward and deliver a cookie to the international press. They needn’t be surprised, however, as Obama did deliver one of his largest campaign speeches to none other than the people of Germany. Perhaps it won’t be long and the Obama Campaign Network will grow a little owly with their beloved one.
Surely some of this blame has to fall on the President’s people, but this is another example of a group of people who aren’t on their game. I’m sure they will be given a little bit of a grace period, but President Obama may want to consider who he is taking his advice from going forward. This was another poor “first.”
Tags: Al-Arabiya, Interview, Israel, Obama, Palestine
The 5 Non-Negotiable Political Issues
Jan 26, 2009 Five Non-Negotiable Issues, Obama Administration
In order to give readers a good basis for where I am coming from politically, I think I should point out what I am referring to when I refer to (and I will often) the five non-negotiable political issues for Christian Voters. These are outline in greater detail in the Catholic Voters Guide, but the fact is that any Christian who votes for a candidate who supports any of these five sins against human dignity is in material cooperation for evil and is thus committing a mortal sin (one that places your eternal soul in danger).
The issues:
- Abortion
- Euthanasia
- Embryonic Stem Cell Research
- Human Cloning
- Homosexual Marriage
All five of these things are intrinsically evil; that is, they are evil in every case without exception. As is stated in the Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion General Principles document, Pope Benedict (then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger) addresses the difference in the weight of political issues:
Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.
This is a crucial distinction, as the argument usually follows a “how can you support the war” or “how can you support capital punishment” alongside championing the unborn child line, and clearly they are on an uneven field and not set up for good comparison. (As it happens, I am against the death penalty in this country as I find it entirely unnecessary, but the fact is that someone can disagree with me and we can both be in communion with the Church.)
I hope you will find this initial post helpful in understanding where I am coming from. This entire site will not be about abortion in politics, but I will refer often to the five non-negotiable issues and especially in a time with a President as against these five principles as any we have ever seen in our nation’s history.
Tags: Abortion, Cloning, Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Euthanasia, Five Non-Negotiable Issues, Homosexual Marriage, Pope Benedict, Ratzinger, Voting
Welcome to True Hope, True Change
Jan 26, 2009 Site News
I welcome to you to a new incarnation of my political thoughts and rants. If you followed any of it or anything else over at my main blog, hangingontonothing.com/blog/, you know that these posts were lost in the shuffle of posts with Flames and Twins news, purely pro-life news (unrelated to politics), personal information, and my favorite web sites, software, or computer tricks.
In an effort to keep both trains of thought in a purer form, and easier to follow, I begin a new effort here at True Hope, True Change. Any of you who know me know that there are a few ideas built into this name:
1. We will never improve anything by marginalizing the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit.
2. We have very little true hope for positive change in this country if we continue to kill our own children, our own sick, and our own elderly.
Politics is only one small, unreliable vehicle for achieving the common good in this lifetime, the goal of which is to enable everyone free will to choose that which will lead them to eternal life or eternal damnation. This surely is not my own wisdom, but that which has been given to me by God, through my family (especially my parents and my wife), my friends, my priests, my books and other media, and even my children.
I thank you for stopping by — likely from my Facebook page or from my other blog — and I hope that you will offer feedback, subscribe to my RSS feed, and stop back often.
God bless you, and may God bless my efforts here at True Hope, True Change.
Tags: God, hangingontonothing, politics, Welcome
