Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

SARAH PALIN - "CANNIBALS IN GOP ESTABLISHMENT EMPLOY TACTICS OF THE LEFT"

I am impressed with Sarah Palin's take on what's been going on in the Florida GOP primary.  You owe it to yourself to read her comments in full. 

And may I say in passing, that others also recognize the despicably sinister, untrue, totally unfair attacks being levelled at Newt by the GOP establishment who want to sew up Romney's nomination as the GOP presidential candidate.  I say this as a Rick Santorum supporter.  (See Jeffrey Lord, "Elliot Abrams caught misleading on Newt.")

Click "continue reading" below for Sarah Palin's comments.

CLARIFICATIONS (HUMOR)

From an email:

LIBERAL STARBUCKS THROWS ITS WEIGHT BEHIND SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

From the Family Research Council:

This week, the coffeehouse jumped into a fierce battle over marriage in Washington State, home to the Seattle-based company. While the state is still sharply divided over same-sex "marriage," Starbucks has decided to sweeten the pot for homosexual activists and join the attack on local families. According to Starbucks Executive Vice President Kalen Holmes, the bill to legalize counterfeit marriage "is core to who we are and what we value as a company." A preview of the endorsement came last November, when Starbucks signed on to a legal brief that argues traditional marriage is "bad for business." For customers, who were already having a hard time swallowing the company's partnership with Planned Parenthood, this may be the final straw.

Despite the coffeehouse's meddling, families in Washington State are doing their best to keep the legislation at bay. Local groups say the bill has enough support to pass, but as we witnessed in Maryland last year, the outcome could hinge on a single vote. Don't let Starbucks do all the talking. Speak up and contact your leaders.

Excerpt from Starbuck's statement to "U.S. Partners":

It [same-sex marriage legislation] is core to who we are and what we value as a company. We are proud of our Pride Alliance Partner Network group, which is one of the largest Employer Resource Groups for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) employees in the U.S., helping to raise awareness about issues in the communities where we live and work.

If you're a dyed-in-the wool Starbucks coffee drinker, you may want to rethink your patronage, even as many of us prefer Lowes over Home Depot because of Home Depot's vigorous homosexual activism.

SATURDAY JAN. 28TH - VOICE OF THE MARTYRS REGIONAL CONFERENCE IN CHARLOTTE, NC

Those in the Carolinas should take note of this wonderful conference.    Guest speakers include Sarah Liu (imprisoned 6 years in China), Getaneh Getaneh (tortured in Ethiopia), Gracia Burnham (held hostage in Philippines; husband killed), Darcie Gill (VOM spokesperson who travels worldwide).

Host Church:

Steele Creek Church of Charlotte
1929 W. Arrowood Rd.
Charlotte, NC 28217

For more information go here and for a great PDF poster, go here.   Even if you haven't registered yet, you can still go.

CAROLINE GLICK - U.S. THE GREATEST LOSER IN THE PAN-ARAB REVOLUTIONS

I think it hard for anyone to argue against Caroline Glick's analysis.  She writes:

[...] TO UNDERSTAND the depth and breadth of America's losses, consider that on January 25, 2011, most Arab states were US allies to a greater or lesser degree. Mubarak was a strategic ally. Saleh [President of Yemen] was willing to collaborate with the US in combating al- Qaida and other jihadist forces in his country.

Gaddafi was a neutered former enemy who had posed no threat to the US since 2004. Iraq was a protectorate. Jordan and Morocco were stable US clients.

One year later, the elements of the US's alliance structure have either been destroyed or seriously weakened. US allies like Saudi Arabia, which have yet to be seriously threatened by the revolutionary violence, no longer trust the US. As the recently revealed nuclear cooperation between the Saudis and the Chinese makes clear, the Saudis are looking to other global powers to replace the US as their superpower protector.

Perhaps the most amazing aspect to the US's spectacular loss of influence and power in the Arab world is that most of its strategic collapse has been due to its own actions. In Egypt and Libya the US intervened prominently to bring down a US ally and a dictator who constituted no threat to its interests. Indeed, it went to war to bring Gaddafi down.

OBAMA REIGN - SUBVERTING AMERICA'S GREATNESS

I view President Obama as undermining America's uniqueness and greatness.   Two examples (conscience and religious freedom, and undermining military preparedness) appear in today's Wall Street Journal.

--  See Timothy Dolan's article - "ObamaCare and Religious Freedom."  Dolan appropriately subtitles his article, "How about some respect for Catholics and others who object to treating pregnancy as a disease?" (Dolan is archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. conference of Catholic Bishops.)

--  See also Margaret Eaglen - Defense Cuts and America's Outdated Military   Her concluding paragraph reads:

 What the Obama Pentagon will lay out this week is the final nail in the coffin of our national contract with our all-volunteer military—that if they fight, they'll have the very best to win. It marks the beginning of the end of America's unquestioned international military dominance. Our soldiers will increasingly go into combat with aged equipment, lacking assurance that they'll prevail against any enemy.

Update 1/27/12 : - Arthur Herman - "Obama's Strategy for Disaster"
    Me: One weeps at the self-destructive forces at work in the United States.  It seems God has given us over to delusions, a way of bringing destruction on ourselves through ourselves.

GOOGLE ANNOUNCES PRIVACY CHANGES ACROSS PRODUCTS; USERS CAN'T OPT OUT

Another reason to be wary of google.  Click here.   HT: Drudge

Google announces privacy changes across products; users can’t opt out

GEORGE WEIGEL - CHILD SACRIFICE IN 21ST CENTURY AMERICA

As I've written before, anything George Weigel writes is well worth reading and pondering.  What he says in this short essay will be familiar to students of the Bible but it may come as a shock to others.  Weigel writes:

The Hebrew Bible is not for the squeamish. And its harshest maledictions are called down upon those who practiced the abomination of child-sacrifice.

Thus the Psalmist:

“They sacrificed their sons and daughters to the demons/they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood./Thus they became unclean by their acts, and played the harlot in their doings./Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people, and he abhorred his heritage./… they were rebellious in their purposes, and were brought low because of their iniquity” (Psalm 106:38-40, 43).

And the prophet Ezekiel, delivering the word of the Lord:

“And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them?... Behold, therefore, I stretched out my hand against you, and diminished your allotted portion, and delivered you to the greed of your enemies…” (Ezekiel 16:20-21, 27).

Thirty-nine years after Roe v. Wade created an unrestricted abortion license in the United States, and during the week when hundreds of thousands of Americans pray and march for life, all Americans ought to ponder these words—and the kind of country to which Roe v. Wade led.

Click through for more, including terrible statistics of abortion rates in New York City.

MEDIA SILENCE ON MARCH FOR LIFE

Tina Korbe writes:

My hopes for a Time magazine spread about the March for Life protesters are fading fast. For the fifth year in a row, The New York Times ignored the March for Life, which drew at least a hundred thousand participants in D.C. alone.

She quotes NewBusters:

For the fifth year in a row, there was no story in the Times print edition on the annual March for Life against abortion in Washington, D.C., which every year draws massive crowds in unpromising weather on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court’s decision legalizing abortion. …

As Times Watch reported last January, the 2011 print edition of the Times did not feature an actual news story of the thousands who marched in frigid weather, just two photos with the caption “Abortion Opponents Rally On the National Mall,” above a three- sentence description that led to a link to photographs online. That was actually a vast improvement; the Times in print absolutely ignored the March for Life in 2010, 2009, and 2008 (a 300-word story marked the 2007 March for Life on January 23 of that year).

The Times is far more eager to publicize protests in support of liberal causes, no matter how puny. When four protesters marched in support of the doomed Dream Act to grant amnesty to illegal immigrant students, the Times marked the occasion with a 780-word story.

Korbe comments further:

Believe it or not, it gets worse. The NYT has a special standing feature on its blog, The Caucus, to document “Happenings in Washington” and not even that included a reference to the March. It did, however, mention that the N.H.L. Stanley Cup Champions, the Boston Bruins, would be honored by the president at the White House. Important stuff.

Meanwhile, about 50,000 people participated in the West Coast March for Life and, according to a tweet from Michelle Malkin, not even the local media turned out to cover it.

As a reminder to journalists who’ve forgotten, in general, the bigger the size and scope of the event, the more newsworthy it is. That means a protest of 100,000 is generally more newsworthy than a protest of 10. . . . 

Me:  I think it shameful and embarrassing that the New York Times is such an ideological organ that it fails to cover major events such as a pro-life rally.  Shame and double shame.  

Photo credits: St. Blogostine blog

Further note:  Record Turnout for Paris March for Life.

HEAVY-HANDED GOVERNMENT TYRANNY SWELLS UNDER OBAMA AND SABELIUS

The Family Research Council reports:

Thanks to President Obama, the tens and thousands of pro-lifers who streamed into D.C. for today's March have another cause to fight: the future of religious liberty. Late Friday, the Obama administration marked the anniversary of Roe v. Wade by cementing one of the biggest attacks on conscience rights the country has ever seen. Starting next year, any organization that offers health insurance to employees will be forced to cover birth control, sterilizations, and abortifacients--no matter what their objections.

NEW HAMPSHIRE ZEROS OUT FUNDING FOR PLANNED PARENTHOOD

The Familly Research Council reports:

Planned Parenthood may think abortion is "sexy," but New Hampshire sure doesn't. After a year-long debate, the state finally passed a bill zeroing out taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood and any other abortion provider. Although some Republicans had lobbied to kill the bill, House Speaker William O'Brien (R) almost single-handedly pushed the ban forward. Despite threats from the Obama administration, leaders voted the bill to victory 207-146. "I do not ever want to contribute to the stopping of a baby's heart with my tax dollars," said state Rep. Susan DeLemus (R). I'm sure her constituents agree. Congratulations to Speaker O'Brien and the many pro-life groups who helped make this goal a reality!

LEFTIST HYPOCRISY EXPOSED IN PETER SCHWEIZER'S BOOK, "DO AS I SAY NOT AS I DO"

Wintery Knight posts, "Hypocrisy on the left: do the action of liberals match their words?"  WK discusses Peter Schweizer’s 2004 book “Do As I Say Not As I Do, and includes a 32 minute 2011 video lecture of Schweizer talking about his book.  WK also excerpts a Front Page interview with Schweizer, and concludes stating:

I would really recommend taking a look at this book. It’s similar to Paul Johnson’s “Intellectuals” if you’ve ever read that, but it’s better.

Me:  I've read Johnson's book, and if Schweizer's is better, that is high praise indeed.

HUMOR: FORGETFUL? NOT ME . . .

Time for a little humor.  From an e-mail:

Several days ago as I left a meeting at our church, I desperately gave myself a personal TSA pat down.  I was looking for my keys.  They were not in my pockets.  A quick search in the meeting room revealed nothing. Suddenly I realized, I must have left them in the car.  Frantically, I headed for the parking lot.  My wife, Diane, has scolded me many times for leaving the keys in the ignition.  My theory is the ignition is the best place not to lose them.  Her theory is that the car will be stolen.  As I burst through the doors of the church, I came to a terrifying conclusion.  Her theory was right.  The parking lot was empty. I immediately call the police.  I gave them my location, confessed that I had left my keys in the car, and that it had been stolen.  Then I made the most difficult call of all, “Honey,” I stammered.  I always call her “honey” in times like these.  “I left my keys in the car, and it has been stolen.” There was a period of silence.  I thought the call had been dropped, but then I heard Diane’s voice. “Ken” she barked, “I dropped you off!”  Now it was my time to be silent.  Embarrassed, I said, “Well, come and get me.”  Diane retorted, “I will, as soon as I convince this policeman I have not stolen your car!”

CHARLES MURRAY - "THE NEW AMERICAN DIVIDE"

The subtitle of Murray's Wall Street Journal article reads:

 "The ideal of an 'American way of life;' is fading as the working class falls further away from institutions like marriage and religion and the upper class becomes more isolated."

Murray compares statistics of an upper-middle-class Boston suburb with a working class neighborhood in Philadelphia in areas of marriage, single parenthood, industriousness, crime, and religiosity.  On the last, Murray writes:

It is worrisome for the culture that the U.S. as a whole has become markedly more secular since 1960, and especially worrisome that Fishtown [Philadelphia working-class neighborhood] has become much more secular than Belmont [the upper-middle-class Boston suburb]. It runs against the prevailing narrative of secular elites versus a working class still clinging to religion, but the evidence from the General Social Survey, the most widely used database on American attitudes and values, does not leave much room for argument.

For example, suppose we define "de facto secular" as someone who either professes no religion at all or who attends a worship service no more than once a year. For the early GSS surveys conducted from 1972 to 1976, 29% of Belmont and 38% of Fishtown fell into that category. Over the next three decades, secularization did indeed grow in Belmont, from 29% in the 1970s to 40% in the GSS surveys taken from 2006 to 2010. But it grew even more in Fishtown, from 38% to 59%.  [my bolding]

Murray makes many other comparisons between the two groups and is obviously concerned.  The unity of culture we knew in the 1960s does not prevail today.  He writes:

As I've argued in much of my previous work, I think that the reforms of the 1960s jump-started the deterioration. Changes in social policy during the 1960s made it economically more feasible to have a child without having a husband if you were a woman or to get along without a job if you were a man; safer to commit crimes without suffering consequences; and easier to let the government deal with problems in your community that you and your neighbors formerly had to take care of.

QUICK TAKES

Two items that need to be read:

Mark Steyn - "The Sinking of the West"  MUST READING

Wintery Knight - A Summary of Dr. Laura's "Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands"

And a sad note of continuing violence in Nigeria, most of it targeted at Christians

Islamic Insurgents Kill over 178 in Nigeria in the past few days

Added:

Islamists Torch Homes and Businesses in Coptic Village

Witnesses quoted by Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) report that Egyptian security forces did not intervene promptly to repel the onslaught and defend the Christians. Even the teams of firefighters delayed their intervention, arriving only 90 minutes after the assault, and when most of the buildings were already in flames. A source adds that a hut belonging to a Coptic Christian was burned to make room for the construction of a mosque. Moreover in the area there are now 300 Muslim places of worship, compared to only one Christian church even though Christians are 50% of the local population.

According to the Copts, the anti-Christian violence is related to the upcoming parliamentary elections: the Salafis, in fact, want to prevent the religious minority from voting which, with its 20 thousand members, can shift the balance of power in the area. The Copts are close to the Muslim moderate wing, which opposes the Islamist front. A witness confirmed that “no Copt from Rahmaniya-Kebly could vote” and that “the Salafis will win the elections.”

 

 

CHINESE COMMUNIST PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS INTENSIFIED IN 2011

From "China Aid," a top organization monitoring religious persecution in China, comes this summary statement of conditions in Communist China in 2011:

2011 can be regarded as China’s “year of political and religious persecution” or “year of Beijing terrorism.”  Last year saw the revival of extreme leftist ideology and a severe deterioration of the rule of law, bringing with it not only the most severe deterioration in political and religious freedom for the Chinese people since the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution and the 1989 military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement, but also blatant human rights violations and a worrying economic crisis.  Because of the Arab Spring Jasmine Revolution in 2011, a systematic crackdown on churches and prominent Christians that was launched in the second half of 2010 was extended and lasted for the whole of 2011.

China Aid just published the Top 10 Cases of Persecution of churches and Christians in China.

ChinaAid’s selection of the top 10 persecution cases for 2011 is based on the severity, impact and significance of each incidence of persecution and is a highly representative list.  These cases occurred in different parts of China and involved both urban and rural house churches, as well as “Three-Self” churches and Catholic churches.  The victims included pastors, human rights lawyers, political dissidents and artists.

Heading the list is the story of Beijing Showang Church:
 

1.    Beijing Shouwang Church―nonstop persecution throughout the year

In 2011, Beijing Shouwang Church, a well-known house church in Beijing with more than 1,000 members, was forced to hold its worship services outdoors.  The government’s persecution of the church has lasted for 38 weeks nonstop and is ongoing.  This large-scale and persistent crackdown on Shouwang Church is part of the government’s widespread suppression of house churches in 2011 and can be viewed as a continuation of the persecution that started with the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

(This July 3, 2011 photo shows Shouwang church members who managed to get to the outdoor worship site starting their Sunday morning worship service.)

Shouwang Church was established in Pastor Jin Tianming in 1993 as a Beijing college students fellowship.  According to its March 27, 2011 “Beijing Shouwang Church Announcement to the Congregation” and its April 14, 2011 “Beijing Shouwang Church’s Further Explanation on Outdoor Services,” the church began in 2005 to rent office building space for its Sunday services, and in 2006 applied to the government for permission to register, which has never been granted.  On May 11, 2008, taking advantage of the pre-Olympic Games “rectification” of society, the religious affairs bureau, the police and other government departments of Beijing’s Haidian District burst into a Shouwang meeting and tried to close down the church, to no avail.  In August 2009, under repeated pressure from the government, the landlord of Huajie Building where the church had been meeting terminated the lease with Shouwang Church, and the church was forced to hold worship services outdoors on Nov. 1 and 8 in Haidian Park, after which the government allowed the church to hold its activities indoors.  On Dec. 22, Shouwang Church purchased the 1,500-square-meter (16,145-square-foot) second floor of the Zhongguancun Daheng Technology Building, paying in full the price of 27 million yuan (US$4.27 million).  However, due to government pressures behind-the-scenes, the seller has not handed over the keys, nor given any explanation for refusing to do so.  In May and August of 2010 and in March 2011, Shouwang Church made three attempts to rent indoor venues but met with failure each time due to government interference.

At the end of March 2011, Shouwang Church was no longer able to hold its Sunday services at its leased premises in the “Old Story Club.”  So Shouwang Church, which had adopted as its vision and mission to be a “city on a hill,” was left with no recourse but to hold its April 10, 2011 Sunday worship service outdoors.  At 8:30 a.m., more than 200 believers showed up at the third-level platform of Zhongguancun Plaza, which is located south of the Beijing Zhongguancun Dinghao Building and southeast of Zhongguang Building, and connected to the Jiangnanfu Theme Restaurant.  More than 160 church members were taken into police custody.  All were released within 24 hours with the exception one pastor and his wife, who were detained for 48 hours.

(This July 3, 2011 photo shows Shouwang Church members outside a police station singing worship songs to encourage brothers and sisters being detained in the police station.)

In the 37 weeks that followed―until the last Sunday of 2011, which was Christmas Day―the same basic scenario played out every Sunday.  Shouwang Church members would go to the designated location every Sunday for their outdoor worship service, and police and Domestic Security Protection guards would take them into custody.  They would be sent to different police stations where they were usually detained for no more than 48 hours and released singly or in small groups.  During the 38 weeks of outdoor worship, a total of more than 1,000 church members were taken into police custody, including a few believers from other churches who joined them in a show of solidarity.  Several hundred other church members were placed under house arrest by police and Domestic Security Protection guards.  During this time, some believers were verbally and physically abused while in detention, and some lost their jobs or were evicted due to government pressure on their employers and landlords. The church’s pastors and elders were confined under house arrest the entire time and deprived of their liberty.

Shouwang’s pastors and believers have endured unimaginable pressure and paid a heavy price.  This protracted act of obeying God rather than man and of upholding the vision of being “a city on a hill” is still ongoing―as is the government’s illegal persecution.

For more details, go to:
http://www.chinaaid.org/2011/04/beijings-shouwang-church-issues-q-about.html
http://www.chinaaid.org/2011/04/further-statement-on-outdoor-worship.html
http://www.chinaaid.org/2011/04/nature-of-battle.html
http://www.chinaaid.org/2011/12/beijing-shouwang-church-announcement-on_27.html
 
For the other nine representative cases of persecution, click "continue reading" below. 

SCIENTISTS MAKE THE LETHAL H5N1 "BIRD FLU" VIRUS HIGHLY TRANSMISSIBLE

Update:  After publishing this post earlier today, I see Drudge has just put on his website another article, "Scientists to Pause Research on Deadly Strain of Bird Flu."  Final paragraph: Ron Fouchier, a virologist who conducted the research in Rotterdam, said he was surprised by how easy it was to change the virus into the very form that the world has been dreading. Now, the world must decide what to do with it. (Original Post):  Brilliant.  Isn't that's exactly what we need?  Take a lethal virus not easily transmissible and genetically modify it to make it highly transmissible! In his commentary "The Fruits of Hubris," Charles Colson writes that the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity is asking the scientific journals Science and Nature to self-censor their articles about research into the H5N1, the “bird flu” virus.  Colson writes: Scientists in the Netherlands and the USA have succeeded in genetically-modifying the virus (which is normally not easily transmitted person-to-person) into a “highly transmissible form.” The Advisory Board asked the journals to publish the findings, but not “experimental details and mutation data that would enable replication of the experiments.” The fear, obviously, is that terrorists could use the published results in creating bio-weapons. He goes on: [my bolding] The publications Nature and Science are expected to comply with the request, which should reassure exactly nobody. Instead of being grateful that the exceptionally lethal H5N1 is difficult to pass from person to person, the researchers couldn’t resist playing god. They took a virus whose global impact was limited and turned it into the stuff of science fiction nightmares. Literally. The recent movie “Contagion” is about a virus that, like H5N1, starts in south China and eventually kills people around the world. Even more on point, the science fiction classic “Twelve Monkeys” is about a genetically-modified virus that gets loose and kills most of the human race. Now, I’m not saying that this, or anything like it, will happen with H5N1. I’m simply saying that it takes blind hubris to think that we can tinker with nature in this way — that is play God — without consequences. No amount of security can protect us from the consequences of our folly. I’m all for studying the virus. But what happened here goes way beyond that. The fact that people don’t get that testifies to the way invoking “science” trumps moral concerns these days. . . For more details, see the New York Times article U.S. Asks Journals to Cut Flu Study Facts.

STANTON L. JONES - "SAME-SEX SCIENCE"

Stanton L. Jones, provost and professor of psychology at Wheaton College, has for years been a student of the latest research on homosexuality.  His most recent article, "Same-Sex Science: The social sciences cannot settle the moral status of homosexuality," was published in the February 2012 issue of First Things magazine (http://www.firstthings.com/article/2012/01/same-sex-science) and is a condensed version of his longer paper with citations, "Sexual Orientation and Reason: On the implications of False Beliefs about Homosexuality" (http://www.wheaton.edu/CACE/Hot-Topic)

Stanton offers authoritative analysis of current research.  He sets the record straight and corrects popular misimpressions.  I am posting the links in anticipation of giving these two articles a careful reading at my earliest opportunity.  Stanton previously published (with Mark A. Yarhouse) in 2000, "Homosexuality: the Use of Scientific Research in the Church's Moral Debate."

THEODORE DALRYMPLE - "THE EUROPEAN CRACK-UP"

I found Dalrymple's article a good summary of European incompatibilities, starting with the situation in Belgium, and then going on to contrast Ireland and Greece, and then Germany with the rest of Europe.

THE LATEST "SOCIAL CONSERVATIVE REVIEW: THE INSIDER'S GUIDE TO PRO-FAMILY NEWS," JANUARY 19, 2012

  These compilations from a variety of sources by the Family Research Council continue to offer interested people a gold mine.  A new edition appears every two weeks.  Readers will find in each a wealth of information not readily found elsewhere. For previous reviews I've posted, click here.   For a complete list of articles from this latest edition,  click "continue reading" below.

CHUCK COLSON - "GAY RIGHTS AND FREEDOM OF RELIGION"

Under the Obama Administration gay "rights" is on a collision course with freedom of religion.  Colson explains:

Listen Now | Download

It started as a drip, drip, drip. Then the flow increased, and now it’s a gusher: The Obama Administration has decided to promote and emphasize lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered rights—and it is doing so at the expense of everyone’s God-given freedom of religion.

Those are tough words, but regrettably, true words.

In December 9, 2009 in a major address entitled, “Human Rights Agenda for the 21^st Century,” Secretary of State Clinton said people “must be free to worship, associate, and to love in the way that they choose.”

Did you catch that? In one sentence, little noticed at the time, Mrs. Clinton showed the Administration’s true priorities. In one fell swoop, she changed our God-given right to freedom of religion, a public act, to a much more restricted “freedom of worship,” a private act, which any Chinese official could go along with. And at the same time, Mrs. Clinton, speaking for the administration, elevated the quote “right to love in the way they choose” as a fundamental human right.

Lest you think I’m overreacting to an isolated statement, the intervening years have amply borne out my concerns.

Freedom of worship has been substituted for freedom of religion in speech after speech by administration officials. Just last month, the Secretary told a gathering of diplomats that “gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights.” She also said the “most challenging issue arises when people cite religious or cultural values as a reason to violate or not to protect the human rights of LGBT citizens.” As I mentioned before on BreakPoint, this is a disastrous foreign policy. African nations are already up in arms, and it certainly isn’t going to help us with Muslim nations, who view U.S. advocacy for homosexuality as proof of Western decadence.

Not to be outdone, President Obama told a pro-gay-rights group, “Every single American—gay, straight, lesbian, bisexual, transgender—every single American deserves to be treated equally before the law.”

Does that include marriage? Well, the President’s secretary for Housing and Urban Development, Shaun Donovan, has just said that he “absolutely” supports same-sex marriage. The Administration has already refused to defend the Defense of Marriage Act. And before the EEOC, officials have said in a contest “between religious liberty and sexual liberty,” sexual liberty triumphs

Can you see where all this is headed?

But how, you might ask, does elevating so-called LGBT rights actually threaten religious rights? Well, as Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York has said, framing homosexual marriage as a civil right equates those who oppose it with those who practice either “intentional or willfully ignorant racial discrimination.”

Dolan is predicting “a national conflict between church and state of enormous proportions and to the detriment of both institutions.” Friends, no one wants to oppress gays, but what happens to Christians’ right to practice our religion, which does not allow us to accept “gay marriage”?

That’s why I am urging you, and everyone you know, to sign the Manhattan Declaration, which takes a bold stand for religious freedom and traditional marriage. Do it today, ManhattanDeclaration.org.

Further Reading and Information

Obama's EEOC Nominee Draws Fire for Gay Rights Activism
Shannon Bream | Fox News | December 10, 2011

So Now It's Freedom of Religion?
Chuck Colson | BreakPoint.org | September 1, 2010

The Wrong Kind of Export
Chuck Colson | BreakPoint.org | December 20, 2011/p>

Human Rights Agenda for the 21st Century
Hilary Clinton | Department of State | December 14, 2009

Catholics warn of 'national conflict' over gay marriage
David Gibson | USA Today | September 23, 2011

Manhattan Declaration
ManhattanDeclaration.org

 

MARK LEVIN'S NEW BOOK - "AMERITOPIA: THE UNMAKING OF AMERICA"

Obama's on-going determination to "transform America" (requiring ignoring,  by-passing, and trashing the U.S. Constitution) is laid bear in Mark Levin's new book, "Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America."   Terence P. Jeffrey chronicles an in-depth interview with Levin that is MUST READING.

The book, released Monday, compares the Utopian and unworkable schemes laid out by political philosophers from Plato to Thomas Hobbes with the vision of natural law, God-given rights, and individual liberty that inspired the Founding Fathers when they wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

“Utopianism is not new,” Levin writes in “Ameritopia.” “It has been repackaged countless times—since Plato and before. It is as old as tyranny itself.  In democracies, its practitioners legislate without end.  In America, law is piled upon law in contravention and contradiction of the governing law—the Constitution.”

Levin’s verdict: Barack Obama and modern American liberals are firmly in the Utopian camp—pursuing a vision fundamentally at odds with limited government and human freedom.

“I believe to a great extent we now live in a post-constitutional country, where much of the Constitution is ignored or evaded,” Levin told CNSNews.com.

“What I want the readers to understand, what I want the public to understand is, this is not new and it’s going to destroy us,” said Levin. “It’s going to destroy us because it is an attack on the individual. It is an attack on the nature of human beings.”

MORE . . .

I am grateful for Levin's book.  Obama's agenda will indeed destroy America.  And that's not hyperbole.

NEWT RESPONDS TO JUAN WILLIAMS

I am backing Rick Santorum for President of the United State, but Newt's response to Juan Williams last night has to be regarded as absolutely top notch. It received a standing ovation, a phenomenon Frank Luntz says is the first he has seen in 16 years of covering presidential debates.

IRENA SENDLER - SAVIOR OF 2,500 JEWISH CHILDREN

 From an e-mail:

Remember this woman...

 

 

Irena Sendler

Died: May 12, 2008 (aged 98)

Warsaw, Poland

During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist. She had an ulterior motive.

Irena smuggled Jewish infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried. She also carried a burlap sack in the back of her truck, for larger kids.

Irena kept a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers, of course, wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises.

During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants.

Ultimately, she was caught, however, and the Nazi's broke both of her legs and arms and beat her severely.

Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she had smuggled out, in a glass jar that she buried under a tree in her back yard.

After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived and tried to reunite the family. Most had been gassed.

Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted.

In 2007 Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize.  She was not selected. Al Gore won, for a slide show on Global Warming.

Later another politician, Barack Hussein Obama, won for his work as a community organizer for ACORN.


In MEMORIAM - 65 YEARS LATER

I'm doing my small part by forwarding this message. I hope you'll consider doing the same.

It is now more than 65 years since the Second World War in Europe ended.

This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the six million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians and 1,900 Catholic priests who were murdered, massacred, raped, burned, starved and humiliated!

Now, more than ever, with Iran, and others, claiming the HOLOCAUST to be 'a myth'. It's imperative to make sure the world never forgets, because there are others who would like to do it again.

This e-mail is intended to reach 40 million people worldwide!

Join us and be a link in the memorial chain and help us distribute it around the world. Please send this e-mail to people you know and ask them to continue the memorial chain.

Snopes:  http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/sendler.asp

WHERE SHOULD A CHRISTIAN DWELL MOST, IN THE GOSPELS OR THE EPISTLES?

I learned (via Justin Taylor) that J. I. Packer recommends spending proportionally greater study time in the gospels. 

J. I. Packer:

[We can] correct woolliness of view as to what Christian commitment involves, by stressing the need for constant meditation on the four gospels, over and above the rest of our Bible reading: for gospel study enables us both to keep our Lord in clear view and to hold before our minds the relational frame of discipleship to him.

The doctrines on which our discipleship rests are clearest in the epistles, but the nature of discipleship itself is most vividly portrayed in the gospels.

Some Christians seem to prefer the epistles as if this were a mark of growing up spiritually; but really this attitude is a very bad sign, suggesting that we are more interested in theological notions than in fellowship with the Lord Jesus in person.

We should think, rather, of the theology of the epistles as preparing us to understand better the disciple relationship with Christ that is set forth in the gospels, and we should never let ourselves forget that the four gospels are, as has often and rightly been said, the most wonderful books on earth.

—J. I. Packer, Keep in Step with the Spirit: Finding Fullness in Our Walk with God (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2005), p. 70, 71.

VIDEO: THE REAL LEGACY OF MARGARET THATCHER, BRITAIN'S "IRON LADY"

I agree with Tina Korbe's sentiments:

“The Iron Lady” — the new movie about Margaret Thatcher starring Meryl Streep that comes out today — might not look half bad, but it can’t hurt to counter whatever Hollywood spin worked its way into the final product with a fitting tribute to the real Lady Thatcher. Thankfully, my friend Brandon Stewart has produced this three-minute reminder of Thatcher’s real legacy. As a Heritage Foundation tweet puts it, “Margaret Thatcher was greater in person than Meryl Streep could EVER portray.” 

 

Tina Korbe said she felt more goosebumps during this short video than over the movie trailers.  Again: agreed.

MORE ON TIM TEBOW

USA Today offered a major, and fitting profile of Tim Tebow:  "Tim Tebow: The Man Behind the Mania"

See also: "Bronco fan with disease recounts unreal experience meeting Tebow."

  Previous posts on Tebow here and here.

Update 1/14/12 - Rick Reilly of ESPN has a MUST READ article.  And I do mean MUST READ.  It's titled "I believe in Tim Tebow."

MEDIA BIAS CALLED OUT BY REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

Tim Wildmon of the American Family Association writes:

During last Saturday's Republican Presidential Debate on the ABC television network, hosts Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos directed a lot of attention to the issues of contraception and homosexual marriage.

In rebutting an obvious attempt by the debate panel to spin the issues, some candidates took the liberal media to task by correctly identifying their bias against people of faith.

 

NEW YORK CITY BANS CHURCHES FROM MEETING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Update 1/11/12 - FRC has initiated a petition:

Equal access means equal access. Right? Not for Christians in New York City.

Last week the city's Department of Education reversed course on its policy of allowing religious congregations the use of public schools for Sunday worship services, sending pastors packing with just six weeks to find a new home.

For the last ten years, New York's Department of Education has given at least 60 small, mostly Christian, upstart or itinerant congregations the option to hold their weekend services in any one of the city's empty school buildings provided, of course, they pay to use the facilities - a nice benefit to the cash strapped public education system.

When possible, public schools should and have customarily been made available to community organizations of every stripe. It's called equal access. But by essentially disallowing some groups over others because, in this instance, they are religious, NY's Department of Education has engaged in nothing other than viewpoint discrimination.

This Thursday, pastors from across New York City will be gathering at Mayor Bloomberg's State of the City address at Morris High School to protest this troubling discrimination.

From Tocqueville's America to today's, community groups, fraternal societies, churches and other voluntary associations have been the hallmark and backbone of our society, fostering networks of support and civic engagement. We should be encouraging not evicting these congregations. The fact that they're doing it on religious grounds only makes it all the more insulting to right sensibility.

Sign our petition to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg to stop the city's discrimination against churches and grant them equal access for building use.

MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACKING: TEBOW MANIA

We can't get enough of Tebow!  I saw the last few minutes of the game.  Felt a knot in my stomach.  Then exhilaration.  Amazing

45 MILLION VIEWERS WATCH TEBOW GAME; MOST FOR OPENING PLAYOFF SINCE '88...

 

 

 Previous post on Tebow here.

COLUMNIST AND AUTHOR TONY BLANKLEY DEAD AT 63

I saw the headline at Drudge, and instantly felt sad.  I have always liked Tony Blankley, greatly appreciating his personality, his take on current events, and his political positions.   A few years ago I picked up his book The West's Last Chance: Will We Win the Clash of Civilizations?   (2005)

The book jacket describes Blankley this way:

Blankley was the editorial page editor of the Washington Times, a regular panelist on The McLaughlin Group, a nationally syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate, and a popular radio and television pundit.  For seven years he was press secretary to then Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and before that served President ronal Reagan as a speechwriter and senior policy analyst.

According to a bio put out by the Washington Times, Blankley died of stomach cancer.  Here are some facts of which I had no previous knowledge:

Born in London, he became a naturalized American citizen after his parents moved to California after World War II. As a child, he acted in such television shows as “Lassie,” “Highway Patrol” and “Make Room for Daddy,” and he also appeared in movies with such stars as Humphrey Bogart and Rod Steiger.

He and his wife, Dr. Lynda Davis of Great Falls, Va., had three children.

Mona Charen writes:

Tony was a man of integrity, intelligence, and good sense. Over the course of many years, I never saw him do a petty or mean thing. He ably defended conservatism and he was always a delightful companion.  Deepest sympathies to his wife Lynda and his three children. This is a hard loss.

Me:  The world has lost a good man and a persuasive voice for clear-headed conservatism.

RICK SANTORUM ON THE LOGIC OF MARRIAGE

The mystifying aspect of this video is the inability of a great many college students to think rationally.

 

AUDIO OF J.I. PACKER'S CLASSIC - "KNOWING GOD" - AVAILABLE FREE FOR A LIMITED TIME

What a wonderful opportunity to hear this wonderful classic read professionally!  You can download the audiobook for J.I. Packer’s Knowing God for free here.   (HT: Justin Taylor)

The print version of Knowing God is available here, and the Kindle version here.

THE LATEST "SOCIAL CONSERVATIVE REVIEW: THE INSIDER'S GUIDE TO PRO-FAMILY NEWS," JANUARY 6, 2012

  These compilations from a variety of sources by the Family Research Council continue to offer interested people a gold mine.  A new edition appears every two weeks.  Readers will find in each a wealth of information not readily found elsewhere. For previous reviews I've posted, click here.   For a complete list of articles from this latest edition,  click "continue reading" below.

BILL MUEHLENBERG - "LOVING ENOUGH TO OFFEND"

Muehlenberg gets it right, painful as it is for those of us who hate confrontations.  We've got to get over that.   Muehlenberg writes:   [my bolding]

[...]  Today the world is above all else immersed in Political Correctness, and a new eleventh commandment has appeared: ‘Thou shalt not offend’. Whatever you do, make sure you don’t offend anyone. Be as placid, apathetic, innocuous and bland as you can be. Just make sure you don’t get anyone upset.

Such an attitude is supposed to represent tolerance, acceptance and openness. But all it really does is show us that we are a bunch of spineless wonders who would never rock the boat for any reason. As GK Chesterton rightly said, “Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.”

But this of course has nothing to do with biblical love. Love does not mean allowing anything to happen and not speaking out. Real love is not about winking at evil, overlooking sin, and countenancing that which displeases God. Biblical love is all about speaking the truth, even if it causes offence.

USEFUL WINTERY KNIGHT BLOG POSTS

Wintery Knight continues to produce excellent blog posts.  He's especially good on Christian apologetics, politics and economics.   Here are some posts I looked at tonight and found helpful:

    -  "Rick Santorum for President of the United States"  - (I heartily agree!)    

    -  "A Christian and a postmodern relativist debate atheism and Christianity"

    -  "Michael Murray explains how to talk about religion in the public square."

    -  "Bad news for believers in naturalistic explanations of the Cambrian explosion"

Wintery Knight appended a note as he closed out 2011:

I also wanted to report to you that Wintery Knight was recently named to the Top 40 Conservative Blogs for the fourth quarter of 2011 by John Hawkins of Right Wing News. And we were also received one of the Fabulous 50 Blog Awards from Doug Ross. We tied for “Best Political Blogging”. I also want to thank Brian Auten of Apologetics 315 for frequently linking to my posts on Christian apologetics and theology in his Weekly Apologetics Bonus Links.

HUMAN INTEREST STORY OF 2011 - VIVIAN MAIER, STREET PHOTOGRAPHER

Actually, I guess the story broke a year ago, but it was today that a friend forwarded the story to me.  (HT: JoeF)  Enjoy.

 

IRAQI MILITARY OFFICER: AMERICAN MOVIES DON'T DEPICT AMERICA ACCURATELY

At the end of her Wall Street Journal article, "Jobs, Thatcher and the Force of Life,"  Peggy Noonan writes:

Final note. We are at a point in our culture when we actually have to pull for grown-up movies, when we must try to encourage them and laud them when they come by. . . . [Note:  She likes "The Iron Lady," the movie about Margaret Thatcher, starring Meryl Streep, opening Dec. 30 in the USA].  Our movie culture has descended into immaturity, deep and inhuman violence, a pervasive and flattened sexuality. It is an embarrassment.

In Iraq this year I asked an Iraqi military officer doing joint training at an American base what was the big thing he'd come to believe about Americans in the years they'd been there. He thought. "You are a better people than your movies say." He had judged us by our exports. He had seen the low slag heap of our culture and assumed it was a true expression of who we are.

And so he'd assumed we were disgusting.

On Meryl Streep's performance in "The Iron Lady," Peggy Noonan writes:

The masterpiece is Meryl Streep's portrayal of Mrs. Thatcher, which is not so much a portrayal as an inhabitation. It doesn't do justice to say Ms. Streep talks like her, looks like her, catches some of her spirit, though those things are true. It's something deeper than that, something better and more important. She tried to be Margaret Thatcher, and there's a real tribute in that.

Why Putin is Tottering

David Satter, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a visiting scholar at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, penned a very helpful article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal titled "Why Putin is Tottering."  I hadn't realized the extent of corruption in Russia. 

After the chaos of the 1990s, during which many government institutions barely functioned, Mr. Putin succeeded in establishing the authority of the state. But criminality didn't decline—it merely migrated to the organs of the government.

It is normal in Russia to bribe bureaucrats for routine approvals. Within the system of state procurement, kickbacks account for as much as 50% of the cost of purchases. Russians pay bribes to register property, fix a traffic ticket, avoid the draft, and secure places for children in school. According to Transparency International, Russia ranks 154th out of 178 countries in corruption—on a level with Cambodia and the Central African Republic.

Russia faces many other problems also.

Russians are also plagued by a fear of terrorism. . . .    Russian insecurity also derives from the absence of the rule of law. . . .  

But Russia's unfair legal system touches ordinary citizens too. The acquittal rate in Russia is less than 1% (compared to 15% in U.S. federal courts and 15%-40% in state courts). Many convictions are obtained with the help of beatings, intimidation and blackmail. For this and other reasons, Russians file more complaints with the European Court of Human Rights than people from any other of the 46 countries in the Council of Europe. . . . 

FEDS ABOUT TO CREATE A NATIONWIDE STUDENT DATABASE

Bureaucrats want power.  They don't give a hoot about privacy.  No.  The unremitting goal is to to collect everything they can, about everybody they can, wherever they can, whenever they can, and privacy be damned.   Read Emmet McGroarty & Jane Robbins' article, "How the Fed are tracking your kid."  (HT: Drudge)

A FATHER'S GIFT TO HIS DAUGHTERS

Max Lucado writes in his book, A Love Worth Giving:

The whirlwind of adolescence was making regular runs through our house, bringing with it more than our share of doubts, pimples, and peer pressure.  I couldn't protect the girls from the winds, but I could give them an anchor to hold in the midst.  On Valentine's Day, 1997, I wrote the following and had it framed for each daughter:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I have a special gift for you.  My gift is warmth at night and sunlit afternoons, chuckles and giggles and happy Saturdays.

But how do I give this gift?  Is there a store which sells laughter?  A catalog that offers kisses?  No.  Such a treasure can't be bought.  But it can be given.  And here is how I give it to you.

Your Valentine's Day gift is a promise, a promise that I will always love your mother.  With God as my helper, I will never leave her.  You'll never come home to find me gone.  You'll never wake up and find that I have run away.  You'll always have two parents.  I will love your mother.  I will honor your mother.  I will cherish your mother.  That is my promise.  That is my gift.

                                                               Love, Dad

~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Me:  This struck me as worth posting.  Gifts need not be bought in a store.  Naturally I feel badly for those who, for one reason or another,  were unable (or in some cases unwilling), to give their wife and daughters the gift that Max Lucado gave.  May the Lord bring His comfort and restoring grace to all.

CHRISTMAS REMEMBRANCE: PRAYERS NEEDED FOR ASIA BIBI HELD PRISONER IN PAKISTAN

Paul Marshall reports: (my emphases)

In Pakistan, Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five [I think she is mother of two], still faces the death penalty for allegedly blaspheming Mohammed. Punjab governor Salman Taseer and Federal Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti were both killed this past year for defending her and opposing Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. The Fides news agency reports that she needs medical care to ward off mental illness. An international delegation from the Masihi Foundation, overseeing Bibby’s legal and material assistance, visited her on December 19 in the prison in Sheikpura, where she has been held for more than a year, and is currently in isolation. They report that she had not been allowed to bathe for more than two months, could not stand on her own, appeared confused, and was afraid to accept the water they offered her to drink. Nevertheless, she told them she has forgiven those who accused her of blasphemy and only wants to return to her family.

I have previously reported on Asia Bibi here,  here, and here.  This last link features a video with Asia's family:  10-year-old Isham and her 12-year-old sister Isha and their father, Ashiq Masih.

— Paul Marshall is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom and co-author, with Nina Shea, of the just released Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes are Choking Freedoms Worldwide (Oxford University Press, 2011).

GREAT SONG: "VAGABONDS" (STUART TOWNEND)

You've got to listen to this song!  Terrific.   It's a powerful song about the grace found in Christ and what the church should be all about.  See Matthew 22:9: "Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find."    (HT: Immanuel Church)

 

The song's composer, Stuart Townend, also wrote the lyrics to the amazing hymn, In Christ Alone.  He tells the story of "Vagabonds" below.

 

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON - THE DARK AGES HAVE HIT CALIFORNIA'S RURAL CITIZENS

National Review Online published VDH's account, "A Vandalized Valley." It is shocking, disheartening, angering. . . 

California has generally been seen as the harbinger of things to come for the entire nation.  Ii so, we face a bleak future indeed.  VDH writes:

I am starting to feel as if I am living in a Vandal state, perhaps on the frontier near Carthage around a.d. 530, or in a beleaguered Rome in 455. . . [VDH he cite brazen of stealing and pillage, even manhole covers! . . .]

In short, all the stuff of civilization — municipal buildings, education, religion, transportation, recreation — seems under assault in the last year by the contemporary forces of barbarism. . .

A couple now in their early 90s lives about three miles away from me on their small farm. I have known them for 50 years; he went to high school with my mother, and she was my Cub Scout leader. They now live alone and have recently been robbed nine, yes, nine, times. . . 

As in 5th-century North Africa, farmers feel that civilization is vanishing and they are on their own. The “authorities” of an insolvent state, like petty Roman bureaucrats, are too busy releasing criminals from overcrowded jails to want any more. The stories of cyclical releases are horrific:

ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU SENDS CHRISTMAS GREETINGS TO THE WORLD

 

AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY SHOULD INTEGRATE A STRESS ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

I appreciate Nina Shea, the author with Paul Marshall, of Silenced: How Apostasy & Blasphemy Codes Are Choking Freedom Worldwide.  

[...]  In an interview with Kathryn Jean Lopez, Nina Shea offers a striking comparison between the state of religious freedom at home and abroad: “We don’t face death squads, torture or labor camps, as millions do elsewhere, so we should be careful in our rhetoric. At the same time, there are growing, dangerous restriction on religious freedom in the U.S., and more so in Europe, and we need to protest and fight them. We can do both, while not confusing their gravity.” . . .

Who is your nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, from among those profiled in Silenced?

Shahbaz Bhatti and Gov. Salman Taseer of Pakistan wouldn’t qualify since both have been murdered this year and posthumous nominations for the prize are not permitted. I would, therefore, nominate Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somalian-Dutch former member of parliament. For raising the issue of violence against women in the Netherlands’ Muslim communities, she endured and overcame death threats, a criminal hate speech investigation, a civil hate-speech trial , the stripping of her citizenship, eviction from her home, a constant need for bodyguards and social ostracism. She, however, has not been silenced.

How should the name Shahbaz Bhatti, the Pakistani politician who was assassinated this year, be known?

Shahbaz Bhatti was quite simply a Catholic martyr. He was murdered early this year because he opposed Pakistan’s blasphemy law, which is regularly used to persecute the Christian and Ahmadi minorities and Muslim liberals. Peacefully defending minorities persecuted for their religious beliefs in Pakistan was his life’s work both from his base as the head of a non-governmental organization and from his post as the only Christian in the government’s cabinet as minister of minority affairs. He put his life on the line every day.

What can American Catholics do?   [This goes for Protestants like me, also]

Catholics need to become more aware of the intense religious repression suffered by other Christians in Iraq, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, northern Sudan and elsewhere. They need to pray for them and reach out to them. They need to use their rights as citizens of the world’s leading democracy to insist that their president and members of Congress defend persecuted believers.

A good place to start would be with Asia Bibi, the 45-year-old Catholic mother of five who has been on death row in a Punjab prison awaiting appeal on blasphemy charges since November 2010. The Catholic media Asia News reports: “The bishop of Islamabad wants Pakistan’s highest authorities, including the justice minister, to intervene. However, so far, warnings by Western governments and Pope Benedict XVI’s appeal and words of solidarity for the Christian mother have fallen on deaf ears. … She had been arrested on blasphemy charges in June of 2009 stemming from a discussion she had had with Muslim women. At the time, she tried to defend her Christian faith and Jesus, who died on the cross for humanity’s sins, asking her co-workers what Muhammad had done for them. After verbally assaulting her, they accused her of “contaminating” a well by drawing water from it. … Local Muslims retaliated against her once the charges of blasphemy were made. They surrounded her home and tried to lynch her.”

While American Catholics—and all people who take their religion seriously—are understandably offended when their faith is mocked, hate-speech laws are not the solution.

Government-coerced speech codes would be applied in a broad fashion to curtail individual freedom and would also be used against them. The state regulation of Christian preaching has already happened in Western countries that have hate speech laws: clergy have been put on trial for preaching against gay marriage and for teaching the differences, in Christian theological terms, between Islam and Christianity. Following the example of Father John Courtney Murray in the last century, we must promote, including in Rome, the importance of the American First Amendment.

A lot of the nations you survey are allied with the U.S. in one way or another. What can we do to influence religious liberty abroad? Why is it any of our business?

We need to better integrate religious freedom into our foreign policy. We should now anticipate great persecution against Christians, a religious cleansing, for example, in Iraq, Egypt and Syria and make plans to forestall that though our diplomacy and aid. We should stop partnering with the Organization of the Islamic Conference on issues involving freedom of religion and speech; this validates its agenda of repression.

A SAD DAY - CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS IS DEAD (1949–2011)

Hitchens, the well-known atheist, has passed away.  It is indeed a sad day.  Vanity Fair reports: (HT: Drudge)

In Memoriam: Christopher Hitchens,

By Gasper Tringale.

Christopher Hitchens—the incomparable critic, masterful rhetorician, fiery wit, and fearless bon vivant—died today at the age of 62. Hitchens was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in the spring of 2010, just after the publication of his memoir, Hitch-22, and began chemotherapy soon after. His matchless prose has appeared in Vanity Fair since 1992, when he was named contributing editor.

“Cancer victimhood contains a permanent temptation to be self-centered and even solipsistic,” Hitchens wrote nearly a year ago in Vanity Fair, but his own final labors were anything but: in the last 12 months, he produced for this magazine a piece on U.S.-Pakistani relations in the wake of Osama bin Laden’s death, a portrait of Joan Didion, an essay on the Private Eye retrospective at the Victoria and Albert Museum, a prediction about the future of democracy in Egypt, a meditation on the legacy of progressivism in Wisconsin, and a series of frank, graceful, and exquisitely written essays in which he chronicled the physical and spiritual effects of his disease. At the end, Hitchens was more engaged, relentless, hilarious, observant, and intelligent than just about everyone else—just as he had been for the last four decades.

“My chief consolation in this year of living dyingly has been the presence of friends,” he wrote in the June 2011 issue. He died in their presence, too, at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. May his 62 years of living, well, so livingly console the many of us who will miss him dearly.

 Doug Wilson, a Christian and debate partner, wrote his reflections.

1949–2011

THE LATEST "SOCIAL CONSERVATIVE REVIEW: THE INSIDER'S GUIDE TO PRO-FAMILY NEWS," DECEMBER 15, 2011

  These compilations from a variety of sources by the Family Research Council continue to offer interested people a gold mine.  A new edition appears every two weeks.  Readers will find in each a wealth of information not readily found elsewhere. For previous reviews I've posted, click here.   For a complete list of articles from this latest edition,  click "continue reading" below.

NATIONAL REVIEW EDITORIALIZES AGAINST NEWT GINGRICH

Ouch!  Hard hitting rejection.  Click here.  - http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/285787/winnowing-field-editors

FROZEN PLANET SCANDAL: SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH DEFENDS FAKE POLAR BEAR COVERAGE

This is very sad.  A lot of footage has been exposed as a sham.  (HT: Drudge)  So now we learn that documentaries, too, are manipulated and manufactured, while all the while we naively thought we were looking at the "real thing" in the wild.  No. 

The culture's "trust level" takes another dive.