Increase in anti-Christian violence is the real under-reported story

Wasn’t it Katie Couric who said that the most underreported story of last year was the rise in Islamophobia in America? I think many Christians would disagree with her.  But at least the president of France is speaking out firmly; not so our own president who himself claims to be a Christian.

“We cannot accept and thereby facilitate what looks more and more like a particularly wicked programme of cleansing in the Middle East, religious cleansing,” [Nicolas Sarkozy, president of France] said in an annual New Year’s address to religious leaders.

An attack on a Coptic church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria on January 1 killed 21 people.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for that attack, which came after threats published online against Egypt’s Copts from an Al-Qaeda-linked group in Iraq which had said it was behind a deadly assault on a church in Baghdad in October.

Forty-four worshippers and two priests died in the attack on a Syriac Catholic church in Baghdad in October, the worst of a series of attacks against Christians in Iraq.

Police in France and several other European countries have boosted security at Coptic churches which were due to celebrate Christmas on Friday, according to the eastern Orthodox church calendar.

Pope Benedict predicts a mass exodus of Christians from the Middle East and Africa due to the increase of violence and murder:

Benedict singled out the “reprehensible attack” on a Baghdad cathedral during Mass in October, killing two priests and more than 50 other worshippers, as well as attacks on private homes that “spread fear within the Christian community and (create) a desire on the part of many to emigrate in search of a better life.”

The Vatican voiced concerns that the steady flight of Christians from Iraq will effectively eliminate the ancient community there.

“At present, Christians are the religious group which suffers most from persecution on account of its faith,” the pontiff asserted, and cited Christian communities suffering from violence and intolerance particularly in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Holy Land.

He blasted what he called “more sophisticated forms of hostility to religion, which, in Western countries, occasionally find expression in a denial of history and the rejection of religious symbols which reflect the identity and the culture of the majority of its citizens.”

 

The Passive Persecution of American Christians

According to R. Emmett Tyrell, Jr. at The American Spectator, the Andy Warhol Foundation is threatening to pull it’s funding from the Smithsonian. Their complaint is that the Smithsonian caved to Republicans and the Catholic League over “hosting a video showing ants crawling over the crucifix entitiled “Fire in My Belly.”

As Tyrell says, the double standard that the liberals operate on is fundamental to their mindset. It’s okay, justified and in fact, righteous to disturb the peace of those who disagree with them but when the public at large doesn’t want their ‘art’, it becomes an issue of social injustice, bigotry, civil rights violations and hate crime.

“If the ants were swarming all over the Koran it would clearly be a hate crime and out it would go without the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts having a leg to stand on.”

Not only would the Foundation not have a leg to stand on but they would be in the front lines demanding religious tolerance and decrying the bigotry of holding such an exhibit — but only for Muslims.

The Foundation’s argument is one of censorship. “For the Arts to flourish,” writes Joel Wachs, president of the Warhol foundation, “the arts must be free, and the decision to censor this important work is in stark opposition to our mission to defend freedom of expression wherever and whenever it is under attack.”

No one has censored this particular video or the entire exhibit for that matter. This video is available at another New York City museum for those who are so inclined to view and support it. No one is stifling the ‘art’ of anyone. Taxpayers just don’t want to pay for it. All art should be paid for by those interested in supporting it;  that’s where private foundations and patrons come in. Raise your own money for this “very important” exhibit.

Don’t be mistaken, this is not about freedom of expression or censorship. The liberals would love to paint that picture but it’s simply not true.  This is about religious persecution of those who are not Muslim or those whose religion is not fashionable to the artsy, elite left.  This particular assault on Christianity by the left is passive and insidious compared to the persecution they are suffering worldwide. Pope Benedict highlights this in his World Peace Day missive:

“Sadly, the year now ending has again been marked by persecution, discrimination, terrible acts of violence and religious intolerance,” Benedict lamented […]

Benedict singled out the “reprehensible attack” on a Baghdad cathedral during Mass in October, killing two priests and more than 50 other worshippers, as well as attacks on private homes that “spread fear within the Christian community and (create) a desire on the part of many to emigrate in search of a better life.”

[…]

“At present, Christians are the religious group which suffers most from persecution on account of its faith,” the pontiff asserted, and cited Christian communities suffering from violence and intolerance particularly in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Holy Land.

“This situation is intolerable, since it represents an insult to God and to human dignity” as well as “a threat to security and peace,” Benedict wrote [. . .]

It’s time that Christians fought back. If that means fighting in court, then so be it. The First Amendment guarantees us that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” No one or entity, including the government or a private foundation, have the  right to stifle the free exercise of religious worship and religious assembly. But the left has hijacked the government and the courts and is passively (without violence) persecuting and stifling the practice of religion by Christians in America.

We see this passive religious persecution in America every day, from Chase Bank refusing to allow their banks to decorate for the holidays to schools that no longer allow Christmas trees.

If the left objects to paying, with tax dollars, for a Nativity scene on the courthouse lawn, then there is no problem with the religious objecting to pay for an exhibit of ‘art’ that depicts Christ or Christianity in an abusive, illegitimate and dishonest way.

As Governor Christie said (on another topic): the double standard ends now.  Christians have to stand up and object as loudly, and if necessary as obnoxiously as the left has.

It’s beginning: the first Catholic hospitals for sale due to ObamaCare

This is a story that will be ignored by the msm because it will require a little digging and the need to ask some hard questions. But I can promise that when David Limbaugh writes his second volume of “Crimes Against Liberty” it will be heavily covered.

In a nutshell, 3 Catholic hospitals are for sale and will be closing in VP Biden’s hometown – Scranton, PA – all because of ObamaCare. The CEO of these hospitals was apparently strong armed by Obama operatives, behind the scenes, to walk back his original statement that ObamaCare “absolutely” was a major cause for these closures and sales.

Arm twisting by this regime is not a new thing:

As listed by the Wall Street Journal, those unintended consequences [of the passage of ObamaCare] included 2011 premium increases shooting up as high as 9%; “multibillion-dollar corporate writedowns by Verizon, AT&T, Caterpillar and others”; the disruption of insurance markets, a show-down with McDonald’s, the imposition of price controls on premiums, insurers withdrawing from Medicare Advantage.

In what appears to have become a pattern, the response from the Obama Administration has been repeatedly swift and harsh — compared by one critic as an episode straight out of the Sopranos, the famous HBO mobster series.

Henry Waxman, at first demanded that there be a congressional hearing in an attempt to intimidate these big businesses. But then he was informed that “hey, they were actually abiding by the law” when they informed their employees and insured of what was in store for them thanks to the new health care bill. Pigface Waxman had to back off and crawl back under his rock.

In Scranton “a town that is heavily Catholic, the realization that three hospitals that did not perform abortions could be sold to owners who would allow the procedure is infuriating.”

The abortion allowance in ObamaCare is tantamount to why these closures are happening. You will read this story and the flimsy change of heart by Joe Sestak (the one hold out on the ObamaCare vote because of his so-called pro-life position) will become clear. Sestak and other Catholics, including Sister Carol, have sold out to the Obama administration.

Boy, is this a must see! Islamization of American school kids

The video speaks for itself.

Imagine the outrage if this school had taken these children to the cathedral in Boston and the Catholic priest did anything like this. What would the liberals be screaming then? What happened to ‘separation of church and state’ in this case?

I don’t know why it’s taken over 4 months for this incident to surface.

Muslims in America – a double standard fueled by fear

What would be the response by the Hollywood snobs and the Muslim apologists in the country or even just average working Americans, if Pope Benedict called for the murder and beheading of people the Church felt are in opposition its theology?

Imagine the United States Council of Catholic Bishops issuing a its own form of “fatwa” against people who they thought were Muslim terrorists or Islamic heads of state like Iran’s Ahmadinejad. When was the last time the College of Cardinals called for the stoning of homosexuals?

How about the Catholic Church demanding that every classroom provide a holy water font at each doorway, like the foot baths that have been required at federally funded universities and now even, airports?  Institutions of higher learning from NYU to Indiana and financed by tax dollars, are now providing foot baths for Muslim students. The Kansas City airport (again, tax payer funded) has already installed these religious foot fonts in several airport restrooms.

from BareNakedIslam.com

This from Bare Naked Islam in 2009:

Minneapolis Community and Technical College has a policy that “strictly prohibits religious displays.” For example, this past Christmas season a memo from Dianna Cusick, director of legal affairs and President Phil Davis, warned against any public display of holiday cheer: “As we head into the holiday season, all public offices and areas should refrain from displays that may represent to our students, employees or the public that the college is promoting any particular religion.”

Nevertheless, the college is planning to use taxpayer funds to install facilities for Muslim ritual foot-washing. School officials are going on a junket to visit a community college in Illinois to view similar facilities there.

Davis justified the disparate treatment by pointing out the differences between Muslims and those of other faiths. “The foot-washing facilities are not about religion, they are about public safety,” Davis said. “Christians and Jews aren’t going to kill anyone over this issue. Muslims are different. We’ve already received threats saying the college will be bombed if we refuse to build this facility. So, as anyone can see, we’re not promoting the Muslim religion. We’re saving the lives of our students and faculty.”AZ CONSERVATIVE

Yes, he’s right. Christians and Jews don’t threaten destruction when WalMart tells its employees to only say “Happy Holidays” to customers. They aren’t threatening to bomb town hall when the Nativity scene or the Menorah is banned from its lawns. Imagine  the Rev. Billy Graham calling for the death of Larry David (a Jew, by the way) who peed on a picture of Jesus (ala fatwas of cartoonists who drew Muhammad) in one of his more controversial episodes of HBOs “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

Of course, the argument from the left is that these baths are available to anyone of any faith (or none) that want to use them. This is the ACLUs stance.

They also claim that foot baths are a health and safety measure: one student fell in a public bathroom while attempting to wash her feet in the sink, something ALL of us do at least 5 times a day.

Obama keeps poking his finger in the same old eyes

(Pardon me- without my glasses on, I make typos.)

So now he’s going to be speaking at Xavier University in New Orleans – another Catholic univeristy.

Let’s recall his previous speeches at Catholic schools:

Notre Dame. His speech about abortion and stem cell research that goes completely contrary to Catholic teaching.

Georgetown. He had the school cover up the Crucifix that would have been behind him while he spoke.

What do you suppose he will do to offend Catholics when he speaks at Xavier?

Some Catholics don’t agree with the fact that the president is being allowed to speak at Xavier University, a Catholic institution, because it is giving a platform to someone who is very publicly opposed to the teachings of the Catholic church.

They argue that his positions on issues of life — abortion and stem cell research specifically — means that he should not be given the chance to speak so openly at a Catholic university.

It all goes back to a 2004 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) statement on “Catholics in Political Life.” It reads in part, “The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.”

[. . .]

New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond will not be attending Obama’s speech at Xavier and has no plans to meet with the president.

“He was not in any way consulted, invited — nor will he attend the event with President Obama at Xavier,” said Sarah McDonald, Director of Communications for Archdiocese of New Orleans.

Read entire article here.

But this kind of eye poking by Obama isn’t new. It’s a continuing pattern. Remember, he not once but twice encouraged Americans to spend their vacation dollars anywhere but in Las Vegas. That ended up costing the city and it’s union members, millions of dollars in lost revenue.

Best of all reasons to stop going to movies

Michael Moore from 2008 –  it’s easy to tell that he’s semi-serious about bringing Castro to the Oscars:

Now, he’s been appointed to the Board of Governors of the Academy Awards. In a recent interview, Moore rails against the Catholic Church as being anti-woman and yet supports peace with a nation that still stones women and keeps them under hidden under sheets. He is anti-war and yet supports peace with a nation that has declared it will kill all Americans for paying taxes that support our military. Moores philosophy is that they have declared war on us and that’s our fault so we need to just live with the results.

This man is a loon and he’s a traitor. He’s made millions in America and off of Americans and can say nothing positive about his fellow citizens.

CNSNews.com – Pelosi Says She Has a Duty to Pursue Policies in Keeping With The Values of Jesus, ‘The Word Made Flesh’

As a Catholic, and as sinful as I know this is to say, I really can’t stand this woman and her stupid ramblings about the Church. She’s so clueless.  And she’s an embarrassment. This is what Beck has been talking about when he preached about the left moving into our churchs. She is doing exactly what he’s been talking about.

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Joanna Krupa’s a practicing Catholic – that makes everything okay

“As a practicing Catholic, I am shocked that the Catholic League is speaking out against my PETA ads. I’m doing what the Catholic Church should be doing, working to stop senseless suffering of animals, the most defenseless of God’s creation.”

I’m tired of these “practicing Catholics” justifying their bad behavior and wrong choices by trying to blame the Church for being uncaring or inactive on issues they think are important. This is nothing more than a repeat of the Patrick Kennedy argument: the Catholic Church doesn’t care about the sick and needy because it opposes a health care bill that funds abortion and does not protect the conscience of the health care provider. These are straw man arguments to justify their wrong headed positions.

PETA knows that sex, smut and shock sells. These are not stupid people. In this new ad campaign, featuring a naked, haloed and winged Joanna Krupa sporting a crucifix, PETA hits another home run.  But a home run with what audience? For the life of me, I can’t figure out who they are marketing to. Every single PETA ad I’ve ever seen, does nothing but turn me off to their cause.

I’m no Johnny Cochran but if the Church doesn’t fit, you need to quit!

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin has banned Rep. Patrick Kennedy from receiving Communion, the central sacrament of the church, in Rhode Island because of the congressman’s support for abortion rights, Kennedy said in a newspaper interview published Sunday.

The decision by the outspoken prelate, reported on The Providence Journal’s Web site, significantly escalates a bitter dispute between Tobin, an ultra orthodox bishop, and Kennedy, a son of the nation’s most famous Roman Catholic family.

Fox News is exhibiting bias. Bishop Tobin is not an ULTRA ORTHODOX bishop because he is standing firm on a Church position. This is an example of the Church not bending to the fashionable PC position, or as Pope John Paul II called it: moral relativism. Whether a non-Catholic, or a Catholic for that matter, agrees with this position or not, the Church has no gray area on abortion. The Catholic Church has been unequivocal on this issue: abortion is a sin; it is the manifestation of a culture of death that the Church believes we have in America. There is no maybe about it. If the Church and her bishops remain firm on a basic tenant against abortion, as most evangelical churches also believe, that does not make them ULTRA ORTHODOX. It makes them believers with a conviction.

“The bishop instructed me not to take Communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me Communion,” Kennedy told the paper in an interview conducted Friday.

Kennedy said the bishop had explained the penalty by telling him “that I am not a good practicing Catholic because of the positions that I’ve taken as a public official,” particularly on abortion.

He declined to say when or how Tobin told him not to take the sacrament. And he declined to say whether he has obeyed the bishop’s injunction.

Sorry, Congressman, but that is how it is. You cannot be “a good practicing Catholic” and at the same time be pro-abortion. And you cannot blackmail the Church into relenting on this by taking it to the press and trying to make the Church the bad guy. No one needs to tell a practicing Catholic that he or she cannot receive communion regarding this issue. ANY practicing Catholic knows that on this topic, if he is pro-abortion, he CANNOT receive communion.

The paper said the bishop’s spokesman declined to address the question of whether he had told Kennedy not to receive Communion. But the bishop’s office cast doubt on Kennedy’s related assertion about instructions to state priests.

“Bishop Tobin has never addressed matters relative to public officials receiving Holy Communion with pastors of the diocese,” spokesman Michael K. Guilfoyle told the paper in an e-mailed statement.

Kennedy could appeal the decision to officials in the Vatican, but the hierarchy of the Catholic church is unlikely to overturn a bishop, said Michael Sean Winters, a church observer and author of “Left At the Altar: How Democrats Lost The Catholics And How Catholics Can Save The Democrats.”

“It’s really bad theology,” said Winters, who opposes abortion. “You’re turning the altar rail into a battle field, a political battlefield no less, and it does a disservice to the Eucharist.”

Bad theology? BAD THEOLOGY? Who died and made this guy St. Augustine?

In the words of Pope John Paul II, “A society with a diminshed sense of the value of human life at its earliest stage has already opened the door to a culture of death.” For myself, I’ll take his theology and that of St. Augustine over this modern day secular writer. Even if I didn’t agree with John Paul or St. Augustine, they are more authoritative regarding Church teachings than Winters is.

If anyone is turning the alter rail into a battlefield, it’s Kennedy and those Catholic politicians like him. I’ll say it again: The Church has a stand on this issue and will not bend on it. Winters wants to make the Church into a social war-mongering institution but it’s the politicians who are going to war – in the press – because they want a pass for following their own conscience and not the edicts of the Church that they profess to belong to.  If Kennedy can’t live by the teachings of the Church, he needs to find one that’s a better fit for him. But do not expect the Church to turn a blind eye to this just because he’s a congressman or a Kennedy.

The dispute between the two men began in October when Kennedy in an interview on CNSNews.com criticized the nation’s Catholic bishops for threatening to oppose a massive expansion of the nation’s health care system unless it included tighter restrictions on federally funded abortion.

In his CNSNews.com interview, Kennedy said this: “I can’t understand for the life of me how the Catholic Church could be against the biggest social justice issue of our time where the very dignity of the human person is being respected by the fact that we’re caring and giving health care to the human person – that right now we have 50 million people who are uninsured. You mean to tell me the Catholic Church is going to be denying those people life saving health care? I thought they were pro-life. If the church is pro-life, then they ought to be for health care reform because it’s going to provide health care that are going to keep people alive. So this is an absolute red herring and I don’t think that it does anything but to fan the flames of dissent and discord and I don’t think it’s productive at all.”

There are several gross errors in his quote, not the least of which is that there are NOT 50million uninsured people in America. What a movable number that is!

But I digress.

The Church is for health care reform and he knows that very well. To Kennedy I say, the Church does believe in the dignity of the “human person” which is precisely why it has such a firm stand against abortion, ya big dummy! And if anyone is fanning flames of dissent and discord, it’s milque toast politicians like you who keep expecting and demanding that the Church back down and back off on this and conform to the moral relativism that is far too pervasive in this country now.

The majority of Americans (Catholic and non-Catholic alike) do not want their tax dollars paying for someone’s abortion or their birth control. Most Americans, unlike our politicians, believe in some kind of personal responsibility, especially in areas as intimate as reproduction. Congress just refuses to get it. You don’t have to be pro-life or a Catholic to believe in personal responsibility. But you certainly can’t be a democrat and believe it.

“While I greatly respect the Catholic Church and its leaders, like many Rhode Islanders, the fact that I disagree with the hierarchy of the church on some issues does not make me any less of a Catholic,” Kennedy wrote in a letter to Tobin, agreeing to a sitdown. “I embrace my faith which acknowledges the existence of an imperfect humanity.”

Again, ya big dummy, it DOES make you less Catholic! I’m not going to beat this dead horse anymore.

Yes, we are an imperfect humanity but does that give us permission to not strive for being more perfect and better humans? Should we all just agree that we aren’t perfect and therefore we have no reason to address those things in our society and our lives that would make this a better world? Or do we have to address only those things that YOU think would make us more perfect?

Face it, Congressman: You ARE just a big dummy!

[Bishop] Tobin followed up with a biting public letter published in a diocesan newspaper.

“Sorry, you can’t chalk it up to an ‘imperfect humanity.’ Your position is unacceptable to the Church and scandalous to many of our members. It absolutely diminishes your Communion with the Church,” Tobin wrote.