Australian muslim sentenced to 500 lashes for blasphemy in Saudi Arabia December 8, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in Ecumenism, General Catholic, horror, persecution, sadness, sickness, Society.comments closed
A resident of southern Victoria State, Mansor Almaribe has been arrested by religious police last month in Medina while participating in the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca known as the hajj. According to his oldest son Jamal, the 45-year-old Almaribe was reading and praying in a group at the time.
Perhaps Almaribe made some comment about the prophet’s sexual affinity for children.
Originally sentenced to two years in prison and 500 lashes, the court later reduced the sentence to “only” one year in jail, in the presence of an Australian consular official who attended the proceedings.
500 lashes is certain to cause death. In Iran, where 100 lashes are frequently given as a penalty to women who have been raped (how dare they have the audacity to reveal their eyebrows, so inciting a man to sexual impropriety!), most victims die before the sentence is carried out.
Islam is a 7th century religion of the tribes of Arabia. It has all the trappings thereof. I find plenty of problem with modern thought, especially that “englightment” rationalism that is the foundation of our current culture. But to still be lashing people to death, for uttering something about the prophet, is beyond sick. And he is not even a citizen of Saudi Arabia.
When our soldiers were stationed in Saudi, they had to remove all non-muslim religious symbols – they could wear no cross, carry no Bible into the country. There was great concern the Saudi religious police would grab even a US soldier defending Saudi territory. Our female servicemembers had to wear a veil – a practice I’m not against if its done freely, but when it’s coerced, on an ally, it’s offensive. It also reveals the parlous state of Saudi culture – the imams and princes who run the place know its a hair’s breadth from open revolt at any moment. The repression is instituted to keep the current regime in power. The princes and imams live in an uneasy truce – the princes live lives of incredible decadence and, frequently, perversion, while the imams are given free reign to persecute everyone else. Thus, our “allies.”
The world will be a much better place when they run out of oil. This is the religion of which certain personages in the Church express great “admiration?”
Please.
Today is the great Feast of the Immaculate Conception! December 8, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, Latin Mass, Liturgy, North Deanery, Our Lady, Tradition, Virtue.comments closed
Get thee to Mass! We only have a few Holy Days of Obligation left, and most of those get rolled into Sunday! Churches should be packed today! God willing, I will assist at Mass tonight! It would be fan-diddly-astic to see you there!
And maybe arrive early or stay late and spend some time with our Dear Lord!
Remember, Mary was conceived immaculately – without sin! It has nought to do with Jesus’ birth!
Planned Parenthood doesn’t December 8, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in Abortion, Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, horror, sickness, Society.comments closed
An interesting post by Fr. Adamcyzk relates the tales of women who have gone to Planned Parenthood for those “non-abortion” services PB is always pointing to as evidence of their virtuous nature. These women provide some anecdotal evidence that Planned Barrenhood doesn’t like performing those services unless they lead to abortion:
Charity went to the Escondido, CA Planned Parenthood last year for help. She says:
I just wanted a free pregnancy test to apply for state insurance, and they told me its only free if I didn’t know I was willing to keep “it” or not. So I said of course I want to keep my baby. The woman said, “don’t say baby in here. It’s $35 for you to take a pregnancy test without counsel on ‘rescheduling your pregnancy.’” I said a few things about LIFE. My son said “you can’t kill my baby sister!” That’s when we decided on our daughter’s name – Zoe, Life God’s way. I’m now holding my sweet 6 month old; she is a marvelous tiny person!
A reader named Susan responds:
The same thing happened to my friend at Planned Parenthood 21 years ago [in New Jersey]. She went in for a free pregnancy test (which was not free) and the only question they asked her was “when do you want to schedule your abortion?” When she said she didn’t want an abortion they booted her out the door.
Lest we think Addison’s story was a fluke, a result of current abortion clinic pressure and the high stakes of it all, even before that story ran, I learned from “Sarah” who visited a Planned Parenthood in Mesa, AZ:
My Planned Parenthood experience was 30 years ago and short. I lived in an apartment building across from them. I had just become a Christian, trying to get pregnant. I took my jar of “specimen” over and found out I was pregnant! WOO HOO! They asked how I wanted to deal with the pregnancy, and I said, well, I want to see the doctor and talk about the pregnancy, labor and delivery, ASAP! I was excited.
They said, “Um, you’re KEEPING the baby? We don’t do that here.”
“We don’t do that here.” 30 years ago, but I for one don’t doubt that mentality is still pervasive. And, in a related development, it appears that a number of former Planned Barrenhood employees are prepared to testify in Congress about the premier pro-abort group:
In a letter addressed to leaders of the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, the former Planned Parenthood workers say they “have personally witnessed and can testify to the validity of specific concerns raised by subcommittee chairman Cliff Stearns (R-FL).”
In particular, they say Planned Parenthood has failed to notify parents when an underage girl is seeking an abortion, to detect or report cases of coerced abortion or sex trafficking, and to properly segregate government funds away from abortion costs, among other violations.
The group also pointed out that Planned Parenthood receives “roughly $1 million per day in federal-state support.” “This alone would merit close government attention as to whether or not these funds are being spent appropriately,” they write.
I pray that Congress immediately and permanently defunds Planned Parenthood. If the Repubniks win the White House and make more gains in Congress next year, I pray this is a top priority.
I need to do one of these xtranormal videos!:
I’m a hateful toad, or, how the homosexual agenda works December 8, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin, Basics, Dallas Diocese, disaster, General Catholic, horror, Interior Life, persecution, sadness, scandals, sickness, Society.comments closed
I got a comment related to a post I did late yesterday (in blog time, which is based on Zulu, it’s listed as being today) which linked to a couple of articles – one decrying that almost half of all “Catholic” colleges have pro-gay groups on campus, often supported with university funds, and another relating the creeping totalitarianism of thought in our government which places a “homosexuality is natural and wonderful” view of the world well ahead of any religious consideration – to the extent that religious considerations are completely verboten in more and more circumstances, like trying to adopt a child.
I didn’t even add very much, save to note that the presence of such clubs on “Catholic” universities was unsurprising, and that the homosexualist agenda is not seeking mere “tolerance” but utter dominance. For such, I was called a hateful toad, for which I thank the commenter for not swearing.
Thomas Peter’s has a note that sort of ties all these disparate thoughts together. He points out that Christians (and, for that matter, muslims and observant Jews, but the attacks are never against the latter groups, only the former, because we’re a much safer target) and the morality we adhere to is being dealt with in two ways – on one level, homosexuals try to advance a view of us as hateful bigots who only express our positions on morality out of some deep-seeded hatred of homosexuality (probably because we’re sooooo repressing), while at the same time claiming that the morality of homosexuality has already been settled, in favor of their libertine lifestyles. That is to say, “everyone” who is “reasonable” has determined that homosexuality is natural and normal and just wonderful.
Those two views are certainly well positioned to serve the agenda. But they are both totally, demonstrably false. To take the second one last, every state where the issue of “gays simulating marriage getting state recognition as equivalent to actual marriage” has come to a vote has failed. Since this is the main cause de celebre of homosexuals, that failure to win gay marriage in a single popular vote shows that the claim that everyone feels homosexuality is natural and normal and wonderful is a stretch, at best. Other polls show that Americans are sadly split on the issue of the morality of homosexual acts- 20 years of relentless propaganda have had a pronounced effect. Whereas 20 years ago, 80+% of Americans felt homosexuality was immoral, today it’s around half, or even less, depending on the poll. But, regarding the issue of morality, it’s popularity is also immaterial.
I’m a Catholic. I subscribe as fully as I can to all the Dogmas of the Faith. One of the Dogmas, or Doctrines, is that everyone is called to be chaste throughout their life. Not celibate – chaste. Chastity has been a core part of Christian revelation for 2000 years. Chastity means that we only use our sexual desires and capabilities in the way that God intended. For the Catholic, that way is within the confines of marriage with the constant openness to the creation of new life. Any sexual activity outside those parameters is unchaste and sinful. Thus, homosexual acts are by definition unchaste and sinful, because marriage, as ordained by God, can only take place between a man and a woman. Heterosexuals are called to be just as chaste as homosexuals, married or no. Chastity is an issue virtually everyone struggles with. I struggle with it, and have to confess sins against chastity regularly. But I repent of those sins and resolve not to do them again – I don’t fight the Church and God and scream at both how wrong they are for denying me my “freedom,” my self-serving desire to be “happy.” The “freedom” and “happiness” sought are illusory, and lead to great pain and suffering.
This is my experience. I have my own cross to bear in remaining clean. I am an addict, and will always be so, and I have to deal with the consequences of my addictions, or habits of sin, every day. But, again, I don’t reject the idea that these habits I have are sinful – I strive to overcome them. I’m working on overcoming a particular nasty habit of sin right now – tobacco use. I’ve dipped snuff for 21 years, and I am praying that I may quit during this upcoming Octave of Christmas. We all have sins we have to overcome. Some are blessed only to have minor faults, but many of us who allowed ourselves to fall into the ways of the world and its “wisdom” have much more serious issues to address, but with God’s Grace we shall overcome them and be thankful for the crosses He has sent us.
And that’s the point. Homosexuals are not alone. We all sin. Having a homosexual inclination is not necessarily sinful (although it is disordered). But acting on those inclinations is. Being an addict is not necessarily sinful (although it is disordered) – but becoming intoxicated on drugs or alcohol is.
I don’t hate gays. But, I am profoundly opposed to any agenda or line of thought that seeks to upend the morality that God has written on all of our hearts, that He has been gracious enough to make clear repeatedly through Sacred Scripture and Tradition. I pray for the conversion of all. I pray that all may find the true happiness that comes from the Truth Christ has revealed through His Church. And I pray that the persecution of the Church that is coming over this issue may be stopped, and that all may receive His Truth with great humility and meekness.
Pray for me that I may overcome my sins and do all the above with great charity. And now, the deluge.
My insufferably self-obsessed post of the day December 8, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin, Basics, Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, Interior Life, North Deanery, Virtue.comments closed
I made reference on Tuesday to the desirability of having a little mini-shrine or prayer corner in one’s home as a focal point of family (or solitary, or group, or…….) prayer. I thought I would share a photo of ours. I would like to get alot more art, but it’s more than fine for now. We got a bunch of those ‘prayer candles’ (that’s what I call them) for free – that’s why there are so many.
Pro-gay clubs found at 107 Catholic universities December 8, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, Dallas Diocese, disaster, General Catholic, persecution, sadness, sickness, Society.comments closed
That’s 43%, for those of you keeping score:
Why are pro-homosexual clubs allowed to promote anti-Catholic behavior on Catholic campuses?
After examining the official web sites of 244 Catholic universities and colleges in America, TFP Student Action found that 107 – or 43% – recognize student clubs that favor the homosexual agenda. Many of these clubs promote same-sex “marriage,” open homosexuality in the military, and push for the mainstreaming of unnatural vice.
Here are a few examples:
Saint Norbert College’s Rainbow Alliance promotes anti-Catholic events such as Celebrate Bisexuality Day, National Coming Out Day, Transgender Day, and Gender Bender Dances.
Georgetown University promotes a “Genderfunk Drag Ball” described in these terms: “No matter gay, straight, or bi, lesbian, transgender life, only you can say you’re born this way. Uncap the lipstick, break out the fishnets, draw on the ‘stache, unleash the chest hair, and redefine gender in your own way… Challenge yourself, challenge the binary.”
…..“Students are getting immoral messages from these clubs,” observed TFP Student Action Director John Ritchie. “A sort of dictatorship of tolerance is slowly squeezing out the truth, silencing Catholic teaching right on Catholic campuses. More and more Catholic college students are confronted with visible, active and well-funded pro-homosexual clubs that openly contradict natural law and undermine moral values. To see this happening at Catholic institutions of higher learning is particularly disturbing.”
Disturbing, but not particularly surprising. College campuses have been the favored vehicle to advance ‘progressive’ agendas for decades, with homosexuality being just the latest fad. In more and more places, you can’t get a degree – or adopt a child -without bowing to moloch’s favorite form of sexual perversion:
A couple of years ago, my wife and I had to take nearly forty hours of classes from the Oregon Department of Human Services in order to pursue the adoption of a young boy from another state (Dominic’s adoption was finalized this past February). It was a lesson in well-intentioned, very polite, state-faciliated, tax-financed intimidation, especially when it came to issues of sexual morality (and race, but that’s another story). The class of about 60 potential foster parents (the 75% of whom were seeking to become foster parents of their own biological grandchildren) were informed in no uncertain way that “being gay” is a wonderful and natural way of being, and that they could not—in any form or fashion—discourage a child from “exploring” and “expressing” their sexuality. Moreover, foster parents were encouraged (quite strongly, in fact) to learn more about the joy of being “gay” by reading “gay” literature, attending “gay pride” events, and so forth. It was clearly communicated, in various ways, that one’s religious and personal beliefs meant nothing; they weren’t to be expressed or allowed.
To borrow from Mark Shea, the Gay Brownshirts have, for all intents and purposes, won the day. As well as the minds and moral compasses of the current generation. And if you think they are going to be nice or fair or tolerant with their cultural prisoners, think again.
Indeed, no they will not be nice or fair or tolerant. The goal is not for us to “tolerate” them, the goal is for us to go begging for their acceptance and their approval and to beat our breast while telling them how wrong we were to oppose them in the first place.
Nice Church you have there. Shame if anything were to happen to it.
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