An Excellent Piece Describing How the Ascendant Cult of Leftism Persecutes Christians September 7, 2016
Posted by Tantumblogo in asshatery, disaster, error, foolishness, General Catholic, horror, paganism, persecution, Revolution, scandals, secularism, self-serving, sexual depravity, Society, unadulterated evil.comments closed
A long but good piece at The Federalist regarding the sad case of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, CO, one of several Christian-owned businesses being persecuted out of existence by an out of control leviathan state eagerly eagerly waging war on behalf of the official state religion – leftist sexular paganism. At least, that is, until islam supplants it. But for now, it’s do as we say, Christofascists, or we’ll attempt to make your lives hellishly unbearable. At several points, the religious zeal with which Christians are persecuted for the slightest of infractions are highlighted below.
We pick up the coverage after those currently so favored by the state – those given over to lifestyles centered around the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah – have engaged the organs of state in crushing those who have dared to prick their conscience, no matter how unintentionally:
The [Orwellian Colorado Civil Rights] commission was not above retroactive punishment, however. At the time, being found guilty of violating civil rights laws didn’t only mean the end of his Phillips’ life’s work. The punishment for refusing to make a special cake for a gay wedding was $500 and one year in prison per charge (jail time was only later amended out of the law when general public learned about the statue). [And since scores or hundreds of sodomites had been contacting the store demanding similar services, the number of potential charges was exceedingly large. Note that JAIL TIME was initially part of the punishment for being a heretic from the official state religion!]
The shop was not only ordered to alter its policy and start participating in gay weddings or else face debilitating fines, it was told to provide comprehensive staff training, ensure compliance, then file quarterly obedience reports with the government for two full years. In these reports, Phillips was to describe exactly which remedial measures the shop had taken to conform, and document the reasons any other patrons were denied service.
Colorado’s Thought Police would teach Phillips how to stop himself acting on any ideas that were heretical. [Indeed. This is not a reasonable response. This is the kind of ridiculous over-reaction that can only be motivated by an unholy, erroneous zeal]
The commission could only pass quasi-criminal judgments. In the end, these charges had to be authorized by the attorney general, who was charged with executing complaints and filing formal proceedings. In this case, that person was John Suthers, a Republican. He did. [And thus we see how the Republican party, almost always, fails to act in defense of any even vague notion of conservatism or in the interest of its largely Christian base, and instead serves as the vehicle of taking each advancing stage of the slow-motion leftist revolution and codifying it into all manner of law, procedures, business policies, etc, making it virtually irrevocable. Thus my increasing coolness to the idea that a Republican, any Republican, can save us, be our friend, or even be substantially better than the demonrat alternative, because examples like this are legion.]
“Freedom of religion and religion has been used to justify all kinds of discrimination throughout history, whether it be slavery, whether it be the holocaust, whether it be — I mean, we — we can list hundreds of situations where freedom of religion has been used to justify discrimination. And to me it is one of the most despicable pieces of rhetoric that people can use to — to use their religion to hurt others.” — Diann Rice, Colorado Civil Rights Commission, 7/25/14 [This is fantastic bullshit. Just sheer leftwing anti-Christian fantasy. It was a leftist ideology, Nazism, that caused the Holocaust. Leftism has killed and slaughtered orders of magnitude more people in its 200 year history than Christianity has in 10 times as long, well over 100 million in the 20th century alone. But that’s a truth too dangerous to allow to exist, and so it must be carefully buried, and a replacement – a scapegoat – sought. That’s us. As for slavery, it was Church itself that first postulated the idea of each person having inherent worth as a child of God, and a potentially redeemed one, at that, and which struggled against slavery, to varying degrees, for centuries. Want to watch slavery become legal again…..keep going down this road to neo-pagan barbarism.]
……..Like any self-righteous zealot, Rice functions without concern for the practical implications of her power. In a rational world, her nonsensical haranguing would be dismissed as the ravings of an ignorant freshman who was cracking open Chomsky for the first time. In this world, Rice is appointed by the governor to mete out punishment on once free men.
Rice’s attack is not unique. Christians are regularly compared to Southern segregationists and racists, when in reality the comparison is best reversed. Yes, the power of Jim Crow reflected popular will, but it was sanctioned by the state. The Colorado Civil Rights Commission is similarly empowered by the state to use its arbitrary power to destroy the reputations, businesses, and lives of those who happen to offend their sensibilities. [And they are far from alone. Note, these are appointed, not elected, positions.]
To anyone who believes the State of Colorado is a non-ideological arbiter of justice and laws governing discrimination rather than activists enforcing their own morality on others, consider this.
In 2015, a Christian activist named Bill Jack walked into three separate bakeries, one an erotic-themed shop, and asked for each to design a cake in the shape of a Bible….[with verbiage quoting verses perceived to be hostile to the same-sex lifestyle]
In all instances, the proprietors refused to take the project. And why should any American be forced to create something that clashes against their conscience? So Jack, obviously hoping to prove a point, filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Christians, after all, are also ostensibly a protected class in the state. [HAH! Shut up and pay your ever-increasing taxes, bible-humpers, and keep your faith to yourself……..for now. Later, we won’t even let you keep that.]
What to do? Well, the commission decided that bakers who discriminate against Christians were offended by content of the message and not the patron’s Christianity. At the same time, the commission claimed the opposite was true for Phillips, whom they asserted wasn’t offended by the gay wedding cake itself but rather by the sexual orientation of the couple……..
…….In other words, freedom of expression is contingent on a commission of unelected bureaucrats burrowing into the consciousness of those involved and ascertaining what they’re really thinking. A judge is then tasked with decide what expression of faith is acceptable.
Welcome to America, 2016…..
……This isn’t some phony cult concocting a new doctrine. Millions of Christians hold some form of a genuine, centuries’-long religious conviction that prohibits them from celebrating gay marriages. If you still support state coercion against them, then we might as well concede that religious freedom and true freedom of expression aren’t compatible with our new conception of a contemporary society. So the question is: Does the average American really believe society has a right to demand that a person paint or write a novels — or make cakes — that celebrate acts that undermine their beliefs? It might be too late for his business, but Phillips’ case will go a long way in letting us know the answer.
As for me, I already know the answer. The sexular pagan leftist state emerging all around us is the inevitable result of having a system of government deliberately divorced from God and His Law. This moment, this tragic end, this coming persecution, were baked into the United States at its founding. It is a testament to the awesome efficacy of Christian Truth that it took us this long to get here.
If you want a lesson in just how much hatred of Christians, self-justification, incredible lack of reason, and unwillingness to accept contrary evidence, there is in the culture today, go read the comments. Even when confronted with numerous instance of harsh double standards being applied to Christians, muslims not being held to the same standard regarding performing services for sodomites, etc., numerous commenters plainly refuse to see ANY bias against Christians in the culture. They are ardently religious souls.
Would that more Catholics had such faith.
Dom Gueranger on the Gift of Fear September 7, 2016
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, catachesis, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, Interior Life, Liturgical Year, reading, sanctity, Spiritual Warfare, Tradition, true leadership, Virtue.comments closed
Holy Fear is one of the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost imparted during Confirmation. It is a Gift that can be open to misinterpretation, perhaps, but even more, it is prone to be ignored. In recent Church history, fear of the Lord has been not just ignored, but frequently mocked and ridiculed as a sign of “an immature faith” or some other meaningless barb. That’s been one of the primary reasons for the crisis in, or collapse of, the Faith in these past several decades – a lack of fear of God, as human pride is heaped up in before unheard of heights.
I found this to be good catechesis on the subject, from The Liturgical Year Volume 9 pp. 333-5:
Pride is the obstacle to man’s virtue and well-being. It is pride that leads us to resist God, to make self our last end, in a word, to work our own ruin. Humility alone can save us from this terrible danger. Who will give us humility? The Holy Ghost; and this by infusing into us the gift of the fear of God. [Bing, bang, great, straight to the point]
This holy sentiment is based on the following truths, which are taught us by faith: the sovereign majesty of God, in comparison with whom we are mere nothingness; the infinite sanctity of that God, in whose presence we are but unworthiness and sin; the severe and just judgment we are to go through after death; the danger of falling into sin, which may be our misfortune at any time, if we do not correspond to grace, for although grace be never wanting, yet we have it in our power to resist it.
Man, as the apostle tells us, must work out his salvation with fear and trembling (Phil ii:12); but this fear, which is a gift of the Holy Ghost, is not the base sentiment which goes no further than the dread of eternal punishments. It keeps alive within us an compunction of heart, even though we hope that our sins have long ago been forgiven. It prevents our forgetting that we are sinners, that we are wholly dependent upon God’s mercy, and that we are not as yet safe, except in hope. [And it keeps us from reveling in a false pride that says we’re saved no matter what we do, a la protestants and Church “liberals,” or a pharisaical pride that thinks our actions are somehow sufficient for our salvation. Both are just as wrong]
The fear of God, therefore, is not a servile fear; on the contrary, it is the source of the noblest sentiments. Inasmuch as it is a filial dread of offending God by sin, it may go hand-in-hand with love. Arising as it does from a reverence for God’s infinite majesty and holiness, it puts the creature in his right place, and, as St. Paul says, it contributes to the perfecting of sanctification (II Cor vii:1). Hence this great apostle, who had been rapt up to the third heaven, assures us that he was severe in his treatment of himself, lest he should become a castaway.
The spirit of independence and of false liberty, which is nowadays so rife amongst us, is a great enemy to the fear of God; and one of the miseries of our age is, that there is little fear of God. Familiarity with God but too frequently usurps the place of that essential basis of the Christian life. The result is, that there is no progress in virtue, such people are a prey to illusion; and the Sacraments, which previously worked so powerfully in their souls, are now well-nigh unproductive. The reason is, that the gift of fear has been superseded by a conceited self-complacency. Humility has no further sway; a secret and habitual pride has paralyzed the soul; and seeing that these people scoff at the idea of their ever trembling before the God of Heaven, we may well ask them if they know who God is……….
……..This holy fear does not stifle the sentiment of love; on the contrary, it removes what would be a hindrance to its growth. [Another lie we hear today, that if we have a proper fear of the Lord, we are weak in love or faith. What evil, manipulative claptrap!] The heavenly Powers see an ardently love their God, their infinite and eternal good; and, yet, they tremble before His dread Majesty……..And shall we, covered as we are with the wounds of our sins, disfigured by countless imperfections, exposed on every side to snares, obliged to fight with so many enemies – shall we flatter ourselves that we can do without this strong and filial fear?
———-End Quote———-
Yes, indeed. The wisdom of the ages, but such wisdom has been judged unhelpful to a “modern,” “mature” faith -meaning a different faith. I don’t mean to be overly repetitive, I know I say this a lot, but I just had a reminder this weekend of how easy it is for folks to unlearn what they have learned and slip back into easy things, comfortable things, maybe things they have been manipulated into a bit, but which they know – or knew at one time – are wrong. That’s a major reason why I warn frequently about the influences we allowed ourselves to be exposed to, even if it be in the parish down the road.
For the Record: Francis says Global Warming a Sin, but You Can Atone through Recycling, Car-Pooling September 7, 2016
Posted by Tantumblogo in asshatery, different religion, disaster, error, foolishness, Francis, General Catholic, horror, Revolution, scandals, secularism, self-serving, Society, the struggle for the Church.comments closed
This is from last week, so maybe it’s old hat to you, but just for the record, to observe the steady, ahem, flowering of this pontificate into full form, Francis – who apparently is uncertain whether many personal acts like attempted bigamy constitute sin – is very, very certain that corporate actions like causing too many carbon emissions are sinful. But don’t worry, you can atone your grievous sin by adopting certain popular left-leaning acts of piety, such as carpooling or recycling:
In his message for the “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation” Thursday, Pope Francis said that human-induced global warming, as well as a loss of biodiversity are “sins” against God, which must be atoned for by planting trees, avoiding the use of plastic and paper and “separating refuse.” [So, just who is guilty of this sin? Anyone who drives a car or fails to use mass transit? Someone who runs the AC a bit too cold in the summer, like me? Do I get an indulgence for also running the heat really low in the winter, cuz I like it cool? We’re pretty diligent recyclers, can we get into leftist heaven based on that?]
“Global warming continues, due in part to human activity,” Francis said, adding that “2015 was the warmest year on record, and 2016 will likely be warmer still.” [This a spurious claim based on doctored data]
“This is leading to ever more severe droughts, floods, fires and extreme weather events. Climate change is also contributing to the heart-rending refugee crisis. The world’s poor, though least responsible for climate change, are most vulnerable and already suffering its impact,” he wrote…… [You know what the world’s poor are also the most vulnerable to – starvation, disease, inadequate medical care, etc., all of which will be even larger problems should fossil fuels be banned or forced up dramatically in price. No one will suffer more than the poor should that occur, because they have no reserve of income/wealth to cover the increase]
………Now is the time to “acknowledge our sins against creation,” the Pope said. “Inasmuch as we all generate small ecological damage,” we are called to acknowledge “our contribution, smaller or greater, to the disfigurement and destruction of creation.” [This is almost a perfect leftist inspired transposition of sin from a personal act committed against God (and sometimes man, too) to a corporate act we all somehow commit, from which no one is free of guilt. Marxist or heavily leftist-leaning elements in the Church have proposed exactly this kind of transposition of sin as part of an effort to fundamentally remake the Faith into a religion of man. Just sayin’.]
“Let us repent of the harm we are doing to our common home,” he added.
If our ecological conversion is real, Francis said, it will lead to concrete ways of thinking and acting that are more respectful of creation. [And then you shall be saved, brother! Hallelujah in the protestant sense!]
Among these are “avoiding the use of plastic and paper, reducing water consumption, separating refuse, cooking only what can reasonably be consumed, showing care for other living beings, using public transport or car-pooling, planting trees, turning off unnecessary lights, or any number of other practices.” [Fail to do these, and it’s hell for thee? Or is hell one of those quaint notions we don’t believe in anymore? What about those of us who breed like rabbits? Think of all the resources those voracious little bunnies will consume! Are we hellbound no matter what?!?]
You know, I think Francis is right. And he should really lead the way in this effort, by personally curtailing all travel on his part, because no mode of travel dumps more carbon into the atmosphere than air travel. He should also totally stop all use of motor cars and electricity, to set the kind of example the world needs today. No more televised broadcasts, no more trips across country, even in small cars, no more radio addresses or use of loudspeakers. He should emulate his holy predecessor Pius IX and make use of none of these modern appurtenances. And he should totally ban all media from the Vatican, too, for the sake of the environment. How many trees are felled to carry his constant headline grabbing quotes in the newspapers? How can our dear leader set such a catastrophically bad example for us?
Or is this just more of the “luxury for me, penury for thee” that the global elites seemingly desire to afflict us with?
I’ve argued for years that leftism is a religion, a most dogmatic and fervent one, which will brook no competition. I’m feeling more and more justified in my belief by the day.
Should global warming eventually be proven verifiably false – that is, should the present choke hold on all the mass of data that casts grave doubt on this theory be released – how much damage to the credibility of the Church is being done, having a pope who embraced a plainly dubious, politically-motivated sciency-ish fad to the point of declaring made up “sins” against this fad?
I agree with Saint Corbinian’s Bear. This guy is nothing more than a sad provincial, Peronist joke being played upon the Church. It would be funny if souls weren’t at stake, which they are, in their millions. From farce to tragedy, then…….
h/t reader TT
A Little Commentary on the Canonization of Mother of Teresa September 7, 2016
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, Ecumenism, General Catholic, Grace, huh?, Interior Life, Saints, sanctity, Society, the struggle for the Church, Tradition, Virtue.comments closed
A reader who wanted to contact me offline via my wife wondered why The Remnant and Church Militant hadn’t had any commentary on the Sunday canonization of Saint Teresa of Calcutta. As for the former, they have, at least in a way, which I share below; regarding the latter, I have no idea, I really have no interaction with them anymore. I think Church Militant would find it problematic to be critical, however, since this canonization is closely associated with the kinds of virtues this pontificate wants to stress – corporal over spiritual, active over contemplative. But perhaps they already have been, I dunno.
At any rate, here is what The Remnant posted, not on their website, but on Youtube, where all the kool kids go these days:
My sentiments align very closely with the priests. Who wants to criticize Mother Teresa? I wish I were much more like her in most important respects. Her practice of the corporal works of mercy was simply amazing, I would say, clearly supernatural. She had an awesome ability to give of herself and ask nothing in return. She gave great witness to the Truth on very important issues like abortion and the culture of disposable human beings. She’s one of the few well known and truly popular Catholic figures around the world who doesn’t have much if any negative stigma attached – very much a saint for our times, and for this world.
Which, as the priest notes, is also the problem. The world could love Mother Teresa because she never demanded anything of the world that the world didn’t have at least a certain predisposition to give. She was, from the world’s perspective, the best kind of Catholic – holy, but keeping her holiness very much to herself, except when it came to doing manifestly good things for others, but never demanding or even recommending a change in the behavior of those she so ably served. That is to say, there were few calls to conversion, save for the tacit one which was the witness of her life. Now this was an awesome one, but many would have preferred she would preach the glory of Jesus Christ and the necessity of His Church for salvation with at least a little more effort.
She even frequently confirmed people in their false and erroneous religions much of the time, far from preaching even a very gentle message of evangelization.
Many saw a tendency to religious indifference in Mother Teresa that was perhaps an unintentional absorption of the modernism which has run amok in the Church over the past two-plus generations. When I say that her form of evangelization was the conduct of her life, I do not mean to underestimate that in the least. Based on that conduct, and with very little (if any) preaching/evangelizing, Mother Teresa did attract thousands of converts and formed a whole new (and vibrant) religious order. We have had some interaction with the local Missionaries of Charity and they are dear, sweet, giving women, whose outlook on the Faith is not difficult to reconcile with the traditional practice of it. They assist at the TLM at least occasionally.
For me, the biggest problem is one of process, wherein we see, at least for certain, politically popular individuals, the chucking of centuries old processes intended to insure that those individuals who were canonized were of the highest caliber of faith and of unimpeachable character, with no taint of any kind attached. But since John Paul II chucked the office of “devil’s advocate,” there has been an increasing number of Saints produced whose record is not always as pure as one might hope. At least Mother Teresa had two recognized miracles, instead of one as now seems to be the standard for canonizing post-conciliar popes.
In reality, I don’t want to come off as harsh, or critical of her canonization. I have concerns, like the priest, but who am I? I pray for a fraction of the sanctity Saint Teresa of Calcutta evidenced on a daily basis. If The Remnant and others aren’t writing negatively about this, they probably feel the same way.
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