“Abortion Is a Blessing”

The new dean of the Episcopal Divinity School says people should stop talking about abortion as a tragedy and instead see it as a blessing. Via Rod Dreher.

For a different perspective, see the webpage of Juda Myers.

German Family Seeks Asylum to Homeschool

A story from Tennessee.

Christ and Antichrist

Patrick Madrid quotes Archbishop Fulton Sheen:

The world is rapidly being divided into two camps, the comradeship of anti-Christ and the brotherhood of Christ. The lines between these two are being drawn.

How long the battle will be, we know not.

Whether swords will have to be unsheathed, we know not.

Whether blood will have to be shed, we know not.

Whether it be an armed conflict, we know not.

But in a conflict between truth and darkness, truth cannot lose.

If Archbishop Sheen is on the side of those who would be willing to draw swords, shed blood, and participate in armed conflict on behalf of his truth … can that be the path of Christ?

Auf Wiedersehen, Lutheranism!

Paul McCain, The Demolition of Authentic, Biblical Lutheranism.

Consenting Adults … ?

Proposed Massachusetts law would prohibit nude photographs of those over 60.

PETA’s Hypocrisy?

While PETA is railing against Acadian fisherman for killing seals, others are questioning PETA’s own record in slaughtering 95% of animals in its care, saying it doesn’t even try to find homes, despite having a $32,000,000 budget. It’s a press release from the Center for Consumer Freedom–the meat industry’s response to PETA. Still, good questions, regardless of the source. What’s PETA’s answer? More at http://www.petakillsanimals.com/

Update: Here is PETA’s response: Why We Euthanize (Warning! Very graphic!).

Confusion about Guadalupe?

California Catholic Daily says Hillary Clinton is confused about “Our Lady of Guadalupe.” It seems she asked who painted the image. This isn’t “confusion”–it simply reflects, first of all, the fact that Protestants don’t accept the uniquely Catholic idea that Mary has a special role that includes  going around appearing to people asking them to build churches. It also was in keeping  (though Hillary doubtless didn’t know it)  with lots that has been published, by Catholic (including the former rector of the basilica, Guillermo Schulenburg) and non-Catholic scholars, demonstrating that the image is, in fact, a forgery.

Now, she did indicate confusion on another level. She went ahead and lighted a candle anyway, and then went out and told people, “You have a marvelous virgin!” That’s confusion. And should the Secretary of State really be visiting a religious shrine in the first place? And should she ask a question that, while being a good question, is a bit of an insult to the devotees? That’s a different matter.

Bad History and Theology

There’s a weird trend in the UK these days. Lots of secularists are demanding to be taken off the rolls of the Church of England. And some con artists are selling them “de-Baptism certificates” to formalize their rejection of baptism.

Diogenes claims this is a resurrection of Anabaptist theology of baptism. Not in any way. The Anabaptists (the word means “re-Baptizer,” and was given to them by opponents) read the Bible, took it for their only rule of faith and practice, and saw that Jesus was clear about baptism:

In Matthew 28:19, Jesus said, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Teaching must precede baptism.

In Mark 16:16, Jesus said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” Faith must precede baptism.

The Anabaptists saw that Jesus stipulated that teaching and faith must come first–then someone can be baptized. They concluded that someone who was baptized without being taught and without having responded in faith was merely taking a bath. They weren’t baptized. So they couldn’t have “re-baptized” anyone. Nor did they “un-baptize” anyone. They baptized those who confessed Jesus Christ.

Boteach on Hitchens

Shmuley Boteach on the anti-Jewish rants of Christopher Hitchens. Hat tip to Luke Ford.

ELCA Stacks the Deck

From “Pastor Zip,” a “minority report” from the 3 (of 30) members of the ELCA sexuality task force who insist on holding to traditional Christian morality.

Barna on Liberals v. Conservatives

From Barna–survey of people who identified themselves as “liberal” or “conservative” on political issues.

Liberals are less than half as likely as conservatives to firmly believe that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches (27% versus 63%, respectively); to strongly believe that Satan is real (17% versus 36%); and to firmly contend that they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs with others (23% versus 48%).

Liberals are also far less likely than conservatives to strongly believe each of the following:

• their religious faith is very important in their life (54% of liberals vs. 82% of conservatives);
• a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by doing good deeds or being a good person (23% vs. 37%);
• their faith is becoming an increasingly important moral guide in their life (38% vs. 70%);
• the church they currently attend is very important in helping them find direction and fulfillment in life (37% vs. 62%);
• their primary purpose in life is to love God with all their heart, mind, strength and soul (43% vs. 76%);
• Jesus Christ did not commit sins during His time on earth (33% vs. 55%).

Liberals are also much less likely than conservatives to believe that “God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today.” Only about half of liberals (55%) adopt that view of God compared to more than four out of five conservatives (82%). …

Most liberals, as well as conservatives, consider themselves to be Christian. However, the proportion of adults in each group who embrace that identity differs significantly: 94% of conservatives call themselves Christians, while just 74% of liberals do so.

There were other distinctions regarding the faith groups with which these ideological opposites were aligned. For instance:

• 2% of conservatives and 11% of liberals were atheist or agnostic
• 15% of conservatives and 2% of liberals were Christian evangelicals
• conservatives were twice as likely as liberals to be categorized as born again, based on their theological views about salvation (63% vs. 32%)
• 21% of conservatives were associated with the Catholic church, compared to 30% among the liberals.

A Wild Boar in the Vineyard

George Bush Park–just up the road from my house–has a problem. There are 10 to 15,000 feral hogs that are out of control. Yikes! Facts on feral hogs.

A Breath of Fresh Air

There’s a new DA in town–and Pat Lykos is making a difference. Good job!

Poor Archbishop Burke

Lots of folks are feeling sorry for Archbishop Burke (example). He granted an interview to Randall Terry–then was shocked at how Terry used it. I guess he didn’t think to Google Terry and see how he’s played with the media in the past. Burke is no novice. He’s an experienced archbishop. He’s dealt with the media. He put himself in his predicament–which is to be on the receiving end of the anger of other bishops. C’est la vie.

Swift Justice

It’s rare that a rogue cop gets disciplined these days, but the cop who kept Ryan Moats from the bedside of his dying mother-in-law acted so stupidly that the Dallas chief of police acted swiftly to discipline him.

“I am embarrassed and disappointed by (Powell’s) behavior,” Kunkle said. “His behavior, in my opinion, did not exhibit the common sense, the discretion, the compassion that we expect our officers to exhibit.

“… At the point the officer was told that they were responding to a dying family member, that should have been his concern.”…

Kunkle said Moats exhibited “extraordinary restraint in dealing with the behavior of our officer.”

Update: Officer Robert Powell has apologized for his behavior:

“I wish to publicly and sincerely apologize to the Moats family, my colleagues in the Dallas Police Department, and to all those who have been rightfully angered by my actions on March 18, 2009. After stopping Mr. Moats’ vehicle, I showed poor judgment and insensitivity to Mr. Moats and his family by my words and actions,” Powell’s statement reads. …

“Again, I am very sorry for what I did and ask for the forgiveness of all those touched by these unfortunate events,” Powell said.

ABC’s Pretentious “Debates”

So, Nightline is now in the business of hosting religious “debates.”

Why do they pick people who are not skilled debaters, don’t debate in a formal way, and really don’t have the credentials that could make something like this truly interesting and informative? On this topic, they could have had someone like Jeffrey Burton Russell, for instance. But they’re just interested in having a Jerry Springer type slug fest. It’s entertainment–and it’s sad.

Cops Doing the Right Thing

Someone complained yesterday that my blog has too many stories of cops doing bad things. Well, such is life, especially here in Texas. Cops are often bullies and thugs who prefer to assert their own perceived authority instead of protect and serve the people and the U. S. Constitution. We see that time and time and time again.

But here’s a story from California in which cops called by Planned Barrenhood did the right thing, with the right attitude. May their tribe increase.

The Competency of the Clergy?

What competency does an ELCA bishop have on the subject of global warming? Why is he testifying before a congressional committee?

Holloway said that the United States “must acknowledge its role and moral responsibility” in the global climate change
crisis and “commit to providing substantial financial support reaching between $7 billion and $21.5 billion a year by 2030 and further increasing over time.”

To Protect and Serve?

NFL player Ryan Moats of the Houston Texans and his wife were trying to get to the hospital to see her dying mother.  A cop had other ideas: “I can screw you over,” he told Moats. It was a power trip. Dallas Morning News editorial calls for his dismissal from the force.

Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust

From the New York Daily News:

The manager of one of the city’s most luxurious hotels was given the boot after ordering a Catholic employee to clean up his forehead on Ash Wednesday.

“Wipe that f—–g s–t off your face,” managing director Niklaus Leuenberger told a bell captain at the New York Palace Hotel on Feb. 25, sources said.

Higher ups were not amused. The CEO for the chain flew all the way from London to personally fire Leuenberger.

Further down the article, this little point: “The hotel leases its land from the Catholic Church.”

Why “Do Church”?

An answer.

Tragedies

Mark Kellner writes in the Adventist Review of the Montana plane crash.

Pro-life activist Gingi Edmonds writes about Bud Feldkamp, the dentist whose family was killed. I think his “investments” shocking and scandalous–but I find the article itself a tragedy, as well.

Update: Alex Carpenter writes to say,

“Bill, you seem to intimate that this is not the time to discuss abortion given this tragic loss. I agree.

But then why did you link to (draw attention to) an article that does precisely what isn’t appropriate right now?

Think about what a family member would experience seeing a pastor in their community directing folks to this random, factually-flawed story politicizing their loss.”

If it is factually flawed, then perhaps Spectrum should have a reporter write it’s own article about this Adventist dentist who owns a chain of abortion mills.

Politicizing? The article is pointing out the contrast between a man grieving for his own loss while contributing in a major way to the loss of the children of other parents. This isn’t “politicizing,” it’s asking us to come to terms with the horror of one of the greatest crimes of human history, the wholesale slaughter of the innocent. I disagree with the author in this: I don’t think God is using a plane crash to teach him a lesson. But if he learns a lesson from it, and values human life as a result, that would be a good thing. If not … a higher tribunal awaits.

TUTS and “Les Miz”

We went tonight for the opening performance of the Theater Under the Stars production of “Les Misérables.” This was their own production, not a road show, which means it didn’t have the revolving stage. But it did have a number of cast members who have played their roles on Broadway, including Ed Dixon from the original Broadway cast reprising Thénardier. Rob Evan did a decent job as Valjean, overall, but cracked the final notes of “Bring Him Home.” There were some technical problems, including a spotlight operator forgetting where he was supposed to be shining his light and a few microphones that stopped working (and they seem not to either train singers or create theaters that don’t require amplification). Set design was creative, making use of projection of drawings by Victor Hugo himself as the backdrop.

One bit of staging was awkward. During the barricade scene, with the rebels facing away from the audience, a line of soldiers comes out and faces the audience, their backs to the rebels. Well, this is to compensate for the lack of a revolving stage, so you can see Gavroche gathering bullets from the dead soldiers (during which he meets his own end, singing the refrain of “Little People”–a song you’ll only hear in its entirety on the original London cast album).

All in all, a great performance.

A Church of the Cross

Tim Chester at Resurgence.

Chaput on Catholic Complacency

Archbishop Charlie Chaput of Denver had some blunt words recently about Catholic political influence–or lack thereof.

“We need to stop over-counting our numbers, our influence, our institutions and our resources, because they’re not real. We can’t talk about following St. Paul and converting our culture until we sober up and get honest about what we’ve allowed ourselves to become. We need to stop lying to each other, to ourselves and to God by claiming to ‘personally oppose’ some homicidal evil — but then allowing it to be legal at the same time.”

He makes some other interesting points, comparing today’s mission to that of Paul on the Areopagus. It’s being discussed in the blogosphere, with some liberals patronizingly or disdainfully looking down their noses at him.

A Quiz

A progressive webpage has a political quiz. My score: 159/400. That makes me “conservative”–off the chart conservative.

Jailed for Free Speech in California

The First Amendment is meaningless in Oakland, it appears. Ironic, isn’t? The liberals who made such a fuss about their own free speech a generation ago have denied it to others now that they’ve assumed power. In this case, the man sent to jail for 30 days simply stood in silent witness.

Catholic Charter Schools in NY?

Problems on many fronts.

“Is Anti-Zionism Hate?”

Judea Pearl writes in the LA Times.

Anti-Zionism rejects the very notion that Jews are a nation — a collective bonded by a common history — and, accordingly, denies Jews the right to self-determination in their historical birthplace. It seeks the dismantling of the Jewish nation-state: Israel.

Anti-Zionism earns its discriminatory character by denying the Jewish people what it grants to other historically bonded collectives (e.g. French, Spanish, Palestinians), namely, the right to nationhood, self-determination and legitimate coexistence with other indigenous claimants.

Anti-Semitism rejects Jews as equal members of the human race; anti-Zionism rejects Israel as an equal member in the family of nations.

ELCA Theologians Diss Proposal

Strong words from some heavyweights.

Revised.