The answer seems to be social issues, economic issues and moral issues in relation to the current socio-political agendas. The clarion call is for helping the poor (always of interest to Christians), redistribution of wealth to the poor (not charitable alms, but forced by the state), normalizing sexual taboos (fornication, adultery, homosexuality, same sex marriage, contraception, abortion and the like) and now, of all things, man-made global warming.
The politicians have long used the Christian majority in the US as a means to an end by appealing to our sense of charity and justice. They have tried to make a moral argument for the poor or the less fortunate by theorizing, no matter how blatantly false their reasonings might be, that their policy, programs, laws or regulations will benefit those who are oppressed. Of course every group that is being oppressed is not them . . . as they seem to be thriving; both economically and in terms of special privilege; especially exemptions from their own laws and regulations. So the politicians have made their arguments for socialist governance and Marxist economics as an instrument of equalization which will benefit the down trodden: and whatever group that they are speaking to are, of course, the unfortunates that will be helped by some governmental ‘fix’ for the problem. As always they are quick to point out that their political opponents are responsible for the sufferings and inequality of the prospective voter.
The poor or the disenfranchised are all the talk as is multiculturalism, lifestyle choices, open borders and immigration. It is reflected in everything. To hear them speak, the enemies of the people are the rich, the white Western European men, polluters of all kinds, enforcers of the law, business owners, Christian moralists, gun-toting patriots and all who think that the government should get out of the way so that we might simply work, live our respective lives and prosper or fail. But failure is now being taught to be unacceptable in our society and the redefined role of the government is to get as many people as possible to rely upon the them (through the taxes taken from ordinary working stiffs) to give them food, clothing, shelter and more and more discretionary spending money. In other words we are a bank that hands out loans without being paid back and in fact gives everyone a bigger loan each year to cover inflation and other ‘necessities’ in life.
Now oddly there seems to be a partnership developing of strange bedfellows; the Church and the State. It seems that the Church has been wooed, cajoled or convinced that the governments of the Western World really do have the best interest of the people in mind and and not simply garnering votes to feed their own elitist aggrandizement.
Let’s take a look at what is on the mind of the Church these days.
The Catholic Church has helped Obama in lifting restrictions and sanctions from Communist Cuba. The USCCB and the Vatican are favoring amnesty to illegal trespassers into the US and putting them on the dole and giving them the right to vote. Since when did the Church take a stance against democratically established laws of a nation if they are just?
The Pope’s first encyclical seemed to many as a critical attack on capitalism. Many Christians are clamoring for an increase in the minimum wage, increasing ‘entitlements’ (formerly a charitable gift of welfare checks) for the poor like food stamps and EBT cards that can be traded for anything they want. . . in other words, redistribution of wealth. Most Christians support the government on issues such as raising taxes on corporations and the rich and stifling regulations on businesses and communities under the guise of the man-made global warming hoax. Each of these will eliminate jobs or force businesses to close down costing a loss of the very jobs that we say are needed for the same people the advocates say they are trying to help.
The most often spoken message from our Pope concerns the poor which is a message that has been with us from the beginning and nothing new. We have been doing our part to help the poor for over 2000 years . . . and without state welfare and entitlements. In the Western world today however, the poor have never been richer or more privileged as they are today. We live twice as long as we did a century ago and that age keeps increasing. We have better access to medicine, to good food, to amenities like cars, electric lights, indoor plumbing, and air conditioning that even the very rich of 200 years ago could not even have dreamt. But, in the West, those on the extremities (below our arbitrary poverty line) are usually there because of choices which they made in life; most importantly to have children out of wedlock and to throw away their opportunity of a free public education even though it was provided at the expense of the government (the tax payers).
What is the strangest in all of this is not only the synergy of each of these things to actually hurt the people they claim to want to help but also the negative effect each of these will have to the nuclear family. The moral issues such as adultery, fornication, abortion etc. all are anti-family as are these new ‘alternative lifestyles’ and the attempt to normalize them. The higher minimum wages only encourage people to remain in a starter job meant for high school students and retired folks. The same is true of the ‘entitlement’ culture which has destroyed any desire that the poor might possess to actually learn a skill and work for a living. Opening the borders will create an even larger class of poor who are seeking employment where there are many times as many people as there are jobs. So we will put them on the welfare roles and grow the ranks of the people that our tax payers and businesses must support. Businesses can’t grow and new businesses will have too many regulations and taxes facing them to grow faster than the welfare roles. What you are doing is effectively bolstering every problem we face and making sure that the nuclear family as we once knew it will ever return . . . at least not among the welfare roles.
Newsflash for the Church and other Christians who think they are supporting a righteous and good cause: as soon as they are finished using you for your votes and your support, they will sell you and your faith for a song. They have no need of you anymore and you will never fit into their end game. In fact, if you think the war on Christianity is bad, you haven’t even seen a glimmer of the real war that will certainly come against us like a firestorm. The frustration and the hatred that has been stirred up among the classes, races, and genders will eventually explode into violence on a large scale. What is going on with the black communities, stirred up by professional anarchists backed by left wing or Marxists groups are only looking for an excuse to riot, burn and destroy the system. The ultra rich will not worry but the moderately well off folks might start thinking about leaving before the anarchists use them for target practice.
Thank you, Christian and Jewish leaders, socialists and Marxists everywhere (yes the new Marxist Democratic party mostly) for this Brave New World. You will have to be pretty darn brave to live in it the way things are going.
All Along the Watchtower 
Principalities and powers spring to mind…I’d recommend “I Believe in Satan’s Downfall” by Michael Green.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Nicholas. I notice it is out of print but will keep my eyes open for it at the library. Principalities and powers do indeed spring to mind.
LikeLike
Yes, it’s an old book. I’m not sure of the denomination of the author, but I think he’s Anglo-Catholic. He speaks favourably of Catholicism, but sounds like an outsider.
LikeLiked by 1 person
He is an evangelical Anglican I have read many of his books.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, they said he was Anglican.
LikeLike
it should be Jesus Christ, first, last and always. And if there is any room to squeeze in something else it should be Mary and the Saints. God bless. Ginnyfree.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think lifting sanctions against Cuba very smart. If you open doors and passageways to and from Cuba, that reduces regime control in bits and pieces and starts a collapse of the regime. They won’t be able to control the snowball effect and megabanks and megacorps presence will also expand opportunity and less government control of sovereignty(just like all countries including US). The sanctions affect only the population. Regime leaders have all the luxuries imaginable. If regime locks itself in or we lock it out, this only strengthens regime ability to control and repress.
“What is going on with the black communities, stirred up by professional anarchists backed by left wing or Marxists groups are only looking for an excuse to riot, burn and destroy the system. ”
The looters and burners are criminals and thugs. This is shown by what they burn and loot: mostly the liquor stores. The black citizens that lose their jobs because of it are more angry at them than the unjust system. However, there may be silent approval of rioting as black Americans are frustrated and may say to themselves “This is the only way to get the system to listen” out of exasperation. In Miami there were 7 “bad” shootings by cops of black men still under alleged “internal” investigation and all independent or alternative government agencies have been blocked by police and officials. THE INCIDENTS HAPPENED 3 YEARS AGO! I can understand why people would be using matches and gas cans but should be directed at law enforcement structures not grocery stores(this is not to suggest I advocate such) but if you are going to get crazy and violent direct it at the evil.
The Christian Right’s desire to codify their moral values as law infringes separation of church and state. Distasteful values and secular protocols may be considered sins but they are not crimes in the secular world. Jesus never went to the Roman Senate or Jewish Sanhedrin to lobby for legislation. His call is by conversion not politics.
Servus, I remember you were repulsed by some of these ideas in previous conversation and I agree with you that as Christians we cannot merely turn our backs on things we consider evil. But our avenue is the pulpit not the voting booth. Adultery is a sin not a crime. Divorce may be considered a sin but it is not a crime. Such as murder would be a sin and a crime. If it’s in the voting booth we approach theocracy the antithesis of democracy. I don’t think would would want Islam running the country if they became a religious majority. That is the way people with clear desire for separation of church and state feel about the impositions of the Christian Right.
Matter of fact I think elected officials should be sworn in with hand on US Constitution not the Bible. All Christians should govern themselves with Christian values but the Constitution is the law and what allows us to live as Christians in the first place . The New Testament is God’s law. The Constitution is the country’s law. Often the two are not congruent and we are best off keeping it that way.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Carl you might appreciate this article/book extract from Greg Boyd:
‘The Problem with Mixing Church & Government’
http://reknew.org/2015/04/the-problem-with-mixing-church-government/?utm_source=Website+Signup&utm_campaign=0596deb6fb-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0de6226b5c-0596deb6fb-42046169
Hope the link works it would be nightmare to type!
LikeLike
Interesting link, Rob – it works fine 🙂
LikeLike
C, can you retrieve Carl’s comment. I was answering it and it just disappeared. Don’t know how to retrieve it. Maybe you can figure it out.
LikeLike
It should be there now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I will read it. Thanks.
LikeLike
Read the article. Succinct and sensible essay.
LikeLike
So it seems that anarchy is OK if they burn and destroy what ‘you’ consider corrupt and disregard the rule of law. I am more of a mind to tell the people the truth: that they have the right and ability to fire these corrupt political slave owners who perpetually have kept them in poverty.
As to Cuba and their influence on the now Marxist leaning progressives of our own country will do us and them some good. It hasn’t really worked yet . . . the closest would be our opening markets with China who now wish to use their new found wealth and influence to enslave the world . . . either by making their yuan the currency of international trade or by boots on the ground since much of their wealth is being used to fuel their increase in military might.
Never forget that Cuba wished to annihilate us not that many years ago with Nuclear holocaust. They deserve no friendship until they themselves have a revolution that overthrows their oppressors . . . which are not us.
LikeLike
About an hour ago re death of Freddie Gray all 6 cops involved were arrested for charges including 2nd degree murder, first and second degree manslaughter, criminal negligence, misconduct in office, no just cause for arrest, failure to follow police protocol et al. This criminal mistreatment has been going on for decades in the black communities all over America and the anger and rage is justified. IF VIOLENCE WAS JUSTIFIED IN DUMPING TEA IN BOSTON HARBOR 250 YEARS AGO OVER A TWO PENNY TAX THE OUTRAGE OVER INJUSTICE IS A THOUSAND TIMES MORE JUSTIFIED(paraphrased intent of William Lloyd Garrison 1830). The fact it has gone on for decades even after the erasure of Jim Crow laws is disgraceful and contrary to belief that all men are created equal and should have equal protection under the law.
freddie Gray has not died in vain as denial of civil rights and crimnal persecution(and unjust prosecution) must happen no more in America.
The Cuban people have done nothing to hurt America. They don’t even have any power in their own country and government policies have no authorship from them. The Cuban Revolution of 1959 was against American political imperialism and against an American capitalism that held Cuba as a colony for exploitation .
I would not agree that the left in American politics is Marxist except to recognize that all political dynamic is driven by economic dynamic as Hegel and Marx presented. Social security, medicare, free public education – The USA is indeed a socialist democracy with regulated capitalism in fact.
LikeLiked by 1 person
So, democratic politicians, who the predominantly black police force in Baltimore works for and is controlled by, has been a bunch of thugs that took their frustrations out their own people? The police work at the discretion of the politicians and they can be changed. There is a legal way to ‘fix’ it if it needs fixing: vote the bums out. But vigilante justice without a hearing is not the American way. If you want to live in a country that chooses anarchy over law that is what you will get. When they pull you out of your car and kill you for the color of your skin or because they want your money and your car you might wish the police were in the vicinity to stop them. These democrat made ghettos are looking more and more like the old west. Best lock and load if you want to increase your chances of survival.
Indeed, exploitation did take place in Cuba and we as a nation should have stopped this from happening. We have not changed. Nike and Apple are using slave labor to produce cheaper products and to enhance profits. Until the people stop buying their products it won’t stop. But two wrongs don’t make a right and I am not looking to pump US dollars into the Cuban economy run by despots who will use our money to increase their hold on the people, buy more weapons and to try to undermine the US at every turn. If you think this going to turn the Castro brothers and their successors around you are sadly mistaken. The sanctifying of people like Che Guevara, the butcher, has already become a hero to the young in this country. What next? Hitler? Mao? Lenin? Stalin?
LikeLike
Excellent points and legitimate.
LikeLike
Carl, although it doesn’t excuse alleged police brutality, it is known that Freddy Grey is both a drug user and dealer. He wasn’t a lily black citizen.
LikeLike
Yes, does not excuse. In most cities everyone knows who the gang bangers are, both police and law abiding citizens. In Miami police spot these guys and pick them up with some manufactured probable cause to “clean up the street”. But in this case they had no probable cause. Do we arrest the bad guys even when not engaged in criminal activity? I do get your point David. My children and grandchildren have survived 5 drive-by shootings in Miami. I want the perps off the street too but we gotta do it the constitutional way. Whenever the cuffs go on, the Constitution enlivens itself . If 6 cops involved, that’s vigilante police work. I cannot attest to the character of Freddie Gray but one study shows that about half the black males in America have been arrested at least once. Does that sound reasonable? Seems to be a “let’s round a few up tonight” game. How do they get a job with a record ? My teenage son and l I lived in a black/Hispanic/Haitian neighborhood . Only white kid on the football team. The cops stopped my son regularly wanting to know what his white butt was doing walking here. Well, we lived there. Never probable cause for confrontation and if the boy gets angry and mouthy, the cuffs go on. I’m tired of that .
LikeLike
That there is something badly broken in our politics, on both sides of the Atlantic, is clear. The old Left and Right dichotomy no longer represents a reality: as you say here, the ‘poor’ are richer than they have ever been, and too often are the client group to which a Left, bereft of any really serious moral purpose, appeals for votes and to which it refers to establish credentials as high-minded. Its socially liberal agenda has captured our political elites, but not the middle-aged and older, who feel left out and isolated – which is why they turn to nationalist movements in Europe, and the Tea Party in the USA; this is a howl of protest. But the Right, whose economically liberal agenda has been victorious, has also failed. The economic results of globalisation have benefitted a small group, but left wages for the many flat, or even declining; social mobility is at an all-time post-war low. Our leaders, obsessed with power, offer sex, shopping and consumption as alternatives to a vision they, themselves, do not have.
That being said – even-handedly, I hope (we’ve had a minimum wage here for years, and all the doom-mongering stuff has not happened), the question of where Christians stand in all of this is interesting.
That some of our leaders should align themselves with those who advocate measures of social amelioration is natural – as natural as the fact that many of those lack the economic literacy to see the limitations of some of ‘progressive’ notions; money needs to be made before it can be redistributed, and if you can’t make it, it can’t be redistributed. Just as, too often, in the past, the Church seemed to align itself with the forces of established wealth (one only has to look at its record in Latin America before the 1960s, and even after that, when it supported regimes like that of Pinochet), now it tends toward an alignment with a new, ‘progressive’ establishment; just as the first did not end well, so too will it be with the second alliance.
Our job as Christians is to bring a different perspective. The forces of globalisation have ripped the heart of of too many communities and replaced them with a vacuum demagogues like Obama can fill; people deprived of hope are easy meat when someone promises to ‘dare to hope’. The Church needs to get back to stressing traditional Catholic social teaching, which isn’t comfortable for those wedded to free-market capitalism.
So, very thought-provoking my friend – and here were some of the ones provoked 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes the problems are complex and yet there is the feeling that the Church is playing Adam and Eve while the Political Elites are busy playing the Serpent. The fruit is always the same . . . corrupting our minds and our nature. The results, or ends, are evil while the fruit always looks so enticing and good.
The progressives run to the cliff to plunge to death within their own lifetime whilst the conservative republicans are meandering to the same end in hopes that the plunge will not happen while they or their children are alive . . . but as to the long range results, it still seems to be the cliff for which we are headed.
The people have been fooled into thinking that their salvation is in the government and yet the poorest communities and cities have never had a conservative mayor or representative to congress. But they still have the big lie that is constantly repeated and then they vote in the same people who have enslaved them into an endless cycle of poverty and hopelessness. Why the Church should give their trust over to these same elites and have meetings with the global warming gurus of the UN who have only one solution: abortion, contraception and limiting the number of births in a nation. It is not our form of regulated capitalism that is the culprit for people have thrived in this environment like none other that has ever existed. It is the small, corrupt totalitarian rebels who horde the food etc. and all the power and wealth. Seems the Church could point out the need to root out corruption in government rather than broad brush a truly Catholic use of capital . . . for I am not exactly fond of crony capitalism who corrupt capitalism for their own gains in power and influence. They will play ball with whatever government is able to give them more of what they crave.
As to higher minimum wages: you may not yet had the problems we have with the youth have unemployment levels at about 40% . . . but you may start seeing it as we have. The poor are living on entitlements and feel that the die is cast . . . and in many cases it is . . . because the politicians gain by keeping them poor but the business owners do not. The small business is what would give them a way out. The large mega corporations don’t get affected. They can get around this. They got rid of people to pump your gas and turned the local gas station into a mini mart that supplies gas . . . getting rid of those many low paying starter jobs. In the future they will replace many more jobs by automation and robots (robotics now coming to age) that will eliminate the need for most unskilled labor (plus they don’t steal from the owner or goof off during working hours).
We could go on and on, but this reply is getting a bit long. Emotions run high on many of these and obviously the progressives are at the moment winning and the underclass as well as the middle class are losing: we have regulated and taxed most of them into a class where they now have more trouble ascending to another class by their own efforts. It will get harder rather than easier if we continue on this path.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Part of the problem is that things change. The kind of capitalism we saw in the 50s and even 60s is no longer the predominant model. It created an economy which provided good jobs for the middle classes, which allowed the spread of home ownership, and which spread prosperity wider than ever; but the current version does none of those things, or at least none of them effectively. There seems zero sign that (to me) a pretty undifferentiated political elite care about anything except power, and they will compound with those with those interests which will fund them to secure that power. In that sense, people are right to be angry – the promises of the post-war era are fading. That allows the left to point to genuine problems and come up with bogus solutions, as another way of getting itself into power.
Governments are not the whole of the answer, but the notion that they can’t be part of it seems to me untrue, as well. Governments set tax rates, they create (or destroy) the conditions in which jobs can be created, and they have the power to encourage groups to help those left behind. Instead of doing these things, they do almost everything to destroy opportunity in the names of some spurious ideological conviction.
The Church should be emphasising the message of Catholic social teaching, and calling the eiltes to a sense of moral responsibility.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree. The over-regulation of markets and of businesses has allowed businesses that should have failed get bailed out by the use of the people’s tax money. Those who should be prospering are being shackled by the elite . . . they are playing favorites with their highest donors. So the system has indeed become corrupt. It is amazing how the government banks and regulatory agencies is stuffed full of former Goldman Sachs employees. So it is a wonder to me that this same group of crooks and scammers would be supported in their agendas by the Church: the same folks that have made the poor to suffer an the economy to stagnate etc. The banking crisis, the bailouts, the favoritism to supporters is proof enough for me that these political elites have no interest in making things better for the overall good of the people. The Church should be an adversary not an ally to such regimes. After all, that is how they actually view us . . . and enemies need not be mollified and worked with to do more of the same.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Indeed, it is so. It was not, after all, the Marxists who ran the banks which almost brought the economy of the Western world down. There is something deeply rotten in the symbiosis between our political elites (who seem to be indistinguishable) and their corporate paymasters. The political left has no answers, nor does the political right, and in order to conceal their own lack of conviction, our politicians snap and snarl at each other through the media in the hope we won’t notice they are utterly hollowed out and lack integrity.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Indeed so. The Fed, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are all run by the untouchables. And why the people, through the Congress, doesn’t even have access to the Fed’s books. A secret government inside our government that we seem to go along with. It is a mystery and looks more and more like we have some puppet masters running things rather than our elected officials who only go to work day after day, keep their heads down, and play ball with these folks so that they too might be admitted into the inner sanctum.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is like Oz – when you get behind the curtain, there’s nothing there.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think George Soros and a few others are skulking about . . . though they won’t admit it. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Soros is an empty shell – he can make as much money as he likes, but there are no pockets in shrouds.
LikeLiked by 1 person
True for the long run . . . but in the meanwhile he has already ruined and overthrown nations economically as a mere experiment to see if he could do it. There is probably no person on earth who is a morally bankrupt and is probably the poster-boy of men like Obama.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I saw on the news that he’s being hit with a $7bn tax bill – that will be a good one to watch.
LikeLike
Is that the money he owes to Texas? Pocket change but he’ll make them sweat it out before they see a dime.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I dare say some lawyers will get their kids through Yale on it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
No doubt. The carrion eaters usually get their fill has well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Here’s the link http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/05/01/george-soros-reportedly-could-face-up-to-7b-tax-bill-after-delaying-payment-for/
LikeLike
Ah, this is a bigger one than the law suit in Texas which I read about recently but don’t remember the amount. Seems he plays the system for whatever its worth. I love these loopholes invented for the politicians friends and benefactors, don’t you?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, indeed – and odd the way they get away with it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You mean like Hillary’s cattle futures ‘luck’ and the Clinton’s little foundation piggy bank?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, all those little oddities.
LikeLike
Agree, completely, although noting that the role of the government, (especially the central governments) has gotten entirely too large, and they are eating our seed corn, actually impeding our economies now. When we work most of a third of a year (or more) to pay for our governments, it is out of balance, that money would work better in private charities or at least in local, accountable government. Nobody but the ‘elites’ have any real influence on Washington, or likely Westminster either).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting when that era ends as well, C. It coincides with the ideas of Alinsky and Coward-Piven began getting taught in colleges across America . . . Hillary and Obama both being adherents of this strategy to ‘transform’ America. Lest we not forget that it was also during this period that LBJ began his war on poverty and started paying people for doing nothing . . . the seed that has now sprouted into the mega-entitlement culture that has about bankrupted America and has enslaved a large portion of our country in perpetual poverty.
I guess we deserve what we have received . . . from Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter to hiring a Community Organizer to run the most powerful nation on the planet.
LikeLike
SERVUS “mega-entitlement culture ”
Yes this is a cancer breaking this country. But at $8 an hour millions qualify for entitlements. These are working people not mooches. But that mess adds up to a few pennies compared to corporate welfare. We’d all be better off if we were not spending 2 billion dollar$ a week in Afghanistan alone. That country alone produces 80% of worlds opium making then the foundation of the heroin trade. Another American foreign policy failure.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Carl how long do you suppose the owners of these McDonald’s will continue to do business as normal and sell a hamburger to the poor for a price they can afford? As soon as they have a robot that will flip the burgers and dispense them to the people all these jobs will disappear. It is only a matter of time. That is the problem; entitlements. Stop them, and people will be glad to get a job doing anything. You can help people who are unable to work (mentally or physically but this is madness. Maybe they could get another job if they didn’t spend all their welfare money on tattoos, drugs and booze. Who wants to hire these people? Would you as a business owner take a chance of hiring one of these hip hoppers for your business and pay them 8 bucks? I wouldn’t do it for this sum and I’m certainly wouldn’t do it for $12 per hour. The employee has to be able to offer a service an employer wants to buy. And the employer will then be happy to buy their labor.
LikeLike
First, Carl, I agree with much of what you say here. On Cuba, it is overdue, the only real reason for it’s imposition was the Soviet Union’s attempt to colonize, and that ended long ago, so you’re right, piecemeal it. As to the rest, Well, arson and rioting is against the law, so enforce it, on individuals, that’s the system, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t help them address the problems in the city but, Servus is also correct, they’ve been voting for corrupt politicians for years, they’re going to have o do a lot of their own heavy lifting, sadly.
Rob’s link is outstanding.
I wonder, C, and I speak mostly of America here, the UK problems look similar but enough different that I don’t understand enough. In many ways it looks like the old New Deal blocks are breaking up, and perhaps the parties as well. Whoever it was a few years ago that spoke of the the country party had some right, I think. It pays to remember that the Republican Party has never been a conservative party, it is in large measure the old Whig party, the party of big business, not main street. Lincoln was, after all, a railroad lawyer, working for government subsidies, and with Senator Douglass’ help, he got them, It lost its way rather badly in the aftermath of the civil war and hasn’t recovered yet.
But the democrats are increasingly also the party of big (Corporatist) business, and I thin we’re going to see a schism in the Republican party, likely over immigration, which is likely to be a large issue again. I say that because it’s becoming a wedge in both parties as the ‘elites’ try to increase immigration of low and medium skill workers, to the direct harm of American workers. Watch who aligns with (and against) Senator Sessions, who has been talking about this a lot.Alignments are shifting, where it ends, well it’s much too soon to tell, but much is in flux.
It is an unalloyed good, I think, to elect real Christians (Jews, maybe Moslems and others as well) to office, in other words, people with non situational ethics and morals but, it’s just as true as it’s alway been that one cannot legislate morals, they must be taught. I have no more desire to live in a Lutheran theocracy than a do a Muslim one. There really are two kingdoms and deal with each in it’s own sphere.
And there a few thought off the top of my head. 🙂
LikeLike
NEO “are eating our seed corn”
Artful imagery to characterize the concept.
LikeLike
Thanks, Carl. oldest example in the book though.
LikeLike
Anybody got anymore books to recommend?
I recommend a book by God, penned by Isaiah, called Isaiah.
LikeLike
Well, Helen Schucman, through automatic writing, penned another book by God called A Course in Miracles but I wouldn’t recommend it since the Catholic Church does not accept it – though you might like it. But Isaiah is accepted and a very good choice. Thanks for the head’s up. I particularly like the Douay Rheims version and the New Revised Standard Catholic Edition to get the most out of it.
LikeLike
Im not a fan of the doughy reims, but it has most of the gospel. It has the plan of salvation.
the catholic bible, with those 7 books? Those 7 books are obvious frauds. How do I know? I know god personally. We do our rounds. Too bad if it pisses you off.
LikeLike
Bosco, who is the fraud here? Your true character as a charlatan is revealed in this vile comment.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Servus, good post! So many problems that as Barnhardt says will take a civil or world war to even start to correct. Rush quoted the other day that 22 trillion had been spend on the ‘war on poverty’ since 1964 in America. Guess what? All governmental agencies are still screaming for more!
Will you explain to me why you and Carl talk of US exploitation of Cuba? We, the US freed Cuba from Spain. We, the US tried to free Cuba from Castro. Castro nationalized all US assets in one fell swoop. Then Castro lets the Soviets use Cuba as a launching pad. So, help me out, please.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Agree with all of the things you mention about Cuba but you do leave out the point Carl was talking about which created the crisis that brought Fidel into power: company’s like United Fruit were the crony capitalists that worked with Batista to absolutely make him and the elites rich and get crops for cane growers at a cheap price. Exploitation did occur but the people were still in better shape before the revolution than they were under Fidel.
LikeLike
Servus, this post brings two things to my mind which I just heard recently. First, there is a book called “Politicizing the Bible: The Roots of Historical Criticism and the Secularization of Scripture 1300-1700” by Scott Hahn and Benjamin Wiker. The book may or may not be relevant to what you have written here (I can’t say since I haven’t read the book) so I merely mention it. I guess it is a pretty dense read and may be beyond my comprehension level.
Also, the prominent democratic candidate for president reportedly said in recent a speech at a women’s organization, “deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed” for the sake of giving women access to “reproductive health care and safe childbirth.” How does she intend to change religious beliefs? By legislating them? I fear that only the politically correct so-called Christians will be allowed to follow their faith freely. The orthodox and traditionalists will be ostracized, publicly scourged and humiliated (already happening of course), and, I fear, outlawed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t fear the backlash, Grandpa, but the gutlessness of most Christians that will simply go along with whatever happens. They are already putting great pressure on the churches to stop speaking of things that are not politically correct; and therefore liberal progressive’s scientific proof and truth. Their ideology is their religion and they are more dogmatic than any church. Heretics will be fined, jailed or removed in some manner. They are zealots. I only wish we had Christian zealots with as much fervor.
The book sounds interesting. I will try to find a review and see if it is something that might be a good read. Thanks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Don’t know if any of you have ever been able to visit Cuba. I had a very good holiday there with my wife some years ago. The people were wonderful and friendly.
I was reading a biography of Castro with a large picture of him on the dust cover. The reaction from every local that saw it was, “Do you like him? If so, please take him home with you!”
Nevertheless his invasion and of conquest Cuba starting with I think 23 men landing in the rust bucket boat ‘Gran-ma’ must have led to a popular uprising at the time and to have indicated a very corrupt system.
Glad some of you liked the link its an interesting site that I follow.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The oldest story in the book Rob, I guess; corrupt governments and greed. You overthrow them and they are replaced with something even worse. Getting it right and keeping it right requires real vigilance.
Yes the link was excellent Rob. A good read.
LikeLike
You guys either forget or don’t know, that I have a degree in political science, I usually don’t butt in on political debates.Because they are useless. The US was raping Cuba. The Us govt sponsored prostitution and all vice with gambling. Castro and his boys ran the US out.Same with Mao. He ran the western powers out. You, we , westerners think we are the world police. Well, we were, but not anymore.
LikeLike
Greg comes up with some provoking material in the American Evangelical situation. When he preached the series ‘Myth of a Christian Nation’ (on which the link commented) at the church where he is the teaching pastor he began losing members. Sticking with the theme and his convictions he eventually lost 2 ½ thousand of the 5k member church.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It doesn’t surprise me. Many seem to think that we can create a heaven on earth. Nothing wrong with trying to instill values in this world and trying to rid the world of the most objectionable evils like abortion etc. but one must understand that like the poor, the evil of the world will always be with us as well.
LikeLike
142 THE NEW CANON LAW
537. In order to participate in the rights, privileges, indul
gences and other spiritual favors of a society, it is required that a
person be validly received into the society according to the sta
tutes proper to the society, and that one has not legally been de
prived of membership. (Canon 692.)
LikeLike
Can I ask why you are quoting a book written in 1918 to help with the changes made to the Canon Law which was promulgated in 1917? Do you have a point? Do you know what Canon 692 in the old Canon Law was speaking about? Have you any idea of the context? Are you still taking acid perhaps?
LikeLike
The archbishop of St. Louis said: “Heresy and unbelief are crimes; and in
Christian countries, as in Italy and Spain, for instance, where all people
are Catholics, and where the catholic reigion is an essential part of the
law of the land, they are punished as crimes.” … “Every cardinal,
archbishop, and bishop in the Catholic Church takes an oath of allegiance to
the pope, in which occur the following words” “Heretic, schismatics, and
rebels to our said lord (the pope), or his aforesaid successors, I will to
my utmost persecute and oppose.” [Josiah Strong, “Our Country,” ch. 5, pars
2-4.]
The religion of peace.
oh wait, that’s Islam.CC is the religion of “kill them all”
LikeLike
Same question: What is your point quoting from a book written for the American Missionary Home Society well over 100 years ago by an anti-Catholic bigot? Did you actually read the book or are you simply cutting and pasting bits that you find on your anti-Catholic websites without bothering to understand what it is that you are copying? There must be a lot of really good drugs in your part of California, Bosco and it seems you are trying them all.
From Wikipedia on Rev. Josiah Strong (who preached ‘social justice’) we see this about the book that you quote: “The “Crisis” portion of the text described the seven “perils” facing the nation, namely – Catholicism, Mormonism, Socialism, Intemperance, Wealth, Urbanization, and Immigration. Conservative Protestants argued that missionaries should spend their time preaching the Gospel; they allowed for charitable activity, but argued that it did not actually save souls,” Perhaps this is one of your ancestors, Bosco? He would have made a good Klansman if only he hated the black people as much as he hated the Catholics.
LikeLike
What exactly is wrong with what the archbishop stated? The only criticism of his condemnation of heretics to the national religion and support for their incurring criminal penalty, that could be leveled is one that presupposes the virtue of Liberalism and Modernity. The Catholic Church, traditionally, has rejected both and rightly so.
LikeLike
Q: What’s wrong?
A1: The model of both The Inquisition and the Islamic State.
A2: Jesus theology “My kingdom is not of this world”, “Peter put away your sword, those who live by the sword will die by it”.
LikeLike
To imply a commonality between the Inquisition and the Islamic State would indicate a profound misunderstanding of one or both phenomena.
To take the passage you cite and perform some eisegesis on it to condemn the Popes that have prosecuted heresy seems at least to be anti-Catholic, and in fact could be drawn in parallel to the worst excesses of Protestantism. The Church was not ‘living by the sword’ when it punished destructive elements within the Faithful. It was exercising good judicial judgment. If we took your complaint to its logical conclusion, then the Christian cannot be in favor of ANY judicial reprisal for crimes. To do so would be to “live by the sword”.
I am not Catholic, but I will side with over a thousand years of Catholic scholarship and precedent on this matter. It is just to treat heresy and blasphemy as crimes under civic law, with which the Church was intrinsically involved in up until the ‘Enlightenment’.
LikeLike
Jesus did not defend Himself or His truth in the manner that you advocate or defend, neither did he teach His disciples to do so. To corrupt His teaching and example and claim that violence against so called heretics is a viable expression of His kingdom is a blasphemy against our Lord Himself and distorts the gospel of the kingdom He established.
It seems that Augustine was one of the first to propose the use of violence against Christian opponents of his views interpreting the end of a parable of our Lord “compel them to come in” to justify such violence.
I would rather stand in support of our Lord’s own words than those of a fourth century theologian.
Violence has been used by Catholic, Orthodox and Protestants against fellow believers, each attributing heresy to one another. It has never advanced the credibility of Christian faith and has brought shame on all those who resort to it.
It seems your support for such an approach is no longer (thank God) the stance of the Catholic church and indeed the Pope has made apology for his church’s past treatment of fellow Christians. Would that other denominations would follow the Pope’s example and even go further by renouncing former practices as error. Better still for all to renounce violence as a tool against divergent theological views in as itself as one of the worst expression of heresy as it opposes our cardinal duty of love towards one another.
The only comparison I was drawing between the Inquisition and IS was the criminalisation of religious error, making it subject to prosecution and punishment by the state.
Prior to Constantine Christians were at times persecuted by Jews and the pagan state, subsequently the larger part of the church became a state sponsored agency and violence was employed by Christians against Christians.
What a disgrace!
LikeLike
You haven’t addressed the fundamental point, which is in your view, how can the Christian support ANY punishment of ANY kind of civil crime. I assume you view theft as a crime that should be punished by law. The only difference between us is that I see heresy as a crime more serious than theft.
Felix Sarda Y Salvany, a notable Catholic author from Spain, said that the gravity of a sin if often determined by who it is directed against. For instance, we judge the rape and murder of children to be far more severe than the rape and murder of adults. Sarda stated that sins made directly against God were of a far greater gravity than those directed against man.
What in your view is more serious? If I steal a loaf of bread, or if I rage against my God, and profane His name? If you think the second is in fact more serious a sin then how can you possibly support a civic penalty for the former and not the latter?
The religion does not change. It does not modernize. It is only betrayed to outside pressures to ‘conform’ to what is deemed ‘politically acceptable’. You seem to have fallen into the trap of thinking that the last 50 years of church leaders are somehow more ‘enlightened’ than the previous 1950 years of church leaders.
I find it amazing that Catholics can pledge their allegiance to post-‘Enlightenment’
values considering the ‘Enlightenment’ was a reign of terror unleashed particularly harshly against Catholics themselves. The very people who first asserted that the Church ought to relinquish its political authority, were the first to burn churches and murder priests during the French Revolution and all that followed.
And so, Christianity has reaped this bitter fruit from the betrayal of the old ways, Christendom no longer exists. Christians have lost their majority in an entire continent, not due to invasion by Islamic armies, but due to their own weakness. This has rendered us utterly powerless to even protect out brethren in the Middle East.
Let us review what has occurred since the Church relinquished its political authority. More people were butchered in the last century than in the previous 19 combined. Millions dead at the hands of SECULAR regimes. The brutality meted out since the Catholic Church reduced its sphere of control to within the Vatican walls has dwarfed any supposed brutality committed by the Church in the past. And this goes for all Christians. Do you think the 20 million-fold savagery of the Soviet Union would have been committed had the Czar and the Church remained in power? Do you think Hitler could have gained influence for his insane eugenics theories in the Holy Roman Empire? Not a chance.
I am against brutality as much as you are, but I recognize that if this is a goal, then even by that purely utilitarian standard, the Catholic Church has a far better record than the atheistic political systems that emerged in its wake. And yes, that does include the ‘Liberal Democracies’ like the United States, whom I’m sure you don’t need to be reminded, have the blood of millions of unborn children on their hands. The Church should wield political authority, and that includes being able to criminalize heretical sects that threaten the faith. That’s not to say I want Protestants warring against Catholic. It would be better to have Catholic states, and Protestant states, each under their own religious law. But within the Catholic state, Catholic law applies.
LikeLike
Christ kingdom is not of this world.
Your reference to 1950 years of opinion / practice is in error the church had no political power for the first 325 yrs. The government according to Paul has the power of the sword not the church. Christ never co-opted government or encouraged His church do so in order to enforce His will.
Blasphemy is a greater sin than theft but it is only a crime in regions controlled by Islam where Christians are falsely so accused – we see where that takes us.
God created man with a free will and the ability to disobey and He will deal with sin.
Crime is another matter and is the province of the state.
LikeLike
The following link sets out my view:
http://reknew.org/2015/04/the-problem-with-mixing-church-government/?utm_source=Website+Signup&utm_campaign=0596deb6fb-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0de6226b5c-0596deb6fb-42046169
LikeLike
Sorry if I don’t answer things. Zthere is something serious wrong with this computer. Your catholic god must be looking out for you. many of my messages evaporate befor I send them or just wont let me send them. Now the screen is all messed up. Ed wont let the boys touch his business computer anymore. All they do is pirate music and look at naked girls.
Anyway, my point is, the CC is a beast. A government. It has laws and a jail and a court and it punished people for not obeying it. that’s not gods religion. its a monster.
LikeLike
Pray to Our Lady of Good Success to both fix your computer and your mixed up head so that you are not the beast you think Christ’s Church (His Bride) is. By your way of thinking God is a beast because He punishes those who sin with Hellfire.
LikeLike