Does God Exist?

Time for Christians to Start Re-Populating

Happy Easter, He is Risen, Alleluia!

Lent Begins

"Remember man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return."
~Gen 3:19

Christians, Elections, and the Pro-Life Ploy

by G.C. Dilsaver


Leaders in the Catholic and other conservative pro-life churches are almost making it mandatory this presidential election that the faithful vote for McCain or, more to the point, vote against the pro-abortion Obama. But is this single-issue pro-life exhortation really in harmony with authentic Christian tradition? Are these leaders really showing that they are of the mettle of their predecessors, from the Apostles to St. Thomas Beckett to Cardinal Mindszenty? Or instead are these Christian leaders more aligned with those predecessors who all too often compromised the faith and kowtowed to political power, the world, the flesh, and the devil? This essay advances that it is the latter.

The Pro-Life Ploy

Indeed, the pro-life ploy is perfectly demonic: in holding out the illusionary possibility of destroying an evil an even greater evil is fed. But what can be more evil than killing babies? It is that which is the cause of this killing and myriad other evils. Indeed, as atrocious as abortion is, it is nonetheless a symptom. Our nation is not vicious because it allows abortion, rather it allows abortion because the nation is vicious.

It is good that church leaders are finally showing some spine in regards to politics and the crime of abortion, but this is neither remarkable nor prophetic. In doing so they are merely reacting to the most gruesome and sensational symptom of a systemic evil. But tragically the election of another Republican will not take care of the symptom; at the very best (don’t hold your breath) it will remand it back to the states. Abortion will remain, legal or illegal. However, it is certain that voting for either the Republican or Democratic candidate will strengthen the systemic evil that is the current Republican-Democratic political axis, and the powers that manipulate that government. Also be certain that the last thing the national government wants to do is remand anything back to the states, much less to the community, church, or family. Indeed, Roe v. Wade is the rotten fruit of the Federal government’s usurpation of state’s rights.

The systemic evil that must be primarily combated is the rise of the most omnipotent State in history, both on the domestic and international level. Under this State, and abided by mind-boggling advances in technology, totalitarianism has the potential of reaching an apex of power and control undreamed of by past despots. The future is ominous indeed, for already this State contravenes its own constitution. Already this State ignores international law in its kidnapping and torture of suspects. Already this State justifies its attack of other countries under the immoral concept of pre-emptivity. Already this State has free license to spy on its citizens. Already this State claims the right to intrude itself into the family, even to the extent of confiscating children. Already this State imprisons 1 in every 100 of its citizens, a quarter of the world’s entire prison population. In short, already this State is fascist, viewing itself as omnipotent and beholding to nothing.

While ultimately this unprecedented totalitarian State is an international-united-states, domestically it is the United States of America and is represented by the Republican-Democratic political axis. These political parties are but two sides of the same ticket; a tag team that take turns every four or eight years beating up on the hapless American populace who nonetheless continue to cheer them on with "USA, USA" thinking these parties are actually wrestling each other. Yes, the Democrats and Republicans are two sides to the same ticket: and that ticket is a one-way ticket to fascism. It is the ticket to the attempted destruction of any remnant of authentic Christianity and a ticket to the reign of an antichrist, if not the antichrist. Supporting this regime, this Republican-Democratic axis of evil, is not pro-life; it is pro-death, both physically and spiritually. It will not end abortion, but quite the contrary, it will metastasize the culture of death, killing the bodies of its opponents and the souls of its proponents.

The urgent case in point shows an example of this culture of death. One would think U.S. pro-lifers would care about the Iraqi unborn just as much as they care about other unborn babies. A baby in-utero is neither Christian nor Moslem, neither American nor Iraqi. In Iraq how many unborn have died along with the millions of civilians that have been killed or maimed by the USA’s destruction of infrastructure, aerial bombing, and depleted uranium bombs. These depleted uranium bombs also have the added "military" advantage of causing spontaneous abortions and birth defects. However, I’ve yet to hear one single denouncement of this from the "traditional Catholic" pulpits I frequent, and only extremely rarely from the "Christian pro-lifers" I encounter. Indeed, the pro-life movement’s new found darling, Mrs. Palin, is silent on the Iraqi special needs children debilitated by our special bombs. Of course, Bomb-Bomb-Iran McCain couldn't care less. He is the same fellow who bombed innocent civilians in North Vietnam when Nixon decided to stop risking our own soldier’s lives and concentrate our military efforts on terrorist blanket bombing of North Vietnam population centers. Anyone that supports a candidate that gleefully looks forward to the bombing of innocent civilians (born or unborn, Christian or Moslem) in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and the devil knows where, is not pro-life, and surely not a good Christian!

The Two Party Axis of Evil

"Vote pro-life." If only the battle between good and evil was so simple. But it’s not, for evil is deceptive and insidious. When one becomes myopic and single-issue oriented one is easily hoodwinked, for one’s field of vision is already curtailed. Indeed, he usually becomes blinded to his own personal issues, especially those that require real courage to confront.

Christian pro-life leaders are right, for aside from all the other issues, right or wrong Obama advocates, his abortion stance makes it a very simple and closed case: a Catholic or other pro-life Christian cannot vote for him or his running mate, the apostate Catholic Biden. So it is a no-brainer that one can’t vote for Obama, but it takes only a bit more brains (maybe a bit-of-brains should be a poll requirement) or a smidgen of true Christian spirit to see that one can’t vote for McCain either. An orthodox Christian must hold that voting for any overtly pro-abortion candidate is intrinsically evil. But so is voting for a totalitarian warmonger like McCain, though it seems that only wise or authentic or uncompromising Christians realize this.

The Christian single-issue advocates are in effect, if not always in intent, minimalists and compromisers. What they are urging is what a functional conscience with but the slightest sense of natural law and moral rectitude would urge. These single-issue Christians fail to see the bigger picture, the essence of the evil itself, because they compartmentalize their faith. It is safer than living that faith out in its totality and it is safely political and issue-oriented rather than dangerously militant and prophetic. Being pro-life becomes militant and prophetic, it becomes heroic and a personal encounter with Christ Crucified, most especially for those who endure a pregnancy that is somehow tragic. But for most of us being pro-life remains an issue, even the banner issue of our conservative politics and our Christian faith.

But Christianity can’t be reduced down to issues or politics. It isn’t liberation theology nor neo-conservatism nor dispensationalism, all of which fall under the category of a semi- or anti-Christianity. Not only is Christianity not merely political, it is not merely moral. You can’t reduce the faith down to a moral code much less one moral position, no matter how serious that position is. To do so does irreparable damage to that faith and, as such, best assures the defeat of the moral position one advocates.

Christianity is much more than politics or morals: it is a fully integral, all pervasive, all transcendent though eminently practical worldview. Both parties on the vast majority of issues, on their all-pervasive worldviews, are incompatible with, indeed hostile to, the Christian worldview. Thus there are many other issues that disallow a Christian from voting for either Obama even if he were pro-life or McCain even though he claims to be pro-life. True, one could be more easily deceived and not know that a vote for McCain is a vote for that which is antithetical to Christianity; but isn’t such deception in keeping with the insidious tactics of the demonic?

Means and Ends

In traditional Christian morality a good end never justifies an evil means, and even if it did an evil means never procures a good end that lasts. A strikingly relevant case in point was the Fascist government in Italy. Mussolini’s state banned abortion, birth control, and homosexuality activity. As a Catholic I hold these things as intrinsically evil and their curtailment good. However, supporters of Italian fascism, even those who supported it primarily for the advancement of these moral issues, are responsible for facilitating a cataclysmic evil. This evil culminated in Catholics sheepishly submitting to national conscription and participation in an unjust and horrifying war. In addition, it led to the subsequent weakening of Catholic culture, morals, and faith in Italy and to the final eradication of European Christendom. The result now being a de-Christianized Italy that fully accepts those very moral issues some sought to address by compromising with the fascist regime. If even a fraction of the effort and sacrifice that was squandered by Italian and other Catholics in World War II had instead been brought to missionary efforts the world would be looking at the rebirth of Christendom rather than its demise.

Moral decadence always comes in the wake of war. Indeed among Catholic countries, erstwhile totalitarian Italy and Spain have the lowest birthrates in the world due to rejection of the Church’s moral teachings on sexuality and marriage. Compare this to the erstwhile victims of totalitarianism, Ireland and France, which still have the highest birthrates. The lesson being, you can’t compromise with a totalitarian regime even for a single issue, for that issue, along with a host of others, will only be gravely exacerbated in the long run.

Catholic weren’t so taken in by the blatantly pagan Nazi movement and the Catholic regions of Germany remained the last bastion of opposition to it. Indeed, Catholics biggest weakness in regards to Nazism was tolerating it because it wasn’t as blatantly atheistic as Communism. Today Catholics and other pro-life Christians are asked by their clergy to tolerate McCain and the Republicans to avoid Obama and the Democrats. This tactic is akin to supporting Communism to destroy Nazism. However in this case the chances of eradicating the evil of abortion are zilch. Just as there was little difference between the Communists and the Nazis there is even littler difference between the American Axis of the Republicans and Democrats. They are both socialist and totalitarian. Indeed, it is a hoax being played on the American people to make them believe there is a difference. Unfortunately for a people raised on TV and other fantasies this hoax is easily perpetrated.

There is a Unifying Issue

We have abortion because of the break-up of the family and the ensuing moral decadence, not because of Roe v. Wade. Why do we have the breakup of the family? It is because the family has been supplanted by the State (and the corporation). In actuality families have absolutely no rights in the United States, indeed, children can be taken from the home on mere suspicions. Yet it is the family that is ever the last bastion against tyranny.

Christians must realize that the evil of abortion, like all moral evils, will only be eradicated when the populace converts from its neo-paganism. This is the job of the Church, not the current government, which itself is neo-pagan in its self-worship. Indeed, there is an indisputable correlation between the waxing of the State and vice and the waning of the family and virtue. As the State becomes more totalitarian its citizens become more vicious and as the citizens become more vicious the State becomes more totalitarian. Thus to end abortion we must defeat the totalitarian State and increase personal virtue. The most effective way of increasing personal virtue is to restore the sacrosanct status of the family. A strengthened family plus a weakened State equals a moral virtuous populace equals less abortion.

Note well that patriotism is not nationalism. Patriotism is a virtue, nationalism is a vice. Love of one’s soil, one’s family, one’s clan, one’s (in some way) homogeneous community is the essence of patriotism. But nationalism, and more so today than ever, undermines all of that. The central principle of traditional Christian social thought is subsidiarity. Subsidiarity holds that all social and governing functions should be implemented at the most local level possible. Thus the locus of authority should be the family, then the neighborhood, and then the community; as opposed to the State. It’s Dad’s responsibility and competency to police Junior not Officer Storm Trooper’s. In other words, the Christian principle of subsidiarity upholds regional rights, community rights, and family rights! It holds that the State (and even the police!) exists to serve the citizen and the family.

This cause of family, of community, and region – of subsidiarity – against the totalitarian State is the closest Christians have to a single issue. More exactly it is the unifying issue because all else flows both in morals and politics from this. Thus Christians should be fighting tooth and nail against the omnipotent national government, which means they should be in militant opposition to either major party, to either Obama or McCain, which are puppets of the State.

The Good Means to the Lasting Ends

The end of abortion is not a quick fix. It has taken 500 years for Christendom to be unraveled completely and it may take another 500 years, if God so wills it, for a new Christendom to fully arise. This rebirth entails a moral and spiritual dynamics, not a political and judicial one. For a Christian the most evil element of abortion is the mortal sin of the perpetrators – not the death of the infant, as sorrowful as that is. It is the spiritual death of this country and the choking out of authentic Christianity that is the essential evil we must confront. It wouldn't matter if all abortions were outlawed tomorrow, abortion would still remain and the evil that emanates from a decadent populace and an omnipotent state would continue to increase.

Fight abortion not by feeding the State leviathan so it can gobble up the saved unborn 18 years later in a draft or sooner in some other form of indentured servitude or indoctrination or incarceration; but rather by strengthening the autonomy of the family, the community, and the natural and sociological regions of this country. Fight abortion by reestablishing the sacrosanct status of the home, which is itself the womb of community and Christianity. Fight it by being uncowed by the police state. Fight it by rejecting legal positivism, the ideology that holds that just because the state declares something to be legal or illegal it is. Fight it by studying truth, especially the ancient truth of our Western Christian civilization. Fight it by becoming virtuous and holy. Fight it by heroically preaching the Gospel in lifestyle and words. Fight it by the prophetic witness even if it includes "civil disobedience." Fight it by being open to life and valuing of all human life even when those lives are deemed to be "enemies" or "non-persons" by the state. Fight it by establishing families united in sacrosanct indissolubility. Fight abortion by fighting the ungodly regime in Washington that rapaciously seeks to supplant both faith and family.

Conclusion

Dear Christians, refuse to offer a pinch of incense by refusing to punch the ballot for either official Republican-Democratic Axis candidates. Refuse to offer tribute to the gods of American socialism, totalitarianism, and imperialism and their incarnation in the president. Resist participation in this sham election. The USA is the most powerful and hence the most dangerous nation in the history of the world. Its potential for evil is absolutely unprecedented. If there is not a reversion to the constitution then totalitarianism is inevitable. If this reversion does not occur the only hope for our country will be in those willing to give their lives as witnesses to Christ against the antichrist of the State. Whoever occupies the Whitened Sepulcher House this January is a tool of the powers and principalities of this world and of the devil. And all who facilitate the legitimacy of this sham election are, at best, the devil’s dupes, at worst his minions.


G.C. Dilsaver is a clinical psychologist and director of Imago Dei Clinic in Harrisburg, PA. Dr. Dilsaver works with therapants both face-to-face and telephonically from throughout the country who are seeking an efficacious alternative to psychotropic medication and mainstream psychotherapy.

Merry Christmas!

The War on Religion

As we celebrate another Yuletide season, it’s hard not to notice that Christmas in America simply doesn’t feel the same anymore. Although an overwhelming majority of Americans celebrate Christmas, and those who don’t celebrate it overwhelmingly accept and respect our nation’s Christmas traditions, a certain shared public sentiment slowly has disappeared. The Christmas spirit, marked by a wonderful feeling of goodwill among men, is in danger of being lost in the ongoing war against religion.

Through perverse court decisions and years of cultural indoctrination, the elitist, secular Left has managed to convince many in our nation that religion must be driven from public view. The justification is always that someone, somewhere, might possibly be offended or feel uncomfortable living in the midst of a largely Christian society, so all must yield to the fragile sensibilities of the few. The ultimate goal of the anti-religious elites is to transform America into a completely secular nation, a nation that is legally and culturally biased against Christianity.

This growing bias explains why many of our wonderful Christmas traditions have been lost. Christmas pageants and plays, including Handel’s Messiah, have been banned from schools and community halls. Nativity scenes have been ordered removed from town squares, and even criticized as offensive when placed on private church lawns. Office Christmas parties have become taboo, replaced by colorless seasonal parties to ensure no employees feel threatened by a “hostile environment.” Even wholly non-religious decorations featuring Santa Claus, snowmen, and the like have been called into question as Christmas symbols that might cause discomfort. Earlier this month, firemen near Chicago reluctantly removed Christmas decorations from their firehouse after a complaint by some embittered busybody. Most noticeably, however, the once commonplace refrain of “Merry Christmas” has been replaced by the vague, ubiquitous “Happy Holidays.” But what holiday? Is Christmas some kind of secret, a word that cannot be uttered in public? Why have we allowed the secularists to intimidate us into downplaying our most cherished and meaningful Christian celebration?

The notion of a rigid separation between church and state has no basis in either the text of the Constitution or the writings of our Founding Fathers. On the contrary, our Founders’ political views were strongly informed by their religious beliefs. Certainly the drafters of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, both replete with references to God, would be aghast at the federal government’s hostility to religion. The establishment clause of the First Amendment was simply intended to forbid the creation of an official state church like the Church of England, not to drive religion out of public life.

The Founding Fathers envisioned a robustly Christian yet religiously tolerant America, with churches serving as vital institutions that would eclipse the state in importance. Throughout our nation’s history, churches have done what no government can ever do, namely teach morality and civility. Moral and civil individuals are largely governed by their own sense of right and wrong, and hence have little need for external government. This is the real reason the collectivist Left hates religion: Churches as institutions compete with the state for the people’s allegiance, and many devout people put their faith in God before their faith in the state. Knowing this, the secularists wage an ongoing war against religion, chipping away bit by bit at our nation’s Christian heritage. Christmas itself may soon be a casualty of that war.

The War on Religion
by Rep. Ron Paul, MD
December 30, 2003

A Worthy Definition of Freedom

The Word of God teaches that the Christian is a free man and should “stand in the freedom which Christ has made him free.” What is meant by Christian freedom? What is freedom in general? We answer: it is not the right and the ability to do as one pleases, but the ability to move without constraint in the sphere for which God made us. Freedom therefore is not inconsistent with limitation and law. The bird is free only when it can move in the air unhindered. A worm is free when it is not prevented from moving in the ground--in a sphere which would mean bondage and death for many other creatures. A locomotive is not free unless its motion is confined to the two rails on which it was made to run. Man was made in the image of God to be like Him and to reflect his holiness. Consequently he is free only when he moves without constraint in the sphere of holiness and obedience to God’s law.

James Dobson Just Doesn't Get It

April 3, 2007
James Dobson Just Doesn’t Get It
By Chuck Baldwin

Please know that I cut my eyeteeth as a political activist with the so-called Religious Right. I was the Florida Moral Majority Executive Director and participated in numerous local and national meetings that featured the Religious Right’s most eminent spokesmen. My personal history with the Religious Right goes back more than thirty years.

That said, it is my studied opinion that many, if not most, of our national conservative Christian leaders have lost touch with the reality of our nation’s ills and how to cure them. I hate to say it, but it seems to me that they have become either perilously shallow and unthinking or myopically focused upon their own success. Either way, the leadership being provided by this once-great group of champions seems to be seriously deficient in both discernment and resolve.

For example, just last week, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson laid an egg of gigantic proportions when he brazenly proclaimed to U.S. News & World Report senior editor Dan Gilgoff that Republican presidential aspirant Fred Thompson was not “a Christian.”

In an attempt to smooth over Dobson’s gaffe, Focus on the Family spokesman Gary Schneeberger said that Dobson “has never known Thompson to be a committed Christian-someone who openly talks about his faith.”

This debacle might seem like an insignificant misstatement by the Christian radio guru, but it’s not. It represents the kind of shallowness and naïveté that has come to dominate the Religious Right.

Schneeberger accurately articulated the thinking of James Dobson and many conservative Christians today: In order for a politician to be acceptable, he must be someone who “openly talks about his faith.”

Understand, too, that shortly after the moral recklessness of President Bill Clinton, it would have been necessary to include another requirement: an acceptable candidate must be one who keeps his pants zipped up. However, this is no longer a litmus test for the Religious Right, as I will demonstrate in a moment.

How is it that Christian conservatives have come to put so much stock in the religious rhetoric of a politician on the campaign trail? How is it that they expect a candidate, especially a presidential candidate, to “openly talk about his faith?”

Please recall that it did not do Jimmy Carter much good to openly talk about his faith. The Religious Right was almost unified in its opposition to Carter. However, the ultimate hero of the Religious Right, Ronald Reagan, was never known to carry his religion on his sleeve. He was not one who “openly talked about his faith.”

It has been the George W. Bush presidency that has helped turn the minds of Christian conservatives away from a politician’s actions and policies to his or her rhetoric. Bush has been given a free pass (by Christian conservatives) on his unconstitutional, liberal, big-spending, socialistic, and imperialistic policies, because he “openly talks about his faith.”

Never mind that President Bush’s presidency more resembles Bill Clinton’s than it does Ronald Reagan’s. Never mind that if George W. Bush did not have an “R” behind his name, one would assume that he was a protégé of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson. Because Bush “openly talks about his faith,” he is accepted, defended, and lauded by the Religious Right.

If that is not shallow, I don’t know what is.

Illustrating further the depth of Dobson’s shallowness is the way he and other leaders of the Religious Right are treating the philanderer Newt Gingrich. Dobson told Gilgoff that the former House Speaker was “the brightest guy out there” and “the most articulate politician on the scene today.” Jerry Falwell added his praise for Gingrich, saying in his Liberty Journal, “He is a true American statesman and a brilliant political innovator.” Falwell has also invited Gingrich to be the commencement speaker at the graduating ceremonies at Liberty University this year.

This about a man who has a history as a serial adulterer. A man who used the occasion of his wife’s hospitalization for cancer treatments to tell her he was leaving her for another woman with whom he had been having an affair. This about a man who had to be taken to court to pay what was due his abandoned wife. This about a man who was a major culprit in the House Banking Scandal, having written 22 bad checks at taxpayers’ expense. This about a man who, just five months ago, brazenly called for the curtailment of free speech. This about a man who, after having orchestrated the GOP revolution of 1994, used the power of the Speaker’s office to try and intimidate the conservative House freshmen into compromising their conservative commitment, including trying to force them to support tax increases. This about a man who is a long-standing member of the Council on Foreign Relations, which is a think-tank of internationalists working toward global government.

But now Dobson, Falwell, et al. apparently hold Newt Gingrich in the highest regard, with Dobson gushing over him during the very interview when Gingrich admitted his adultery, and Falwell saying that Gingrich has made a “fresh commitment to God.” Just in time for the presidential campaign. How convenient!

However, poor Fred Thompson now has the “smell of death” put on him by James Dobson with what is sure to be a ubiquitous moniker, “He is not a Christian.” Does James Dobson really believe that it is better to be an admitted adulterer who “openly talks about his faith,” than to be a faithful husband who doesn’t?

When will conservative Christians wake up? When will they come to understand that when it comes to political office, we are not electing Sunday School teachers? We are electing men and women to do one thing: faithfully discharge their duties to the Constitution of the United States.

What matters more than religious rhetoric is whether or not our elected representatives fulfill their oath of office and obey the Constitution. (Of course, it should be obvious that we cannot be expected to trust a man who has no fidelity to his marriage commitment to be faithful to his commitments to the American people.)

America is in serious trouble, because our political leaders (from both parties) are continually ignoring and overtly disobeying constitutional government. They treat the Constitution (and their loyalty to it) as a pile of dung. This irresponsibility has brought our nation to the brink of the abyss.

We are almost ready to lose our national identity, our culture, our standard of living, and even our military superiority. Our education system is in the toilet. Our manufacturing jobs have almost vanished, our nation is being systematically merged into a “North American Community,” and James Dobson’s focus seems to be merely that our future president is a man who “openly talks about his faith?”

Obviously, James Dobson just doesn’t get it. It would be far better to have an honest, God-fearing man in the White House who is more concerned about faithfully following the Constitution than he is about giving a bunch of religious lip service. And that means we need to pay far more attention to his record than to his rhetoric. The day that our conservative Christian leaders and pastors wake up to that truth is the day that we can begin to restore this constitutional republic.

The Love Killer

From John Mallon.

Inspirational Child Prodigy

I wish I had this kind of talent!

Censorship At Youtube, Google, And Myspace

A video came to my attention recently and it is one of the funnest music videos I've seen all year. Donnie Davies is a Christian minister of sorts from New Orleans who now resides in Houston. His "ministry" is called C.H.O.P.S., Changing Homosexuals into Ordinary People. His band, Evening Service, recently put out a video titled "The Bible Says," a lyrical denunciation of homosexuality. His theology is way off the mark, but the video is freaking hilarious! It has been uploaded onto Youtube, Google Video, and Myspace with several thousand views. However, just today, all three services removed the video and canceled his accounts. Like the video or not, he does have his first amendment rights protecting his freedom of speech, but all the video services don't seem to see it that way.

Youtube, Google, and Myspace have no problem with videos containing pro-homosexuality material, frivolous swearing, mockery of Christianity, and terrible rappers, but when it comes to someone espousing his views about a subject that to the majority of people in this country is morally reprehensible, they say it's "against their code of conduct," and "hateful." Whether it is or isn't, does he not have a right to express his views, just as those who promote their homosexual agenda do? The double standard is disgusting.

The video has actually been reposted on all three websites, however the lyrics have been dubbed over with The Village People's "YMCA." This one is titled "Donnie Davies - The Bible Says (Gay Friendly Version).
Click below to see the unedited version still up at College Humor.

Brownback For President!

In my opinion, the best man (or woman) running for '08 presidential nomination is Kansas Senator Sam Brownsback. Although I don't agree with him on every issue, (who actually agrees on every issue with a candidate?) I do agree with him on the majority of social issues, namely abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, family values, tax reform, term limits, judicial constraint, less government involvement and many others. His senatorial website can be found here.

34th Annual March For Life

Today marks the 34th anniversary of the tragic Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. Americans all across the country are mourning and remembering today's date. Nowhere is this more apparent than in our nations capital where the annual March for Life is held annually. The events begin the night before the March with the National Prayer Vigil for Life, a huge Mass held at the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, led by Cardinal Justin Rigali and con-celebrated with hundreds of priests from all across the country and attended by thousands of youths and their families as well. The actual Rally begins on the National Mall today at noon, and is followed by a march to the steps of the Supreme Court. Last year there was a record number in attendance, with estimates of well over 100,000 people.

Pro Life Blogs is hosting their second annual blog 4 life conference today, encouraging more bloggers to get involved with the cause for life and offering ways to help spread the pro-life message. Among the many notable speakers at the conference are:
Tony Perkins, Family Research Council President
Bobby Schindler, brother of Terri Shiavo
Jill Stanek, pro-life speaker
Peter Samuelson, President, Americans United for Life
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS)
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA)
Ramesh Ponnuru, Senior Editor, National Review
David Prentice, Senior Fellow for Life Sciences, Family Research Council

One of the greatest causes of abortion today that practically no one wants to address is the direct correlation between contraceptive use and abortion. No Room for Contraception is a website dedicated to responding to this issue, and they have all the research and statistics to back it up. They have a great article about it here, and their blog with all the latest info is here.

Senate Ethics Bill More Than it Seems

Dr. James Dobson from Focus on the Family is reporting that senate ethics bill S.1 will do more than just rid Washington of unethical behavior, it will also curb free speech for private citizens by limiting the ways they can stay up to date of what goes on in Washington. From Citizen Link"

At issue is S. 1 -- the first bill the newly Democratic Senate will consider next week. While much of the bill, which aims to clean up recent lobbying scandals, is good, it contains a provision that would severely limit the ability of Americans like you to stay abreast of important issues being discussed and voted on in Washington.

It also would subject groups like Focus on the Family Action to miles of red tape that could critically hamper our ability to rally concerned Americans like you to make your voices heard by your elected officials. We could even face $100,000 fines for running afoul of the oppressive regulations.

"Clearly, the objective here is to hide what goes on from the public," Dr. Dobson says on today's edition of his daily radio broadcast. "And to punish and silence those of us who would talk about what the Congress is doing."

The actual wording of the bill can be read here.
Very interesting...about what I would expect from those now in power.

UPDATE: American Family Association has more info here.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all on this most holiest of nights, Christmas eve. As we celebrate this holiday with our family and friends, let us pause for a moment and reflect on why this day is so special. Not because we have a day off work; not because it's an excuse to eat drink and be merry; not because we get to think of others as we purchase many gifts for them; and not even because it represents peace and good will to all men. No, the reason for this day is that it is the birthday of the Christ child, Jesus of Nazareth. He who would die for all of our sins so that we might live. Happy birthday Jesus, and God bless us all, every one!

The Newest Member of the Blogosphere

Everyone's favorite ousted Republican from Texas has joined the blogging community. Tom DeLay launched his blog on Monday. Should be some interesting reading.

In other news, the Christian Embassy in Washington has this video on their website that is stirring up all kinds of controversy. I guess they didn't get the memo that you're not supposed to be Christian and work on the Hill. Insert sarcasm here. Glad to see that some people still believe they can put their faith into practice in politics. Note to the ACLU...the separation of Church and State was designed to protect the Church from the State, not the other way around!

The Koran to Replace the Bible?

Thanks to the American Family Association and Townhall for this story.

America, Not Keith Ellison, decides what book a congressman takes his oath on
By Dennis Prager
Tuesday, November 28, 2006


Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim elected to the United States Congress, has announced that he will not take his oath of office on the Bible, but on the bible of Islam, the Koran.

He should not be allowed to do so -- not because of any American hostility to the Koran, but because the act undermines American civilization.


A Palestinian woman holds the Koran during a Hamas rally against Israeli troops operation in northern Gaza strip November 3, 2006. Israeli troops shot and killed two Palestinian women acting as human shields between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen during a clash at a Gaza mosque on Friday, witnesses said, before the gunmen escaped. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA)

First, it is an act of hubris that perfectly exemplifies multiculturalist activism -- my culture trumps America's culture. What Ellison and his Muslim and leftist supporters are saying is that it is of no consequence what America holds as its holiest book; all that matters is what any individual holds to be his holiest book.

Forgive me, but America should not give a hoot what Keith Ellison's favorite book is. Insofar as a member of Congress taking an oath to serve America and uphold its values is concerned, America is interested in only one book, the Bible. If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don't serve in Congress. In your personal life, we will fight for your right to prefer any other book. We will even fight for your right to publish cartoons mocking our Bible. But, Mr. Ellison, America, not you, decides on what book its public servants take their oath.

Devotees of multiculturalism and political correctness who do not see how damaging to the fabric of American civilization it is to allow Ellison to choose his own book need only imagine a racist elected to Congress. Would they allow him to choose Hitler's "Mein Kampf," the Nazis' bible, for his oath? And if not, why not? On what grounds will those defending Ellison's right to choose his favorite book deny that same right to a racist who is elected to public office?

Of course, Ellison's defenders argue that Ellison is merely being honest; since he believes in the Koran and not in the Bible, he should be allowed, even encouraged, to put his hand on the book he believes in. But for all of American history, Jews elected to public office have taken their oath on the Bible, even though they do not believe in the New Testament, and the many secular elected officials have not believed in the Old Testament either. Yet those secular officials did not demand to take their oaths of office on, say, the collected works of Voltaire or on a volume of New York Times editorials, writings far more significant to some liberal members of Congress than the Bible. Nor has one Mormon official demanded to put his hand on the Book of Mormon. And it is hard to imagine a scientologist being allowed to take his oath of office on a copy of "Dianetics" by L. Ron Hubbard.

So why are we allowing Keith Ellison to do what no other member of Congress has ever done -- choose his own most revered book for his oath?

The answer is obvious -- Ellison is a Muslim. And whoever decides these matters, not to mention virtually every editorial page in America, is not going to offend a Muslim. In fact, many of these people argue it will be a good thing because Muslims around the world will see what an open society America is and how much Americans honor Muslims and the Koran.

This argument appeals to all those who believe that one of the greatest goals of America is to be loved by the world, and especially by Muslims because then fewer Muslims will hate us (and therefore fewer will bomb us).

But these naive people do not appreciate that America will not change the attitude of a single American-hating Muslim by allowing Ellison to substitute the Koran for the Bible. In fact, the opposite is more likely: Ellison's doing so will embolden Islamic extremists and make new ones, as Islamists, rightly or wrongly, see the first sign of the realization of their greatest goal -- the Islamicization of America.

When all elected officials take their oaths of office with their hands on the very same book, they all affirm that some unifying value system underlies American civilization. If Keith Ellison is allowed to change that, he will be doing more damage to the unity of America and to the value system that has formed this country than the terrorists of 9-11. It is hard to believe that this is the legacy most Muslim Americans want to bequeath to America. But if it is, it is not only Europe that is in trouble.

Now the Christians Want to Forsake Christianity

Lee Camp, a theologian from David Lipscomb University in Nashville says that Christians must 'let go' of some beliefs for the sake of peace by forsaking the Christian model. Read the entire article here. A historically conservative Church of Christ university, Lipscomb appears to be falling into the politically correct trap of muslim appeasement.

Down Your Throat and in Your Face?

Down Your Throat and In Your Face?

The debate about same-sex “marriage” is often reduced to outrage toward those who dare offer opposition. Rarely is there a calm debate over the real issues involved.

Instead, pro-family promoters are brutally stereotyped as hate-filled Bible-thumping conservatives who are attempting to push their narrow-minded beliefs down the throats of all in society. Their in-your-face attitude is labeled dangerous and irrational.

It is ironic that those liberals who rail against stereotyping should be so ardent in practicing it. Even a most elementary reading of most serious pro-family materials would be enough to dismiss such stereotypes. Even worse is the fact that the use of this stereotype has become a battering ram against those who would dare oppose any aspect of the homosexual agenda.

In face of such irrational attacks, perhaps it would be helpful to analyze not the pro-family arguments but the stereotype. Are all those opposed to same-sex “marriage” really hate-filled Bible-thumping conservatives attempting to push their narrow-minded beliefs down the throats of all in society?

Down Your Throat
Perhaps the most blatantly false part of the portrayal is the idea that social conservatives are forcing their agenda down the throats of Americans. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It is a technical impossibility since one cannot impose something that is already in place.

In the case of same-sex “marriage,” all conservative Americans are doing is reaffirming the status quo. They are affirming something that is the norm. In the case of Catholic Americans, they are affirming a position that has been consistently taught by Church fathers and saints for 2,000 years.

Exclusive traditional marriage is the law of the land. This law has been further enshrined by popular acclamation in a Federal Defense of Marriage Act signed by President Bill Clinton defining marriage as between a man and a woman. State versions of this act were later adopted by forty states. Taking the law of the land yet further, traditional marriage constitutional amendments have been overwhelmingly approved in 27 American states. Family advocates merely affirm what is already in place. In other words, nothing is being imposed.

That is not the case on the side of same-sex “marriage” advocates. They are in fact proposing something completely new. A tiny minority is claiming as a right something that has never been accepted or established in history. Since it is not the law of the land, they are seeking to change the laws to fit their agenda. They avoid at all cost bringing the issue to a popular vote. More often than not, it is the activism of judges that force acceptance. In other words, same-sex “marriage” is being imposed on society by the homosexual movement and its allies.

Regardless of one’s stand, one has to admit that if anyone is forcing something down the throat of America, it is the same-sex “marriage” promoters.

To extend the argument yet further, it is worthwhile to note that social conservatives are also affirming the scientific status quo. There is no scientific evidence to support the thesis that homosexuality is genetic. Scientists have searched in vain for a homosexual gene. When family promoters point this out, they are simply presenting the evidence not their own opinions.

Again, the other side does the exact opposite. Many pro-homosexual individuals simply deny the scientific record and gratuitously affirm that homosexuality is genetic because they feel it is that way. In other words, their down-your-throat approach is to present their own opinions as scientific fact.

Bible-thumping
Another common misconception by those who do the stereotyping is that pro-family promoters based their position solely on the Bible. Pro-homosexual activists contend that since some Americans do not believe in the Bible, all such arguments are invalid.

Again, the reasoning is flawed. Indeed, the Bible is full of quotes that unequivocally oppose homosexual relations, revisionist exegeses notwithstanding. Pro-family promoters undeniably find these citations helpful in countering same-sex marriage. Religious and moral arguments are very important in the debate but they are far from being the only resource.

Pro-family supporters meet the opposition on every major field of argument. In the field of philosophy, they defend a long Western tradition of natural law, written on the hearts of all men, from which is built a morality of unchangeable laws. These laws are the same, always and everywhere and the basis of law in civilized society.

From the point of view of social science, social conservatives point out the factors of the homosexual lifestyle which disqualifies them for marriage. They cite, for example, the sterility of these relationships and the promiscuous lifestyles often adopted by those in so-called stable relationships who see no contradiction between monogamy and infidelity.

Across the board, the homosexual lifestyle presents greater risks in everything that makes for a healthy family. Pro-family scholars document high indexes of health problems, infectious social diseases, mental health problems, alcoholism, drug use, suicide rates, domestic abuse, and child abuse.

At the same time, thousands of studies have been produced in many disciplines that prove the overwhelming benefits of traditional marriage to child well-being. They prove that marriage is more than a private emotional relationship; it is an undeniable social good that best protects the interest of the child, family and society.

The fact is that the social conservatives base their positions on much more than just the Bible. In every major field and discipline, they have gathered material to support their position.

On the other side, the same quality of research is not often found. For example, studies seeking to prove that sexual orientation in family life is irrelevant have consistently suffered from design flaws, methodological problems and lack of long term evidence. The homosexual movement has often used misinformation, false premises and shoddy pop science like that of the late Alfred Kinsey. At times “evidence” consists of sentimental vignettes and emotionally charged prime time network reports.

Hateful Christians?
Finally there is the claim that social conservatives opposing same-sex marriage are hateful and uncharitable. Such accusations themselves are ironically often couched in passionate condemning diatribes.

Again, such characterizations are unjust. Those opposing same-sex marriage have no intention to defame or disparage anyone. No one is moved by personal hatred against any individual. In intellectually opposing individuals or organizations promoting the homosexual agenda, the sole intent of social conservatives is the defense of marriage, the family, and the precious remnants of Christian civilization in society.

In fact, far from being hateful, practicing Catholics are called to be filled with compassion and pray for those who struggle against unrelenting and violent temptation to sin, be it toward homosexual sin or otherwise. They pray for those who fall into homosexual sin out of human weakness, that God may assist them with His grace. They pray for the conversion of those radical activists pushing the homosexual agenda, even when doing everything permitted by law to block their efforts.

Down your throat and in your face? The evidence points to the other side.