Fr_J-H

Clash of Civilization

Wall Street Journal February 11, 2006; Page A8

As a way of addressing the Islamist threat to civil liberties in Europe, the Danish cartoons of the prophet Muhammad were hardly ideal. The right to mock a religion may be absolute, but so is the right to publish most forms of pornography: Neither is appropriate in a serious publication. That applies whether the religion is Islam, Christianity or any other, and whether the cartoons are being published for the first time or reprinted elsewhere as acts of solidarity in the face of an implied threat.

. . . more

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Even the poor are losing in Venezuela

Venezuela’s Marxist dictatorship is destroying property rights across the country. We’ve noted in the past how it’s happened in the countryside, at sugar farms, on nature reserves, among the large and small corporations, and in apartment and office buildings. But these aren’t the only places – the destruction of property rights also is happening in the poorest neighborhoods.

In an unexpectedly good article, Alex Holland, a writer at Venezuelanalysis, a Chavista propaganda organ, unwittingly describes how even poor shantytown dwellerss with desperate need for title-deed ownership are being badly affected by collectivization, which is destroying the weak property rights these urban poor once had. The writer explains the horrible dynamic with perfect clarity and honesty and then ineptly defends it, making the Marxist propaganda easy for us to gloss over. Evidently, the facts on the ground were just too big for this writer.

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Dissolving Marriage

If everything is marriage, then nothing is.

Canada, you don’t know the half of it. In mid-January, Canada was rocked by news that a Justice Department study had called for the decriminalization and regulation of polygamy. Actually, two government studies recommended decriminalizing polygamy. (Only one has been reported on.) And even that is only part of the story. Canadians, let me be brutally frank. You are being played for a bunch of fools by your legal-political elite. Your elites mumble a confusing jargon to your face to keep you from understanding what they really have in mind.

Language Exam

Let’s try a little test. Translate the following phrases into English:

  1. Canada needs to move “beyond conjugality.”
  2. Canada needs to “reconsider the continuing legal privileging of marriage and other conjugal relationships.”
  3. Once gay marriage is legalized, Canada will be able to “consider whether the legal privileges and burdens now assigned to marriage and other conjugal relationships can be justified.”
  4. Canada needs to question “whether conjugality is an appropriate marker for determining legal rights and obligations.”

[Answers: The English translation of #1,# 2, and #4 is: “Canada should abolish marriage.” The translation of #3 is: “Once we legalize gay marriage, we can move on to the task of abolishing marriage itself.”]

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Episode where “Will and Grace” demean Christianity dropped

From the Family Research Council

Look at the Contrast

Liberal columnists are constantly trying to link conservative Christians with Muslim fundamentalists, suggesting that we are engaged in a jihad against their enlightened ideas. The Rev. Don Wildmon of the American Family Association is denounced as a mullah whenever he leads a protest against some liberal outrage on television . . . They had originally planned to have Britney Spears as a Christian conservative with a cooking show billed as “Cruci-fixin’s.” NBC has now stated that that storyline will not be present in the Spears’ episode.

Notice, though, what Don Wildmon has not done. He hasn’t burned NBC executives’ homes, threatened them with death, or strapped explosives to a bicycle messenger. Look at Europe. There, Muslim protesters against an offensive Danish cartoon portrayal of Mohammed have burned flags, set fire to a Danish Embassy, praised mass murderers, and yelled “Freedom Go To H_ll!” Four people have died in the rioting. We will continue to speak out against the media’s constant attempts to insult and degrade Christians and Christianity. But we will continue to use the means and methods of freedom – freedom that rests upon the foundation of Christianity.

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Google sells its soul, and ours

Sidney Morning Herald February 4, 2006

The search engine’s subservience to China puts its users everywhere at risk, writes Frida Ghitis.

A FEW years ago, I walked into an internet room in Tibet’s capital, Lhasa. There were no Chinese soldiers in the room and no visible government censors nearby. A sign on the wall, however, reminded users that China’s all-seeing eye had not disappeared. “Do not use internet,” the warning instructed, “for any political or other unintelligent purposes.”

Since then, China’s ruling regime has perfected the science of controlling what the Chinese can read or write on the internet to such a degree it has become the envy of tyrants the world over. We might have expected that from a regime that has proved it will do whatever it takes to stay in power. What we never expected was to see Google, the company whose motto is “Don’t be evil”, helping in the effort.
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A former infantry commander now leads his Marines on a different path – a path of faith

Marine Corp News Cpl. Joseph Digirolamo January 31, 2006

Fr. Eugene Wozniak, Marine ChaplainWhen was a Marine infantry officer, he never thought that duty would call upon him to lead Marines in a special way.

He is now a 42-year-old lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and the chaplain for 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, Camp Lejeune, N.C., which is deploying with about 20,000 other Marines and Sailors to Iraq this year.

Wozniak, from Newton, N.J., graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1985 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. After going through The Basic School and the Infantry Officers Course he made his way to California to serve as a platoon commander for 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment. He even maneuvered through the difficult Range 400 at MCAGC, an experience that has allowed him to quickly connect to the Marines as they go through the same training themselves.

“I loved being in the infantry,” Wozniak said. “I really couldn’t see myself doing anything else until one day I was called to do ministry for the Lord.”

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Now a bishop, he took a winding path to Orthodox Church

Philadelphia Inquirer David O’Reilly

Tikhon drifted away from the Episcopalianism of his boyhood, but found faith in a Chicago church.

A curious thing happened to Marc Mollard on his way to veterinary school.

He decided to join the Orthodox Church.

Then he entered an Orthodox monastery, where his spirituality earned him the admiration of church leaders.

Now he is the newly ordained Bishop Tikhon, head of the Diocese of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania of the Orthodox Church in America.

Yet he is just 39 – young enough to remember what it was like to be young and searching. And he hopes his journey into Orthodoxy might encourage other Americans to follow.

“People today are looking for something real – for deeper reality and the meaning of life,” he said during a recent visit to St. Stephen pro-Cathedral in the Northeast. “I was looking as well, and I think I was led providentially to Orthodoxy.”

. . . more

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Prayers the OCA included for Sanctity of Life Sunday

These petitions are to be inserted into the Litany of Fervent Supplication as part of the annual commemoration of Sanctity of Life Sunday.

—Again we pray that You will grant to the people of this nation the will to do good, to flee from evil, and to practice all righteousness, making us respectful of life and sharers of Your blessings, caring for one another in mercy and truth.

—Again we pray that You will banish all evil from our hearts and wickedness from our laws, enabling us to be servants of Your holy will and performers of Your love.

—Again we pray that You will kindle in our hearts the will to care for the needy, to show kindness to the poor, to aid the homeless and help the helpless.

The following prayer is to be read after the singing of “Blessed be the Name…” (2x):

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