Moral issues

Idol Worship, Counterfeit Gods

BreakPoint | by Marcia Segelstein | Oct. 27, 2009

What we worship defines us and controls us. And sometimes figuring out what we really worship isn’t easy. Timothy Keller is pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City and author of the just-released book, Counterfeit Gods. He writes that while some cultures still practice idol worship in the traditional sense, “internal idol worship, within the heart, is universal.”

Anything and everything we turn to in order to satisfy our deepest needs and longings can become idols. Even good things such as family, love, and morality become idols when they take the place of God. As Keller writes, “If anything becomes more fundamental than God to your happiness, meaning in life, and identity, then it is an idol.” [Read more…]

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Dennis Prager Mentions OrthodoxNet Blog on Air


Dennis Prager Radio Show | Dennis Prager | Oct. 19, 2009

On Monday, October 19, 2009, during the second hour of his nationally syndicated radio show, noted conservative Dennis Prager, mentioned the OrthodoxNet Blog post on Anita Dunn’s praise of demonic communist dictator Mao Tse-Tung as one of her “favorite political philosophers.”

Dennis Prager Mentions OrthodoxNet Blog on Air – 10/19/2009 http://www.orthodoxnet.com/archives/2009/Prager_2009-10-19_OrthodoxNet-Blog_Mao.mp3|titles=Dennis

Mr. Prager (while mistakenly calling our site “orthodoxy.net”) quoted our description of the video clip that Glenn Beck showcased on FoxNews and read on the air the video caption comments:

Anita Dunn, the White House Communications Director, admitted that one of favorite political Philosophers, one that she “turns to the most”, is Mao Tse-Tung, the demonic communist dictator responsible for the starvation, torture, and murder of 70 million Chinese.

Here’s an excerpt of Dennis Prager’s comments and his reason for quoting the post from our site:

“… they [OrthodoxNet Blog] give views from an Orthodox perspective, obviously that is from Christian Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, and Judeo/Christian perspective. And the only reason that I am noting this is because I want to read to you their description, as opposed to CNN’s description of Mao Tse-Tung. [Read more…]

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That The Bishops Be Blameless

Notes on Arab Orthodoxy | by Metropolitan Georges Khodr | Oct. 17, 2009

One who sees himself as nothing becomes something when spiritual men say it to him. No one approaches the divine glory by his own power. The divine glory pulls him in and if a person approaches it, he feels that he is nothing and he remains effaced in his own eyes until the Day of Reckoning. Indeed, each one of us needs to know his own talents because in this is a recognition of God’s gift. But one is lost if he thinks that his talents are his own possession. They only exist on account of God’s favor, which He takes back when He so wishes.

Thus in the Church of God we accept each responsibility as a gift. This is the meaning of service and service comes down to you from above. If you are entrusted with it, don’t allow yourself to feel that you deserve it. [Read more…]

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Child Rape and the Values of People Who Make Films

Townhall | by Dennis Prager | Oct. 6, 2009

We have reason to be grateful to the Polanski affair. It offers that most needed of virtues: clarity. It has made the average citizen aware of how broken the cultural elite’s moral compass is. And it has illuminated how equally distorted their self-image is. They see themselves as morally superior. They see themselves as worldly when in fact they are profoundly insular. And they see themselves as courageous artists when in fact the rarest films are those that involve any moral courage (for example, how many films about Islamic terror and the world that incubates that terror can you name?)

But the greatest benefit of the Polanski affair may be that the next time you see the Hollywood elite come out on behalf of or against some public issue, you can most likely assume the opposite is the morally correct position. [Read more…]

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Warning: Obamacare May Be Hazardous to the Unborn

Center for a Just Society | Ken Connor | Sep. 18, 2009

President Obama attempted to allay the concerns of pro-life advocates last week by assuring Americans that federal funding for abortion will not be included in “his” health care reform plan. […]

What’s going on here? Either President Obama has experienced an epiphany regarding the sanctity of human life at every stage of development, or once again his Administration is attempting to pull the wool over the American people’s eyes with a rhetorical bait and switch. A review of the facts may provide insight as to which is the case. [Read more…]

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Feel Good Policy

Big Hollywood | Joseph C. Phillips | Sep. 15, 2009

The message began to pop-up all over my Facebook page: “No one should die because they cannot afford health care or insurance and no one should go broke or bankrupt because they get sick.” Let us set aside the fact that no one in need of emergency life-saving medical care is denied because they do not have insurance and that there are state and federal programs already in existence that provide medical coverage for those of lesser means. I agree with the sentiment. I dare say I know of no one that doesn’t agree. There is simply no questioning the potential calamity that awaits those without some form of medical coverage.

There is also no questioning that in life there are a great many things for which “no one should.” For instance it is equally tragic when people lose their homes due to unemployment, go hungry because they can’t pay for a meal or shiver at night because they lack adequate clothing. [Read more…]

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When Bishops Disappoint


AFR | Fr. Thomas Hopko | Sep. 9, 2009

In this podcast Fr. Thomas Hopko addresses the key issue of “What do we do when those in leadership are not exercising their leadership properly?” Fr. Tom discusses corruption in the Orthodox Church and explains that these types of situations are nothing new. He references scriptures and explains that proper Christian leadership consists of servanthood (not overlordship) and exhorts the faithful to help the priests and bishops to “tend the flock of God that is in (their) charge.”

When Bishops Disappoint – 9/9/09 http://audio.ancientfaith.com/hopko/stt_2009-09-04.mp3|titles=When

[Read more…]

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The U.N.’s Shocking Sexuality Guidelines

American Thinker | Janice Shaw Crouse | Aug. 30, 2009

During the summer slump, two United Nations agencies — United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) — issued highly controversial new guidelines for sexuality education of children around the world. These groups have a long history of pushing “reproductive health care,” and the new report, International Guidelines on Sexuality Education, builds on an earlier report released by the International Planned Parenthood Federation to promote the “need and entitlement” for sexuality education for children beginning at age five. [Read more…]

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Scotland’s Turn To Shame the West

Townhall | Dennis Prager | Aug. 25, 2009

This week, it was Scotland’s turn to shame Western civilization. And though it seemed impossible to outdo Yale, Scotland has. The Scottish government released Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the one person convicted in the mass murder of 270 people when Pan Am flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988.

As the Chicago Tribune noted in an editorial appropriately titled “Scotland’s Shame,” at al-Megrahi’s 2001 trial, the Scottish prosecutor pointed out that “four hundred parents lost a child, 46 parents lost their only child, 65 women were widowed, 11 men lost their wives, 140 lost a parent, seven lost both parents.” [Read more…]

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