Religion (general)

THE PSEUDO-SCIENCE OF SOCIALISM

The majority of the intellectual leaders of the socialist movement…are socialists because socialism appears to them…as “science applied in clear awareness and with full insight to all fields of human activity.”…

Compared with the work of the engineer that of the merchant is in a sense much more “social,” that is, interwoven with the free activities of other people…. His special knowledge is almost entirely knowledge of particular circumstances of time or place…. But though this knowledge is not of a kind which can be formulated in generic propositions, or acquired once for all, and though in an age of Science it is for that reason regarded as knowledge of an inferior kind, it is for all practical purposes no less important than scientific knowledge…
[Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Benedict XVI Looks Toward Unity With Orthodox

Zenit News

Continues a Tradition From the Window of Papal Apartment

VATICAN CITY, MAY 1, 2005 (ZENIT.org).- Benedict XVI extended Easter greetings to Orthodox Christians, who were celebrating the day, and indicated again he will pursue the goal of Catholic-Orthodox unity.

In his first Regina Caeli address from the window of his papal apartment, the Holy Father today said God is “asking us to travel decisively down the path toward full unity.”

Tens of thousands of people were gathered below in St. Peter’s Square to hear the Pontiff’s address, which continued a Sunday tradition of Pope John Paul II’s.
[Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Maureen Dowd: “The Cafeteria is closed”

From the Touchstone Blog:

Maureen Dowd from her column in today’s editions of The New York Times on the election of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI:

“For American Catholics – especially women and Democratic pro-choice Catholic pols – the cafeteria is officially closed.”

While good Christians will disagree with Ms. Dowd about the exclusion of “women” during the new papacy (do any of the women in this AP photo‹nuns, teenagers, mothers, etc.‹seem left out to you?), so far as the closing of the American Catholic Cafeteria, pan-orthodox Christians (whether Protestant, Orthodox or Catholic) can respond with a hearty “Amen.” We never liked the food from that joint anyway.

“The Cafeteria is Closed” might serve as the new motto for the Ratzinger Fan Club.

–Kenneth Tanner

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Gay priests’ lovers to get pensions

From London Telegraph Online:

The Church of England is to grant partners of homosexual clergy who have registered under the Government’s new civil partnership scheme the same pension rights as clergy spouses.

The disclosure, made at the General Synod last night, could prove an embarrassment to the bishops because sexually active homosexuals are theoretically barred from the priesthood.

Only a few homosexual clergy have so far risked facing censure by publicly declaring that they are living in same-sex unions, but the prospect of gaining pension rights for their partners may prove an incentive for many more to “come out”.

The bishops plan to issue a letter for the guidance of clergy and others before the Act comes into force.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

‘UK church faces life underground’ Top cleric sees implosion, persecution coming

World Net Daily
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

Christianity in Great Britain is imploding, fragmenting and will soon be driven underground, says a senior adviser to Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.

Jayne Ozanne told Williams and Archbishop of York David Hope that a time of great persecution for the church is coming, reports the Times of London.

In a private report to the pair, Ozanne warned the outlook for the church was not good – that it would continue to implode and self-destruct over homosexual clergy and other issues. She says that its future will be one of an underground movement comparable to resistance movements during World War II.
[Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Anglicans to ban gay bishops?

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_world_story_skin/453646%3fformat=html

The Anglican Church will order its world leaders to sign an unbreakable covenant forbidding the ordination of openly gay bishops, according to British reports.

The covenant will be unveiled in a long-awaited report, in an effort to heal a deep rift in the church over the issue of homosexuality.

The Church’s 38 provinces would be made to sign a “unity agreement”, preventing the ordination of openly gay bishops such as Gene Robinson, who was consecrated in the United States last year.
[Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

The Evil at Beslan

For those who remain confused about whether the terror perpetrated at Beslan was evil…

They Knifed Babies, They Raped Girls

Nothing justifies or excuses this. No “cause” can explain or soften the brutality displayed. In Orthodox theology evil has no ontological reality, it does not exist as an entity unto itself. It cannot be rationalized or explained. It can only be named. Evil is moral chaos, represented in scripture as the swirling waters that drown life. (Now we may begin to understand what Christ entering the waters at baptism is really about.) Beslan is complete and utter moral chaos, a depravity drawn from the dark nights of Dachau, Lubyanka, or the killing fields of Cambodia.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Worth Its Salt — Can the Church Still Impact American Culture?

Although written for an Evangelical audience, the autor makes important (and insightful) points relevant to Orthodox believers as well. Thank you to Orthodoxnet.com for bringing the piece to our attention.

(AgapePress) – For Christians in America who believe their faith can and should have an impact on their culture, it has not been a good year.

In less than a 12-month span: The Supreme Court struck down state sodomy laws, in effect invalidating both natural law and the Judeo-Christian foundations of our nation as a sound basis for our society; The Episcopal Church consecrated an openly homosexual man as one of its bishops; The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court legalized same-sex marriage; and a halftime show on the Super Bowl — in which a pop singer’s breast was exposed — shoved in nearly everyone’s face just how debauched our pop culture has become.

Nothing that Christians or pro-family groups have done has seemed to stop American society from rushing headlong down the tracks to moral oblivion. It appears that secularism and postmodern relativism have successfully teamed up to overthrow Judeo-Christianity as the dominant philosophical force in our culture.

Read the entire article on the Agape Press website.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail