Wish I'd said that!

In recent decades, the ACLU has used its so-called "wall" to fight tooth and nail to prevent government sponsorship of the Pledge of Allegiance, memorial crosses, Ten Commandments displays, nativity scenes, Bible displays, and virtually every other acknowdgement of America's religious heritage.

At the same time, it is worthwhile to note that there have been some instances in which the ACLU has endorsed public displays of religion. For example, When New York City Mayor Rudi Giuliani threatened to cut taxpayer funding from the Brooklyn Museum of Art for displaying a painting of the Virgin Mary with cow dung and pictures of female sexual organs pasted all over her body, the ACLU was first in line to defend the display. U.S. District Court Judge Nina Gershon ruled that New York City's elected officials were not allowed to place conditions on the museum's funding.

In another instance, the ACLU offered its support to the taxpayer-funded National Endowment for the Arts, after the agency sponsored an art show featuring "Piss Christ" - an exhibit consisting of a crucifix submerged in a jar of urine.

In the ACLU's myopic world, it appears that the only permissible publicly-funded displays of religion are those which blatantly mock or disparage the Christian faith.

-- Indefensible: 10 Ways the ACLU is Destroying America, Sam Kastensmidt, 2006

Friday, August 21, 2009

Point of Exit

It appears as though the Obama malAdministration is using the VA as another test bed for its 'denial of services' brand of healthcare. According to Jim Towey, writing in the Wall Street Journal, the VA has reissued an end-of-life planning document titled, " Your Life, Your Choices." The problem is that the 53-page booklet seems little more than a clever use of psychology to convince aging and infirm veterans that their lives are no longer worth living. Curiously, even though it promotes informed choices, no faith groups or disability rights advocates were invited to contribute to the book, although the now-renamed Hemlock Society was.

So now, in addition to seeking to limit the average American's health options, the Commander-in-Chief is staging a 'soft' attack on our nation's most valiant defenders. Maybe it's just me; but nearly everything this guy puts his fingers into indicates a loathing of the country that has allowed him so much success and which has so catered to his monumental ego. At least one Marine veteran took the battle right back to those in Washington who have chosen to make the American people their personal enemies.

No longer the 'delicate flower'? Speaking of veterans, there's an insidious trend occuring in our military. For American forces, the use of women in combat has always been anathema to our fundamental Christian ethic. But the rules are being bent, if not broken, and as we are lured further and further from that foundational morality the rules that have guided and protected us are being increasingly violated. The problem is, when women are removed from their traditionally protected status (in principle if not always in fact) and needlessly injected into the horror of upfront war, they become the most vulnerable targets on the battlefield, not only in a physical sense, but a psychological and moral sense as well. And that vulnerability can be transferred to the men in the unit, either by a female soldier's psychological breakdown (and I'm not saying it doesn't happen to men) or by men putting themselves at increased risk to protect the women.

My personal opinion is that women in the military should be trained to fight if necessary, but they shouldn't be thrown into the grisly business of combat just because there aren't enough men for the mission. That is a failure of strategy, not an excuse for tactics that leave the very essential reproductive segment of society at increased physical and mental risk. Wherever we're headed as a nation, I don't think we're going to like it much when we finally arrive.

Master of the forked tongue. Well, perhaps he's not a 'master'; but he's certainly a legend in his own mind. If there's any truth in the axiom, "people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones," then President Obama is the last person who should be chiding Christian conservatives about "bearing false witness." But that's the exact phrase he used last Wednesday in a teleconference with liberal religious leaders, implying that Christians are lying by stating that Obamacare has abortion-friendly aspects. Even some 'Blue Dog' Democrats are expressing concern that H.R. 3200 has some provisions that try to sneak abortion funding in under the radar.

"And everyone did what was right in their own mind." The ruling body of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) has apparently decided that the Word of God - better known as the Holy Bible - will no longer be the foundational document for one of the largest Christian denominations in the U.S. Under a new decision, ELCA will allow the ordination of clergy that are openly homosexual -- so long as they are monogamous gays or lesbians (as though that makes a difference to God).

The problem is that without the Bible as a standard, reference and rulebook, the Christian religion means nothing because it can be changed as a society's moral climate changes. We are all fallen creatures; sinners in mind and/or body. If we believe in God, He must be an unchangeable and perfect God -- compassionate but just -- as He is presented to us in the Holy Book. Otherwise, man is left as the measure of all things (in his mind), and that is a most fickle and unreliable standard, unable to save anyone's eternal soul. It is because God is just and compassionate that He provided the only means by which we can escape our natural predeliction for damnation, in that He sent His only Son, Jesus, to pay our death penalty and provide our salvation. It is also the reason He gave us His Word, as an instruction book for how to live - personally and with each other - and as a guide for what happens when we leave this moral realm. It lays out the rules, the rewards and the punishments.

The Right Way. No matter what aspect of life you're talking about, some ways are better than others. Ray Comfort and former child star Kirk Cameron do a terrific job of showing us the best way. Who says Hollywood is all garbage? These guys prove an exception to the norm with their The Way of the Master website and videos.

No comments:

Post a Comment