All culture arises out of religion. When religious faith decays, culture must decline, though often seeming to flourish for a space of time after the religion which has nourished it has fallen into disbelief... no cultured person should remain indifferent to the erosion of apprehension of the transcendent.'

Russell Kirk, Eliot and His Age

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The Fine Line Between Abortionists and Serial Killers

Apparently, there IS a line that one can cross with regards to performing abortions--inducing labor and then murdering newborn infants is apparently beyond the pale for our society.

I find it very interesting that so many people are outraged by this doctor (who, if he had murdered the unborn within the wombs of their mothers, would not have been considered a murderer), but I also find the quiet surrounding the story a bit disconcerting.

It would be nice to see NARAL Pro-Choice America, or Planned Parenthood come right out and condemn this guy's actions. It would seem that he violated even their ethics and standards. It would be nice to see the voices of the pro-choice movement come forward and say that this behavior is not acceptable. Yet, they have been quite quiet, leaving one to assume that they are not nearly as troubled about this as most Americans are.

Interesting that NARAL took time out to accuse Sarah Palin of being 'out of touch with Americans’ values and priorities' the other day, yet cannot be bothered to even mention Kermit Gosnell on their site.

The Suffering Church

Aside from the ongoing persecutions in Vietnam and China, not to mention the terrorist attacks in Pakistan, Iraq, Egypt, and the Philippines, there continues to be continuing persecution of the Catholic hierarchy in Kenya.

Anglicans are Coming Home to Rome--Anglicans Give Up Christian Identity

I was briefly in the Episcopal Church (the US franchise of the Anglican Church) on my way back to Holy Mother Church, so I have some sympathy for those who toughed out their sojourne longer than I did.  Now, I never really had anything invested in that organization (being Irish Catholic by identity, if not by practice), so I don't necessarily understand why people have chosen to cling to this particular sinking ship as long as they have, but I do understand the desire to avoid saying 'I was wrong.'

This was my largest difficulty with accepting God in my life, having to admit that I was, in fact, wrong.  I was wrong about many things and my entire world-view had to change.  I remember my wife and I dealing with the consequences of returning to the Church, particularly with regard to birth control (for the record, my wife was all for NFP... I was the one that was kind of freaked out about it).  I had been an atheist for quite a while and had become quite comfortable creating my own 'morality.'It really sucks being forced by circumstances to acknowledge that you are wrong.  That is a huge part of most conversion experiences, it was in my case.  For the Anglicans, they have to admit to themselves that not only were they wrong, but all their antecedents in the faith were wrong going all the way back to Henry.  For me, this would have made things easier, as I could simply blame the culture I was raised in; however, I can see that for some the idea of bringing into question their entire culture up the point of their conversion would be deeply unsettling. 

I pray that this process is made easier by Pope Benedict's attempts to develop a Catholic Anglican Rite.Anyway, the Anglican Church seems to want to make sure that those leaving feel good about their decision, as they have opted to rewrite their baptismal ceremony without reference to Christ. 

I think that this is a very good decision on the part of the Anglican Communion; if they eventually depart completely from their claims about being Christian, I suppose that they can no longer be accused of leading people into error.  It also will make their position eminently clear to those Anglicans and members of the Anglican Communion who are 'holding out' for some return to sanity in that church.  Considering the origins of the Anglican Church, I am not completely sure what sanity they would be returning to. 

Pray for our erring brothers and sisters!