In a stunning admission, the Biden administration has acknowledged that the names of individuals who purchase religious texts, including the Bible, are being collected and stored in a criminal database by the U.S. Department of Treasury.
This revelation came in a letter from the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FICen) to Christian Action Network (CAN), in response to a February 2024 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
The document confirms that the names are being gathered for “law enforcement purposes,” but offers little clarity beyond that, stating further disclosure “could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings.”
This bombshell revelation exposes a chilling escalation of government overreach, where ordinary Bible buyers are not just being tracked as if they were criminal suspects but are also subjects of an ongoing criminal investigation.
And it doesn’t stop there.
The scope of this surveillance extends beyond Bible purchases. Individuals who buy bus tickets, rent cars, or book plane tickets without stating a specific purpose, and even those who use phrases like “Trump” or “MAGA” in financial transactions, are also flagged and stored in the same criminal database.
The web of suspicion widens further to include gun buyers who shop at retailers such as Dick’s Sporting Goods, Bass Pro Shop, or Cabela’s.
CAN sent the February FOIA request after a cryptic message from Rep. Jim Jordan on X (formerly Twitter) in January: “Did you shop at Bass Pro Shop yesterday or purchase a Bible? If so, the federal government may be watching you.”
Martin Mawyer, president of the Lynchburg, VA-based Christian Action Network, denounced the Bible surveillance program as a clear violation of the 1974 Privacy Act, which prohibits federal agencies from collecting or storing personal information about individuals exercising their First Amendment rights.
The 1974 Privacy Act states the federal government may “maintain no record describing how any individual exercises rights guaranteed by the First Amendment unless expressly authorized by statute or by the individual about whom the record is maintained or unless pertinent to and within the scope of an authorized law enforcement activity.” (5 U.S.C. § 552a(e)(7)
“There’s nothing ambiguous about this language. Under no circumstances can the feds collect the names of people exercising their right to purchase a Bible—unless, of course, it’s part of a law enforcement activity,” Mawyer said.
“And here’s what made our jaws drop—and surely the jaws of every right-thinking, religious American: how can buying a Bible possibly place you under federal criminal investigation?”
Despite the clear protections of the 1974 Privacy Act, CAN faced an agonizing wait for answers. First, it took two months for the Treasury Department to finally respond, but claimed it couldn’t provide any answers due to “unusual circumstances.”
More months passed by when finally, in August, CAN received a letter from FICen. That letter refused to give any further information about the program, citing concerns that it “could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings.”
Mawyer was clear in his outrage: “Obviously, it’s not a crime to buy a Bible. But it is a crime, punishable by fines and imprisonment, for federal employees to violate the 1974 Privacy Act.”
CAN sought a meeting with the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Treasury to gain clarification on the program but has yet to receive a response. “This is a massive cover-up—an illegal cover-up. People should be going to jail for this,” said Mawyer.
Beyond the blatant violation of privacy, Mawyer noted that the federal government is also prohibited from passing or sharing this information with third parties. Yet, according to Rep. Jim Jordan, the government has set up a “secret portal” that allows over 650 companies—including major banks like Bank of America, Chase, and Wells Fargo—to access these names and work with federal law enforcement to flag so-called “extremism” indicators.
“This is illegal, plain and simple. Another glaring example of the weaponization of our federal government,” Mawyer said. “But here’s the ultimate crime: there’s nothing the average American can do about it. Absolutely nothing. And it’s incredibly frustrating.”
When CAN sought legal counsel to file a lawsuit against the Department of Treasury and FICen, they were informed they lacked “standing” to sue. Individuals or organizations must first demonstrate they’ve been personally harmed by the violation, meaning demonstrate a loss of money over being placed under criminal investigation.
“So first you have to show you been crushed by the federal government’s illegal activity before you can sue them for violating the law. This is nothing short of legal blackmail,” Mawyer said.
“Suing the United States Government isn’t cheap, and these federal employees know it,” he added. “They have no fear of violating a citizen’s legal and constitutional rights, knowing few people would be willing to cough up hundreds of thousands of dollars to protect those God-given, inalienable rights.”
Undeterred, CAN has already begun drafting a proposed amendment for the next session of Congress that would grant organizations like theirs legal standing to sue federal agencies that violate the 1974 Privacy Act.
“Washington targeting a grandmother for simply buying a Sunday Bible—and then illegally placing her under criminal investigation—should be an easy win for justice,” Mawyer said. “The fact that it’s not shows just how deeply this government has been weaponized and how far we’ve fallen into a state of corruption and overreach.”
History is filled with people who quit too early, and thus never fulfilled their key task in life.
With a new year upon us, it’s good to think about how God pours His blessings on those who persist. Even when facing adversity, when the time comes, they push forward with what they feel He has called them to do.
Of course, in the eight Beatitudes of Jesus (“Blessed are…”), He never said, “Blessed are the persistent.” But throughout the Bible, we do find encouragements to press on, to keep plugging away at doing the right thing.
America greatly benefitted from some of our nation’s founders doing just that. The colonial armies experienced one military setback after another, with only a few sporadic victories interspersed.
The victory over the British was a miracle. That we could become independent as a nation is an amazing story.
George Washington himself said in his First Inaugural Address in 1789, “it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official Act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the Universe, who presides in the Councils of Nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the People of the United States.”
Thus, Washington’s first act as president was to offer public praise and prayers to God.
He also said that nobody should be more grateful to Almighty God than the people of the United States because by His help that the founders were able to create this nation: “Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.”
Of course, our liberties fought for by the founders are at risk today, primarily because we as a nation have forgotten God and flaunt our immorality in His face. As founding father Patrick Henry warned, “It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains.”
Committed Christians are called at this present time to persist in working against many of the evils that we face today, such as the totalitarian instincts of an ever-growing bloated government, or the educational establishment which so often provides more indoctrination than education for our children. The work on behalf of the unborn must continue.
The Pilgrims stated their goal in the Mayflower Compact in 1620. This sums up well a worthy goal for the committed believer. They came, they said, “for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith.”
President Ronald Reagan warned us of the high stakes if we lose this nation: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
The hour is late and the need to get involved is great. During this time of New Year’s reflections, may God give us the resolve to persist in His calling. If each one did his or her part, we could help stem the tide.
Sometimes the urgencies in life crowd out the important things. Here are some inspirational thoughts to help persist in doing the right thing, come what may:
Motivator Earl Nightingale said, “Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”
Highly underrated President Calvin Coolidge noted, “We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once.”
Hotel magnate Conrad Hilton declared, “Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.”
Founding Father Benjamin Franklin observed, “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.”
Oscar Wilde said, “Many of the great achievements of the world were accomplished by tired and discouraged men who kept on working.” (I don’t see Wilde as an exemplary character, but the quote is good. As the saying goes, “A broken clock is correct two times a day.”)
But most importantly comes advice directly from the Bible, the Word of God. The Apostle Paul gives sound advice, for New Years’, and throughout the year, Paul says in Galatians: “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
So in 2024, may God use us to labor for the greater good that much more diligently and wisely, as we continue to pray “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Jerry Newcombe, D. Min.http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJerry Newcombe, D. Min.2024-01-04 04:25:142024-01-04 04:26:33Blessed Are the Persistent
In this terrific book, Dubliner Fr Paul O’Callaghan, a lecturer in the school of theology in the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, presents a succinct and insightful analysis of a daunting topic: the interaction of faith and culture.
He sets himself the task of examining how Western culture has been moulded by faith (by which he means faith in the strict sense of revealed religion, and not religion in general) and in particular how this is true of four realities key to contemporary culture: rationality, freedom, equality and (surprisingly) conquest.
As we might imagine, the faith-culture relationship will of necessity be a complex one. They are two very different realities: faith stems from a divine initiative, indeed an “interruption” into human history, while culture is the fruit of human endeavour. And nevertheless as the author points out, the West has developed without either element erasing the other; rather they “seek each other out”, each respecting the contribution of the other (for the most part):
“Christian revelation and grace are not meant to ride roughshod over reality, over the world as we know it, over the lives and dreams and projects of its inhabitants, over the traditions and civilizations consolidated over the centuries…”
And yet we know that Modernity (the period dating from around the 16th or 17th century) has been predicated on an elevation of man accompanied by a diminished view of God and a disregard for the West’s Christian roots — an unfortunate over-correction of the mediaeval world’s bias for the divine over the human.
The effects of the secularising tendency of modernity are apparent in the impoverishing effect on those four key areas of rationality, freedom, equality and conquest, distorting them in the direction of rationalism, licence, reductive egalitarianism and rapine respectively.
The interaction of faith and culture
O’Callaghan discusses briefly a number of core tenets of Western civilisation which have their roots in the Bible, such as the notion of intrinsic human dignity, the centrality of human freedom, and the sanctity of marriage.
He cites the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’ most interesting distinction between the Judeo-Christian concept of “righteousness and guilt” and the pagan “honour and shame” culture. The former places man’s intrinsic worth on something interior and not immediately apparent, something at the realm of freedom and conscience, and ultimately a person’s interior relationship with God.
The latter on the other hand looks to the external actions alone, for which a person earns honour or shame from others. Such a culture easily (perhaps excessively) exalts its heroes and unequivocally and even brutally condemns its enemies (think “cancel culture”). Lacking the classic Judeo-Christian distinction between sin and sinner, it equates the sinner with their apparent sins, and so is merciless in shaming (and “cancelling”) offenders.
Many core elements of Western culture come from an “intelligent and practical assimilation of Christian Revelation” which is complex and ongoing. There has never been, nor can there ever be, a “purely Christian culture” (despite the nostalgia of some for a Medieval Golden Age of Christendom): sin is a constant in human existence, and has always been present in human culture. Modernity itself, despite all its secularising tendencies, is a “highly positive phenomenon”. As Pope Benedict has reminded Christians, Modernity’s own intrinsic merits as well as its “material fidelity to Christianity” must be acknowledged.
While the theme of the modern world’s fundamental indebtedness to Christianity has recently been revisited and popularised in Tom Holland’s highly successful Dominion, this is not Holland’s discovery: it has been covered in the past by the likes of Dostoevsky, Guardini, T.S. Eliot, and even Jürgen Habermas (for whom the West’s sense of personal conscience, human rights, equality and democracy is built directly on “the Jewish ethic of justice and the Christian ethic of love… All the rest is postmodern chatter.”)
Unfortunately of course, the Christian roots of Western values are increasingly being ignored and forgotten, and it would be, in the words of the Dutch reformed pastor Wim Rietkerk, modern man’s biggest mistake if he thought “that he could keep enjoying the fruits without the roots, without walking humbly with his God. … There is no future for a Western civilisation cut off from its roots.”
The four key tenets
O’Callaghan then focusses his attention on those four concepts so central to the West’s very identity: rationality, freedom, equality, and conquest. The last, “conquest” is an unusual concept, and the author explains it as follows:
We assume that what we obtain, what is at our disposal, we have a right to, as if it were our very own and belonging to no-one else. Whether we are talking about children, or property, or space travel, or instant telematic communication to the other side of the world … we see the world around us as a terrain of conquest, of achievement, of success.
He examines how these four notions as we understand them in the West, are essentially the fruit of Christian revelation.
The first, rationality, was already much prized — as logos — by the Greeks. For them rationality could not be understood without reference to the divine. Nevertheless the Christian conception of reason is even more elevated and optimistic than that of the Greeks, for whom reason was marred by very significant limitations.
Human reason for Christians receives a greater trustworthiness on account of the trustworthiness of its author: God. Nevertheless the secularising tendency of Modernity has lost the vastness of the power of reason as glimpsed by the Greeks, and boldly affirmed by Christianity. It began by reducing reason to a merely “computational and mathematical” power, and even now tends towards a radical scepticism which jettisons all confidence in reason.
O’Callaghan goes on to discuss how much the Western notion of freedom owes to Christianity. For Christianity freedom is essentially the filial freedom of those who are called to become God’s children: it is the “freedom of the glory of the children of God” in the words of St Paul. This is the ultimate goal for freedom to aspire to, a true “freedom for”.
However, this Christian-inspired concept of freedom came gradually to be eclipsed by a reductive “freedom from” — which reduces freedom to the mere capacity to choose one thing over another, without any intrinsic direction or dynamism. This reductive freedom is developed by the likes of Ockham, Bacon, Luther and more recently Foucault. Nevertheless, there has been a recovery of the richer conception of freedom, in particular by the Personalist movement for whom freedom is inseparable from man’s fundamental relatedness to others, and to God.
The notion of the fundamental equality of human beings so central to Western values is equally something stemming from Christian revelation. Man’s social and relational nature is presented throughout the Bible as constitutive of his very being. Against this is a non-Christian understanding of relationality as a sign of weakness, insofar as it implies dependence on others; a lack of the autonomy so valued by Modernity (and to a degree even by the Greeks).
The equal dignity under God of all men receives an unequivocal affirmation throughout the Bible. And yet the manifest inequalities between men are not a scandal for Christianity in the way they are for modern culture (for which all “inequality” must be ultimately stamped out), because the presence of neediness is a divine call to the others to live out the charity which must be at the heart of all social relations.
There follows a most illuminating consideration of the fourth tenet: the idea of conquest (by which we see “the world around us as a terrain of conquest”). What O’Callaghan shows here is that the now dominant “anthropology of the self-made man who designs and constructs himself down to the last detail” has lost sight of the Christian notion of gratitude.
The radical individualism that has developed in the West rejects as “childish”, indebtedness to others. Dignity requires that the self must be “self-made” and autonomous. This produces a great incapacity to receive from others, and with that a systematic ingratitude.
However for the Christian, absolutely everything is a gift from God, and man is a receiver of gifts before anything else. This then allows us in our turn to give and receive from others — there is no shame, nor subjugation in receiving understood in Christian terms.
Modernity, on the other hand, is marked by a systematic rejection of gift and so is marked by a striking ingratitude. What is needed is a return to the sense of gratitude gestured at by Heidegger when he said that “denken ist danken” (“to think is to thank”); that even “thought itself is a grateful receptiveness to the giveness of being”.
And so the ungrateful West is faced with the important task of rediscovering true gratitude, also gratitude towards God. The secular world’s “eclipse of worship” (to coin a phrase from Charles Taylor in his work A Secular Age) means that “humans have stopped recognising God as the source of all good and intelligibility. They have stopped thanking God, they no longer recognise the world they live in as a gift, they no longer live ‘eucharistic’ lives.” And such ingratitude is a serious state of affairs: “the most abominable of sins” for Ignatius of Loyola. The author concludes that:
“This has led many of those influenced by modern culture to a generalised loss of faith and to a pathology of individualism and ingratitude, as they attempt to live out their lives in isolation from their fellows, unprepared to recognise the world they live in and the privileges they enjoy as so many gifts they should be profoundly grateful for.”
The question of the gratitude leads on in the Epilogue to a very interesting discussion on the integration of conservatism and progressive liberalism. O’Callaghan shows that both the conservative and liberal tempers are embraced by Christianity: it is conservative insofar as it is conscious of being the receiver of gifts from God, and handed down by others by tradition; the Christian is by definition a conserver of these gifts.
At the same time, the Christian doctrine of Original Sin necessitates the liberal dimension since certain elements from the past will of necessity be tainted by sin and in need of reform and purification; not everything merits conservation. But there is need of a delicate balance of these two opposed tendencies: too much conservatism produces a lazy complacency that is fearful of change, while too excessive liberalism fails to appreciate what has been received from predecessors.
Conclusion
It is hard to overestimate the value of this book. O’Callaghan shows how our contemporary culture simply cannot be understood without a deep grasp of its Christian roots. And furthermore, he shows what damage our culture has already suffered because the key tenets of rationality, freedom, equality and conquest have to the degree to which they have become unmoored from their Christian roots.
At the same time, these affirmations are never simplistic; O’Callaghan takes into account the great complexity of the relationship between faith and culture. And even though it is quite a short book, the author does not oversimplify the issues involved. For that reason, parts of the book will be challenging for someone unfamiliar with the issues involved.
Certainly, this book would make a wonderful basic text for a college course on faith and culture. It would also very beneficial for anyone interested in the deeper issues at play in our current “culture wars”, where much of the discussion is unfortunately as heated as it is uninformed by philosophy and theology.
Rev. Gavan Jennings studied philosophy at University College Dublin, Ireland and the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome. He is co-editor of the monthly journal Position Papers. He teaches occasional… More by Fr Gavan Jennings
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00MercatorNet - A Compass for Common Sensehttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngMercatorNet - A Compass for Common Sense2022-10-19 03:59:392022-10-19 04:05:00Going Beyond The Culture Wars
One not-so-surprising finding of the study, which was done by Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, is that, “Compared with no attendance, at least weekly attendance of religious services was associated with greater life satisfaction and positive affect, a number of character strengths, lower probabilities of marijuana use and early sexual initiation, and fewer lifetime sexual partners.” Additionally, among the studies’ participants:
“Compared with never praying or meditating, at least daily practice was associated with greater positive affect, emotional processing, and emotional expression; greater volunteering, greater sense of mission, and more forgiveness; lower likelihoods of drug use, early sexual initiation, STIs, and abnormal Pap test results; and fewer lifetime sexual partners.”
These findings aren’t a surprise to us here at FRC. For years, we’ve seen this in practice, and in data like those published by our friend Pat Fagan at the Marriage and Religion Research Institute. It is a demonstrable fact that when faith is allowed to flourish, good outcomes are in store for society at large.
“These findings are important for both our understanding of health and our understanding of parenting practices. Many children are raised religiously, and our study shows that this can powerfully affect their health behaviors, mental health, and overall happiness and well-being.”
Of course, we know that “faith” in a generic sense doesn’t always guarantee a comfortable outcome, but an abiding faith in Jesus Christ can anchor a person’s soul for whatever he or she may face in life. A study like this won’t necessarily cause people to embrace faith, but it does show that a society in which religious liberty thrives will be a healthier society. And any government that wants to promote the well-being of its people should give ample space for people to have the freedom to believe and to live out those beliefs.
Tony Perkins’ Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC senior writers.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/091818_faith_770x400-e1537348781190.jpg368640Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2018-09-19 05:21:492018-09-19 05:22:32Breaking News from Harvard: Faith is Good for You
Don’t let what you think you know prevent an honest look at a broader picture.
A PhD in math acknowledged that even the smartest person cannot know even 1% of all knowledge, so what’s the possibility that God could exist in the other 99%? And some things don’t fit into words—we can know the flavor of chocolate, but we can’t explain it to someone who never tasted it.
The Bible says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” The parallel to chocolate suggests it is impossible for someone to know if this is so without an honest (even scientifically fair) trial. In science, there is talk of a controlled experiment where you test something in one group compared to another group without it.
The wonderful thing about life is that we are not like animals, but have highly developed powers of reason. We can think it through and choose which side of belief we are on. We can say “No” to Intelligent Design and the Designer who gifted us the computer between our ears and our marvelous bodies that repair the wear and tear and even reverse diseases that we brought on ourselves by what we put in our mouths, if we repent—a good example that also applies to the spiritual dimension.
Gandhi said, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.” It was hard for Gandhi to sort the claims of “Christian” political powers from the claims of Christ who said His kingdom was not of this world. Muslims see a similar problem with the Great Satan that brought alcohol, tobacco, drugs, crime, sex, violence, Hollywood, TV, perversions and rock music to their lands. They think this is Christianity.
Nevertheless, the ‘controlled experiment’ to discern the difference between faith in God and none might be seen in the huge social experiment called America. When a medieval church proved Gandhi right and controlled governments in the Dark Ages, people hid Bibles in their homes at the risk of being tortured or burned at the stake. No wonder thousands braved death at sea or from Indians or starvation for freedom.
Founding fathers gave America a Constitution that was second only to the Ten Commandments as a basis for self-government. And if we governed ourselves wisely, there is NO need for government to tell us what to do. Lincoln said the Bible is the greatest gift that God has given to man. Without it, we would not know right from wrong. He liberated the slaves. The US also gave women the right to vote. Christianity has elevated women and we rose to greatness as we defeated Hitler and Japan in WW II.
But since the United Nations began in 1945, the world has turned against Gandhi and Christ with a fabrication of Catholic and Communist countries to strategize for global government by men who can’t govern themselves as the billions spent on lawsuits to defend against pedophilia suggest—never mind homosexuality that’s said to be rampant in the priesthood.
Instead of America being a shining light on the hill, the truth of God and His goodness can only be seen when the judgments He pronounced against sin will fall on America for killing millions of infants and the redefining of marriage. God (not the priest) can forgive any sin, but He cannot look the other way on it. Calvary was too costly and our forgiveness must include a desire for a clean heart that even King David prayed for in Psalm 51.
Saying no to this, is like accepting the 99% of consequences that we don’t understand when those who have tasted of God’s goodness will say it is far better than chocolate.
EDITORS NOTE: For readers who may be interested, Dr. Ruhling recommends a short book, translated into 125+ languages, and can be read online here. For those who aren’t ready to go there, how about another look at some scientific questions, here.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/communion.jpg360640Dr. Richard Ruhling, MDhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Richard Ruhling, MD2016-12-25 06:42:372016-12-27 07:39:39A Doctor’s Prescription for Risky World Views and What Some Think is Christianity
Why the wrong answer is killing the West, including America
Wheaton College Professor Larycia Hawkins, poster-girl for the Same God Question.
Introduction: An Epistemological Malady
In his 2010 book, Revelation: Do We Worship the Same God? [1], Mark Durie addresses what is at stake when it comes to the “Same God Question”:
The traditional Islamic view is that if you want to know what the God of the Bible is like, then read the Koran. Not only must Muslims believe that ‘we worship the same God’, but this message is always a central component of the presentation of Islam to Christians and Jews.
[This ‘Same God’ message] provides the lynchpin of Muslims’ efforts to convert the ‘People of the Book’ to the faith of Muhammad. In addition, this belief, once accepted, can lead Christians to support Islamic perspectives in ways other than conversion. For example, embracing this Islamic doctrine wins a measure of respect and even support for Islam from Christians.
(Mark Durie, Revelation: Do We Worship the Same God?, pp 75-76; emphasis added.)
Durie’s clarity on the importance of answering properly the “Same God Question” makes our study of this question essential. In fact, I would argue that the “Same God Question” is equally important for atheists and agnostics to ponder. Some are understanding this, in spite of their predisposition against Christianity. For example, the high-profile atheist Richard Dawkins recently expressed his concern over the decline of Christianity, stating “Christianity might be a bulwark against something worse.” His analysis will almost certainly cost him some allies on the Left. Consider these observations:
“There are no Christians, as far as I know, blowing up buildings,” Dawkins said. “I am not aware of any Christian suicide bombers. I am not aware of any major Christian denomination that believes the penalty for apostasy is death.”
In a rare moment of candor, Dawkins reluctantly accepted that the teachings of Jesus Christ do not lead to a world of terror, whereas followers of radical Islam perpetrate the very atrocities that he laments.
Because of this realization, Dawkins wondered aloud whether Christianity might indeed offer an antidote to protect western civilization against jihad.
The flip side to Dawkins’ point is that Western Civilization might indeed be warranted in protecting Christian culture against Islam and jihad.
This is such an obvious set of considerations and conclusions — all of which stem from a correct answer to the Same God Question — that it is astonishing to be confronted with the writings of those who have never considered this issue, or who have answered The Question incorrectly.
Perhaps nowhere do we find a better expression of the general lack of awareness — and even admission of lack of interest — concerning this pivotal question than in Rod Dreher’s December 17, 2015 post, “Muslim God, Christian God”. I am thankful for his honesty in this article, even if I am deeply disturbed by it.
Dreher’s grappling with The Question was prompted by Wheaton College’s suspension of a professor over this very issue. Dreher cites Wheaton’s statement (emphasis added):
On December 15, 2015, Wheaton College placed Associate Professor of Political Science Dr. Larycia Hawkins on paid administrative leave in order to give more time to explore theological implications of her recent public statements concerning Christianity and Islam…
[Her] recently expressed views, including that Muslims and Christians worship the same God, appear to be in conflict with the College’s Statement of Faith.
And so, we launch into the theological deep-end, with the “Same God Question” finally being brought out into the public square. You can read the whole thing, which for all its obvious sincerity is hopelessly muddled, but I think that’s part of Dreher’s point.
I commend Dreher for his public honesty, especially this section (emphasis added):
To be honest, I’ve never thought at all about whether Muslims pray to the same God as Christians. The Catholic Church teaches that they do, and that was my belief when I was a Catholic, though I never gave it a minute’s thought.I don’t know what I believe now, to be honest. We know that Muslims do not pray to the Holy Trinity — but this is also true of Jews.
Don’t Christians (most Christians) believe that Jews pray to the one true God, even if they have an imperfect understanding of His nature? If this is true for Jews,why not also for Muslims, who clearly adhere to an Abrahamic religion? This is why my tendency is to assume that Muslims do pray to the one true God, even though they have a radically impaired view of Him.
But how far do we go with that?
How far indeed!
The early Christian Church fathers would (and did) have plenty to say about this, including a vigorous denial — based on the Hebrew and New Testament Scriptures — of the statement that Islam is an “Abrahamic religion.”
More from Dreher:
I’m not sure what I think. I mean, I assume, in charity, that people who intend their prayers to be to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are praying to the true God, whatever they lack in theological understanding. But again, I’ve not given this much thought.
How about you?…
Again, I appreciate Rod Dreher’s honesty, and I think a great many people are in the same boat as he. They don’t know what they think, and have never given it much thought.
Dreher confesses one or the other epistemological malady five times.
Five times. In three paragraphs.
In our age of genocide against Christians by Muslims in Africa and the Middle East, the global war on Christians by Islam, the collapse of Christianity in Europe, and the global rise of Islam and stealth jihad everywhere, for sincere Christians to not have ever thought about the “Same God” issue, and to not be sure what they think about it, is deeply, deeply troubling.
Yet as we see from the constant stream of statements from Christian bishops, leaders and writers urging “greater solidarity with Islam<“, embracing Muhammad as “a prophet” who “brought love, peace, and much more” to the world, and similar affirmations, the avoidance of The Question is an epistemological malady not merely of the average Christian in the pew, but of church educated, elite and shepherds as well. Political leaders look to such positions as grounding their policies towards Muslims and the religion of Islam in general. And the public policies justified by such Islam-embracing pronouncements provide an open door for Islam to advance its influence and control throughout the West. Indeed, this has been going on for decades now.
This must be addressed, and reversed, if Western leaders are to stand a chance of articulating a coherent policy to protect and preserve our civilization, and see it through the new century.
Dreher asks on his blog, “How about you?” Therefore, I decided to put some effort into this, especially as my own 2010 book deals with the “Same God” question at some length.
The answer to this question has, I believe, not only temporal but eternal implications, which is why I opened Chapter 1 of my book, Facing Islam — On Religious Dialogue — with this quote:
“Can any one of us be silent if he sees that many of his brethren simultaneously are walking along a path that leads them and their flock to a disastrous precipice through their unwitting loss of Orthodoxy?” — Metropolitan Philaret of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, 1969
Of course, in the context of this article I am speaking of Christian “orthodoxy” with a lower-case “o”. So, from a theological position, I will be appealing to traditional Christian foundations common to Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Protestants, Coptic Orthodox (and shared by Oriental Christians), and Islam’s position vis a vis Christianity.
Next up, Part 2: Allah’s Theological Jihad against Christianity
[1] Alas, Revelation is out of print (with used copies fetching prices of $160 and up on Amazon!), but Dr. Durie has updated his presentation on this issue in a new book, Which God?: Jesus, Holy Spirit, God in Christianity and Islam, in which I was unable to find the quote I selected for my opening citation.
Ralph Sidway is an Orthodox Christian researcher and writer, and author of Facing Islam: What the Ancient Church has to say about the Religion of Muhammad. He operates the Facing Islam blog.
The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, yesterday afternoon, filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of former Marine, John Kevin Wood, and his wife, Melissa, who refuse to allow their teenage daughter to be subjected to Islamic indoctrination and propaganda in her high school World History class. The lawsuit was filed against the Charles County Public Schools, the Board of Education, and the Principal and Vice-Principal of La Plata High School located in La Plata, Maryland.
The Woods’ daughter was forced to profess and to write out the Shahada in worksheets and quizzes. The Shahada is the Islamic Creed, “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” For non-Muslims, reciting the statement is sufficient to convert one to Islam. Moreover, the second part of the statement, “Muhammad is the messenger of Allah,” signifies the person has accepted Muhammad as their spiritual leader. The teenager was also required to memorize and recite the Five Pillars of Islam.
Charles County Public Schools disparaged Christianity by teaching its 11th grade students, including the Woods’ daughter, that: “Most Muslims’ faith is stronger than the average Christian.”
The Charles County Public Schools also taught the following:
“Islam, at heart, is a peaceful”
“To Muslims, Allah is the same God that is worshiped in Christianity and Judaism.”
The Koran states, “Men are the managers of the affairs of women” and “Righteous women are therefore obedient.”
Read the two exhibits containing Student worksheets here.
The sugarcoated version of Islam taught at La Plata High School did not mention that the Koran explicitly instructs Muslims “to kill the unbelievers wherever you find them.” (Sura 9-5)
When John Kevin Wood discovered the Islamic propaganda and indoctrination of his daughter, he was rightfully outraged. He immediately contacted the school to voice his objections and to obtain an alternative assignment for his daughter.
The Woods, as Christians, believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and our Savior, that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, and that following the teachings of Jesus Christ is the only path to eternal salvation. The Woods believe that it is a sin to profess commitment in word or writing to any god other than the Christian God. Thus, they object to their daughter being forced to deny the Christian God and to her high school promoting Islam over other religions.
The school ultimately refused to allow the Woods’ daughter to opt-out of the assignments, forcing her to either violate her faith by pledging to Allah or receive zeros for the assignments. Together, John Kevin Wood, Melissa Wood, and their daughter chose to remain faithful to God and refused to complete the assignments, even though failing grades would harm her future admission to college and her opportunities to obtain college scholarships.
Adding insult to injury, in an effort to silence all pro-Christian speech in her school, La Plata’s principal, without a hearing or any opportunity to refute the false allegations against him, issued a “No Trespass” notice against John Kevin Wood denying him any access to school grounds.
Wood served 8 years in the Marine Corps. He was deployed in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm and lost friends to Islamic extremists. A few years later, Wood responded as a firefighter to the 9-11 Islamic terrorist attack on the Pentagon. Wood witnessed firsthand the destruction created in the name of Allah and knows that Islam is not “a religion of peace.” The school prevented John Kevin Wood from defending his daughter’s Christian beliefs against Islamic indoctrination, even though as a Marine, he stood in harm’s way to defend our nation, and the Charles County Public Schools.
Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, commented: “Defendants forced Wood’s daughter to disparage her Christian faith by reciting the Shahada, and acknowledging Mohammed as her spiritual leader. Her World History class spent one day on Christianity and two weeksimmersed in Islam. Such discriminatory treatment of Christianity is an unconstitutional promotion of one religion over another.”
Thompson added, “The course also taught false statements such as “Allah is the same God worshipped by Christians, and Islam as a “religion of peace. Parents must be ever vigilant to the Islamic indoctrination of their children under the guise of teaching history and multiculturalism. This is happening in public schools across the country. And they must take action to stop it.”
The Woods’ lawsuit seeks a court declaration that Defendants violated their constitutional and statutory rights, a temporary and permanent injunction barring Defendants from endorsing Islam or favoring Islam over Christianity and other religions, and from enforcing the no trespassing order issued against John Kevin Wood.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/La-Plata-High-School-HP.jpg320640Dr. Richard M. Swier, LTC U.S. Army (Ret.)http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Richard M. Swier, LTC U.S. Army (Ret.)2016-01-28 11:35:232016-01-28 11:35:37Lawsuit filed on Behalf of Marine Dad who Objected to Islamic Indoctrination of Daughter
York University, a public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, is Canada’s third largest university, with 52,800 students, including 5,462 international students, and 7,000 faculty and staff. The Mission Statement is grandiose and appealing, claiming “excellence in research” with a goal of cultivating “the critical intellect.” There are assurances that the University is “open to the world: we explore global concerns,” accompanied by ensuring “social justice” and a commitment to teaching “social responsibility.” The President’s Message further confirms that the University is “proud to be one of Canada’s most socially responsive and engaged Universities,” yet the president, Dr. Mamdouh Shoukri, is unwilling to test those very ethics.
If the University welcomes the diversity from 157 countries, it should be prepared to suppress conflict and injustice. If it prides itself on social responsibility, it should discourage irresponsible behaviors and the incitement to isolate one people, one country. If excellence in research is encouraged, then it may be time to thoroughly research both the irrational Islamic hatred and culture of violence and the validity of the Jewish bond to the Land of Israel.
Affixed to a wall in the Student Center is a mural that features a Palestinian youth preparing to throw two rocks at an Israeli structure. More than 4,000 incidents of rock throwing against Jews are reported each year in the West Bank, causing serious injury and death. The “art” expresses the Arab demand for a Palestine that includes Israel along with Gaza, Judea and Samaria (Jordan’s West Bank), without border definitions, without compromise. The violent elimination of the State of Israel and the Jewish people define the words beneath, “Justice” and “Peace.”
Having initiated four military wars against Israel, suffering utter humiliation with each loss, the Muslim Brotherhood chose the course of psychological warfare, propagating lies on which to base another intifada (uprising), days of rage or boycott, and it is on Israel specifically that Muslim students maintain their focus – for the time being. The mural is propaganda meant to provoke; to deny Israel her 3,000 year history of Jewish presence (Muslims appeared in the 7th century), and the legal deeds held by the Jewish state since 1948. The mural supports the invented history of Jordanian, Lebanese, Syrian, Saudi and Egyptian Arabs who deceitfully took the Latin name of Palestinians to fabricate a bond between themselves and the area they invaded and lost in 1967. The concocted history and accusations of “occupation” are part of the Islamic aggression against the world, one of many battles in which Muslims are engaged – in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas – to establish a global Caliphate.
Yet despite voiced disapproval by students and citizens alike, University President, Dr. Mamdouh Shoukri assures us of their commitment to a safer environment, but that this instance is off campus and beyond his jurisdiction. Yet these are York students, and the building is York University Student Centre. Is there no responsibility to maintain an apolitical, non-threatening environment? The mural is encouraging violence, perhaps worthy of emulating, climate permitting. Dr. Shoukri knows such incidents in American universities have resulted in terror and bodily harm inflicted on Jewish students. Who is charged with overseeing student welfare or is this disengagement in collaboration of the narrative? Is this being considered “free speech” until legally challenged, or slander and incitement to violence? It is certainly advocating one political viewpoint while suppressing another.
Therefore, I would ask the president to consent to five more murals to enhance the Palestinians’ objects of glory or mission on one wall, and an equal number of similarly sized murals to express the objects of Israel’s glory or mission on the opposite wall. Thus both groups could legitimately present their ideas of justice and values to students, faculty and staff.
Palestinians stoning a woman.
A second Palestinian mural should show the stoning of Islamic women who are accused of adultery or something as simple as owning a cell phone. Siddqa, 19, was dressed in a full blue burqa, buried up to her waist in the ground, and pelted with stones. When she collapsed, covered in blood but still alive, a Taliban fighter shot her three times in the head with an AK-47. This photo is of her 19-year-old lover who was trying to flee, was captured and stoned to death. Justice was equally served.
Muath Al-Kassasbeh being burned alive by the Islamic State.
The third is the Jordanian pilot from the US-led Coalition, Muath Al-Kassasbeh, who was deprived of food for five days, displayed in front of armed terrorists, caged, soaked with petrol and set afire as an offering to Allah. Watching and listening to the screaming and melting is considered justice to the “religion of peace.”
Islamic State mass beheading.
The fourth, death by decapitation, is not as commonplace as stoning or being buried alive and left exposed to the elements. Beheading, mentioned twice in the Koran, instills fear into those who watch, and it attracts more publicity than car bombings and suicide bombings. The killers achieve a sense of justice. Children are taught to behead at an early age, using dolls and live animals.
This is a recognized Australian victim of rape. In Saudi Arabia, rape victims would receive 100 lashes for committing adultery, followed by incarceration for a year. Australia lacks such rules of “justice.”
Muslim mother of three shot for wearing red jacket.
The sixth is justice for women. The Muslim woman, mother of three, was walking in the street, stopped, and pronounced guilty of wearing a red jacket over her black burqa. She was told to kneel and was summarily shot in the head.
This new discovery is worthy of inclusion because of the enormous pride and occasion for celebration. Samir Kuntar, Palestinian superhero, smashed the head of a four-year-old Israeli girl with the butt of his rifle.
The opposite wall should also display a like number of murals to acknowledge the interests and commitments of the Israelis.
Haiti’s devastating earthquake of 2010 attracted many rescue teams, including from Iceland, China, Qatar, South Africa, Columbia, Cuba, Japan, Florida, and New York City’s experienced 9/11 personnel. Israelis brought a rescue team of 200 and a field hospital. An Egyptian-Jewish Haitian supplied his factory’s grounds and trucks to bring in tents, medical equipment, communication hardware and all supplies. Within eight hours, the field hospital was set up and operational, and became the model for the future. Israelis performed surgeries and births, treated broken bones and traumas. The first baby born was named Israel Michel.
Israeli company’s water purification system.
An Israeli company’s water purification systems deliver safe drinking water from almost any source, including contaminated water, seawater and urine. Following a major earthquake in Taiwan in 2009, Israeli humanitarian aid workers brought locally made WaterSheer products to ensure a steady stream of potable water for the survivors and wherever it was needed. Within 48 hours, Taiwan had 4,227 gallons of pure water per day.
ReWalk Robotics exoskeleton system.
Dr. Amit Goffer, an Israeli, developed ReWalk Robotics, an exoskeleton system that enables the paralyzed to walk. Facilitated by computers and motion sensors, it allows independent, controlled walking. It helped Clair Lomas to complete the marathon course at the London Paralympics in 2012, and recently assisted a groom to walk down the aisle. It also provides dignity, mental health, improved cardiovascular health and bowel function, loss of fat tissue, and building of lean muscle mass. Users have less pain, take fewer medications, and require less hospitalization.
Israel has become the fastest growing laboratory for innovative technology, following US and China in creativity and entrepreneurial leadership. Some innovations are responsible transportation using batteries, not oil; drip irrigation that allows farmers worldwide to grow 40% more crops using half the water. Tahal Group has technological solutions to make wastewater treatment processes more efficient and relevant. LifeStraw is the water filter chosen by leading NGOs for humanitarian relief worldwide since 2005, which meets or exceeds EPA standards for efficacy. It removes almost all the waterborne bacteria and parasites and it filters a maximum of 1000 litres of water, enough for one person for one year.
Israel’s breakthroughs are too numerous to mention. Here are a few recent ones:
Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem developed a molecule (NT157) that targets metastatic human melanoma and colon cancer.
Israel’s Oramed gives China the right to its oral insulin capsule to treat the large, growing numbers of diabetics in China.
A new arthritis treatment reduces high blood pressure.
I welcome hearing from Dr. Mamdouh Shoukri, that he will take the high road in re-aligning himself and the University with the original mission to think of what is “true…noble…right…admirable…etc.” In so doing, they could then be instrumental in fulfilling the rest of the quotation, that “the God of peace shall be with us.”
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/york-university-canada-e1451383826747.jpg363640Tabitha Korolhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngTabitha Korol2015-12-29 05:19:512015-12-31 14:59:17The Art of War
An old 1960s U.S. Army buddy, acclaimed life coach and author Steve Chandler sent me a copy of his latest book, “Crazy Good.” In his book, Steve points out that embracing a victim mindset has extremely negative consequences; is not empowering and actually weakens you.
The validity of Steve’s statement is well documented. This is a truth the Left does not permit us to say. If Steve were to state this truth on stage speaking to a black audience, liberals would call him a white racist and me an Uncle Tom for standing up and applauding in agreement with him. How dare this white dude advise blacks to abandon their victim mindsets. Off with his head!
Folks, not only has the Left banned speaking the truth in our country, they are striving to make it illegal. Yes, they want to throw your derriere in jail for disagreeing with their anti-God and anti-American agenda.
Nothing sticks in my craw more than allowing Leftist thugs to run the show, beating up on hard working decent Americans, attempting to force them into submission. My early years living in the projects of east Baltimore taught me that if you give bullies an inch, they will take a mile.
Thank God GOP presidential contender Dr Ben Carson is standing up to despicable liberal operatives in the mainstream media, determined to silence him from sounding the alarm regarding the devastating consequences of cradle to grave welfare (government dependency).
Political experts continue to scratch their heads, puzzled why Dr Carson and Trump’s stars are soaring higher and higher in the polls. It “ain’t” rocket science. The American people are sick of being bullied by Leftists. Americans are thrilled that Dr Carson and Trump are standing up to Leftist bullies in the media and Democratic Party. Both Carson and Trump are fearlessly speaking truth and offering solutions most beneficial to America. Liberals hate it!
Frankly, going into another rant listing Obama’s assaults on freedom and America is too emotionally draining and depressing. Lets just say things are pretty bad when killing babies for profit, killing cops, hating achievers and blacks hating whites are the new celebrated norms. Who could imagine a day would come in America when people are jailed and businesses are closed for not gleefully blessing same sex fellatio, anal sex and same sex cunnilingus?
However, due to my faith, I remain extremely hopeful. Dr Carson and Trump’s popularity point to a growing once silent majority committed to turning our country around. In skirmishes across America, we are winning victories against PC. Parents are pushing back against liberal school boards’ vile intentions. http://fxn.ws/1L6C3zS
Despite Obama and his MSM operatives best efforts to convince Americans that man is smarter than God, polls confirm a majority of Americans smell the stench of our rotting culture. http://bit.ly/1MvPKoa
Folks, we need to stop being so passive and aggressively educate and take back the hearts and minds of our kids. On a road trip visiting relatives in five states, I was stunned by how well Leftist media and public education had transformed the yoots (youths) in my family into brain-dead liberal zombies. They believe white cops murder blacks. Opposing Planned Parenthood equals hatred for women. Republicans are rich, racist and mean. Democrats truly care about them. I had a tough time controlling my gag reflex.
Insidiously, dumbed-down by public education on purpose, most youths are clueless regarding their rights written in the U.S. Constitution. They have no concept of the sacrifice and price our founders and patriots paid for freedom. Thus, it has little value to them. Just as Esau foolishly gave away his birthright for a bowl of beans, many millennials gladly surrender their freedom to government in the name of fairness (social justice) and the promise of security.
Ben Franklin said. “He who would trade liberty for some temporary security, deserves neither liberty nor security.”
So what is the solution? How do we rescue the hijacked hearts and minds of America’s youths? The answer is we follow the lead of Dr Carson, Trump and my favorite candidate, Ted Cruz. Stop allowing the Left to dictate our behavior. Don’t jump on the bandwagon with Leftists criticizing a conservative for speaking truth unfiltered through PC. Boldly push back against PC. Liberals taught our kids lies causing them to hate their country. We MUST counter the lies with the truth about this remarkable, unique and God inspired experiment called America.
Rush Limbaugh is doing his part by publishing a best-selling series of patriotic children books. I am extremely excited and honored to be involved in launching the American Pride Calendar and coffee table book. A father bought several copies because his 10 year old son said it was the best thing he ever read.
To my fellow Christians, branch out of the pews and into the political arena. And for crying out loud, VOTE!!! Prayer is wonderful. But it is time to do something. The Bible says faith without works is dead! More Christians are beginning to realize our government’s and MSM’s War on Christianity; a special shout-out to the ministries of John and Matthew Hagee. Religious freedom rallies are popping up around the country.
Our nation did not reach its current level of debauchery over night. But it is not too late to rescue this stolen generation and generations to come. Committed to fighting with my articles, songs and appearances until God takes me home, I am in this to win it. Raise your hand if you are with me. Wow, I see a lot of hands. Praise God!
RELATED VIDEO: Woodlawn official trailer:
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/woodlawn-the-movie.jpg271640Lloyd Marcushttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngLloyd Marcus2015-10-20 05:57:042015-10-20 05:57:04Game Plan for Taking Back Our Kids
Recent reports out of Israel show that that Israeli civilians aren’t taking a recent spate of terrorist violence lying down, they are arming themselves to fight back. Further, the Israeli government is cooperating by taking measures to ensure that more citizens will have access to the tools necessary to protect themselves and their communities.
In recent weeks, Israel has experienced a wave of attacks, primarily stabbings, carried out by individual Palestinians against Israeli civilians. According to the Washington Post, as of Wednesday, eight Israelis had been killed and dozens injured in this latest round of violence.
The Israeli government has taken drastic measures to combat the attacks, calling up reservists and deploying troops in cities. However, with the unpredictable nature of the violence, civilians are turning to private gun ownership for safety.
In describing the clamor for arms, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported “[c]ars are double- and even triple-parked outside a gun shop in Israel’s coastal city of Tel Aviv. Inside, customers jostle each other as they wait to be served.” The report goes on to quote store owner Iftash Ben-Yehuda, who said, “[t]he last time the shop was so busy was probably in the 1970s. I’ve never before seen such stress or panic.” The article also notes that applications for firearms licenses have risen “by tens of percent” in only 10 days.
Some seeking arms recognize that the effects of carrying go well beyond their own personal safety. Jerusalem resident Netanel Oberman told Bloomberg News, “I want a gun not so much because I’m worried for my own safety, but because I’ll be better prepared to protect other people from attack.”
Israel Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan seems to agree with this assessment. In a statement Wednesday, Erdan noted, “[i]n recent weeks, many citizens have helped the Israel Police subdue terrorists. Citizens trained to use weapons are a multiplying force in our battle against terrorism. Therefore, I have worked to ease conditions for obtaining firearms.”
Further, on Wednesday, the Ministry of Public Security issued relaxed guidelines on who is eligible for a firearm license. The move makes it easier for those on active or reserve military duty to acquire a license, as well as civilians who have completed a requisite security guard course.
Unfortunately, as the Bloomberg News article makes clear, some law-abiding civilians are unable to get a firearms license even with the relaxed rules. Segev Gorbitz of Jerusalem told the outlet, “[i]t’s not right… I want a gun to defend myself and my family, and if you’re an Israeli like me who served in the army and have no criminal record, you should be able to get one.”
Remarkably, even given the present dire situation, Israel’s anti-gun activists are still out in force. The AFP article quoted a leader of an Israeli anti-gun coalition called Gun Free Kitchen Tables, who told the outlet, “[i]n the long run it is obvious that more weapons creates more danger, not more security but the opposite… Encouraging civilians to use firearms on the street could lead to very unfortunate results.” Similarly, according to Bloomberg, Galia Wallach of NA’AMAT, which holds anti-gun positions, protested her countrymen’s increased access to the tools of self-defense, telling a radio program, “I’m very concerned that easing licenses for guns might escalate violence.”
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/irael-guns-defense-terrorism-e1445072286455.jpg360640NRA Institute for Legislative Actionhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngNRA Institute for Legislative Action2015-10-17 04:59:382015-10-18 09:09:47Israeli Minister: “Citizens trained to use weapons are a multiplying force in our battle against terrorism”
In FrontPage today I discuss how the Pope has blamed the refugee crisis on…capitalism:
Did Karl Marx become Pope on March 13, 2013?
As the leader of a Church that encompasses the globe, one might expect Pope Francis to be a bit more…spiritual. Instead, he has more than once had recourse to Marxist analysis to explain global events, appearing to see economic deprivation as the cause of all the world’s evils. He did it again in an interview published last Monday, when he opined that the root cause of the refugee crisis engulfing Europe was economic inequality:
It is the tip of an iceberg. These poor people are fleeing war, hunger, but that is the tip of the iceberg. Because underneath that is the cause; and the cause is a bad and unjust socioeconomic system, in everything, in the world – speaking of the environmental problem –, in the socioeconomic society, in politics, the person always has to be in the centre. That is the dominant economic system nowadays, it has removed the person from the centre, placing the god money in its place, the idol of fashion. There are statistics, I don’t remember precisely, (I might have this wrong), but that 17% of the world’s population has 80% of the wealth.
Let’s see. Are the Syrian refugees fleeing war and hunger? Certainly. Are they, however, fleeing an unjust economic system? Are they fleeing Syria because Bashar Assad on the one hand and the Islamic State on the other are top-hatted plutocrats puffing cigars and chuckling as they send the proletariat off to back-breaking labor? Are Assad and the Islamic State fighting one another for an increased market share? Are the Syrian refugees streaming into Europe because Syria is in love with the god money and the idol of fashion? (The Pope actually may be on to something with that idol of fashion bit: certainly women in the Islamic State holdings in Syria will get killed if they don’t bow to the Islamic State’s idol of fashion and cover everything but their hands and face.)
In reality, the refugees are leaving Syria because the Sunnis of the Islamic State and other jihad groups are waging jihad against the Alawite regime of Assad and his Shi’ite Iranian allies, and have torn the country apart in the process. But to acknowledge that would require the Pope to admit that there is such a thing as jihad violence in the first place, and he is not at all disposed to do that; back in November 2013, he proclaimed his “respect for true followers of Islam” and declared that “authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are opposed to every form of violence.”
So the peaceful Koran couldn’t possibly have anything to do with this refugee crisis, could it? It must be those heartless Syrian tycoons, or more precisely the European and American ones who are presumably keeping the Syrians in a perpetual state of poverty and deprivation.
Meanwhile, the refugees are not all fleeing hardship in Syria at all. Last February, the Islamic State promised to flood Europe in the near future with as many as 500,000 refugees. And an Islamic State operative recently boasted that among the flood of refugees, 4,000 Islamic State jihadis had entered Europe. “They are going like refugees,” he said, but they were going with the plan of sowing blood and mayhem on European streets. As he told this to journalists, he smiled and said, “Just wait.” He explained: “It’s our dream that there should be a caliphate not only in Syria but in all the world, and we will have it soon, inshallah.”
And last Monday, Lebanese Education Minister Elias Bou Saab warned that Islamic jihadis make up as much as two percent of the Syrian refugees in his country alone. Since there are 1.1 million Syrians in refugee camps in Lebanon, that amounts to 20,000 jihadis. How many more are already in Europe?
Despite his Marxist analysis, in the same interview the Pope acknowledged the possibility that there could be Islamic jihadists among the refugees: “I recognize that, nowadays, border safety conditions are not what they once were. The truth is that just 400 kilometres from Sicily there is an incredibly cruel terrorist group. So there is a danger of infiltration, this is true.” He even admitted that Rome could be at risk: “Yes, nobody said Rome would be immune to this threat.”
Despite this, however, he reiterated his request that Catholic parishes take in refugees: “What I asked was that in each parish and each religious institute, every monastery, should take in one family. A family, not just one person. A family gives more guarantees of security and containment, so as to avoid infiltrations of another kind.” And he applauded Europe’s welcoming of the refugees: “I want to say that Europe has opened its eyes, and I thank it. I thank the European countries which have become opened their eyes to this.”
Yet in so many important ways his own eyes appear to remain firmly closed. Is societal suicide really a requirement of Christian charity? Must Europe allow itself to be overrun by hostile invaders in order to prove its lack of racism and willingness to extend help to the needy? These are questions that Church leaders ought to be considering, but they’re too busy with their “dialogue” sessions at the local mosque to busy themselves with such trivialities. No doubt that “dialogue” will result in calls for more redress of economic inequalities, in accord with the Pope’s own world view – and more money will be showered upon Muslim countries, enabling the purchase of more weaponry and the onset of more jihad. At least Europe, as the blade plunges into its collective throat, can congratulate itself that even unto death, it always welcomed the stranger.
Will the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops call Fr. Schall on the carpet and demand that he not speak this way? After all, the USCCB works actively and without any apparent sense of shame to silence and discredit those who tell the truth about the jihad threat and the root causes of Muslim persecution of Christians, and who know that the Pope is wrong about the Qur’an opposing violence. The U.S. Catholic bishops are the worthy sons and heirs of those who convicted Galileo of heresy.
“On Pope Francis and Church Integrity,” by Rev. James V. Schall, S.J., Crisis, September 10, 2015 (thanks to Ming):
…The oft-discussed issues of earth warming and whether the Qur’an advocates violence are open to diverse interpretations. Pope Francis maintains that earth warming is a dangerous fact, but insists the Qur’an does not advocate violence and war. Experts can be found who panic about earth warming; we can find Muslim scholars who cannot find violence in the Qur’an. So, we might say that the Pope’s positions are backed by scholarly opinions. The only trouble with this approach is that other scholars in both areas find evidence that the opposite views are more persuasive and valid. What disturbs people is not the Pope’s authority for his views but his seeming unawareness of opposing evidence.
In this light, several writers point to what they call the “Galileo” problem as the potential danger the Church can find itself in by backing what are in effect opinions about some facts. This “Galileo problem” was the result of the Church committing to a theory that proved to be dubious. At the time—400 years ago—the arguments against Galileo could and did make sense to many. To be in error on a matter of scientific opinion is, of course, not exactly heresy. It happens every day. Indeed, it is the nature of scientific method of testing and retesting. Likewise, to be wrong (or right) about earth warming is not a matter of faith.
But if the Church takes a position in the matters of, say, evolution, science, or economics that turns out, on further investigation, to be wrong or doubtful, it will seem untrustworthy also in areas over which it does claim competence. However tempting or popular to comment on, there are some things on which the Church should just avoid taking a stand. Let it be discussed freely until there really is an issue of faith involved and reasons to think so….
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/pope-reads-kuran.jpeg375639Jihad Watchhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJihad Watch2015-09-11 05:29:032015-09-11 05:29:20“What disturbs people is not the Pope’s authority but his seeming unawareness of opposing evidence”
I received an email from Sarasota, Florida resident Tad MacKie with a link to an Associated Press article titled, “Teen charged with encouraging her boyfriend to kill himself.” The article is about the suicide death of a teenager. The AP reports:
At first glance, the text messages appear to show a disturbing case of cyberbullying: one teen urging another to kill himself.
But the texts were not sent by a school bully. They were from a 17-year-old girl to her boyfriend, whom she called the love of her life.
“You can’t think about it. You just have to do it. You said you were gonna do it. Like I don’t get why you aren’t,” Michelle Carter allegedly wrote to Conrad Roy III the day he parked his truck outside a Fairhaven Kmart and killed himself through carbon monoxide poisoning.
Michelle Carter and boyfriend Conrad Roy.
MacKie reflected on this article and wrote:
THIS is what happens when “there is no God”…
One lost, misguided, emotionally and intellectually retarded, product of pop culture, psycho-babble and political correctness, texting back and forth to another lost, misguided, emotionally and intellectually retarded, product of pop culture, psycho-babble and political correctness… BOTH totally self absorbed and totally screwed-up, counting on life’s circumstances and other people to create some meaning in their lives.
The whole thing is tragic but totally predictable.
The plain, hard, truth being that, without God, and I’m talking about Jesus, here, life is tragically meaningless. Without being able to KNOW truth… (“I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life”… Jesus said that.)… Without being emotionally and intellectually confident of the Truth, when life becomes “unbearable” there is NOTHING to sustain us through it.
My own experiences have shown me, beyond ANY shadow of doubt, when life is a confused, mind-numbing, whirlwind of angry reaction to circumstance and/or the extremely hurtful actions of others, the “still, small voice” comes through all the noise and confusion, bringing the realization that, as my dear Mother used to say, “This, too, shall pass.”
With no God and no eternal life, not only is there no “still, small voice” to carry us through, there’s no reason to go through it.
The above article painfully illustrates the results.
Also, please note that there is NO mention of parents of either one… Just an aunt and a grandparent. While it may be a mere coincidence or oversight, it seems to be, more and more, the “norm”.
What about YOU…? Take away all that you have and all your ability to do what you do… Job, home, spouse, kids, money, health, mobility, TV, internet, peer approval, professional respect, all the while your “friends” telling you that you MUST have done something wrong because, as we all know, “what goes around, comes around”… What do YOU have left? What would be YOUR reason to continue to live?
May I suggest, if you’re coming up empty-handed, you might want to look into this whole Jesus “thing” a bit more seriously because the “Shrink” will just hook you on some “anti-depressant” drugs that, while temporarily masking the reality will, ultimately, kill you anyway.
MacKie is right, this whole thing is tragic but totally predictable, when you take God out of the public square.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/hand-needle-and-pills-e1631970938442.jpg361640Dr. Richard M. Swier, LTC U.S. Army (Ret.)http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Richard M. Swier, LTC U.S. Army (Ret.)2015-09-10 07:35:552015-09-10 07:39:46This is what happens when you remove God from the public square
There is growing concern among the Christian community in America. The concern is that their Christian beliefs, which shall not be infringed, are under attack by the law givers. This has happened before during the rule of the pagan Roman Empire.
The question: Should Christians disobey the law givers?
I took the title of this column from an email I received from Dr. William Lane Craig, a noted Christian apologist. Dr. Craig in his email is responding to Nathan, an agnostic, who states, “Now, as of recent, with the legalization of gay marriage across the United States, someone pointed out to me that the Bible says that to resist the authorities would be directly against God’s wishes. To support this, he showed me Romans 13 verses 1-7. The verses seem to suggest that authority is placed by God, and we are to obey them because disobeying would be akin to disobeying God.”
Dr. Craig responds with:
Now as right-thinking people and as Christians, we cannot acquiesce in the Supreme Court’s attempt to re-define what marriage is. Five lawyers (as the dissenting justices called them) can no more change the essence of marriage than they can change the essence of a horse or a chair. So we now find ourselves in a society where there are legal marriages which are in actuality pseudo-marriages. These people are not really married, but they are legally married.
Now since, as you note, we Christians are to be submissive to the governing authorities of the society in which we find ourselves, we have to obey the laws unless they require us to do things which would be immoral, that is, contrary to God’s will or commands.
For example, when the Jerusalem authorities commanded the early apostles to quit preaching the name of Jesus, Peter and John boldly responded: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4.19-20). Similarly, when pagan Roman Emperors commanded Christians to burn incense to the pagan gods, Christians resolutely refused, undergoing unspeakable tortures and execution rather than violate their conscience.
[Emphasis added]
Is it time for a new wave Christian civil disobedience as we saw with Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, a Democrat, who emerged from a rural jail on Tuesday, September 8th, 2015, proclaiming praise for God and indicating that her fight against marriage licenses was worth the six days behind bars?
The Three forms of Civil Disobedience
There are three forms of civil disobedience, two of which are against God’s will.
The anarchist view says that a person can choose to disobey the government whenever he likes and whenever he feels he is personally justified in doing so. Such a stance has no biblical support whatsoever, as evidenced in the writings of Paul in Romans 13.
The extremist patriot says that a person should always follow and obey his country, no matter what the command. This view also does not have biblical support. Moreover, it is not supported in the history of nations. For example, during the Nuremberg trials, the attorneys for the Nazi war criminals attempted to use the defense that their clients were only following the direct orders of the government and therefore could not be held responsible for their actions. However, one of the judges dismissed their argument with the simple question: “But gentlemen, is there not a law above our laws?”
The position the Scripturesuphold is one of biblical submission, with a Christian being allowed to act in civil disobedience to the government if it commands evil, such that it requires a Christian to act in a manner that is contrary to the clear teachings and requirements of God’s Word.
Peaceful Christian disobedience to evil commands is mandated by God. That is today’s lesson.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/christian-civil-disobedience-mlk.jpg334640Dr. Richard M. Swier, LTC U.S. Army (Ret.)http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Richard M. Swier, LTC U.S. Army (Ret.)2015-09-10 06:46:282015-09-10 14:11:44Disobeying the Supreme Court
The Vatican is 109 acres and he himself invited the migrants to Europe in 2013when he took his pope mobile (it must have been transported at great expense!) to the sandy beach of the Italian island of Lampedusa and admonished the Italian people to be more welcoming while saying mass for the migrants arriving illegally from Libya and other parts of the Muslim world. He helped bring about this crisis!
Let’s at least hope he shelters persecuted Christians! Will he choose by lottery? Will they be screened for security? (Do you remember back in April a terror plot was foiled when 18 terrorists posed as ‘refugees’ and planned to attack the Vatican.)
Hey, maybe we can spread a rumor and direct some of the masses of marching migrants to his gates in Rome. It would be a kind of reenactment.
And, will the Pope call on US Bishops to set an example?
See some of the homes of U.S. Bishops, here. How many families will they each invite to live in their mansions?
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/pope-francis2.jpg410639Ann Corcoranhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngAnn Corcoran2015-09-07 08:40:212015-09-07 08:43:37Whoop-de-doo! Pope Francis is going to take 2 refugee families to live at the Vatican