Tag: US Constitution

Marginalized – “Not Peace, But a Sword” – Re-Blog First Things

jerusalem-cross-lapel-pin
Jerusalem Cross

Peanut Gallery: Marginalized – it’s a bitter pill to swallow. But the sooner I come to terms with it the better. There is Life outside of politics – thank God. And, in America, this is the season for social conservatives to “stay the course” at the cultural margins… and let the chips fall where they may.

mar·gin·al·ize\ˈmärj-nə-ˌlīz, ˈmär-jə-n ə l-ˌīz\transitive verb : to relegate to an unimportant or powerless position within a society or group Other forms: mar·gin·al·ized; mar·gin·al·iz·ing

Peter Leithart has provided me with some reality therapy… maybe you can use some too. Democrats might find something to think about here as well.

My advice to Bad Republicans is: Let it come. If the price of regaining power is to abandon any semblance of Christian sexual morality, the price is too high. If the Republican party can’t bring itself to endorse a traditional understanding of marriage, let it split. If the Republican party can’t be bothered about the slaughter of the unborn, let it shatter into a million little pieces. Good Republicans will blame Bad Republicans for tearing the GOP to pieces. So be it.

In this article, published by First Things, Leithart maps out the future for social conservatives… and there is no peace on the horizon.

“Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword.” Matthew 10.34 NLT

Social, cultural conservatives are moving into unfamiliar territory. We’ve got a lot to learn.
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“Not Peace, But a Sword”

President Obama is convinced that liberals have won the culture war, and he aims to leverage that victory to force a transformation of the Republican party. In a New Republic interview published earlier this week, he noted that attitudes are changing “in the country as a whole around LGBT issues and same-sex marriage” and that this poses a challenge to Republicans. Some Republicans will “embrace” the change, but “there’s a big chunk of their constituency that is going to be deeply opposed to that.”

Unity is the president’s preferred weapon to divide and conquer. Continue reading “Marginalized – “Not Peace, But a Sword” – Re-Blog First Things” →

“Religious Freedom Day” – not so much!

Peanut Gallery: “Words mean things.” And President Obama choses his words very carefully. That’s why his substitution of the word worship for freedom in his Religious Freedom Day proclamation (Jan 16) was important – and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty called him on it.

Religious Freedom Rally
Religious Freedom Rally

Perhaps this mismatch between words and deeds can be explained by the phrase “freedom of worship,” which the President uses in the first sentence of his proclamation. Religious freedom certainly includes worship, but it extends beyond the four walls of a church. If it is not to be an empty promise, religious freedom must also include acting on one’s deepest religious beliefs when one is feeding the poor, caring for the sick, educating the young, or running a business.

The Becket Fund focused on the HHS mandate affecting churches and religious institutions but the word switch (worship for religion) would also limit evengelism beyond the four walls of a church.

So what is he up to? Maybe he thinks if he says it often enough and long enough people will accept the change… and stay in their place? Out of sight and out of mind.

I don’t think God is going to go for that.
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The report from Christianity Today is found below –

Becket Fund Pushes Back on Obama’s ‘Religious Freedom Day’ Proclamation

by Jeremy Weber, blog.christianitytoday.com

Today (Wed, Jan 16), President Barack Obama continued the tradition of observing Religious Freedom Day with a presidential proclamation. But this year, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty critiqued his use of “freedom of worship” rhetoric—a debate that first arose in 2010.

“Foremost among the rights Americans hold sacred is the freedom to worship as we choose,” begins Obama’s proclamation (full text at bottom), which later asserts “religious liberty … is a universal human right to be protected here at home and across the globe. This freedom is an essential part of human dignity, and without it our world cannot know lasting peace.”

Becket challenged the president’s statement in light of the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate, which currently faces 43 legal challenges (many led by Becket) based on religious freedom concerns. Continue reading ““Religious Freedom Day” – not so much!” →