Religious persecution and the rise of communism

Although there is a lot in the gloom and doom crowd who are fearing the complete supression of religion under Obama, I think we have to realize that we here in the United States are VERY blessed with religious freedom to the degree in which we have it. But in spite of what happens, I think all Catholics and other Christians need to ask ourselves: if religious persecution does happen, are we willing to stand up and sacrifice ourselves for the Truth? I think many of us fear increases in religious persecution because it might mean we would have to do something and put ourselves in the way of danger and stand up for our beliefs and convitions ... and really look at ourselves and see if we really believe our beliefs and are convicted about our convictions.

It reminds me of a friend of mine who was born in Cuba and was a small boy when the communist revolution there happened. He said that Catholics who had been going to daily Mass for years were suddenly persecuting the Church and handing over priests to be arrested. He ended up fleeing Cuba with his mother. I can tell you, the popularity of the Che Guevara icon and the pro-Cuba leanings of many in the entertainment industry drives him nuts.


Fr. Tim Finigan at The Hermeneutic of Continuity posted this video from the Don Camillo series in Italy, which should be a reminder that religious persecution has been pretty recent.



And communism is still a player in Italian politics. I took this photo in October of 2008 just outside of Norcia, Italy:


And, sadly, the Democratic party has been sliding down the path to socialism and communism as well, esepecially under Barak Obama. It's a slippery slope, and once a country falls under it's spell, it is hard to let it go. As momentous as the fall of communism was in the Soviet Union, there is a growing number of people in Russia who want communism back. People had become so dependant on the government, that they are willing to throw away liberties to have programs spoon fed to them by the government again.



Hopefully, our country can wake up from its morbid fascination with socialism and move back to freedom and responsibility.

RS

You don't think it's become a religion?

Time for some Monday levity.

I hate politics and most of the discussion thereof, but here's a rare post on it.

As much as it is a satire, it pretty much does describe many Obamaniacs' feelings (including the the media) ...


or is it just a trip into the head of Obama himself? Probably both. The irony is that liberals whine that religion should not be a part of politics. Yet, Obama supporters are often more fanatic than most religious.

Sacristan's bow to Mom & Dad for the tip for the video.



RS

Made it through the "war."

I don't think it's Thursday anymore in any part of the world, so I guess we made it.

I guess Sarah Connor saved us from Skynet and the terminators again.


RS

Happy Nuclear War Day

I love Texas, but sometimes we do compete with Idaho in having nut jobs holed up in our states:



He's twice predicted nuclear war in the past, which didn't come to pass. I guess he thinks third time's the charm. Come on, dude, nuclear armageddon is so 1980's.

RS

Most annoying word of the year

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"Green"

Why are we being enundated with the word "green?" I think the people over at this blog have an answer:

An interesting fact about white people is that they firmly believe that all of the world’s problems can be solved through “awareness.” Meaning the process of making other people aware of problems, and then magically someone else like the government will fix it.

This belief allows them to feel that sweet self-satisfaction without actually having to solve anything or face any difficult challenges. Because, the only challenge of raising awareness is people not being aware. In a worst case scenario, if you fail someone doesn’t know about the problem. End of story.

You can read the rest of the article here:

Stuff White People Like: #18 Awareness

The other reason is that corporate America can make a buck off of it.

In "honor" of Earth Day, I thought I'd post a link on how to destroy the world. Here's the Preamble to Sam Hughes' How to Destroy the Earth

Destroying the Earth is harder than you may have been led to believe.

You've seen the action movies where the bad guy threatens to destroy the Earth. You've heard people on the news claiming that the next nuclear war or cutting down rainforests or persisting in releasing hideous quantities of pollution into the atmosphere threatens to end the world.

Fools.

The Earth is built to last. It is a 4,550,000,000-year-old, 5,973,600,000,000,000,000,000-tonne ball of iron. It has taken more devastating asteroid hits in its lifetime than you've had hot dinners, and lo, it still orbits merrily. So my first piece of advice to you, dear would-be Earth-destroyer, is: do NOT think this will be easy.

This is not a guide for wusses whose aim is merely to wipe out humanity. I (Sam Hughes) can in no way guarantee the complete extinction of the human race via any of these methods, real or imaginary. Humanity is wily and resourceful, and many of the methods outlined below will take many years to even become available, let alone implement, by which time mankind may well have spread to other planets; indeed, other star systems. If total human genocide is your ultimate goal, you are reading the wrong document. There are far more efficient ways of doing this, many which are available and feasible RIGHT NOW. Nor is this a guide for those wanting to annihilate everything from single-celled life upwards, render Earth uninhabitable or simply conquer it. These are trivial goals in comparison.

This is a guide for those who do not want the Earth to be there anymore.

You can jump right to the list here:

Methods for Destroying Earth


RS

Church of the Jedi

As much as I like Star Wars since it is a major nostalgic memory of my childhood, I don't think I ever liked it enough to think it was real.

Anyway, I've seen this a few times on teh internets lately:

May the Force be with pew: Brothers open Jedi 'church' in Wales
Last updated at 19:21pm on 21st January 2008

A Jedi "church" has been born in a galaxy far far away - North Wales.

The Holyhead chapter of the self-styled Jedi Church, which claims up to 400,000 members worldwide, has sprung up thanks to brothers Barney and Daniel Jones, both Star Wars obsessives.

The "church" is only one of a handful around the planet, said hairdresser Barney, 26, the Anglesey Order Minister, also known as Master Jonba Hehol.

----
another aricle:

Although the current members are all men, women are not excluded, as Barney Jones points out: "Princess Leia helped them out a lot."

However, any congregation member drawn to the dark side of the Force, embodied in the film by Darth Vader, would be advised they are following the wrong path and could face expulsion.

Barney explained: "Obviously, if someone starts to try and use the good force for greed and power, they are going to bring negative interference into the meetings.

"We cannot have the Force disrupted by negative interference."

You can read the articles here:

May the Force be with pew: Brothers open Jedi 'church' in Wales

Force strong for new Jedi church

Besides, we all know how George Lucas really got his ideas for Star Wars:



RS

I hate PETA

These PETA people really need to get a life. It's sad that they would place the lives of animals over the livelyhood of men. It's like they took Disney movies way too seriously when growing up. Given the time and effort these people put into their animal crusade, it's become their religion.

Besides their being nuts, PETA is hypocritical and kills animals anyway.

Pretty soon they'll be after the grizzlies for eating salmon.


Reminds me of a hilarious adventure from the Kingdom of Loathing.

RS

Comparison of Religions - Ecological Extremists

I usually don't like to post on current events, because it can become so overwhelming to keep up, but this story was just so absolutely absurd.

"... Toni terminated her pregnancy, she did so in the firm belief she was helping to save the planet.

Incredibly, so determined was she that the terrible "mistake" of pregnancy should never happen again, that she begged the doctor who performed the abortion to sterilise her at the same time.

He refused, but Toni - who works for an environmental charity - "relentlessly hunted down a doctor who would perform the irreversible surgery.

Finally, eight years ago, Toni got her way.

At the age of 27 this young woman at the height of her reproductive years was sterilised to "protect the planet".

Incredibly, instead of mourning the loss of a family that never was, her boyfriend (now husband) presented her with a congratulations card.

While some might think it strange to celebrate the reversal of nature and denial of motherhood, Toni relishes her decision with an almost religious zeal.

"Having children is selfish. It's all about maintaining your genetic line at the expense of the planet," says Toni, 35."

Read the whole story here:

Meet the women who won't have babies - because they're not eco friendly

I think there may be some Divine Providenc in this though. It might be better that she not pro-create, and at least she won't be having abortions herself anymore.

I thought ecologists wanted to help preserve the planet for future generations, not kill future generations to preserve the planet. Ultimately, it's kind of pointless since the sun is going to engulf the planet several epochs from now anyway (maybe we should kill the sun too, the evil planet engulfer!)

But it makes you wonder, why she thinks she should live and use up so many resources if she REALLY believes what she does. Or why she doesn't just kill people -- oh wait, she's already done that once already. But what if she takes it a step further to just killing anybody? People with priorities this out of whack could be EXTREMELY dangerous to society.

RS

Comparison of Religion - atheism

I am always amazed at how some atheists actually make atheism into a religion. How some of them end up criticizing those who are religious (especially Christians) because some people in religion act so "self-righteous" and "arrogant," and yet these atheists end up being just as self-righteous and pretentious as those they criticize.

I came across a weird video at an atheist site which is supposed to be a humorous yet serious look at the "methods" of cults. Given the site it was at, it was clearly posted to criticize not just cults, but religion as well. But I find the video content to be rather ironic. The video certainly nails the way a cult works; I think here specifically of $cientology.

(As a warning there are two scenes which could be considered "graphic" because it has implied murder)

Mind Control Made Easy


Now, having seen the video, think of things you've heard from atheists:

"Religious people are ignorant or stupid, but WE [atheists] know better."

"Your religious parents just don't understand, you should avoid them."

"Don't read that religious garbage, it will only confuse or trick you."

"It's not a miracle, although we can't explain it, there's obviously some scientific explanation for it."

"It's us against those religious nuts."

I've even seen a "Church of Freethought" a "church for non-believers." The complete irrationality of that one just floors me!

Overall, atheism might not be an organized religion, but you can see it's mindset being rather cult like and aggressive.

For instance, the next big controversy will probably be this Christmas. New Line Cinema (the ones who gave us "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy) will be releasing the first movie of the "His Dark Materials" trilogy called "The Golden Compass." They are written by Philip Pullman, who "is a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association and an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society." You can read more about him and his works at the two links just listed.

The "His Dark Materials" trilogy as known in North America"
The "His Dark Materials" trilogy has been called an "antithesis to the Chronicles of Narnia," and it is pretty anti-Catholic/Christian. It will be controversial because of this, and the fact that the movie looks to be a rather beautifully filmed fantasy movie aimed mainly at young adults..

So, remember, I predict the next big "Da Vinci Code-esque" controversy will be this December.

Like I said, I often find that all the criticisms of religion which are made by atheists tend to be amazingly accurate of themselves as well. Guess we'll just all have to turn discordian. LOL.

RS