You only thought rape was a non-negotiable

What would Gloria say?

So Law & Order.  I saw this mentioned on a few sites and more or less ignored it.  It's Law & Order after all.  One of those 'issue dramas' that have all the objectivity of a Branch Davidian Bible study. 

But I kept seeing people jump on this, even in a national press outlet or two (like Newsweek), so I thought I would look into it.  Yes, the initial 'hysteria' was correct.  The gist of the episode is that a white woman is raped by a black teen, but is praised for realizing she still has the privilege and the black man, a victim in his own right, will pay for life while she'll be free with her privilege.  

Eventually, the woman's lesbian lover explains she's inconsolable over the racism of our criminal justice system, knowing  that the black man will never get a fair trial.  Because she is white, she realizes that a little therapy on her part - therapy for the whole violently raped thing - will be all she needs. Then back to being okay with her white privilege.  But the victimized black man will forever be a victim of our racist system of racist justice in our racist country. In the end, she does identify the man, but a plea deal is reached and the DA commends the man for taking responsibility for his actions after he apologizes for the little rape thing.   

FWIW, it's the  'she'll more or less get over it with some therapy' that appears to be the source of the outrage.  We have, after all, accepted that all such 'sexual crimes' are unforgivable on this side of heaven.  That to be raped or sexually abused is a life changing, permanent wound that will never truly heal.  Oh, with therapy and counseling you can manage the trauma, but you will carry the scars for life.  But now?  Eh.  Apparently it depends on your skin color. 

The Leftist dichotomy of oppressed versus oppressor is almost the civil religion of 21st Century America.  In the 1970s, there were no real criminals, only victims of our oppressive and unjust society.  Then feminists  said no way. Maybe muggers and mass murderers are victims, but show me a rapist and I'll show you someone who should be branded for life as a sex pervert.  Eventually, any sex crimes were added to the list, and we accepted that there could be a never ending list of sex based crimes that are worthy of a lifetime of being branded human scum.

But since the Obama years, the Left did a hard turn and tweaked that little standard and has now, effectively, made unforgivable sins only apply based on group identity (see the leftwing reaction to the October 7 massacre of Israeli Jews for a non-sex based example).  With almost no pushback, a not insignificant part of our nation - Christian leaders included - have accepted that the importance of all culpability and absolution, and apparently even suffering, derives from one's group identity.    

The Left isn't giving up, as this episode makes clear.  The message is as obvious as you can get it - if you're a white woman raped by a black man, then lying there on your back being raped, you still have the privilege.  Go get some therapy and fuhgeddaboudit.

In 2020, during the BLM protests, my sons were in college.  In one of the college forums, apparently some professor somewhere in Ohio stepped in it.  At the time, the case of Reagan Tokes came up.  She was a beautiful young college girl who was kidnapped and brutally raped and murdered.  The man who allegedly killed her was a convict who should have been behind bars, but owing to the injustices of our system, was put on a dumbed down house arrest style setup shoddily enforced.    

For some reason, that case came up during the peaceful protests of 2020. And the professor - who I cannot remember - said that the word 'rape' should not be used when describing such an action by a black man against a white woman.  Not that it was good what he did to Miss Tokes.  It was horrible.  It was tragic.  But the fact is, she still had the privilege owing to her skin color, even as her last breaths were being choked out of her. 

Let's just say the forum conversations were pretty intense, with almost all expressing outrage at such a notion.  I don't know if the professor ever apologized or not.  There were many things to think of back then.  So universal was the outrage, however, that I didn't really bother with it.  Just some wacked out professor being a modern professor on the internet, and everyone was rightly upset.  All was right with the world. 

But that was so 2020.  Now, we have a major Hollywood production saying basically the same thing.  White women gotta take it because privilege and systemic racist injustice and all.  Group A - you get what you have coming.  Group B?  Anything you do is excusable because of oppression or freedom fighting.  And note, the actress is quite white.   Remember that every totalitarian revolution has to have its fair share of Boxers willing to head off to the glue factory for the cause. 

If you think it won't get worse, consider the LGBTQ community and Chik fil A.  Over a decade ago, some local politicians in Boston and Chicago floated banning the restaurant from their jurisdictions because of the owner's views on homosexuality.  Yet LGBTQ activists roared in protest.  No way.  That's not what they are about!   I remember even the Huffpost jumped up and down and threw a yellow flag on the idea of government actors punishing a business because of religious beliefs.  

A decade later, however, and it was LGBTQ protesters calling for various agencies, government or otherwise, to ban. punish, censor or in any way ruin  Chik fil A over its previous owner's beliefs (and with plenty of the national press's help by way of being free advertisers for Popeye's Chicken, CfA's chief competitor).  And what of those lofty principles of religious freedom only a few years earlier?  The joy of progress.  That was so yesterday's principles.   

Things progress and devolve in history.  If you think this development regarding white women and rape will be confined to a TV show, think again.  Four years ago the overwhelming response to a professor's notion that white women can't be "raped" by black men, because the white woman still has the power, was overwhelming outrage from all sides that I saw.  Now it's Hollywood getting in on the act and saying 'not so fast'. In another dozen years, white women being told to deal with it if they're raped by a black man might just be the nicest thing that will apply to the situation.

Do this

I received a notice from the local Republican party on Facebook.  I responded that before I do or support anything, I'd like to seem them, you know, do something.  I reminded them that when the Christopher Columbus statues in Columbus were Talibanned, they boldly declared that they would swoop in, grab them, and set them up around the state.  Where are they?  Right now the pro-choice machine is pushing Issue 1, which would enshrine abortion as a constitutional right in Ohio.  Already I've seen weeks of commercials, flier handouts, promotions and interviews pushing the issue.  I have yet to see anything from the opposition - either pro-life organizations or the GOP.   Our bishop is the only one I've seen pounding the table on resisting this. 

Too often that is how the resistance to what we call 'The Left' tends to be.  Always next year, then the resistance.  Someday we'll stake a stand.  We won't take much more of this.  By golly, one more and that will do it.  And yet we've gone from 'why can't a man and woman have sex outside of marriage' to 'you're damn right we'll alter the bodies of your adolescents and we'll use the State to prevent you from stopping us.'  Yet where is that fabled resistance?  What line is it we're waiting for them to cross?  Murdering our kid?  Gas chambers?  Just what are we waiting for?

This came to my mind because that particular GOP message was sent after this weekend.  If you're a college football fan, then you've probably heard about the post game interview with OSU coach Ryan Day.  Ohio State won a nailbiter of a game on Saturday.  Underdog to the Fighting Irish, it looked for most of the game like the predictions were accurate.  We would lose. So far this year our team has looked lackluster, and that included the first three quarters of the game Saturday night against Notre Dame.  We started the season with dueling quarterbacks, which is never good. And the quarterback we chose has been under-impressive, to be blunt. 

Despite Ryan Day being, in terms of percentages, one of the winningest college football coaches of all time, the big games have eluded him. True, the game against Clemson was lost on what I admit is the single worst call in football history.  But he's lost other big games as well.  And worse for any Buckeye fan, he has now lost two games in a row against Michigan.  That makes him the first OSU coach since John Cooper to do so. Therefore, no matter how pretty the stats, there has been a cloud over his tenure.  And in Ohio State Buckeye Fan parlance, that is translated as 'fire him, fire him now.'  

That wasn't helped going into this week, when most pundits and analysts concluded Ohio State didn't have a chance.  None other than legendary Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz said we weren't just going to lose, but we were going to lose because we aren't physical enough. We're soft.  Which is why we can't beat the big teams.  For OSU's fabled football program, that hurt. 

But again, most of the game looked that way.  Then, in the fourth quarter, with minutes left, down by four points, and seemingly unable to do anything well, the team hunkered down for some serious bump and grind football that would have made the late Bear Bryant proud.  Our new and sheepish quarterback completed one clutch pass after another, completing some in ways that were unbelievable.  We pushed our way down, overcoming perhaps the most convoluted Grounding call I've ever seen, and ended up on the one foot line.  Three seconds left, and we shoved our way into the end zone for a game winning touchdown. 

After the game, the obligatory interview with the winning coach took place. If we weren't ready for the heart-pounding victory that night, we were flabbergasted when coach Ryan Day responded to the reporter's question:

For context, Day has developed the reputation of being a rather 'blah' coach in interviews.  It's as if he's so scared he'll say anything, he usually ends up saying nothing.  Some reporters have called him the anti-Woody Hayes.  I'll admit, though I typically enjoy after game reporting, I've often ignored or just turned off the broadcasts because he hasn't been worth listening to.  It's all so - dull.

But my, oh my.  Naturally not everyone is happy, including detractors who have responded with the usual 'how dare you talk back to us after we called you losers.'  Some Buckeye's aren't either, but then Ohio State fans are a notoriously tough audience to please no matter what you do.  But not a few people - Ohio State fans and otherwise - have perked up and said it  was nice to see.  It was nice to see Day come out of his shell.  It was nice to see a coach be honest and passionate.  And most Ohio State fans  I know are tickled pink.  It's been since Woody Hayes that we've seen that much raw energy or intense support for the team.  

All of this came to my mind with that GOP post.  Whatever you think about Day's coaching interview above, that is exactly what people who see the crumbling of our civilization want from those who are supposed leaders of the resistance.  Whether politicians, pundits, activists, religious leaders, or whatever, that's what we're waiting for.  Why do we think so many Americans keep clinging to Trump?  

What we want is someone with the above passion, without feeling like we are compromising our values.  Someone who can clearly, honestly, bluntly and passionately rally the troops to stop what we're seeing.  We want leaders who will, like Day, stand up and defend our values, our heritage, our faith, our history, our heroes and ourselves.  Give us that, oh local GOP, and we will follow you anywhere.  The same goes for our bishops.  The same goes for anyone who will stand up to resist the madness and the coming darkness.

Give the Orthodox Church credit

Like all faith traditions today, secularism has besieged the Orthodox, and increasingly the younger Orthodox are ready to chuck the olden Faith and embrace the modern secular paganism, especially where south of the waistline issues are concerned.  Inadvertently, the Orthodox also aid that by insisting they never jump into politics, but then diving headfirst into things like BLM if they can make the West look bad.  America looking bad being a bonus point.  Remember, the Left can always bet on 1/3 of its opponents to join the Left at any point in a revolution.  BTW, one of my beefs with the Orthodox was their almost pathological resentment, if not hatred, for anything west of the Danube. 

With that said, many older Orthodox are fighting the good fight, and doing so much more openly than we're seeing in the West, and especially in the United States:

That comes from being in a tradition where some of your colleagues can still show their scars from being tortured during the days of the Soviet Union.  

Fact is, most of us in the US, including our leaders, never imagined we'd face actual persecution for resisting the emergent secular society.  Lulled by eternal chanting of never ending tolerance and respect for diversity, we imagined whatever grave evils they indulged in, they would leave us alone.  

It doesn't help that those who long ago sold themselves to this new tyranny have said, without saying it, that anything less than shaved heads, striped pajamas, and two steps from a gas chamber doesn't count as persecution.  For dissenters of course.  Designated minority groups, when in line with the latest progressive dogma, can declare themselves the most persecuted people in history if a conservative says they're wrong.  And suddenly those same leftwing believers will weep and lament and declare their plight the worst in history.  

So it's a bit of a one-two punch.  Suddenly we are faced with a movement with increasing power to persecute any who dissent, mixed with those who betrayed righteousness and our posterity by making it clear that no matter your suffering, they will support it. 

Because of that, I think we're seeing a great many leaders invoke the sacred ostrich when it comes to the evils we're seeing.  See no evil, hear no evil, run like a baby from the evil, head in the sand at all times. 

Again, this isn't to say all Orthodox are resisting, or even all Orthodox leaders.  The Orthodox have a long, proud history of throwing their sheep into the wolves' den to save their skin.  But among those who are resisting, they are far more prepared to speak openly, directly, and truthfully while addressing the egregious evils of our day. 

Good for them

The James P. Joyce Library, where I spent many long hours

The Southern Baptist Convention, my old stomping grounds, has voted to expel two churches that went ahead and hired women pastors. 

OK, here's the thing. I'm Catholic, so the last thing Catholics can do is complain about this.  Orthodox as well.  In fact, most traditional Christian traditions (and other faiths in general) still draw distinct lines between various clerical roles and the sexes.  Still believing, at least on paper, that gender differences mean something.  Most reject the modern notion that there is no difference between men and women, except for when there clearly are differences or when gender doesn't even exist - depending on the ideological needs at the moment. 

Why the SBC was a lighting rod for what was common elsewhere likely had to do with its rather open and zealous fight against liberal incursions through the 70s and 80s and into the 90s.  Contrary to media stereotypes, all evangelicals are not alike.  Nor were Southern Baptists.  In any church I attended, you could bet the stats would be about the same as most polls indicate.  That is, about 1/3 of those in the church would be democrats.  Not necessarily liberal.  But prepared to defend the Blue as much as conservatives would defend the Red.  Republicans and vague independents made up the rest.  

That included the emerging liberation theologies and liberalizing of the Faith that hit high speed in the 20th Century.  When I came to seminary in 1993, we had plenty of left to far left professors - most Southern Baptist by identity.  Many would eventually leave, or join the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (essentially Southern Baptist for liberals).  They tended to hold liberal views on everything from the historicity of the Christian faith to a variety of issues, such as abortion, homosexuality, socialism, ecumenism, feminism, racism and the positive or negative assessment of the greater impact of the Christian West.  That included the positive or negative assessment of the United States.  Hence there were plenty of fireworks within the denomination for the national press to investigate and take sides. 

Things came to a head when Dr. Al Mohler came on board as president. A young Calvinist sprout in his early 30s, he set about with the winnowing fork, separating the conservative wheat from the liberal chaff.  He often went too far, IMHO.  And sometimes those conservatives who bemoaned just how intolerant and unfair liberal administrations were to conservatives, had no problem turning on a dime and doing the same thing to the liberals of the day.  A big lesson I learned about consistent ethics.  If you say something is wrong when you don't have power, then don't do it when you do have power. 

In any event, while this was happening, it seemed the SBC was in every news story out there.  Each year something happened, the SBC met, and the news media pounced.  I recall in the late 1990s when the SBC said it would put a special initiative on reaching out and evangelizing the Jewish community.  Whew.  Hard to believe people that late still thought Jewish individuals had need of Jesus. Talk about your media firestorms.  But that was par for the course in those days.  As it still appears to be. 

FWIW, one of the churches in question is Rick Warren's famous Saddleback Church.  I have a soft spot for Rev. Warren.  It was his book The Purpose Driven Church (published before The Purpose Driven Life) that helped me become Catholic.  It was not the only reason of course.  And it wasn't really the book itself.  It was the reaction among so many of my colleagues.

Again, during the 80s and 90s the 'Battle for the Bible' was in full swing.  The conservative coalition to stop the madness of the Left was digging in. There were a variety of issues that became non-negotiables.  Issues that we were told to die on the hill to resist.  For Sothern Baptists, this included some theological issues as well.  For instance, against my preferences, various state conventions began insisting that anyone joining our church must be baptized again, no matter how they were baptized before.  I fought that losing battle for years.  But it was one of many battles the denomination was prepared to wage.

Until The Purpose Driven Church.  Rick Warren came out of nowhere with a megachurch that defied even Willow Creek standards.  And he wrote this 'how to book' for all church leaders to know how to do it, too.  It was simple.  Follow a set of basic strategies and procedures that smelled and awful lot like what you would do if you worked on Wall Street or Madison Avenue.  Theology was irrelevant.  Liturgy was irrelevant.  Doctrine was irrelevant.  You follow these steps and you, too, can have a storefront church that ends up with thousands of people hanging out of the windows.  What your actual church is doesn't matter. 

Almost overnight, I saw my colleagues immediately begin shifting their focuses.  Suddenly baptism or church liturgy or even some social issues had a place in the discussion, but do we really need to make those the deal breakers? Come on.  We have the blueprint for the next megachurch after all.  That was when I told a ministry conference I spoke at that too many of us judged a pastor by the size of his gymnasium, and that needed to stop.

Needless to say, my opinion and four bucks will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.  The same then as now.  Nonetheless, it's nice to see that the SBC, amidst withering attacks by the press, the World, and former luminaries like Russ and Beth Moore (no relations), decided to take a stand.  You might disagree with how they did it (though be careful of your own traditions here).  But you have to admit, religious leaders and institutions with the moxie to withstand the worldly juggernaut are in short supply today. I say applause is in order, no matter my thoughts about the details. 

Better the Devil you see

The sane person's reaction to transgender activism

There's a 1980s movie called Broadcast News.  It's charming in its way.  A little guilty pleasure of mine.  It's basically a romantic comedy involving a love triangle set in a 1980s Washington news bureau.   Albert Brooks steals his scenes as Aaron Altman, the smitten journalist who can't keep his mouth shut, except when it comes to confessing his love for his best friend, news producer Jane Craig, played by Holly Hunter.  Unfortunately, she is just as taken by William Hurt's character Tom Grunick, a handsome, but shallow and superficial, anchorman who represents everything Aaron and Jane despise.  

At one point, Aaron tells Jane that she can't end up with Tom.  That's because Tom is really the Devil.  She doesn't appreciate his hyperbole.  But Aaron responds that he's being semi-serious.  After all, will the Devil appear as some evil monster, some beast clawing and roaring and breathing fire?  No!  He'll "be attractive! He'll be nice and helpful. He'll get a job where he influences a great God-fearing nation. He'll never do an evil thing! He'll never deliberately hurt a living thing... he will just bit by little bit lower our standards where they are important. Just a tiny little bit. Just coax along flash over substance. Just a tiny little bit."

Well, sometimes that might be the case.  But sometimes, such as what we saw in Germany in the 30s, or the Soviet Union, or anywhere Communism has reared its ugly head - or now - the Devil sheds the suit and tie, dons the old pitchfork and horns, and says 'here I am!'  That seems to be when he's most effective in the short but destructive term.  

I thought of this when I saw this "fact check" of Ron DeSantis saying transgender surgeries are targeting young kids. The Fact Checker goes after DeSantis saying it isn't done on young kids, only teens.  And then it's rare!  

Which is quite a departure from 'it's a lie, nobody is performing this surgery on minors" only a year or so ago.  Now it's 'children'.  Not to mention that only a year ago, we were assured nothing would ever be done to a minor without parental consent.  Now activists are shouting from the rooftops that parents have no right to interfere with state actors helping change their children's bodies - lest those children logically commit suicide.  

Again, sometimes the Devil is slick and subtle.  Sometimes, however, he puts on his knee high leathers and goosesteps around Nuremberg, just to show the world he's here.  We're seeing that today.  And if you're like me, your jaw hangs down Wile-E-Coyote style in amazement that so many of our peers are willing to fight and destroy common sense and virtue in order to support such evil.   At least the lines between the good and the evil are clear.  Sometimes at least the Devil leaves us without excuse. 

If we're lucky, it will only be generations far into the future who judge us harshly. 

“And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD."  Judges 2.10

When Bishop Barron takes off the gloves

You know you're dealing with grave evil.  Bishop Barron isn't exactly known for his Terminator approach to adversaries of the Faith.  He's long tried the Neville Chamberlain approach and, as can be expected, usually ticks off everyone on all sides as a result.   

So for him to come out and explicitly say this is an anti-Catholic hate group, and call their behavior offensive, is like watching Pollyanna grab a combat assault rifle and plunge into the fray.  Which is good. 

I've said that this thing we call the Left - perhaps Marxist Communist would be appropriate at this time - is almost every day revealing itself to be more and more nakedly evil.  Now, as the rhetoric changes from 'it's a lie, nobody will ever surgically alter a minor's body' to 'it's a lie, nobody will ever alter a child's body', and we watch so many who brainlessly follow along, the line between good and evil is becoming thick and obvious. 

There will come a time when excuses are no longer acceptable.  To support the evil is to be the evil.  I just fear that those who support the evil will be prepared to do evil to defend their allegiance.  That's when it will get ugly. 

But as for this particular moral stench, it shouldn't surprise students of the Christian Faith.  After all, the hatred of the Church is rooted in the hatred of Christ.  And it isn't as if Christ didn't see it coming. 

“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you."  John 15.18

Transgenderism and the Mark of the Beast

How's that for hyperbole?  I obviously read through Revelation during Lent.  It's one of my favorite books of the Bible, just because.  

I don't get into how locusts prove Russian helicopters or the prophet represents The Beatles.  I do feel the  book is given to Christians at that time in history for Christians through all times in history.  One of the mega-lessons is perseverance.  Don't lose faith. Stay close to God, even when the world seems to be collapsing around you and turning against you.

Yes, there are certainly digs against things like Rome that are steeped in apocryphal symbolism.  But the greater message is that as the Church struggles with its place in Rome, and as Rome changes and events unfold, it's important to remember what the Gospel is all about.  Don't be like those who curse God.  Don't be like some in the seven churches who simply find ways to compromise with the pagan world.  Be faithful, even to the point of persecution.

A famous passage from the book is the Mark of the Beast.  Theologians have pondered that for centuries.  Most agree it has to do with gematria, calculating the number given and ending up with a name, likely Nero.  There are debates of course, as there always are in scholarship.  But everyone agrees that it would have made sense to the first century reader within the Christian beltway. 

Debates about particulars aside, the Mark represents the willingness of people to sign off on the grave evils of the age in order to get along.  In order to continue buying and selling in the marketplace, you sign off on something that is clear and obvious evil - an afront to God.  You receive the Mark willingly. 

Therefore, the Mark is simply that thing which you openly and willingly accept in order to keep on keeping on, rather than suffer hardships or persecution.  In Nazi Germany, the Mark was going along with, if not supporting, the Nazis.  In the Jim Crow south, accepting or defending Jim Crow racism.  It might be continuing to support and defend the sexual revolution in light of 36 million dead from AIDS. It could be turning a blind eye to the oppressions in the Islamic world or persecution in China out of fealty to an ideology.   It typically means something so nakedly bad with overwhelming evidence that it's without excuse, and yet you sign on anyway. 

Hence transgenderism, which I have called the eugenics of the 21st Century.  In fairness to eugenics, it's likely that the average schmuck in America or Europe had little to no clue about eugenics or the practices visited upon people groups because of the theory.  Most were likely ignorant of such evils.  

Transgenderism, which continues to lower the age in which we will surgically alter the bodies of teens, push to keep parents from having say, and increasingly says anyone who believes in boys and girls had best watch their derrières, is not hidden in the halls of science and academia.  It is visible for all to see, shouted from the rooftops and increasingly laid out as the Mark you will receive if you wish to continue buying and selling in the marketplace.  Hence, Mark of the Beast.  It's obvious, it's clear, most in their guts know it is bad news, most with brain cells know it is idiocy and lies.  The harm and damage done?  It can be put in lights on Broadway and we won't say anything.  It is pure evil based on cowardly idiocy. 

Yet how many are fully embracing it?  How many more are simply burying their heads in the sand to avoid it?  That second one is also a way to receive the Mark.  Remember, the Mark merely symbolizes a willingness to openly and willingly side with a force of evil in order to keep on with life in this world.  The point of Revelation being that if you do so, then this world is likely all you're going to get.  

A dose of clarity

The whole Walgreens and Gavin Newsom story brought to mind this little verse from the Scriptures:

[N]o one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.  Revelation 13.17

Remember what I wrote the other day.  The lines should be increasingly clear. 

I do not know Naomi Wolf

The new Fab Four

I've heard the name.  I looked her up, and the first thing I saw was that she is a popular conspiracy theorist.  Like 80% of the things in our day, that's an overused term I've grown tired of hearing.  Like misinformation, as often as not it is used as an alternative to 'disagreeing with me.'  Or at least disagreeing with the official ruling class narrative. 

Nonetheless, I don't know anything about her, and can't speak to her credibility on any particular front.  I can say, however, that this piece she wrote caught my attention.  Rod Dreher linked to it.  She - who apparently is Jewish - writes about the return of the Near Eastern gods of sacrifice, slaughter, slavery and seduction.  Spirits of evil that had been pushed to the sidelines of history by the ascension of the Jewish and Christian Faiths.  I encourage you to read it through. 

This isn't far from where I have been for some time.  You all know I've written about our nation's descent into a secular paganism.  That is, secular by default, but enough man made god to make sure we see our loved ones and puppies and favorite rock stars again when we die.  As I've said, paganism is the at-rest position of the world when divorced from divine revelation.  Even if it is mainly an atheistic world with the thin veneer of an affirming deity for fuzzy feelings.  After all, remove the One God and mankind will happily invent his own. 

As we're seeing, such alternate religions are typically nasty things too, not the peace loving hippies of Stonehenge Woodstock.  Think on it.  As we shuffle off the old time religion, we celebrate the abortion of sixty five million pregnancies in barely three generations as one of the biggest triumphs for feminism in America.  Kids are killing each other and themselves at record breaking levels.  The deaths from AIDS, drugs and suicide take out more than 100k a year in our country alone.  Every year almost 2 million people continue to die of drugs and AIDS around the world.  All this while more and more people are wanting to sex up our kids and euthanize our undesirables in ways that would make Himmler drool.  Yet we go on, hearing that the people concerned about these developments are the haters, the villains, the ones who need 'cancelled.'

Ms. Wolf speaking to these developments is not advocating some illusionary spiritual observation in my opinion.  Rather it sounds a lot like the very thing that would make those old Near Eastern gods happy.  Also the thing that the Old Testament prophets would have railed against.   And, to be honest, most practicing Christians until recently would have called out for what they are.  

There will come a time when we have to admit we either believe in the Christian story or we don't.  We believe in a God ordered Creation or we don't.  We can only dilute and water down the historical faith so much before it ceases to be anything but hot air.  If there was truth to it at all, then we shouldn't have to wonder what is happening today and what is behind it all. 

I'm not saying I think Ms. Wolf is spot on about everything.  Clearly I see some things differently.  But coming out and admitting to the real spiritual implications of a God centered Creation that includes the Invisible, and seeing what is happening in our world in light of this, isn't a bad step in the obvious direction. 

"First, Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood
Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears;
Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud,
Their children's cries unheard that passed through fire
To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite
Worshipped in Rabba and her watery plain
In Argob and in Basan to the stream
of utmost Arnon."

John Milton, Paradise Lost

They have turned to me their back and not their face; and though I have taught them persistently they have not listened to receive instruction. They set up their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it. They built the high places of Ba'al in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Mo'lech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

Jeremiah 32.33-35

Pray for the racism and evil of BLM

Yes, Black Lives Matter has emerged as not merely a pro-Marxist, anti-American organization, but a racist one too.  It sees whites the way Nazis saw Jews.  Not that this sets them apart from much of what we see today.  The modern Left embraces and embodies many of the gravest evils of the last century.

The only hope to deliver future years from this type of evil is prayer.  God alone can raise up those needed to stop such movements.  God alone can touch the hearts and souls of those who have been swayed by this evil. 

As for Christian leaders, including Catholic ones, who extol the virtues of BLM and equate it with the only acceptable way to embrace the Gospel?  Just remember all those Christians and Catholics who happily draped the swastika over the sanctuary altars.  It's what we believers do when we're not careful, or when we're actively cowards.

In any event, just remember during that first Christmas, times were bleak.  Rome was calling the shots.  Oppression and suffering were everywhere.  Jewish leaders and Jews in general were trying to find ways to suck up to the new power from the West.  It's the plight of the true believer that we must often wade through our fellow believers and even leaders long before we stand poised to combat the latest evil of the day. 

Never forget that humans are capable of monstrous evil

Example, in response to the terrible killing of innocent people at the Christmas parade in Wisconsin:

From the former social media director for the county Democrats. 

No, I won't make it about those terrible leftists.  She "resigned" right after this and some other hellishly evil posts.  The Wisconsin Dems released another post mourning the deaths and denouncing this demonic tirade.  

All sides are capable of such evil.  To insist otherwise is to be the best friend evil can have.  You only worry when one side begins to get a pass because the powers that be are aligned with that side.  Or when one side begins to insist it isn't capable of such sinful acts.  Or when this sort of evil becomes the rule rather than the exception for more than a fringe of society.  Then by all means worry. 

The monstrous evil of the modern Left

I use the word 'Left' until someone cleverer than I am can come up with a pithy label to identify this horrific emerging force of Hell that seems to be seducing individuals and institutions the world over.  I don't use phrases like monstrous evil lightly.  There are many things I disagree with people about, and some of those things I believe are evil.   Heck, I'm crazy enough to believe sex outside of marriage is a form of evil, though I sympathize with people who have been given carte blanche to their libidos, with not a few Christian traditions approving of the message.  Nonetheless, I reserve such bombastic phrases for that which I truly believe is a priority of the Satanic. 

What we are seeing with the "Left", is an almost step by step repeat of the worst human catastrophes of the last century, with a few new spins thrown in for good measure.  Race hate and discrimination, ethnic cleansing and censorship, tyranny and elitism, and lowering people to their base animal instincts all while broadening the ways in which we should accept the mass extermination of ever growing numbers of undesirables.  We won't even get into its militant rejection of the Gospel and hatred of God. 

In this particular case I'm thinking about (and there are many examples to think about), one of the nations that has all but sanctified the modern Left as its official civil religion, demonstrating the logical results of this development by proudly eliminating those pesky Down Syndrome types.  This is achieved, of course, by selectively aborting those rascally unborn babies who just won't live up to our demands for a nihilistic, narcissistic life of animal pleasures, greed and self-worship.  

Even Pope Francis, never one to rush quickly into condemning sins that dwell to the left of center, has called this horrific practice out for what it is, and that's just Nazi Master Race thinking redux.  If it was just Iceland, perhaps it would be bad enough.  We could always blame the Vikings.  But it isn't.  This form of hate, extermination and destruction in the name of a newly evolving spin on old Master Race attitudes is becoming far too common across the leftwing spectrum, at least across the realms of the Dying West. 

The only thing worse than the emergence of this new demonic evil sweeping the world is the utter impotence of Christian traditions and leaders to even put up a pinky's worth of resistance.  In fact, on an almost daily basis, it seems the priority of a growing number of such leaders is to find ways to align with this movement while keeping one foot firmly planted on that middle class generating lifestyle of serving the Church.  Try to imagine, if you will, those leaders in the 30s who proudly draped the Nazi emblem over the altars in their churches. 

Same here.  Not that we should be surprised.  The anointed priesthood has never had a great track record when it comes to standing firm against the Molochs, the Mammons, the Ashtoreths, the Baalezebubs and the Nazis.  There's something about earning a living proclaiming God's word that makes it difficult to proclaim God's Word.  I know that from experience.  It ain't easy calling down hellfire on the people who sign your paycheck.  This is especially true in our modern age, when it's a safe bet that many of those people no longer put the same stock in the historical Faith as did people even a few generations ago. And look what happened then. 

While the world dropped the ball a hundred years ago regarding the up and coming evils of the age, it did eventually rally and, even is pressed to do so, finally rose up, came together and defeated the evils at hand.  That also tends to happen over time.  Evil seems to get the upper hand quickly, but soon you have those heroes of the ages who rise up to stop it.

Problem is, I'm having a hard time seeing much resistance today, at least from those who should know better.   I know.  Sometimes it takes a while.  But in the meantime, we will have to account for our own delays, our own acquiescence, our own enabling of these forces that are so obviously evil that they can't be denied.  And that's those of us who see it for what it is and yet appear powerless to stop it.  We won't even get into those who wear the cross proudly, all while finding endless ways to join in the parades around the mounting body count of Satan's latest sleight of hand.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil

Is for evil men (and women) to fully embrace evil, that's what.  You have to have that to have evil do anything.  Evil men and women must embrace evil, sell their selves to the powers of Hell, and become instruments of the demonic and the damned.  That's the first thin you need for evil to triumph.

The second thing necessary is for good men not to do nothing.  In fact, people seldom do nothing.  They almost always do something.  And the second thing needed for evil to triumph is for otherwise good men (and women) to jump on the evil bandwagon.  If the Nazi leadership was the full embrace of evil, those guys gunning down naked Jews in trenches were the ones who made it possible.  And in most pictures, they aren't weeping either.  They're grinning big grins as they're ready to massacre the innocent.  That's the next thing needed for evil to triumph.  Those who were not initially part of the evil jump into evil with both feet.

So is the next thing the do nothing good men?  No.  Again, men seldom do nothing.  The next thing needed is for the good men who see what is happening to essentially make lame excuses or actually side with the evil, though they technically know it's wrong and don't support it.  That's happening a lot today.  I see people admit they see the clouds on the horizon, but at the first chance, they will excuse this or that: Well, in that case the police were wrong, or maybe banning a book with really bad content is good, or maybe it's right to point out that an entire ethnicity might always be guilty of something when there is a good argument.  They know it's BS, and they often say so.  But boy do they look for the chance to excuse surrendering the latest yard.

Now we're getting close.  The next group isn't making lame excuses, but they're not doing much to stop it.  They're not doing nothing.  They see the evil, the problems, the racism, the tyranny, the shadows - but they're just not doing much about it, but not by doing nothing.  They're fighting it, at least on paper.  But with all the passion of a limp noodle.  Perhaps they don't want to be mocked or laughed at, or worse lose their situation, but they draw a line between what they will do - fuss a lot on the Internet perhaps - and what they won't do (jeopardize their livelihoods). 

Finally, when all that is done, I'm sure there might be the odd individual who does nothing.  If that's the case, however, it's often that they're simply ignorant, or one of the masses of uninformed just trying to eke out a living and with no time to do more than look at the occasional headline.  They're the ones in the rural countryside who probably never heard of National Socialists in the German government in 1933.  By 1945, however they had heard.  By then, of course, it was too late. 

So there you have it.  As we see the officially sanctioned racism and discrimination, as we see the hate and endorsed vengeance, as we see the anti-American rage and destruction, the killings and attacks, the tyranny and oppression, the open calls to destroy everything to do with the Christian West, the excuse making to support bearing down on Christ's Church, we wonder how it's happening and happening so quickly.  That's not because good men are doing nothing.  It's because evil men (and women) are doing what they do, and that's pushing evil. The rest are falling into their own category of being active enablers of the evil.  Just as men and women have done for eons.  And just, as we're seeing, they will no doubt continue to do for eons to come. 

When you align with dark powers

Your arguments are going to sound dark, very dark.

Apparently that was on Mark Shea's twitter feed.  But the individual is someone I don't know. Note, though, the preemptive judgmentalism, the assumption that if people defending the statue of St. Louis heard this statue was under attack, they wouldn't care.

How does he know?  If they knew it was supposed to be Jesus, they just might. Heck, if they didn't and heard there was a mob of rioters and iconoclasts and zealots bent on destroying it, they might rise to the occasion and protect it on general principle.  I could see them doing so.

Just why the fellow seems he has to point out St. Louis was on a horse, I don't know.  That would be ... I have no clue.  He seems to feel it's important.

But point is, notice the assumption, the preemptive judgement, the accusation over some hypothetical that isn't happening and likely won't happen.  Personally I had no idea that was supposed to be Jesus.  But even if it wasn't, I wouldn't support it being destroyed.  That's me.  That's most I know who are opposing this violence, destruction, threats, vandalism and killing in the name of the Marxist revolt.

I'll assume - since assumptions are all the rage - none of those are as important to this individual, or Mark Shea, as scoring points against anyone trying to defend the heritage of the Christian West and avoid the modern assumption that we define humans of the past by their sins, their skin color, or their national origins.  That does seem patently clear.

BTW, I wonder if Mr. Ahern and Mark have commented on this:

Since they clearly don't care about the statue of St. Louis coming down, even if he is on a horse.

Again, this is now clearly a revolt of violence, hatred, bigotry, destruction and death.  Marxist inspired, totalitarianism, bigotry and oppression as the goals.  Those who for whatever reason defend and deflect and join the elitist classes who are clearly happy with our country going in this direction, are now the enemies of all that is good, virtuous, holy and right.  Mark them for what they are.  And remember.

Those who have died for the memory of George Floyd

It is a Fox News article.  I generally avoid Fox simply because I don't go there often.  Nonetheless, mainstream outlets seem to have been very coy about emphasizing those killed or otherwise seriously harmed or injured by the riots and destruction that erupted in the days following the media's puffing of Mr. Floyd's death.

The article admits details are fuzzy, and perhaps not all of the seventeen listed can be blamed only on the protests and riots.  It's worth noting, however, that per the stats, those killed are typically around the number of unarmed black men killed by police of all skin colors.

Let that sink in.

Good news for Covington from the real world of college life

So my oldest is now majoring in political science, with eyes cast toward going for a PhD and being a professor and adviser.   Since being diagnosed with a near fatal fish allergy last year, he decided to leave the path from his much beloved culinary life.  Instead, he'll go for his other hobby - politics. To that end, three of his classes this semester are centered around politics and similar subjects.  In them, the Covington fiasco has come up in each one for two days now.

The good news?  Despite the classes being around 2 to 1 liberal, every single student has sided with the kids from Covington.  To a person, they agree the story was blown out of proportion, that it was based on falsehoods and lies, and that what is happening to the students is entirely inappropriate, if not outright evil.  The attempt to catalog attacks under 'if we find one white skin doing wrong it proves they're all scum' tactics weren't even worth discussing. 

Of course as I discussed it with my boys, we concluded it might not all be pure sympathy on their parts.  It could be simple common sense.  There but by the wrath and fury of the Left go I.  Seeing the foaming at the mouth hatred, the calls for violence, the yearning for bloodshed, the loathing of these students based on the latest designated demographic distinction, the hope that the teens be ruined in life - the Covington kids are not too far from the age of my son's classmates. And they know that could be them next time.   A lesson to us all.

Best summary of the Left's America

Yep.  More than any cooked up reasons, it's because they are opponents of the Communist Left.  Allies of the Left, such as Muslims, the LGBTQ movement, or anyone willing to join the lynch mobs, are convenient tools for the moment.  Though with the Muslims, you wonder how the long term will end up and who will eventually get the USA.  Nonetheless, the Left has cultivated martyrdom by proxy as a virtue, and if future generations pay the price?  Eh.

But Kavanaugh, and now Covington, are merely opponents of the Left, and therefore must be destroyed.  Exploiting racism and bigotry and discrimination are merely means to an end.  That so many Americans fall in line - including Christians (good job Covington Catholics!) - should come as no surprise.  Whenever a new evil rises, there will always be those, Christian and otherwise, eager to get in line and buy tickets.

Perhaps the Covington disgrace is the tipping point, as we're watching actual students - children, who normally wouldn't be named even if they committed an egregious crime - dragged through the mud, assaulted, threatened and called upon to be forever punished.  A nation capable of this is capable of this.  And those cheering on the worst aimed at the Covington teens had best watch out.  Eventually the aliens always eat those humans who were quick to hand their fellow humans over to the dinner table. Just ask all of those supporters of Joe Stalin who wound up dead.