Archives for October 2012

Live Like You Are Dying

Live Like You Are Dying

Guest contributor:   Ed Trego

And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:16-21)

Are you saving goods for yourself or are you saving to honor God in the use of the many blessings he has given you? The rich man in the scripture was obviously more concerned with worldly goods than with heavenly reward. The price he paid for his foolishness was great.

How would you live your life differently if you knew that your life would be taken tonight, or tomorrow, or next week? Are you prepared for the reality that one day it will be required of you? We all must die, and we do not know if that will be in an instant or many years from now. Is your focus on yourself and your earthly pleasures and desires or is it on your heavenly home? How we live today will decide how we will live in eternity.

If you were told that without doubt you will die in three days what would you do? There are essentially two choices; you can become depressed and wait in horror and dread as death approaches or you can thank God for the opportunity to perhaps correct some areas of your life in preparation for death. That choice is yours today just as much as it would be if you had a date certain for your death.

Would you reach out to those you may have hurt in the past and try to reconcile with them? There are always relationships that suffer due to our selfishness and desire to take care of ourselves first. But that isn’t the way it was meant to be. When asked what the greatest commandments were Jesus replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40) There is nothing in these commandments that mention love of things; only God and your neighbor.

We have a tendency to care more for our possessions than for our friends, family, and even God. How many times have you failed to take part in a family event because work got in the way? Have you ever skipped Mass on a Holy Day because you just didn’t have the time? If we won’t take the time to care for our family and God, of what value is our goods. Can they truly bring us happiness or just the temporary illusion of happiness? We sometimes act as if we don’t really know what true happiness is. When we depend on our money and our possessions for happiness we are proving that we have a misguided concept of happiness.

I’m certain Satan thoroughly enjoys and encourages our mistaken view of what constitutes happiness. If he can keep our focus on material sources of happiness we are less likely to pay attention to the true source of happiness. There is only one happiness that is worth striving for and that is the happiness of eternal life in the presence of God. Satan will try any trick available to shift our focus to ourselves rather than God or our neighbor.

In today’s society, Satan has developed his skills in this regard to nearly an irresistible force. Everywhere we turn we are told that the path to happiness is a new or bigger car; a bigger house; more “toys” such as televisions, telephones, computers, etc. In many cases our society teaches us that we can never be happy unless we are obtaining more and more and more stuff. Never mind that once we get it we may rarely use it and it will become obsolete in a very short time. Oh well, if it’s not the newest anymore we’ll just have to get the newest and discard what we thought we wanted last month.

Perhaps if we knew we were facing death we would reorder our priorities and consider those things that matter most. Maybe we would strive for those things that can bring us true happiness instead of just material satisfaction.

When a death occurs we always hear things like, “I wish I had told her how much I loved her”, or “I sure wish we could have gotten things right between us before he died”. Maybe taking care of these things right now would go a long way to making life better and more fulfilling rather than regretting that we didn’t do these things when it’s too late.

When you leave the house do you tell your spouse you love her or him? When you go to sleep do you remind them of your love? Perhaps hold them close for a minute or two just to feel the love between you? When we walk out the door we never know for certain whether or not we will ever return. People die in car wrecks, of heart attacks or from other causes every day with no warning. Wouldn’t you want the last words your loved one heard from you to be words of love”

Do you have children? So many times one hears mothers and fathers scolding their children about some infraction of a rule, sometimes quite harshly. While discipline is necessary and should be used to help the right development of children, it can be overdone. What if you send your child off to school after one of these events and they never return? Do you want the last words your child heard from you to be words of scolding or words of love. Even when correcting children it can be done in a loving manner. We should always ensure that our children know of our love more than of our dissatisfaction with their behavior.

If we only knew, we could make sure those we care for were reminded of our love. We could give that extra few dollars to the church or a charity. We could reach out to someone we have wronged to ask forgiveness. Perhaps give forgiveness to that someone whom we feel has wronged us and we’ve been unable or unwilling to forgive.

Death will take us all at some point. We will not normally know when. Oh, we may have some idea if we are diagnosed with a terminal illness, but even then we won’t usually know the day or the hour.

When death comes, all the “toys” we have will mean nothing, someone else will be playing with them tomorrow. The big bank accounts are of no use, someone else will be spending the money. That great summer home on the lake we worked all those extra hours to afford may have to be sold to take care of the ones we leave behind. If we could only get those extra hours of work back, maybe we could have used that time for those things that really matter rather than the material things that will pass away.

Most of all, maybe we could have taken some of the time we spent searching for the material happiness we thought we wanted and used it to better our relationship with our God. An extra hour at a bible study rather than watching the ball game on TV could make the difference between a mediocre relationship and a family relationship with our Lord and Savior. A few more dollars to support the poor of the church rather than buying that new car that wasn’t needed could go a long way to helping someone get their life back on track. While we may never know the good our contribution did, we can be sure that it had a beneficial effect.

Jesus gave up his glory for a while to join the human race. He felt pain, loss and suffering in his life. He ended his life on a cross alongside thieves. He didn’t work for a bigger home or nicer clothes. He devoted his humanity to providing a means for us to regain our proper relationship with our God. When it was done, he returned to the Father and still devotes his efforts to helping us along our way home to him.

We certainly can’t be like Jesus, but we can strive to imitate him as best we can. We can work more for eternal happiness than for material happiness. We can love better and forgive more and help more than we do. All of these things will eventually bring us far more happiness and satisfaction than a bigger house, newer car or fancier clothes.

If we can focus on those things that bring true happiness we can face death, whenever it comes, calmly and with a certain knowledge that we have lived our life in a manner worthy of one who has been adopted by God. We can go home and know we will be welcomed with open arms.

“Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was in prison and you came to me.” (Matthew 25:34-36)


The above meditation is a chapter from Ed’s new eBook “Thoughts of God”. Only $1.99 on Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, Sony and other fine publishers.

Elsewhere: Can a Catholic vote for Romney?

Elsewhere

On Tuesday I wrote about the source of human rights (It’s your right), the completely false “right to choose” and the upcoming election. Considering his unequivocal position and track record in favor of abortion, no Catholic can morally vote for Barrack Obama.

Can a Catholic vote for Mitt Romney? There are a number of areas where faithful Catholics can disagree on the potential effectiveness of his plans (e.g. healthcare, taxes, government aid for the poor, just war and the death penalty). These are prudential judgments on effectiveness, not morality.

Primary issues of morality where Mitt Romney differs from Barack Obama include abortion, traditional marriage and religious freedom. Romney would score “excellent” in all but abortion where his position is pro-life but not as perfect as we would like. Where does that leave us faithful Catholic voters?

Leila Miller coincidentally addressed this question last Tuesday on her blog Little Catholic Bubble:

I have heard faithful Catholics agonize over this year’s presidential election. They know that a vote for Obama is morally impossible (they are correct), but they are conflicted about voting for Mitt Romney, who is not 100% pro-life. Should they sit out the election or vote for a third party or write-in candidate, knowing that those options boost Obama’s chances of winning?

Or should they vote for Romney and possibly commit a sin?

I hope to assure you today that you will not commit a sin if you vote for Mitt Romney. Not only is the faithful-to-the-Magisterium organization, Catholic Vote, endorsing Romney, but pro-life warrior Fr. Frank Pavone will be voting for him as well:

Speaking as a private citizen and not on behalf of any of the organizations I lead, it is clear to me that taking account not only of the teachings of the Church but of the demands of conscience in the light of the holocaust we continue to face with abortion, voting for the Romney-Ryan ticket is a smart way to mitigate the present evil we are facing.

Priests for Life has laid out “Ten Easy Steps to Voting with a Clear Conscience“, and I’d like to draw your attention to number eight, which helps us make some critical distinctions. Please note that all emphases are from the original:

{{omitting long quote – please follow the link below}}

After you chew on that for a bit (I know I did!), you can continue to form your conscience on these matters by considering what Blessed John Paul II wrote in Evangelium Vitae (paragraph 73), concerning the legislative votes of elected officials (emphasis mine):

A particular problem of conscience can arise in cases where a legislative vote would be decisive for the passage of a more restrictive law, aimed at limiting the number of authorized abortions, in place of a more permissive law already passed or ready to be voted on. Such cases are not infrequent. It is a fact that while in some parts of the world there continue to be campaigns to introduce laws favouring abortion, often supported by powerful international organizations, in other nations-particularly those which have already experienced the bitter fruits of such permissive legislation-there are growing signs of a rethinking in this matter. In a case like the one just mentioned, when it is not possible to overturn or completely abrogate a pro-abortion law, an elected official, whose absolute personal opposition to procured abortion was well known, could licitly support proposals aimed at limiting the harm done by such a law and at lessening its negative consequences at the level of general opinion and public morality. This does not in fact represent an illicit cooperation with an unjust law, but rather a legitimate and proper attempt to limit its evil aspects.

Look, it would be nice to have the perfect candidate running against Barack Obama this November. But we live in the real world, the fallen world. We have a viable candidate in Mitt Romney, a man who will not actively persecute the Church (can you believe that’s even an issue?), and who will mitigate the evil that has come and will continue to come through Obama’s policies, executive orders, mandates, and (lifetime!) judicial appointments. As we read above, “by your vote, you can keep the worse person out. And trying to do that is not only legitimate, but good.”

You will not be in sin by voting for Romney. I beg of you not to “make a statement” this election, but to make sure that Obama is voted out of office for good. There is no greater threat to both the Catholic Church and unborn children in America than four more years of Barack Obama in the White House.

According to the principles of the Catholic Church, you may vote Romney-Ryan with a clear conscience.

Read Leila’s whole post: Catholics: Why it is not a sin to vote for Romney.

Priests for Life publishes the Voter’s Guide for Serious Catholics and…

It’s your right

Its Your Right

Where do rights come from? This is so fundamental yet (apparently) widely misunderstood. Human rights come from God. They do not come from government. Government properly formed, accepts its role to protect human dignity through our God-given rights. The framers of the Declaration of Independence understood that, stating “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

President Obama has famously omitted “by their Creator” on several occasions. It might be an innocent oversight (made repeatedly). Alternatively, it may signal a belief in government (not God) as the source of rights. If so, the Democratic party of John Kennedy has come a long way since his 1961 inaugural address:

…man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe – the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.

Many presidents acknowledged God’s law as fundamental, not a meaningless talking point to pander to a certain demographic. George Washington said “It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.” John Quincy Adams said “The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.” Abraham Lincoln said “Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.” Ronald Reagan said “Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.” George W. Bush said “I believe all these things because freedom is not America’s gift to the world, it is the Almighty God’s gift to every man and woman in this world.” There are many, many more examples.

Catholic social teaching is also quite clear: the “roots of human rights, are to be found in the dignity that belongs to each human being” (Compendium of the Social Doctrine, #152). Such dignity is given to them by their creator – the “unalienable rights” referred to in the Declaration of Independence. The catechism says:

Respect for the human person entails respect for the rights that flow from his dignity as a creature. These rights are prior to society and must be recognized by it. They are the basis of the moral legitimacy of every authority: by flouting them, or refusing to recognize them in its positive legislation, a society undermines its own moral legitimacy. If it does not respect them, authority can rely only on force or violence to obtain obedience from its subjects. It is the Church’s role to remind men of good will of these rights and to distinguish them from unwarranted or false claims.

The right to life is absolute (CCC 2270). Consider a woman’s “right to choose” (to kill her unborn child). There is no such right to take an innocent, human life. Being without legal consequence under man’s law, a law that increasingly distances itself from God’s law, in no way makes it a right or moral. God’s law (“thou shall not kill”) always has absolute precedence over man’s law. He is just…   know with certainty that there are eternal consequences for the willful, unrepentant violation of His law.

Others share culpability in the exercise of this non-existent “right” in proportion to their role. This ranges from the direct material cooperation of the medical staff (for which they are automatically excommunicated) to voting for politicians who support abortion (even if, and perhaps especially if, they are “personally opposed to it”) AND eligible voters who fail to vote against such politicians. In the case of abortion, due to its extremely grave nature and intrinsic evil, this is of the highest moral weight making these serious sins. NO counter-balancing good is possible for a candidate’s support of abortion. Only other candidates’ truly equal positions on abortion could permit a voter to choose among them. That is definitely NOT the situation in this election.

To be perfectly clear, no Catholic can morally vote for Barrack Obama in the upcoming presidential election. There is no wiggle room on this. Prudential judgments on healthcare, taxes, government aid for the poor, just war and the death penalty (yes, just war and the death penalty are prudential judgments) do NOT “outweigh” his extremely strong support for the intrinsic evil of abortion. There are 1,200,000 human lives terminated by abortion each year in the US.

Many, many Catholics and other Christians will vote contrary God’s law, natural law and the clear / unambiguous teaching of Holy Mother Church. They will put their political ideology ahead of God. He will judge their hearts with culpability being reduced if they were somehow not aware of their candidate’s position on abortion, suffered mental impairment, were subject to forced coercion and so on. As in all sins, we are given free choice. We certainly have the legal right to vote for whomever we choose on whatever basis suits us. We are similarly free to make many other legal choices in life which are gravely sinful. Many mortal sins are perfectly legal.

Two other similar non-existent “rights” must also be mentioned. First, there is no right for people of the same sex to marry (sinful in several ways). Second, the state has no right to limit the free exercise of religion. Like abortion, these are very serious affronts to human dignity and non-negotiable (although secondary to life itself). President Obama’s positions on these issues also disqualify him from faithful Catholic votes.

Finally, this list would be incomplete without at least mentioning the wide breadth of other non-existent “rights” people are told they have – often for “free” things ranging from cell phones (morally neutral) to contraceptives (immoral).

Rights come from God and morality is not something we know and practice only at church or in the privacy of our homes. The wall dividing Church and state protects the Church from interference by government in the free exercise of religion (the very first amendment to the US Constitution). It does not, in any way whatsoever, impede an individual’s exercise of a well formed conscience in matters of the state – either by voters or by elected officials. Indeed our faith demands that we bring God with us into the voting booth and public service. To do otherwise is to deny Him, at grave peril to our eternal salvation.


Further Resources:

“A vote for a candidate that supports actions or behaviors that are intrinsically evil and gravely sinful, makes you morally complicit and places the eternal salvation of your own soul in serious jeopardy.”

7 Quick Takes Friday (set #76)

7 Quick Takes Friday

This week: A surprisingly complete description of ObamaCare in one sentence. A Democratic pollster is alarmed at the danger posed by the highly biased mainstream media. An excellent explanation of Catholic Social Teaching. Our president is not just a staunch supporter of abortion, but is an abortion radical. A Philadelphia-area high school student wearing a shirt in support of Mitt Romney is told to remove it because they are a “Democratic school.” Last things. Emily’s promise.

— 1 —

Describe ObamaCare in ONE sentence. Dr. Barbara Bellar accepts that challenge:

— 2 —

Democratic pollster Pat Caddell raises an alarm about the danger to the country the biased media poses. He is absolutely correct.

Spotted by Elizabeth Scalia

No matter what your political persuasion, believe this – our country is in serious peril now that a credible “4th estate” no longer exists. It…   simply…   doesn’t. We all know it too. Gallup reports U.S. Distrust in Media Hits New High.

— 3 —

This is a very good and faithful summary of Catholic Social Teaching. It would be better if it did not mention Paul Ryan. Personally, I like him, but some who really do not understand this, will immediately put on their political blinders when his name is mentioned instead of actually learning something.

— 4 —

— 5 —

FYI – Charles Carroll High School in Port Richmond (near Philadelphia) is a “Democratic school” and support for Romney is akin to support for the KKK. So says the unnamed geometry teacher. This is newsworthy because the teacher lacked proper self-control to properly mask her indoctrination of students. Many public school teachers are as politically unbiased as mainstream media journalists (see #2 above). For parents who do not support the always expensive and often failed public education system, the solution is school vouchers. Phily.com has the story. Thanks to Matthew Archbold for spotting it.

— 6 —

Ruth Ann wrote recently about Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell, a topic rarely mentioned, often ignored and widely misunderstood. She also links to the always excellent Msgr. Charles Pope: Will Many Be Saved? A look at an important new book by Ralph Martin and Hell has to be – my response to blog comments disputing the teaching on Hell.

— 7 —

Emily’s promise…

Spotted by Marcel


Some random thoughts or bits of information are worthy of sharing but don’t warrant their own full post. This idea was started by Jennifer Fulwiler at Conversion Diary to address this blogging need. So, some Fridays I too participate when I have accumulated 7 worthy items. Thank you Jen for hosting this project!


ObamaCare Headache

Elsewhere: US Government vs. Christians

Elsewhere

Many people, including some Catholics, roll their eyes when we explain the administration’s attack on religious liberty. The most serious of these is the unconscionable HHS mandate requiring us to fund contraceptives (including abortifacients) and sterilizations. By no means is this the only disheartening development.

Religious persecution (particularly of Christians) is not new, of course. Our country has been increasingly secular and government has been enshrining secularism as our state religion for a some time. Under President Obama, the pace has picked-up dramatically.

The president’s track record against Christianity is deeper and broader than many people apparently realize. Father John Zuhlsdorf received this lengthy list (50 items in 4 categories) from a reader and published it on his blog yesterday:

Acts of Hostility Toward People Of Biblical Faith

  1. April 2008 – Obama speaks disrespectfully of Christians, saying they “cling to guns or religion” and have an “antipathy to people who aren’t like them.”
  2. February 2009 – Obama announces plans to revoke conscience protection for health workers who refuse to participate in medical activities that go against their beliefs, and fully implements the plan in February 2011.
  3. April 2009 – When speaking at Georgetown University, Obama orders that a monogram symbolizing Jesus’ name be covered when he is making his speech.
  4. May 2009 – Obama declines to host services for the National Prayer Day (a day established by federal law) at the White House.
  5. April 2009 – In a deliberate act of disrespect, Obama nominated three pro-abortion ambassadors to the Vatican ; of course, the pro-life Vatican rejected all three.
  6. October 19, 2010 – Obama begins deliberately omitting the phrase about “the Creator” when quoting the Declaration of Independence – an omission he has made on no less than seven occasions.
  7. November 2010 – Obama misquotes the National Motto, saying it is “E pluribus Unum” rather than “In God We Trust” as established by federal law.
  8. January 2011 – After a federal law was passed to transfer a WWI Memorial in the Mojave Desert to private ownership, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that the cross in the memorial could continue to stand, but the Obama administration refused to allow the land to be transferred as required by law, and refused to allow the cross to be re-erected as ordered by the Court.
  9. February 2011 – Although he filled posts in the State Department, for more than two years Obama did not fill the post of religious freedom ambassador, an official that works against religious persecution across the world; he filled it only after heavy pressure from the public and from Congress.
  10. April 2011 – For the first time in American history, Obama urges passage of a non-discrimination law that does not contain hiring protections for religious groups, forcing religious organizations to hire according to federal mandates without regard to the dictates of their own faith, thus eliminating conscience protection in hiring.
  11. August 2011 – The Obama administration releases its new health care rules that override religious conscience protections for medical workers in the areas of abortion and contraception.
  12. November 2011 – Obama opposes inclusion of President Franklin Roosevelt’s famous D-Day Prayer in the WWII Memorial.
  13. November 2011 – Unlike previous presidents, Obama studiously avoids any religious references in his Thanksgiving speech.
  14. December 2011 – The Obama administration denigrates other countries’ religious beliefs as an obstacle to radical homosexual rights.
  15. January 2012 – The Obama administration argues that the First Amendment provides no protection for churches and synagogues in hiring their pastors and rabbis.
  16. February 2012 – The Obama administration forgives student loans in exchange for public service, but announces it will no longer forgive student loans if the public service is related to religion.

Acts of Hostility From The Obama-Led Military Toward People of Biblical Faith:

  1. June 2011 – The Department of Veterans Affairs forbids references to God and Jesus during burial ceremonies at Houston National Cemetery.
  2. August 2011 – The Air Force stops teaching the Just War theory to officers in California because the course is taught by chaplains and is based on a philosophy introduced by St. Augustine in the third century AD – a theory long taught by civilized nations across the world (except America).
  3. September 2011 – Air Force Chief of Staff prohibits commanders from notifying airmen of programs and services available to them from chaplains.
  4. September 2011 – The Army issues guidelines for Walter Reed Medical Center stipulating that “No religious items (i.e. Bibles, reading materials and/or facts) are allowed to be given away or used during a visit.”
  5. November 2011 – The Air Force Academy rescinds support for Operation Christmas Child, a program to send holiday gifts to impoverished children across the world, because the program is run by a Christian charity.
  6. November 2011 – The Air Force Academy pays $80,000 to add a Stonehenge-like worship center for pagans, druids, witches and Wiccans.
  7. February 2012 – The U. S. Military Academy at West Point dis-invites three star Army general and decorated war hero Lieutenant General William G. (“Jerry”) Boykin (retired) from speaking at an event because he is an outspoken Christian.
  8. February 2012 – The Air Force removes “God” from the patch of Rapid Capabilities Office (the word on the patch was in Latin: Dei).
  9. February 2012 – The Army orders Catholic chaplains not to read a letter to parishioners that their archbishop asked them to read.

Acts of Hostility Toward Biblical Values

  1. January 2009 – Obama lifts restrictions on U.S. government funding for groups that provide abortion services or counseling abroad, forcing taxpayers to fund pro-abortion groups that either promote or perform abortions in other nations.
  2. January 2009 – President Obama’s nominee for deputy secretary of state asserts that American taxpayers are required to pay for abortions and that limits on abortion funding are unconstitutional.
  3. March 2009 – The Obama administration shut out pro-life groups from attending a White House-sponsored health care summit.
  4. March 2009 – Obama orders taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research.
  5. March 2009 – Obama gave $50 million for the UNFPA, the UN population agency that promotes abortion and works closely with Chinese population control officials who use forced abortions and involuntary sterilizations.
  6. May 2009 – The White House budget eliminates all funding for abstinence-only education and replaces it with “comprehensive” sexual education, repeatedly proven to increase teen pregnancies and abortions. He continues the deletion in subsequent budgets.
  7. May 2009 – Obama officials assemble a terrorism dictionary calling pro-life advocates violent and charging that they use racism in their “criminal” activities.
  8. July 2009 – The Obama administration illegally extends federal benefits to same-sex partners of Foreign Service and Executive Branch employees, in direct violation of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
  9. September 16, 2009 – The Obama administration appoints as EEOC Commissioner Chai Feldblum, who asserts that society should “not tolerate” any “private beliefs,” including religious beliefs, if they may negatively affect homosexual “equality.”
  10. July 2010 – The Obama administration uses federal funds in violation of federal law to get Kenya to change its constitution to include abortion.
  11. August 2010 – The Obama administration Cuts funding for 176 abstinence education programs.
  12. September 2010 – The Obama administration tells researchers to ignore a judge’s decision striking down federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.
  13. February 2011 – Obama directs the Justice Department to stop defending the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
  14. March 2011 – The Obama administration refuses to investigate videos showing Planned Parenthood helping alleged sex traffickers get abortions for victimized underage girls.
  15. July 2011 – Obama allows homosexuals to serve openly in the military, reversing a policy originally instituted by George Washington in March 1778.
  16. September 2011 – The Pentagon directs that military chaplains may perform same-sex marriages at military facilities in violation of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
  17. October 2011 – The Obama administration eliminates federal grants to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for their extensive programs that aid victims of human trafficking because the Catholic Church is anti-abortion.

Acts Of Preferentialism For Islam

  1. May 2009 – While Obama does not host any National Day of Prayer event at the White House, he does host White House Iftar dinners in honor of Ramadan.
  2. April 2010 – Christian leader Franklin Graham is dis-invited from the Pentagon’s National Day of Prayer Event because of complaints from the Muslim community.
  3. April 2010 – The Obama administration requires rewriting of government documents and a change in administration vocabulary to remove terms that are deemed offensive to Muslims, including jihad, jihadists, terrorists, radical Islamic, etc.
  4. August 2010 – Obama speaks with great praise of Islam and condescendingly of Christianity.
  5. August 2010 – Obama went to great lengths to speak out on multiple occasions on behalf of building an Islamic mosque at Ground Zero, while at the same time he was silent about a Christian church being denied permission to rebuild at that location.
  6. 2010 – While every White House traditionally issues hundreds of official proclamations and statements on numerous occasions, this White House avoids traditional Biblical holidays and events but regularly recognizes major Muslim holidays, as evidenced by its 2010 statements on Ramadan, Eid-ul-Fitr, Hajj, and Eid-ul-Adha.
  7. October 2011 – Obama’s Muslim advisers block Middle Eastern Christians’ access to the White House.
  8. February 2012 – The Obama administration makes effulgent apologies for Korans being burned by the U. S. military, but when Bibles were burned by the military, numerous reasons were offered why it was the right thing to do.

Alas, the most recent entries on the list were from last February. It would be much longer if it were up-to-date (e.g. the debacle on removing all references to God from the Democratic Party platform).

The list is from Fr. Z’s blog: Pres. Obama’s record in regard to Christians and Biblical values. As always, interesting comments will be there as well.

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