Fausta's Blog

On my BlogHer article last week, I erroneously misquoted (“a champion of liberation theology”) Mark Rice-Oxley‘s statement, which in fact said “A champion of those who rejected liberation theology.”

Indeed, as Mary O’Grady explained yesterday,

Father Bergoglio believed that Marxism (and the related “liberation theology”) was antithetical to Christianity and refused to embrace it in the 1970s

I did more research on Pope Francis, and found the he rejected Marxist liberation theology while embracing the poor. Then-Archbishop Bergoglio used to take public transportation to Buenos Aires’s worst slums (and police no-go zones), and officiated Mass,

sponsored marathons and carpentry classes, consoled single mothers and washed the feet of recovering drug addicts

From the pulpit at the cathedral he sternly criticized the Kirchners and denounced the country’s extreme poverty.

I also asked Carlos Eire, T. Lawrason Riggs Professor of History & Religious Studies at Yale University, on the new Pope. His reply,

The way I see it today — which may change as we get more information — his concern for the poor does not at all make him a liberationist socialist. He seems to be taking the same approach as John Paul II and Benedict XVI, who dished out condemnations of the callousness and materialism of Western culture while at the same time condemning the evils of communism.

Their focus is materialism, an attitude that runs against Christian ethics, not capitalism per se. (Liberationists tend to see capitalism itself as evil, and communism as the utopian cure).

Check out also Ed Morrissey’s interview of Kishore Jayalaban of the Acton Institute, if you didn’t watch it in yesterday’s Carnival,

I apologize to all my readers (and to the Pope, too).

In more papal news, his motto will now be

“miserando atque eligendo” (Latin for “because he saw him through the eyes of mercy and chose him”), a phrase taken from a homily by the Venerable Bede, an 8th century English monk, describing Jesus’ call to Matthew to follow him.

Very fitting.

Religion at the service of government propaganda:

Robert Pear reports in yesterday’s New York Times on the Obama administration’s planned public relations offensive on behalf of Obamacare:

On Wednesday, White House officials summoned dozens of leaders of nonprofit organizations that strongly back the health law to help them coordinate plans for a prayer vigil, press conferences and other events outside the court when justices hear arguments for three days beginning March 26.

Hmmm. A prayer vigil for Obamacare. This seems to me something of a category error with seeds of comedy buried in it. Something tells me these folks lack a finely honed sense of irony, or maybe even a deft political touch.

This is the same administration who has the President call an activist set on overturning a religious institution’s policy.

George Orwell lacked imagination.

David Theroux of the Independent Institute has an excellent essay on Secular Theocracy
The Foundations and Folly of Modern Tyranny (emphasis added)

We live in an increasingly secularized world of massive and pervasive nation states in which traditional religion, especially Christianity, is ruled unwelcome and even a real danger on the basis of a purported history of intolerance and “religious violence.” This is found in most all “public” domains, including the institutions of education, business, government, welfare, transportation, parks and recreation, science, art, foreign affairs, economics, entertainment, and the media. A secularized public square policed by government is viewed as providing a neutral, rational, free, and safe domain that keeps the “irrational” forces of religion from creating conflict and darkness. And we are told that real progress requires expanding this domain by pushing religion ever backward into remote corners of society where it has little or no influence. In short, modern America has become a secular theocracy with a civic religion of national politics (nationalism) occupying the public realm in which government has replaced God.

Read Part 1 here.

Yesterday in Paris, Charlie Hebdo got firebombed out of existence for daring to publish a special Charia Hebdo issue.

TIME Mag took the side of the terrorists:
The tab title is “Offices of Satirical French Newspaper Charlie Hebdo Get Firebombed.” Innocuous enough. If you look at the official article title, Firebombed French Paper Is No Free Speech Martyr; it goes on to state,

So, yeah, the violence inflicted upon Charlie Hebdo was outrageous, unacceptable, condemnable, and illegal. But apart from the “illegal” bit, Charlie Hebdo’s current edition is all of the above, too.

However the article’s original title, i.e., how the author posted it initially, is “Firebombed French paper a victim of islamists, or of its own obnoxious Islamophobia?”

You can see it on the URL:

http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2011/11/02/firebombed-french-paper-a-victim-of-islamistsor-its-own-obnoxious-islamophobia/#ixzz1ceST2k4g

Had TIME kept that title it would have saved having to read the rest.

Now, you’ll say, “another op-ed by a freelancer or a guest.”

Not so.

Bruce Cromley, the author of the piece, is described by TIME as,

Bruce Crumley, Paris bureau chief for TIME, helps shape TIME’s coverage of France and Europe in areas including business, politics, religion, terrorism and sports.

And,

He has been particularly active in TIME’s coverage of al Qaeda-sponsored terrorism since September 11, 2001-an area he has followed closely since 1994, when France became the favored European target of Islamist extremists.

Helping “shape TIME’s coverage” with full sympathy for the arsonists.

This is what Charlie Hebdo’s offices look like now,

Charlie Hebdo, the Paris satirical paper that in 2006 was the only in the country to publish the Mohammed cartoons, was firebombed last night, since they wouldn’t submit:
Satirical Magazine Is Firebombed in Paris

The office of a French satirical magazine here was badly damaged by a firebomb early on Wednesday, the publisher said, after it published a spoof issue “guest edited” by the Prophet Muhammad to salute the victory of an Islamist party in Tunisian elections. The publication also said hackers had disrupted its Web site.

The magazine, Charlie Hebdo, had announced a special issue for publication Wednesday, renamed “Charia Hebdo,” a play on the word in French for Shariah law.

Here you see it,

Gateway Pundit reports,

Meanwhile, a play that [has] Jesus covered in crap is also playing in Paris.
No firebombs were reported.

¡No Pasarán! has more.

Five Letter Word Unwelcome in the NC House of Representatives, and it’s not only there:

- A California school district is adding The Bible as a literature elective for high school seniors. Perhaps to assuage the main-lining of Islam via “diversity” pushed onto all students, everywhere.
- The debate stirred about whether those he has bashed relentlessly should pray for an avowed atheist who has publicly revealed his battle with cancer.
- Pulpits used to spew hate instead of healing.
- UI professor of Catholic studies loses his job over explaining some tenets of the Catholic faith to students in his class on (wait for it)… Catholicism.

And the beat goes on…

Via Ed Driscoll, Is Environmentalism a Religion?

Novelist Michael Crichton said that environmentalism had all the trappings of a religion: “Eden, the fall of man, the loss of grace, the coming doomsday.” Atwood is filling it out with saints and hymns.

Actually, Al Gore had already beat her to it:

Environmentalism is a religion, and Al Gore is its Prophet:

Al’s Gore’s much-anticipated sequel to An Inconvenent Truth is published today, with an admission that facts alone will not persuade Americans to act on global warming and that appealing to their spiritual side is the way forward.

Craven appeasement:

Barack Obama cancels meeting with Dalai Lama ‘to keep China happy’
President Barack Obama has refused to meet the Dalai Lama in Washington this week in a move to curry favour with the Chinese.
In a now-characteristic lack of spine move,

The decision came after China stepped up a campaign urging nations to shun the Tibetan spiritual leader.

Two things, though:
1. karma’s a bitch
2. appeasement never works.

In the meantime, if I were in Taiwan, this would make me worry, big time.

Roundup of reactions and news at The Anchoress.

UPDATE
One question, what exactly does President Obama gain from breaking with18 years of precedent and refusing to meet with the Dalai Lama? Have we received anything in return?

Having attended Catholic school for 11 years means that for the rest of your life you come across a heck of a lot of Catholics who have lapsed or even renounced their faith. However, I have yet to meet one who’s gone for the ceremony:
Atheists choose ‘de-baptism’ to renounce childhood faith

In a type of mock ceremony that’s now been performed in at least four states, a robed “priest” used a hairdryer marked “reason” in an apparent bid to blow away the waters of baptism once and for all. Several dozen participants then fed on a “de-sacrament” (crackers with peanut butter) and received certificates assuring they had “freely renounced a previous mistake, and accepted Reason over Superstition.”

For Gray, the lighthearted spirit of last summer’s Atheist Coming Out Party and De-Baptism Bash in suburban Westerville, Ohio, served a higher purpose than merely spoofing a Christian rite.

Just as having her divorce ceremony, if she would. She’s probably even left instructions in her will to have herself exhumed in the event – God forbid! – she’s buried in sanctified ground.

Bureaucrats play a part in debaptizing, too:

“It’s a bit of satire. People will play the fool by waving their arms in the air and saying, ‘I got de-baptized!’ But the paperwork is still legit.”

After all, what would a ceremony mean without accompanying paperwork?

Anyone dumb enough for this will make a ripe market for enterprising caterers, clothes designers and the such. Imagine the Martha Stewart Book of Debaptizing. If you really want that much attention that you go through the debaptizing, might as well get a gown and all the trimmings. Hairdryer charm bracelets as debaptizing party favors, anyone?

Thank God there are still some mature atheists out there:

Not all American non-believers have warmed to de-baptism rituals. Secularist Phil Zuckerman, a Pitzer College sociologist who studies apostates, said he would never take part in such an event because it “feels intrinsically negative” and “immature.”

———————————
I just arrived in Chicago so posting will be light. Here are a few links from friends:
Overheard At Night In The Oval Office

Obama: Mandate Health Coverage Just Like Car Insurance

“Put Your Laws All Over My Body”

Genesis, Evolution the Sistine Chapel

Why did Obama meet with the CBO?

Racialist outrage and embarrassment in Cambridge!

Strains credulity, but it’s the UN:
Saudi Arabia to Lead U.N. Faith Forum

Saudi Arabia, the oil-rich Islamic kingdom that forbids the public practice of other religious faiths, will preside Wednesday over a two-day U.N. conference on religious tolerance that will draw more than a dozen world leaders, including President Bush, Israeli President Shimon Peres and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The event is part of a personal initiative by Saudi King Abdullah to promote an interfaith dialogue among the world’s major religions.

Dialogue, but from different tables:

The Saudi leader agreed for the first time to dine in the same room with the Israeli president at a private, pre-conference banquet Tuesday hosted by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. But Ban hinted that the two leaders — whose governments do not have diplomatic relations — were not seated at the same table.

Seeing the moral equivalence glass half full instead of totally empty, Ban Ki-moon finds that encouraging:

“Normally, in the past, they have not been sitting in the same place like this. That is very important and encouraging,” Ban said.

Another enabler: Catholic priest and General Assembly President Miguel d’Escoto, whose blind spot extends well beyond the walls of the UN building,

“Humanity is in moral bankruptcy, and we are in need of being bailed out,” d’Escoto said. Asked whether Saudi Arabia had the moral standing to preside over the event, d’Escoto said: “I never conceived the United Nations as an organization of saints. We are in the world a community of sinners . . . and we should accept warmly any brother who wants to join forces to resolve” the most pressing problems.

At least a Saudi national, who may have a lot to lose, condemned Saudi Arabia

“Saudi Arabia is not qualified to be a leader in this dialogue at the United Nations,” said Ali Al-Ahmed, a Saudi national who serves as director of the Washington-based Institute for Gulf Affairs. “It is the world headquarters of religious oppression and xenophobia.”

Amen to that.

UPDATE
Further Saudi news, via Dan,
Beware this Saudi deal to help bail out Britain. It comes with a devastating IOU. Go read every word.

Share on Facebook