I don’t understand the necessity for patriotism. Why do you have to be a patriot?About what? This land is our land? Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as for loving the whole country … I don’t see why people care about patriotism.
"Mary is a figure present in the Koran, which dedicates an entire sura [chapter ed.n.] to her and mentions her some thirty times. In Muslim countries there are Marian shrines that are the object of veneration and pilgrimage by Christian and Muslim faithful," he said. "Therefore, I believe that if this happens in Muslim countries, why can't it happen in a Christian country, especially in a historical phase in which we need to define symbols, values and figures that unite religions, spiritualities and cultures?" he asked. In Allam's opinion, "the Marian pilgrimage of Loreto -- Italy's National Shrine -- could represent a moment of meeting and spiritual gathering between Muslims and Catholics, around Mary, a religious figure that is venerated by both religions."
summary battlefield executions.
A plenary indulgence may be gained today by anyone who makes devout use of a religious article blessed by a bishop and who also recites any approved profession of faith (e.g. the Apostles Creed), as long as the usual conditions are satisfied.
"The charge of Peter is anchored to the prayer of Jesus," Benedict said. "It is this that gives him the sureness of perseverance across all human miseries. And the Lord entrusts this charge to him in the context of the Meal, in connection with the gift of the Most Holy Eucharist. The Church, in its innermost self, is a eucharistic community and so a communion in the Body of the Lord. The task of Peter is that of presiding over this universal communion; of keeping it present also in the world as a visible unity. He, together with all the Church of Rome, must -- as St Ignatius of Antioch put it -- preside in charity; to preside in the community of that love given by Christ which, ever anew, surpasses the limits of our lacking in order to carry the love of Christ even to the ends of the earth."
He was in the kitchen when I arrived, very thin and weak, but still definitely Mel. His friend was there, teary, solemn and strangely friendly. Joanne had prepared soup for us, with bread and cheese. For the next couple of hours, he asked us to put certain albums on the stereo — Bach, Dylan, Leontyne Pryce. We shared our favorite stories. He was absolutely clear as a bell, brilliant as ever. Everybody cried a little, but not at the same time.
The juice of the orange is the very being of the orange made manifest, and by this I mean its true nature, and that which gives it its “orangeness” and keeps it from tasting like, say, a poached salmon or grits. To the devout, the notion of anything but cereal for breakfast produces anxiety and dread, but with the death of God anything is permitted, and profiteroles and clams may be eaten at will, and even buffalo wings.
claimant said in a petition that he had dedicated his life to the relationship, giving up a modelling career and abandoning his dog hairdressing business to follow his partner who had found work in France.
It may be tempting to say, ‘let each local church go its own way’; but once you’ve lost the idea that you need to try to remain together in order to find the fullest possible truth, what do you appeal to in the local situation when serious division threatens?
In every culture, some Christian conduct will be offensive and attacked, but some will be moving and attractive to outsiders. "Though they accuse you … they may see your good deeds and glorify God" (1 Peter 2:12, see also Matt. 5:16). In the Middle East, a Christian sexual ethic makes sense, but not "turn the other cheek." In secular New York City, the Christian teaching on forgiveness and reconciliation is welcome, but our sexual ethics seem horribly regressive. Every non-Christian culture has enough common grace to recognize some of the work of God in the world and to be attracted to it, even while Christianity in other ways will offend the prevailing culture.
So we must neither just denounce the culture nor adopt it. We must sacrificially serve the common good, expecting to be constantly misunderstood and sometimes attacked. We must walk in the steps of the one who laid down his life for his opponents.
when the House Republicans maintain that they are vindicating the views of their base, they are just wrong. Republicans are far more tolerant of illegal immigrants - as long as they earn the tolerance by good conduct - than their political leaders seem to be.
IN ITS RECENT WORLD CUP CONTEST WITH ITALY, the U.S. team played what was widely regarded by the sport's connoisseurs as one of the best games ever played by an American soccer squad on foreign soil.
The historic game with Italy ended in an epic 1-1 tie. But in what was ballyhooed as one of the greatest games ever played by an American team, the United States failed to score. The goal credited to the Americans was scored by an opposing player who--oops!--accidentally kicked the ball into his own goal.
Think about this about this for a moment. It just about sums up everything you need to know about soccer, or football, as it is known elsewhere.
What's interesting to me is that when you talk about military force, we're supposed to use law-enforcement and intelligence methods instead. But if you use law-enforcement and intelligence methods, people shout "Big Brother" and the Times runs stories exposing them.
We will direct every resource at our command -- every means of diplomacy, every tool of intelligence, every instrument of law enforcement, every financial influence, and every necessary weapon of war -- to the destruction and to the defeat of the global terror network.And this:
We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place until there is no refuge or no rest.
We will ask and we will need the help of police forces, intelligence service and banking systems around the world.
It is the policy of the United States to protect the rights of Americans to their private property, including by limiting the taking of private property by the Federal Government to situations in which the taking is for public use, with just compensation, and for the purpose of benefiting the general public and not merely for the purpose of advancing the economic interest of private parties to be given ownership or use of the property taken.
Generally we assume . . .--because pride is more apt to be the vice of the intellectual--that it is more difficult to save one's soul if he is an intellectual than if he is, say, a peasant or even business executive. Compared to pride, greed and self-indulgence are relatively mild, though still potentially lethal, forms of vice.
The danger of recent rhetoric about "options for the poor" is that it tends to deprive the impoverished of their intrinsic human dignity by implying that no wrong perpetrated by them is caused by themselves. Rather, all faults are said to be caused by environment or "structures" of society, whatever they might be. This dangerous theoretical position is a hold over--an intellectual hold over--from the influence of Rousseau in modern thought. To put the issue more positively, we can have saints who are poor, saints who are rich, and saints who are everywhere in-between. The same obviously holds true for sinners. What we cannot have is a saint or a sinner who is automatically made so by his external social condition alone.
Galli della Loggia says that the traditional social base of the radical left -- industrial workers, farmers, and rural craftsmen -- are today on the verge of disappearing, and have been replaced by civil servants, teachers, employees of large corporations, university professors, and other members of the middle and upper-middle classes. These groups are economically interested in the protection of a strong public sector, but no longer conserve anything of the antique leftist hostility to individualism, hedonism, materialism, and in general for the middle class. Today, the ethic of the left tends to be "to each his or her own," requiring the state to remain neutral in the face of various lifestyle choices.
All this means, according to Galli della Loggia, that the magnetic appeal of cattocommunismo in the early 20th century, that of a meeting between "two peoples" in defense of social solidarity and the "humble Italy," against the Italy of the signori and the bourgeoisie, is largely finished. Instead, the radical left and Catholics find themselves on opposite sides of the culture wars
This is a place where, when the remains of a fallen soldier are accidentally switched with those of a Bosnian, the enraged widow picks up the phone late at night, calls the prime minister at home in bed and delivers a furious unedited rant — which he publicly and graciously accepts as fully deserved.
Several terrorism investigations have had south Florida links. Several of the Sept. 11 hijackers lived and trained in the area, including ringleader Mohamed Atta, and several plots by Cuban-Americans against Fidel Castro's government have been based in Miami.
His reply? “No. One exception will lead to another till it finally becomes general.” Instead, Gandhi recommends that in these rare situations couples live apart if they are truly incapable of continence—a situation he was not ever willing to concede lightly. This statement was typical of Gandhi’s approach to these hard cases. “A wise judge will not give the wrong decision in the face of a hard case. He will allow himself to appear to have hardened his heart, because he knows that truest mercy lies in not making a bad law.”
One of Smith’s fellow board members, however, said it most succinctly, asserting, “To defend this point of view is beyond the pale.” That last phrase arrests the attention. What Governor Ehrlich and Smith’s colleagues on the WMATA board were saying is not just that they disagree with Smith about the moral quality of homosexual conduct, not just that Smith’s views are in error, not just that his views are unreasonable, but that they are immoral. Indeed, nothing less would justify Ehrlich’s decision to remove Smith. Ehrlich could hardly admit that Smith’s views were reasonable, the kind of thing that a person may in good faith believe even if Ehrlich himself disagreed, and yet nevertheless justify removing Smith from an office that has no significant connection to gay rights on the basis of those beliefs. No, what is being said here is that Smith’s views on homosexual conduct, which are the views of the Catholic religion and of a great many Americans (both religious and nonreligious), are, in the words of Smith’s former colleague, “beyond the pale”—beyond, that is to say, the range of beliefs that moral people might hold in just the same way that, say, racist beliefs are beyond the pale. Only bigots think that way.
Gritty rats and mice living in sewers and farms seem to have healthier immune systems than their squeaky clean cousins that frolic in cushy antiseptic labs, two studies indicate. The lesson for humans: Clean living may make us sick.
In the twenty years since the Chernobyl tragedy, the world's worst nuclear accident, there have been nearly [FILL IN ALARMIST AND ARMAGEDDONIST FACTOID HERE].
Homosexual behavior, in my view, is deviant," he [Robert Smith] said. "I'm a Roman Catholic." Smith said his comments had been part of a discussion about a proposed ban on same-sex marriage. "The comments I make in public outside of my [Metro board job] I'm entitled to make," he said. His personal beliefs, he said, have "absolutely nothing to do with running trains and buses and have not affected my actions or decisions on this board.
How did the Fathers do it?That's what the drive-by media never understand when they cover World Youth Day or similar events. No one's going to give himself over for something easy; people --especially young people-- need a big dream, something that's worthy of engaging the whole heart. Engaging the young has nothing to do with teaching them hippie hymns beloved of Boomers. It's a matter of making wild promises.
They made wild promises.
They promised young people great things, like persecution, lower social status, public ridicule, severely limited employment opportunities, frequent fasting, a high risk of jail and torture, and maybe, just maybe, an early, violent death at the hands of their pagan rulers. The Fathers looked young people in the eye and called them to live purely in the midst of a pornographic culture. They looked at some young men and women and boldly told them they had a calling to virginity. And it worked. Even the pagans noticed how well it worked.
A week ago everything was dire, we were about to lose in Iraq, Bush was a big-spending loser. Now he's the man and Republicans love him again. Good thing our fearless leader, at least, steers himself by convictions rather than emotions. In addition to Rove/Zarqawi/Iraqi cabinet news, the deficit may be cut in half three years early, in spite of the daily talkers' complaining about Bush's lack of control of the budget. Instapundit quips the NYT headline will be:
Bush deficit reduction plan falls off-schedule.
Read Hitch on Zarqawi here and here. It should really go in a "No Connection" post, but I have family visiting. No time for multiple postings. Go read ninme for lots o' other stuff I'd comment on time permitting. Like what scientists really think of algore's movie. A million protesters against appeasement in Spain. And scroll down for "Sniffle XIX," in which Oz once again vies for my affections.
In every age Christians have sought to give expression to faith’s vision of the beauty and order of God’s creation, the nobility of our vocation as men and women made in his image and likeness, and the promise of a cosmos redeemed and transfigured by the grace of Christ. The artistic treasures which surround us are not simply impressive monuments of a distant past. Rather, for the hundreds of thousands of visitors who contemplate them year after year, they stand as a perennial witness to the Church’s unchanging faith in the Triune God who, in the memorable phrase of Saint Augustine, is himself "Beauty ever ancient, ever new."
With the exception of the nickname "sons of thunder," addressed in a specific circumstance to the sons of Zebedee (cf. Mark 3:17), and that afterward he would not use, he never attributed a new name to one of his disciples. He did so, however, with Simon, calling him Cephas, a name that was later translated into Greek as "Petros," in Latin "Petrus." And it was translated precisely because it was not just a name; it was a "mandate" that Petrus thus received from the Lord. The new name "Petrus" will return on several occasions in the Gospels and will end by replacing his original name, Simon. This detail is of particular importance if one keeps in mind that, in the Old Testament, a change of name announced in general the conferring of a mission
Casey said Zarqawi's identity was confirmed by "fingerprint verification, facial recognition and known scars."
The Post has not published the names of the East European countries involved in the covert program, at the request of senior U.S. officials, including a direct appeal from President Bush. They argued that the disclosure might disrupt counterterrorism efforts in those countries and elsewhere and make them targets of possible terrorist retaliation.
In 1940, the government of France decided to surrender and, in effect, changed sides in the war. The greater part of the colonial empire was beyond the reach of the Axis, and the governors therefore had a free choice: Vichy or de Gaulle. The overwhelming majority chose Vichy, including — and this is what concerns us specifically — the governor, high commissioner, he was called, of the French mandated territory of Syria-Lebanon. So, Syria-Lebanon was wide open to the Nazis, and they moved in on a large scale, not with troops, because that would have been too noticeable, but with propaganda of every kind. It was then the roots of Ba'athism were laid and the first organizations were formed, which ultimately developed into the Ba'ath Party. It was then that the Nazi style ofideology and government became known, eagerly embraced simply because it was anti-Western rather than because of inherent attraction. From Syria, they succeeded in spreading it to Iraq, where they even set up a Nazi-style government for a while, headed by Rashid Ali. It was possible to deal with that, and they were driven out of the Middle East. But after the war, the Western allies also left and the Soviets moved in, taking the place of the Nazis as a champion against the West. To switch from the Nazi to the communist model required only minor adjustments.
What is the range of jurisdiction of Muslim law? And here you have two opinions. According to the Shi'a and a minority among the Sunnis, Muslim law applies to Muslims wherever they may be in the world. A Muslim who commits an offense against Muslim law, wherever he may be in the world, is subject to Muslim law and must therefore be punished in accordance with Muslim law. The majority Sunni view is that Muslim law only applies in countries under Muslim government. What happens outside is no concern of the Muslim authorities. One distinguished jurist makes his point with an extreme example: A Muslim traveling in the lands of the unbelievers commits robbery and murder. He returns to the lands of Islam with his loot. No action can be taken against him or against his loot because the offense was committed outside the jurisdiction of Islam, and it is therefore up to the juridical and legal authorities of the infidels to take action, if they can and will. Here you have two different opinions relating to an offense committed by a Muslim. That is not the case for the Danish cartoons. This is an offense committed by a non-Muslim. And here the plot thickens. This is discussed by all of the juridical authorities only in the case of a non-Muslim subject of a Muslim state. If a non-Muslim subject of a Muslim state says or does something offensive to the Prophet, he is to be tried —accused, tried, and if necessary, punished. The jurists on the whole tend to take a rather mild view of this offense. They say, well, he is not a Muslim; he doesn't accept Mohammed as the Prophet; we know that. So saying that Mohammed is no prophet does not constitute this offense. It has to be more specifically insulting than that. And, as I say, there is an elaborate juridical literature and case law on this subject.Here's where it gets really interesting:
What is never discussed at all — it is never considered — is an offense committed by a non-Muslim in a non-Muslim country. That, according to the unanimous opinion of all of the doctors of the holy law is no concern of Islamic law, which brings us back to the case of Denmark. Does this mean that Denmark, along with the rest of Europe is now considered part of the Islamic lands, and that the Danes, like the rest, are therefore dhimmis, non-Muslim subjects of the Muslim state? I think this is an interesting question, which can lead to several possible lines of inquiry.
to the trained eye, the upside-down star, apparently known as the Devil's Goathead of Mendes, "one of the most important types of the five-pointed Devil's Pentagram," is right there staring at us, we are told. "There is 666 evident in the most important top three circles of the Goathead -- Dupont Circle, Scott Circle, and Logan Circle. Each of these streets has six major streets coming into them from all angles of the circle. This type of encoding is so typical of the occultist." Most important, however, the "Southernmost point, the spiritual point, is precisely centered on the White House. . . . The meaning is all too clear."
The document did not break any new ground but summarized traditional Vatican positions.
The Vatican insists sexual abstinence is the only sure way to fight AIDS.
In the run-up to March 2003, there were respectable cases to be made for and against the Iraq war. Nothing that happened at Haditha alters either argument. And, if you're one of the ever swelling numbers of molting hawks among the media, the political class and the American people for whom Haditha is the final straw, that's not a sign of your belated moral integrity but of your fundamental unseriousness.
A superpower that wallows in paranoia and glorifies self-loathing cannot endure and doesn't deserve to.
And these are just some of the latest recruits! Between 375,000 & half a million folks got to party with the Pope for Pentecost this past weekend. Here's the Pope's message to the Movements (I'll post the official translation when it's available), which is not only an interesting reflection on Pentecost as a celebration of creation --not simply the creation of the Church-- but also a meditation on the Prodigal Son and what the parable teaches about liberty.The themes of life and liberty are linked in the story of the prodigal son. He wanted to live and therefore he wanted to be completely free. To be free, in this view, is to do as one pleases – not to have to accept any criteria other than from oneself. To follow only my desire and my will. Who lives that way will soon encounter someone else who wishes to live the same way. The necessary consequence of such a selfish view of freedom is violence, the reciprocal destruction of both liberty and life.
Instead, Sacred Scripture links the concept of liberty with that of filiality: ”You have not received the spirit of slavery to fall back in fear, but you have received the spirit of adopted sons through which we can cry, 'Abba! Father!’” (Rm 8.15). What does this mean?
[snip]
the Holy Spirit makes us sons and daughters of God. He involves us in God’s own responsibility for His world, for all of humanity. He teaches us to look at the world, at others and at ourselves with the eyes of God. We do good not as slaves who are not free to do otherwise, but we do good because we personally bear responsibility for the whole, because we love truth and goodness, because we love God himself and therefore even His creatures. This is the true freedom to which the Holy Spirit wants to lead us. The church movements wish to be and should be schools of freedom, of this true freedom. In such schools we want to learn true freedom, not that of slaves who aim to cut a piece of the cake for themselves even if this will mean that others will not have a share. We want geunine freedom, that of heirs, the freedom of the children of God.
Before the ascension to heaven, "he charged them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father" (cf. Acts 1:4-5); that is, he asked them to stay together to prepare themselves to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And they gathered in prayer with Mary in the Cenacle, while awaiting this promised event (cf. Acts 1:14). To stay together was the condition Jesus placed to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit; the premise of their harmony was prolonged prayer. In this way we are offered a formidable lesson for every Christian community.
Contemplation of the "pierced side of the Redeemer," the Pope wrote, is an apt way of "fixing our gaze on Him," and recognizing his love. The mystery of Christ's love, he continued, is "the content of all true Christian spirituality and devotion." Pope Benedict added: "In fact, being Christian is only possible with our gaze fixed on the cross of our Redeemer."
Recognizing and accepting God's love, the Pontiff continued, leads to an inner transformation. "The experience of God's love is lived by man as a 'call' to which he must respond." Thus contemplation of the Sacred heart "safeguards us from the risk of closing in on ourselves, and makes us open to a life lived for others." Devotion to the Sacred Heart, the Pope concluded, "cannot then be considered as a passing form of veneration or devotion." Rather, it is "irreplaceable for a living relationship with God."
no amount of theological reflection will render future generations immune from the atavistic forces that aimed at the destruction of every last Jew in Europe, and to which the Church certainly made a historical contribution. I have no interest at all in the fortunes of Judaism, but a great concern in the resilience of historically persecuted peoples. Only by removing the accumulated detritus of malign ideologies can that happen.
Deep down, those vicious criminals, by wiping out this people, wanted to kill the God who called Abraham, who spoke on Sinai and laid down principles to serve as a guide for mankind, principles that are eternally valid. If this people, by its very existence, was a witness to the God who spoke to humanity and took us to himself, then that God finally had to die and power had to belong to man alone - to those men, who thought that by force they had made themselves masters of the world. By destroying Israel, by the Shoah, they ultimately wanted to tear up the taproot of the Christian faith and to replace it with a faith of their own invention: faith in the rule of man, the rule of the powerful.
we hear once again this question from the Acts of the Apostles. This time it is directed to all of us: “Why do you stand looking up to heaven?” The answer to this question involves the fundamental truth about the life and destiny of every man and woman. The question has to do with our attitude to two basic realities which shape every human life: earth and heaven. First, the earth: “Why do you stand?” - Why are you here on earth?
It's a depressing week when I don't get them," he says. "No bravado here. I think of it as a compliment, and it's the least I can do considering the risks other people take. It's not guarding a polling station in Anbar Province in the hot sun. I'm doing what I think is the civic minimum. Who in the United States would not be willing to say, 'I wouldn't mind these people hating me personally?
You are not educated if you don't know the Bible. You can't read Shakespeare or Milton without it, even if there was nothing else of it. And with the schools now, that's what I hate about secular relativism. They're afraid of insurance liability. They don't even teach it as a document. They stay out of the whole thing to avoid controversy. So kids can't quote the King James Bible. That's terrible. And I quite understand Christian parents who want to protect their children from a nihilistic solution where there's no way of knowing what's been discussed.
I'm a materialist and I'm a parent. I've looked at sonograms, and I don't know a lot of embryology but I know enough. The concept 'unborn child' seems to me to be a factual statement.
It is a war and we are in our life radically incompatible with totalitarianism, including the theocratic version. He understands that. And I can trust him while I sleep that he's not going to change his mind. This is not true of people who are supposedly more intelligent and better educated, like, for example, the senator from Massachusetts—either senator from Massachusetts—or many others."
Protests religion too much, I think. Whereas Rod Dreher seems to be on an arc that will take him out of the Church if he continues, Hitch is a prime candidate for a deathbed conversion.
Curtsy: Open Book Additional curtsy to ninme for Hitch's Memorial Day piece, which you should also read.
I used to think The Koran was the best book to read in the airport, simply because carrying it guarantees you’ll never get searched by airport security. Later, I decided that The Book of Mormon was better because it guarantees the person sitting next to you will never start a conversation during the flight. Now, I’ve decided – once and for all, I think – that The Da Vinci Code has both of them topped.
