More on Christianity under Attack

Deus, in adjutorium meum intende.  Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina.
O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me.

   Just a note by way of explanation. When I talk about what is in the liturgy of any particular day, or a tidbit about the saint of the day, I've gleaned specifics from a very old missal that I have. It has a wealth of information in a limited space before the Mass of the day. Sometimes I go to the explanation of a whole season in the Church year.  I also have some books on the saints, church history, liturgy, theology and so on.
As you've seen, I then also take quotes from parts of the liturgy itself.

   There is still so much about Holy Week that I could insert today; but I felt I needed to retrace a lot of what I've covered before, either in e-mails or letters, about the assault on Christianity.

   The Christian Faith, predominantly the Catholic Faith, is under major attack around the world. Hostile forces within our own country are determined to take God out of the public square. Just this morning I saw a protestant pastor arrested for reading the Bible out loud on a public sidewalk in front of a DMV office. He is accused of "intimidating" people.  This is an example of the government wanting, at least for now, only freedom of worship, not freedom of religion. The Constitution of the United States forthrightly states in the First Amendment that "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." We are not to be confined to our individual churches to express our faith, or in the privacy of our homes. We can procalim it and spread our belief from every street corner.

   Hostility from a vocal minority of secular humanists to forbid display of crosses, nativity scenes, prayer at public meetings, has grown because complacent Christians were asleep or apathetic, or blind to the burgeoning encroachment and the ever louder and more insistent voices of anti-religion abetted by a complicit government. So now we have a crisis that may be beyond reversing and will only get worse.  Here in East Texas just recently, there is a blow-back. Several communities' city councils have authorized the placement of placards in their meeting rooms with the United States Motto, "In God We Trust." Signs are in many front yards that proclaim: "Only prayer can save America."

   Threats to voicing religious belief exist primarily today in defense of two intrinsic evils, homosexual acts and the killing of children in the womb. These are both extolled as human rights, good for civilization, not as abominations and sins crying out to heaven for vengeance. There is already the threat of punishment if one engages in hate speech. Included in that, you can be sure, is quoting the Bible to uphold moral values and refute these evils. Faith infused with reason will be of no use. In some quarters there is even a judicial denial that there is a natural law which governs us. Our pastors at some point face the possibility of arrest. Nor is it impossible that those who listen to them will be similarly punished, or God forbid, "re-educated". And yes, I think it can come to that. Children have already been removed from homes or denied adoption to couples considered too religious.

   Our children are being corrupted every day in school, sadly, where we send them to people once trusted to act in loco parentis. So much of what is taught is mind and soul pollution, and teachers are more and more found out to be predators. The call to turn over our children to state-run  learning centers, at younger and younger ages is to further indoctrinate them. Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" is actually being distributed to teachers by the NEA. From the protests in Wisconsin and elsewhere, that seems to have borne fruit. The United States is not immune just because we took for granted what we thought were safeguards and had worked pretty well for 200 years. We see rampant corruption in our public servants, venality in our corporations, and downright pornography in much of our entertainment. Sex and violence are staples of video games, movies, TV dramas, commercials and sit-coms. What passes for comedy should make decent people blush, but is accepted without an eyebrow being lifted. When did so many children and teens become dirty-mouthed and disrespectful, or so aggressive, violent, even murderous? Why have parents lost all control? Some of it is due to the current state of education and progressive thinking child psychologists. The boomer generation of parents must take blame themselves for the four letter words, the anything goes mentality, the lack of supervision as to what children see and hear, especially when the parents sit in the same room, watching and laughing at the same vulgarities and obscenities. Children are told they can sue their parents or teachers. They can and do make false claims of abuse. Adults walk on eggshells, fearing their offspring rather than controlling them. Worse, God plays only a small part, if that, in daily life. Perhaps Church on Sunday is the only time God is acknowledged - or not. Years ago children learned to read from books that presented stories whcih taught a moral lesson or were in some way inspiring or uplifting. True heroes were held up as role models. Bible stories often were part of those reading lessons. In fact, in the early days of this country, Bible reading was required in schools. Today children may not speak His Name or even draw a religious picture in school.

   Christians who truly do follow Christ find that they have to defend themselves at every turn. The Islamic threat must be dealt with on another front. Read the news, online mostly, since the main stream media is not to be trusted on the subject. Watch YouTube videos. Christians, Catholic and protestant, across the globe, particularly in Islamic dominated countries are being murdered, their churches torched or bombed. Of course, the Isalmists are equal opportunity haters. They attack Buddhists and Hindus as well. It must be said that Christians are also persecuted by Hindus in their countries. In the Middle East, Indonesia, the Philippines, Africa, even South America, Christians are regularly targeted and in ever more frequent and violent attacks. The genocide of Christians in Rwanda, the growing violence against Christians in Nigeria, and the stepping up of violence in Egypt, and you can be sure, in neighboring nations as the Muslim Brotherhood becomes more powerful, will be only more evidence of the war against Christianity. While we heard of democracy in Egypt, and what a good thing that will be for Muslim/Christian relations, the Egyptian military, right after the "Arab Spring" began with the ousting of Mubarak, had fired on a Coptic Christian monastery, wounding monks as they stood in prayer, arresting three monks and one Coptic lawyer. They prevented the monks' car  from leaving with the wounded to take them to a hospital. Tanks, armored vehicles and a bulldozer tore down a fence the monks had erected for protection of their property. Similar outrages took place and continue in other places.

   A French website that I access, "riposte catholique," daily has headlines about things we don't see in our own papers; e.g., The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia says it is necessary to destroy all churches in the region.
Monastery chapel desecrated in Uruguay. Fifty consecrated hosts taken from a Tabernacle that had been forced open. Other websites tell similar stories. There are so many Catholic churches which have been closed in France. The Muslims are wanting to take them over and make them into mosques. Muslims in France are quickly becoming a majority religion.
  
   The Jihadists have openly proclaimed their aim - to rule everywhere - a worldwide Caliphate - by Sharia law. As the number of Muslims grows in western countries they will begin to insist on recognition of Sharia law in those countries. It is already happening and governments begin to accede to demands, even in the United States according to at least one happening in Michigan in 2010. Two missionaries witnessed a Christian convert from Islam discussing Christianity with some young people. They were arrested along with the convert for "breaching the peace." Muslims cheered that Sharia Law was victorious over the Christians. Later the same month two Christians handing out a Gospel on a public street were also detained. This was Dearborne, the most heavily populated Muslim city in the nation. Three British Islamists have called for Sharia Law in the United States. While the West limits population by birth control and abortion, Muslims are procreating. Their families grow. Ours diminish. There are places in London already where police will not go, so dominated are they by Muslim communities with no qualms about doing violence to infidels entering their territory, even lawful authority.

   Agree or not, our world has been asking for a heavenly chastisement for a good part of the last century; and it continues to out and out beg for it. It may be that Islam is a part of our punishment. I fear that won't be all of it, but it certainly is a warning. The 12th Imam, for whom the Muslim world waits, is seen by some to be the anti-Christ. Some in the Islamic world think that he is already here; and that makes them bolder.

   There never was a time when religion, natural law, moral values totally influenced the lives of flawed mankind; but more attention has been paid to them by men of faith and integrity. Psalm 126 says: (Nisi Dominus) "Unless the Lord build the house; they labor in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city; he watcheth in vain that keepteth it."

   From my very Catholic perspective, the affairs of men will come to naught if they are not guided by Christ the King of all nations. His is not simply a heavenly kingdom. His laws rule mankind. His is a social kingship. Eternal law dictates how men, in their relationship with God, should live, how they should react to and with each other, how the rich treat the poor, the fortunate the less fortunate (charity), employment, regard for the common good. By this I don't mean liberation theology, socialism, a welfare state, etc. (See some of my past blogs). True social justice holds private property sacred, the right to keep the fruits of one's labor, all that is right and good for the individual as long as it does not harm one's neighbor, and should in fact benefit others. The principle of subsidiarity (again see a past blog) prevails. Various popes have written encyclicals on the subject. Just as no Catholic can believe in abortion or gay marriage, no Catholic can be a socialist. He/she who believes otherwise stands to lose his or her immortal soul.

   Christ the King is the true Shepherd of mankind. For His limitless care and love of us He demands our love and loyalty, our prayers of thanksgiving for His goodness, and He accepts and wants our prayers of sacrifice and invocation. He commands that we live by the Ten Commandments given by Almighty God and exhorts us to practice virtue. Too long He has been ignored, blasphemed and insulted. The King will not much longer allow His Sacred heart to be wounded by our affronts. He died as the Word made Flesh, taking on our humanity, to suffer for every sin ever committed, past, present and future. We are born again at Baptism. His death and resurrection opened Heaven for those who are baptized and thus lose the stain of Adam's sin, passed on to a wounded humanity. Having accepted that sacrifice, many live as though no more is required. Most of us, I think, pray, many read the Bible, and try to live good lives. But the realization by mankind in general, that we have a King, Whose eternal laws must govern our temporal lives, to Whom we owe our allegiance and our very existence, and Whom we will face at our judgment, is not immediately evident.

   I know I've rambled here, in a stream of consciousness way of writing. However, it all comes down to the same thing. Christianity is under attack from forces within our own country and without. God has promised that if we turn our face to Him and call His Name, He will be less harsh. I feel that He is removing His protecting Hand from this country. The time is short. Satan is very happy with the way things are going. Prayer may yet save us - if we in turn look within ourselves, honestly, and try to live as children of God.