“THOU SHALT NOT COVET A NEIGHBORS GOODS” – AGAINST REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH

August 20, 2013 by Be Holy

John Adams, Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States

1787Works 6:8–9
Suppose a nation, rich and poor, high and low, ten millions in number, all assembled together; not more than one or two millions will have lands, houses, or any personal property; if we take into the account the women and children, or even if we leave them out of the question, a great majority of every nation is wholly destitute of property, except a small quantity of clothes, and a few trifles of other movables. Would Mr. Nedham be responsible that, if all were to be decided by a vote of the majority, the eight or nine millions who have no property, would not think of usurping over the rights of the one or two millions who have? Property is surely a right of mankind as really as liberty. Perhaps, at first, prejudice, habit, shame or fear, principle or religion, would restrain the poor from attacking the rich, and the idle from usurping on the industrious; but the time would not be long before courage and enterprise would come, and pretexts be invented by degrees, to countenance the majority in dividing all the property among them, or at least, in sharing it equally with its present possessors. Debts would be abolished first; taxes laid heavy on the rich, and not at all on the others; and at last a downright equal division of every thing be demanded, and voted. What would be the consequence of this? The idle, the vicious, the intemperate, would rush into the utmost extravagance of debauchery, sell and spend all their share, and then demand a new division of those who purchased from them. The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If “Thou shalt not covet,” and “Thou shalt not steal,” were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society, before it can be civilized or made free.

Kenyan Leaders Slam President Obama’s Gay Rights Comments – Washington Whispers (usnews.com)

July 1, 2013 by Be Holy

Kenyan Leaders Slam President Obama’s Gay Rights Comments – Washington Whispers (usnews.com).

WASHINGTON WHISPERS

Kenyan Leaders Slam President Obama’s Gay Rights Comments

By EMILY STANTON

July 1, 2013

U.S. President Barack Obama takes questions from the audience and from people in Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya during a ‘town hall’ meeting at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa.

President Barack Obama’s comments while in Senegal last week in support of gay rights aren’t sitting well with politicians in Kenya, where same-sex acts are treated as crimes.

Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta and deputy president William Ruto slammed Obama’s remarks at separate religious events. Addressing a congregation Sunday, Ruto said Kenya will uphold its strong religious beliefs on homosexuality.

[READ: Obama’s Africa Trip Draws Ire]

“This country, the nation of Kenya, is a God-fearing nation,” Ruto said.

Homosexuality is illegal in Kenya, where 90 percent of people believe homosexuality is wrong, according to the Pew Research Center.

“Those who believe in other things, that is their business,” Ruto said, referring to Obama’s comments in support of gay marriage. “We believe in God.”

Abortion Battle Kicks Into High Gear in New York | Daily News | NCRegister.com

June 6, 2013 by Be Holy

Church Response

The release of the Women’s Equality Act drew a sharp response from the Church in New York and its pro-life allies. A statement signed by Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and the bishops of the New York Catholic Conference declared Cuomo was expanding access to abortion, easing all restrictions on late-term abortion and leaving women without any legal protection from forced or coerced abortion.

“As the pastors of more than 7.2 million Catholic New Yorkers, we fully oppose this measure and urge all our faithful people to do the same, vigorously and unapologetically,” they stated. “We invite all women and men of good will to join in this effort and defeat this serious attempt to expand abortion availability in our state and to codify the most radical abortion proposals of any state in the nation.”

The Register obtained a copy of an analysis of Cuomo’s bill prepared for the New York Catholic Conference, which indicates the Women’s Equality Act expands abortion even more than the language from the Reproductive Health Act, which many pro-life advocates believed would be reflected in the bill. The Reproductive Health Act is a stand-alone bill that would make abortion a “fundamental right” in New York state law, but it has never achieved enough support on its own in the state Legislature to become law.

“The new language accomplishes the same result with less limitations,” the analysis notes. It explains that the Women’s Equality Act, in adopting Roe’s broad health exception (which Roe’s companion Doe v. Bolton case said includes “all factors — physical, emotional, psychological, familial and the woman’s age — relevant to the well-being of the patient”) would essentially mean abortion on demand up to the moment of birth.

The analysis notes the state Health Department would have the power to qualify non-doctors to perform abortions and even late-term abortions with the removal of the “duly licensed physician” requirement in the state penal law. Moreover, the analysis says that removal of abortion from the penal law would prevent prosecutors from going after domestic abusers who directly cause a pregnant woman to lose her unborn infant.

The analysis adds that the concerns over conscience protections remain, since the bill does not define whether “health-care provider” includes health-care institutions, individuals or both. It says that Catholic schools and charities could still find themselves faced with the choice of referring for abortion or losing state contracts and licenses that keep their doors open.

via Abortion Battle Kicks Into High Gear in New York | Daily News | NCRegister.com.

Did Pope Francis Say That Atheists Can Get to Heaven by Good Works? |Blogs | NCRegister.com

May 25, 2013 by Be Holy

The Homily in Question

On Wednesday, Pope Francis gave a homily based on the Gospel reading of the day (Mark 9:38-40), in which the disciples have told a man to stop casting out demons in Jesus’ name because he doesn’t follow along with them.

Then, according to Vatican Radio’s maddeningly incomplete and poorly edited transcript of the homily:

The disciples, Pope Francis explains, “were a little intolerant,” closed off by the idea of possessing the truth, convinced that “those who do not have the truth, cannot do good.”

“This was wrong . . . Jesus broadens the horizon.” Pope Francis said, “The root of this possibility of doing good – that we all have – is in creation.”

Pope Francis first applies this principle to non-Catholics in general, engaging in dialogue with an imaginary interlocutor:

“‘But, Father, this [person] is not Catholic! He cannot do good.’ Yes, he can. He must. Not can: must! Because he has this commandment within him. . . .

“Instead,” the Pope continued, “the Lord has created us in His image and likeness, and has given us this commandment in the depths of our heart: do good and do not do evil”:

“The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone!

So far so good: Christ redeemed all of us, making it possible for every human to be saved.

What About Atheists?

Now we get to the subject of atheists, as the imaginary interlocutor asks:

“‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us children of God of the first class! We are created children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we all have a duty to do good.”

Here is where “the usual process” might be helpful in clarifying the pope’s thought. Everyone, when speaking off-the-cuff, encounters occasions where things could be further clarified, and this may be one of them.

We can be called children of God in several senses. One of them is merely be being created as rational beings made in God’s image. Another is by becoming Christian. Another sense (used in the Old Testament) is connected with righteous behavior. And there can be other senses as well.

Here Pope Francis may be envisioning a sense in which we can be called children of God because Christ redeemed us, even apart from embracing that redemption by becoming Christian.

This, however, was not what caught the press’s eye.

Pope Francis continued:

“And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good.”

via Did Pope Francis Say That Atheists Can Get to Heaven by Good Works? |Blogs | NCRegister.com.