The New Persecution

From RealClearReligion

By Russell Shaw

The persecution of the Catholic Church and other morally conservative religious bodies has begun in the United States.

As predicted, it isn't -- thank God -- bloody persecution like the persecution of Christians in many countries. But it's real persecution and likely to get worse.

This new persecution currently has two prongs.

Pat Buchanan: Stand Up for Indiana!

By Patrick J. Buchanan

In what has been called the “Catholic moment” in America, in the late 1940s and 1950s, Catholics were admonished from pulpits to “live the faith” and “set an example” for others.

Public lives were to reflect moral beliefs. Christians were to avoid those “living in sin.” Christians who operated motels and hotels did not rent rooms to unmarried couples.

Fast forward to 21st-century America.

Top Obama Bundlers Funded LGBT Attack on San Francisco Archbishop for Traditional Marriage Stance

A leftist group funded by top gay activist bundlers for Obama’s 2012 campaign coordinated both a “well planned and financed” attack against San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone for his decision to speak during the March for Marriage in Washington, D.C. in June, says Catholic San Francisco.

Faithful America is an organization that claims to be “the largest and fastest growing online community of Christians putting faith into action for social justice.”

According to Valerie Schmalz writing at Catholic San Francisco, there is “abundant evidence” that the attack on Cordileone, who is chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, was coordinated by Faithful America and supported by politically powerful and wealthy individuals and foundations that have dedicated millions to promoting the LGBT agenda.

Read more at Breitbart >>

De Blasio Boycotts St. Patrick's Day Parade Because Organizers are Catholic

(AP) -- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio will not be marching in the nation's largest St. Patrick's Day parade, deciding to skip one of his city's signature celebrations because the event organizers refuse to let participants carry pro-gay signs.

Mr. de Blasio will become the first mayor in decades to sit out the traditional march along Fifth Avenue.

"I will be participating in a number of other events to honor the Irish heritage of this city," said Mr. de Blasio on Tuesday during an unrelated press conference at City Hall. "But I simply disagree with the organizers of that parade."

Read more at Crain's New York Business >>

Post v. Putin -- Whose Side Are You On?

By Patrick J. Buchanan

The culture war has gone global.

And the divisions are not only between, but within nations.

"Suddenly, homosexuality is against the law," wailed Jay Leno. "I mean, this seems like Germany. Let's round up the Jews. Let's round up the gays. ... I mean, it starts like that."

Leno was speaking of Vladimir Putin's Russia. Obama eagerly agreed:

"I have no patience for countries that treat gays or lesbians ... in ways that intimidate them or are harmful to them. ... Nobody is more offended than me by some of the antigay and lesbian legislation that you've been seeing in Russia."

‘Gay Marriage’ or Religious Freedom: You Can’t Have Both

While we wait until June to find out how the U.S. Supreme Court will rule in its two "gay marriage" cases, perhaps it will add a little energy to our prayers to understand that the judges in black will be making a stark choice: The choice is either "gay marriage" or religious freedom, but not both.

If the court, in settling Hollingsworth v. Perry, affirms the desire of the minority to extend the sexual revolution to same-sex "marriage," then it will be a violation of the Constitution (specifically the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment) to claim that homosexual activity and hence homosexual "marriage" are wrong.

Note that both aspects are mentioned. If the law affirms "gay marriage" as a guaranteed right, it implicitly demands that all citizens likewise affirm homosexual activity of any and every kind.

In affirming same-sex "marriage" as a protected right, the Supreme Court will not just be making law — which is itself a violation of the separation of powers — it will be remaking morality.

To be more exact, it will be acting as an instrument of the ongoing (and now, nearly complete) sexual revolution against the Judeo-Christian understanding of sexuality and marriage.

And, to be even more exact, the court will be establishing secular liberalism ever more firmly as our state religion, the worldview that defines what is good and evil, and therefore defines what is legal and illegal.

Unfortunately, that is nothing new.

Read more at National Catholic Register >>

 

Is Christianity Homophobic?

By Patrick J. Buchanan

That "loving Jesus means hating gay people" is "proclaimed in Christian churches and on Christian television and radio broadcasts."

So declares Dan Savage in his review of Jeff Chu's "Does Jesus Really Love Me: A Gay Christian's Pilgrimage in Search of God in America" -- on page one of The New York Times Book Review.

Who is foremost among those who have made "anti-gay bigotry seem synonymous with Christianity"? The Family Research Council and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

So says Savage. And who is he? A cradle Catholic who says he "was in church every Sunday for the first 15 years of my life. Now I spend my Sundays on my bike, on my snowboard or on my husband."

A Godless Party Expels the Creator

By Patrick J. Buchanan

 "No platform celebrating homosexual marriage and backing a woman's right to abort her child at any time in her pregnancy can be credibly adopted by a party that also purports to revere the God of our Founding Fathers."

 

The authors of the Democratic platform have inadvertently revealed to the world the sea change that has taken place in that party we once knew.

For the first time -- and in the longest Democratic platform in history, 26,000 words -- there was not a single mention of God, the Creator, whom Thomas Jefferson himself, father of the party, proclaimed to be the author of our right to life and liberty.

The convention had approved the new platform, but when a firestorm erupted, a panicked Barack Obama hastily ordered "God" reinstated.
 

Anti-Bullying Speaker Curses Christian Teens

Bullying is a problem in many schools throughout the United States.  School administrators have told us that it is particularly acute among young girls of 8 to 10 years old.  It is one of the most heartrending problems many children and their parents face, and it is wrong for any child to be bullied for any reason.  Unfortunately, the radical homosexualist movement has seized on this vexing problem as an opportunity to gain access to schools and to indoctrinate the students.

The following story illustrates the anti-Christian intolerance, vulgarity and demonic nature of the homosexualist movement and what activists are doing in the public schools.  Apparently, while one may not read a Bible in a public school, it is perfectly acceptable to blaspheme and condemn its teachings.  The message of the video below will sound familiar to those who have read the posts of one particular South Carolina blogger; their evil flows from the same place. 

What a hopeful sign that so many students had the courage and moral clarity to walk out on this speaker, and what a wonderful opportunity to start an association for Christian high school journalists!

From Fox News

By Todd Starnes

As many as 100 high school students walked out of a national journalism conference after an anti-bullying speaker began cursing, attacked the Bible and reportedly called those who refused to listen to his rant “pansy assed.”

The speaker was Dan Savage, founder of the “It Gets Better” project, an anti-bullying campaign that has reached more than 40 million viewers with contributors ranging from President Obama to Hollywood stars. Savage also writes a sex advice column called “Savage Love.”

Savage, and his husband, were also guests at the White House for President Obama’s 2011 LGBT Pride Month reception. He was also invited to a White House anti-bullying conference.

FOLLOW TODD ON FACEBOOK FOR CULTURE WAR NEWS

Savage was supposed to be delivering a speech about anti-bullying at the National High School Journalism Conference sponsored by the Journalism Education Association and the National Scholastic Press Association. But it turned into an episode of Christian-bashing.

Rick Tuttle, the journalism advisor for Sutter Union High School in California, was among several thousand people in the audience. He said they thought the speech was one thing – but it turned into something else.

“I thought this would be about anti-bullying,” Tuttle told Fox news. “It turned into a pointed attack on Christian beliefs.”

Tuttle said a number of his students were offended by Savage’s remarks – and some decided to leave the auditorium.

“It became hostile,” he said. “It felt hostile as we were sitting in the audience – especially towards Christians who espouse beliefs that he was literally taking on.”

Tuttle said the speech was laced with vulgarities and “sexual innuendo not appropriate for this age group.” At one point, he said Savage told the teenagers about how good his partner looked in a speedo.

The conservative website CitizenLink was the first to report about the controversy. They interviewed a 17-year-old girl who was one of students who walked out of the auditorium.

“The first thing he told the audience was, ‘I hope you’re all using birth control,’” she told CitizenLink. “he said there are people using the Bible as an excuse for gay bullying, because it says in Leviticus and Romans that being gay is wrong. Right after that, he said we can ignore all the (expletive deleted) in the Bible.”

As the teenagers were walking out, Tuttle said that Savage heckled them and called them pansy-assed.

“You can tell the Bible guys in the hall they can come back now because I’m done beating up the Bible,” Savage said as other students hollered and cheered. “It’s funny as someone who is on the receiving end of beatings that are justified by the Bible how pansy-assed people react when you push back.”

The executive director of the National Scholastic Press Association provided Fox News with joint statement from the Journalism Education Association that was sent to members – after a number of people complained about Savage’s remarks.

“We appreciate the level of thoughtfulness and deliberation regarding Dan Savage’s keynote address,” the NSPA wrote. “some audience members who felt hurt by his words and tone decided to leave in the middle of his speech, and to this, we want to make our point very clear: While as a journalist it’s important to be able to listen to speech that offends you, these students and advisers had simply reached their tolerance level for what they were willing to hear.”

The NSPA said they did not have a prior transcript of Savage’s speech and that wish “he had stayed more on target for the audience of teen journalists.” They also said it provided a “teachable moment” for students.

As for Savage’s attack on people of faith?

“While some of his earlier comments were so strongly worded that they shook some of our audience members, it is never the intent of JEA or NSPA to let students get hurt during their time at our conventions,” they wrote.

However, not once did the NSPA or the JEA offer any apologies to the students or faculty advisors or anyone else in attendance.

Savage did offer a sarcastic apology “if I hurt anyone’s feelings.”

“But I have a right to defend myself and to point out the hypocrisy of people who justify anti-gay bigotry by pointing to the Bible and insisting we must live by the code of Leviticus on this one issue and no other.”

Tuttle said that he “felt duped” by the event. “There were Christian schools who went to the conference. To have this happen was disappointing and shocking.”

The NSPA said they should have done a better job preparing schools for what to expect.

For his part, Tuttle said that he will definitely be more cautious about the speakers at future conventions.Tuttle related how Savage told students that for a number of years he was not allowed in schools. He told the students that because it’s gained national acceptance “he’s reveling in the fact that it’s basically a middle finger to all those teachers and administrators who wouldn’t let him have access to those students before.”

But for some of Tuttle’s students – they felt like the anti-bullying activist was in fact – the bully.

Promotion of Gay Rights Worldwide is a US Foreign Policy Priority, Says Clinton

From Catholic World News

“Gay rights and human rights” are “one and the same,” US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton declared in an address delivered at the United Nations Office at Geneva. 

“Some have suggested that gay rights and human rights are separate and distinct; but, in fact, they are one and the same,” she told the assembled diplomats. “Gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights.” 

Macy’s Fires Employee for Protecting Women’s Dressing Rooms from Cross-dresser

Macy's Participates in the Hollywood Pride Parade 2010

A young woman was fired from a Macy’s department store for refusing to violate her religious beliefs by permitting a young man dressed as a woman from entering the women’s dressing room. Natalie Johnson claims she saw the young man walk out of the women’s fitting room and politely told him that he could not go back in because it was for women only. The cross-dressing young man claimed that he is a “female.” Johnson said that he was wearing make-up and girl’s clothing, but clearly he was a male. The cross-dresser was accompanied by five other individuals. The group argued with expletives that Macy’s is LGBT-friendly, to which Johnson replied that Macy’s is also non-discriminatory toward religion, and that it would go against her religious beliefs to lie that he was a woman or compromise with homosexuality. The group then demanded to speak with a manager.

Obama Court Case Could Force Christian Schools, Churches to Employ HIV-Positive, Transgender Teachers and Church Employees

From The White House Watch

By Ben Johnson

Coming soon to a Christian classroom?

I wrote recently of the Obama administration’s Supreme Court challenge to the “ministerial exception.” If successful, the government will allow Christian schoolteachers and church employees considered “ministers” to sue their churches for violating anti-discrimination laws. There is a deeper, more disturbing aspect to the EEOC’s advocacy in this case. As this administration enforces those laws, it could require a Christian school to employ a transgender, HIV-positive homosexual as an elementary teacher. The government may impose Affirmative Action upon churches, as well.

Canada's National Post Apologizes for Pro-Family Ad, Donates Proceeds to Gay Activist Group

What a tragedy for Canada!  The National Post was a good news source with some excellent columnists but this explains the change.  We just removed it from our recommended links.

From LifeSiteNews

By John-Henry Westen

The Canadian National Post, which until the advent of SUN news network was thought to be the most conservative national mainstream media outlet in the country, has shocked conservatives by apologizing for running a pro-family advertisement. Moreover, the National Post says it will be donating the thousands of dollars paid for the ad by the pro-family group to a homosexual activist group.

The ad, sponsored by the Institute for Christian Values, depicted a large picture of a little girl with the header, “Please! Don’t confuse me.” Below the photo, the youngster said, “I’m a girl. Don’t teach me to question if I’m a boy, transsexual, transgendered, intersexed or two spirited.” The ad specifically addressed the Toronto District School Board’s policy of forbidding parents to opt out of its pro-homosexual curriculum.

Leaked Cables: Obama Admin Called Catholic Church Source of Spreading “Homophobia” in Poland

From LifeSiteNews

By Kathleen Gilbert

While surveying the landscape for inroads to push the homosexual agenda into Poland, American embassy officials under the Obama administration complained that the Catholic Church teaching is a major source of “homophobia” in the heavily Catholic country, according to private cables recently published by Wikileaks.

Rick Perry Signed Hate Crimes Bill in Texas

"Thus, if Perry were to become the Republican nominee for president, both major presidential candidates would be on record as having signed into law what is arguably the most dangerous element of homosexual activists’ political agenda, which we routinely characterize — when criticizing Obama and other Democrats who advocate it — as threatening to result in the criminalization of Christianity"

From The New American

By Kelly Holt

Not long after Rick Perry became Governor of Texas, according to an Associated Press release on May 12, 2001 he signed the James Byrd Hate Crimes Act (HB 587) named for a black man in Jasper, Texas, who was dragged to death behind a pickup in 1998.

In a bill-signing ceremony on May 11, 2001 Perry said:

As the Governor of our diverse state, in all matters it is my desire to seek common ground for the common good. In the end, we are all Texans and we must be united as we walk together into the future. That’s why today I have signed House Bill 587 into law. Texas has always been a tough-on-crime state. With my signature today, Texas now has stronger criminal penalties against crime motivated by hate.

President Obama signed a similar law, and the Texas statute signed by Perry does effectively establish a special “protected class” status including enhanced sentencing for crimes allegedly motivated by bias against it.

Neville Chamberlain is Still Wrong

By Steve Deace

The lack of support from the American Christian community for the family and business of Marcus and Michele Bachmann as they’re targeted by the homosexual movement would make Neville Chamberlain proud.

Like the disgraced former British Prime Minister, who became a historic symbol of cowardice and complacency in exchange for peace at any cost, too many American Christians refuse to actually see the grim reality of the culture they live in lest that would mean they’d actually have to do something about it.

In case you missed it, Marcus Bachmann (husband of the GOP presidential candidate) dares to actually believe the Bible is true in his vocation, and not the pagan politically correct dogma of the day. Therefore, he helps those desiring to leave behind the depravity, emptiness, and self-destructiveness of homosexuality to embrace their new identity in Christ and find the peace that passes all understanding that comes only from an intimate relationship with Him.

For those of you that went to public school and received your duly-appointed taxpayer-subsidized indoctrination, this may sound like blasphemy until you actually meet one of the several thousand former homosexuals walking the streets in America today. Several of whom I have interviewed over the years. However, I have yet to interview a former African-American or a former Hispanic.

Top Gay Blog Laments: ‘WE ALWAYS LOSE’ When Voters Decide on Marriage

From LifeSiteNews

By Kathleen Gilbert

A prominent online gay publication has admitted the existence of a little-known but persistent obstacle to legalizing same-sex “marriage”: American voters.

A post on the Queerty blog Monday concluded that President Obama’s silence on gay “marriage” results from a recognition that most American voters oppose it.

“Even LGBT organizers agree that they’d rather pass marriage equality by legislature than at the ballot because at the ballot WE ALWAYS LOSE,” wrote Queerty’s Daniel Villarreal.

“People who oppose the ballot also like saying that if America voted on interracial marriage in the 60s, that still might be illegal too. But is that really our only defense against the ballot argument?” he continued. “If so, it’s no wonder that Obama hasn’t articulated a reason to support marriage that doesn’t fly in the face of the democratic process that had denied us our rights.”

Before New York legislators passed a same-sex “marriage” bill earlier this month, a poll by QEV Analytics found that 57 percent of voters in the state supported marriage as “only” between a man and a woman. The same poll, commissioned by the National Organization for Marriage, found that 59 percent favored putting the question on the ballot instead of leaving it to legislators.

When put to voters, measures to enshrine true marriage into law or a state constitution have won majority approval in all of the 30-plus states where they have been proposed.

Poll data on the issue have been found to be routinely misleading: a September 2008 survey found that lead-up polls on average vastly underestimated actual support for traditional marriage at the voting booth.

 

 

Archbishop Dolan: 'God, Not Albany, Has Settled the Definition of Marriage a Long Time Ago'

The stampede is on. Our elected senators who have stood courageous in their refusal to capitulate on the state’s presumption to redefine marriage are reporting unrelenting pressure to cave-in.

The media, mainly sympathetic to this rush to tamper with a definition as old as human reason and ordered good, reports annoyance on the part of some senators that those in defense of traditional marriage just don’t see the light, as we persist in opposing this enlightened, progressive, cause.

But, really, shouldn’t we be more upset – and worried – about this perilous presumption of the state to re-invent the very definition of an undeniable truth – one man, one woman, united in lifelong love and fidelity, hoping for children – that has served as the very cornerstone of civilization and culture from the start?

Proposed Legislation Could Close All Catholic Adoption Agencies in US

From EWTN News

By Kevin J. Jones

Lori Windham and Peter Sprigg

A proposal in Congress would ban Catholic adoption agencies and undercut the needs of children by prohibiting discrimination on the basis of marital status or sexual orientation, two legislative experts say.

“This legislation would prohibit adoption agencies and foster care agencies, including religious adoption agencies and foster care agencies, from providing services in many cases,” warned Lori Windham, Senior Counsel with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “They would have to choose between following their religious beliefs and shutting down.”

Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council, agreed.

“It would have the effect of either banning Christian adoption agencies or forbidding them from acting on their faith convictions and their moral convictions in terms of what is in the best interest of a child.”

Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) introduced the bill, titled “Every Child Deserves a Family Act,” on May 3. Its 52 co-sponsors in the House include Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Sen. Kristin Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) is expected to introduce companion legislation in the Senate.

New Listing of Companies that Do and Don't Promote Radical Homosexual Agenda

The helpful folks at the Human Rights Campaign have produced a list of companies that do and don't promote the radical homosexual agenda.  

We're going to miss Costco and Barnes and Noble.