Former Iranian Muslim, now Christian pastor, arrested in the US for talking about Jesus.
In August, Iranian refugee and former Muslim, Ramin Parsa was arrested for trespassing – *coughs* for breaking blasphemy laws – while privately sharing his testimony about becoming a Christian, in a Mall of America, shopping centre in Minnesota. Tyler O’Neil from PJ media reported that while Ramin, now a Christian Pastor living in Los Angeles, was sharing his testimony: Another woman who was not part of the conversation went and complained to the security. The guard came and said, ‘You can’t solicit here.’ He then told them “we were not soliciting”. He just said, ‘Bye,’ and walked away.” After Parsa,…
Preaching in the shadow of feminism.
Controversial blogger, Adam Piggot in an article on Christian men and feminism raised some talking points about the current state of the Church. Adam discussed how Christians have backed down in the face of feminism. His major point was that ‘the modern Christian fears’ taking a stand against feminism. Adam’s argued that men, women and children have now become its puppets. Men in the Church have a particular responsibility for this. They’ve allowed the feminist conquest of the Church by feminist ideologues, who seem hell bent on either running churches and dominating their agenda, or destroying them outright. Though I…
Political Correctness and ‘hate speech’ laws are the secular equivalent of Sharia Law.
Political correctness in its excessive form is the secular equivalent of Shari’a law. It might not have the full judicial weight of Western law behind it yet, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t trying to manipulate the system so as to implement it. I used to think that the only thing wrong with political correctness was the excesses that went along with it. Take the good, reject the bad. However, the more I learn from those who practice and enforce the ideals of political correctness, the more I arrive at the conclusion that political correctness is the secular version of…
The writing is on the wall.
Arrested four times, Paul Schneider became one of the first theologians of the Confessing Church to be murdered by the Nazis, and the first protestant pastor to die in a Nazi concentration camp. In a nut shell, Schneider was labelled a firebrand. Like a lot of the Confessing Church Pastors and theologians, his theological resistance was “politically incorrect”. His defiance was a veritable revolt against ‘compromise with Nazi ideology, and the indifference of the people.’ As a result the ‘terror state would forbid him to preach, and attempt to silence his opposition by enforcing a form of exile’. Schneider was…
Not everyone in Hollywood is a flake: Frank Capra’s factivism.
After being summoned by General George C Marshall on February the 11th, 1942, Hollywood directer, Frank Capra, famous for ‘It’s a wonderful life’, and ‘You can’t take it with you’, walked into the Pentagon. Before Capra had received the invitation, he had been in the process of reviewing an offer of a partnership which, in his own words ‘would have made him part owner of “United Artists”. Easily placing him in the multi-millionaire class’ and potentially exempting him from War time service. After wrestling with the decision Capra concluded: Why trade fame, glamour, and wealth for a number stamped on a…
Capitalism needs compassion, compassion needs capitalism; socialism outlaws both.
Capitalism may be plagued by greed, as it hinders the free market through hoarding and monopolies, but ultimately capitalism creates room for compassion. Laws exist to fortify the free market, so as to protect the free market from the death blows of a greed-is-good culture. Through the referee of small government the free market is nurtured. Through capitalism, doors are opened for freedom; for people to be free to be compassionate; free to give out of the abundance of what they have earned. Free to give out of the abundance of what they are free to own and earn. Socialism,…
The Church should have the freedom to refuse allegiance to the State on the issue of Gay Marriage.
If Australia’s Prime Minister is serious about fairness, he’ll preserve the right to a conscientious objection to SSM; the right for people to hold the view, and teach their kids that marriage is between a man and a woman; and that those children have a right to equal access to their biological father and mother. As I have hopefully made clear in the written contributions I’ve made to this national debate, I see the issues as a matter of social justice. The “no” vote has been about defending truth, liberty, fraternity, science, and even equality, from unbalanced ideological servitude. The State wants…
French President Emmanuel Macron wants to build a European army to oppose the United States.
The speech delivered by Emmanuel Macron, at the Armistice Centenary this week, was a carefully targeted rejection of Donald Trump and his popular platform. French President Emmanuel Macron remarked: The old demons are rising again, ready to complete their task of chaos and of death. Patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism. Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism. In saying, ‘Our interests first, whatever happens to the others’, you erase the most precious thing a nation can have, that which makes it live, that which causes it to be great and that which is most important: its moral values. Macron…
It’s Still Okay to Vote “No”
It’s fitting to mark the anniversary of the National survey on Same-Sex Marriage, with this important Heritage foundation panel discussion held in the United States in 2017. The panel contributors include Ryan Bomberger, who I’ve had a growing admiration for his work through the Radiance Foundation. The group discusses how anti-discrimination laws are being used as a sword, rather than a shield, in order to impose radical Leftist ideological agendas, and punish those who stand opposed to them. The panel also addresses the false equivalency that is made between the abhorrent Jim Crow laws, and someone declining to serve/make/create based…
Who Are the Real Fascists?
If the facts cannot be squeezed into a meme the level of attention those facts receive is reduced. Attention to detail is overlooked for what will best attract a view, a like, a follow or a share. Information is seen purely as a commodity.
Hate speech is a myth: It’s a shaming control technique used by those who can’t debate the issue.
By no means is this a conclusive run down on what I see as the need to find, and advocate for, a fair use of the vehicles we choose to communicate, and receive information through. By pointing out inconsistencies, and connecting them to a possible cause, my purpose here is primarily an attempt to suggest, that when it comes to social media, we practice the proverb of looking before we leap. A few years back an incident showed me the contrast between hard reality, and cheap comment. Comments from people, who in the comfort of relative security, only seem to be far more concerned with the side of the story that sells best, than with finding balance. Surely,…
Death by lynch mob: Brett Kavanaugh, Asia Bibi and the shared rage of the mobs out to get them.
There’s an eerie similarity between the protests against Asia Bibi and the protests against Brett Kavanaugh. The tension, and rhetoric, of anti-blasphemy protesters in Pakistan, are at the same fever pitch, as anti-Kavanaugh protests were during the senate hearings, surrounding Kavanaugh’s supreme court nomination (and subsequent confirmation) in the United States. Placards brandished about during the Ford-Kavanaugh debate which labeled Kavanaugh a rapist (without evidence or a judicial trial), have much of the same intensity as the placards brandished about by Islamist protestors in Pakistan. For evidence of this, see the long list of celebrity outrage expressed online against the…
Why Social Justice Warriors are the brethren of Judas Iscariot, not Jesus Christ.
According to the Oxford Dictionary, a Social Justice Warrior is ‘a person who expresses or promotes socially progressive views.’ The online Urban dictionary offers a more substantial explanation: A pejorative term for an individual who repeatedly and vehemently engages in arguments on social justice on the Internet, often in a shallow or not well-thought-out way, for the purpose of raising their own personal reputation. A social justice warrior, or SJW, does not necessarily strongly believe all that they say, or even care about the groups they are fighting on behalf of. They typically repeat points from whoever is the most…
Multiculturalism has failed: Identity politics sets people on a trajectory towards tribalism and slavery.
In 1944, C.S Lewis wrote: “The demand for equality has two sources; First, the noble: the desire for fair play. Second, the mean-spirited: the hatred of superiority. If you seek to appease envy: 1. you will not succeed. Envy is insatiable. 2. you are trying to introduce equality where equality is fatal. “Political democracy is doomed if it tries to extend its demand for equality into the higher spheres of beauty, virtue and truth. Neither of which are democratic. Ethical, intellectual or aesthetic democracy is death.” Lewis’ position can be read as a push back against extreme egalitarianism and the quagmire…
Hollywood actor-vist warns: “There will be blood on the streets” if Democrats lose.
78 year old, actorvist, James Cromwell, has predicted that “if we don’t stop Trump now, there will be blood in the streets.” The actor and activist, most famous for his role as farmer, Arthur Hoggett in the 1995 movie ‘Babe’ (et.al), inferred that that Trump was a fascist dictator and that America was dangerously close to losing its democracy. Variety reported that Cromwell made the “candid comments” during a quick Q & A, while walking up the red carpet. He was attending an award ceremony where he was also “honored for his work as a character actor.” According to Variety,…
Hate speech laws are for people who can’t handle their own emotions.
In the debate about whether we create or discover a writing voice, it doesn’t matter which side of the camp you land on. It’s generally agreed that a writing voice takes time to develop. When I started a blog in 2013, I had no real idea how it would develop. My plan was to use the blog as a way of networking, and as a way of improving my own writing skills. In my post-graduate world, I wasn’t sure a blog would achieve either. Looking back, I can see areas where I’ve succeeded, and I can also see areas where…
Christianity Is Not About Being Nice, Even Jesus Got Angry
Elshtain is right, viewing Christianity as an ethic of universal niceness and attributing it to Jesus Christ, is an aberration of Christianity. It misses the point.
Venezuelan politicians still in denial, labels Angelina Jolie’s concerns “right-wing propaganda.”
American celebrity and UNHCR Special Envoy, Angelina Jolie, who had recently visited Venezuelan refugees in Peru, has been accused of being a tool of “Right Wing Propaganda”. Venezuelan Socialist Party boss, Diosdado Cabello, as reported by The Washington Post labelled Jolie’s visit, as “right wing media”, distracting from a caravan of thousands of Central American migrants heading to the United States.” Cabello’s tweet: Angelina Jolie was in Peru on behalf of the United Nations special envoy. In an UNHCR press release yesterday, Jolie gave her assessment on the Venezuelan refugee crisis, saying that it was ‘all the more shocking for being predictable and preventable.’…
The undermining of heterosexuality in the age of pride and ‘anything goes.’
Hidden away, near to the middle of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s ‘The Cost of Discipleship,’ rests a three page essay on marriage called ‘Woman.’ Why Bonhoeffer named this chapter so specifically is a mystery. My best guess here is that he was looking to the growing ease by which society has sold and objectified sex. The chapter is an analysis of Jesus’ views on marriage, divorce and sexual immortality; or as Bonhoeffer states, ‘sexual irregularities’(p.85). The texts referred to are Matthew 5.27-32, 1 Cor. 6:13-15 & Gal 5:24, and it forms part of his larger discussion on ‘The Sermon on The Mount.’ What Bonhoeffer means by ‘sexual…
Directing Light Under The Shadow Of Nihilism: How Abortion Negates Freedom
For those who believe in absolute freedom, any “no” spoken to humanity from outside humanity, is repressive, and unfairly restrictive. In the shadow of this logic, even a lighthouse or global positioning navigation is offensive. Both the lighthouse and GPS direct humanity. They protect freedom, because in their very confrontation with us, they invite true freedom. They remind us of individual responsibility. Their existence shows us the necessity and power of decision. They direct us to make responsible choices. The existence of the lighthouse warns us that danger awaits. To act in absolute freedom and ignore this warning, is to…
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