216 search results for "catholic"

Kaitlin Bennett has asked students at the University of Cincinnati about their thoughts on the Covington Catholic controversy and the threats of violence the students received following the incident. “Are you willing to disavow all the death threats and all the threats against the students at the school?” Bennett asked a man at the university. “No, sorry,” he replied with a shrug. “They are minors! Do you think minors should be getting death threats?” Bennett asked. “I can’t care for them one way or the other,” the man went on to say. “They would look at me and probably call…

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This week CNN claimed, “A crowd of teenagers surrounded a Native American elder and other activists and appeared to mock them after Friday’s Indigenous Peoples March at the Lincoln Memorial.” A CNN tweet linking to the report also claimed: “Video shows a crowd of teenagers wearing ‘Make America Great Again’ hats taunting a Native American elder…” The video, which was widely shared by numerous news media outlets, shows a student from a Catholic high school staring at a Native American man as he chants and beats a drum in the young man’s face. What’s been implied is that the student…

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Born out of conversations with a friend from the United States, I was given the opportunity to read a compilation of fragments and essays written by Simone Weil called: ‘Oppression and Liberty’. The compilation flows in chronological order and presents some of Weil’s thoughts on anthropology, economics, politics, ideology and war. Simone was a French intellectual. Like Jacques Ellul, whom she presumably never met, Weil worked in the French resistance and was well schooled in Marxism. Among many others in the elite French communist circles of mid 20th Century, she was a contemporary of rebel and excommunicated member, Albert Camus.…

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By 1685 Louis XIV had from the age of four been the King of France for 42 years, and he still had another thirty years to reign. From birth his mind and heart had been thoroughly trained to believe that God had anointed him to be France’s absolute ruler. His Huguenot subjects, the French Protestants who refused to submit to his Roman Catholic beliefs and practices, offended him. They stood outside of his thought-world. They stood against the beliefs that he cherished as true. Ultimately, he sensed that they stood outside of his control. The Huguenots offended the abysmal totalitarian…

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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.

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A “street artist” in New York has posted a series of mock NYC Sanitation Department posters around the city depicting Christians and Trump supporters along with the caption: “Keep NYC Trash Free.” One of the posters features a woman in a MAGA hat holding a Bible, another shows a man with a confederate tattoo and a MAGA hat holding a drink from Chick-fil-A. According to Gothamist, the artist, Winston Tseng, refused to comment but said, “I’ll let the poster speak for itself.” Tseng has reportedly put up vulgar posters in the past, taking a swing at Sean Hannity, Donald Trump,…

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Details about Simone Weil’s life and thought are enigmatic. Other than what’s included in the general encyclopedic biographies circling the internet, I know very little about her. Unlike someone such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, there is no long, authorised biography written by her friends. What knowledge I have been about to find out about her, is padded by what I’ve learnt from conversations with internet friends, whose admiration for her work has increased over the years. Simone was a French intellectual. Like Jacques Ellul, Weil worked in the French resistance, was an admirer of Karl Marx, and a contemporary of Albert…

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Christian persecution is worse today than at any time in history, according to a study released by Catholic organization Aid to the Church in Need. “Not only are Christians more persecuted than any other faith group, but ever-increasing numbers are experiencing the very worst forms of persecution,” the report said. In fact, the persecution is so severe that in many cases “genocide and other crimes against humanity now mean that the Church in core countries and regions faces the possibility of imminent wipe-out.” The report reviewed 13 countries and found that in all but one, the situation for Christians was…

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The word martyr [μάρτυς] means to ‘bear witness’, this is derived from the word marturion [μαρτύριον] which is understood to mean evidence testimony; witness; to be testified. The word martyr is also connected to martyromai [μαρτύρομαι] ‘I am urging; I am bearing witness; I am declaring; I am insisting.’ Along with a lot of His colleagues, family and friends – of whom one was Karl Barth and the other Martin Niemöller, Bonhoeffer fits the profile of declaring; bearing witness; insisting. He was a martyr. Today, fascist theory might only exist in fringe elements of society, but the style of political activism employed by the Nazi’s isn’t. Rhetoric and labels offer…

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Facebook is changing. The popular social media platform have said they’ve been too focused on the positives of Facebook, and as a result they’ve not paid enough attention to the negatives, like the propagation of fake news. It’s time to “take action” against fake news, the Facebook website states. “Fake news is bad for people and bad for Facebook. It has long been a tool for economic or political gains, and we’re seeing new ways its taking shape online.” We’re making significant investments to stop fake news from spreading and to promote high-quality journalism and news literacy. The Facebook strategy…

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Assisted suicide legislation has a lot of knock-on effects that never get discussed in the emotional debate about pain and suffering and rights. Consider the story of Stephanie Packer, a terminally ill, married mother of four. When  Mrs Packer asked her health insurer if they would cover a particular chemotherapy drug, they refused. Since assisted suicide laws passed, it was no longer covered. What the health insurer did offer to cover was a drug to assist her suicide, with co-payment of $1.20. “My jaw dropped,” Mrs Packer said. “It’s shocking. We put so little value on human life. And it’s…

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The results of the same-sex plebiscite were announced on 15 November 2017, and a few weeks later Australia became the 26th nation in the world to legislate for same-sex marriage. The Prime Minister was beside himself, as he punched the air, like an Aussie batsman who had just scored a century against the old foe, England. ‘Australia has done it,’ he proclaimed, ‘What a day for love, for equality, for respect.’ Step aside Neville Chamberlain who was overjoyed at guaranteeing peace in our time in 1938. Here is Malcolm Turnbull in 2017: ‘This belongs to us all. This is Australia…

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An Oregon state appeals court has ruled that Aaron and Melissa Klein, former-owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, will have to pay a lesbian couple $135,000 in damages after they refused to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding. The incident took place in January 2013, when Rachel Bowman-Cryer went to the Portland bakery with her mother. After learning the cake was for Rachel and her same-sex partner Laurel, Aaron apologised and said they were not able to make same-sex wedding cakes. Rachel and Laurel filed a formal complaint with the state labor bureau, which found the bakery had violated…

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In the United States, Planned Parenthood performs over 320,000 abortions every year; 887 abortions each day; and 1 abortion every 97 seconds. For every 1 adoption referral, Planned Parenthood commits 160 abortions. Planned Parenthood perform less than 2% of U.S. breast exams; less than 1% of the nation’s pap tests; less than 2% of U.S. cancer screenings for women; 0% mammograms; but a staggering 34.9% of all U.S. abortions. Planned Parenthood receives over half a billion dollars of taxpayer money every year. In a recent Facebook post, the “advocacy and political arm” of the organisation, said: “We should all be deeply…

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Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, opens his doors to everyone. “People of all walks of life are always welcome in the store… I serve everybody, I just don’t make cakes for every event,” Phillips has said. Phillips is a Christian, which means he refuses to use his artistry to decorate cakes that endorse a message contrary to his faith and conviction. “There are certain messages that I don’t create,” Phillips states. “I don’t do cakes for Halloween, I don’t do cakes that would promote sexual things, or anti-American things, or things that would disparage other people, including [those] that identify as…

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Roughly 40% of Australians voted No to same-sex marriage and, according to a recent Newspoll, roughly 40% also reject the legitimacy of religious protections for Australians who disagree with same-sex marriage. The debates taking place in Federal parliament regarding religious liberty are culturally significant. The cultural reformation of the 1960s has transformed social views on sex, marriage, family, and, increasingly, gender. And yet clearly not all have gone with the tide. What became increasingly obvious during the same-sex marriage debate and now with the debate over religious protections is that culturally Australia is shifting back to the acrimonious sectarianism that…

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