In news from Britain, the Archbishop of Canterbury appears to apologize to Muslims for offending them by his existence. Would that he extend the same courtesy to orthodox Anglicans. Ahem.
Meanwhile, there's been a massive increase in multiple abortions in Britain.
For while she continually insists she does not regret any of her actions, she goes on to describe in agonising detail her lifelong battle with depression, how she once tried to take her own life and how she finds it a daily struggle to overcome a deep and abiding sense of shame.'Looking back, there was a definitive reason why I had each termination and a valid reason why I felt at the time I could not even have begun to contemplate continuing with each of the pregnancies,' says Angela.
Many, of course, will find such a flimsy justification hard to accept - especially seven times over.
Perhaps the most astonishing revelation of all is Angela's insistence: 'I do not really regret any of my abortions.'
Or the admission that she also came close to aborting her son Ben and changed her mind only when her then partner, Patrick, begged her not to go through with it.
Certainly, it doesn't come as much of a surprise that her relationship with Ben's father broke up six years ago amid bitter recrimination over the two abortions she had against Patrick's wishes either side of their son's birth.
And yet sadly, Angela's grim story is not unique. This week's figures released by Public Health Minister Dawn Primarolo reveal how many modern women are using abortion, not as a last resort, but almost as a form of contraception.
Statistics show that last year 1,300 women had at least their fifth abortion.
Suicide, constant depression, drowning in a sense of shame. But nope, no regrets here!
And nope, don't think for a second that there's a connection between the first story and the second -- that is, between the collapse of Christianity in England and the moral state the nation finds itself in.
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So Rod, if you weren't making fun of those individuals, and the "liberal" philosophy, why did you mention them? I hadn't? What did you mean? It certainly seemed like you were saying "Oh yeah, that Gandhi guy, and that liberal version of Jesus. I bet you love the Dalai Lama, Bono, and Al Gore too!"
Oh, and since you note that you wouldn't feel ashamed of yourself even if you WERE making fun of them, again, I'm curious, why not?
You've made numerous posts about the evils of people mocking Christianity, it's sacred images and figures. The Dalai Lama is in many ways an identical figure to the Pope for Tibetan Buddhists. He's considered the living incarnation of Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Compassion. Why wouldn't you feel shame to mock him? When someone degrades and publicly mocks the Host, you oppose it? Why wouldn't you offer the same regard to a religious icon of another faith?
I don't agree with Dreher much, but it's not clear to me he was making fun of the Dalai Lama. He may have simply been noting that liberals often prefer the Dalai Lama, as a spiritual leader, over most Christian religious figures. Even if their understanding of him is poor or comfused.
And that's true. Christian religious leaders who won Peace or Humanitarian Prizes are not usually as well loved by liberals. The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has done a great deal for the environment, but he's not exactly a "rock star" in the liberal world. It's really more about liberal fashions, I think/hope, than the Dalai Lama. I've admired him since I was in High School, but the liberal/Left tendency to place him so high can get irritating because it's so transparent why they're doing it. (I'm not counting people like Richard Gere who do seem to sincerely believe in Buddhism. I'm meaning liberals who are more or less ignorant of Buddhism, but just assume it's more enlightened)
Good post, Thomas R. I attend a very liberal church, and about the only groups some (or most) of my fellow parishioners have difficulty "tolerating" and "being open to" are conservative Christians and Republicans. I should point out that tolerance is one of my congregation's sacred words. But tolerance only extends to those it is in fashion to tolerate.
Thomas R., I can understand your comment. As for myself, I have fairly extensive knowledge of most world religions, including Tibetan Buddhism, and feel I hold the Dalai Lama in a high but balanced regard. I think he's a wonderful spiritual leader, but stuggling might to be effective politically.
As for Batholomew, unfortunately he just doesn't seem as exposed to the world view as the Dalai Lama, although his new book looks promising, and I look forward to reading it.
I'd have to say that my regard for Christian figures such as Desmond Tutu, Father Thomas Keating, Basil Pennington, Thomas Merton, etc. also runs very high. As with Alicia above, it's the whole conservative religion mixed with conservative politics that gets little sympathy from me. Conservative religion alone I can apprecite, though I might disagree. So yes to Billy Graham, no to Jerry Falwell.
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