Fascinating article - basically a bunch of Catholic Members of Congress are appealing to the Catholic Bishops to get more involved in standing against the Iraq War.
The lawmakers, all Democrats, wrote to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops asking for a meeting to discuss how Congress "and the clergy can work together to mobilize public action to end the war," according to a statement released Tuesday (July 3)."As Catholic members of Congress we stand in unison with the Catholic Church in opposition to the war in Iraq," Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said in a statement. "Yet to attain the ideal of peace, we must not only speak the words, we must take action."
Other Catholic politicians lobbying the bishops include Reps. Dennis Kucinich, Tim Ryan, Charlie Wilson and Marcy Kaptur, all of Ohio.
"Throughout our nation's history Catholics have been at the forefront of the fight for social justice," the lawmakers' statement said. "Now, at another critical moment, we respectfully urge the (bishops) to join with us in mobilizing support for Congress' efforts to end the Iraq war."
This is amazing stuff. How much grief has the Catholic Church gotten from so many politicians (typically Democratic) for "intervening" in politics on issues like abortion and gay marriage?
Answer? Lots.
Now the Church is being appealed to to intervene more forcefully on an issue by some of those same politicians.
What I love so much about this is that it is further proof of the death of these meaningless "liberal" and "conservative" labels. What is the Catholic Church? Liberal? Yeah, it is against the Iraq War, against the death penalty and for spending money on the poor. Conservative? Yeah, it is against abortion and gay marriage.
What disturbs me so much about this is the idea of the Church - of any church - simply being a political pawn called upon by politicians looking for support for their cause.
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Very interesting information, Thinker. Obviously you have studied history. I have been trying to study more first century(and thereabouts) history in order to better understand Christ's life and message. I keep coming back to the idea that he was truly a pacifist, but that he also understood the limited ability of most people to really comprehend the long view of that idea, that ultimately the only way humanity can survive, much less evolve, is to live in peace. Yet we keep trying to instill peace by blowing up each other.I think we first must learn to love and live in peace with our neighbors, regardless of their color, sexual orientation, politics, etc, before we can even begin to learn to broaden our horizons and live in peace with people half way around the world. We have a long way to go.
Thinker, Thinker, Thinker,
All of that verbiage just to continue the heresy and corruption of Liberal theology.
Christians dealt with sexual immorality (which same-gender sex was classified as) because it poisons the person trying to walk closer with Christ. And certainly the person trying to encourage others to sin was dealt with even more negatively.
And dear Thinker, Jesus left no option about "marriage" but the one His Father implemented "from the beginning" and never to be altered by mankind. Ever read the Gospels? There is no such thing as same-gender marriage on earth and of course there is no such thing as marriage at all in heaven. According to the words we have quoted of Jesus.
Something the people at the start of the Dark Ages wouldn't have read in the New Testaments they did not, or were not. allowed to read. No doubt corrupted the innocent and ignorant Church body with your alleged same-gender marriages. It was predicted to occur by Christ Jesus and of course His apostles too.
Once the words of Christ Jesus and the Apostles were better known to the populace, then the corruption were better highlighted.
The Church never "turned on gays" Thinker. How 2007 PC is that.
Paul, Peter, Jude, John, James and Luke showed that it was the individual that sought never to repent or follow the Gospel that never faced the Church in the first place. It is a teaching of Jesus that we Christians not force ourselves on people that reject the Gospsl.
Sexual "orientation" is not ignored by the New Testament. In fact Paul goes out of his way to invent his own word to bring no doubt about same gender sexual behavior being reprehensible. Arsenokotai, was Paul creating a neologism to help us deal with spin doctors of the 20th and 21st centuries. People he knew all too well back in his day. Seeing the tactics that gays and lesbians use today to work their way into positions of authority over people and you can see how back in the Dark Ages, same-gender "unions" may have been inflicted on and within the Church.
But the New Testament writers completely rejected same-gender sexuality and more importantly the behavior. If anyone turned on Christians it began with Nero and his legion of Pagan Roman authoritarians. That is just a fact of history. No matter how politely you write in PC jargon Thinker, your views are not shared, nor agreed with, by the people of the New Testament Church.
If you care to study First Century history (outside the Bible), please study Nero's GLBT life and lifestyle (well at least GBT), and common Roman sexual behaviors and practices and how utterly and absolutely incompatible they were, and still are, propagated into the Christian Church.
Same-gender sexual acts is antithetical to the morality espoused by Christ Jesus (Who left no doubt about proper sexuality in his divorce/marriage preaching) and of course there is not one Apostle giving even a shadow of a doubt about the incompatibilty between those living a same-gender sexual lifestyle and what they needed to repent of and stop doing when becoming a Christian. Christ and His followers were pacifists for sure, completely opposite to the Roman elite and soldier classes. yes, yes, by all means study Roman history.
Living in peace with our neighbors does not mean that Christians give them the impression that we encourage their immorality. Ever read the New Testament? Jesus threatens people with a very drastic and dramatic allegorical warning.
This is the perfect place to reiterate the "adversarial" status of todays current Gay culture and community towards the Christian culture and community where the two cannot be joined, nor ever has been. Thinking about history, compare todays LBGT community to the Roman Empire (and the sexual behaviors of that populace) that persecuted the Christians of Peter and Paul's day.
If you want to go back a bit further into history, study Sappho. She wrote about it. Though most of her immoral stories were destroyed by the Church (hey! I guess they were not always LGBT fiendly huh?) Oddly though, supposedly Sappho killed herself over a guy she lusted fot and couldn't have.
History is a wonderful place of enlightening knowledge. Something God says is perilous for His people not to possess. I couldn't agree more.
Like the Bible has written in it: There is nothing new under the sun.
Oil and water. Ever heard that one too?
Gay people make up under 2% of the population. Methinks thou dost protest too much, Donny....
And they're in politics, the movies, the news, and on TV so often, you would think the numbers were turned around. And always they're portrayed as so saintly. Of course. Reality is, a eh-hum, a tad bit more stark and uncomely.
And "Gay people," are not a minority class. "It" homosexuality, is a behavior and an activity.
Me thinks there is a Gay Agenda. And Massachusetts and California schools systems leave no doubteth.
Methinks me has heard the methinks you protest too much slogan too much. And yet, their agenda moves gruelingly along without ever taking into consideration the indecency of it all. "It" never takes a fast from politics. And never has.
"And they're in politics, the movies, the news, and on TV ..."
AND we live on YOUR street, too, Donny. Scared yet?
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