Category Archives: Freedom of Religion

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“The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left.” — Ecclesiastes 10:2

In the modern world, abortion has become something of a secular sacrament, down to which all politicians must make obeisance. If they do not, then they are clearly haters of women and an obvious supporter of the evil, reich-wing Donald Trump. The Roman Catholic Church is one of the few bulwarks against pre-natal infanticide in the West, though the Church’s actual action against it seems sparse.

Irish politician refused communion over abortion vote

BBC | Monday, July 15, 2024

The refusal of the Eucharist to a public representative in the Republic of Ireland has been “unambiguously condemned” by the Association of Catholic Priests.

It follows reports that Fine Gael TD and Minister of State Colm Burke was refused Holy Communion at a funeral Mass on Friday.

That politicians would have condemned the priest’s actions is unsurprising; that the Association of Catholic Priests would do so ought to be shocking. Continue reading →

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#Antisemitism at Columbia University How can educated administrators be so calm and complacent about it?

My old Bible, using an Israeli ₪20 note as a bookmark.

Catholics the world over have just completed a series of liturgical readings from the Gospel of John, and Gospel readings at Sunday Mass now come from Mark. But the Gospel of John is disturbing in its language, with its frequent reference to “the Jews.” From the foreword to The Gospel According to John, The New American Catholic Bible:[1]© Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 1970. This has been the Bible I’ve had and used since the 1970s, purchased sometime between 1976 and 1978, and is the one pictured at the top of this … Continue reading

The polemic between the synagogue and the church[2]At the time. John is believed to be the last of the Gospels written, with editing into its final form being completed between 90 and 100 AD. influenced Johannine language toward harshness especially by reason of the hostility toward Jesus manifested by the authorities — Pharisees and Sadducees — who are referred to frequently as “the Jews”.

Yes, I wince at some of the readings from John, even though I know the real meanings of the language used.

I attribute a significant amount of anti-Semitism among Christians to just such language, and I hate that. Jews are our religious forebears, and the hostility of some, hopefully few, Christians toward Jews is simply wrong. Sadly, the tradition of anti-Semitism seems to be festering again. From The Times of Israel:

In newly revealed texts, Columbia deans discuss Jewish student ‘privilege’ and ‘$$$$’

US House panel probing antisemitism at universities publishes exchange between administrators who called Hillel official a ‘problem’ during May event on campus

Continue reading →

References

References
↑1 © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 1970. This has been the Bible I’ve had and used since the 1970s, purchased sometime between 1976 and 1978, and is the one pictured at the top of this article. It is a true hard-cover publication, but the spine is broken, and a couple of forward pages are missing. I broke down and bought a newer, larger-print Bible several months ago, because it’s easier for me to read.
↑2 At the time. John is believed to be the last of the Gospels written, with editing into its final form being completed between 90 and 100 AD.
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Once again, the hoitiest and the toitiest rally in favor of #Hamas So, what happens to the Stanford grads when it comes to their employment prospects?

Stanford University, 2024-25 tuition only: $21,709 per quarter, a private university in the Pyrite State, has a joyous image of commencement featuring a pretty, blonde girl openly smiling and cheering and clapping her hands in the California sunshine headlining the university’s website main page, or at least they do on Monday, June 17th, at 7:42 AM EDT. Stanford, one of the truly prestigious universities in the United States, sort of an Ivy League of the West school, attracts students from around the world, applying in a highly selective environment.

One would think that, as savvy and smart as those students are, they’d occasionally check the news, and ought to have seen stories noting that corporations which recruit top students are wary of hiring those who’ve been taking part in the pro-‘Palestinian,’ pro-Hamas demonstrations which have taken place. Continue reading →

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Nooo, not anti-Semitism at all! What would they have said had people been shouting at the 6.1% of the USC student body who are black, "Go back to Africa"? 

Genesis Chapter 15:

18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying,

“To your descendants I have given this land,
From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:

19 the land of the Kenite, the Kenizzite, the Kadmonite, 20 the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.”

That is how it should be, but, Alas!, so many students at our universities have no knowledge of the Bible, or seemingly of not-so-ancient history. Continue reading →

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Going to jail for telling the truth? That’s what Europeans risk! "The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." — George Orwell, 1984

In 1984, country music singer Lee Greenwood released his song, “God Bless the USA.” I was reminded of that song, when I read the article below, and the stanza:

I’m proud to be an American
Where at least I know I’m free
And I won’t forget the men who died
Who gave that right to me
And I’d gladly stand up next to you
And defend Her still today
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt
I love this land
God Bless the U.S.A.

The article?

Transgender Spanish Actor Sues French Politician For Calling Him A “Man”

By Genevieve Gluck | Saturday, June 1, 2024

Spanish actor Karla Sofía Gascón, a trans-identified male previously known as Juan Carlos, has filed a legal complaint against French politician Marion Maréchal, alleging she committed hate speech by calling him a “man.” Maréchal could face one year in prison and a €300,000 fine (£255,300) if found guilty.

On May 26, Maréchal, the head of France’s Reconquête! party for the European elections, made a comment on social media about Gascón after it was announced that he had won an award for “Best Actress” at the Cannes Film Festival. Gascón had won the award for his role in ‘Emilia Pérez,’ wherein he plays the titular role as a ruthless Mexican drug lord who decides to “transition” in order to evade law enforcement.

“So a man has received the prize at Cannes for… female performance. Progress for the left is the erasure of women and mothers,” wrote Maréchal in response to the news of Gascón’s win.

Apparently in Europe, a politician can face up to a year in jail for telling the truth!

Well, sort of the truth. Juan Carlos is most certainly a male, but it’s clear that he isn’t actually a man. The rest of this article is below the fol, because I have included Mr Greenwood’s music video. Continue reading →

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Journolism: The credentialed media don’t exactly lie, but they conceal politically incorrect facts Journalists should try telling us the whole truth for a change

No, that’s not a typographical error in the title: the spelling ‘journolist’ or ‘journolism’ comes from JournoList, an email list of 400 influential and politically liberal journalists, the exposure of which called into question their objectivity. We use the term ‘journolism’ frequently when writing about media bias.

Journalism at least used to be a profession concerned with the 5 Ws + H: who, what, when, where, why, and how. Those were the questions reporters were supposed to answer if at all possible. Now that print newspapers have been in great decline, and newspapers in digital form are the wave of whatever future newspapers have left, the space limitations that used to hem in stories as measured by word count of column inches are mostly gone. Editors may have to pare down things that are going to be printed in the dead trees editions, but digital bandwidth is incredibly cheap. And Associated Press reporter Nicole Winfield left out a really big answer to “why.” Was it because the “why” is completely politically incorrect? Continue reading →

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The Golden Rule

Have you heard of the Golden Rule? “He who has the gold makes the rules!”

We have noted, many times, how deep-pockets donors have reacted very badly to the tolerance of anti-Semitism on campus. Several major corporate CEOs have said that they would not hire Harvard students who signed a stupid document blaming Israel for Hamas’ October 7th attack, and at least one CEO has said he will never again hire anyone from Harvard, MIT, or Penn following the three presidents’ debacle. Continue reading →

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Anti-Semitism at Hahvahd is nothing new.

Our good friends on the left have been assuring us that the many protests against Israel’s policies against the poor, poor Palestinians is simply support for an oppressed people, and is in no way anti-Semitic. Steve Keeley, of Fox 29 News, reproduced and tweeted out the message of John Fry, President of Drexel University in Philadelphia, concerning the new encampment of pro-Hamas protesters there:

While protest encampments such as this one are not legally protected, we had hoped last night that this demonstration would remain peaceful and respectful of others. Regrettably, that is not the case here. This demonstration already has proved intolerably disruptive to normal University operations and has raised serious concerns about the conduct of some participants, including distressing reports and images of protesters subjecting passersby to antisemitic speech, signs and chants.

There’s more of Dr Fry’s message, which can be seen at Mr Keeley’s tweet. The Philadelphia Inquirer covered the creation of the ‘encampment’ at Drexel, but, in an article last updated at 10:14 PM EDT on Saturday, had nothing on Dr Fry’s message or the anti-Semitic behavior of many of the protesters. Continue reading →

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What part of “the right of the people peaceably to assemble” don’t they understand? Hamas are not peaceful, so I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that their collegiate supporters have not been either

Gaza Rally, May 1, 2024, photo by Abbey Cutrer, Kentucky Kernel. How many were there supporting the rally, and how many were just spectators?

No one has been more supportive of the right of the pro-Hamas demonstrators to exercise their freedom of speech and right to peaceably assemble to proclaim their positions than The First Street Journal has been. We have pointed out how the keffiyeh-wearing activists — and I regard wearing the black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh as qualitatively indistinguishable from wearing a Nazi swastika armband — had their demonstration at the University of Kentucky, made their points in a rally in front of the school’s main library, waved their Palestinian flags, and, when it was over, picked up their stuff and went home. I have supported the right of the Princeton University hunger strikers to starve themselves to make their point, even as I mocked them, because I unequivocally support Israel in their war against Hamas and I support freedom of speech. I have even said that it’s a bit pointless to use force to break up the protest encampments, because, with the semester ending, these encampments will just wither away.

As it happened, the powers that be at the University of Pennsylvania decided against just leaving the encampments alone, and the Philadelphia Police broke it up and arrested some of the campers. They were definitely the Usual Suspects, as Fox 29 News reported that only 7 of the 33 people arrested for ‘defiant trespassing’ were actually Penn students. Continue reading →