September 2008 Archives

Apparently some forms of discrimination are OK. A man who sued claiming that Ladies' Nights at bars are discriminatory lost his lawsuit.

PETA wants Ben & Jerry's to use human milk instead of cow's milk in their ice cream. "PETA officials say a move to human breast milk would lessen the suffering of dairy cows and their babies on factory farms and benefit human health." No word on the deleterious effect it would have on dairy humans and their babies on factory farms.

Even if we ignore for the moment the revulsion factor in drinking some strange woman's breast milk, there are practical matters that make this infeasible. First, all the donor women would have to be restricted from using any sort of drugs or anything that could cause untoward effects on the milk. Second, there is the whole thorny problem of diet. Unless you force all the women to eat grain like we do cows, you are going to get undesirable inconsistencies in the milk. Third, the same factors that make milking cows, it seems to me, would come into play with women, that is, degradation and all the forces of mass-production.

This is just another example that when you start treating animals like humans, you start treating humans like animals.

Fr. Damien, who ministered at a Hawaiian leprosy colony, is in the final stages of his canonization and the patients and workers there are contemplating the implications for their quiet community.

I received the following information about what seems to be a good cause and I thought I'd share it. Note: I have no personal knowledge of this organization so be sure to do thorough research before donating to it if you so choose.

My organization, International Medical Corps, has the ability to save the lives of malnourished children around the world and we just received some very exciting news. We have been nominated to be one of the Top 25 in American Express' Projects, "Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children." Our project was chosen out of 1,190 projects and is now eligible to receive up to $1.5 million to help feed hungry children. Because your blog, Christifideles, has a loyal following, I thought this would be an issue you would want to share with your readers. I've put together this microsite explaining everything.

http://internationalmedicalcorps.smnr.us

I've confirmed their claim here.

Sharia courts for arbitrating Islamic law have been officially adopted in the UK having the full force of the judicial system. Yet another step in the takeover of Europe by the Muslims. Islam is the second largest religion in the United Kingdom with a total of 1,591,000 Muslims (or 2.8% of the total population). This is almost as high as the number of Anglicans (1,808,174) but below Catholics (2,044,911), although these are 1992 numbers and the Muslim numbers are more recent. Although these I think are self-identified numbers; another source I saw said that the 2005 count of baptized Anglicans in England and Wales is 25 million.

(Thanks to Amy M.)

Biblical Headlines

If Biblical Headlines were written by today's print media...

On Red Sea crossing:

WETLANDS TRAMPLED IN LABOR STRIKE

Pursuing Environmentalists Killed

On David vs. Goliath:

HATE CRIME KILLS BELOVED CHAMPION

Psychologist Questions Influence of Rock

On Elijah on Mt. Carmel:

FIRE SENDS RELIGIOUS RIGHT EXTREMIST INTO FRENZY

400 Killed

On the birth of Christ:

HOTELS FULL, ANIMALS LEFT HOMELESS

Animal Rights Activists Enraged by Insensitive Couple

On feeding the 5,000:

PREACHER STEALS CHILD'S LUNCH

Disciples Mystified Over Behavior

On healing the 10 lepers:

LOCAL DOCTOR'S PRACTICE RUINED

"Faith Healer" Causes Bankruptcy

On healing of the Gadarene demoniac:

MADMAN'S FRIEND CAUSES STAMPEDE

Local Farmer's Investment Lost

On raising Lazarus from the dead:

FUNDAMENTALIST PREACHER RAISES A STINK

Will Reading to be Delayed

(Thanks to Tom S.)

Averring that he had been misunderstood and his aim distorted, a Catholic priest who had planned on taking votes on nuns based on profiles on his website has canceled the competition. The idea had been to raise awareness of vocations and demonstrate that religious sisters are not all old and dour. A noble goal, but perhaps a naive way to achieve it.

Palin's appointment has dramatically increased McCain/Palin's popularity among Evangelicals, Pentecostals, and pro-life folks. This is not the only thing that has increased his popularity; his interview with Rick Warren where he openly talked about his faith helped. They also mention an odd factor: "language aimed at finding common-ground solutions to reduce the number of abortions was struck from the final draft [of the Republican platform]". The redacted phrase, which apparently was responsible for increasing his popularity with pro-life people: "We invite all persons of good will, whether across the political aisle or within our party, to work together to reduce the incidence of abortion." I am curious as to why removing a platform to reduce the incidence of abortion would be considered positive by pro-life activists. I'm guessing two possible reasons: One, it could in practice be a codeword for contraception; two, it tends to be a phrase trotted out by liberals when they want to give the appearance of disapproving of abortion.

A typical liberal social psychologist/anthropologist asks the question "Why do people vote Republican?" and gains a new respect for conservative values. He analyzes the definition of morality and compares the underpinnings of American society versus traditional societies. He's not going to become Republican but he's lost the chip on his shoulder and can see things from a conservative perspective. You could say that a liberal gets liberal. Like the author's view of conservativism, you won't agree with him but you'll respect his perspective.

(Thanks to Mike C.)

Buddhist monks in Australia are trying to keep possums away from their temple with dingo dung. I'm not sure which is worse, the smell of possum poo or of dingo dung. I didn't even know they had possums in Australia, I thought they were a North American species.

Nancy Pelosi's pastor, Archbishop George Niederauer, wants to have a pastoral chat with the Speaker of the House over her comments about the church's historical position on life. At stake is her right to receive communion. The Archbishop has power over that. Sounds like he's taking the matter seriously while remaining cordial and open to discussion. Perhaps he'll get through to her.

Thanks to Bob L. for the following. http://www.americanpapist.com/2008/09/breaking-usccb-releases-2-page.html

The American Papist reports that the US conference of Catholic bishops has written to clarify Catholic teaching in response to the mistaken beliefs of Nancy Pelosi.

Here's the source:
http://www.usccb.org/prolife/constantchurchteaching.shtml

Fact sheet by the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law" (No. 2271). 

In response to those who say this teaching has changed or is of recent origin, here are the facts:

• From earliest times, Christians sharply distinguished themselves from surrounding pagan cultures by rejecting abortion and infanticide.  The earliest widely used documents of Christian teaching and practice after the New Testament in the 1st and 2nd centuries, the Didache (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles) and Letter of Barnabas, condemned both practices, as did early regional and particular Church councils. 
  
  
• To be sure, knowledge of human embryology was very limited until recent times.  Many Christian thinkers accepted the biological theories of their time, based on the writings of Aristotle (4th century BC) and other philosophers.  Aristotle assumed a process was needed over time to turn the matter from a woman's womb into a being that could receive a specifically human form or soul.  The active formative power for this process was thought to come entirely from the man — the existence of the human ovum (egg), like so much of basic biology, was unknown. 
  
  
• However, such mistaken biological theories never changed the Church's common conviction that abortion is gravely wrong at every stage.  At the very least, early abortion was seen as attacking a being with a human destiny, being prepared by God to receive an immortal soul (cf. Jeremiah 1:5: "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you").
  
  
• In the 5th century AD this rejection of abortion at every stage was affirmed by the great bishop-theologian St. Augustine.  He knew of theories about the human soul not being present until some weeks into pregnancy.  Because he used the Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, he also thought the ancient Israelites had imposed a more severe penalty for accidentally causing a miscarriage if the fetus was "fully formed" (Exodus 21: 22-23), language not found in any known Hebrew version of this passage.  But he also held that human knowledge of biology was very limited, and he wisely warned against misusing such theories to risk committing homicide.  He added that God has the power to make up all human deficiencies or lack of development in the Resurrection, so we cannot assume that the earliest aborted children will be excluded from enjoying eternal life with God.
  
  
• In the 13th century, St. Thomas Aquinas made extensive use of Aristotle's thought, including his theory that the rational human soul is not present in the first few weeks of pregnancy.  But he also rejected abortion as gravely wrong at every stage, observing that it is a sin "against nature" to reject God's gift of a new life.
  
  
• During these centuries, theories derived from Aristotle and others influenced the grading of penalties for abortion in Church law.  Some canonical penalties were more severe for a direct abortion after the stage when the human soul was thought to be present.  However, abortion at all stages continued to be seen as a grave moral evil. 
  
  
• From the 13th to 19th centuries, some theologians speculated about rare and difficult cases where they thought an abortion before "formation" or "ensoulment" might be morally justified.  But these theories were discussed and then always rejected, as the Church refined and reaffirmed its understanding of abortion as an intrinsically evil act that can never be morally right.
  
  
• In 1827, with the discovery of the human ovum, the mistaken biology of Aristotle was discredited. Scientists increasingly understood that the union of sperm and egg at conception produces a new living being that is distinct from both mother and father.  Modern genetics demonstrated that this individual is, at the outset, distinctively human, with the inherent and active potential to mature into a human fetus, infant, child and adult.  From 1869 onward the obsolete distinction between the "ensouled" and "unensouled" fetus was permanently removed from canon law on abortion.
  
  
• Secular laws against abortion were being reformed at the same time and in the same way, based on secular medical experts' realization that "no other doctrine appears to be consonant with reason or physiology but that which admits the embryo to possess vitality from the very moment of conception" (American Medical Association, Report on Criminal Abortion , 1871).
  
  
• Thus modern science has not changed the Church's constant teaching against abortion, but has underscored how important and reasonable it is, by confirming that the life of each individual of the human species begins with the earliest embryo.
  
  
• Given the scientific fact that a human life begins at conception, the only moral norm needed to understand the Church's opposition to abortion is the principle that each and every human life has inherent dignity, and thus must be treated with the respect due to a human person.  This is the foundation for the Church's social doctrine, including its teachings on war, the use of capital punishment, euthanasia, health care, poverty and immigration.  Conversely, to claim that some live human beings do not deserve respect or should not be treated as "persons" (based on changeable factors such as age, condition, location, or lack of mental or physical abilities) is to deny the very idea of inherent human rights.  Such a claim undermines respect for the lives of many vulnerable people before and after birth.

For more information:  Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Procured Abortion (1974), nos. 6-7; John R. Connery, S.J., Abortion: The Development of the Roman Catholic Perspective (1977); Germain Grisez, Abortion: The Myths, the Realities, and the Arguments (1970), Chapter IV; U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, On Embryonic Stem Cell Research (2008); Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae (1995), nos. 61-2.