Mt 12:14-21 Some Things Never Change

Saturday of the Fifteenth Week In Ordinary Time

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The Pharisees went out and took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.

This morning I turned on the TV and saw a doctor explaining a certain disease.  I have to admit, I didn’t pay much attention to what he said.  Instead, my attention turned to what he was wearing.  He was wearing a very nice suit.  My attention then turned to his nationality.  His name and his looks appeared to be of Middle Eastern origin.  I then thought to myself:  He must be a secular Muslim.  I was impressed.  He looked very “western” in his fancy suit.  He looked very much as if he had accepted “western” culture. My attention then began to drift towards secularism, and I began to imagine for a moment that this ideology had the power to suppress religious wars and bring people together.

But luckily I caught myself before I fell into this delusion.  What was I thinking???  I knocked some sense back into me and reminded myself of some history.

Imperialism.  Colonialism.  Communism.  Fascism.  Nazism.  Hip hip Hooray!!! 

Yes, some of the worst fruits of secularism. 

Secularists may have suppressed religious wars, but they didn't suppress WAR.  No, not at all!  Now, instead of fighting for God, we know fight for others, for oil, money, influence and power. 

Let me play the devils advocate for a moment. 

Some say the United States was founded on the principle (tradition) of the separation of church and state.  They're proud of it.  But are they also proud of the consequences of it as well:  the reprehensible Spanish-American War; the slave-trade; the horrific Civil War; the greed that led to the Great Depression; the drafting of 18-year-olds into the military; the amazing atomic bomb; the dropping of the atomic bomb; the Vietnam War; the Korean conflict; spying and espionage; the overthrowing of governments; the Bay of Pigs; the Iraqi War; the Afghanistan War; etc… 

How is this any better than, say, the Crusades?  How is this progress? 

I don’t know of any "modern" country that has gone to war as often as we have and has as short a history as we have. 
Did I mention abortion on demand, gay “marriage," the hyper-sexualizing of our children, and the legalization of marijuana for recreational use?

But it doesn't end here.  Now, instead of getting killed for heresy, we get killed (maybe by a drone) for revealing secrets, like in "secret documents."  This is progress?  And instead of being burned at the stake for being a witch, we get burned (electrocuted) for being a spy!  How is a "spy" more real than a "witch?"  After all, what is a spy if not a label (branding) given to someone by Big Brother!  We own you!

Now the notion that every nation is as good (or bad) as the other is as ridiculous as the notion that every religion is as good (or bad) as the other.  Likewise, being "unpatriotic" must be just as sinful as being a...well... "sinner." 

I could go on and on...Maybe one more.  We are led to believe that our Constitution is somehow less of a creed than the Creed, and less dogmatic than Dogma.  All men are created equal.  Sounds nice.  Now prove it scientifically, please.

We're supposed to accept that life has somehow become better, more civilized under secularism.  Who are these people trying to fool?  Only the fools, I guess.

Again.  Let me play the devil's advocate. 

This separation of Church and State gig has been going on for a couple of centuries now in the United States and we’re supposed to think that it’s better than bringing the two together; that is, the state accepting faith in God as a blessing, not a curse. 

Today, I read an article regarding an anti-islamic tweet sent by the leader of the topless feminist group “Femen.” You may not have heard of her or them, but the women of this movement are “famous” for baring their chests in public and in protest for “female” rights.   

Femen leader, Inna Shevchenko, sent a nasty tweet slamming Ramadan and Islam in general and it apparently set off a “mini-storm of protests.”  A mini-storm?  Now that’s interesting.  When the Pope spoke at the University of Regensburg, it apparently set off a “fire storm” and was considered highly “insensitive” by our weak minded and weak willed secular media.  However, when Inna Shevchenko flippantly insults Islam and Ramadan, it only creates a “mini-storm.”  Hmmm…try that on for a double standard (Actually, in this case, there is no comparison in the two “speeches” at all).

The tweet in question, reads:  “What can be more stupid than Ramadan?  What can be more uglier than this religion?”  [These are her words].

When asked if she had an axe to grind with Muslims, Inna responded by saying:  “Femen’s position has always been the same.  We are an atheist movement, against all religions, against their principles, which compromise the rights and freedoms of women.” 

Shevchenko was granted asylum in France after receiving death threats in her native country of Ukraine for removing a cross in Kiev with a chainsaw.

I guess we're now supposed to yell:  "Heil Femen!  Heil Shevchenko!” 

Oh, the inconsistencies and incoherencies of atheists!  They feel entitled to remove a cross in Kiev with a chainsaw and spin it as the quest for freedom.  But when Christians block the entrance to an abortion mill, they label it the "intolerance of religion.”   

Stop!  My head is spinning!

An atheist once told me that “atheists only believe that God does not exist.”  Riiiiggggghhhht!!!  As if all they do is think, and that their thoughts never turn into actions!  Remember:  You only fool the fools.  You only fool yourself!

A Dutch-Egyptian academic, Sara Salem, responded to this atheist by accusing her group of practicing “neo-colonialist” feminism by trying to impose their concept of what a woman should be on foreign cultures.    

Good for her!

Now I personally do not find a fully covered female Muslim as repulsive as a bare chested female atheist, but what I do find is that both sides are like the sides of a counterfeit coin.  Deep down, they both have false ideas of truth, beauty and dignity.

The Pharisees went out and took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.  They weren’t the only ones.  The Romans (the pagans) were plotting against Him as well.