Requiem America

Since the shooting in Orlando Sunday Morning, 12 June, there have been a large number of articles and news reports and political posturings that are remarkable.  We are witnessing the death of America.


This is not unexpected.  I've been thinking that there have been five (5) fatal blows to America in the last three years, and now we are watching the body collapse.  All five of those blows involved the US Supreme Court.

Mollie Hemingway writes at The Federalist about a televised encounter between Anderson Cooper of CNN and the Florida attorney general Pam Bondi.  She writes:

Despite all that, the media and others on the Left decided to cover this terrorist attack by going after people who support self-government and its Second Amendment; people who pray to God in times of tragedy; people who believe the definition of marriage is the union of one man and one woman; people who accept the biological reality and implications of distinct sexes; people who are Republican; people who are traditional Christians; and so on and so forth. The media followed up by cheerleading this incivility.

Within this paragraph are a number of links to twitter accounts and articles at a number of on-line sites.  Be sure to read her entire article.

She writes farther down the article:

Instead of asking questions in search of truth, Cooper chose to bully and dominate. Instead of an exchange of ideas — even if journalists aren’t supposed to be advocating their personal views — he tried to impose his doctrines and shame the non-conformist.

David Harsanyi questions whether the Democrats care about the Constitution:

It’s not exactly surprising that Democrats and the media have transformed an Islamic terror attack into another finger-wagging national conversation about Christian "Homophobia" and the NRA. Gotta keep the focus on the real enemy, after all. What is surprising is how boldly illiberal many Democrats have become in trying to achieve their objectives.

Erika Anderson writes at national review incorporating a video by Ami Horowitz showing how successfully the Democrats and NY Times have been with this outrageous behavior.  With such a video one must always wonder about whether the clips chosen for the video are typical responses or not.

Mollie Hemingway has another excellent piece on some dubious 'reporting' at the NY Times and Roll Call.  It is well worth your time to read.  In regards to the author (Jennifer Shutt) of the Roll Call article she writes:

If you’re going to do the exegesis, Right Reverend Shutt, I might recommend knowing that we don’t call verses “lines.” Also, maybe notice that the listing of sins indicts literally every single human on the planet. So if you’re thinking that Christianity calls for the execution of gays, you have to think, on the basis of the same passage, it calls for the execution of everyone. And if you’re thinking that, and you know anything at all about Christianity, maybe ponder whether everything you’ve written is embarrassingly wrong.

Instead, Shutt specifically said, falsely, that this passage “discusses what types of penalties the Bible says should be applied to those who are not heterosexual.” Wrong. Wrong. And wrong, wrong, wrong. It doesn’t discuss types of penalties. It doesn’t say penalties should be applied at all. And the passage applies to everyone.

License, Justice, Mercy and the foundations of America

There is a swelling population in our culture that believes that everything is the result of some random sequence of events.  In this world view, human life collectively, and the life of each individual person are accidents of nature.

This perspective is contrary to the founding documents of our country.  If everything is an accident, then law is merely a social convention.  One might consider traffic law as an example.

Red does not mean STOP universally, it's just a social convention to connect those two.  Driving on the right hand side of the road isn't a universal law, but varies from Country to Country.  It is also a Social Convention.

Sex, as a noun or a verb, is not merely a social convention, it is biology.  Marriage, as a life long union of a man and a woman, is not merely a Social Convention it is written on the human person by God, the creator of heaven and earth.

The founding documents of America base its' existence upon a belief in that God, and our human rights are bestowed on us and are unalienable because they are bestowed on us by that God.

Judge Andrew Napolitano, in discussing the second amendment to the US Constitution writes at Townhall:

The term "pre-political" derives from the language of the Second Amendment, which protects "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms." The constitutional reference of "the" right to keep and bear arms makes clear that the Framers recognized that the right pre-existed the government because it stems from our humanity. That's why pre-political rights are known as fundamental or natural rights.

We believe that God has spoken to man revealing His Law.  That is true of Jews, Muslims and Christians.  They have different beliefs about the content and the messengers of that Law.

The Torah, the Jewish law, proscribes homosexual acts (See Leviticus 18:22, and  20:13).  I understand that the Koran does as well.  And Lev. 20 describes the punishment for such acts, as well as for many other sins.


That is to say that God's Law proscribes homosexual acts, that is to say they (the acts) are immoral and sinful.

Christians believe that the Law has its' fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

Just because homosexual acts are sinful does not mean they are unforgivable sins.  Jesus came into the world to save sinners, including those who engage in homosexual acts.  He tells the woman caught in adultery (which also bears a death sentence in the Torah) to sin no more.

Repentance of sins is essential to receive God's mercy.  In the Catholic Faith a firm purpose of amendment is necessary for the Sacrament of Confession to be effective.

As I wrote last spring:

The cross, in the midst of immorality, and clinging to the cross in the midst of immorality, which means repenting of the immoral acts we have engaged in, brings us home to the hands of God, where no torment shall touch us.

Christians must have the mind of Christ, who does not desire the death of the sinner but that he should repent and live.  And so, condemning homosexual acts and saying those who engage in those acts deserve death does not mean US law or the laws of the various states should impose a death penalty on those who engage in those acts.  The acts are evil and ought to be proscribed in the laws of these united states, but a suitable punishment is not death.

Peter writes:

The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard “delay,” but he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

God has not brought sinners to judgment yet, because he desires that all should come to repentance.

One of the Prefaces used at Mass says to God Our Father:  In love you created man, in justice you condemned him, but in mercy you redeemed him through Jesus Christ, Our Lord.

Pope Francis speaks often about Mercy and has declared this year a year for mercy.   Mercy is interwoven into the Gospel message.  But many people hear the Pope's emphasis on mercy as though it were separable from justice, and God's Word was silent regarding what actions are unjust and sinful.

A phrase commonly bandied about politically in recent years is all men are created equal, and equal justice for all.  These positions hinge on a world view that springs from the Torah and finds its' fulfillment in the New Testament.  It is in Revelation that we read:

After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches* in their hands. 

This understanding is fundamental of our form of government and political activity.  Abandoning the foundations of our government can only lead to the collapse of America.