(PDF version available here.)
Real Clear Religion reports: “The modern Democratic party is nearly evenly divided by religious voters and secular ones. It’s 52% vs 48% right now. But don’t be surprised when it flips the other way in the next five years. I think that’s just inevitable at this point. The GOP is also shifting, but they started at a much higher baseline. In 2008, 87% of Republicans were religious voters and just 13% were secular. Every election season, those percentages have slowly shifted. By 2022, about 80% of the GOP is religious, while 20% are secular.”
Antigay Fundamentalist Congressman Tim Walberg (R) of Michigan tripped all the way to Uganda to meet and publicly address antigay leaders who support Uganda’s death penalty on homosexuality. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) condemns Uganda’s law and the U.S. dropped Uganda from a trade pact as the World Bank halted all loans to Uganda — all in response to its deadly views on those of same-sex orientation.
Meanwhile, near Naples, Italy, a Nativity scene featured figurines of a baby Jesus with two female figurines, but no Joseph. The priest in charge said, “families are no longer just the traditional ones.” Well, neither was Jesus’ family, a traditional family.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of New York’s Rockville Centre has proposed $200 million to approximately 600 survivors of sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests.
This plan includes an immediate cash payout of a minimum of $100,000 to each of the claimants with a lawsuit and $50,000 minimum to claimants without qualifying lawsuits.
The Long Island diocese called the plan “the best, most efficient, and most effective means to immediately begin compensating all eligible survivors equitably while allowing the diocese to emerge from bankruptcy and continue its charitable mission.”
This settlement offer includes a diocesan contribution of $50 million as well as a $150 million contribution from parishes, co-insured parties, and other Catholic ministries.
The diocese agrees with Bankruptcy Court Judge Martin Glenn, who is overseeing the case, that survivors have waited too long for compensation and that any alternative to a global settlement plan creates chaos that puts both survivor compensation and the futures of parishes at risk.”
In July, the Manhattan-based Glenn, chief bankruptcy judge of New York’s Southern District, threatened to end bankruptcy proceedings if the diocese and abuse survivors could not reach an agreement. This would send the cases back to state court for civil trials. The diocese said it “has already made it clear that it is at the end of its resources. … Continuing to prolong the case, or dismissing the case, will ensure that payments to survivors only go down from the current settlement offer contained in the plan.”
Glenn later said he would not approve a bankruptcy plan without detailed information from the diocese’s parishes, as abuse claimants who would vote on the plan need to be able to weigh the value of their claim against the available resources at the parish where their abuse occurred. According to Reuters, James Stang, a representative of the official committee of abuse survivors in the case, said claimants would not vote for the new plan because it would eliminate legal claims against individual parishes.
Rockville Centre’s Diocese filed for bankruptcy in October 2020, after the passage of the Child Victims Act in New York in 2019 allowed for sex abuse lawsuits to be filed in past cases where survivors had not yet taken action, long after the statute of limitations had expired. This diocese is one of six in New York state to have declared bankruptcy. Only New York’s Archdiocese and the Brooklyn Diocese have not filed for bankruptcy.
Long Island’s diocese called the plan “the best, most efficient, and most effective means to immediately begin compensating all eligible survivors equitably while allowing the diocese to emerge from bankruptcy and continue its charitable mission.” The settlement offer includes a diocesan contribution of $50 million as well as a $150 million contribution from “parishes, co-insured parties, and other Catholic ministries,” according to the statement. “The diocese agrees with Judge Glenn that survivors have waited too long for compensation and that any alternative to a global settlement plan creates chaos that puts both survivor compensation and the futures of parishes at risk.”
Many conclude that the entire tragedy is linked to the unrealistic demand that Roman Catholic priests are not allowed to meet their human sexual needs through marriage.
A Catholic priest in Ohio was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of multiple sexual abuse charges against minors. This priest, Michael Zacharias, was convicted of sex abuse by a federal jury in the Northern District of Ohio in May. He had engaged in sexual conduct with minors since the late 1990s, according to the FBI.
An assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division said Zacharias “met his victims when they were as young as 5 and he began exploiting them for commercial sex acts and enabling their acts, resulting in opioid addictions.” He’s also said to have “manipulated victims’ fears of opioid withdrawal and homelessness” as still more abuse.
Learning of the abuse charges in 2020, Toledo Bishop Daniel Thomas put Zacharias on immediate administrative leave, forbidding him from exercising all public ministry and even presenting himself as a priest while the claims were investigated.
The name, “Zacharias” comes through German, English, Greek, Czech and Slovak languages. Ironically, “Zacharias”, derives from a Biblical name in Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew, Zekharya, composed of two elements zekhar, “remember”, and Ya, “God”!
A more famous and finally infamous Zacharias, was Ravi Zacharias. Speaking at a Christian gathering in Ohio in 1983, he hinted of his vision for a ministry and asked his audience to pray about this. At the end of the conference, a businessman handed Ravi a check for $50,000, (over $150,000 at today’s value). Shocked over this generosity, Ravi said, “But, you don’t even know me, what do you want from me?” D. D. Davis, the gift-giver, replied, “Keep your nose clean.” D. D. and his wife, Velma Blair Davis, kept on financially supporting Ravi and they sponsored annual fundraisers to maintain the Ravi Zacharias International Ministry’s apologetics work. After the Davises were called Home at the turn of the Centuries, shortly before Ravi’s death, it was discovered that Ravi had been sexually abusing women! RZIM shut down. Ravi failed to zekhar Ya, he failed to “remember God”, and he’d failed his promise to Davis, to keep his nose clean.
After the hateful slaughter by Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, Israel’s allies in America and around the world responded. The International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem (ICEJ) has received millions in donations. That’s more than any other two-week period in its history. Within days, Christians United for Israel (CUFI), America’s largest pro-Israel organization, sent a million dollars to fund first responders and it continues to fundraise for Israel’s defense against the hateful Hamas.
Unfortunately, given all of the woke anti-Semitic propaganda that American university students are repeatedly fed, there’ve been many anti-Israel protests and many pro-Hamas riots on these elite college campuses and in urban streets across America.
Since Thanksgiving in 1621 and its 1789 establishment as our country’s annual day of thanks, God has been the recipient of thanks from Americans. But, in 2023, for the very first time in US history, the US Presidential Proclamation of Thanksgiving Day omitted any and all reference to God. Such is the Left’s obsession with Political Correctness.
The Washington Post publicized “a handful of spiritual communities across the United States sprouting from the soil of the exvangelical and deconstruction movements.” On Sunday mornings they “retain the basic structure of many Christian services — music, teachings, fellowship [but] reject dogma.” Yet they don’t reject their own dogmatism. They substitute their “exvangelical” dogma for the Good News of the Gospel of Christ. They bow down to PC creeds of DEI, but deny The Deity of Christ.
Anti-LGBTQ attacks in America increased from 2021 to 2022 according to Federal Bureau of Investigation stats. The FBI’s 2022 crime report includes 11,634 hate crime incidents motivated by bias over race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity. Of course, they’re mostly motivated by egotism, bitter jealousy and revenge.
California spends over $4,000,000 of taxpayer money on sex-change surgery and other cosmetic surgery for its inmates who identify as trans. In 2017, California was the first to pay for prisoners’ “body-altering surgery”. Over 157 inmates have received this service, including 4 on death row. The state spent $2.5 million on vaginoplasties for 35 male prisoners, $180,000 on breast implants for 11 male inmates and $184,141 for facial feminizing for two males. Is this its “solution” to “homosexual acts” in prisons?
Shua Wilmot and Raegan Zelaya worked in residence life at Houghton University, an historic Evangelical college in upstate New York. In emails to students, they’d list their pronouns with their names, for clarification. Wilmot, as “Shua” (his first name is Joshua) and, “Zelaya” (her given name, Raegan, too, can be confusing, as to gender). So, in all of their written correspondence, both provided their own personal pronouns.
Houghton administrators got upset when the two refused to drop their pronouns. Both were fired! But the axing backfired on Houghton’s officers and the school’s reputation. Its overreaction prompted adverse headlines across the country. What a warning this is to prospective students! What a lousy “testimony” for the Gospel!
In contrast, nearly half a century ago, the builder of Houghton’s science departments was far more astute about cutting-edge science than today’s administrators are. In his own mid-80s, George E. Moreland enthusiastically endorsed EC’s ministry in support of same-sex-oriented Christians. He based his support of EC on his expertise in genetics and gene mutations — clearly unchosen facts of life — as well as on following Jesus: “As I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” (John 13:34f) Houghton’s administration today is less up to speed than their wise founding scientist and EC friend knew back there in his day.
Pope Francis has responded to cardinals’ questions about same-sex marriage by affirming the church’s teaching that marriage is an “exclusive, stable and indissoluble union between a man and a woman, naturally open to conceiving children,” and that Roman Catholicism avoids “rites and sacramentals” that could “imply that it is recognizing as a marriage something that is not.”
Nonetheless, he adds, “We must not lose pastoral charity…the defense of objective truth is not the only expression of this charity, which is also made up of kindness, patience, understanding, tenderness, encouragement.” But the church should discern, “if there are forms of blessing requested, that do not convey a mistaken conception of marriage”, that “can be a part of pastoral prudence.” So, Francis called on priests to pray over a gay couple without endorsing a wedding ritual. It’s caused confusion and controversy among Catholics who don’t grasp the difference between prayer and ritual.
Church of England clergy, too, may now pray a blessing over same-sex couples, but not fully affirm it a “marriage”, according to a study paper for debate at the General Synod. Anglican services to “bless” same-sex couples will begin to be offered in 2025.
“Lost in Echo Chambers: The urgent need for an intellectual renaissance in universities”,comes from John Bitzan at The Hill. The Hill’s survey of 2,250 students at 131 universities reveals a bad trend: students are closing the doors to diversity of thought. But this bad trend has been promulgated as PC for decades. “Comfort in expressing opinions is a mirage for half of the students who feel at ease only because their views are in sync with the majority.” So, 72% of students are not at ease in sharing their own true views. They “feel” they’re “outcasts”. With PC tyranny in academia, 42% of all students “favor” omitting whatever “unsettles” them.
Harvard ranks as the worst American university for free speech, according to The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and The College Pulse, after assessing free speech culture at 248 of America’s largest and most prestigious campuses. FIRE’s Director of Poling and Analytics warns that, every year, “the climate on campuses grows more inhospitable to free speech.” Although Harvard is the only school with a rating of “abysmal”, the University of Pennsylvania is rated right next to “abysmal” and other Ivy schools are following very close behind them.
The outpouring of ignorant university mobs in support for Hamas against Israel is yet another sign of this PC brainwashing in America’s supposedly “prestigious” universities.
Meanwhile, so many still assume that students who must watch what they say are all at Fundamentalist Colleges. But there are secular cults and religious cults, and all such do demand dogmatic conformity to their dogmas. Snitches are always on-watch to do their “duty”, their dirty work, where all walls have ears, no matter the clique, cult or creed that must never be transgressed on that campus. Such is the insecurity when one’s seeking so desperately, so self-centeredly, affirmation over one’s very own sense of insufficiency, insecurity. Under such pressures, none is free to be simply oneself and grow up. A college degree and one’s future is feared to be in jeopardy by any slip-up.
Persecution of Christians is at an all-time high. Open Doors World Watch reports that over 360 million Christians suffer high levels of persecution or discrimination for their faith. Christians, in Nigeria, India, Iraq, and Syria, in particular, experience this in their daily lives. Free Christians elsewhere should keep these victims in daily prayer.
The Mohawk translation of the Bible is now complete. Portions had been translated in New York in 1715. Harvey Satewas Gabriel has dedicated decades of his life to the Bible’s Mohawk translation. For over 40 years he’s worked, with the support of his wife and the Mohawk community and the Canadian Bible Society. The Gospels had been translated in 1880. Since 2000, II Corinthians, Jonah, Ruth, Daniel, Esther, Proverbs, and Genesis have been translated by others. He’s now finished the rest of the Bible.
Canada’s governmental travel website weirdly warns its prospective visitors to the US: “Some states have enacted laws and policies that may affect 2SLGBTQI persons”. No specifics on any such American states, laws or policies are supplied.
Mediaite staff writer, Isaac Schorr, responds to this cryptic alarm by noting that, inCanada, there’s a 64% increase in hate-crimes against Canada’s own citizens for theirsexual orientation. He wraps up with these words of wisdom: “The best way to change hearts and minds isn’t fear-mongering but the open debate so many progressives fear.”
Deadly Internet scams based in Nigeria and the Ivory Coast are targeting teen-age boys in America, resulting in their suicides. They’re coaxed into sending their own sexy nude selfies via Google Chat to alleged “girls” shown by scammers’ bait. But it’s the Swindlers who receive these boys’ sexy selfies, then use them to get ransom money from these boys: “Pay up or else, every person on your website is going to disown you. Your life is over!” The threats result in these teens’ suicides out of fears of devastating embarrassment in families and among friends. All their hopes for their life are crushed.
Teens must be warned of these deadly scams. Blackmail’s details vary, but panic’s the same, as are suicides. Yielding to temptations has unintended and unconsidered consequences! Join in this lifesaving alert!
NY State’s Department of Health launched a million-dollar healthcare program for so-called “sex-workers” with no approval by the Legislature. It’s allegedly done “to support their health and dignity”, as all in “the sex industry” are “vulnerable to sexually-transmitted diseases”. But, so are all of their customers! “Sex work” is the problem.
The Left Woke and major media are triggered by the box office success of the Christian-backed, faith-based expose, “The Sound of Freedom”, 2023’s record-breaking documentary on the horrific atrocities of widely-spreading child sex trafficking.
Agitated critics of this film twist themselves into self-righteous denial, faced with all the obvious facts of life-destroying, child-sex slavery. The Left preposterously ridicules the film as a “QAnon conspiracy” and lies, overlooking the fact that the film is based on the faithful work of Tim Ballard and his child rescuing “Operation Underground Railroad”. He saved kids from sex traffickers long before the Left’s biasedly vile attacks against him.
35,000 same-sex oriented vets are suing the US government for failing to grant them honorable discharges. They’re asking to be upgraded to honorable discharge. Discharges “other than honorable” can bar benefits such as healthcare, jobs, etc.
Google drops sponsorship of San Francisco’s “Peaches Christ” drag show after hundreds of Google’s Christian employees signed a petition against this anti-Christian assault. But Google, stuck in this controversy, refrains from commenting on whether that petition influenced its decision to cancel its backing. Google urged its employees to participate in other Pride events, thus reinforcing its support of the LGBTQ community.
Australian police who identify as nonbinary are nearing 100. Some claim they’re doing this to get “a bigger clothing allowance”, as a Victoria newspaper reports it.
A Scottish teacher told students that Jesus was “gay”. It’s cost her being banned from teaching for two years. But Scotland’s General Teaching Council heard of how she’d mocked a dyslexic pupil, showed inappropriate videos in class and used the ‘N’ word. One pupil says he was “sad” after hearing her describe Jesus as being “fat, black or gay”. Her language encouraged others to make fun of this Christian boy’s beliefs. She must now wait two years until she can teach again, time for her to “reflect on her conduct and demonstrate insight”, if she has the motivation to begin to grow up.
Gender ideologies closed down an American Anthropological Association and Canadian Anthropology Society scheduled panel, “Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby: Why Biological Sex Remains a Necessary Analytic Category in Anthropology”. Originally scheduled to be part of their annual conference in Toronto in November, the cancellation and subsequent response by the two organizations show the extent to which gender ideology has captured academic anthropology. That panel would have featured six female scientists, specializing in biology and anthropology, addressing their profession’s growing denial of biological sex as a valid and relevant category.
Good Housekeeping reports on popular non-binary names for babies today. In alphabetical order, they are:Arbor, Ash, Charlie, Drew, Ellis, Everest, Jett, Lowen, Moss, Oakley, Onyx, Phoenix, Ridley, Remy, Royal, Sage, Scout, Tatum, and Wren.
California schools are now required to hide students’ gender transition desires from their parents. This policy pits parents and teachers against each other, to the detriment of the priority relationship between parents and their young daughters and sons. This irrational policy is also in practice in school districts all across the country.
Parents of various faiths oppose Maryland’s Montgomery County public schools’ gender ideology instruction. They say they won’t be silenced, for it’s in conflict with Christian and Islamic religions: “The stakes are too high; our children are paramount.”
Some 380 staffers at Anheuser-Busch corporate offices are laid off in the wake of Bud Light’s woke campaign with trans-influencer, Dylan Mulvaney. The company has lost around $40 billion in value by its identifying itself with the transgender movement.
“Regardless of the false claims of the Islamic intelligentsia that promulgates the farce of Muslim victimhood, all too many Muslim men in India target Hindus at every possible opportunity”, as reported by Frontpage. Islam has been a very brutal religion against non-Muslims since Muhammad’s days in the 7th Century AD. “These victims of Islamic barbarity in India are mostly helpless Hindu girls; even India’s Peoples Party in power is failing to protect them from Muslim men.” At this same time, Open Doors and the London School of Economics report that, both Christian and Muslim women are being systematically raped and even murdered by Hindu extremists.
A Veteran high school athletic coach in Vermont lost his job for his speaking the truth, that biological males have advantages over biological female athletes. As an honest Christian, he violated the PC policy on “harassing, hazing and bullying”.
The iconic statue, Christo Rei (“Christ the King”), was digitally erased from a new 911 S/T Porsche ad filmed near this World War II memorial 25th Abril Bridge in Lisbon, Portugal. In the ad, the statue’s tall top pedestal, on the nearby horizon, stands empty.
Finally, a Porsche spokesperson admits: “In a previously uploaded version of the 911 S/T launch film, a landmark was removed. This was a mistake, and we apologize for any offense caused. The original film is online now”, yet with no mention Christo Rei.
“Keeping the ‘C’ in YMCA” is the focus in a First Things edition. The Young Men’s Christian Association — now, so often referred to as simply, “The Y” — was founded by a converted Christian teenage factory worker, George Williams, and his fellow workers in 1841. As a youth, he saw himself as “careless, thoughtless, godless, a swearing young fellow”. But, converted to Christ, he, with some co-workers, started a Bible study group around “muscular Christianity”. He was a dedicated team player and worked his way up in the firm to become its owner. He financed expansion of a worldwide YMCA and other Christian efforts and for all his great work, he was knighted by Queen Victoria.
AND FINALLY:
To some “progressively” liberal church leaders, tripping on magic mushrooms is a new trip, using psychedelics, e.g., psilocybin — “to deepen their faith”. Well, Esquire reports on one devotee, marooned on mushrooms in the host pastor’s bathroom. As he sits there, he’s complaining: “It’s been hours and I still feel no closer to God.” Really?? Really!! Dear sir: Get off the pot and get to a Bible, and read Matthew 11:28ff.