May 19, 2013

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Eric Metaxas: Religious Freedom is Under Threat. CPAC Speech on March 16, 2013.

March 18, 2013 8:49 AM
Eric Metaxas

Once the State arrogates unto itself the moral authority to create relationships not found in nature, it stakes the claim that only the State can determine what is morally licit. At that point Christian beliefs and morals oppose the State and the Christian may be seen as an enemy. Source: ericmetaxas.com Highlights: Jefferson and the Founders...knew that the State was always tempted to take over everything — including the religious side of people’s lives. So they put a protection in the Constitution that the government could not favor any religion over another. . .and could not prohibit the free exercise of religion. In my book Bonhoeffer I talk about a meeting between Bonhoeffer’s friend, the Rev. Martin Niemoller, who early on in the Third Reich was one of those fooled by Hitler.  And in that meeting he says something to Hitler about how he, Niemoller, cares about Germany and Third Reich — and Hitler cuts him off and says “I built the … [Read more...]

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Dylan Pahman – Natural Law, Public Policy, and the Uncanny Voice of Conscience: An Orthodox Response to David Bentley Hart

March 16, 2013 8:40 PM
Dylan Pahman

Source: Ehtika Politika | In his recent First Things article, “Is, Ought, and Nature’s Laws,” David Bentley Hart puts forth a formidable and subtle critique of the use, “by certain self-described Thomists,” of the natural law tradition in public discourse. While Hart does not deny “a harmony between cosmic and moral order,” he takes issue when “the natural law theorist insists that the moral meaning of nature should be perfectly evident to any properly reasoning mind, regardless of religious belief or cultural formation.” He thus contends that (1) such natural lawyers, despite best intentions, ultimately fall prey to David Hume’s critique that one cannot derive an “ought” from an “is”; that (2) natural law reasoning depends upon a person’s prior acceptance of certain metaphysical commitments (e.g. a teleological world and a harmony between the cosmic and moral orders); that (3) universal … [Read more...]

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The Colloquium and Pope Francis

March 14, 2013 9:27 PM
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Several weeks ago I spent a weekend with Catholic and Orthodox scholars in a colloquium titled "Liberty, Society, and the Economy in Modern Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Thought." I am a parish priest, not an academic, which means I approach the big questions from what I call a "rubber meets the road" perspective. I start with the problem or issue that I am thrust into and work out from there. It's real, sometimes messy, and almost exclusively existentialist. That also meant that I approached the colloquium as a student and did not have much to contribute until the how the ideas we discussed applied to everyday people in everyday life. That's the world in which I practice my vocation so that has become my area of expertise. The practical dimension was welcomed especially by the academics who, as most of us know, can distance themselves from the concrete consequences of ideas and sometimes fail to distinguish the power of one idea over another. It's a professional hazard … [Read more...]

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Is America Becoming Europe?

February 25, 2013 10:30 PM
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Becoming Europe: Economic Decline, Culture, and How America Can Avoid a European Future Across the Atlantic, Americans see European economies faltering under enormous debt, overburdened welfare states, governments controlling close to fifty percent of the economy, high taxation, heavily regulated labor markets, aging populations, and large numbers of public sector workers. They also see a European political class that is unable -- and, in many cases, unwilling -- to implement economic reform. This timely and sobering video explains why Americans cannot ignore the "canary in the coalmine" across the pond in determining our future. We must ask the question: "Is America becoming Europe?" To learn more read Dr. Samuel Gregg's Becoming Europe: Economic Decline, Culture, and How America Can Avoid a European Future: "This is a book that every economist, historian, and politician should read." — Amity Shlaes, syndicated Bloomberg News columnist "Europe is a … [Read more...]

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Catholic Online: An Orthodox Priest Reflects on the Retirement of Pope Benedict XVI

February 14, 2013 9:55 PM
Pope Benedict

Catholic Online published an essay I wrote on the abdication of Pope Benedict. Source: Catholic Online | By Fr. Johannes L. Jacobse NAPLES, FL. (Catholic Online) – Like almost everyone, the resignation of Pope Benedict came as a shock to Orthodox believers. Those of us who have watched Pope Benedict and his predecessor Pope John Paul II work to lessen the estrangement between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches hope that Pope Benedict’s successor will continue on the same path. Two things stand out in Pope Benedict’s relationship with the Orthodox Churches. First is his deep understanding of the Christian patrimony of Christendom. The Christian foundation of culture should be self-evident to most, but in our post-Christian (and poorly catechized) age our historical memory has grown increasingly dim. Religion vivifies culture. Christianity is the well from which meaning and purpose are drawn. That meaning and purpose shapes law, institutions, and the … [Read more...]

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Fr. Andrew Damick – A Conversion Story: Leaving Westboro Baptist

February 7, 2013 2:41 PM
westboro

Source: Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy | By Fr. Andrew Damick (KWCH Eyewitness News) They’re known worldwide as the group from Kansas that protests at soldiers’ funerals, and says God hates America because it allows homosexuality. Now, Westboro Baptist Church is reacting to the defection of a key member. “She just decided she did not want to obey God,” spokesman Steve Drain says. “She did not want to obey scripture.” She is Megan Phelps-Roper. The 27-year-old had risen to become a leader in the family church founded her grandfather. In a blog post from Megan Phelps-Roper entitled “Head Full of Doubt / Road Full of Promise” it was announced to the world yesterday that a leading member in the execrable Westboro Baptist Church had, along with her younger sister, in the words of the news story linked above, “defected” and “apologized” for their actions as members of WBC. What the news story (and probably other news stories in the days to come) doesn’t … [Read more...]

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The Super Bowl and Morality

February 5, 2013 7:54 AM
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- Source: Fr. Peter Preble Blog | By Fr. Peter Preble In my last post, I wrote about my favorite commercial from the Super Bowl, And God Made a Farmer. However, there were some pretty disturbing commercials as well as the entire half time show that I think needs to be addressed. Now I realize that each generation moves along a spectrum, and the previous generation does not always agree.  I was reminded on Facebook that Elvis raised some eyebrows in his day with his gyrating hips and what not.  But, as I remarked, Elvis kept his clothes on. The first exhibition of how low America has sunk into the moral gutter was the GoDaddy dot com commercial.  GoDaddy spokesperson, and race car driver Danica Patrick talks about the merging of the sexy with the technical.  The camera moves to a scantily clad woman and, what I would describe, as a geek.  The two them start to kiss and the sounds are just stomach turning, and this goes on for what seemed like … [Read more...]

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Acton Blog: Dunn, Oikonomia, and Assault Weapons: Misappropriating a Principle?

February 4, 2013 8:03 AM
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For better or for worse (probably better) discussion of Orthodox teaching to cultural issues and every day life takes place more often on public blogs than anywhere else. Some critics deride the development of a virtual public square but how does it differ from essays written on paper except that delivery is faster? Moreover, the quality of the writing is often good and sometimes excellent. The communications revolution is changing the Church as it has every other institution. Sharpening ideas by offering them for public critique is a good thing overall. People engaged in public life who know that ideas are important have been doing it for centuries. Below is a response to David J. Dunn's essay An Eastern Orthodox Case for Banning Assault Weapons by Dylan Pahman published on the Acton Institute Power Blog. Fr. Gregory Jensen also crafted a response to Dunn that published immediately below this post. David J. Dunn yesterday wrote an interesting piece arguing for a … [Read more...]

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Fr. Gregory Jensen – Canons and Guns: An Eastern Orthodox Response to a HuffPo Writer

February 4, 2013 7:04 AM
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Source: Acton Institute Power Blog | Fr. Gregory Jensen Several of my friends on Facebook pages posted a link to David Dunn’s Huffington Post essay on gun control (An Eastern Orthodox Case for Banning Assault Weapons). As Dylan Pahman posted earlier today, Dunn, an Eastern Orthodox Christian, is to be commended for bringing the tradition of the Orthodox Church into conversation with contemporary issues such as gun control. As a technical matter, to say nothing for the credibility of his argument, it would be helpful if he understood the weapons he wants to ban. Contrary to what he thinks, semi-automatic weapons can’t “fire a dozen shots before a fallen deer even hits the ground.” Like many he confuses machine guns (which are illegal anyway) and semi-automatic weapons (not “assault weapons”). Putting this aside I have a couple of objections to his application of a principle from the canonical tradition of the Orthodox Church, economia, to the Second Amendment’s … [Read more...]

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Homosexual Marriage at the Dusk of Liberty

January 25, 2013 4:22 PM
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- By Fr. Johannes L. Jacobse To define homosexual coupling as marriage violates natural law. It takes one male and one female to create a child and constitute a family. A male-to-male or female-to-female coupling is naturally sterile; biologically closed to the creation of new life (which is not the same thing as saying that either partner is infertile). A homosexual "family" then, is necessarily an artificial creation. Heterosexual marriage is not a creation of the State nor is the State the final judge or arbiter of the moral legitimacy of heterosexual marriage since it exists in nature and predates the rise of the State. The State merely affirms what already exists in nature when it codifies heterosexual marriage into law. However, when the State decrees homosexual couplings as a morally licit marriage, it violates natural law. It arrogates unto itself an authority to define human relationships that do not exist in nature. Moral relativism is being crafted into law but … [Read more...]

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Fr. Gregory Jensen: A Field Guide for the Hero’s Journey – Part 1 [Book Review]

January 17, 2013 8:16 AM
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Source: Koinonia The Pursuit of Freedom & Wealth. Though both are good neither freedom nor wealth are morally sufficient ends in themselves for the human family. Like freedom, wealth is for something. Actually strictly speaking wealth and freedom are both in the service of human flourishing. In the Christian tradition this means that both human freedom and all the myriad forms that wealth takes are only fully realized in love and love is always necessarily sacrificial. We strive to be free and wealth so that we are able to love fully and without reservation or compromise. Too often freedom and love are seen as sui generis, as almost Platonic ideals that are simply “there.” My own ministry as a priest has taught me to be wary whenever conversations about practical matters turn theoretical.  Freedom and wealth, their morally legitimate uses, the conditions that foster or obstruct their realization and growth, are all matters of prudence. When we try and discuss … [Read more...]

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Metropolitan Hilarion Blasts Anglicans for Renouncing the Faith

January 17, 2013 8:00 AM
Metropolitan Hilarion

In a recent speech at Villanova University, Met. Hilarion (Alfeyev) of the Russian Orthodox Church said that dialogue between the Orthodox and Anglicans are under threat because of the abandonment of the Christian moral tradition by the Anglican communion. Orthodox and Anglicans find themselves "on different sides of the abyss which separate Christians of a traditional direction and Christians adhering to liberal teachings." I mentioned in the comments on another thread that one Orthodox prelate speaking with this clarity was the recently removed Met. Jonah of the OCA. Met. Jonah was home grown in a sense in that he was an American born Orthodox bishop who has a keen understanding of the currents underlying the Western cultural drift. Met. Jonah's removal was American Orthodoxy's loss (See: Removing Metropolitan Jonah Hurt the American Orthodox Church) although long term it may prove to be a blessing because he will be able to speak unencumbered by lesser men who don't grasp the … [Read more...]

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