A letter of support to Prof. Douglas W. Kmiec

Dear Prof. Kmiec,

Thank you for the courage that you have shown to support Barack Obama. Even though many of his policies violate the message of Jesus Christ, there are other aspects in which he has a superior claim of doing the Lord's work. Your decision has proved at least this much: No party in America has a monopoly on Jesus.

I hail from a predominantly Catholic community. The Church that I knew and its message contrasts a lot from what I have seen and heard in the Catholic church in the United States. Out there, the Church prominently preaches social morality. The one about being the keeper of your brother. The message in which God helps anyone who helps, not himself, but his neighbor. We hear the story about Jesus telling us on the judgment day that he came to us as a poor man and we neglected him.

However, the Catholic Church in the United States appears to be on a war for personal morality, even though not all aspects of it. The right of a woman to choose or gay rights are personal choices, that we do not have to judge. Nobody forces anyone to be gay. Nobody can force me to have an abortion at my family. Such laws or Supreme Court judgments do not really affect my life or do not make me sin. Let the Lord be the one who judge them.

My uncle, Arch Bishop of Guwahati, has remarked on many occasions during his visits to the United States that the Church in the US has lost its direction fighting against abortion and gay rights. The debate sadly pushes aside the real issues that face the society; the real action that needs to be taken by us as fellow Christians. The inequality and poverty should be the primary issues that we need to care about as a society. Abortion and gay rights, which are cases of individual morality should be left to each person.

So I'd love to see the Church giving Social morality, at least the same importance that it gives to individual morality. Also, looking at the Republican policies in the past decade has made me wonder how I can justify those actions. Cutting health-care to children in different states is definitely not pro-life. Waging an unnecessary war that results in thousands of deaths and trillions of tax payer money is not a Christian way of doing things. The so called conservatives, at least the neocons do not stand for my values as a Christian.

But, there is always a word of caution in all these issues when it comes to liberals. As much as I applauded your decision to support Obama, you and I, as Catholics, should hold him accountable for having our religious rights unscathed. The story about Boston Catholic charities not being able to exorcise our religious beliefs in case of adoption should be a dire warning. Even from a totally agnostic point of view, the end result, that is those charities closed down does not benefit the nation or the people.

In the same vein, I am delighted at Obama's decision to make use of religious groups in making progress with the society. However, like the case of Catholic Adoption agencies, there is a trap hidden in his own words. While it is acceptable that these religious groups do not discriminate against their benefactors, he has asked the groups not to discriminate in hiring processes too. How would a Catholic charity be Catholic if its workers are Jewish or Atheists? Inasmuch as a Pro-Choice organization would want to hire someone who shares their ideas, even a Catholic organization, or any religious bodies for that matter, would want to hire people that share its values. We should fight to keep Obama accountable in this aspect.

Keeping in mind all these, I am appalled to hear that you were denied communion by a priest for endorsing Obama. Such bigotry is not part of Jesus Christ's message. Such hate is not professed by bible as I know it.

So, I wish to congratulate you for your stance and would love to see you continue to champion the Catholic values, be it demanding for government policies with an emphasis on social morality or fighting for religious freedom in the public square.

Thank You,

Politics Avalanche

Update: Prof. Kmiec actually responded with a message of agreement. He alerted us that the love of our homosexual neighbors in California ought not be turned around as a discrimination against the church. I applaud that. As much as they have the right for unions, it should not be held against a judge or a clerk or a priest who would not want to perform ceremony due to religious beliefs.

Assault on the First Amendment rights of Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Texas

Here is another blatant assault on the first amendment. The court has thrown out the State's abduction of (yes abduction) of over 460 children from Yearning for Zion, the compound of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) community.

I am not writing this to support any evil doers. If there were any under-aged or forceful marriages, any statutory rapes or other abuse on minors, the culprits should be tried and punished. If any of the adults in the community have committed such crimes or knowingly aided them, they all should be prosecuted to the maximum extend as allowed by law. The right of religious freedom won't protect them and first amendment does not excuse such crimes.

However, the lawyers of Child Protective Services have finally admitted that 15 of the 31 "child" mothers placed in foster care were actually adults. One is 27. A 14-year-old removed as a child mother apparently has no children. The state had raided the ranch after a 16-year-old girl called an abuse hot line saying she had been beaten and raped by her 50-year-old husband, but that girl has not been found at the ranch during the raid. Police traced the calls to 33-year-old Colorado Springs woman named Rozita Swinton. Swinton had earlier been arrested for making a false report, and accused of posing as "Jennifer," 16, who called 911 to report that her father had locked her in a basement for days. She is also accused of posing as other aliases.

That being said, in this case the Texas government officials jumped into this mess with the best of intentions. They forgot or ignored the legal procedure while earnestly trying to save another child from molestation. This lead to flagrant errors in evidence and identities of the parties involved. Even now the authorities cannot clearly find the ages, names and relationships of the 'children' taken away from the ranch. DNA tests of hundreds of people are taking weeks to process when many children are away from their parents despite of the lack of proof of any wrong doing.

The court ruling says in its third paragraph that "Removing children from their homes and parents on an emergency basis before fully litigating the issue of whether the parents should continue to have custody of the children is an extreme measure. It is, unfortunately, sometimes necessary for the protection of the children involved. However, it is a step that the legislature has provided may be taken only when the circumstances indicate a danger to the physical health and welfare of the children, and the need for protection of the children is so urgent that immediate removal of the children from the home is necessary."

The court talks about the following facts that were undisputed by the Department of Child Protective Services. The only danger to the male children or the female children who had not reached puberty identified by the Department was the Department's assertion that the "pervasive belief system" of the FLDS community groomed the males to be perpetrators of sexual abuse later in life and taught the girls to submit to sexual abuse after reaching puberty;There was no evidence that the male children, or the female children who had not reached puberty, were victims of sexual or other physical abuse or in danger of being victims of sexual or other physical abuse. Also, there was no evidence that any of the female children other than the five identified as having become pregnant between the ages of fifteen and seventeen were victims or potential victims of sexual or other physical abuse. Additionally, the Department conceded at the hearing that teenage pregnancy, by itself, is not a reason to remove children from their home and parents, but took the position that immediate removal was necessary in this case because "there is a mind-set that even the young girls report that they will marry at whatever age, and that it's the highest blessing they can have to have children."

It may sound outrageous when you hear about girls are married by guys who are old enough to be their dad. But keep in mind, a horror story alone is not a legal basis for removing hundreds of children form their parents. The Texas Court of appeals, Third District, at Austin is clearly right in pointing out that a good intention would not substitute legal procedures for proving that a child is in imminent danger.

Canadian news with some spine

http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/story.html?id=f6848b98-417b-4db9-ba63-0ebb7f4228a7&k=30619&p=1

I usually find the Canadian commentaries displaying a blatant deficiency of a backbone. But that is not the case with National Post and Lorne Gunter. I have found his opinion on the importance of Israel pretty insightful. He says that if [the Western World] gives up on Israel, [the jihadists] will simply take that as a sign they might be able to pressure us next to give up on Quebec, Mississauga, Michigan, Birmingham and the Paris suburbs.

Whatever maybe one's political belief, there is no question that Israel has managed to perfect certain techniques in dealing with terrorism. Whereas America has been under severe attack from the Jihadists only for the past one decade or so, Israel, throughout its existence of sixty years has been getting bombarded by all kinds of onslaughts imaginable. It has dealt with hostage situations and airline hijacking for ages and have been considered as the best in the world in counter-terrorism.

A big aspect of Israel is that it thrives under extreme threats. The Egyptian aerial assaults with its massive assembly of Soviet made aircraft had forced them to produce one of the best air force legions in combat scenarios. It is not a secret that the Israel had given American Soldiers training on the urban guerrilla warfare for the Baghdad streets.

Thus, we can see that Israel is useful in two ways, one as a strategic, unwavering partner in one of the most volatile regions in the world. Secondly, keeping in mind of the continuing war on terror, they could be extremely useful as a training partner or a real world lab to test the next-gen combat techniques in the long term.

Additionally, in an area of thriving dictatorships and blooming fanaticism, it could act as the beacon of freedom and democracy. Add to that the resilience and courage of Israeli people, it proves to the Western world and America that, even when the going gets tough, democracy and freedom is tough enough to get going. The unflinching strength that the country has shown in the past sixty years braving enemies from all around that have the sole agenda of erasing it from the world map is a sign of optimism and hope for the believers of liberty and democracy worldwide.

Coach in New Jersey Cannot Pray With Players

Folks, this is how the totalitarian left operates. He did not force anybody to pray. All he did was to bow his head and kneel in respect when his players are having a prayer.

This is the most blatant assault against the Constitution of the United states which stands for the freedom of speech and religion.This is the tool that they use against the very soul of America: Political Correctness.

Since when is it the citizens forbidden from wishing anyone Happy Christmas? When it is Hanukkah, I'd wish Happy Hanukkah too. Political correctness is forcing a whole country forget its roots and make its citizens live in a make believe worlds in which one has to wish everyone happy holidays. That is a bull! If that is the case, we have the weekends off and everyone should be wishing Happy Holidays on weekends too. So that is really clear that it is special on those days because it is Christmas. Learn to live with it. Or try to rebuild USSR and flee to that place. Or go to Cuba. I hear even in Cuba one is allowed to wish anyone Happy Christmas.

Coming back to the main issue, this kind of oppressive policies are lurking all around. Take the issue of abortion. All these Pro-Abortion liberals, if they get what they want, would make it mandatory that everyone go through abortion. For the record, Politics Avalanche (that's me) is pro-choice. And my choice is LIFE! Anyway, I would not mind legislation allowing the freedom of choice, but I know they are going to turn the tables and hit that freedom out and invade the freedom to choose life, one of the last territories of religious freedoms left in this country.

People, all you good stalwarts of morality, please forward this story and the NY Times story. I know their story makes it looks like the coach is a criminal or something. But that is the point. How being a reasonable, caring, god fearing individual is a bad thing in America.






http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/sports/16prayer.html?ref=sports