Spirits of the Air – “Today . . . it seems as if the devil is abandoning old tricks for some new ones. Demons are having their day in the popular consciousness.” Spirits of the Cloud (The American Mind)
Are You Ready? — “If Christianity is true, and I am convinced that it is, then all of life is ultimately about being ready for most important thing: the next life.” False Assurance (American Babylon)
Scientific Publications – The pressure to publish in the academic world of “publish or perish” is a powerful incentive for carelessness, intellectual dishonesty, plagiarism, and outright fraud. Intellectual Dysfunction (Law & Liberty)
Moderating Content – “Most Americans say the U.S. government and technology companies should each take steps to restrict false information and extremely violent content online.” Most Americans favor restrictions on false information, violent content online (Pew Research Center)
It Must Be a Trend – “Catholic bishops are laying down the law these days on the use of preferred pronouns, cross-dressing and other accoutrements of transgender individuals on their property.” A nuanced look at Portland Archbishop Sample? Journalists aren’t coming up with it (GetReligion)
Experience God – “Behind Cardinal-elect Américo Aguiar’s controversial comments on conversion and WYD is a new emphasis on interreligious dialogue at the global Catholic event — including visits to a mosque, synagogue and Hindu temple.” A First for World Youth Day: Interreligious Dialogue a Focal Point in Lisbon (National Catholic Register)
Illegal Burying – “A recent New York Times headline misrepresents the details of a case involving a Nebraska teen who burned and buried the fetal remains of her illegal chemical abortion.” New York Times Headline Twists Story of Teen’s Sentencing in Grisly Abortion Case (National Review)
Healthcare Issues – “Stories of students canceling speakers have become commonplace in recent years.” A Notre Dame Professor Sues the Student Paper (Wall Street Journal)
Unity with Christ – “The postmodern condition leads to fragmentation and isolation. This fragmentation makes vital the sought for healing of the National Eucharistic Revival.” “That They May Be One”: A Sacramental-Ecclesial Approach to Eucharistic Revival (What We Need Now)
Our Present Hell – “Recently, I was asked to make the ‘pessimistic case for the future.’ I present instead more of a ‘pessimistic take on the present.’ The future, while imminent, is obscure. The present, by contrast, is knowable.” The Pessimistic Case for the Future (Compact)
Fox Giving – “While the company wears a conservative face on air, it appears that behind closed doors, Fox is willing to lean left or in whatever other direction the wind is blowing.” EXCLUSIVE: Fox News whistleblowers expose company’s support for far-left charities (Blaze Media)
Chinese Authorities – “In early June, a pastor in China’s Shandong Province was sentenced to five years in prison for printing hymnals and other theological materials.” The Chinese Communist Party’s War on Catholicism (Providence)
(*The posting of any particular news item or essay is not an endorsement of the content and perspective of said news item or essay.)
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Re #5 It Must Be A Trend – glad to see this shoutout to getreligion, a not-to-be-missed site (IMO) for analysis of so-called mainstream media coverage, more often non-coverage, of religion.
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 Who’s running your church??
Some of the same types of people leading fundamentalist churches, truth be told.
Read further along Brian, it says do not call God’s anointed “Fool”.
What you have lately written applies to Protestants who repudiate Catholic foundationality and hierarchy but want to have foundationality itself for themselves along with an elective with-and-without hierarchy.
That is, unstable hierarchy. Which is non-foundational. Some of them want it to pass unseen among each other like it was always meant to be.
Anglicans in particular have become the most salacious. The Wettins changed their name to Windsor in order to root their realm (or the realm) to William the Conqueror and pre-William folklorics.
Not only is this fantasy but expecting solidarity with it through acquiescence or positive cooperation is a great deceit favouring the insane.
In fact no King before Henry VIII of whatever line ever claimed to be “Head of the Church” in England or in the realms among the Brits.
Such a claim and its hereditary/Parliamentary succession was initiated and launched by Henry VIII and is nowhere declared to be or to have been retroactive.
The Anglican if they have any self-respect left or respect for one another should repudiate it and are bound in conscience to do so.
The Article Titled “Our Present Hell” is frightfully on target.
@ The Pessimistic Case for the Future.
The most important institutions in modern America are the universities, and they are all evil (Anton).
Michael Anton wisely decides against prophesy and instead focuses “on what we know”, the present. Durkheim might disagree on the universities and cite religion.
Coincident with the political moral collapse is the spiritual. Post WWII we became fat and happy. Wages were relatively high, ample time for relaxation. America due to Ike’s military industrial complex raked in enormous wealth. America seemingly scanning the globe for more wars. Russia, whether the USSR or moderate Yeltsin’s quasi democracy became the perennial villain. After Korea it was the Gulf of Tonkin ‘incident’ and Vietnam.
Wealth corrupts, the ancient adage appeared truer than ever. If the spiritual coincides, the breakdown of order becomes profound. Chaos rules on America’s streets, iniquity in its branches of government, and yes, the universities. Insofar as the future, perhaps we need not be prophetic. Reason is it seems a messiah has already arrived.
In regard to it must be a trend….thank God for ab Sample of the portland diocese….a man appointed by God for such a time as this…the vast majority of catholics in the diocese support the good archbishop stance on gender ideology…why should good catholics wanting to send their kids to catholic school (a majority by the way) suffer for he desires of the minority…the Holy spirit is guiding this archbishop and I believe he will hold the line…may God bless him for his strength and resolve as I know our Lord Jesus is smiling on one of his faithful shepherds…
@ Are You Ready?
Donald Johnson’s False Assurance stories the Titanic as a lead to salvation in troubled times.
For this writer, whether catastrophe is in store the good for many of us is that we finally take our faith seriously. Focus on the narrow, rough road of prayer and sacrifice, spending our lives for our brother is always, at any time a best choice.
With regard to scientific publications, we have in the New York Times:
A Looming Retraction Casts a Shadow Over a Field of Physics
Misconduct allegations are leading scientists to question the work of Ranga Dias, including his claimed discovery of a room-temperature superconductor.
By Kenneth Chang
July 26, 2023
Updated 9:37 p.m. ET
Excerpts:
“There’s no plausible deniability left,” said N. Peter Armitage, a professor of physics and astronomy at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore who is among the scientists who have seen the reports. “They submitted falsified data. There’s no ambiguity there at all.”
lLater]
The conclusion in the report of Reviewer Gamma wryly noted that this match, if true, would herald a major discovery — “a novel universality in nature” that different materials under different conditions behave the same.