Category: Religion

Faith and the Easter Bunny

America, Morality, Politics, Reason, Religion, Science, Society & Culture, Uncategorized

Easter Sunday, 2020. The pews are empty. This is our first “video celebration” streamed through thousands of digital mechanisms across the world. Earlier in the week Passover seders were celebrated similarly. A juxtaposition of the technological and the divine.

How one marks the day depends on one’s belief or lack thereof. There are, in my opinion, as regards religion, three states: either we are atheists, believers or agnostics. And, I hasten to point out, we may be one or the other at different points in our lives.

Atheists, a.k.a. secularists, non-believers or those who worship things other than a deity, make up a significant and growing percentage of the world’s population. While there are countless “studies” marking this growth, one has only to look around at the opposite phenomenon, the decline in congregations, to acknowledge this trend.

Aside from the numbers, there are also countless “studies” that seek to explain why religion is on the wane. Could it be that the rapid advancement of technology has simply made us “full of ourselves”? What need have we of a God when we can summon knowledge, convenience and even virtual human interaction instantaneously and effortlessly from the electronic gadget in our hands? Millennials (Gen Y) and Gen Z seem to be the most secular and least religious of any generation. They are, of course, those who grew up with this technology and don’t even recall much of what I call the Analog World (a separate article forthcoming on that subject).

And who among the political divides in America are the atheists? Exactly whom you’d think: the Democrats. On August 24, 2019 the Democratic National Committee passed a resolution recognizing the “value” of religiously unaffiliated Americans and describing them as the “largest religious group in the Democratic party “. (https://secular.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/DNC-Resolution-on-the-Nonreligious-Demographic.pdf) And here’s some Pew Research Center data that corroborates that boast: (https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/religious-family/atheist/party-affiliation/)

Forget about broad trends for a moment, however, and examine what this means for our families, our local communities and our Country. What happens to a people when they get too full of themselves?

You’ll recall when Moses descended from Mt. Sinai he found this exact circumstance. Not a good scene. The party animals had taken over, they no longer had any need for God, faith or religion and things didn’t turn out well. Isn’t it obvious we’re duplicating that scene at the base of Mt. Sinai right now? What does the future hold if we keep this up?

The battle we as a nation are fighting is a civil war. It is a battle for its soul. I’ve often referred to Bill O’ Reilly’s contention that the fight is between Traditionalists and Secular Progressives. Will we follow a course plotted by a rudderless ship piloted by secularist atheists, or by a people who, irrespective of their denomination, subscribe to traditional principles of right and wrong stemming from a belief in God that have survived the vicissitudes of mankind since the Garden of Eden?

As regards my own views on God and religion. As I begin to think more and more about the subject I’ve yet to codify my beliefs. But here are some thoughts.

Thomas Aquinas tried to “prove” the existence of God in his book Summa Theologica. I’m reasonably well read and educated and no matter how hard I tried, I found it incomprehensible and far more confusing and doubt-provoking than enlightening. The proof can’t be conjured up from within ourselves or “proven” in some way. Whether or not to believe in God has to be an individual determination. Anything else but a personal conviction withers under fire or rusts with disuse. Thus, in thinking and talking to others about God I have often asked others the question: “Who is the only person in the universe who can prove to you whether God exists?” Frequently, the reply has been, “Me.””No,” I submit, “the only person in the universe who can prove to you whether God exists, is God.” Again, it is for each of us to come to our own conclusion.

As humans who reside on an earth that turns, causing sunrise and sunset; as fragile beings who are born and who eventually die, we think in terms of beginnings and endings. Thus, evidence of an expanding universe leads us to conclude that there was a Big Bang that started it all. But that begs the question, “What was there before the Big Bang?”

My suggestion is that if we eliminate the construct of beginnings and endings and assume that there never was either a beginning or end to the universe…that the universe is, in fact, infinite; that it has always existed and will always exist, it becomes a little more logical to think of man’s life as a very very small segment of time within that continuum stretching endlessly (literally, not figuratively) in all directions. It also makes it easier for me to comprehend that there is a being, God, who exists within this infinite continuum and, though I may not comprehend how, also has always existed and will always exist. Similarly, this Easter morning, I can accept that a man name Jesus died and three days later rose from the dead by means that I cannot understand, but which are based on principles and truths that are immutable and exist whether or not either I or anyone else believes them or not. And if the Atonement and Resurrection, and more importantly the purposes and reasons for them made it possible for me to wake up somehow after I die and transform into something else – a different life as wonderful or even better than this one has been, I’m thrilled it occurred.

This morning, thousands of children will go on Easter Egg Hunts. Many will receive gifts from the Easter Bunny. How many will have even an inkling of what Easter Sunday is all about? It has become another so-called Hallmark Holiday for many.

As for me, I pause this morning to reflect on my choice to believe in God. I will seek to do right rather than wrong. I believe in good and evil and hope to embrace the Good and eschew Evil. I believe there are many truths and eternal principles we have not yet uncovered and learned…things that logically explain what we presently see as miracles and the unexplainable. And I choose not to forget that Someone guiding us and worthy of our worship exists and through some truly extraordinary technology, is able to know and communicate and guide each and every one of us.

Happy Easter!

Tiggers

America, Economy, Education, Entertainment, Family, Finance and Investments, Government, Headlines, Health Care, Morality, Politics, Reason, Religion, Science, Society & Culture, Technology, Uncategorized, Values

The stock market has crashed. Unemployment is skyrocketing. The number of confirmed Wuhan Virus (that’s what I call it) cases is growing exponentially. Grocery store shelves are bare. Gun sales are going through the roof. Office buildings in Manhattan are empty. People are walking around with masks. Schools are cancelled. The internet is bogging down because so many people are home its vaunted capacity (bandwidth) is proving to be inadequate for the demand. California is “locked down”. Hell has broken loose.

However… “The wonderful thing about Tiggers is, tiggers is wonderful things. Their tops are made of rubber, and their tails are made of springs. They’re bouncy, flouncy, trouncy, pouncy, full of fun, fun fun. The wonderful thing about Tiggers is, I’m the only one.” Substitute Americans for tiggers and you’ll have a hint as to why despite the misery and impending doom I’m optimistic for the future.  

My thoughts…

1.            As bad as the pandemic is, it’s not as bad as you think. Simple arithmetic coupled with basic critical thinking points to the conclusion that greater than 99% of everyone who contracts the disease will recover, and we don’t know of course how many people WILL or WILL NOT contract it. Thousands get sick and many die each day from heart disease, cancer, jaywalking, ‘regular’ flu and chronic lung disease from smoking, etc. As of this morning, ~a quarter of a million people WORLDWIDE have been confirmed to have the virus, ~10,000 people WORLDWIDE have died from the virus, and ~86,000 have recovered. These numbers are DWARFED by regular flu.  In the U.S., ~15,000 people have confirmed cases and ~100 people have died. This flu season alone (roughly from October 2019 to the present) 31MM people IN THE UNITED STATES (!) have had the flu. Somewhere around 275,000 give or take have had to be hospitalized, and as many as 30,000 (vs. 100) have died from run-of-the-mill flu! (See  https://www.health.com/condition/cold-flu-sinus/how-many-people-die-of-the-flu-every-year for a plain language discussion.) Translation – this isn’t anywhere near as bad as the media and politicians would have you believe.

2.            Despite what you hear or see, the government is doing the right things. They may not in all cases being doing things right, but the medical, logistical, economic and societal response is “gettin’ ‘er done”. I expect the response is even overdone if you look at the statistics in the previous paragraph. So, for example, NOT EVERYONE NEEDS A TEST! If you get sick, sure, go get a test. But it’s self-centered, selfish and “looking out for number one” just to confirm you’re NOT sick, and may deprive someone who really needs to be tested from getting the help they need. Testing is NOT a cure, and satisfying statistical number crunching is nowhere near as important as preventing and treating the actual disease. Mobilization and coordination among all the health care agencies, departments and the private sector is exactly what is needed, and again, no matter what you hear, there are very competent people who care about others and this country hard at work on the problems. Have some faith in them!

The backstopping of employers in various ways and the anticipated support given to individuals and families is being matched by lenders, landlords, tax collectors… you name it. Everyone’s in this and making accommodations following the lead of the federal, state and local governments.

Just remember that “the government” is made up of people who have the same hopes, dreams, fears, constraints, problems as everyone else in the country. The vast majority are working their asses off to help and do what’s right within their on organizations and spheres of influence. I had to go to the department of motor vehicles the other day. Everyone there had taken a large dose of patience pills and I was both shocked and thrilled to see how both the people behind the counter and in front of it were behaving.

The government, of course, is damned if they do and damned if they don’t, but on balance, its response to this crisis has been overwhelmingly appropriate and helpful. Its communications, despite the handwringing and teeth-gnashing of a “if it bleeds it leads” media has been solid, optimistic, informative and suitably cautionary as to get virtually the whole nation (except the Florida beach Spring Break party animals) to respond as it should. This all happened in a matter of days, unlike the responses during the H1N1, SARS, MERS and other pandemics.

3.            Gas prices and interest rates are falling. The one commodity everyone needs is fuel, and the stimulating effect of a drop in gas prices to the ~$2.00 – ~$2.50 level is incredibly impactful on regular budgets. This will benefit us all, except of course for oil producers. But Washington is on to the Russian and Saudi’s game to try to destroy our energy-independent status and crush our shale industry, and are NOT going to let them get away with it. Similarly, we’re not standing idly by while China spews its propaganda and stomps its feet and blames our military for what they caused or worse, threatens us with withholding drugs such that we become “awash in a sea of Coronavirus”. We’ve thrown the bull#%*& flag on that already and will continue to rub China’s nose in the mess they’ve created and left on the world’s floor. Xenophobic? No, just highlighting the truth in the face false accusations.

4.            One of the silver linings in this mess is the awakening that has occurred among government, industry and the American people that we must no longer be held hostage by foreign manufacturers and suppliers. The Globalist agenda has been thoroughly trounced by this exposure of its flaws, and bringing our manufacturing and supply chains home may result in higher priced goods, but we’ll all benefit in the long run.

5.            Kids are getting educated again. Home schooling is exposing the inadequacies, biases and absurdities of the current state of our education system. Parents are waking up to what is being taught, and what is NOT being taught to our children. I predict that for whatever time period home-schooling prevails, our kids will get a BETTER education than what they’re getting at school, and teachers will be astonished when students return at how far they’ve advanced. You heard it from me first.

6.            Neighbors are helping neighbors. Our little local email chain is lit up with offers of help and assistance. People are getting outside and checking on each other from afar (i.e. more than six feet). Kids are teaching parents and grandparents about Facetime, Skype and Zoom. And Animal Planet is running shows about carefree kittens and puppies. Come on…how much better is it to watch than the gloom and doom on broadcast tv?

7.            People are learning who their leaders are. Not the ones with the titles, but the ones who are true leaders as opposed to managers and demagogues. True leaders step up in times of crisis and go to the front of the crowd, carry a light and turn back to shout encouragement and instill confidence in others. People who may have labored in the shadows or punched well below their weight are now emerging as the shepherds of our society. This separating of the leaders from the followers can only be a positive development.

8.            The Silent Majority is silent no more. Having to adapt to the situation, conservatives and the Right who normally are head down working and caring for themselves and their families are speaking up and speaking out. They are not just throwing the BS flag on politically correct nonsense, they are ignoring social engineering and all its related evils and practicing true philanthropy and real, beneficial community activism.

9.            Complacency is evaporating. It’s amazing what being forced to rely on fundamentals and things that matter will do to a spoiled and coddled population. In the face of what’s going on, do people really care what the Kardashians think?

10.          Faith is making a comeback. It’s sad but true that there are no atheists in foxholes. We’re rediscovering our faith despite not being able to attend Church. And whether it’s one religion or another, it’s the common principles of right and wrong, goodness versus evil and a belief in a set of universal truths that are moving back into the public consciousness. This is a good thing.

11.          Families are getting to know one another again. Yes, we’re cooped up and hunkered down. And things get testy at times as we bumble around in each other’s way. But for many of us, we’re forced to seek virtue: patience, understanding, caring for one another, and learning anew about each other. It doesn’t take a village, it takes a family, and families are binding together out of necessity and love.

And finally, THE MOST IMPORTANT REASON I’M OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THE FUTURE is that America has the most natural and other resources of any nation on earth. We can produce enough of EVERYTHING to take care of ourselves and help the rest of the world to boot. We have the smartest people. We have a spirit of “can do” that is unparalleled on the planet. Many nations think we’re brash, loud, obnoxious, overly proud and nationalistic and hate us for our bad manners and profligacy. So be it. I’d rather live in the United States than in any other country. We will not only get through this, but emerge stronger than ever and once again, we’ll be the city set on a hill letting our light so shine as to be a beacon of freedom and prosperity to the entire world.

I’m a pragmatist, and I recognize the challenges that lie ahead to recover from this mess. But I believe with every fiber of my being that things are going to be better than ok, and sooner than the so-called experts predict. I’m not suggesting we all go Hakuna Matata on this, but let’s put things in perspective shall we?

May God continue to bless us. And may God continue to bless America.

Techno-Intrusion

Religion, Society & Culture, Technology

The intrusion of technology in our lives is rapidly becoming domination. The abrogation of humanity to artificial intelligence (emphasis on “artificial”) is real and advancing rapidly.

It is alarming how much our society has become enslaved by the little screen in our hands. And I do mean enslaved. It’s no longer FOMO (the Fear of Missing Out). It’s that for some, even many, every moment of every day is monitored, organized (or disorganized), influenced or controlled by technology. It’s as if we’ve outsourced our critical thinking abilities, self-control, conduct governors, interpersonal communications, hell, our consciousness. It’s not much of an exaggeration to say that some have outsourced their SOULS.

I don’t need an “app” to monitor how much I sleep at night. I don’t need to be fed “relevant” advertising when I visit a website. I don’t want “free” stuff. The price of “free” is relinquishing personal data to an amorphous algorithm that creates a digital profile of me. That profile is used (and manipulated) in all sorts of ways, the vast majority of which are driven by the pecuniary interests of the technology company that conjured up, sorted and sold my profile to anyone who would pay for it.

Technology has permeated, or infected, virtually every form of human communication. People facing one another, looking into each other’s eyes, interpreting body language, noting inflection, giving and taking non-verbal cues, interacting with one another in the moment…are behaviors increasingly, frighteningly, diminishing. And since communication, whether incoming or outgoing, is what I would call a basic component of humanity, we are as a result becoming less and less human.

What matters is increasingly lost. Virtue is not even a word or concept in the social vocabulary – it’s an anachronism, out-of-place with life at the speed of text or email traffic. Home and hearth are Hallmark Channel themes. The importance of Family, of doing what’s right, of eschewing wrong, of telling the truth, of adhering to your word, of working hard for an honest day’s wage, of being kind, of self-discipline, of moderation, of humility, of courage, of what used to be common morality…all are for the most part either banned from the new social ether or are relegated to being quaint ideas from the past.

God doesn’t use an iPhone. Many who are tethered to them don’t believe in God anyway. Faith, a moral compass, yardsticks of right and wrong…all have succumbed to technology. Religion is thus also a casualty of technological so-called “progress”.

I admit that I too have been caught by the groundswell. Rather than stick my head out the door to decide what jacket or coat I’ll wear today, I quickly tap my Accuweather app to learn what the temperature is and whether it’ll become warmer or colder. Rather than pick up the phone and call my daughter to ask about some detail of the upcoming grandchild’s birthday party, I send her a text.

Some courageous (and seemingly more happy and content) members of my generation have deliberately eschewed technology. One of my oldest friends still uses a flip phone, and he leaves it on his dresser with a dead battery most of the time. The guy who installed the sprinkler system on our lawn 35 years ago and still services it today doesn’t use email. He carries a cell phone but never answers it. I leave him voicemails but he doesn’t listen to them…he just calls me back when it’s convenient for him to do so.

At first I was annoyed that I couldn’t reach people who had largely disconnected from The Grid, but now I’m starting to appreciate the benefits of lowered blood pressure and appreciation of what IS important that accompanies doing so.

Little by little I hope the pendulum swing towards increasing technological domination of our lives and away from humanity will swing back. It’s happened before in world history. I can hope it will happen again and we’ll all be the better for it.

P.S. I just realized how hypocritical I am for using an iPad to write this post and throwing THESE thoughts out into the social ether as well. Sigh…

Would That Be So Bad?

America, Economy, Family, History, Morality, Politics, Reason, Religion, Society & Culture, Values

With the world falling apart in front of us and Leftists assaulting every sacred and historically treasured traditional value while asserting that the dismantling of our culture is “progressive”, what if we challenged the notion that “there’s no going back”?

What if we were to withdraw our troops from all of our foreign bases and let Russia and China fight it out for hegemony and see what it’s like to be the world’s policeman, getting bogged down in endless wars and, unlike us out of largesse, squandering their resources on attempted world domination?

What if we were to perfect Reagan’s original Star Wars Strategic Defense Initiative, i.e. reproducing the Enterprise’s “shields up”- and photon torpedoes capabilities so as to negate or obliterate anything our adversaries could throw at us?

What if we were to withdraw to secure borders and become completely self-reliant and self-sufficient as we have with oil? Suppress the horror and revulsion that leaps to mind when a 55” flat screen television suddenly but temporarily costs $3,000 again instead of $500. Instead, imagine “Made in the U.S.A.” instead of “China” or “Mexico” on just about everything we buy and consume. And Bass Weejuns were once again made in Maine.

What if we were to withdraw from the United Nations and establish a new organization of free, democratic countries and emerging nations that subscribe to our federalist-constitutional-‘meritocratic’  approach to government and society?

What if we were to roll back the welfare/nanny state and restore an “everybody needs to pull their weight” culture? What if we were to dismantle the safety nets and nanny protections that have made all of us soft-in-the-belly and turned Millennials and Gen Z into snowflakes? How bad would it be if they had to actually work hard and produce things of real value?

What if we were to reduce the size of the Federal government by half? Would we miss having six different departments massaging the same numbers and producing meaningless (and misleading) reports that cast them in 6 x 6 different ways?

What if we were to eliminate abortion-on-demand, restore marriage to what it is and has been for thousands of years, and truly “eliminate welfare as we know it”? Would families matter again? Would “taking care of one’s own” be so bad as they, and their communities, came together to help one another out of necessity because the government handout offices would be closed?

What if continence and self-control, a restored respect for one another in male-female relationships were restored. What if the natural consequences, including stigma attached to divorce, abortion, broken families, of immorality were to come back? Would these constraints on our “anything goes so long as it feels good or doesn’t interfere with what I want at the moment” approach toward life be destructive or beneficial?

What if were to eliminate tenure and “retire-after-twenty-years-with-rest-of-life pensions-and-100%-healthcare-benefits-coverage” and restore the teaching profession to the noble one it once was? What if we taught kids to read using common sense phonics instead of “whole word” recognition. What if we went back to teaching arithmetic and insist there are right and wrong answers rather than “good tries”? What if we only gave real winners trophies? And what if we could once again celebrate victories instead of falling over backwards to ensure that losers’ feelings weren’t hurt? What if we were to show the movie “Rudy” to kids instead of some documentary on turning algae into fuel?

What if we once again started the school day with the Pledge of Allegiance, and allowed assemblies and the start of sporting events to be opened with prayer? And allowed the Star Spangled Banner to be sung at public events?

What if we didn’t reprimand kids for sitting “indian style” on the floor instead of “criss cross applesauce”?

What if we were to celebrate nuclear families again instead of “non-traditional” families? And what if we were to put the “boys” and “girls” or “men” and “women” signs back on bathroom doors?

Would that be so bad?

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts numerous times, our society seems so hell bent on meeting the needs of the few that we overlook, neglect and harm the many.

A Lost Generation

Education, Family, Religion, Society & Culture, Values

Once again someone has said it far better than I. Cal Thomas has hit the nail on the head. He describes in eloquent and persuasive terms what I have been saying, often sub-optimally, about the deterioration of traditional values, especially in today’s twenty-somethings…

In his piece entitled “Lost Generation abandoning traditional values” Thomas accurately describes the problem our nation faces from the attitudes of Generation Z. He cites a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll as lending credence to this assertion and then goes on to summarize, beautifully, everything I’ve been trying to say. Some excerpts from the Cal Thomas article:

“There are people in every generation who believe the generation following theirs is either going to the dogs or will ruin the country.

The founders and subsequent generations — perhaps excepting the Gilded Age and the horrors of slavery — mostly believed in the virtues younger people either now reject or approach with indifference.

How can this be? What has happened between the World War II generation, which gave so much so their children and grandchildren might enjoy the blessings of liberty, and the current generation, which seems cool to what once seemed to matter most?”

Generalizations are always problematic, but I have lived long enough and witnessed the general decline to make some.

Prosperity is one explanation. People who make more money than previous generations and possess a lot of stuff seem less inclined to participate in community (how many of us know our neighbors, who are here today and move tomorrow?). Stuff and the personal satisfaction of achievement lead to a decline in one’s need for God — too much money, too little purpose.

Politicians become a god-substitute and politics their religion. Creeping secularism has affected theological truth to the point where people can believe whatever they want — or nothing at all — and escape correction. Heresy, even apostasy, has infiltrated many churches.

Then there is culture. Younger people are exposed to what we collectively call “media” more than any previous generation. Most of what constitutes culture proceeds from a singular worldview that denigrates, or does not promote, patriotism, belief in God and values previous generations not only took for granted, but instilled in their children.

Unrestricted abortion has cheapened how many young people view the value of human life. For growing numbers of the young, marriage has become passé as children witness the pain of their parents’ divorce and decide that living together without a formal, legal or spiritual commitment is better than risking the cost and pain of ending a marriage. For some, children are viewed as a financial burden and an intrusion on adult lifestyles.

Sociologists and historians will tell us these things are cyclical, like weather. That has been true in the past when spiritual revivals often followed a fallow period of faithlessness and a focus on self. I’m not sure that cycle will repeat with younger people, given what they are taught at public schools and in liberal universities.

The values that shaped and sustained America through economic downturns and wars had to be taught and instilled in the next generation. Today’s younger people, as reflected in the poll, seem intent on making their own rules (if they can be called rules) and creating their own gods.

They will eventually learn the impossibility of it all as their substitutions will fail them. The question is can America survive when our moral, spiritual and patriotic foundations are destroyed? If you don’t love your country, what’s the point of having one?”

To illustrate precisely what Thomas is talking about, following is a sample of the comments to his article on the comment blog Reddit. THIS is what we’re up against. Profanity has been edited by me.

“AutoModerator🤖 Bot • 13h (Note from Grumps: Gotta laugh…as if the following warning is heeded…)        

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In general, be courteous to others. Attack ideas, not users. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any advocating or wishing death/physical harm, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban.

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aethsyn • 13h   

F*** traditional values.

58

pegothejerk • 13h          

They mean conservative values, traditional American values include genocide, cheating, broken treaties, protesting, rampant immigration, wars, poverty for most, etc.

I’d say those things are still here. The youth just isn’t into their bull***t religious dogma, rhetoric, and manipulation.

43

teyhan_bevafer • 12h    

Same author, earlier column:

God designed norms for behavior that are in our best interests. When we act outside those norms—such as for premarital sex, adultery, or homosexual sex—we cause physical, emotional, and spiritual damage to ourselves and to our wider culture. The unpleasant consequences of divorce and sexually transmitted diseases are not the result of intolerant bigots seeking to denigrate others. They are the result of violating God’s standards, which were made for our benefit. — Cal Thomas, “Immutable Morals”

What a f***ing sicko. Perfect for FOX

26

MSgtJohnCWoods • 12h              

Now I’m curious what insane, kinky s**t he’s into.

8

Continue Thread

Kkooopp • 9h    

Haha. Pedophile priests shaming us regular sinners.

3

casualphilosopher1 • 12h            

I wonder how his fellow Fox News columnists feel about that. I don’t think many of them follow his standards.

-2

VioletBeauregard:flag-va: Virginia • 13h

Gen X, Millenials, and Gen Z are “rejecting traditional values?”

More accurate headline is “Every generation younger than Baby Boomers is sick of patriarchal bulls**t.”

58

BilltheCatisBack • 12h   

I take offense. I am a Baby boomer hippie flower child and my generation really started the rejection of the traditional values. “ The times they are a changing. “

6

Continue Thread

gringostroh • 13h           

F**k Cal Thomas.

35

TedCruzsAnalFissure • 13h          

In his flabby face

9

Taman_Should • 12h     

“But muh traditional values!” they said, when slavery was abolished.

“But muh traditional values!” they said, when women got suffrage.

“But muh traditional values!” they said, when schools desegregated.

“But muh traditional values!” they said, when Martin Luther nailed on the church door.

12

1991560SEC • 12h          

I wonder why people are turning away from Christianity? Maybe because their “God” is a disgusting hateful p**k and so are his followers? Jesus and his kind ways and teachings about the poor and decent are dead to these a**holes. Look in the mirror Cal, YOU are the f**king problem.

17

__Parallax__ • 11h         

Modern “christians” have more in common with the pharisees and money changers than they do with the disciples of christ

8

heyhey922 • 13h            

This article is basically just Fox News crying over that millennials are entirely lost for the GOP and Gen Z currently look exactly like millennials.

15

jratcliff63367 • 13h        

Traditional values of hate against people of color and the LGBT community? Yeah…let’s hope so…

24

Tylorw09:flag-mo: Missouri • 12h            

Where my country hatred gone?

2

Cobrawine66 • 12h        

I’m happily abandoning “traditional values”.

7

archerjenn:flag-tx: Texas • 13h  

F**k Fox News.

None of these things sound bad to me.

21

Boleen • 13h     

Traditional American values such as Trump’s cheating on all three wives?

13

segvcore • 13h 

Cal Thomas! I’d forgotten about that sick f**k. Surprised he’s still around, not surprised that Fox pulled him up out of their gimp box.

13

Ill_Try_To_Be_Civil • 13h             

Yeah, I thought he was dead. He was exhausting and odious 20 years ago.

5

poloniumpanda:flag-us: America • 10h  

Says the party that sacrifced all they claimed to stand for to fellate trump and the Russians.

5

AthaanShadar • 13h       

Enlightened generation abandoning traditional american racist values

8

grandtheftdragon:flag-id: Idaho • 12h    

The fruits of traditional values abandoned us. What incentive is there for people under 35 to view “traditional values,” (whatever that is codeword for) to hold up in the same light as our forebears?

4

StopTheAltWhite • 12h 

Yeah, it’s called “crony capitalism eating up all income in America for the 1%.”

5

NormP • 12h     

A Fox News pundit talking about having values.

4

milqi:flag-ny: New York • 11h     

Wow. This entire piece reads like an angry grandpa on too much hooch.

3

prodigalpariah • 11h      

Racism misogyny and xenophobia?

3

mclumber1 • 13h            

Cal, don’t you support a guy who likes to “grab em by the p***y”?

7

Tylorw09:flag-mo: Missouri • 12h            

And who has been divorced 2 times!

Let’s read about Cal’s views on divorce…

God designed norms for behavior that are in our best interests. When we act outside those norms—such as for premarital sex, adultery, or homosexual sex—we cause physical, emotional, and spiritual damage to ourselves and to our wider culture. The unpleasant consequences of divorce and sexually transmitted diseases are not the result of intolerant bigots seeking to denigrate others. They are the result of violating God’s standards, which were made for our benefit. — Cal Thomas, “Immutable Morals”

3

tehmlem • 12h 

If there’s a lost generation it’s the boomers who took the values they were taught and warped them into a hateful, bigoted parody. Who abandoned freedom of expression, equal rights, and the highest standard of living in the world in favor of tradition, exclusion, and deprivation.

4

Ssider69 • 10h  

News flash….every generation changes their values. I’m not yet an old guy…but hardly young. I don’t think my peers would have shown up in large numbers to face off against neo Nazis (I often wonder exactly what it is those “boys” are so “proud” of). For that matter a HS student standing up to the jeers of very powerful adults in order to speak out against mass shootings in schools (btw, the grown ups that insulted this kid must be real proud of themselves…way better than popping a toddlers balloon!)

And that is patriotism. It is the act of trying to make your nation a better place.

2

schoocher • 9h 

GOP traditional “values”:

Patriotism: We all work together for the benefits of multi-nat corporations and the super-wealthy.

Religion: There is no god but my God and not other way to worship him then with my ingrained belief system of hate, intolerance, and greed.

2

GhostBalloons19:flag-us: America • 9h  

Traditional = Conservative which is a world view based on hate, fear and the status quo. So yeah.

2

Amartist19 • 13h            

What values? Racism? Bigotry? This country doesn’t seem to have any.

2

shelbys_foot • 13h         

The founders and subsequent generations — perhaps excepting the Gilded Age and the horrors of slavery — mostly believed in the virtues younger people either now reject or approach with indifference.

Seems to me they’re rejecting the New Gilded Age and the horrors of Trumpism.

3

hotbrownrain • 13h       

Props for choosing greed as the primary cause but beyond that Cal Thomas is a f**king chump.

2

deviltrombone • 13h     

“Cal” is Nadsat for “s**t.”

2

dogswontsniff • 9h         

Ah yes the hack from the newspaper. Smug, ignorant, intolerant ass.

1

LucidCharade • 3h          

[…]traditional American values like slavery, segregation, and internment camps. Those Ni****s and Japs should have known their place beneath us white men!

I finished that thought for you Cal, no worries. This one is free of charge.

●

ComradeGibbon • 2h     

TIL: Cal Thomas is still alive.

●

ViskerRatio • 13h            

Note that the ‘traditional American values’ they’re really talking about is valuing other people by participating in a community rather than merely pursuing self-absorption and narcissism.

And that should be worrisome for anyone. Not just from a “keep off my lawn” standpoint of old fogies, but from the younger generations who are going to fritter away their youth on pointless pursuits while not establishing the relationships they need to sustain themselves in old age.

-24

MSgtJohnCWoods • 13h              

valuing other people

By caging children, blocking health care access, institutionalizing racism, demeaning women and stripping their autonomy….

15

Continue Thread

ME24601:flag-pa: Pennsylvania • 11h     

valuing other people by participating in a community rather than merely pursuing self-absorption and narcissism.

*As long as said people fit one’s preconceived notion of who belongs to said community

The younger generation, meanwhile, wants to bring more people into the tent rather than force them to stay apart.”

While there are those who argue, “It’s their world, let them have it,” I choose to at least speak up, like Cal Thomas, and warn of the potential collapse of our country and our civilization. It’s spitting in the wind, perhaps, but I’d rather go down fighting in the hope that in some small way a remnant of the time-honored, proven principles I call traditional values will be preserved in my children and grandchildren.

Celebrating the Male Chauvinist Pig

America, Family, History, Morality, Politics, Reason, Religion, Society & Culture, Values

Compared to “misogynist”, “racist”, “homophobe”, “angry white male”, “supremacist, “PSM” (Pale, Stale, Male)… these days excoriating a traditional man as a “Male Chauvinist Pig” seems kind of quaint!

Back in the 60’s, while some of us were working our butts off, obeying the laws, seeking to get ahead, providing for our families, treating everyone with respect irrespective of their color, creed, religion, and holding doors open for women, others shed their steel capped shoes for birkenstocks, grew their hair long, wore tie-dye with beads around their necks and smoked dope. With the latter celebrated in song, dance and Hollywood, it’s no wonder that women eventually began to look with derision at limp-wristed washouts and loser men abrogating both their responsibilities and, well, their manhood.

Forced or at least compelled to pick up the slack, women, many whom really were discriminated against, took what has always been a battle – the “Battle of the Sexes” from a cold war to a kinetic one. What started in the early 1900’s as a demand for voting rights has now turned into vicious misandry.

Look up male chauvinist pig and you find it refers to men who think that women are inferior, objects to be used or kept like pets. The definition is now used by militant feminists as depicting ALL men, but particularly white men. And while we old white guys can laugh it off much as we do all the other Leftist hysteria and political correctness, the assault on men has now permeated pre-K and elementary schools, where normal boy behavior is denigrated and labeled “toxic masculinity.”  

Nicholas Chauvin, of course, was a legendary soldier in Napoleon’s army who was famously supportive of his emperor and his country. Chauvinism, therefore, meant patriotism but in the 60’s morphed into a pejorative label referring to bigotry or bias on the part of any man.

I believe actual MCP’s in our society are few and far between. Of course one can always find examples of men who treat women as inferior and exhibit truly reprehensible behavior, but the vast majority of men whom I’ve seen and encountered throughout our country, (and I’ve traveled widely) treat women with respect, dignity, sometimes even reverence, and always have!

Does the row of hard-hat construction boys with open lunchboxes ogle and smirk and occasionally whistle at the women walking by? Yes, and it’s more than just bad manners, but it isn’t male chauvinist pigism! Do the vast majority of them head home after work, help their wives get dinner on the table and the kids with their homework afterword? Yes, in my experience, that’s precisely what they do.

Boyhood is and has been under attack for some time. “All boys, especially white boys, are rebuked for their masculinity. They watch as girls are told they are special. They are told they are privileged, guilty, and must atone for their sins as if they are themselves were white supremacists. The expectation for white boys is that they should get in line behind girls, children of color, and illegal immigrants.” – Noel Anenberg, August 16, 2019, American Thinker, “Ideology, the Schools, and Murder: The McInerney/King Case“

Should women look at every man as a potential rapist or molester? Should men never again compliment a woman for any reason? Shall men allow themselves to shrivel up and just sit quietly in a corner while feminazis (my preferred term for the small minority of loud, bitter, militants who have hijacked the noble feminist agenda),  foment their warped ideology and escalate a battle that has resulted in anti-patriotism (e.g. the Women’s Soccer Team) and, for example, female quotas for football teams and military combat units?  

I think not.

Not too many years ago I held open a door for a woman who nastily said as she came through, “I can open it myself.” Should I have slammed it in her face? I felt like it, but no, in fact, we traditional men are going to have to suck it up and ride out this war, picking our battles and alternating between fighting and diplomacy, between stiffening our spines and quietly acquiescing, between speaking out against the male-bashing drivel and just staying quiet and letting the feminazis spew their venom. I’m heartened that traditional women are increasingly throwing down the BS flag on radical feminism and pushing back with “You don’t represent ME!”

In short, if holding to traditional views of gender roles, civil, polite and well-mannered manhood is being a Male Chauvinist Pig, please feel free to call me one!

“When the Left Snatches our Kids” – Verbatim Repost of an Exceptional (!) Article

America, Education, Entertainment, Family, Government, History, Morality, Politics, Reason, Religion, Society & Culture, Values

I pray it is not too late. I pray there are still places in our country where traditional values still prevail. But the other day I read an article in American Thinker: “When the Left Snatches our Kids” by Sally Zelikovsky, to whom all credit is due, that so closely reflects my fears that I’m going to “retweet it”, i.e. reproduce it in full. It is precisely the kind of alarm I’ve been trying to raise for my own children and grandchildren. It isn’t so much prescriptive as a call to arms. It succinctly rifles to the crux of all that’s going wrong with our society.

While I’ve been careful to distinguish between Conservative and Traditional in my writings, one could do a cut and paste, replacing the word Traditional with Conservative in the article and it would remain spot on. The italics are mine.

“I am skeptical that our efforts as conservative parents to produce conservative offspring will materialize.  Even with the best of intentions, the odds are not in our favor to successfully counter the Democrat-Media Complex, the educational system, and pop culture. That doesn’t mean there aren’t success stories (some in my own family), but I hear more about the failure and the disaffection it engenders in conservative families.

Conservative parents have learned the hard way that how your kids turn out depends on a host of factors that, at some point during the maturation process, are way beyond our control — friends, personal experiences, a particular book or documentary, brain chemistry, friends, a teacher/professor/boss, personality, a romantic relationship, college activities, pop culture, hobbies, and…friends.  Usually, it’s not one but an amalgamation of several factors and presto chango!  The kid who was once the lone conservative arguing at the lunch table, now thinks David Hogg and AOC are bitchin’. 

We see them everywhere — the emaciated college-age vegans working at Starbucks, hysterical young girls pounding on Supreme Court doors, attractive anti-Semites leading the charge in Congress.  I’m sure some of them had conservative upbringings — you cannot assume they were all raised by liberals.  Yet, in her reporting about out-of-control liberal college students some time ago, I heard Laura Ingraham link their behavior to their upbringing.  Only a parent whose children hadn’t yet attended high school could make such an absurd connection.  We can try but we cannot guarantee what our children will believe.  

Once again, I find myself referencing Red Scare movies like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It resonates.  We have to be vigilant, stay informed, understand the arguments of the other side and how to combat them.  If we don’t, eventually the pods take us over.  I graduated high school a Reagan Republican whose political arguments were admittedly my Dad’s.  When I arrived at a competitive college filled with smart, often private-school educated Merit scholars, I lost every political debate. I just didn’t have the breadth of information and understanding of history to counter their arguments.  Thus, I graduated college…a Democrat.  In time, I fell back on those critical thinking skills my parents instilled in me.  A desire to understand more as I graduated from law school and entered the work force, led me to self-educate and, eventually, return to my conservative roots. 

That was also in the ‘80s and early ‘90s when life was simpler and more balanced: when “gay marriage” was still an oxymoron; before triggers and safe spaces, the internet, social media, doom and gloom “climate change,” and legalized pot; before we had an alphabet of sexualities to choose from and the ability to change sexes; before blended families became the norm; before hatred became the quintessential reason for all of society’s ills.  

Not all teachers and professors were proselytizing progressives, the media was less corrupt, and your politics were not a factor in getting or retaining a job.  Because of the deep societal changes since then, not every Millennial or Gen Xer has the wherewithal, the background, or the backbone to recognize and then punch back against the forces of propaganda, fess up to and toil with their own ignorance, or simply engage in respectful debate with those who have another point of view — no matter how steeped in conservatism their childhood. 

I am not suggesting we stop lecturing our children about competing points of view, stop teaching them to be skeptical about what they learn in school or from their peers, or stop challenging the false orthodoxies they are barraged with on virtually every topic from sexuality to climate, energy to food, and national security to border security.  We should continue to bang the drum.  We must.  And we must remain hopeful that someday those we lost will return to the conservative fold because they see the wisdom of conservative principles.  But for all of you young parents out there who think you’ll do better than those before you, be prepared for disappointment. 

The conservative path is littered with the bodies of well-intentioned parents who are devastated when their formerly straight kids come out of imaginary closets, transition to the opposite sex, or demand to be called “they”; when their Jewish Day School educated children announce their support for the BDS movement; when their evangelical  children support blatant infanticide; when their happy, well-adjusted kids go off to college and return believing weed is innocuous, struggling with drug addiction, or suffering from mental illness. 

These cultural maladies affect liberals and conservatives alike, but are unusually bitter pills for conservatives to swallow because they are packaged in a lifestyle and value system antithetical to everything we teach our children — resilience, pride, integrity, honesty, open-mindedness, self-reliance, individuality, taking responsibility for our actions, doing right when we screw up, and teaching a man to fish.  Liberals cast us as hypocrites whose principles clash with reality, but what they don’t understand is that we believe in taking responsibility for and learning from our missteps so we constantly evolve into better beings (and don’t get mired in unbridled, misplaced hatred and lifelong victimhood).

Secondly, conservative parents are treated by their children with a level of hostility that doesn’t seem to afflict liberal parents with conservative children.  Loving, nurturing conservative parents find themselves catapulted to Holocaust-denier status and demoted to homophobic, intolerant, racist, privileged, religious zealots.  Relics of an oppressive past. It is painful when your kids reject everything you raised them to value. Despise you. Scoff at you. Turn against you. Align with your political foes. Resent you for brainwashing them with yourhateful, 1950‘s agenda.

Now, some of that is typical teenage/young adult angst and rebellion.  When frontal lobes are soothed by the right combination of hormones and our insecure little monsters segue into more confident adults, those nasty side effects often dissipate. But much of the antipathy they are exposed to is encouraged by “the man” in the liberal camp — we’ll call him “the burning man.”  He instructs us to hate authority, hate anything established, hate tradition, hate the moral code you grew up with, hate anyone who is white or successful, and hate those who embrace any of this. Hence, hate your parents.  Hate your old neighborhood.  They are the problem.  And while today all you have to do is oppose them, someday you might have to actively go against them, even “turn them in.” The burning man says this is okay because you are right and the end justifies the means. I’m not being paranoid. Our entire educational system is based on appropriating the minds of our children and undoing all they have learned at home, turning them into weapons of mass societal destruction in the burning man’s toolbox. 

We have all participated in holiday dinners and family vacations ruined by dissension and door-slamming.  Family harmony devolves into family discord, function into dysfunction, and closeness morphs into estrangement.  Parents are instructed to just shut up already! Politics and religion are off the table.  Dinner conversations revolve around silly cat videos and trivial drivel.  Soon there is little left to discuss.  After all, everything is political now — from your sneakers to your bus commute during Pride Month. 

Once upon a time, we could fall back on cultural interests like music, movies, theater, travel, and sports to avoid potentially explosive conversations at family gatherings about politics and religion.  Now, virtue signaling is so ubiquitous that everything seems to fall into the Realm of the verboten.  It becomes more and more difficult to find common ground.  Constructive input I like your haircut and simple questions Did you decide on a major?  What are you doing for break? How do you like your job? are potential triggers.  Family get togethers are so contentious there is an increasing tendency to minimize interactions.  Even life’s big “hatching, matching, and dispatching” events are often fraught with tension — relatives who couldn’t be seated together because of some family squabble are now separated because one has a worldview the other finds detestable.

Some parents give in. They don’t want politics or values to stand in the way of their relationships with their kids, so they re-visit their Weltanschauung.  Constant pressure from your 20-year-old bubelah goes a long way towards re-educating Mom and Dad. Senator Rob Portman was against gay marriage until his son came out and then… he evolved.  I’d rather fight than switch is a paean to another time. 

This is nothing new.  Many parents drank the Kool-Aid and became part of the 60s counterculture their children brought home.  Ironically, many of their hippie children became yuppies and did the unthinkable — morphed into their conservative parents.  Hmm.  I suppose we can be clear-eyed about the transformative societal and political forces pulling our children away from conservatism, at the same time we cling to the hope that our liberal progeny will switch and fight for conservative principles and maybe even cling to their bibles and the Constitution, too.”

Wish I could have said it like that!

Comment by DOC DURACOAT August 3, 2019:
“All you people should move to Boca Raton, Florida! Our public high school has been rated A for the last 10 years straight. We have a very active ROTC program, and it is routine to see these kids in the halls wearing military uniforms. The flag is respected, everyone stands for the pledge of allegiance, even the minority students. Graduation rates and college acceptance rates are very high. 

Discipline is enforced, disrupting class is not tolerated. My kids and their friends all graduated as sports playing, modest dressing, great conservative kids. Come on down and bring your guns and bibles! Your kids will graduate with a great education and strong conservative moral values.”


Traditional Values, Traditionalists and Traditionalism

America, Government, History, Morality, Politics, Reason, Religion, Society & Culture

Attributed to the American author Samuel R. Delany is the phrase “Words mean things.” Hijacking words and phrases is a powerful tool in the arsenal of the demagogue. And the twisting of usage and meaning into pretzels has always been a favorite device of politicians and pundits. With this in mind, I thought I should explain what I mean when I refer in my writing to Traditional Values, Traditionalists and Traditionalism.

Look up Traditionalism and you’ll receive a panoply of descriptions and definitions. One of the first articles that comes up from a search is: “a school of thought promulgated by a group of 20th and 21st century thinkers who believe in the existence of perennial wisdom, or perennial philosophy, primordial and universal truths which form the source for, and are shared by, all the major world religions.” Look further and one goes through the looking glass and into a rabbit warren of definitions in the context of societal norms, religion, philosophy, economics, culture, etc.

In 1964 Supreme Court Justice Potter Steward famously described obscenity (or rather, what it is not) as follows:

“I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description [“hard-core pornography”], and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that.”

Jacobellis v. Ohio 378 U.S. 184 (1964)

Borrowing on that phrase, I will suggest that Traditionalism may be defined in a variety of ways, but in the end, Traditionalists know it when they see it.

However, a shortcut to how I define Traditionalism is: that body of ideals, values and mores that we were raised on by the Greatest Generation.

Speaking of the Greatest Generation, one of the definitions of Traditionalists refers to those who were born between 1900 and 1945. I believe it is precisely because of their espousal of Traditional Values that they were Great!

We Baby Boomers born between 1946 and 1964 on the other hand, are split into two camps: a) those of us who listened to what our Greatest Generation parents taught us, who were grateful for the peace and prosperity they bequeathed to us and who have tried to live our lives by their example and rules; and, b) the prodigals, the “Me” generation of the sexual revolution who grew up to be the radicals of the 70’s and the yuppies of the 80’s, a few of whom have come home to Traditionalism and the balance of whom have become today’s Leftists.

So what do I mean by Traditional Values? Often the term is conflated with “Family Values.” They are similar, but Traditionalism goes beyond Family Values. To me, Traditional Values include support for:

  • individual freedom to live as we wish within the basic constraints of Judeo-Christian principles;
  • the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights as they were intended for then and all future generations;
  • fundamental patriotism, including honoring our Flag, national symbols, anthems and emblems;
  • a strong military and national defense and protection of our sovereignty;
  • the right of self-defense and to keep, bear and utilize arms to ensure that right;
  • obeying the Law and supporting those who serve in law enforcement;
  • marriage defined as between one man and one woman (including acceptance of the biological fact that men and women are different!);
  • support for nuclear families consisting of a father and mother and their children;
  • freedom of worship and expression;
  • the Golden Rule;
  • support for and defense of free-market capitalism;
  • equal opportunity, not equal outcomes; and,
  • separation of powers within a limited, and republican government.

Traditional Values also include opposition to: 

  • social engineering and bad (many wouldsay EVIL) social, economic and political ideologies such as socialism and communism;
  • crony capitalism;
  • ‘free love’ and promiscuity;
  • abortion on demand and in lieu of contraception;
  • gender confusion;
  • LGBTQ militancy;
  • fascism masquerading as liberal or progressive free expression;
  • violent protest; and,
  • collectivism, globalism, cultural marxism and so-called “progressivism”.

The Greatest Generation didn’t have to think about or debate these principles – they lived them. They were part of the fabric of their society.

Today, these principles are under constant assault.

I used to teach a lesson in Sunday School using a glass of water and a dropper full of black ink. The water represented our souls. In the context of this article, it represents the reservoir of societal values. The black drops of ink I slowly added to the water represent, for purposes of this article, Progressive/Leftist ideas, norms, habits, values. Add one drop to the water and nothing seems to happen. As successively more drops are added, however, the water starts to turn grey, then greyer, murky, and finally black.

The metaphor aptly describes what’s happening to our country.

I hope and pray I’m joined by the Silent Majority of our Boomer generation and budding Traditionalists of succeeding generations in fighting for a return to the Traditional principles that made us the greatest nation on earth and in the history of the world.

The United Church of Earth

Reason, Religion, Society & Culture

Environmentalism, or what we used to call Conservation in saner days, has become, for all intents and purposes, a religion. There is little difference between the fire and brimstone sermons of fundamentalist preachers and what’s emerging from the mouths of the spokesmen of today’s increasingly popular faith: The Green Movement. I hasten to insist that I’m not denigrating religion. I’m merely pointing out that we need to call and treat worship of the environment and Mother Earth what it is, and push back on the nonsense that it’s science.

As with most subjects, the First Law of Experts (which see) applies here. I don’t need to produce a list of all the PhD’s and world-renowned “authorities” who can cite irrefutable, documented, empirical evidence that climate change is man-made and that we are going to use up Mother Earth’s resources within ten years (that goal post, by the way, has been moved at least five times in just MY lifetime!), and that we must immediately ban the use of all fossil fuels, stop eating meat so we can destroy our flatulent cow population, etc.

Could we all check the hysteria for a minute and remember what we were taught in 6th grade science about the scientific method and photosynthesis?

Two of the principles underlying the scientific method are reproducibility and repeatability – a hypothesis or theory doesn’t even become a tendency, much less a law, unless the theory can be tested in a controlled setting. Know any environmentalists who’ve been able to prove any of their “settled science” using the scientific method? Of course not. What they’ve done is “interpret data”. But not only is the data crap, a lot of it has been falsified or just been made up. Again, I won’t enumerate all the environmental data scams that have been foisted upon us.

As for “carbon footprints” and all the nonsense about reducing CO2 emissions. Remember what our 6th grade science teacher taught us happens to plants at night? Oh yes…in photosynthesis they TAKE IN carbon dioxide and produce OXYGEN…kind of important for life on Earth. Oh, and “Greenhouse Gas”? Guess what is far and away the most prevalent one. Water Vapor! Sigh…and that ain’t man made.

True believers can ignore the scientific method of course and forget 6th grade science because they absolutely, fundamentally BELIEVE what their environmentalist, Earth-worshipping prophets and pastors have taught them. They can feel it in their bones. They’ve seen it on Insta-gram; they’ve heard it from Al Roker who has given his testimony of having “witnessed it first-hand”, and they have had it confirmed by the most authoritative source of all, Twitter!

Not just the First Law of Experts but also the law that “He who has the loudest megaphone wins in the court of public opinion,” also applies. One of the huge downsides of the Internet and the age of Social Media has been the placing of 1,000 watt amplifiers in the hands of so many fringe lunatics. With the right catch phrases and the most outrageous attention grabbers, United Church of Earth congregants have fanned out to proselytize and saturate the airwaves.

And so as we must with so many insidious movements today, let’s follow the money. Oh wait, it’s darn near impossible to do that! Many investigative journalists and truth-seeking organizations have tried. What we get as a result of their painstaking effort is a spiderweb on top of a patchwork of money and influence connections that all reveal the same m.o.: power hungry politicians and megalomaniacal globalists bent on control receiving “just a sliver” of the money flying around, much of it extorted or extracted from businesses or the public from influence-peddling (think the Clinton Foundation). They’ve succeeded in making even Mother Earth a victim, and if you’ll just text $10 to them, they’ll fight those nasty corporations and people on the Right who are exploiting her! 

I urge everyone to take 3 minutes to read the Heritage Foundation commentary that puts it far better than I can. It can be found here.

The Green Movement, Climate Change, Environmentalism…whatever you call it… listen to its sermons, read its writings, contemplate and ponder what its acolytes are testifying at your own risk, and use your own judgment as to whether you’ll put money in its Church donation tray on Sunday, or give it to, say, The Gary Sinise Foundation. I’ll go with Gary Sinise. 

God Matters

Religion, Society & Culture

First, if you don’t believe in God or a Supreme Being, I’m not going to convince you there is one. But if you don’t, I urge you to go the country on a cloudless, moonless and no-light-pollution night and look up at the sky. Think of what you learned about probability and try to imagine what the probability is that we’re alone in the universe. To me it’s preposterous to suggest that there ISN’T a God!

God matters because He and His teachings are the basis for the standards by which we need to measure and conduct our lives – the basics of right and wrong, of good and evil, of truth and falsehood. The specifics of whether he is the Jewish God, or Catholic God, or Mormon God, or Muslim God is less relevant if one considers that virtually all religions and dogma subscribe to the fundamentals we know as the Ten Commandments. Without standards, there is only chaos, and without God, there are no standards.

God also matters because we need humility. Without humility, arrogance and the temptation to lord over others takes hold.  With all our advances, and with our advances coming at an increasing rate, it’s easy to see why we think we’re pretty special. It’s led to many people just assuming we don’t need God. And, since the array of circumstances we face vary widely, it’s tempting to think we’re better than someone who is less fortunate or who lives in less favorable circumstances than we. We need God to remind us that we’re really all just specs of dust and mustn’t get too big for our britches.

God matters because we need fellowship. Worshipping a Supreme Being with others who believe as we do gives us a sense of belonging that transcends ethnicity, politics, economic circumstances and all our other differences. We simply don’t do well by ourselves, as much as we’d sometimes like to think we do. Gathering together to acknowledge, pay homage to and invoke the blessings of God brings us together and helps us smooth those differences out.

God matters because we need to understand gratitude. Not to suggest for a second that I agree with anything Obama ever said, but borrowing on his phrase “You didn’t build that,” if you have success, comforts, joy, love, uplifting experiences and peace in your life, “you didn’t build that.” God had a hand in helping you. A dramatic sunset, a spectacular night sky…God (and most certainly not the government as Obama was suggesting) built those, not us. We need to be grateful.

Finally, God matters because there exist laws in the universe that we simply don’t understand yet. Notwithstanding the brilliant minds of scientists and philosophers, we still can’t say what happened BEFORE the Big Bang. And we still can’t comprehend an endless, infinite universe. Believing and trusting that there is a Being out there who knows more than we do and who has, who can, and who in the future can communicate His knowledge and expose new truth to us is not only comforting, but exciting. We should continuously try to get to know Him.

We need to look up at those stars from time to time and remember how small we really are…how insignificant compared to the vastness and power of an infinite universe and return to thinking about how we’re ALL related and need to help one another.

Today we know so much more than our grandparents new. And tomorrow, our grandchildren will know so much more than we do. Gaining knowledge with the help of a God who can reveal things to us and give us guidance as we progress…matters.

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