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Court Ruling Threatens Home, Savings Of Christian Florist

February 23, 2015 Featured Today Comments Off on Court Ruling Threatens Home, Savings Of Christian Florist

KENNEWICK, Wash. — A state judge ruled February 18 that Washington floral artist and grandmother Barronelle Stutzman must provide full support for wedding ceremonies that are contrary to her faith — a decision at odds with the views of most Americans according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. The court claims that Stutzman’s referral of a longtime customer to another business for floral design and support for a same-sex ceremony violated Washington law. The court also ruled recently that both the state and the same-sex couple, who each filed lawsuits against her, may collect damages and attorneys’ fees not only from her business, but from Stutzman personally. That means the 70-year-old grandmother may not only lose her business, but also…Continue Reading

Not An Invention Of Communism

February 22, 2015 Featured Today Comments Off on Not An Invention Of Communism

By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK Unless I miss my guess, large numbers of Catholics loyal to the Magisterium were happy to see the excerpts from Pope Francis’ interview with Vatican writers Andrea Tornielli and Giacomo Galeazzi in the Italian newspaper La Stampa on January 11. In that interview, the Pope made clear that the statements he has made over the past months critical of global capitalism and calling for greater assistance for the poor should not be seen as a sign of Marxist leanings. Francis stressed that concern for the poor “is not an invention of Communism,” but a central element of the Catholic faith, citing the passage from the Gospel of Matthew: “I was hungry, I was thirsty, I was…Continue Reading

Media Assisted Cultural Suicide

February 21, 2015 Featured Today Comments Off on Media Assisted Cultural Suicide

By DONALD DeMARCO The January 22, 2015 March for Life in Washington, D.C., drew an estimated 500,000 pro-life supporters. Christopher White, a fellow of the Paul Ramsey Institute, has lamented the fact that that “major media outlets largely ignored the March over the past decade” (“The 40-Year March for Life,” The Human Life Review, winter, 2013, p. 36). He had specifically in mind The Washington Post, The New York Times, and USA Today. Apparently not all news is deemed newsworthy. It is difficult for any fair-minded person to believe that an event that has been taking place for more than 40 years, and has consistently drawn huge gatherings, should receive such paucity of media attention. The Washington Post, for one,…Continue Reading

Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion . . . Candidly Reveals Fractious Divisions Within Orthodoxy

February 20, 2015 Featured Today Comments Off on Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion . . . Candidly Reveals Fractious Divisions Within Orthodoxy

By JAMES LIKOUDIS One of the leading figures of the Russian Orthodox Church is Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. A noted theologian, patristic scholar, church historian, and talented composer whose musical works have been honored with performances at the Vatican, the Russian metropolitan has been the voice of Russian Orthodox ecumenism in addresses before Protestant and Catholic audiences in many Western countries. He has proved an eloquent speaker before the World Council of Churches, the theological commission of the Swiss Catholic Bishops Conference, and most recently, has addressed the Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on Pastoral Challenges to the Family in the Context of…Continue Reading

Putin Paranoia

February 19, 2015 Featured Today Comments Off on Putin Paranoia

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN Hopefully, the shaky truce between Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko, brokered in Minsk by Angela Merkel, will hold. For nothing good, but much evil, could come of broadening and lengthening this war that has cost the lives of 5,400 Ukrainians. The longer it goes on, the greater the casualties, the more land Ukraine will lose, and the greater the likelihood Kiev will end up an amputated and bankrupt republic, a dependency the size of France on the doorstep of Europe. Had no truce been achieved, 8,000 Ukrainian troops trapped in the Debaltseve pocket could have been forced to surrender or wiped out, causing a regime crisis in Kiev. U.S. weapons could have begun flowing in,…Continue Reading

Did God Determine The Outcome Of The Super Bowl?

February 18, 2015 Featured Today Comments Off on Did God Determine The Outcome Of The Super Bowl?

By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK I haven’t thought about the question of whether God determines the winner in athletic competitions since I was a high school freshman. When I was in elementary school in the 1950s, I routinely would make the Sign of the Cross before I took a foul shot in a basketball game. I wasn’t the only one. Large numbers of Catholic basketball players, including those who played at the college level, would cross themselves quickly just before taking a foul shot. If memory serves, I can remember watching on television the All-American and eventual NBA player Billy Cunningham doing it while playing for the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. It was just part of the routine, like…Continue Reading

Culture Of Life 101 . . . “Contraceptive Brief: Are Condoms Effective?” (Continued)

February 17, 2015 Featured Today Comments Off on Culture Of Life 101 . . . “Contraceptive Brief: Are Condoms Effective?” (Continued)

By BRIAN CLOWES Part 3 (Editor’s Note: Brian Clowes has been director of research and training at Human Life International since 1995. For an electronic copy of the book The Case Against Condoms, e-mail him at bclowes@hli.org.) + + + There is not a lot of debate about the best way to stop or stem the AIDS epidemic, but there certainly should be. The “family planners” have based their entire modus operandi on a flawed premise — that people are basically animals that cannot control themselves. Tragically, this assumption has led to millions of deaths. Clinical studies are essential, but there is nothing like real-world experience to settle a scientific debate. There are several such scenarios in the developing world…Continue Reading

Death Is Coming To Canada

February 16, 2015 Featured Today Comments Off on Death Is Coming To Canada

By DONALD DeMARCO The Supreme Court of Canada, on February 6, 2015, by a 9-0 ruling, struck down the ban on physician-assisted suicide. The ruling gives Parliament a year to draft new legislation that recognizes the right of clearly consenting adults who are enduring intolerable pain, either physical or mental, to request medical help to end their lives. The decision is decidedly controversial and sets into focus, once again, the debate between advocates of the sanctity of life and those who stand by a quality of life ethic. The nine judges may not reflect the mind of the majority of Canadian citizens. They do reflect, however, a mood that has been gaining strength in the country for some time. It…Continue Reading

A Modern Fable

February 15, 2015 Featured Today Comments Off on A Modern Fable

By DONALD DeMARCO Everything was just fine in Happy Valley. People worked hard, cooperated with each other, and lived by the Good Book. Plenty of food was available and there was enough work for everyone. And then, without any sign of expectation, it happened. A mother, who had grown impatient with her son’s carelessness around the house, called him “lazy.” The father concurred. The word was fully justified for the son left his dirty clothes on the floor, rarely made his bed, and was often late for meals. But the word stung the boy and he reacted in a surprising way. “I am offended,” said the boy. “I am not lazy. I just have more important things to do.” The…Continue Reading

Neither Left Nor Right, But Catholic… Perpetuating Ineffective Anti-Poverty Programs

February 14, 2015 Featured Today Comments Off on Neither Left Nor Right, But Catholic… Perpetuating Ineffective Anti-Poverty Programs

By STEPHEN M. KRASON (Editor’s Note: Stephen M. Krason’s “Neither Left nor Right, but Catholic” column appears monthly [sometimes bimonthly]. He is professor of political science and legal studies and associate director of the Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life at Franciscan University of Steubenville. He is also co-founder and president of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists. Among his books is The Transformation of the American Democratic Republic [Transaction Publishers, 2012], and most recently two edited volumes: Child Abuse, Family Rights, and the Child Protective System [Scarecrow Press, 2013] and The Crisis of Religious Liberty [Rowman & Littlefield, 2014]. This column originally appeared in Crisismagazine.com. All rights reserved.) + + + The Obama presidency has been distinguished for…Continue Reading