By CHRISTOPHER MANION
Since ancient times, symbols have been central to religion and politics. A symbol is worth a thousand words, and the subject has inspired extensive study.
One way to look at a symbol is to see it as a crucible: on the outside, we see a visible sign that is widely recognized as meaningful. On the inside, the symbol’s contents represent the articulation of an important reality that has come to be understood by a community over the course of centuries or even millennia.
Because of the significance of symbols, they are often the prime targets of those intent on destroying the reality that the symbol embodies. The recent wave of statue vandalism offers a vivid example. The statues represent not only historic figures, but a particular understanding of history itself, and the prominent roles of those figures in making it.
Some dates — take July 4 — are symbolic as well. But some are targets because of that status. While the year 1776, represents a newborn nation conceived in liberty to many Americans, recent dissenters insist on replacing it with 1619, a year which, they claim, serves as a symbol of a nation fatally infected with the sin of “racism.”
Many language symbols are so imbedded in a people that the destroyers pervert them, rather than erasing or replacing them. In such cases they are purged of their historical content, but with the label on the outside of the crucible preserved. The empty vessel can then be filled with a vast variety of poisons, perversions, and crimes.
Consider: “The Democratic People’s Republic of (North) Korea”; the “right” to abortion.
And many objects are powerful symbols as well. We recall the historical impact of President Jimmy Carter giving Communist Hungary the Crown of St. Stephen in 1978, or Pope Francis having a bowl of earth associated with the pagan goddess Pachamama placed on the Altar of the Confessio in St. Peter’s Basilica two years ago.
Some symbols are so sacred that hijackers use them to use as weapons in an effort to destroy the reality they represent. If they can denigrate, abuse, corrupt, or vilify the symbol, they are well on the way to destroying the reality that the symbol represents.
Caesar Winks
Catholics believe that the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Joe Biden doesn’t deny that. In fact, in confirming it, his defiance of Canon 915 demonstrates even more powerfully that his authority is superior to that of Holy Mother Church.
Since the Church is inseparable from Christ, Biden’s defiance of the Church’s law defending the Eucharist defiles Christ Himself.
Meanwhile, Christ’s ministers on Earth dither, quake, and tremble.
Biden’s intransigence thus affirms not only Caesar’s superior power, but his superior authority — all while receiving the imprimatur, in the form of a meek placet, from a spineless hierarchy that flees in fear.
With this blunt and brazen sacrilege, Biden broadcasts this message to the world. Why, Pope Francis himself has given him Communion, he brags. Flaunting this blessing, he boldly establishes the “authority” for his administration’s ongoing corruption not only of the symbols of the Faith, but of its moral content, beginning with the Ten Commandments and finishing with the public profaning of God’s highest gift — Christ Himself — delivered from the hand of a Successor of St. Peter.
It is Biden’s version of Louis XIV’s “Divine Right of Kings.” With it, Biden flaunts the trappings of the Faith while thrusting a dagger in its heart.
But Caesar can’t simply leave it there. By obstinately persisting in manifest grave sin, Biden turns canon 915 on its head: The scandal is no longer that this “practicing Catholic” routinely indulges in the sacrilegious reception of the Eucharist, but that the Church should dare to challenge his power to do so by threatening to bar him from the altar rail.
And Catholic Joe has plenty of prelates to cite as his authority. Why, enforcing Canon 915 “politicizes” the Eucharist! In fact, for them, the Eucharist (and thus everything else) is political. Augustine’s limits on the power of the state are repealed, and everything is permitted.
When some 60 Catholic members of the House condemned the bishops’ “weaponization of the Eucharist” for pro-abortion Democrats last week, Cong. Jared Huffman (D., Calif.), who was the American Humanist Association’s “2020 Humanist of the Year,” upped the ante.
“If they’re going to politically weaponize religion by ‘rebuking’ Democrats who support women’s reproductive choice, then a ‘rebuke’ of their tax-exempt status may be in order,” he tweeted last Friday.
So Catholic Democrat members of the House insist on the right to break the rules of the Church. But will their insolence persist when it comes to the Rules of the House?
Tune in next week to see if all rules are created equal.
Detritus
“As homicides soar nationwide, mayors see few options for regaining control,” reports The Washington Post. But can the Blue-City Bible report otherwise?
The Post can’t criticize mayors who encourage looting, invite mayhem, defund the police, and look the other way when Black Lives Matter arsonists burn down black neighborhoods. All that is a “myth,” says House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D., N.Y.). So, the Post sighs, the “increased killing may be here to stay.”
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is Exhibit A. On Father’s Day weekend, over fifty people were shot in the Windy City, and five were killed. The Chicago Tribune reports that, as of June 14, 1,587 people have been shot in the city this year. Most of the shootings occur in the city’s black community. They’ve become so common that they merit little attention from the legacy media.
Meanwhile, Chicago’s police unions complain about long hours and severe staff shortages, while Lightfoot turns a blind eye to looting on Lake Shore Drive and insists that “downtown Chicago” is still safe. Other major cities, from New York to Los Angeles, also report a sharp rise in homicides, while their Democrat mayors and prosecutors refuse to enforce the law and return criminals to the streets, often released without bond and never brought to trial.
In other news, a reporter from GoLocalProvidence asked U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.) about his family’s membership in the all-white private Bailey’s Beach Club in Newport.
“You had remarks on the floor following the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd on systemic racism in the country,” the reporter asked “Your thoughts on an elite, all-white, wealthy club in this day and age. Should these clubs continue to exist?”
“It’s a long tradition in Rhode Island,” Whitehouse replied, “and there are many of them, and I think we just need to work our way through the issues.”
Systemic indeed.
And an official email to Breitbart News explains, sort of, a recent event: “Nellis Air Force Base and the 99th Air Base Wing hosted its first-ever drag show Thursday, June 17, at the Nellis Club. The event was sponsored by a private organization and provided an opportunity for attendees to learn more about the history and significance of drag performance art within the LGBT+ community.
“Ensuring our ranks reflect and are inclusive of the American people is essential to the morale, cohesion, and readiness of the military. Nellis Air Force Base is committed to providing and championing an environment that is characterized by equal opportunity, diversity, and inclusion.”
In addition to strengthening unit cohesion, morale, and military readiness among members of the U.S. Armed Forces, the news will undoubtedly strike terror in the hearts of the members of Communist China’s Peoples Liberation Army Air Force.
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