“No Establishment” Exists to Serve “Free Exercise”

Fr. Richard John Neuhaus has been writing an outstanding series on the primacy of the free exercise clause of the First Amendment. 

Once we forget that no-establishment is a means and instrument in support of free exercise, it is a short step to talking about the supposed conflict or tension between the two provisions. And from there it is a short step to the claim, as it has been claimed in numerous court decisions, that the two parts of the religion clause are “pitted against one another” and must somehow be “balanced.”

And from there it is but another short step to the idea that the no-establishment provision protects “secular liberty” while the free exercise provision protects “religious liberty.” When the religion clause is construed according to this curious inversion, it is no surprise that religious liberty comes out the loser. Any impingement of religion upon public life is taken to violate the secular liberty of the non-religious. Thus has no-establishment become the master of the free exercise that it was designed to serve.

Full article here.

 

At Noah’s Bagels…

…yesterday, I went in about noonish after Mass for two dozen bagels to feed the hungry mob at home.  I was really pleasantly supplied at how well-stocked they were with all our favorites– usually noon on a Sunday means pretty slim pickings at the bagel store.

But not yesterday.  Overflowing bins.

So I give the man my order, and as he finishes boxing it up, he asks if we’ve pre-ordered any challah bread.

Huh?  “No,” I say, “Just the bagels and a cup of coffee.”

“So,” he says, “These are for tomorrow?”

Double Huh?!??!?  “No,” I say, “they’re for my eight children sitting at home waiting for their lunch!”

Then, the light dawns, and I ask, ”Is tomorrow Rosh Hashanah?”  Sure enough…

You know, I grew up in New York.  Time was, I would’ve figured out where this was all going as soon as the words “challah bread” left his mouth.  How California changes people…

 

To Commemorate “Talk Like a Pirate Day”

Aaarrggghh!

 

Orissa is still burning. And now Karnataka too…

Pray for our persecuted brethren.  May the blood of the martyrs be the seed of the church. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fears mount for India’s Christians as violence spreads.

 

Sarah’s Law

 

It was seven years ago today…

Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.

And if you are able, donate blood.

 

That about sums it up for me

Haven’t posted in ages, but I couldn’t let this brilliant bit of writing from Steve Skojec pass unnoticed:

Abortion is not an issue on which reasonable people can disagree. It is either murder, or it is not. Logic, not belief, dictates that an unborn child is a human being, although it seems that only those with faith still retain sufficient logic to see the connection. Sin, we know, obfuscates reason (I’ve certainly seen that at work in my own life) and if that is not what is at work in these instances I can’t fathom what is. I don’t mean to argue that liberals are unintelligent, or even that they are horrible people. I know quite a few who are very respectable, very smart individuals whose intellects seem to have been twisted into violating the principle of non-contradiction on this issue. Again, either it is a human, or it is not. It can’t simply be a human if we want it to be, and not a human if we don’t want it to be. The notion of “choice” without reference to what a person is choosing (and what that choice entails) is the most extreme and horrific form of intellectual dishonesty imaginable.

There’s more where that came from– click through and keep reading.

Oh yeah.  And did I call it on Sarah Palin  back in April or what???

 

The Price of Liberty is Eternal Vigilance

Go and read The Anchoress.  She’s on a roll today. 

…The press has voluntarily surrendered its own freedom in order to advance the stifling cause of political correctness and the endless restrictions on liberty to which PC is dedicated. When Al Gore can tell the press not to report dissenting scientific opinion on global warming, and the press dutifully obeys, that press is no longer free. When the press silences itself rather than report good news, that press is no longer free.

I know this story is about Canada, but Americans had better pay attention, this is not about a nation; it’s about a mindset. This story and the next one are about what you might call the United Far-Left States, which is multinational, borderless and faithful to no ideal but its own need to control.   

(Emphasis added)

 

Mass of St. Josemaría in the San Francisco Bay Area

You and your family are invited to
a Mass celebrating the feast of
St. Josemaría Escrivá,
Founder of Opus Dei

Thursday, June 26, 2008, at 7:00 p.m.
St. Francis of Assisi Church
860 Oak Grove Rd., Concord, CA 94518-3461

Principal Celebrant
Most Rev. Allen H. Vigneron
Bishop of Oakland

For more information about St. Josemaría, go to www.opusdei.org
Sacrament of Reconciliation available starting at 6:30 p.m.

 

GREAT summer camp for girls

My oldest daughter has been attending for years, loves it, and is going back this year as a junior counselor.  The camp has become so popular that the organizers added a second session this year, which means spaces are still available!  It strikes a terrific balance between POD stuff for the girls (Mass, Rosary, catechism, etc.) and good, old-fashioned camp fun.  Check it out!