Monday, March 12, 2012
Where Have All the Bold Pastors Gone?
During this election season, the issue of religion has come up on many occasions. But for the most part, we haven't heard from many pastors---except, for example, from the brave priest from Indiana, with his denunciation against the Obama administration's move to force Catholic agencies to fund contraceptives and abortifacients against their consciences.
Another outspoken minister has been Dr. Robert Jeffress of Dallas, who was castigated about half a year ago for stating he preferred a Christian politician to a Mormon one. He was simply quoting founding father John Jay, first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, who said, "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers" (October 12, 1816). First Chief Justice or not, one of only three authors of The Federalist Papers or no---that's too politically correct to say nowadays.
Many of the controversial issues of our day, such as abortion and marriage, have become political. But in reality, they are simply moral issues that have changed into political ones.
I think part of the reason we don't hear much from pastors these days is because of a misunderstanding of the law. Some fear---wrongly---that if they say anything viewed as a political statement, then they might lose their tax exempt status. I plan on addressing this point in a subsequent article.
In any event, we should remember that some biblical figures, like Moses and John the Baptist, spoke out against the rulers at the time and paid a price for it. Historically, being faithful to their God sometimes had a high price to it, as seen by those brave Christians fed to the lions in the arena rather than renounce their faith.
There's a great painting at the Art Institute of Chicago showing St. Ambrose rebuking Roman Emperor Theodosius (around the end of the 4th century) for an imperial massacre in Thessalonica. The bishop took his life in his hands by making such a pronouncement against the lord of the whole empire. Thankfully, Theodosius repented.
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Thomas More wasn't so fortunate in his stance in refusing to give into King Henry VIII's demand for divine sanction for his divorce. More was beheaded for his courage to go against the king.
The price a bold pastor has to pay in our culture is generally a much smaller one than those sometimes demanded in the past---or even today in some of the world's hot spots, such as in the Middle East. There's an Iranian pastor on death row right now for having converted from Islam.
Historically, in the American context, pastors and the church have often led the way in societal reforms---some of which had political implications. Two-thirds of the members of the abolition society in 1835 were ministers of the gospel. Also, the anti-slavery Underground Railroad was run by churches.
For good or bad, there's no doubt that prohibition was led by ministers, churches, and laywomen.
The civil rights movement was essentially born in the basement of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, led by their minister, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. on December 1, 1955, the night Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat on the bus after a hard day's work. Watch raw tapes of the civil rights marches, and you'll see many different Christian groups participating.
VIDEO: Panetta & Gen Dempsey Say "Intl Permission" Needed First NOT Congress to Decide on Military Action
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey indicated that "international permission," rather than Congressional approval, provided a 'legal basis' for military action by the United States.
Obama impeachment bill now in Congress
Let the president be duly warned.
Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr., R-N.C., has introduced a resolution declaring that should the president use offensive military force without authorization of an act of Congress, “it is the sense of Congress” that such an act would be “an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor.”
Specifically, Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution reserves for Congress alone the power to declare war, a restriction that has been sorely tested in recent years, including Obama’s authorization of military force in Libya.
In an exclusive WND column, former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo claims that Jones introduced his House Concurrent Resolution 107 in response to startling recent comments from Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.
“This week it was Secretary of Defense Panetta’s declaration before the Senate Armed Services Committee that he and President Obama look not to the Congress for authorization to bomb Syria but to NATO and the United Nations,” Tancredo writes. “This led to Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., introducing an official resolution calling for impeachment should Obama take offensive action based on Panetta’s policy statement, because it would violate the Constitution.”
SAY WHAT!? MISTRIAL in L.A. Fetish Film Producer of Beastiality & Scat films!
A mistrial has been declared in the federal obscenity trial of Los Angeles fetish film producer and distributor Ira Isaacs after jurors deadlocked on charges that he produced, sold and transported obscene material.
The panel deliberated for about a day after watching four films created or distributed by Isaacs, whose Internet-based business specialized in a niche of the pornography industry that included scatology and bestiality. The films, two of which Isaacs directed and appeared in, made up the bulk of the three-day trial last week.
Jurors were deadlocked 10-2 in favor of finding him guilty, Isaacs said. Both of the jurors who voted against conviction were women, including a 75-year-old who in court last week wore a Christmas-themed sweater with snowmen, according to the filmmaker.
That juror, number nine, told him after the trial that her late husband was a maker of horror films and that she found artistic value in the movies, Isaacs said. During the screening of one of the films last week, a Japanese movie involving bestiality, that juror appeared focused on the screen even as others looked away or shaded their eyes.
For material to be found criminally obscene, it must lack serious artistic, scientific or political value in addition to appealing to prurient interests and being patently offensive. Isaacs took the stand last week to testify that he was a “shock artist,” drawing inspiration from artists such as Marcel Duchamp and Robert Rauschenberg.