Nov 23, 2023
Christianity and Progress by Joseph Pearce at The Imaginative Conservative. As soon as we reject the reality of Original Sin, we begin to believe that man is immaculate in his nature, spotless at birth, and that it is only his environment that corrupts him. If this is the case, we can make people perfect by making their environment perfect. Furthermore, if the “constructs” of human civilization, such as religion and the traditional family, are considered to be the cause of human corruption, we only need to destroy religion and the traditional family in order to rid human society of corruption. This was the philosophical error which animated Rousseau’s “noble savage” as it is the philosophical error which animates modern “progressives.” Read
Our Children Deserved Better From Us by Carl R. Trueman at World. Cases of detransitioners are rising and some of them are filing lawsuits. Indeed, in what might well prove to be a very significant case, a female detransitioner, Isabelle Ayala, has filed a suit which accuses the American Academy of Pediatrics of pushing youth gender transitions and lying about the effects of transgender treatments. She also accuses a doctor of starting her on hormone treatment after only one consultation when she, as a 14-year-old suffering with various mental health conditions, had sought help. Read
‘Preferred Pronouns,’ ‘Misgendering’ and Religious Freedom by Andrea M. Picciotti-Bayer at National Catholic Register. HHS has proposed a new rule.... that “to be considered a safe and appropriate placement, a [state child welfare] provider is expected to utilize the child’s identified pronouns, chosen name, and allow the child to dress in [a] … manner that the child believes reflects their self-identified gender identity and expression.” …. Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, has written.... that “the claim to ‘be transgender’ or the desire to seek ‘transition’ rests on a mistaken view of the human person, rejects the body as a gift from God, and leads to grave harm. To affirm someone in an identity at odds with biological sex … is to mislead that person.” …. “Under no circumstances should parents seek ‘gender-affirming’ therapy for their children, as it is fundamentally incompatible with the truth of the human person.... They should not seek, encourage, or approve any counseling or medical procedures that would confirm mistaken understandings of human sexuality and identity, or lead to (often irreversible) bodily mutilation.” Read
All-Women Catholic College to Accept Transgender Women by Jack Figge at CatholicVote. A Catholic women’s college in Indiana released a new non-discrimination policy which states that the college will now admit men who identify as women. Saint Mary’s College is an all-women Catholic college in Notre Dame, Indiana. Read
‘Damaging Disruption’: NY Times Editorial Board Admits Coronavirus School Closures Were a Mistake by Olivia Rondeau at Breitbart. “The evidence is now in, and it is startling. The school closures that took 50 million children out of classrooms at the start of the pandemic may prove to be the most damaging disruption in the history of American education,” the [New York Times editorial] board opined. “It also set student progress in math and reading back by two decades and widened the achievement gap that separates poor and wealthy children,” …. The Times went on to argue that “students who grew accustomed to missing school during the pandemic continue to do so after the resumption of in-person classes,” sharing that “millions” of kids have become “chronically absent,” meaning they miss 10 percent or more of school days. Read
Texas Lawmakers Vote to Remove School Choice Provision from Funding Bill by Jonah McKeown at Catholic News Agency. Jennifer Allmon, executive director of the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops (TCCB), which advocates for policy in the state on behalf of the bishops, said in a statement…. that the vote against the school choice provision of the bill was disappointing, but “the issue is not over yet.” …. “Gov. Greg Abbott has said he will call a fifth special session for parental choice. We don’t know if that will be between Thanksgiving and Christmas or in January, but whenever there is an opportunity to advocate for parental choice in education, we will be ready to stand up for families who need it most.” Read
House Republicans Press Miguel Cardona on the Influence of Outside Groups on Title IX Rule by Jeremiah Poff at Washington Examiner. The new regulations, which have yet to be finalized, would eliminate a number of those due process requirements, including a right to a live hearing with cross-examination. The regulations would also change the definition of "sex" in Title IX to include gender identity as a protected class in nondiscrimination law. In their letter, the lawmakers told Cardona that the proposed regulations, "if finalized, will only serve to harm the women that Title IX was designed to protect." Read
‘Anti-Christian Hate Crimes’ in Europe up 44% in Past Year, Watchdog Group Says by Daniel Payne at Catholic News Agency. Europe has witnessed a 44% jump in anti-Christian hate crimes across more than two dozen European countries over the past year, according to a group that monitors discrimination against Christians…. The top five countries for anti-Christian hate crimes, the report said, were Germany, Italy, France, Spain, and Poland. The United Kingdom and Austria were also near the top of the list. Overall, “in 2022, OIDAC Europe documented 748 anti-Christian hate crimes in 30 different countries, which ranged from arson attacks, graffiti, desecrations, and thefts to physical attacks, insults, and threats,” the release said. Read
Throwback Thursday
The Religion of the Day by St. John Henry Newman in 1891, reprinted in What We Need Now on November 21, 2023. Your knowledge of your sins increases with your view of God’s mercy in Christ. And this is the true Christian state, and the nearest approach to Christ’s calm and placid sleep in the tempest; not perfect joy and certainty in heaven, but a deep resignation to God’s will, a surrender of ourselves, soul and body, to Him; hoping indeed, that we shall be saved, but fixing our eyes more earnestly on Him than on ourselves; that is, acting for His glory, seeking to please Him, devoting ourselves to Him in all manly obedience and strenuous good works; and, when we do look within, thinking of ourselves with a certain abhorrence and contempt as being sinners, mortifying our flesh, scourging our appetites, and composedly awaiting that time when, if we be worthy, we shall be stripped of our present selves, and new made in the kingdom of Christ. Read