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Sunday, March 29, 2015

Lib Warns of Climate-Change Call-Girls

The chicanery employed by democrats to promote their hysterical earth-worshipping environmental policies reached a new low a few days ago. This past Wednesday, California Democrat Barbara Lee proposed a resolution in the House of Representatives that warned that “Women will disproportionately face harmful impacts from climate change.”

Lee’s resolution also claims that, “Food insecure women with limited socioeconomic resources may be vulnerable to situations such as sex work, transactional sex, and early marriage that put them at risk for HIV, STIs, unplanned pregnancy, and poor reproductive health.”

The resolution goes on to urge Congress to agree on the “disparate impacts of climate change on women,” and demands that Congress use “gender-sensitive frameworks in developing policies to address climate change.”

Lee also concludes that women, who are “often underrepresented in the development and formulation of policy regarding adaptation to climate change,” are without a doubt in the best position to offer policy ideas.

Aside from the general ridiculousness of Lee's resolution, I’m not sure why she is so bothered by the notion of women engaging in “sex work,” or “transactional sex.” From a liberal worldview, what's wrong with "sex work?" In other words, if prostitution is a consensual sexual act between adults, why would a liberal protest? If Ms. Lee objects to prostitution, upon what moral code is she basing her conclusion? GASP!! You mean to tell me that she believes that there's some moral standard we're supposed to abide by when it comes to sexuality?!

The only ones prostituting themselves when it comes to climate change are today’s democrats. They and their Big Green allies have literally reaped billions as the result of their wicked climate policies.

Copyright 2015, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Two Shades of Dismay: The Perverse Bondage Wrought by Liberalism and Islam

In opposing the godless and bloody French Revolution, Edmund Burke, the father of modern conservatism, concluded that, “I should therefore suspend my congratulations on the new liberty of France, until I was informed how it had been combined with government; with public force; with the discipline and obedience of armies;…with morality and religion;…with peace and order; with civil and social manners. All these (in their way) are good things too; and, without them, liberty is not a benefit whilst it lasts, and is not likely to continue long. The effect of liberty to individuals is, that they may do what they please: We ought to see what it will please them to do, before we risk congratulations.”

“The French Revolution was,” as Ann Coulter put it a few years ago, “a revolt of the mob…the godless antithesis to the founding of America.” Writing for Crisis Magazine, Joseph Pearce described the French Revolution as “an earlier incarnation of atheistic progressivism and the progenitor (forerunner) of communism.” In other words, the French Revolution was a tragic attempt at building a culture bereft of the “moral chains” described by Burke, and thus, in France, liberty was lost.

“Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their appetite,” said Burke. He added, “Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters (chains).”

As it was with the French Revolution, the communist revolution, and the Third Reich, nowhere today are the chains of Burke’s axiom more clearly demonstrated than with the bondage that exists under modern liberalism and Islam.

Today’s liberalism stands upon two duplicitous notions: 1.) the godless pagan principle of “Do What Thou Wilt,” and 2.) the presence of an “omnicompetent” Government that is all too eager to mother us. In spite of the claims of modern liberals, such a political philosophy does not bring justice, nor does it promote liberty. On the contrary, as C.S. Lewis put it, such a modern State exists “not to protect our rights but to do us good or make us good—anyway, to do something to us or to make us something.” Something indeed. Lewis depressingly concludes that under such a regime, “There is nothing left of which we can say to them, ‘Mind your own business.’ Our whole lives are their business.”

The cleverly cloaked language of liberal-speak has deceived hundreds of millions the world over into surrendering our “business” to big government. For example, in the U.S., by far the largest employer is government. Local, state, and federal government (including uniformed military personnel) employs well over 23 million Americans. This is about 10 million more than the top 50 private employers in the U.S. combined.

The largest educator in the U.S. is government. About 90% of all U.S. children attend a k-12 godless government school. Over 70% of American students who attend college do so at a state school. Education accounts for nearly half (about 11 million) of the total federal, state, and local government workforce.

The largest “charity” in the U.S. is government (which, of course, brags about it!). Americans gave a total of approximately $3.4 billion (about $2.4 billion from individuals) to private charities in 2013. In the same year, Americans received over $600 billion from means-tested (recipients required to be below a certain income level) government programs (housing, food stamps, WIC, Medicaid, and the like). When non means-tested programs (Social Security, Medicare, unemployment, and so on) are included, the total is a shocking and staggering $2 trillion dollars.

Included in the cost of Social Security is over $144 billion spent for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). The number of SSDI beneficiaries jumped from 4.3 million in 1990 to 10.9 million in 2012, a 153% increase. Speaking of “mothering,” that is an amazing number of Americans who are unable, or (in many cases) unwilling, to work and thus wean themselves from the withering bosoms of big government.

And of course, unless dismantled by the Supreme Court, Americans now have made health care the business of big government. Thus, instead of liberating, liberalism has simply made tens of millions of Americans comfortable in, or at least comfortably accustomed to, their government made chains.

A man cannot be free unless he has economic independence. As C.S. Lewis pointedly put it, “For economic independence allows an education not controlled by Government; and in adult life it is the man who needs, and asks, nothing of Government who can criticise its acts and snap his fingers at its ideology. Read Montaigne; that's the voice of a man with his legs under his own table, eating the mutton and turnips raised on his own land. Who will talk like that when the State is everyone's schoolmaster and employer?”

In addition, guided by the false belief that “Do What Thou Wilt” (especially in the sexual realm) frees us from the shackles of the “antiquated” ideas on morality and personal ethical behavior, liberalism has set about to discredit and abandon many of the eternal and inescapable absolute truths set down by our Creator that should be the cornerstones of all good government. Thus, almost any sexual perversion imaginable is, in the U.S. today, a “right.” And instead of being free, tens of millions of Americans are now slaves to their sexual desires.

Pornography, abortion, homosexual behavior, adultery, and the like now have the protection provided by American big government. (Of course, same-sex “marriage” is also seeking—and winning—the same.) As a consequence, in the name of being “set free” from the shackles of parenting, over 50 million of the most defenseless among us have been slaughtered in the womb. Additionally, in the name of being “set free” from the shackles of marriage and monogamy, aided and abetted by the massive welfare state created by big government, tens of millions of children who graciously survived their mothers’ wombs are by being raised in single-parent homes, usually without a father.

Children born into these broken families are not only drastically more likely to be born poor, but to remain so. Of course, this means for years on end such children will “need” the care and provision of big government. America now has multiple generations raised in the mothering nanny state that liberals are almost always looking to expand (see: “free” cell phones, school lunches, community college, pre-k, day-care, and on, and on, and on).

Absent from their fathers, these children are also much more likely to grow up undisciplined, unruly, and immoral (even by liberal standards) and need the services provided by the American penal system. Thus, with his birth covered by Medicaid or Obamacare, his early nourishment provided by WIC and food stamps, his “free” government education (pre-k through community college)—which includes school lunches and an Obama phone—American taxpayers get to mother millions from birth well into adulthood. And after our hypothetical young leech (see: Julia, or Pajama Boy) takes his entitlement lifestyle to its logical conclusion and robs a liquor store, leading to his eventual incarceration, we see that the American taxpayers are getting to mother millions of their fellow citizens from cradle to grave. How liberating!

Just as tragic and devastating to the concept of true liberty the world over is the plague of Islam. And no, I’m not simply talking about the butchers of ISIS, or Boko Haram, or the other “radical Islamists.” Though most Muslims in the world aren’t strapping explosives to themselves or cutting off the heads of apostates, a broad examination of Islam is dreadfully revealing.

The 57 members of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) represent about 22% of the world’s population but generate barely 9% of the world’s GDP. The U.S. alone produces 23% of the world’s GDP. A shocking 40% of the Arab world lives in poverty.

In the 57 nations of the OIC, there are a total of about 500 universities. There are over 5,700 in the U.S. alone. In just over 100 years, the Muslim world—about 23% of the world’s population (1.6 billion)—has produced 11 Nobel Laureates, while a mere 14 million Jews (0.2% of world population) have produced around 190 (counts vary slightly). The U.S. has produced 353 of the 860 (41%) Nobel winners. Those identifying as Christian have earned just over 65% of the total number of Nobel Prizes awarded. If only Alfred Nobel’s organization awarded prizes for strapping on dynamite!

Particularly disturbing for lovers of true liberty is the role of women in Islamic society. Islamic law (Shariۥa) prohibits women from looking men in the eye, forbids them from wearing shoes that make noise, and forbids them from becoming educated. As Ergun and Emir Caner note in Unveiling Islam, “women are considered possessions in any orthodox Islamic regime…The wife is considered the husband’s sex object.” Also, one of the most alarming admonitions in the Koran allows the husband to punish his wife physically.

According to Pew polling, 99% of Afghan Muslims favor making Shariۥa the law of the land—as do 91% of Iraqi Muslims, 86% of Malaysian Muslims, 84% of Pakistani Muslims, 83% of Moroccan Muslims, 74% of Egyptian Muslims, and so on.

As I’ve previously noted, religious freedom in Islamic states such as Saudi Arabia is virtually non-existent. Like many other Muslim countries, Saudi law states that Islamic apostasy—denying the faith or converting to another religion—is a crime punishable by death. In 2006, Afghan citizen Abdul Rahman was arrested (after it was discovered that he possessed a Bible) and faced the death penalty for converting to Christianity. Intervention by then Afghan president Hamid Karzai resulted in the charges against Rahman being dismissed.

Leading Afghan clerics were highly critical of Karzai, noting that “The Qur'an is very clear and the words of our prophet are very clear. There can only be one outcome: death.” This attitude is prevalent across the Arab world. In 2007, Mohammed Hegazy became the first Egyptian Muslim officially to seek to convert to Christianity. An Egyptian judge (sounding much like American liberals today on the issue of homosexuality and marriage) ruled that, “He can believe whatever he wants in his heart, but on paper he can't convert.” Muslim clerics issued fatwas calling for his death. In 2008, in an interview with a local Egyptian newspaper, Hegazy's father said, “I am going to try to talk to my son and convince him to return to Islam. If he refuses, I am going to kill him with my own hands.” Hegazy’s wife’s family also swore to kill her because she married a non-Muslim.

Again, according to Pew, of those Muslims who favor Shariۥa as the law of the land, 86% of Egyptians favor the death penalty for those who convert to another religion—as do 82% of Jordanians, 79% of Afghans, 76% of Pakistanis, and so on.

Millions of Christians and other such “apostates” (tens of millions by some estimates) have died at the hands of Islamists. According to Africa: The Holocausts of Rwanda and Sudan, “Well over two million southern black Christians, Muslims, and animists in the Sudan have died, the great majority civilians, in a genocide that few in the world have heard about. Since 1983, ethnic cleansing and a religious holy jihad (since 1992) have created a holocaust that rival the two great genocides in Europe (the Holocaust and Stalin’s Gulag)…In the Nuba Mountains the Arab Muslim fundamentalists practiced an age-old custom of taking blacks into slavery, forcing conversion of many to Islam, and then decided to wipe out the fifty tribes by genocide, similar to the situation in Darfur in the west.”

In spite of initially being labeled as a “democratic” movement, the “Arab Spring” that spread throughout parts of the Middle East and Africa did nothing to further the cause of liberty. On the contrary, the Arab Spring further spread jihad and Shariۥa, again, especially in Africa.

Quite telling when it comes to Islam and liberty is an examination of the freedom indices produced by various organizations that measure democracy (or freedom) the world over. Freedom House has produced Freedom in the World, “the oldest, most authoritative report of democracy and human rights,” since 1972.

Freedom House uses a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 being “most free” and 7 the “least free,” in two categories: political rights and civil liberties. If nations rate a 1 or 2 in both categories, they are considered “free.” For example, the U.S., UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the like, rate 1 in both categories. If a nation rates 6 or 7 in both categories they are considered “not free.” For example, North Korea, China, Cuba, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Somalia, and the like are “not free.” Other rating combinations usually result in a “partly free” result. 


Non-Free/Authoritarian Regimes:


NationDominant ReligionDemocracy Index (2012)Member of OIC
AfghanistanIslam2.48 (#152)Yes
AlgeriaIslam3.83 (#118)Yes
AngolaMix3.35 (#133)
AzerbaijanIslam3.15 (#139)Yes
BahrainIslam2.53 (#150)Yes
BelarusMix3.04 (#141)
BruneiIslamNAYes
Burkina FasoIslam3.52 (#127)Yes
Burma (Myanmar) Buddhism2.35 (#155)
BurundiChristian3.60 (#125)
CambodiaBuddhism4.96 (#100)
CameroonChristianity3.44 (#131)Yes
Central African RepublicChristianity and Islam1.99 (#157)
ChadIslam1.62 (#165)Yes
ChinaMix3.00 (#142)
ComorosIslam3.52 (#127)Yes
CongoChristianity1.92 (#159)
Côte d'IvoireMix3.25 (#136)Yes
CubaMix3.52 (#127)
DjiboutiIslam2.74 (#147)Yes
EgyptIslam4.56 (#109)Yes
Equatorial GuineaChristianity1.83 (#160)
EritreaMix2.40 (#153)
EthiopiaMix3.72 (#123)
FijiMix3.67 (#124)
GabonChristianity3.56 (#126)Yes
Gambia Islam3.31 (#134)Yes
Guinea-Bissau Islam1.43 (#166)Yes
IranIslam1.98 (#158)Yes
JordanIslam3.76 (#121)Yes
KazakhstanIslam2.95 (#143)Yes
KuwaitIslam3.78 (#119)Yes
LaosBuddhism2.32 (#156)
MadagascarMix3.93 (#117)
MauritaniaIslam4.17 (#110)Yes
NigeriaMix3.77 (#120)Yes
North KoreaIrreligious1.08 (#167)
Oman Islam3.26 (#135)Yes
QatarIslam3.18 (#138)Yes
RussiaMix3.74 (#122)
RwandaChristianity3.36 (#132)
Saudi ArabiaIslam1.71 (#163)Yes
SomaliaIslamNAYes
South SudanChristianityNA
SudanIslam2.38 (#154)Yes
SwazilandChristianity3.20 (#137)
SyriaIslam1.63 (#164)Yes
TajikistanIslam2.51 (#151)Yes
TogoMix3.45 (#130)Yes
TurkmenistanIslam1.72 (#161)Yes
UgandaChristianity5.16 (#94)Yes
United Arab Emirates Islam2.58 (#149)Yes
Uzbekistan Islam1.72 (#161)Yes
VietnamBuddhism2.89 (#144)
YemenIslam3.12 (#140)Yes


In Freedom in the World 2014, of the “Worst of the Worst”—the 10 countries with the lowest possible ratings for both political rights and civil liberties—six are Islamic, with two others having significant Islamic influence. 

The Economist Intelligence Unit publishes its Index of Democracy that “provides a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide.” As the Economist Intelligence Unit puts it, “The Democracy index is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture. Countries are placed within one of four types of regimes: full democracies; flawed democracies; hybrid regimes; and authoritarian regimes.” The index is a weighted average based on answers to 60 questions. Nations are rated on a scale of 0 to 10. Full democracies rate 8.00-9.99; flawed democracies: 6.00-7.99; hybrid regimes: 4.00-5.99; and authoritarian regimes 1.00-3.99. 

In the Index of Democracy for 2012, of the 10 most authoritarian regimes, seven of them are Islamic. In addition, not one member of the OIC, or any other nation that would be considered “Islamic,” is a “full democracy.” Of the 55 nations rated “not free” or “authoritarian regimes,” more than half (28 out of 55) are Islamic. (Note: I organized the tables here according to both Freedom in the World 2014 and the Index of Democracy from 2012. Since a “free” rating according to Freedom House sometimes included nations considered “flawed democracies” by the Index of Democracy, I included all “flawed democracies” in the “free” table. Likewise, all “authoritarian regimes,” though a few were rated as “partly free,” were included in the “not free” table.)

Free Nations/Full or Flawed Democracies:


NationDominant ReligionDemocracy Index
Andorra Christian, CatholicNA
Antigua and Barbuda ChristianNA
Argentina Christian, Catholic6.84 (#52)
Australia Christian9.22 (#6)
Austria Christian, Catholic8.62 (#12)
Bahamas ChristianNA
Barbados Christian, CatholicNA
Belgium Christian, Catholic8.05 (#24)
Belize ChristianNA
Benin Christian, Catholic6.00 (#79)
BotswanaChristian7.85 (#30)
Brazil Christian, Catholic7.12 (#44)
Bulgaria Christian6.72 (#54)
Canada Christian9.08 (#8)
Cape Verde Christian, Catholic7.92 (#26)
Chile Christian, Catholic7.54 (#36)
ColumbiaChristian, Catholic6.63 (#57)
Costa Rica Christian, Catholic8.10 (#22)
CroatiaChristian, Catholic6.93 (#50)
CyprusChristian7.29 (41)
Czech Republic Irreligious8.19 (#17)
Denmark Christian9.52 (#4)
Dominica Christian, CatholicNA
Dominican Republic Christian, Catholic6.49 (#60)
East TimorChristian, Catholic7.16 (#43)
El Salvador Christian6.47 (#61)
Estonia Irreligious7.61 (#34)
Finland Christian9.06 (#9)
France Christian, Irreligious7.88 (#28)
Germany Christian8.34 (#14)
Ghana Christian6.02 (#78)
Greece Christian7.65 (#33)
Grenada Christian, CatholicNA
Guyana Christian6.05 (#76)
HungaryChristian, Irreligious6.96 (#49)
IcelandChristian9.65 (#3)
India Hindu7.53 (#38)
IndonesiaIslam6.76 (#53)
Ireland Christian, Catholic8.56 (#13)
Israel Jewish7.53 (#37)
Italy Christian, Catholic7.74 (#32)
JamaicaChristian7.39 (#39)
Japan Mix, Shinto8.08 (#23)
Kiribati ChristianNA
Latvia Christian7.05 (#47)
LesothoChristian6.66 (#55)
LiechtensteinChristian, CatholicNA
Lithuania Christian7.24 (#42)
Luxembourg Christian, Catholic8.88 (#11)
MacedoniaChristian6.16 (#73)
MalawiChristian6.08 (#75)
MalaysiaIslam6.41 (#64)
MaltaChristian, Catholic8.28 (#15)
Marshall IslandsChristianNA
Mauritius Mix8.17 (#18)
MexicoChristian, Catholic6.90 (#51)
MicronesiaChristianNA
MoldovaChristian6.32 (#67)
Monaco Christian, CatholicNA
Mongolia Buddhism6.35 (#65)
MontenegroChristian6.05 (#76)
NamibiaChristian6.24 (#72)
Nauru ChristianNA
Netherlands Christian, Irreligious8.99 (#10)
New Zealand Christian, Irreligious9.26 (#5)
NorwayChristian9.93 (#1)
Palau Christian, CatholicNA
PanamaChristian, Catholic7.08 (#46)
Papua New GuineaChristian6.32 (#67)
ParaguayChristian, Catholic6.26 (#70)
Peru Christian, Catholic6.47 (#61)
PhilippinesChristian, Catholic6.30 (#69)
Poland Christian, Catholic7.12 (#44)
PortugalChristian, Catholic7.92 (#26)
Romania Christian6.54 (#59)
Saint Kitts and Nevis ChristianNA
Saint LuciaChristian, CatholicNA
SamoaChristianNA
San MarinoChristian, CatholicNA
São Tomé and PríncipeChristianNA
SenegalIslam6.09 (#74)
Serbia Christian6.33 (#66)
SlovakiaChristian, Catholic7.35 (#40)
Slovenia Christian, Catholic7.88 (#28)
South AfricaChristian7.79 (#31)
South KoreaMix8.13 (#20)
SpainChristian, Catholic8.02 (#25)
SurinameMix, Christian plurality6.65 (#56)
SwedenChristian9.73 (#2)
SwitzerlandChristian9.09 (#7)
Thailand Buddhism6.55 (#58)
TaiwanMix: Buddhism, Taoism7.57 (#35)
TongaChristianNA
Trinidad and TobagoChristian6.99 (#48)
TuvaluChristianNA
United KingdomChristian8.21 (#16)
United StatesChristian8.11 (#21)
Uruguay Christian8.17 (#18)
VanuatuChristianNA
Zambia Christian6.26 (#70)



Also, take note of the 100 nations rated as “free” or as a “full/flawed democracy.” By any type of religious measure, 86 of these 100 nations would be considered “Christian.” (In some cases, if such nations are now considered secular or “irreligious,” they most recently—just a couple of decades ago in most of these cases—were considered Christian.) Other nations, such as Japan and Israel, were at their founding in the 20th century, greatly influenced by Christian democracies. What’s more, of the 100 free nations, only three would be considered Islamic.

Of course, a “Christian nation” does not simply imply that most of the citizens are passionate followers of Christ. Sadly, thanks in great part to the prevalence of liberalism in the Western world, this is far from the case—even in the U.S. (See above.) In spite of this, no nation in the history of the world is more responsible for the spread of liberty throughout the earth than is the United States of America. And nothing is more responsible for the yearning for liberty and independence that led to the founding of America than is Christianity

It was in the pulpits of American churches that the seeds of Revolution were sewn. The British certainly thought so, as they blamed what they derisively described as the “Black Robed Regiment” for the thirst in the Colonies for American Independence. Modern historians have noted, “There is not a right asserted in the Declaration of Independence which had not been discussed by the New England clergy before 1763.”

Samuel Langdon was one of those New England clergy. Langdon was a distinguished theologian and scholar. He graduated from Harvard in 1740, went on to become a prominent Congregational minister, and was president of Harvard University from 1774 to 1780. He was also a delegate to the New Hampshire convention that ratified (by the slim margin of 57 to 46) the U.S. Constitution in 1788. New Hampshire was the last of the necessary nine states needed to ratify the Constitution. In order to persuade his fellow delegates to vote in favor of the U.S. Constitution, Langdon delivered an “election sermon” entitled, The Republic of the Israelites an Example to the American States

After beginning by quoting Deuteronomy 4:5-8, in his sermon, Langdon noted, “[T]he Israelites may be considered as a pattern to the world in all ages; and from them we may learn what will exalt our character, and what will depress and bring us to ruin. Let us therefore look over their constitution and laws, enquire into their practice, and observe how their prosperity and fame depended on their strict observance of the divine commands both as to their government and religion.”

Langdon then gave an account of how Moses, upon the wise counsel of his father-in-law Jethro (“the priest of Midian”), set up a republican form of government, with representatives (“leaders,” “rulers,” “judges,” depending on the biblical translation) from groups of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. In addition, 70 elders, or wise-men—a type of national Senate as described by biblical and Jewish scholars—were selected by Moses and approved by the consent of the people. 

Langdon added, “A government thus settled on republican principles, required laws; without which it must have degenerated immediately into aristocracy, or absolute monarchy. But God did not leave a people, wholly unskilled in legislation, to make laws for themselves: he took this important matter wholly into His own hands, and beside the moral laws of the two tables, which directed their conduct as individuals, gave them by Moses a complete code of judicial laws.”

Langdon goes on to describe how this republican form of government helped the nation of Israel grow from a “mere mob” (if only the 18th century French had taken notice) to a “well regulated nation, under a government and laws far superior to what any other nation could boast!” After detailing Israel’s later struggles—they would eventually “[neglect] their government, [corrupt] their religion, and [grow] dissolute in their morals”—Langston exhorted his fellow citizens to learn from the nation of Israel. 

“That as God in the course of his kind providence hath given you an excellent constitution of government,” said Langdon, “founded on the most rational, equitable, and liberal principles, by which all that liberty is secured which a people can reasonably claim, and you are empowered to make righteous laws for promoting public order and good morals; and as he has moreover given you by his son Jesus Christ, who is far superior to Moses, a complete revelation of his will, and a perfect system of true religion, plainly delivered in the sacred writings; it will be your wisdom in the eyes of the nations, and your true interest and happiness, to conform your practice in the strictest manner to the excellent principles of your government, adhere faithfully to the doctrines and commands of the gospel, and practice every public and private virtue. By this you will increase in numbers, wealth, and power, and obtain reputation and dignity among the nations: whereas, the contrary conduct will make you poor, distressed, and contemptible.”

Samuel Langdon was far from alone in these assertions. John Adams noted that, “The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were…the general principles of Christianity.” America’s “Schoolmaster” Noah Webster in his 1832 History of the United States wrote that “our citizens should early understand that the genuine source of correct republican principles is the Bible, particularly the New Testament or the Christian religion.” Webster added, “The religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and His apostles…to this we owe our free Constitutions of Government.” 

Not only are the American founding documents and republican form of government the oldest actively in force in the world today, but for well over two centuries they have been profoundly influential across the globe. In writing their own constitutions, and forming their own government, literally hundreds of nations have looked to the U.S. model. However, the fire of liberty lit in America most effectively spread throughout the world where Christianity was already entrenched, influential, or—thanks to the great efforts of American and European missionaries—inevitable. Of course, as we can see, that is still the case. 

In her early forties, childless, married 17 years to a husband who didn’t want children—and had a vasectomy to prove it—Robin Rinaldi wanted to change things. Bored with monogamy, and fearing that she was going to end up alone, Rinaldi defiantly declared, “I refuse to go to my grave with no children and only four lovers. If I can’t have one, I must have the other.” 

Rinaldi, a former San Francisco magazine editor steeped in liberal Bay area values, negotiates with her agreeing husband to take a “year off” from their marriage so that she can “explore [her] sexuality.” Over the year, Rinaldi becomes sexually involved with about a dozen men, one woman, and along the way, joins a sex commune. (She also wrote a book about the tragedy.) 

“Sleeping with a lot of guys is going to make me feel better on my deathbed,” Rinaldi foolishly concluded to a friend. She added, “I’m going to feel like I lived, like I didn’t spend my life in a box.” Pondering those women trapped in a “box,” Rinaldi laments the poor Islamic women who don’t have the freedom she does. “[T]hose Afghan women hidden under their burqas,” Rinaldi notes, could be “beaten or even killed right now for doing what I was so casually doing.” Of course, she’s right, but little does she realize, the bondage she so easily sees in the life of the Afghan woman, has ensnared her as well. 

Copyright 2015, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World




Saturday, March 14, 2015

For Children, "Two Parents" Is Not Enough

Yesterday in the Washington Post, George Will again reminded us of  Daniel Patrick Moynihan's 50 year-old study, "The Negro Family: The Case for National Action." In his piece, Will uses Moynihan's conclusions to again remind us of the importance of the "two-parent" family model. "The assumption that the condition of the poor must improve as macroeconomic conditions improve was to be refuted by a deepened understanding of the crucial role of the family as the primary transmitter of the social capital essential for self-reliance and betterment," said Will.

Do we really need studies and data to show us what common sense and sound morality has always revealed? A culture that continues to ignore Scripture and depart from biblical truths does. Although, like the biblical account of the rich man and Lazarus, even if the ghost of Moynihan himself appeared with his study--and a thousand others like it--in hand, it seems that most liberals today would continue to deny the truth.

In focusing mainly on economic outcomes, Will conveniently left out an extremely important fact for children when it comes to the presence of two parents in the home. Given the tragic and perverse turn we've taken with marriage in our culture, this truth cannot be ignored. It's not simply two parents, with the implied dual incomes, that are necessary for the proper upbringing of children. Ridiculous as it is to have to say (again, and again, and again), children need a mother and a father. Of course, preferably their biological mother and father in a healthy marital relationship.

There are factors far more important than those in the economic realm when it comes to the family. And just as the work of Moynihan and many others has revealed the sad economic outcomes for children raised outside of the biblical family model, there is a mountain of research that reveals the same sad outcomes for these children in everything from education, to mental health, physical health, sexuality, criminal behavior, and so on.

Though liberals can somehow deduce a link between (supposed) rising global temperatures, and the rise of the likes of ISIS, the plain eternal truths on marriage, family, and children seems to escape them. When discussing the family, conservatives like Mr. Will would do well to remember this.

Copyright 2015, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Boycott ABC's "Famliy" Network (As It Promotes Child Homosexuality)

We almost never watch the ABC "Family" network (Direct TV channel 311). Now we never will. It has officially been blocked on our TV. In case you've haven't heard, an episode of ABC's The Fosters, which airs during prime time on the "Family" network, recently featured "The Youngest Same-Sex TV Kiss Ever." The kiss occurs between two 13-year-old boys, Jude (who's, of course, raised by two lesbians) and Connor. The homosexual apologists are celebrating.

According to Dr. Michael Brown's piece on this tragic matter, "GLAAD, formally known as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, stated that, 'ABC Family's The Fosters breaks new ground with Jude and Connor's kiss.' (For those who are not familiar with the show, Jude is raised by two lesbians, his adoptive parents.)

"Gabe Bergado, writing for the Daily Beast, claimed that the kiss set 'a fantastic standard,' one that 'reassures all the real-life Judes and Connors out there that their feelings of self-discovery during those middle school and junior high years are valid.'"

Satan knows well that, if you want to destroy a culture--in this case the most influential Christian culture the world has ever known--you destroy the institution that is at the foundation of every culture: the family. If you want to destroy the family, you strike at the heart of it: marriage. That marriage is the union of one man and one woman is one of the oldest truths in the history of humanity.

This truth was revealed the moment that God created Adam and Eve. Jesus clearly reaffirmed this in the New Testament. When asked about divorce (Matthew 19), Jesus quoted directly from Genesis chapters one and two. Speaking of marriage as a union of one man and one woman, Scripture records, "'Haven’t you read,' he (Jesus) replied, 'that at the beginning the Creator "made them male and female," and said, "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh?" So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.'"

If a culture rejects such a basic truth, it is on the road to ruin. Of course, with adultery, divorce, fornication, promiscuity, pornography, and the like, Satan has waged war on marriage and the family for millennia. In order to make themselves feel good about their sexual sin, the homosexual agenda has been a tool of Satan in the battle against marriage and godly sexuality for decades now.

After all, if marriage as God gave it to us isn't the truth, then what is truth? And if Satan can cause us to question the truth of marriage, then he can deceive us in almost anything. (How many millions have been deceived into believing that a child in the womb was a "choice?") Make no mistake about it, same-sex "marriage" isn't the first perversion of the truth to strike at the family and it certainly will not be the last.

Also, that the liberal dominated media would be a tool of Satan in this battle is of little surprise. One of the main goals of the liberal media is to portray any and all perversions of the truth on marriage and family as normal and healthy. Let us use the media as a tool for truth! Join us in the "Marriage Commitment Challenge."

Copyright 2015, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Sunday, March 1, 2015

"I'm Going to Love You Any Way"

Before you read anything else, listen to Sam Martin's song to his unborn son:


Until I came across this a few days ago, I had never heard of Sam Martin. Martin is a singer, song-writer who has worked with the likes of One Direction and Nick Jonas (which, though impressive to some, means almost nothing to me). I have no idea if Martin is a believer, but his song speaks a powerful pro-life truth: life in the womb is just that, and is precious and worthy of our love. And remember, love isn't merely something we feel.

As I've noted before, "As C.S. Lewis put it, '[Love] is a state not of the feelings but of the will; that state of the will which we naturally have about ourselves, and must learn to have about other people.' In other words, do not bother so much about how you feel towards someone; act like you love them. In other words, do and say the things that true love requires. Feelings and emotions come and go, but our will can be forever unwavering. 

"Consider 1 Corinthians chapter 13, where the Apostle Paul reveals to us what true love is. 'Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.'

"Patience, kindness, a lack of envy or boasting; humility, politeness, and controlling your temper; keeping no record of wrongs, and so on—these all are matters of the will. As soon as you do these things, Lewis notes, 'we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.'"


Of course, "behaving as if" you love the most vulnerable human beings among us--those in the womb--means that you give them everything necessary for their safety and well being. Whether a child in the womb, a difficult toddler, an awkward or rebellious teenager, a self-centered foolish adult, or an aged senior citizen burdened with dementia, we choose to say to them "I'm going to love you any way you are." And then we do all that true love requires.

(An interesting note: Martin was moved to write this song after he saw his son's heart beating on the first ultrasound his wife had. Martin said, "The lyric came right then — 'I’m going to love you anyway.'" He described the moment as "a spiritual experience." Isn't it amazing the truths that modern science reveals--undeniable even to unbelievers--and what it can move us to do?! This is exactly the reason why many want to require those seeking to kill their children in the womb to view an ultrasound of the unborn child. How many would have made a different decision on life if they had the experience of an ultrasound?)

Copyright 2015, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com