Sunday’s gospel is the familiar parable of the rich man
who ignores the plea of the beggar at his gate, only to find himself in
eternal torment after death, while the poor man enjoys the delights of
heaven. This lesson is not just about
wealth vs. poverty, but about the rich man’s selfishness and refusal to
acknowledge the poor man’s humanity and need.
The story points to the utmost importance of leading a moral life here
and now, because the decisions we make in this life will have an impact on us for
all eternity. C.S. Lewis once said that
the ultimate sin, the greatest disorder
in life, is to say that what is good is bad, and what is bad is good. No doubt there have always been times when
this has been the case, and inevitably led to the demise of a nation and even
empires. Sadly, we find ourselves living
in such a time. A large number of people
in the world now believe that abortion is good, contraception is bad; sex
outside of marriage is good, sexual continence bad (or just moronic); teaching
children that marriage is a sacred institution and permanent bond between a man
and a woman is considered bad (intolerant, violation of civil rights), while
gay marriage and children with two parents of the same sex is held up as good.
There is a certain moral order to life and when we depart
from it, things don’t turn out well. Our
great nation was founded on the assumption that a republic of United States,
rooted in Christian values and belief in natural law, is superior to a simple
democracy. The very word democracy means
“mob rule,” and our founding fathers were very concerned that a majority,
untethered from the moral order, would surely destroy themselves. Such was the case among the people of France
after their revolution which ultimately resulted in a dictatorship. Adherence to the moral order of life
encourages and rewards virtue and self-control, while putting constraints on
disordered conduct. These principles
have resulted in America’s unprecedented success, precisely because it encouraged
population growth, personal and corporate responsibility, and
productivity. For 200 years the family
has been the foundation of our society, serving as the incubator of new
citizens who would learn virtues, the value of education, and responsibility
from their two parents. Now, 40% of
children are born and raised by single moms, many living in poverty.
Perhaps the greatest disorder
in our society and worst moral tragedy of our time is the rampant murder of
unborn children. How can a society
remain healthy if it destroys its future by taking the lives of its future
citizens? This past week I was amazed to
hear Vladimir Putin, of all people, denounce Europe’s departure from its
Christian heritage, and warn that declining population and immorality were
going to be the downfall of Western culture and civilization. Russia is spending more than $100 million to
rebuild Christian Orthodox Churches, and both Putin and Demitry Medvedeve
attend church weekly. Both have been
giving speeches warning that departure from the Christian values that made
Europe so prosperous, will be its demise.
Putin and Medvedeve have seen the disastrous consequences of atheism on
Russian society. It has resulted in
birth rates so low, their population has declined rapidly and their economy
along with it; alcoholism, depression, and suicide have risen dramatically;
longevity has dropped significantly, national productivity has plummeted, and
their economy now depends almost entirely on the export of natural resources,
rather than the product of labor and creativity. In response, they are attempting to
re-Christianize Russia. They even have a
national holiday now to celebrate when Russia first became a Christian nation
in 988 AD, and they teach religion in their public schools.
Meanwhile, back in the States, we are forcing citizens
and corporations, even those owned by religious orders, to violate their
personal religious beliefs. We hold up
Planned Parenthood to be a great good for our nation, completely disregarding
the humanity of the unborn victims of abortion (like the rich man in the
parable). Those opposed to abortion are
increasingly held out to be intolerant, and many have been sued under the
racketeering laws for their opposition to abortion. I recently posted a link to an anti-abortion
site on Facebook and got some interesting comments from my extended family on
the West coast. One nephew sent me a
chart from http://www.factcheck.org/2011/04/planned-parenthood/
siting the fact that less than 5% of Planned Parenthood’s services are for abortion.
The pie chart depicted abortion as only a miniscule part of PP’s
mission. This misleading chart ignores
the fact than over 90% of PP’s revenue is spent on abortion, and 10% of that
annual revenue comes from the government.
Although half the people in America, along with our federal government,
believe Planned Parenthood is good, here’s
why I disagree, and object to funding Planned Parenthood with our tax dollars:
1. There
is videotape documentation that PP knowingly performs abortion on women
imprisoned in sex-trafficking, enabling their captors to retain control over
them; and PP is willing to abort children of women impregnated from statutory
rape so that they can continue in their abusive relationships, inflicting great
pain on women.
2. PP
lobbies against laws protecting the safety of women in their abortion
facilities. It lobbies against laws requiring
inspections of abortuaries to ensure they are clean and equipment is
sterilized; against laws requiring abortion clinics to have ambulance access,
and against laws requiring physicians to maintain hospital privileges.
3. PP
lobbies against all laws that provide information to women, to allow them to
make informed decisions; against sonograms so women can see their unborn
babies; and against laws requiring parental consent for minors to have
abortions.
4. PP
denies the fact that abortion increases the risk of breast cancer and premature
birth in future pregnancies, and denies the physical and emotional risks
associated with abortion, all of which has been demonstrated in numerous clinical
and scientific studies.
Sunday’s first reading from the book of Amos warns
against complacency, the second reading from Paul’s letter to Timothy
encourages us to, “pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love and patience…”
and the gospel parable warns what may happen if we ignore the humanity of
others, including the most vulnerable among us.
Our society is becoming more and more disordered. It’s up to us as
Christians to know the facts, and to fight for the moral good, lest we fall
victim to our own complacency and the mistaken notions of what is good and what
is bad for the future of our nation and our progeny.
No comments:
Post a Comment