Friday, January 24, 2014
General David Petraeus laments in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are ending up unfulfilling, dead-end jobs that don’t tab into their skills. And how is that different than the economic plight of most other Americans? Veterans deserve gratitude for their contribution to the war effort. However, when it comes to this aspect of existence, they aren’t deserving of handouts more than anybody else. They weren’t drafted. They made the decision on the own to join the military.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
And exactly what part of his former Fox News program and related undertakings does Glenn Beck consider to have torn the country apart? Was it the flow charts that dared spell out for the American people the intricate global conspiracy bent on destroying our constitutional liberties? Or does Beck lament his own plans to destroy human freedom through the promotion of his own shoddy Mormon theology and the establishment of a Jonestown-like compound with a sign overhead demanding all who enter in to forget their previous way of life and where residents were have to been denied backyards in order to condition them away from their individualistic proclivities?
John Warwick Montgomery Reviews "Zealot: The Life & Times Of Jesus Of Nazareth"
Interesting in his condemnatory oration of the evils of collegiate sexual assault President Obama gave no advice about staying away from frat house booze parties and not dressing like an outright slut. These don't excuse wandering hands, but isn't it akin to sleeping with your door locked? It's not something you should have to do, but it is just the way it is in such a wicked world.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Friday, January 17, 2014
Thursday, January 16, 2014
A convicted Ohio murderer and rapist gasped as it took him nearly 15 minutes to expire during his execution. Critics warned that the combination utilized to carry out the sentence would cause the felon to die in agony and terror. And the pregnant woman (and thus also her baby) that he raped and murdered did not? Are we to suppose he lulled her to her eternal rest through tender caresses and verbalized sweet nothings?
Same churches that gripe about folks having fewer kids will cry and scream even louder should tithe dollars dwindle as congregants would make the rational and ethical decision that the higher moral priority is that they keep their own progeny fed than whether the church gets new carpeting or that the pastor goes on “pilgrimage” to Israel or the savannahs of Africa.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
In a Washington Post Op-Ed, Southern Baptist Convention functionary Albert Mohler is highly critical of Evangelical acceptance of birth control. However, he himself has only reproduced twice. The position Mohler has enunciated leads us to two likely conclusions. Either he is as impotent as a proverbial Nevada boxing commissioner. Or, as in the case of many Evangelical leaders that miraculously came out in opposition to Halloween once they enjoyed their own childhoods of Trick-Or-Treat revelry, the use of these pharmaceuticals just happens to become wrong once he and the Mrs squeaked past their own years of fecundity. Apparently, screwing yourself away from the dinner table is a moral obligation only for the lesser breeds of humanity.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
An activist on the radical end of the homeschooling spectrum quipped that one can either choose Communism or COMMUNITY. COMMUNITY is in many instances merely just a diluted form of Communism. Granted, it might not at this juncture result in systematic executions, but both ideologies view the group rather than the individual or a transcendent morality governing the behavior of the individual as the highest source of authority and the criteria through which justification for decisions is arrived at.
Monday, January 13, 2014
Friday, January 10, 2014
So apparently it's an outrage to artificially manipulate traffic patterns for political purposes when that goal is to get back at an electoral rival but perfectly acceptable to arbitrarily manipulate traffic patterns in order to get motorists to abandon their individualized vehicles in favor of public transportation.
Fascinating. Apparently Chris Christie's minions orchestrating a traffic jam to get revenge on a political adversary is proof that the New Jersey Governor is unfit for presidential office. However, if one points out that Obama attended a church for two decades advocating the destruction of the White race, that he began his political career at a fund raiser held in the home of a domestic terrorist, or that he had millions kicked off their health insurance policies to prove the need for the establishment of a nationalized system, you are the one at fault for even bringing these things up.
Thursday, January 09, 2014
To prove the extent of her recovery three years after the mass shooting in which she was severely brain-damaged, former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords parachuted from an airplane. The question is, though, following such a severe neurological trauma has she regained control of her bladder and bowels. Wouldn't that be a more accurate assessment of the extent to which she has healed?
Wednesday, January 08, 2014
A Lutheran talk show discussed whether or not a church should cancel services for inclement weather. One caller suggested a make-up day be scheduled. One already has. It is called next Sunday. For regulars, there really isn’t much that goes on that can’t be delayed until the following week. And those that close to death, it’s likely they would not have made the cancelled service to begin with.
Tuesday, January 07, 2014
Protecting Clones
In popular culture and elite scientific circles alike, cloning is being heralded as a process through which humanity will be ushered onto the cusp of a golden age in terms of advances in the areas of agriculture and medicine. As with most advances, those with an entrepreneurial inclination are already positioning themselves to take advantage economically of the opportunities looming on the horizon.
For example, on April 3, 2001, the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued Patent US 6,211,429 for a process for animal cloning. One must keep in mind that, apart from agricultural applications, such research is initially tried on animals with the hopes of eventually perfecting the techniques for human usage.
One scholar concerned about the application of this utilitarian mindset to human beings where people could end up being used as something not all that different than barnyard livestock is Paige Cunningham of the Center For Bioethics and Human Dignity. In response, he has formulated a set of principles that could very well stop this tragedy before things get too far out of hand.
The first principle has been stated as the following: “Every human being, however conceived or created, is unique and deserving of protection. From a religious perspective, humans are different than animals and above all animals because humans alone are created in the image of God.” This principle is Biblical as it respects the individuality of the human being as a unique creation no matter how he might have been brought into the world. Even though we might find it unsettling that an individual might be grown in a laboratory and not as the result of a loving (or at least pleasurable) coupling of his parents, that is no reason why, as Cunningham’s declaration argues, such a person should not be granted the same privileges and protections enjoyed by the remainder of our species.
Part of the justification for the first principle, while theologically sound from a religious perspective, that human beings are different than animals because humans alone are created in the image of God, unfortunately may be tougher to sell in a culture contaminated by Darwinian materialism. It is not only from a religious perspective that human beings are different from the remainder of the animal kingdom but in the manner of our fundamental ontology as well. When was the last time someone saw chimpanzees constructing medical facilities or dolphins cogitating on declarations to protect themselves from doing harm to one another? Someone might think they are an animal when it comes to themselves but seldom do they want to be treated like one.
Cunningham’s second principle has been stated thusly: “Every human being has the right to individual autonomy; i.e. that his or her bodily integrity must not be invaded or compromised by others.” The first principle was forceful in its conviction to the point of almost being too explicitly religious in that it overlooked the biological uniqueness of man in favor of the theological,. The second, though well intended, rings with a bit of the vagueness this declaration was promulgated to protect against.
While the Christian can agree with the principle that in most instances that the bodily integrity of the individual must not be invaded or compromised by others, the proposition is not always absolute. Unless enunciated in a strong pro-life context as intended, platitudes about not compromising the bodily integrity of the individual were the very kind of statements that got the ball rolling down the hill of human devaluation in the first place all in the name of “choice” and banshees wailing in the street slogans such as “keep your laws off my body”. One must be clear that the unborn child (either growing in the womb or in the laboratory) possesses the same protections against bodily harm as those enjoyed by the parents.
The third principle, that no person has the right to enslave, own, or control any human being regardless of their stage of biological development is a sound reminder of the basic principles this nation was founded upon, went through numerous struggles to extend to all those living here, and continues to expand into the twenty-first century. This principle does a superb job of upholding the innate dignity of the individual as created in the image of God and the equality of all men before Him irrespective of their power or status.
The fourth principle contends that any organism that is genetically human is a human being. While this statement is necessary in this Postmodern age that loves nothing better than to play word games in an attempt to justify all kinds of moral outrages, in academic circles and the popular press where secular philosophy and the Christian worldview clash almost constantly the position may already be in need of modification.
Though it may sound like science fiction, there is a growing movement called “Transhumanism” that seeks to expand the abilities of mankind beyond the limitations imposed by the biology of the species through genetic or technological enhancements. Some propose to accomplish this by combining human and animal DNA.
Therefore, at some point ethicists, theologians, and concerned scientists are going to have to sit down and hash out what is the bare minimum of human DNA a person can have and still be considered a human being. For example, is an organism with only 90% human DNA worthy of protection as a human being? Such statements may cause one to chuckle, but the matter is so serious, according to Tom Horn of RaidersNewsUpdate.com, that neuroscientists experimenting on mice by injecting human brain cells into the skulls of these rodents are under orders to destroy these vermin if they start to exhibit signs of intelligence.
The fifth principle holds that “A cloned embryo is distinct and separate from the person donating the genetic material, and therefore is a unique being protected in law.” This is a principle that Christians need to be at the forefront of championing.
Often the cloning discussion is framed in terms of setting aside a genetic savings account for a rainy day. For example, if someone needed a spare kidney or liver, one could simply thaw out a non-sentient replicant kept in suspended animation for just such an emergency. However, what really happens when a cloning takes place is more akin to forming a twin of oneself or, if one is unsettled by such age differences between siblings, parenting a child in a non-traditional format. As close as these human relationships are, at no time may we use our family members as spare parts without their consent.
The last principle holds that, “No person or institution has the right to control or profit from any process designed to clone a human being.” While it is a good idea to take the profitability and power out of the cloning process as such an action would cut down on firms entering into this undertaking (including government), if we wait to the point where we attempt to regulate the procedure where it is legislated that the technique must benefit all mankind, things may have already reached the point of no return. Such a response would imply that cloning had already become widespread. Rather, Christians in positions of influence should instead get busy cultivating, as Pope John Paul II use to call it, an ethic of life where blatant disregard for other human beings is such an anathema that no self-respecting scientist would consider participating in such research.
Overall, the policy declaration suggested by Paige Cunningham is to be commended as a good starting point for those within the church to start thinking about these kinds of issues that they may have not taken the time to consider previously but that are about to role over our country and change it in fundamental ways that we do not like unless we rise up now to set things on a better moral path.
By Frederick Meekins
