Religion and Geopolitics Review: Saturday, October 18

Religion and Geopolitics Review this week includes:

• ISIS versus Hezbollah in Numbers
• The Catholic Spirit of Christopher Columbus
• President Obama Already Has An Ebola Czar. Where Is She?
• Don't Listen to the Africans, Says Catholic Cardinal
• At the Synod: Circling Wagons

                                              by David Pence and A. Joseph Lynch

IN LEBANON DON'T BE SURPRISED IF THE CHRISTIANS ARE WITH HEZBOLLAH

Eventually the war against ISIS is going to determine the military composition of Lebanon. There we will see an unfamiliar Mideast sight -- organized armed Christians, namely the Maronite Catholics. Their most natural ally against the jihadist Sunnis will be their Shiite countrymen. The strongest Shiite force is Hezbollah. Here is a comparison of Hezbollah and ISIS forces from a multilingual source which specializes in Lebanon.

                 COLUMBUS: A CHRISTIAN MESSENGER TO THE AMERICAS

While Seattle has followed the city of Minneapolis in declaring the second Monday of October as Indigenous People Day, we find their insensitivity to Spanish history and Catholic culture appalling. Far from showing an appreciation of cultural diversity, the spoiled white children of baby boomer excess need a good history lesson. Columbus did not "discover America." He introduced Christianity which is the fertile seed and soil that sprouted the great nations of the American continents.

       EBOLA IS NOT A NEW PUBLIC HEALTH EVENT: NO NEW CZAR IS NEEDED 

The Ebola Virus is a challenge to a political culture that confuses rational separations and distinctions as acts of immoral discrimination. The pattern of the infections suggests the mode of transmission has not yet been properly characterized. The obstacles to contain the virus will not be a problem of funding, but clarity of thought and a willingness to employ the protective police powers of traditional public health measures. This isn't the first infectious disease in our history. The US Public Health Service has an office and person in charge of emergencies like this. It may be another careerist posing as a protector, but we don't really know because most of us have not heard of her.

                                             SYNOD ON THE FAMILY:  A GERMAN BISHOP 
                                             DISMISSES THE AFRICANS; THEN TELLS A LIE 

Cardinal Walter Kasper revealed his true colors in an interview this week. Showing great disdain for Catholics in Africa, Asia, and the Mideast, Kasper identified himself with the views of the sexually disoriented, atheist West. While some were dismayed at Pope Francis' apparent silence, we rejoice that the Pope asked men to converse and let them converse. It is always better when the serpent reveals himself rather than hide in the shadows.
Some of the best reporting on the Catholic Bishops Synod on the family has been at Catholic World Report. This is a summary with two sidebar links to 1) the Pentin/Kaspar interview on African bishops and the taboo of homosexuality; and 2) Cardinal Pell on not collapsing before the modern zeitgeist.