Religion and Geopolitics Review: Saturday, October 8

by Dr. David Pence and A. Joseph Lynch

I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

THE POPE IN GEORGIA AND AZERBAIJAN: From the National Catholic Reporter:

TBILISI, GEORGIA Pope Francis strongly criticized modern attitudes towards marriage during a series of lengthy off-the-cuff remarks to Catholics in this country Saturday afternoon, at one point declaring: "Today there is a global war to destroy marriage." Meeting with priests, seminarians, religious and lay people of the tiny Catholic minority population of the Caucasus nation, the pontiff spoke for more than 45 minutes and emphasized many of the same points he has often made over his 3.5 year papacy. But the pope became particularly forceful when speaking of marriage, calling it "the most beautiful thing that God has created." He said that the Bible describes a man and woman in marriage together as God's very image. "Do you know who pays the cost of divorce?" Francis asked aloud to the crowd at Tbilisi's Church of the Assumption. "Both people, and even more: God pays because when you divorce ... you dirty God's image.” The pontiff later described the "global war" against marriage, saying it was occurring through a process of what he has called "ideological colonization.” "Today you do not destroy with weapons, you destroy with ideas," said Francis. "It is ideological colonization that destroys.” 

MEXICO AND GAY MARRIAGE: 400,000 rally against their president who allies with a 30-country coalition.

II. ISLAM AND THE MIDDLE EAST

WHY TWO STATES IS NEITHER POSSIBLE NOR DESIRABLE IN ISRAEL: Celebrating the Munich massacre.

INDIA PAKISTAN KASHMIR - TWO CIVILIZATIONAL NUCLEAR POWERS AND THE LAND THEY FIGHT OVER: Pakistan fuels youth.

NIGERIA - THREE WARS: The inability to establish an authoritative state is arguably the greatest source of violence in the world today

CONGRESS OVERRIDES PRESIDENT ON 9/11 BILL TO SUE SAUDIS. SAUDI LAWMAKER CAUCAS SAYS THEY WILL BE BACK AFTER ELECTION: Lindsey Graham, the war hawk first at war with the world and first in bed with the Saudis, signals okay to vote to override - we will fix it later.

WAHHABISM, ISIS, AND SAUDIS - THE UNHOLY TRINITY: A good historical primer from journal NEO (New Eastern Outlook).

DO NOT CALL THIS EVIL PERVERSION ISLAM - AN INTERVIEW WITH A TRUE SUNNI ALLY: The King of Jordan doesn’t want to be called a "moderate Muslim." He calls ISIS the "outlaws" of Islam. His father (King Hussein) advised George Bush Senior not to take the Saudi side against Saddam Hussein in the First Gulf War. King Abdullah advised George W. Bush not to invade Iraq the second time. He says the "western think tanks" assume they know more than the leaders of the region. He still thinks in terms of a Greater Syria -- a larger political entity as the solution. He does not favor extensive partitions of the region but he grants that a coastal enclave for Alawites may be necessary. Watch an interview with him even from several years ago for many lessons. This linked interview was set in the context of the Syrian war and shows the king’s acceptance of a Russian ally more than abdication of Assad as a strategy.

III. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

WOMEN COPS AND WOMEN LEADERS - FEAR, COMPENSATION, AND VIOLENCE: Female leaders more likely to be warlike to show toughness. The female officer who killed the unarmed black father - was it racism, police brutality, or fear? Fear, of course, is no excuse; it is an indictment. That is why the charge against her is manslaughter.

SAN FRANCISCO METHODISTS ELECT LESBIAN BISHOP DEFYING WORLD CHURCH - A 50 YEAR TRADITION AT GLIDE: From Glide Memorial Methodist in San Francisco the logical fruit of the sexual revolution which has emitted from there for half a century. The church was founded in 1930 by Lizzie Glide, a Methodist philanthropist, in memory of her cattleman husband. The church was faithful to the Methodist tradition until the early 1960s. Like so many institutions financed by the philanthropy of hard working believers, this was corrupted by its caretakers. Glide Methodist Church was revolutionized with the ministry of Rev. Cecil Williams who became pastor in 1963. He removed the cross from the sanctuary in 1965. His assistant pastor Rev. Ted McIlvenna helped form the Council on Religion and the Homosexual in 1964. Today he is known as the owner of the largest pornographic collection in the world. Glide was the epicenter of aggressive "sex education" and the infamous Sexual Attitude Reassessment (SAR) seminars for professionals and educators. It was the era of agnostics dressed in church garb, like media sensation San Francisco Episcopal Bishop James Pike.

DARWIN IN MOVIES AND LITERATURE - MAN AS A TERRITORIAL VIOLENT PRIMATE: A review of HBO animal documentary 'Unlocking the Cage' includes a remembrance of the very important Robert Ardrey who wrote Territorial Imperative and African Genesis. This author shows some of Ardrey's influence in Hollywood. The irony here is that speaking of man as a group territorial animal ready to kill is actually a much more realistic view of humanity than the Hollywood version in the Sixties or today. Don’t tell anyone but Humanity was created, and the Jews were elected, and the Church was instituted to form a patriarchal brotherhood ordered to kill the Evil One and his minions before resting in the communion of paradise.

MURDER RATE CLIMBS ESPECIALLY FOR BLACK AMERICANS: Commentary on FBI report 2015.

PATTERN OF CONDUCT: Morality is more often assuming a traditional pattern of conduct than applying a set of principles. This insight of Michael Oakeshott helps us think about the desirability of eliminating the sex roles of protection. That pattern of behavior and conduct in which adult men are expected to look after the whole flock in the assigned territory, and the adult women are assigned to the children under their care. Do we really think that abandoning this age-old protective strategy will further the culture of life? Do we really think it is akin to ending racism. Racism, like hereditary classes, divided a society along unnatural lines allowing the children of one race or class to have higher status that the adults of another. Sex roles impose obligations of protection which certainly create a hierarchy but it is the natural order that all good ecologists should defend and praise.

IV. PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS

FIRST THINGS - HAVING NONE OF TRUMP: It is all about loyalty he says. And how we agree. He then equates loyalty to NATO and the defense of Japan as close to the unbreakable bonds of marriage. What is it about Donald Trump that evokes this kind of moral outrage while watching him debate Hillary Clinton? What is the emotional state of "principled Christian conservatives" that this asymmetry reveals? Vladimir Putin is pressing the same circuits while the atheist feminist bureaucrats of Europe evoke disagreement but not emotional opposition. He is joined by Matthew Schmitz, a fellow First Things editor, who was given space for his own smarmy hit job on Trump as a Man of Faith. I don’t recall any First Things article in several decades that was such a personal uncharitable attack on a man's faith. This was amplified by his Luther-like demand that Catholics who "believe that marriage really is indissoluble, that communion must be made in a state of grace, or that humans are eternally answerable for their actions...then the only possible response to Francis's effort is opposition." Neither Pope Francis nor Donald Trump appeal to the young "orthodox" intellectuals. Something is very wrong with our young "intellectuals" and it is important we talk about it. At AOA, apparently, we are less stringent as we make A Case for the Imperfect Mr. Trump.


KAINE & PENCE ON ALEPPO - WHY WE NEED A NEW POLITICAL DISCOURSE: The Pence-Kaine VP debate started with a very good-looking moderator who had well-prepared questions. She then disappeared as any kind of authority figure in establishing rules within which there could be extended debate about the public issues she presented. She was a kind of Condoleezza Rice, a woman put in a position of authority but unable to exercise control over men who paid her no mind. The debate itself was a reminder of how unique Donald Trump has been in introducing a new strategy for America foreign policy. The most dangerous public policy question before the presidential candidates and the US Senate today is the conflict in Aleppo, Syria. The Syrian government with the help of the Russians is close to retaking Aleppo from the rebels. This will be a substantial setback for those attempting to overthrow the Assad government and for the jihadist cause throughout the region. The US is helping the Saudi-financed rebels. All talk of imposing no-fly zones would mean (as General Dunford testified) we would be at war with Russia. All of the Republicans who Mr. Trump defeated in the Republican primary have been clamoring for escalation in Syria. Governor Pence in the debate argued the anti-Russian line of the Republican establishment while Kaine tried to paint an ever more evil Russian Bear consistent with the Clinton wing of the Democrats. Mr. Trump's perspective was not there and it is becoming clear that if he really tells us his strategy for defeating ISIS, he will lose substantial Republican support. The question for America is do we keep fighting with the Syrian opposition or help Assad and the Russians? Hillary Clinton and most of the Republican establishment is for helping the rebels. Donald Trump and many dissidents to our failed Mideast strategy want to pull back from that commitment and make a new alliance. That voice was not heard in the debate. Saudi Arabia was never mentioned in the debate nor was Syria’s other major ally: China. It was President Obama's decision in 2013 not to attack Assad over chemical weapons that helped shift US policy away from the Saudi-Republican clamor for war. Will Secretary Kerry and the President follow their own strategy or will the need to demonize the Russians misdirect us once again from understanding the new alliance we must forge to defeat our real enemies? An excellent short video history of Syrian war. Our own Awakening on the Road to Damascus. We argued three years ago on the anniversary of September 11th for a new alliance with Russia, Syria, and Iran against ISIS and the Wahhabi jihadists. Finally, a Christian view from Aleppo.

V. R&G ROUND UP

ILLIBERAL REFORMERS: An interview with Princeton professor Thomas Leonard, author of a book on the dark side of progressivism, especially the Anglo-Saxon racial assumptions. His opinions seem like typical faculty lounge wisdom, but his honest look at the progressives is illuminating as only the truth well-written can be.

US AID GRANTS TO LOBBY FOR GAY RIGHTS IN BACKWARD MACEDONIA: Who has time to defend our country when we are busy making the revolution happen elsewhere? How US money is spent by the sexual Left now directing our institutions.