Religion and Geopolitics Review: Saturday, January 13

by Dr. David Pence and A. Joseph Lynch

THE WEEKLY BRIEF
Thinking clearly about Race, Nation and the Two Parties

When President Obama on multiple occasions said the world would be much better off if countries were more like the Scandinavians, there were no outcries that he was pushing white supremacy. There is some dispute if President Trump placed Haiti in the sh*thole country category. There is no dispute among newscasters that such a national disparagement would be a sign of racism on the part of President Trump. (This is no time to bring up that after the American and French revolutions of the 18th century the next national liberation was the racial blood bath and ethnic cleansing of whites known as the Haitian revolution 1791-1804).

President Trump believes in the seriousness of the citizenship bond of the American nation (a much more multiracial nation than President Obama's favorites Sweden and Norway or the medias' new city on a hill-Haiti). He believes in the sacredness of our national symbol-the American flag. His deep devotion to protecting this multiracial citizenship bond has been portrayed by the media and University elite as proof that President Trump is a racist.  Christianity and American nationalism are the two corporate interracial identities best fit to transcend  racism. The atheist white left treats them both as malignant agents of racism while insisting that their own sexual perversities like abortion are to be embraced as the natural offspring of the civil rights movement. When President Trump salutes either our religion or our country they accuse him of blowing the racist dog whistle. When the truth is twisted into a lie, it must be  done with maximum outrage to cover with heat what is exposed by light. Wealthy sexual revolutionaries turned the beautiful hymns of the American Christian interracial awakening into their own tortured screams against God and nature. Their preening outrage about offending Haiti is the latest version of high hysteria over minor mishaps. The race card is the moral trump card in American politics and who gets to play it determines who wins the game.

Globalists and the nation--the drama unfolds  

The resistance to President Trump's nationalist foreign policy began with "Never Trump" neoconservatives and John McCain's peculiar coalition of arms merchants, "freedom fighters" and Saudi donors to his McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State University. Long before President Trump upended the Democrats, he rode through the entire Republican elite and made their best candidates look like high school nerds. He showed their war hero to be a petulant self absorbed crank, and exposed their deep thinkers as globalist stooges. Is it a surprise that those men still despise the president and are actively working against him? They are at the origin of the Russian Dossier and persist in the Russian Collusion Hoax. They have a vision of America, Israel and Saudi Arabia in a war against Iran, Iraq, Syria's Assad, and Russia. They want to surround China in the South China Sea (Steve Bannon outdid them on that one). They control the Republican party foreign policy establishment. They were terrified that a nationalist President Trump would be against such an interventionist globalist agenda.  Despite President Trump's sword dance with the Salman royalty, he is much more likely than any of the Republican or Democratic presidential candidates to figure out that the Saudis are not really our allies. The president has already figured out that Pakistan has been our enemy since 911 and Russia has been on our side in the terrorist fight. These are huge strategic shifts. Both Hillary Clinton and John McCain have been recipients of millions in Saudi money. Neither one of them was clear enough in their thinking or strong enough in their personalities to uncover the Saudi masquerade. They were not really in on the joke. They were so personally career and status oriented that they didn't recognize state actors playing them for national purposes not entirely our own. There are many cabals, careers and interests dividing up the riches, status, and arms that flow from Washington DC. Most Americans are there for status, career or wealth. Most foreigners are there on behalf of a nation. There is no overriding conspiracy against the nation nor is there a unified national government of statesmen to outmaneuver the competing interests. There is no serious antiwar left to dampen the war drums or catalogue the arms merchants.  If  American Christians stay divided with the blacks in the Democratic Party and the whites in the Republican Party, then other smaller cliques and interests will divide the spoils. The disparate forces  benefit when public offices are held by weak careerists like Hillary Clinton and John McCain. If black, white, and Hispanic Christians unite as fellow Americans under a strong nationalist leader, then the swamp gets drained and America could regain her moral footing. Let us pray and sing again with Sam Cooke: A Change is Gonna Come. 

I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

SIN - A POPULAR ACTIVITY, AN UNCOMMON DISCUSSION: Dale Ahlquist and GK Chesterton explain.

REBUILDING ORTHODOXY IN RUSSIA: New Churches and Monasteries.

THE CALENDAR AND THE CHURCH: A brief history.

PHINEAS RESTORED THE PRIESTHOOD BY ACTING AGAINST AN ABOMINATION: From Numbers 25:6-13:

Just then one of the Israelites came and brought a Midianite woman into his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the Israelites, while they were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting. When Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he got up and left the congregation. Taking a spear in his hand, he went after the Israelite man into the tent, and pierced the two of them, the Israelite and the woman, through the belly. So the plague was stopped among the people of Israel. Nevertheless those that died by the plague were twenty-four thousand. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the Israelites by manifesting such zeal among them on my behalf that in my jealousy I did not consume the Israelites. Therefore say, ‘I hereby grant him my covenant of peace. It shall be for him and for his descendants after him a covenant of perpetual priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the Israelites.’”

How many priests know other priests today doing a lot worse than sleeping with a Midianite woman?

KOREA - NORTH AND SOUTH TO TALK: South Korean President Moon Jae-in on North Korea and unification. His talk was given in the old East Germany-another country divided by the "divided peace" after WWII. His Catholic identity is central. His history as a human rights lawyer and advocate of less bellicose approach to the North is a good balance to President Trump.

SLEEP - ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF HOW THE HUMAN ORGANISM AND THE EARTH'S PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE ARE RELATED: The need for sleep. "Protect us Lord as we stay awake, watch over us as we sleep, that awake we may keep watch with Christ, and asleep rest in his peace."

II. ISLAM AND THE MIDDLE EAST

WHAT IS THE QURAN? A Catholic Jesuit priest tries to answer.

CONFRONTING PAKISTAN; A MAJOR CHANGE IN AFGHANISTAN STRATEGY BY THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: BBC on cutting security aid to Pakistan. Review of four books on Pakistan arguing they are a doubtful ally and actually the major cause of the Afghanistan stalemate. This is a fundamental change in policy that should be applauded by those hoping to end the war in Afghanistan. Once again the hatred of President Trump has sidelined this crucial public event from the public discourse. There is a promise that India will become a bigger actor which is important. Iran too must play a role but that seems less likely in the present atmosphere. Here was a good review of the Brooking Institute analysis of the central players.(Scroll down under  II.Islam and the Mideast) The most important ally of Pakistan is the power that has helped them for years with infrastructure, not arms - that is China.

IRAN PROTESTS - NOT QUITE FOR LIBERAL DEMOCRACY: Ex-President Ahmadinejad was arrested in Iran for "inciting unrest" in the recent street demonstrations in Iran. He is not exactly a classical liberal seeking western democracy. This demonstrations came from the countryside villages and towns more than Teheran. That should be a clue. In an embarrassing display of hubris and cultural cluelessness Nikki Haley (American UN representative), VP Mike Pence, and "Free Iran-Change the Regime" rally speaker Newt Gingrich hailed these demonstrations as some kind of yearning by the Iranian people to be free of mullahs. In fact the "moderate elite" may be facing a populist movement that is probably a good deal more socially conservative than their Western supporters are projecting. It is more likely these are demonstrations against incompetence, corruption, as well as budgetary and economic differences with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Every demonstration is not a revolution. Every populace is not inspired by the slogans of American university students. Let us thank the Lord for that.

III. AMERICA AND THE WORLD, AMERICAN POLITICS

WHAT IS AMERICA'S ROLE IN THE WORLD? IS IRAN THE BIGGEST PROBLEM IN THE MIDEAST? Pat Buchanan asks.

CHURCHILL AND TRUMP - "UNLESS YOU BECOME AS A LITTLE CHILD": The recent movie Darkest Hour about Winston Churchill's many idiosyncrasies and his great unpopularity among Britain's ruling class evoke the nightly newscasts and tell all books trying to cast the President as mentally unstable. Comparing Churchill and Trump after a year in office, Trump has better control of his appetites and his party than the Prime Minister had.

JEWS AGAINST NON-JEWS IN THE WHITE HOUSE: The liberal jewish magazine Forward is a great source for perspectives. Like most of the Left , they have no insight about Donal Trump but they know a lot about fights inside of Israel and among American Jews. They play the anti Semite card relentlessly but still one can often learn from their articles because they treat religion and ethnicity seriously. Here is their take on the Kushner vs Bannon White House.

TINA SMITH - AL FRANKEN REPLACEMENT IN US SENATE: A resume. Born in New Mexico (Tina Flint 1958), she came to Minnesota (1984) for a marketing job at General Mills. A chief of staff for a big city mayor and governor, she was also an executive vice president for Planned Parenthood for three years . She has a political science degree from Stanford and a business degree from Dartmouth. She leaves her elected office as Lieutenant Governor accepting the appointment of Governor Mark Dayton after the resignation of Senator Al Franken. She is married (to Archie Smith for >30 years). They have two grown sons.

III. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

NOT ENOUGH WOMEN JOIN POLICE FORCES: Get out there and recruit! When you fight against human nature, it seems with every new generation you lose ground again. Adjustments, recruitment and preferences are required. The girls in the STEM science movement are actresses in a similar story line.

CONFRONTING THE GAY PRIEST PROBLEM: From a priest writing at Crisis. He makes a good moral argument against "coming out as gay" but there is no plan here for confrontation by religious superiors and bishops against the huge homosexual sub-cult in the Catholic priesthood.

CONFRONTING THE SINGLE SEX FRATERNITY AND SORORITY PROBLEM: At Harvard the diversity crowd nukes the Greeks.

RICH WOMEN CONFRONT THE PATRIARCHY - BUT IN THE NAME OF CECIL B DE MILLE?  Oprah Winfrey gave an acceptance speech at the 2018 Global Globes Award ceremony on January 7, 2017. The Golden Globes Awards are sponsored by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. (For most US films,  Foreign Box Office receipts are twice the US Canadian total) The award Mrs Winfrey received was the Cecile B. DeMille (1881-1959) award. De Mille's mother was Jewish and his father Episcopalian. His father had read nightly both Old and New Testament stories to his children before he died when Cecil was twelve. One of DeMille's artistic missions was to continue his father's legacy by bringing the stories of the Bible to mass audiences through film.

Mrs Winfrey was short on Bible and God talk. She did introduce people to Recy Taylor a black woman raped in 1944 by six white men as she walked home from church. Her tale is a brutal one that inflames the blood of any righteous man. Mrs Winfrey concluded, "She lived, as we all have lived, too many years in a culture broken by brutally powerful men. And for too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power of those men. But their time is up. Their time is up. Their time is up."

There is nothing brutal about power and nothing inherently unjust about a world dominated by men. But there is something deeply false about Mrs Winfrey suggesting to little girls watching her on TV that the Hollywood feminist fantasy crowd is going to enforce "Time is up" on exploiting women. Celebrity Megyn Kelly worried the big event was just a "teaspoon of protest against the ocean of male dominance that is not close to over." Is male dominance the same as male exploitation? What shall we do with Christ the King? What if Hollywood turned all their talent and technology to the mission of Cecil De Mille? The biblical story of a Father God who sent his son as The King of Kings (a De Mille classic) is about men establishing justice under the most powerful Patriarch of them all. When men obey the Father and act like men, the women are protected not exploited. One of America's richest women might look beyond the latest hash tag to that more lasting source of wisdom which so inspired Cecil B De Mille.

THE MASCULINE AMERICA - THE PRESIDENT SALUTES THE FLAG AND THE CHRISTIAN QUARTERBACK PULLS OUT A MIRACLE: Just in time after the Oprah feminism show at the Golden Globes, the College Football Championship in Atlanta (Jan 8, 2018) displayed another set of characters and rituals that define America. The goal of the game was for men to determine through contest and struggle which team was the more powerful in this contest and most powerful throughout the whole land. Winning and being great were major goals. A beautiful national anthem with the President at attention. A stunning overtime touchdown pass by the Freshman QB Tua Tagavailoa after a sack seemed to signal defeat. The physical contest had a Christian undertow.

SLAVERY, SEX, AND ISLAM, SLAVERY, SEX AND ROME: Slavery and sexual license were always married. In the Muslim world. In the Roman world. That is why the Christian insistence on chastity for all and celibacy for those who were capable was so revolutionary.

ROD DREHER (AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE) INTERVIEWS PATRICK DEENAN (NOTRE DAME) ON HIS BOOK WHY LIBERALISM FAILED: A definition of liberalism from the interview:

Liberalism is thus a political philosophy that rests upon the realization of the autonomous individual self. This means not only must such individuals be politically free from arbitrary government power, but they must be free from what come to be considered all arbitrary and unchosen relationships that include social and familial bonds. Not only must all relationships ultimately be the result of the free choice of the sovereign individual, but, in order to preserve the autonomy of the liberated self, those relationships must be permanently revisable and easily exited. Thus, liberalism not only shapes our public institutions, but our social and private ones as well, ordering society toward the sovereign choice and autonomy of the individual choosing self. We see the liberal human coming fully into being not only in our political domain, but in the breakdown of most of our social and familial institutions, including the rise of the “nones, “moralistic therapeutic deism,” and the deepening generational avoidance of commitment, marriage and children.We can say, then, that liberalism is the political operating system of America.

We would comment that secular liberalism ends in the autonomous self--an economic idea for the right and a sexual notion for the left. But America is a Christian nation with a tradition of liberty grounded in the Sovereignty of God, the reliability of scripture and assigned roles of protection to men and women as men and women. Deanne describes the America of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama not George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy. Let us reject the individualistic ideology of the baby boomers and embrace World Christianity, American nationalism and traditional sexual morality as the ties that bind.