CNN trotted out a pet priest, Father Edward L. Beck, to denounce President Trump asking Governors to respect freedom of religion. I thought the name sounded familiar. Back in 2010 he was calling for a Vatican III to give the heave ho to celibacy. I gave his statement a fisking. Go here to read it. He also, predictably, joined in the media lynch mob against the Covington students. Go here to read about it. From his latest screed:
I don’t see the logic there. No one is prohibiting the free exercise of religion.
When you tell churches they can’t be open, or mandate how they are operated, that is directly contrary to the free exercise of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment and all state constitutions. Such a violation may be temporarily allowed by courts in the face of a dire public emergency, but it is always a violation.
Though we are in the teeth of a pandemic, in which a very dangerous coronavirus can be transmitted by, among other things, close physical proximity, people can and do continue to worship, albeit in temporarily altered circumstances and in novel ways. To use the “freedom of religion” argument to demand carte blanche the opening of religious venues is to proffer a fallacious argument that can potentially lead to physical harm and, in the worst case, death.
By that light Christians were free in Stalinist Russia to “worship”. Note the verbal slight of hand going from “freedom of religion” which many leftists view with suspicion, to freedom of “worship” which most leftists grudgingly concede, for now. Freedom of religion is always a public act. Freedom of worship grants a Christian freedom only in his mind or the privacy of his house. His beliefs are to be kept purely private and to himself, while the State carefully controls all public manifestations of that faith.
We all want to be able to open churches and places of worship fully so that those who wish to gather in physical communion again can do so. However, this must be done incrementally and with utmost care. Physicians and health experts should be our primary guides here, and religious leaders should follow their guidance with strict and humble adherence.
I have never seen the “guys in the white coats” exception to the First Amendment. In the past churches have voluntarily closed when quarantines have been imposed by public authorities, always in limited areas, in a city for example, and for a limited time. The closings this time have been so dramatically greater in scope and time as to represent a difference in type rather than a mere difference in degree. The attempts by some state governments to harass, fine and threaten with arrest in order to support such mandated closings is also different, and extremely ominous, especially since the very same governments have also allowed certain businesses, like abortion clinics and pot stores, to function during the same time period. Little science and much politics seems to have been involved in the widespread closing of the churches.
President Trump wants governors to “allow churches and places of worship to open right now.” That would be foolhardy and dangerous.
Considering that 95% of the geographic area of the country has had little problem with the virus this statement is risible, It also flies in the face of the states that have reopened with none of the dire consequences predicted by the doomsayers. For people who are supposedly following the science, the lockdowners are not much on looking at actual evidence that goes contrary to their erroneous predictions.
Most churches and places of worship are not yet ready to fully implement the most recent guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which serve only as recommendations.
Somehow I don’t think those guidelines have Ten Commandment status. In any case, denominations should be able to decide for themselves how to handle this, just as members of the denominations can decide for themselves whether to participate in services. That is an example of what freedom of religion is all about.
Some congregations, particularly in areas with high infection rates, are not willing to risk reopening even with the new guidelines.
They don’t have to open. That is called freedom. What the President wishes is for denominations not to be prevented from reopening. Really, we live in a time when people, for partisan political purposes, pretend to be unable to make the most elementary of distinctions.
Go here to read the rest. A cowboy in the old West was once asked if he believed in infant baptism. His response: Believe in it? I’ve seen it done! Catholics concerned that there are clergy in their midst who would gladly sell out their right to freely exercise their religion to advance a secular agenda, no matter how factually flawed that agenda is, can now say the same thing.
#JudasPriest
Who watches CNN
Is he a card-carrying member of the Society of Judas?
Father TDS.
Seriously, who watches CNN?
They specialize in captive audiences, especially frustrated people waiting in lines at airports.
At first, I thought he had statue of Barad-dûr in the background, then upon closer examination it’s an angel made of black or a very dark material. I’m a firm believer that “most” religious artwork and architecture should be beautiful, since it is supposed to reflect an aspect of God.
A black angel statue belongs in the Church of Our Lady of Minas Morgul.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Catholicism/comments/ad9gva/church_frequented_by_sauron_as_a_child/
Edward Beck actually claimed that Christ may not have been celibate, that he may have been “Partnered” with someone. First of all, Jesus, who is God, came to the world to save sinners from hell. He did NOT come into this world to procreate. Second, He is NOT a human person with human needs. He has a human nature, just like you and I, but He is NOT a human person. He is ONE DIVINE person with 2 natures. What Beck insinuates is completely absurd. Third, to say someone is “Partnered” means Jesus may have been gay, which is so blasphemous, that Beck betrayed his own sexuality. Or, maybe he doesn’t care if anyone knows he is likely gay.