[CTRL] The Crucifixion of Christianity

[Archibald Bard]

The Crucifixion of Christianity Phil Brennan Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2002   If anyone has any doubt that Christianity is under attack, they need go no further than the front pages of America's newspapers or their TV screens to see the proof.   Christians, we are told, are no better than the Taliban, and would readily adopt measures similar to those employed by the ousted rulers of Afghanistan against the people of that nation should they gain political power in America.   Many Christians, their critics say, tend to oppose socially beneficial programs such as handing out condoms to teenagers and Olympic athletes, are vehement in their condemnation of a woman's alleged right to choose to butcher the baby in her womb, and fail to support so-called gay rights measures.   Outright attacks that would never be condoned if launched against any other group are regularly aimed at the Roman Catholic Church, yet draw no condemnation from the liberal U.S. media, which in their elitist mindset, view Catholicism as a creed whose adherents rank low on the social and intellectual scale.   A recent example of this is a lengthy cover story in the Jan. 21 issue of the leftist New Republic magazine: "What Would Jesus Have Done? Pope Pius, the Vatican, and the Holocaust," by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen.   Aside from misstating or distorting the facts concerning Pope Pius XII's actions in helping Jews during World War II, Goldhagen goes on the attack against Christianity itself.   As H.W. Crocker III, author of "Triumph: The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church, a 2,000-Year History," wrote in NewsMax.com Feb. 5: "The New Republic article is especially important because it shows that anti-Catholic hate is being 'mainstreamed.'"   Goldhagen’s piece, Crocker charges, "resurrects, in essence, Voltaire’s old battle cry of 'crush the infamous thing' – by which Voltaire meant the Catholic Church. But unlike Voltaire, who had wit – the Jesuits educated him, after all – Goldhagen, a professor with yet another anti-Catholic book to sell, is a mere blunt instrument of abuse."   That same "mainstream media" can't wait to find examples of misbehavior among the Roman Catholic priesthood, headlining every instance of sexual abuse on the part of members of the clergy.   While it is certainly legitimate to expose such criminal acts on the part of the Catholic clergy, it is not legitimate to fail to emphasize that Catholic priests are no more apt to engage in sinful activity than their Protestant or Jewish colleagues.   Sin is not the exclusive property of Catholic priests. Yet it is the Catholic priesthood that gets the attention when one of their number commits sexual crimes.   In recent weeks the media have had a field day trumpeting the disgusting failure of the Catholic hierarchy in the Archdiocese of Boston in concealing grievous instances of pedophilia among the priesthood, moving known pedophile priests from parish to parish where they could continue to molest youngsters in their charge instead of turning them over to the authorities for punishment.   The failure of Cardinal Law and other members of the diocesan hierarchy to deal with this cancer exposed countless numbers of innocent youths to the horrors of sexual abuse at the hands of their priests.   It was inexcusable behavior, and the cardinal should acknowledge his culpability by stepping down. The diocese should be shaken up and all those who had a part in the outrage removed from their posts and sent packing.   There are no excuses for this implicit condoning of criminal and moral depravity on the part of priests – none. A pedophile is a pedophile whether or not he wears a Roman collar.   That having been said, the behavior of the media, which have conspicuously drooled over the opportunity the scandal has presented them to attack the Catholic church without fear of being charged with outright bigotry, needs to be examined.   Keep in mind the fact that the overwhelming majority of the media elite are proponents of gay rights and all other goals of the homosexual activists. Just how often to you see media condemnations of homosexual behavior in the mainstream media?   Now also keep in mind the fact that these pedophile priests were molesting young boys – not young girls. The pedophile priests were, by definition and practice, homosexuals, or "gay," as members of the exquisite community prefer to be called.   Yet there hasn't been so much as a whisper in the mainstream media of this rather obvious fact. The homosexual aspects of the scandal are carefully ignored.   A media that have, by and large, supported punishing the Boy Scouts of America for daring to protect its members from being preyed upon by homosexual pedophile scoutmasters are not rushing to defend the Boston Catholic archdiocese for protecting the "gay rights" of pedophile priests.   Another aspect of this story has been the rush to blame clerical celibacy for priestly pedophilia. If priests had wives, we are told, they wouldn't have to be pedophiles.   Think about that for a minute. Would homosexual pedophiles even want to get married if allowed to do so? It's not women they want, it's young males.   It's minor details such as that which seem to escape the media's attention.   In spite of all of this, the anti-religious Marxist media now feel free to take every opportunity to pillory Christianity at will, especially the Roman Catholic Church. My non-Catholic Christian brothers and sisters had better take notice – they're next.   It's not Rome the Marxist media and their liberal brethren want to crucify – it's Jesus Christ, and all those who worship Him.   *** Phil Brennan is a veteran journalist who writes for NewsMax.com. He is editor & publisher of Wednesday on the Web (http://www.pvbr.com) and was Washington columnist for National Review magazine in the 1960s. He also served as a staff aide for the House Republican Policy Committee and helped handle the Washington public relations operation for the Alaska Statehood Committee which won statehood for Alaska. He is also a trustee of the Lincoln Heritage Institute.   He can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED]   While we were sleeping, the enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat. Matthew 13:25 Archibald Bard ICQ 83834746 TO KEEP THE PEACE, KEEP YOUR PIECE!