Over the past year we’ve already seen ample evidence that Obama has indeed been affected by the Marxist marinade he stewed in over the years. Some of us were not so shocked by the massive spending, government takeover and the nascent socialism in most of his proposals. But the sheer radical nature of so many of his appointments was truly eye-opening, wasn’t it? (See “Czar She Blows” earlier this year.)
As the year went on, we saw many other disquieting examples. (Anita Dunn comes to mind, as well as his subsuming of the Census) Well, it seems the radical Marxist, anti-religious beat goes on.
The Catholic News Agency is reporting that former minister Harry Knox, appointed by Obama to his Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnership, is standing by his comments attacking Pope Benedict XVI as “hurting people in the name of Jesus”.
…Knox, a former licensed minister of the United Methodist Church and a leader with the homosexual activist group Human Rights Campaign (HRC), originally made his comments in March 2009 in response to Pope Benedict’s comments about the effectiveness of condoms in fighting AIDS in Africa.
“The Pope’s statement that condoms don’t help control the spread of HIV, but rather condoms increase infection rates, is hurting people in the name of Jesus,” Knox had said in a HRC statement. “On a continent where millions of people are infected with HIV, it is morally reprehensible to spread such blatant falsehoods.”
CNSNews spoke with Knox at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday. Asked if he stood by his comments, he said “I do.”
Asked about Harvard AIDS prevention researcher Dr. Edward Green’s claim that the Pope was correct, Knox said Dr. Green was “simply incorrect.”
“All the other evidence of science shows otherwise.”
In March 2009, Dr. Green told CNA that researchers cannot find an association between more condom use and lower HIV rates. He has also written that programs to increase fidelity in relationships and to reduce the number of sex partners are effective.
Previously, Knox has described Pope Benedict XVI and certain Catholic bishops as “discredited leaders” because of their opposition to same-sex “marriage.”
Though acknowledging the Knights of Columbus’ “good works,” he also called the Catholic fraternal order’s members “foot soldiers of a discredited army of oppression” because of the organization’s support for the successful California ballot measure Proposition 8. That 2008 measure restored the definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
My school’s religious order has many institutions serving the people in Marxist-ruled Zimbabwe and many other countries hardest hit by the AIDS pandemic. It is a truly catastrophic situation. Those who aren’t orphaned are often being raised by older grandparents. The money our schools are raising in this country is helping many of these orphans live at our schools in Africa.
Programs discouraging promiscuity are getting results. Handing out condoms isn’t working. What the Pope says is a very simple statement of fact that is encountered in every day life down there, and not just in the convincing statistics referred to by Dr. Green.
I can offer an anecdote of my own in regard to the practical counter-disease effectiveness of condoms in real street life. Many years ago, I got the chance to visit and stay at Covenant House in New York City for awhile. (Covenant House is a shelter for runaway kids. A lot of runaways in New York, many very young, are picked up by pimps and forced into white slavery: forced prostitution.) I got to talk to the workers there about the real statistics they got straight from the street. Can you guess what the failure rate is for condoms in real street use? It’s one in five. Can you guess the average number of tricks these kids have to turn a day? You guessed it: five!
It’s basically Russian roulette. The STD’s all these kids get is no abstract papal religious propaganda; it’s horribly real. Who would you rather trust in this African AIDS crisis: all the Catholic religious orders in Africa who are actually serving the orphans and shattered families, or someone denied ordination for not adhering to his own denomination’s rules?
It seems many of those surrounding Obama betray antipathy to authentic religion. If they are ‘religious’ at all, it is the Marxist model of Reverends Wright and Fleger, HEAVY emphasis on Marxist not ‘religious’. All this makes me wonder about Obama’s year-long search for a church to attend.
Could it be that any ‘church’ he would really want to attend would not look good in a PR sense? I almost hate to speculate like that, but in view of the ever-increasing evidence from so many of his appointees, like this Harry Knox, what else are we to think?
Beware of far-left ideological zealots offering ‘spiritual’ advice, or ANY advice for that matter. Their grasp on reality is so skewed that, every time they try to “help”, a lot of people are actually going to get very hurt!
Knox is one of those who think that STDs are the price one pays for unrestricted sexual freedom. People who practice it, however, are like someone who puts a single round into a revolver, points it at someone he claims to care for, then then pulls the trigger. Knox is mad, mad in the sense of those whom God has made “mad.”
I always believe that there is something terribly wrong with the “love” a person declares that they have for a group of people when they simply try to suppress information from them that will save them. I refer to any kind of idea about sex. It seems people don’t really want the truth when it comes to sex. They prefer to live in a lie and in denial and then they blame others because the truth hurts. I think that what these people define as love and caring for their brother in denying them the right to the truth that would protect them borders somewhat on malice. It is sad.
“the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel” PRO 12:10
Wow Nellie!
That is absolutely the most perfect quote you could have come up with for this situation!
Tammy, you are 100% correct that Knox is living in denial. Nuts like Knox think it is a trick to keep gays in the closet or stop/reduce homosexual activity.
Anyone see the HBO movie And the Band Played On? When it was even suggested the bath houses be closed or that men avoid them until they knew what was going on, the gay community threw a collective fit. Many of those infected at the time had on average, 300 sexual partners. That is why at least in America, gay men have been hit harder than the rest of the population. He sees it as part of their “liberation” from the closet. He WANTS to believe sex can be safe almost always. Remember, being a leftist means living in denial.
Knox is a Kool-Aid drinker.
The Jesus to whom he refers is a creature of his own creation, and unrelated to history.
The Jesus of history is on record as supporting a single choice: celibacy or man-woman marriage (one time, until death). You could (as Casey Stengel once said) look it up.
Condoms have several problems.
1) The material degrades; it degrades more quickly in warm climates.
2) Condoms break. When the condom breaks, the protection disappears.
3) Genital contact is sufficient to spread STDs.
4) There is an emotional refusal to use condoms.
5) What happens if the condom is not immediately available? It is not used.
Abstinence, on the other hand, always works.
“Keep your legs together.”
Never been known to fail.
And only abstinence will help Africa recover from the STD scourge.
Unfortunately abstinence does not feed into the grand scheme of the coming Marxist Utopia, in which all desires will be filled and all human perversions satisfied.
Oh, well.
*****BREAKING NEWS!*****
[BREAKING: CatholicVoteAction.org blogger Thomas Peters will appear on Hannity on the FOX News Channel tonight at 9 PM EST. He will discuss the anti-Catholic attacks on Pope Benedict XVI made by Henry Knox, who serves on President Obama�s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. TUNE IN TONIGHT!]
mlajoie2
Sexual license is a part of the marxist program to enslave the world. This cannot be enabled if people are taught abstinence. Marxist want to use freely available sex as an anesthetic in order to keep people from thinking seriously about other matters, and it works. Look at Sweden as a prime example. They have sex 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with anyone in sight. But they have given up their nation because they were too busy screwing to care while the marxists took their country away and gave it to the muzlim hoards. It is a narcotic. Teaching abstinence is teaching people to resist the drug, and the drug pusher certainly does not what THAT!
can someone get me out of spam? Thanks
Dr D You’re kidding right? Or did you learn this from George Costanza?
Dr. D it’s much bigger than sex. The progressive movement simply cannot work with God in the picture, period. It’s a major reason Obama has all of the anti-catholics on board, why he spoke at Notre Dame (acting like he was ‘America’s Pope’), and why George Soros funds catholic “front” groups (to debase & confuse the Catholic Faith in America). It’s even one of the reasons gay ‘marriage’ is fought so hard by the left. Once gay ‘marriage’ is legal, it will be easier to wreck havoc on Catholic Churches by ‘discrimination charges’. About a year ago, the state of CT (by 3 ‘pseudo catholic congressmen’), tried unsuccessfully to get state control over the Catholic Church (fortunately, the court house was mobbed by Christians of all faiths and it was shot down, but they will be back).
The list goes on, but anyone who can’t see that Obama has an anti-catholic agenda, is missing the real story. Knox may be a bigot, but for the most part, he’s just another Obama useful idiot.
Had the 60 million America Catholics been “real” ones, Obama could have never gotten elected. It was clearly the “catholic vote” that put Obama into the presidency.
#8
Mj2, with no disrespect meant to you, even if I still have a cable connected TV, NOTHING, at least that I can think of, could make me tune into Hannity. This is EXACTLY one of the many reasons I have a major problem with Hannity and O’Reilly; bring out the “Catholicism” if it means ratings, bash it when it doesn’t fit their agendas. Those two play the “catholic card” as much as Sharpton plays the race card.
I’m not saying that they need to “preach the faith”, but if they are going to profess the faith, as they do when it works into their ratings or to sell books, they also need to at least try to live it and most of all, respect it. I suggest they start by LEARNING it, as both have demonstrated no greater than a 2nd grade knowledge of it.
Rest assured, Hannity will be the outraged drama queen “defending” the same pope he thinks is out to lunch on issues that are inconvenient to him. By the way, did you know Hannity went to “seminary”? I think that equates to taking Latin 101 in high school.
As for Knox, why the surprise? It was well know he was an anti-catholic bigot when selected, one more added to the Obama anti-catholic agenda, which now includes the majority of his appointees.
My *8 is still in spam
Stabuck: “Against the wind he now steers for the open jaw,” Starbuck murmurs to himself. “God keep us, but already my bones feel damp within me, and from the inside wet my flesh. I misdoubt me that I disobey my God in obeying him!”
Moby Dick, chapter 135, Melville
Starbuck realizes the insanity and evil that posses’s Captain Ahab and his vendetta for the demonic whale Moby Dick. Doom is about to transpire: he and others have allowed the Captain, who was once a devout Quaker, to deny God and participate in pagan rituals and evil desires to pursue true evil incarnate. Now he knows they are going to pay for their denial of God with their very lives.
In a sense, we are all on a ship like the Pequod. Our Captain Obama is driven to chase the insane dream of Socialism, that is his White Whale. He lies and tries all sorts of dirty tricks and deceit to get us to follow him straight into Hell. Will we be like Starbuck and stand back to watch in dismay and finally be lost in the whirlpool of the ship of state as it is being sucked down to the bottom or do we stand up to the insanity and illogic that runs so counter to our beliefs and history
I wasn’t able to edit; here’s the link to “The Gospel of Hannity” that I tried to put in post #8.
@Nellie:
And I was reminded of the Oscar Wilde poem, Ballad of Reading Gaol, in which these lines appear:
Some strangle with the hands of Lust,
Some with the hands of Gold:
The kindest use a knife, because
The dead so soon grow cold.
Ironically, Wilde was persecuted because he was gay.
Plainjane,
Did you know Oscar Wilde was a Catholic convert? Here is one link describing his long journey to faith: http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/arts/al0010.html
His fierce honesty led him to faith. It’s a really interesting story!
mlajoie2
@ rich wheeler #10
No, I am not kidding at all. I am quite serious. Look at Sweden.
I did not learn this from George Costanza; who is he?
pdill,
I think I really understand and respect your feelings. I have felt your disgust and I sympathize. CatholicVoteAction just wants to get their word out and, right now, there’s no better trumpet than Fox News. I don’t think we can blame them for that.
As for religious hypocrisy, let’s pray for people like Hannity and help call them back to fullness of faith. St. Francis didn’t condemn and isolate the morally and doctrinally deficient influential leaders of his day. He prayed for and challenged them. Many of them were immensely impressed by his example and his words; they changed and were able to use their positions of power for authentic spiritual renewal and change. It’s a lot harder to approach things with that attitude, but I think it’s better in the long run.
Plainjane, the best part:
Yet each man kills the thing he loves.
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word.
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!
The ballad of Reading Gaol I:7
Ml I had no idea that Wilde converted to Catholicism, how interesting; A complex man, born ahead of his time.
The Progressive Marxists create class warfare, all of us against the wealthy: by proclaiming them as being responsible for all our problems. Thus it is reasonable to tax them into obscurity, so that they may pay for their transgressions. This is only the obvious reason for creating class hatred: the real reason is to break down our culture and destroy our societal conventions, while adding more taxation to the public at large.
The Left not only despises Catholicism, they hate all religion. God offers security against the harshness of life; the Progressive Socialists would rather have you depend on them for comfort. Thus religion interferes with your dependence on the state, it is in effect competition for the soul of the prole and the dollars of the prole. They do not regard us as American Citizens, but as the proletariat or workers, no different than the workers of Europe or Mexico. To control proles is to gain and control power, with power comes wealth. Their wealth is above and beyond confiscation by the state becase they are among the Elites or as Mao called them The Super Heroes who are privileged and entitled to wealth.
In this issue, all religions are in the same boat and Obama’s Progressive Marxists want to destroy all religions. This has been their creed since Marx called religion the opiate of the masses.
Ml2 I have to respectfully disagree. What matters is the destruction of the faith.
Hannity and O’Reilly are public figures; consequently, they are held both accountable and need to be called out on scandal (as I am sure St. Francis would be doing). Again, they have no obligation to toot the Catholic horn, but since they DO, especially when it fits their agendas, they have an obligation to “get it right.” If you watch the video clip I linked to, you will clearly see what I mean.
I would even argue that both Hannity and O’Reilly are complicit in the election of Obama,. These so called Catholics have HUGE audiences (and access to great researchers). Since they love to wear their “Catholic badges”, as Catholics, they had an obligation to speak out against abortion. Both were cowards; consequently, this country elected Mr. Anti Human Life. To my knowledge, Laura Ingraham, a recent Catholic Convert, is the only Catholic who walks the walk and has the guts to ever speak the truth about abortion.
Hannity and O’Reilly shouldn’t have it both ways, but they do, consequently, they contribute to the confusion and weakening of the faith, AND the progressive movement. As I said before, the only thing that keeps FOX in the number one ratings is the lack of anything better, except of course, getting rid of cable.
pdill,
So, I actually agree with you a lot. You’re right. They DO have to be challenged. That IS what Francis did. I actually share the way you feel about Laura Ingraham. I watched the video (I saw it when it aired); I agree with what you say. about their obligation to speak more clearly and I, too, mourn what could have been had they been more true and brave.
However, we should look at what Francis did. I wrote an award-winning History thesis on how Francis formed his preaching ideal and one of the big topics I tackled was how he confronted the corruption of the leaders of his day, the Bishops, theologians and educators. He certainly didn’t shirk on his strong challenging, but he also respected their gifts and positions. He radically engaged them, cajoled, encouraged, shamed through example and word. The bottom line is, what he did worked. Should we do that, too. How can we do what he did now? I confess, I don’t know the total answer to that question. But he seems like such a good model to follow, especially since his time so resembles our own in many ways. Yea. Imagine what would happen if we COULD get Hannity and O’Reilly convicted in their hearts? Wouldn’t it be good if we could? Part of it has to be that strong challenging you are talking about. There are other things. I mentioned praying and I meant it. Also, think of the Spiritual Works of Mercy:
To instruct the ignorant;
To counsel the doubtful;
To admonish sinners;
To bear wrongs patiently;
To forgive offences willingly;
To comfort the afflicted;
To pray for the living and the dead.
Maybe they are beyond our reaching. I don’t know. But I think we ought to try to reach them because they have gifts that God might want them to use better than they are.
Brothers Hannity and O’Reilly seem beyond redemption as is our Morman Brother Beck.Perhaps Brother Limbaugh or Sister Coulter could counsel them and move them towards enlightenment. I fear Saint Francis would be considered a Marxist Socialist by our 21st century Conservative brethren. PTL
‘Brother Wheeler’, I challenge you to read a scholarly biography of St. Francis. He is the medieval saint who has the most reliable historical info about him. One classic is the bio by GK Chesterton. The closest modern approximation is probably Mother Teresa. He didn’t have a political bone in his body.
MLAJOIE I’ve had the good fortune of visiting the beautiful hillside town of Assisi and worshipping in his Basillica.The son of a wealthy family he devoted himself to a life of poverty and respecting and helping the poor.He was the patron Saint of nature and animals. A true environmentalist he believed the duty of man was to protect and enjoy nature as the steward of God’s creations. Like Mother Teresa one of Catholicism’s most wonderful saints.Thank you for bringing him to our attention and ofcourse you are right that he did not have a political bone in his body.
Quote: “. . .former minister Harry Knox, appointed by Obama to his Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnership, is standing by his comments. . .”
funny, my first pass over that segment read “Partnership” as “Partisanship”. . .makes more sense that way actually.
some century ago our locals ancient fought to protect their family of many children this value should be continue in this time because we might have regret in the future as a matter of survival thank you.
Pdill, I have seen both Oreilly and Hannity speak out against abortion. I have seen Oreilly lose his temper and scream at some of the guests who have supported planned parenthood and their agenda. I have also seen Sean Hannity get very passionate about abortion. He is against it. He was also against Obama to the extreme and still is.
I have to somewhat disagree with you. I don’t watch Hannity that much because he is too shrill for me. However he has spoken forcefully against abortion.
Dr. D,
I read an article a couple of years back in “Economist” about Sweden. The government was considering a strategy which involved promoting porn 24 hours a day, 7 days a reason. They were considering this strategy because they are having a population implosion. Swedes are simply not having enough children to replace the aging population and they were speculating that the women were losing interest in sex and reproduction. I had read a similar article concerning Japan. Europe is having a serious meltdown in reproducing. The only reasons their economy hasn’t tanked as badly as it could have from the population implosing is the Muslim immigration to their countries. In about fifty to seventy five years, Europe will be a Muslim continent with a predominantly Muslim culture and the Old European culture which we once knew will be history. The Europeans are just not reproducing enough.
TAMMYL your words are better than mine to say the same if we calculate from our own close grand parents we can even now see the gap thank you.