"Religious freedom is an authentic weapon of peace."
That's one of the momentous statements from Pope Benedict XVI's speech on December 16th, World Peace Day. However, it expresses a conviction that is far afield from the ruthlessness of many Muslim, Communist and Hindu leaders who regularly use religious persecution as a political weapon.
The Pope's message was translated into many languages (including Arabic, Russian and Hindi) and delivered to leaders throughout the world by Vatican ambassadors.
The speech also carried the demonstrable fact that most of the victims of religious persecution in the world are Christians. "At present, Christians are the religious group which suffers most from persecution on account of its faith," and he specifically mentioned the violent horrors endured by Christian communities in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and "especially in the Holy Land."
In a later press conference, Msgr. Anthony Frontiero, an official at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said that of all the people "who are discriminated against, hurt, killed or persecuted for religious reasons, 75% worldwide are Christian." Frontiero also pointed out that the death toll resulting from this persecution of Christian believers is 150,000 every year.
And it isn't paranoia. Reports the
Toronto Star -- "Virtually every human rights group and Western government agency that monitors the plight of Christians worldwide arrives at more or less the same conclusion: Between 200 million and 230 million of them face daily threats of murder, beating, imprisonment and torture, and a further 350 to 400 million encounter discrimination in areas such as jobs and housing."
The pope also warned against "more sophisticated forms of hostility to religion" which, in Western countries, is often expressed by a denial of its Christian roots and the rejection of religious symbols, "which reflect the identity and the culture of the majority of citizens." Such hostility is "inconsistent with a serene and balanced vision of pluralism and the secularity of institutions," he said.
Civil society must acknowledge and make room for the right of believers to have their voice heard in the public realm, Pope Benedict argued. "To eclipse the public role of religion is to create a society which is unjust, inasmuch as it fails to take account of the true nature of the human person; it is to stifle the growth of the authentic and lasting peace of the whole human family."
Because religion is not "a creation of the state, it cannot be manipulated by the state," rather, he said, the state has a duty to acknowledge and respect religion.
The pope ended his message with a plea to Western countries to end their "hostility and prejudice against Christians" and he urged Europe to become reconciled with its Christian roots, which, he said, are indispensable for promoting justice, harmony and peace.
Read more of this weighty matter in
Carol Glatz' article for the
Catholic News Service.
I'm giving links here to a couple of recent Vital Signs posts that have created a lot of conversation and drawn an awful lot of web attention. They are Looking for a Good Christmas Movie? (December 14) and Christmas Reading Suggestions (December 9).
The abortion mill in Bellevue was closed this morning so Val, Ruth, Bill, Quint, Larry and I were given a wonderful Christmas present. We stayed on the street for 45 minutes to make sure the place wasn't open for abortions before heading out to get a cup of something hot. We talked of Christmas, literature, and various things relating to the Faith -- it was a nice start to Christmas week.
As the Drudge Report headline reads, "They're Coming for the Internet."
An evangelical pastor in Denver wanted his church to become a mega-church but it just wasn't happening. His church members had done everything he asked. They were extremely generous to the church and to the pastor personally.
Alexander Lukashenko, the corrupt Communist dictator of Belarus, has once again rigged an election. And once again he ordered police and soldiers to brutally beat up the leader of the opposition and hundreds of those who had gathered to protest the farce.
This very busy week is drawing to a close and we are far from done with the "must-do" list we wrote up last weekend. The LifeSharer letter (the monthly update I write for Vital Signs Ministries) isn't finished yet; the preparations for tomorrow's Christmas tea that Claire always hosts for the women and girls on her side of the family are not done; and the book to be read for tonight's literary society? I haven't started.
We've had at least three very frightening incidents in recent days where deranged individuals have violently lashed out at the supposed "rich." In two cases, it was arson with the message "F%#* the Rich" painted nearby. The other case involved a man shooting up a school board meeting before killing himself. And he too complained of being poor and being fleeced by the rich who are "pyramiding the wealth for themselves."
Disco may have failed to make a comeback. So did leisure suits and K.C. and the Sunshine Band.
Wesley J. Smith comments on the latest demand of the radical (read irrational) environmentalists; namely, the demand to get rid of toilets, "one of the world’s most destructive habits, absorbing 40% of water available for domestic consumption and contaminating everything in its way."
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America finally released its 2008-2009 Annual report detailing its financial figures. The report shows it received more government funding, which has translated into more abortions.
To the education establishment, there is nothing more frightening or more hated than the properly trained Christian for he/she can so dramatically expose the establishment's intellectual shallowness, their obscurantism and their petty (and most unscientific) biases.
The Washington state abortionist was hooking up with a co-worker -- itself a tawdry and unethical business -- but then the cad immeasurably compounded his sins by surgically dismembering the preborn child they had conceived.
Abortion proponents’ efforts to make abortion a “right” in Europe were thwarted today when the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights held that the European Convention on Human Rights contains no “right” to abortion. The Court rightly found that matters relating to abortion should be left to the member states’ own domestic laws...
Have you noticed that modern kids no longer want toys for Christmas?
After blogging yesterday, we presented the Christmas version of 'When Swing Was King" at one of our favorite facilities. It was the first time we experienced serious technical difficulties but we finally figured things out. There were close to 25 people shoved into the room but they stayed with us -- conversing, laughing, singing along, applauding, maybe even a tear or two. We had a very sweet time afterward also. Though we have only been to this particular facility twice, we've begun some firm friendships.
"Religious freedom is an authentic weapon of peace."
