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Christians, vaccinations, and herd immunity

A devout Christian heard an urgent news report on his radio that a flash flood was within minutes of entering the peaceful valley where he lived. Immediately he went to his knees and prayed for safety. The words were still on his lips when he became aware that water was gushing under his door. He retreated to the second floor and finally onto the roof of his house. While he sat on the roof, a helicopter... [Read more]

store

Adventurers and relief valves

Adventure, pioneering is held in high esteem–because, as a wise reformer on old Earth once said, it keeps the adventurers far away from home. — Elizabeth Moon. “New World Symphony,” Moon Flights. Ed. Marty Halpern. San Francisco: Night Shade Books, 2009. This phrase in a science fiction book set Father Orthoduck to thinking. It is not the first time Father Orthoduck has... [Read more]

tour

Atheist and tracts

Father Orthoduck saw this cartoon on another of his favorite bloggers, Orthodixie. He had quite a laugh over it. Then Father Orthoduck looked at it some more and realized that while the cartoon is funny, it actually is not fully truthful. Atheists have put out many pamphlets and even books. For instance, Bertrand Russell, a noted philosopher, delivered a lecture on 6 March 1927 to the National Secular... [Read more]

Christians in government in a pluralistic society — part 3

This will be my last piece in a discussion on Christians in government in a pluralistic society. So, let us look back at our founding a moment. Much too much time, paper, and ink have been used on debating whether or not this country was founded as a Christian country. All the research appears to show two things. One, some of the Founding Fathers most certainly were Christian and thought of this as... [Read more]

Can Christians be in the judiciary or legislature in a pluralistic society? — part 2

I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accept instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials, and where religious... [Read more]

international

Can Catholics be good legislators in a pluralistic democracy?

As a result of the discussion on Catholic Social Doctrine, one of the readers of this blog brought up a question that has been asked before in the history this nation. Can a Roman Catholic be a member of a government in a pluralistic democracy? Actually, it really brings up the broader question of whether a Christian can be a member of government. Why did this question come up? Well, let’s look... [Read more]

trademarks

George Weigel on Catholic Social Doctrine

After my blog post on Mattingly and Catholic Social Doctrine, a friend sent a link to an article by George Weigel that was distributed by the Denver Catholic Register, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Denver. It is an extremely good article. Below are some quotes from the article, though I urge you to follow the link above and read the article for yourself. The 2012 election seems likely... [Read more]

But you can’t fool all of the people all of the time

OK, so let’s get to the nitty gritty of these various posts. After Kuhn showed how even science was somewhat dependent on one’s worldview and showed how major advances did not tend to happen until somebody looked at the data with a different worldview, other philosophers began to look again at the whole issue of language and meaning. As a background, Freud and Jung had already done their... [Read more]

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An aside about servicepeople supporting freedom

Yesterday, Father Ernesto continued his discussion on Kuhn and a changing paradigm shift. He will continue that tomorrow with a small discussion on post-modernism and how that has impacted our view of truth. However, he brought up an event from 1946 nicknamed the McMinn County War. There is no recent comparable event, but it is certainly true that there still continues to be a strong feeling in America... [Read more]

And you can fool some of the people all of the time

Yesterday I had mentioned that another philosophy came up that caused an explosion within USA culture. Remember that I mentioned a philosopher named Kuhn? His book was published in the 1960′s, in the midst of the cultural explosions that did not begin in the 1960′s as most people think, but began in the 1950′s (well, just slightly before) when the civil rights movement exploded.... [Read more]