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Monday, November 12, 2012

The Five Stages of Religious Persecution

Msgr. Charles Pope has written an article about the five stages of religious persecution. It's a sobering perspective, especially when you consider that the stages coincide in many respects with Alinsky's strategy in Rules for Radicals to gain power for community organizers and Kirk and Madsen's strategy in After the Ball to advance the homosexual agenda. Here are Msgr. Pope's five stages:

Step 1: Stereotype the targeted group

Step 2: Vilify the targeted group for alleged crimes or misconduct

Step 3: Marginalize the targeted group's role in society

Step 4: Criminalize the targeted group or its works

Step 5: Persecute the targeted group outright

These steps fit nicely with Alinsky's strategy for attacking particular groups. "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." Since Alinsky also preaches that the "end justifies the means" and portrays the organizer's goal as a "war,"
any action against the "target" is justified. Stereotype it, vilify it, marginalize it, criminalize it, and persecute it fits within his "ethics of means and ends." The only determinant of a method is the likelihood of its success. In view of the successes achieved in the attack on religion so far, Christians are right to be concerned.

Kirk and Madsen's morality (or immorality) is similar to Alinsky's and they were likely familiar with his work. Their strategy included "jamming," i.e., vilifying those who opposed homosexual behavior, and launching hate activities against them. Here's just one quote illustrating their hate-filled tactics. “At a later stage of the media campaign for gay rights...it will be time to get tough with remaining opponents. To be blunt, they must be vilified.... Our goal here is twofold. First, we seek to replace the mainstream’s self-righteous pride about its homophobia with shame and guilt. Second, we intend to make the antigays look so nasty that average Americans will want to dissociate themselves from such types." They go on to talk about contrasting images of hatefilled "homophobes" with pictures of innocent and normal looking gays. This has been the strategy of the media which used the same types of tactics to gain abortion on demand. The New Normal is just one example of TV propaganda.

In terms of "criminalizing" Catholics, the culture has accomplished this in spades. The sex abuse by a minority of priests has been magnified over and over and over, while the homosexual nature of the abuse has been almost totally ignored. On the other hand, the homosexual abuse of children by non-clergy (like the murder of Jesse Dirkhising by two homosexuals and the homosexual nature of Jeffrey Dahmer's murders) has been covered up by a complicit media. Apparently children abused by homosexuals in the general population is acceptable; only homosexual abuse by priests is vilified.

We are well on the way to outright persecution as Msgr. Pope points out and the HHS mandate clearly shows. Pray for courage and continue to fight with the knowledge that persecution is likely. Serious Catholics will be restricted in employment as the culture forces cooperation with more intrinisic evils. Can a doctor be sued for refusing to prescribe contraceptives? How about a surgeon who refuses to perform sex change operations? Or a pharmacist who refuses to prescribe deadly drugs in a state where assisted suicide is legal? Pharmacists, health care workers, photographers, caterers, and B & B owners  are already being sued for refusing participation in intrinsic evils on the grounds of religion. They are often losing. The doors are closing for those who love the Lord and would rather forsake income than sin against him. And only those who are blind refuse to see the blatant discrimination.

Pray for America and for our precious children and grandchildren who will suffer most as the persecution intensifies. Mary, Mother of the Americas, pray for us.

11 comments:

  1. So, I am Catholic and I just don't feel the persecution. If Catholic employers don't want to pay for procedures and medicines that they don't feel are moral, then they should only employ Catholic people. Asking others to forgo such care seems illogical to me. I think what they are really worried about is that they will realize how many Catholics don't abide by the "rules" and want coverage, too.

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  2. Obviously Catholics who follow Church teaching will be the ones persecuted. A pharmacist who doesn't mind killing unborn babies will have no trouble with his job. I gather from your post you are a Catholic who ignores the "rules" most of which just happen to be dogmas, not opinions. Not following those "rules" is a quick ticket to hell if one dies unrepentant.

    I want to say this in all charity and I precede this with a prayer for you. I hope if you use contraception you refrain from Communion because it's a mortal sin to contracept and a mortal sin of sacrilege to receive Communion in that state. The "rules" are not there to make us miserable; they are the "users' manual." God made us and when we break the "rules" we don't break Hiim, we break ourselves. As a sinner myself, I know that well.

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  3. We had three children and then my husband got a vasectomy. So I guess we are permanently using contraception. We made an educated and informed decision about our family size, which included finances, educational opportunities, and our mental health status. I am a cradle Catholic but should have clarified that I no longer believe in many of the tenets of the faith. I guess if someone really and truly thought that the birth control pill was a great and moral evil... then that person should not be a pharmacist, physician, health care administrator, or in any way in charge of monitoring any one else's morality. I always get a kick out of how conservatives want to "limit government" - unless of course they want the government to legislate morality. Still don't get how Catholics are persecuted other than having to pay for what others consider legitimate medical procedures.

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  4. "I always get a kick out of how conservatives want to 'limit government' - unless of course they want to the government to legislate morality."

    Uh...who wants the government to "legislate morality?" I just want the government to let us practice our religion freely. YOU ARE THE ONE who wants the government to FORCE doctors to prescribe birth control which includes abortion causing drugs. You make it clear you want the government to legislate YOUR MORALITY which includes denying Catholics the right to be doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc. because they MUST DO AS YOU WANT. If you want Thai food go to a Thai restaurant. If you want a doctor who is willing to kill patients find one who agrees with you. Don't tell me the government has the right to make sure NO DOCTORS MAY RESPECT LIFE.

    You are expressing a typical liberal outlook. Everybody has to conform to your immorality and YOU are willing to use a tyrannical government to enforce it.

    But don't try to say I'm the opposed to limited government. You and Sandra Fluke are the ones who want the government and the taxpayers in your bedroom. You just aren't honest about it.

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  5. Message to Margie --

    No -- and neither will I advertise it.
    Why would I want to encourage people to go to hell?

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  6. Well, all this white woman from mixed interracial families has to say is that I left the Democratic Party to become Republican because I could not stand what their party platform stood for no matter what color they are. With abortion, sodomy, contraceptives (a carcinogen) and murders, they seem to be doing a great job of destroying themselves. After all Harvey Milk, Moscone and Dan White were all Democrats. So was the mass murderer "Rev." Jim Jones, and the Irish American senator he killed. I suspect the Satanist, Ramirez, in Los Angeles who killed all those Hispanics was not a Republican either. If they would just leave us Republicans alone, we will be fine, except for a few rhino ones that have affairs with the help. By the way, I am not rich by a long shot. I do not even come close to it, but I have enough to make me happy and with a clear conscience since I have worked hard and earned what I do have and stolen it from no one. By the way, it could be said now that I no longer want to be their "token" white. I know. I know. I am just terribly politically incorrect. This is all said "tongue in cheek" but I know it is sure to hackle quite a few people. When people try to mess with my mind, I can really mess with theirs. When they call good men like Allen West an oreo, I ask so what is a white person who sides with a black person. That really blows a liberal's mind. I suppose they think we are race traitors too. Oh! well, I have had a lot of fun with this one no matter what anyone thinks of me. Needless to say, I have angered quite a few families members when I dish back what they have given. Oh! well. Life does go on, and I have killed NO ONE.

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  7. Mary Ann, thank you for your insightful blog.

    A couple of commentors have said they don't understand how government persecutes Catholics. Let's take the case of a Catholic who builds a business over 30 years, operating it according to her well-formed Catholic conscience. She offers a self-funded health insurance plan for her employees, paying the premiums and the benefits herself. The government now tells her that she must pay for abortifacients or she wil pay a fine of $100/day for each employee. In court arguments, the federal government suggests as an alternative she can shut down her business or sell it. Is there a better term than persecution to describe the government bullying a woman out of her life's work simply because of her religious beliefs?

    One commentor suggested a solution would be to hire only Catholics. I'm trying to imagine how that would help. Perhaps the thinking is that Catholics would not use the immoral coverage even though it is offered? If so, I don't believe that would work either because the Catholic employer is prohibited from discriminating against non-Catholics under EEO laws.

    I'm 62 and my conscience has evolved a great deal over the years. At one time, I used birth control and resorted to sterilization. I made my decisions based on the best information I had and my own conscience. Later, I had some experiences that made me realize I was wrong and the Church was right. So, I don't judge others who are making the best decisions they can, however flawed I think their thinking may be; I simply pray that God will help them grow through their experiences. But, I would hope and pray that folks like me who have finally seen the light are not required to devolve spiritually just to be able to make a living.

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  8. Thanks so much for your intelligent and compassionate comment. I'm 65 and I have plenty of my own past sins to atone for. But in order to come to conversion one has to be a person who loves truth. Even when I was in a state of confusion I wanted to do what was right. It sounds like we are soul sisters in that respect. Sometimes the only thing that convinces people that God knows what He's doing is to hit bottom because of the consequences of our sins. No one in a state of mortal sin is ever truly happy because we are meant for union with God. As St. Augustine said, who certainly knew plenty about big sins, "Our hearts are restless until they rest in [God]." May our national crisis ultimately bring many to their knees in repentance.

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  9. Anonymous @ 3:29 P.M. says:

    "I am a cradle Catholic but should have clarified that I no longer believe in many of the tenets of the faith."

    Um, no "cradle Catholic" this makes you a Protestant. (no offense to Protestants, of course)

    Catechist Kevin

    "Incredulity is the neglect of revealed truth or the willful refusal to assent to it. "Heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt concerning the same; apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith; schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him." (CCC 2089)

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  10. I have no idea what is coming , none of us do!
    But I can tell you this , we live in evil times and dark days are ahead for the Church and for the United States .
    The most pro abortion president has once again won another term , elected by a great number of Catholics, once again , sad to say .
    I have much to atone for myself Mary Ann , being 60 years "young" and my complete reversion back to the Catholic Church in 2009 , I am ALIVE and FREE. Thanks be to God and Our Blessed Lady for my reversion and delieverance from my own EVIL that I was up to neck in !
    I MUST now be completely Obedient and cling to Holy Mother Church which is the TRUE church : The Holy Roman Catholic Church , thanks be to God for Her! I have my armor on and I pray unceasingly . My only focus these days is GOD ALONE , without HIM I will perish . I fear for the souls of my adult children , all living there lives just the way they want.
    I beg the Blessed Mother to go and rescue them like she rescued me...my HOPE is in God . I fix my gaze on HIM who is MY LIFE!

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  11. "A humble, contrite heart, O Lord, You will not spurn." Psalm 51

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