Who Cares about the Flock? Do Souls Matter? Who is Challenging Caesar's Discrimination against Religion?

Hint -- It's not your local bishop with all the money and power backing him up. Actually, I'm not too surprised about that. When you get buckets of hush money from Caesar it has a chilling effect on your willingness to challenge him -- especially when contributions from the flock are AWOL due to your abandoning them to the apocalypse that wasn't. Sadly, many of our bishops these days are more committed to liberal politics than to the faith. Their priorities are more in line with the godless pro-abortion, pro-sodomy, anti-Western culture, liberal Democrat party than the faith, so why not bow down to the gods of climate change and open borders? 

El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz bends the knee to Black Lives Matter an organization committed to destruction of the nuclear family  and  promotion of  sexual depravity. Read their own website if you doubt it! They are a Marxist organization bent on destruction of society including the Church.

Masterpiece Cake Artist Jack Phillips Went to the Supreme Court Yesterday

And now what?

Masterpiece Theater: SCOTUS Debates Cake Baker's Rights

Here's what Jack said outside the courthouse following the 90 minute hearing:

Update on Jack Phillips Religious Freedom for Bakers Case

The other day I posted about the attack on cake artist Jack Phillips. Thanks be to God the Justice Department is weighing in to support the religious right of the baker to refuse cakes for same sex weddings and other events that violate his religious beliefs. 

In major Supreme Court case, Justice Dept. sides with baker who refused to make wedding cake for gay couple

It's common sense (well, not so common these days) to say a Jew has a right to deny baking a cake with a swastika on it and a Muslim restaurateur has no obligation to serve bacon for breakfast. But the LGBTQ crowd demands special rights and the rest of us better just shut up or face their wrath. 

Defend religious rights. If LGBTQ activists can ruin a baker today for refusing to bake a cake for a same sex wedding they can sue the Church tomorrow for refusing to perform one.

It's Civil War! County Clerks say they will not sign.

County Clerks Refuse to Obey Supreme Court Sodomite Marriage Ruling

From small counties in Arkansas to busy towns in Texas, there are hundreds of people ready to defend the ground five unelected justices took from voters. The Court may have changed their definition of marriage, Kentucky clerk Chris Cockrell explained, but he isn't prepared to change his. If that means going to jail, so be it. And according to the state's ACLU, that's no empty threat. "Two things can happen if a Kentucky clerk won't issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple," warned one law professor. "They can resign or go to jail." 

And don't think the Left won't send them.

Atheists Want to Shut Down Congressional Prayer Caucus

The title is redundant. Atheists believe their god,
Nothing, made everything. Pretty dumb!

Ah tolerance and diversity...what a beautiful thing -- except for Christians, which is why the American Humanist Association is trying to shut down the Congressional Prayer Caucaus. You wonder if these folks who incessantly talk about the "separation of Church and state" ever read the Constitution. Here's what the First Amendment to the Bill of Rights says:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Do you see anything there requiring a "separation of Church and state"? Not at all; those words don't exist in the Constitution. They were in a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote making the point that "the wall of separation" protects people of faith from government, not vice versa. Do you see anything in the free speech designation making an exception of religious speech? NO! The First Amendment essentially says, "Government, keep your hands off the right of the people to practice their faith freely and without interference." And members of Congress have the same rights as other citizens. If some of them want to pray together that God's will be done in Government, GET OVER IT, ATHEISTS! And as the joke says, celebrate your own high feast day on April Fools' Day!

One more word on the First Amendment. It also protects the right of children in state schools to write poems and speeches that mention God, wear t-shirts with religious messages (if any message shirts are allowed), draw pictures with Christian images, sing Christmas carols, have Bible study clubs, etc. Every parent whose children's rights are violated should fight tooth and claw. There are plenty of public policy legal groups to help and they are successful. Go here and here. Let's put the irreligious, leftwing fringe on the defensive for a change.

Defend Freedom of Religion!

Obama has spent four years undermining our Constitutional freedoms beginning with the freedom of religion. Pass this video around widely. If you value your rights recognize that they are under assautl. Please pray and act.

Christians Arrested on White House Sidewalk!

Exactly why should the White House sidewalk be designated a restricted zone for free speech? If any places are most appropriate for defending fundamental rights of our Constitution they are in front the White House, in front of the Supreme Court, and in front of the Capitol, the sites that symbolize the three branches of government. A big thank you to the courageous Christians who took their message to White House! 

Police Stop Prayers Outside White House

The pictures of Christians praying on the sidewalk reminded me of the suffragettes arrested by Woodrow Wilson for demanding the vote. We know who won that battle.

Suffragettes demonstrated for the right to vote. Christians' are demonstrating for something even more fundamental -- the right to freedom of religion. Let's remind President Obama of statements he made at the U.N.:

"[O]ur Constitution protects the right to practice free speech. Here in the United States, countless publications provoke offense. Like me, the majority of Americans are Christian, and yet we do not ban blasphemy against our most sacred beliefs....in a diverse society, efforts to restrict speech can become a tool to silence critics." 

President Obama has attempted to restrict free speech on numerous occasions. His actions against people of faith are even more egregious. The right to freedom of religion is the first right guaranteed by our Constitution. If President Obama can eliminate that right through the HHS mandate, can loss of free speech be far behind?

The Next Violation of Freedom of Religion

Harbinger of things to come:

Irish justice minister: priests must break seal of confession in abuse cases

The Plot Thickens in Connecticut

Seems that the bill introduced in Connecticut to put lay boards in charge of Catholic parishes has its roots in Voice of the Faithful. The Fratres blog and the National Catholic Register have interesting articles outlining the connection. For those who haven't kept up with VOTF, the group aims to democratize the Church along the lines of protestant denominations. You know -- lay election of pastors and bishops, lay control of parishes, ordination of women, etc. Like Rahm Emanuel VOTF believes in never wasting a crisis. Thus the sex abuse scandals are useful, not as a call to restore orthodoxy and fight dissent, but an opportunity to further undermine the faith of our fathers and bring the Church more into line with the vision of Martin Luther and his fellow revolutionaries.

Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, addressing a group of Catholic school principals, warned, "If this bill were to be enacted, your bishop, would have virtually, virtually no real relationship with the 87 parishes…they could go off independently, some of them could break off from the Church if they wished, and go their own way as has happened, for example, with the Episcopal Church. And the pastors would be figureheads, simply working for a board of trustees." The power of the purse is the power to control.

That's exactly why dissent groups like VOTF and Call to Action want laity to control Church finances. Unfortunately for them, Bill 1098 is unconstitutional on its face and the Connecticut bishops aren't their only adversaries. In an article on Courant.Com's Capitol Watch page, Senate Republican leader John McKinney is calling on democrats to cancel the hearings. "That bill is patently unconstitutional,'' McKinney said Monday. "I don't know any lawyer who would argue otherwise.'' McKinney, an Episcopalian, called the law "offensive to Catholics and non-Catholics alike."

I'm really interested in finding out more about Tom Gallagher, the "devout" Catholic who started all this. I found an article he wrote on Church finances in the National Catholic Reporter (NCR), the Catholic dissenter's favorite mouthpiece. That doesn't necessarily disqualify his views, but it certainly puts him in the company of many who have attacked fundamental doctrines of the Church. Is he only concerned about financial accountability or does he share NCR's pro-abortion, pro-contraception, pro-same sex marriage, etc. views? Does he see Church finances as the lever and fulcrum to shift the Church toward the VOTF model? It's a possibility in search of supporting data.

Read more articles:

Catholic bishops angry over proposed lawDebate rages on church bill

Animosity continues over proposed church bill

Connecticut considers bill