According to Reuters in an article which may be found here, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican's foreign minister, warned that Christianophobia* is a growing problem around the world and it must be fought with the same determination as anti-Semitism or Islamophobia. The Archbishop made his remarks in the wake of attacks against Christians throughout India which have left at least 13 dead this past week.
Readers of this Blog will recall how I called upon Keene State College to issue an apology for an offensive remark against the Catholic Church made by Mr. Henry Knight, the Director of the Cohen Center for Holocaust Studies. See here.
Archbishop Mamberti is right. Christianophobia is indeed a growing problem. I have received numerous hateful comments at this Blog as well as emails because of my opposition to homosexuality, an opposition which is rooted in Divine Revelation and Natural Law. This even though I insist (with the Church) that homosexual persons must be treated with respect and compassion.
Hatred comes in many forms, in many disguises. And sincere Christians will always oppose such hatred. No matter which face it happens to be wearing.
Readers of this Blog will recall how I called upon Keene State College to issue an apology for an offensive remark against the Catholic Church made by Mr. Henry Knight, the Director of the Cohen Center for Holocaust Studies. See here.
Archbishop Mamberti is right. Christianophobia is indeed a growing problem. I have received numerous hateful comments at this Blog as well as emails because of my opposition to homosexuality, an opposition which is rooted in Divine Revelation and Natural Law. This even though I insist (with the Church) that homosexual persons must be treated with respect and compassion.
Hatred comes in many forms, in many disguises. And sincere Christians will always oppose such hatred. No matter which face it happens to be wearing.
Related reading, priest describes horror of anti-Christian attacks in India: http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0804430.htm
And numerous Catholic schools close to protest the anti-Christian attacks:
And for more on the Cohen Center controversy, see here.
* The "Europe for Christ" network has launched a website from Vienna to explain what Christianophobia is and to describe how Europeans have experienced it. The website:
4 comments:
The Archbishop is right of course. Attacks against Christians are multiplying all over the world. China has been notorious for its persecution of the Catholic Church and its promotion of an "official" or "state" church.
Paul, although Keene State College never did issue an apology for Mr. Knight's offensive statement, it is significant that the Cohen Center Blog dropped the letter from Mr. Knight accusing the Catholic Church of having anti-Semitic teachings.
And we owe this to you. God bless you for all your work promoting and defending Catholic teaching.
Just ask David Parker of Massachusetts about Christianophobia. He was arrested because he didn't want his little boy being indoctrinated in the sodomite "lifestyle." In Massachusetts, it seems that forced indoctrination is the order of the day and Christians have no rights.
Mr. Melanson, you wrote the following at this Blog a while back and I posted it at the HCCNS website:
"I received threats against my person at this Blog and was attacked and slandered publically by Stormfront, one of the most prominent hate groups in this country. I was referred to as a "Jew-loving sh..bag," "an Ayn Rand capitalist materialist," and the "village communist." I never could figure out just how I could be a capitalist materialist and a communist at the same time. But then, logic isn't exactly a strong suit at Stormfront or any other hate group for that matter.
I am proud to stand with my Jewish brothers and sisters. And just as threats will not intimidate me from promoting and defending the Magisterial teaching of Christ's Church, so too I will not back down in fear when it comes to defending my elder brothers and sisters* in the Jewish Community."
Paul.
* "Mark well, we call Abraham our Patriarch, our ancestor. Anti-Semitism is irreconcilable with this lofty thought.....Anti-Semitism is inadmissible; spiritually, we are all Semites." (Pope Pius XI to Belgian Pilgrims, September 6, 1938).
* "He who makes a distinction between Jews and other men is unfaithful to God and is in conflict with God's commands." (Pope Pius XII, Broadcast of Vatican Radio to the People of France, June 1943)."
You have responded ably to the Church's call to resist Christianophobia as well as anti-Semitism.
Keep it up. This Blog remains a great resource.
Christianophobia
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Posted: December 13, 2004
World Net Daily
By Patrick J. Buchanan
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Creators Syndicate, Inc.
"'Tis the season to be jolly." But, as usual, not for all of us.
It is the Christmas season, that time in December when all good Christians celebrate the birth of the Savior of mankind, born in a stable in Bethlehem, 2,000 years ago.
It is a time of family gatherings and gift-giving, of joyous music and fond memories. For some, it is one of the few days of the year, Easter being the other, when they return to the old church for the feast day that yet retains its hold upon them from childhood.
Even many non-believers celebrate, for Christmas joy is contagious.
But not for all. For some, it is not too much to say that they hate the idea of Christmas with a deep abiding hate, not just the "Bah, humbug!" dismissal of old Scrooge. They want Christmas dead.
As usual, they are busy at work, going to court to get Nativity scenes expunged from public squares, demanding that statues of Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus be removed from department stores and parades, checking vigilantly to see that any and all caroling at public schools is free of such outrages as "Silent Night." For people such as these, even Santa has become an intolerably divisive figure who must be purged from public life.
And this year, again, they are meeting with some success, especially with a business community for whom Christmas has always been about sales volume, not salvation.
Target stores have told the Salvation Army it may no longer station volunteers at store entrances, with their red kettles, and solicit charitable contributions for the poor. The 30-year tradition that reaped the Army $9 million a year has been terminated
The reason? Says Target, unconvincingly, it is so the company can have a consistent policy of no solicitations outside its stores. But in recent years, the gay lobby has pressured Target to ban the Army because it is Christian and rejects homosexuality as sinful.
Now Macy's has stopped using the phrase "Merry Christmas" in all store advertising, replacing it with what Macy's calls the more inclusive "Season's Greetings" and "Happy Holidays."
But how is it "inclusive" to exclude the Christians' greeting? Is that not anti-Christian? Why would the Macy's of the "Miracle on 34th Street" do such a thing? Why would Federated Department Stores, Macy's parent company, impose such a policy?
By Newton's laws of motion, an object moving in a given direction will continue to do so unless an outside force intervenes. What hidden force intervened to cause Macy's to reverse course and suddenly sever its ties to Christmas? Who insisted that Macy's cease to mention Christmas, the holiday around which its selling season is built?
It is hard to believe some Macy's executive took it upon himself to make so offensive a decision as to expunge "Merry Christmas" from the store, when so many of Macy's most loyal shoppers were certain to be disheartened and hurt. Who is trying to kill Christmas?
It needs to be said. What we are witnessing here are hate crimes against Christianity – the manifestations, the symptoms of a sickness of the soul, a disease a Vatican diplomat correctly calls "Christianophobia," the fear and loathing of all things Christian, coupled with a fanatic will to expunge from the public life of the West all reminders that ours was once a Christian civilization and America once a Christian country.
Americans are among the most tolerant of peoples. No one demands that any dissenting adult or child be made to say the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, or join in Christmas caroling, or be forced to say a prayer before class, or go to church at Christmas. The Christian majority only asks that they be free to be themselves, to exercise their freedom to express their love of their Savior as the First Amendment has always guaranteed.
But what are we to make of Maplewood, N.J., where the Columbus High School brass ensemble was ordered not to play a single Christmas carol at their holiday concert, not even an instrumental version. Parents and students were outraged. "This is censorship at its most basic level," said student Ryan Dahn. Correct, Ryan.
In Denver, officials of the annual Parade of Lights refused to permit in the parade a float carrying the banner "Merry Christmas" with members of the Faith Bible Chapel congregation, who were to sing Christmas carols. Approved was a float sponsored by Two Souls, an American Indian group that considers homosexuality holy.
While Christmas often brings forth the best in some of us, because of who and what is being celebrated, that is not true for all of us. For some, it brings forth the purest malevolence. Why? Sadly, because they do not know Him. Nevertheless, Merry Christmas – to all.
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