Mark Steyn: Why progressive Westerners never understood John Paul II

The Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | 04/05/05 | Mark Steyn

[Pokey78]

Steyn ping!

[facedown]

Steyn bump!

[trisham]

The root of the Pope's thinking - that there are eternal truths no one can change even if one wanted to - is completely incomprehensible to the progressivist mindset. There are no absolute truths, everything's in play, and by "consensus" all we're really arguing is the rate of concession to the inevitable: abortion's here to stay, gay marriage will be here any day now, in a year or two it'll be something else - it's all gonna happen anyway, man, so why be the last squaresville daddy-o on the block?

*************

Steyn never disappoints.

[MEG33]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1377306/posts

[ninenot]

Thanks, Pokey!

Bump for delightful and rational column!

[stylin_geek]

Mark Steyn:

"It requires tremendous will to cling to the splendour of truth when the default mode of the era is to blur and evade."

Excellent turn of phrase.

The Late Pope:

"Thus the original import of human sexuality is distorted and falsified, and the two meanings, unitive and procreative, inherent in the very nature of the conjugal act, are artificially separated."

Worth remembering and repeating.

[stevem]

If his beloved Europe survives in any form, it will one day acknowledge that.

If any society expects to survive, it will first acknowledge that.

[whereasandsoforth]

"Progressive" is a phrase to hide a meaning. To be "progressive" really means to move as far away from the rules of God as possible. They want a world that follows the darkest side of man's desires. They would love to see a Pope elected that shares their vision. They want a pope that isn't afraid to get a little mud on himself. Maybe, to help "progressives" realize their wettest dream, we can find an atheist Pope.

[hattend]

Ugh...a quidnunc Steyn post.

Bump for Pokey78 Steyn posts!

[federal]

bookmark

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Yes!!

[MrEdd]

ping

[Miss Marple]

You know, I can remember when Pope Paul VI released his encyclical against artificial birth control. I was in my early 20's and very much a liberal. I can remember thinking how ridiculous the Pope's position was...birth control would lead to infidelity, divorce, pre-marital sex, abortion, and a general denegration of women.

Well, the Pope was right in many aspects. We were on a slippery slope then and didn't know it.

I have not read any of Pope John Paul's writings, but I mean to make a concerted effort to do so. I have neglected reading works that might shine some truth on the human condition.

And Steyn is right, as usual.

[metesky]

Steyn always gets it.
Thanks.

[eureka!]

bump

[CGVet58]

The below from Groliers online @ the following link:

http://ap.grolier.com/article?assetid=0236650-0&templatename=/article/article.html

definitions of Progressive (as regards politics) come in 3 different flavors/eras: 1912, 1924 & 1948. Of the three, 2 distinctly united with leftist/socialist/communist factions.

Excerpts:

In 1924 the Committee of 48, custodians of the Progressive party label, united with the Socialist party, the railroad unions, and the American Federation of Labor behind the independent candidacy of Robert M. La Follette... ;

and...

In 1947-48 the cold-war policies of President Harry S. Truman caused a major break within the left wing of the Democratic party. The defectors, who favored more cooperative relations with the USSR, organized as the Progressive party and nominated Henry A. Wallace for president in 1948. The party advocated such programs as repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act and the reestablishment of price controls and won the endorsement of the U.S. Communist party. Wallace insisted that prosperity required peace and the tacit recognition of respective spheres of influence.

As the old Marvel Comics bon mot goes; " 'nuff said ".

[fortunecookie]

Steyn ping!

...I'd be a little irked at the secular media's inability to discuss religion except through the prism of their moral relativism.

I've got to remember this. It says it all.

[bubman]

Thank for "Steyning" my Monday!

[onyx]

It surely does!
BTW, thanks for making "JP" look so smart here. :)