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Why a Human Utopia Won't Happen by Bill Bradford My children started watching it first. I happened to see it on television occasionally. Then I found myself drawn into this social drama by the endless manifestations of ever-evolving technology. Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry, is the popular space-odyssey television adventure in which man in the 25th century is expanding his philosophy and near-utopian coexistence among other, less-sophisticated, inhabitants of the galaxies.It's an idea older than Plato that man can somehow engineer a civilization that brings peace, happiness and prosperity to all who can be persuaded to embrace its philosophy.In...

Caritas Internationalis emergency response efforts are underway in Myanmar's Ayeyarwady division and Yangon districts, two of the areas hardest hit by Cyclone Nargis, for an estimated 40,000 people who will receive vital relief, including food, shelter, water, medical care and psychological support. Catholic Relief Services is supporting Caritas Internationalis and partners on the ground after one of the worst cyclones to hit the region in decades struck this delta region on May 2. To date, 1,000 people have received food, and another 16,000 people are expected to receive relief supplies in the coming days. More than 100 local volunteers have...

Des Moines, IA (LifeNews.com) -- Iowa-based St. Ambrose University, a Catholic college, is under fire from pro-life advocates in the Midwestern state for honoring an abortion advocate. The school awarded what one pro-life group called "one of Iowa’s most notorious abortion activists" with an honorary degree. At the St. Ambrose graduation ceremony on Sunday, school officials handed an honorary degree to Margaret (“Maggie”) Tinsman, a former state senator in Iowa from 1989-2006. Tinsman received an “Honorary Doctor of Public Services” by the St. Ambrose Board of Directors. That came despite a strongly pro-abortion voting record, including opposing a measure that...

When Obama's Catholic supporters attacked Catholic League president Bill Donohue for his criticism of their candidate, they did not mention Obama's support for infanticide. The question will inevitably arise for the distinguished group of Catholics supporting Obama as to how they can defend his preference for infanticide in cases where a child survives a botched abortion. The fury Obama's Catholics vented toward Donohue will only force them to face that question sooner than they may have expected.  It's clear to me how it will be answered: It won't. Obama's Catholics are already attempting to reframe the abortion issue in their favor....

Aberdeen, SD, May 14, 2008 / 01:08 am (CNA).- Presentation College in Aberdeen, South Dakota has withdrawn an invitation to a commencement speaker because of her views on legalized abortion.State Senator Nancy Turbak-Berry was scheduled to deliver the commencement address at the college on Saturday.  According to the Associated Press, she said she was told on Friday that she could not speak there because of her views on abortion.  She had accepted the invitation to speak in January.College officials reportedly said they had made an “administrative decision” to withdraw the invitation because her pro-abortion views were incompatible with Catholic...

Nashville, TN (WRCB-TV/Associated Press) A controversial bill requiring Tennessee's public schools to offer an elective bible course is making its way to Gov. Phil Bredesen. The legislation unanimously passed the Senate last week and was approved overwhelmingly in the House Tuesday. If Gov. Bredesen signs the legislation, public schools will soon be required to offer bible as an elective course taught with an approved textbook. The Tennessee Department of Education would create a uniform bible curriculum. This legislation does come with some safeguards. It prohibits the use of any religious test when assigning teachers to the bible class. For many...

The video has pictures of earth’s universe and its grandeur. The pictures and images are of space Nebulas and show the magnificent awesomeness of our solar system.

The archbishop of Kirkuk asks the West to welcome and incorporate those who have been forced to flee, but at the same time to give concrete help to those who have decided to remain. The West must welcome and make room for Iraqi Christians who have left their country, but at the same time it must apply political pressure on United States and the government of Baghdad to allow those who decide to remain in their country to do so in security and with respect. The Christians of Iraq are, in fact, a richness of for the universal Church, and...

Pastor John Hagee of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, wrote a letter of apology to the Catholic community. ...In so far as some of my past statements regarding the Roman Catholic Church have raised concerns in your community, I am writing in a spirit of respect and reconciliation to clarify my views. Out of a desire to advance greater unity among Catholics and Evangelicals in promoting the common good, I want to express my deep regret for any comments that Catholics have found hurtful. After engaging in constructive dialogue with Catholic friends and leaders, I now have an improved...

This is great. AP is carrying this story about a group of Religious Sisters who couldn't vote yesterday in Indiana because they lacked proper I.D. The best part is that the one who turned them away was another Sister! (emphases added) About 12 Indiana nuns were turned away Tuesday from a polling place by a fellow sister because they didn't have state or federal identification bearing a photograph. Sister Julie McGuire said she was forced to turn away her fellow members of Saint Mary's Convent in South Bend, across the street from the University of Notre Dame, because they had been...

The best evidence yet that the drumbeat against public support of pro-abortion Catholic pols at Catholic institutions is having an effect appears in the Boston Globe of all places. The Globe tells us how the personally opposed prevaricators are just not getting the choice commencement invites from Catholic Institutions to which they had shamefully become accustomed. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is one of the nation's most powerful Catholics, but this year the only commencement address she gave was at one of the eight campuses of Miami Dade College. Senator John F. Kerry is headlining three commencements this year - the...

Beijing - The son of American evangelist Billy Graham said Friday he is opposed to missionary work at this summer's Beijing Olympic Games. Franklin Graham, also an evangelist, was speaking to reporters Friday during a visit to Beijing for meetings with the Communist Party-controlled Protestant church movement. He said he wanted to encourage authorities to resolve conflicts with the church, but would not criticize policies that critics say limit the church's independence and religious rights. While some Christian groups have said they plan to proselytize during the August games, Graham said he was against that because Chinese law does not...

The founders of Columbia were convinced that religion, like everything else in the planned community envisioned as a suburban utopia, should be harmonious and inclusive. So instead of a welter of churches all vying for space within the model township, the founders opted for interfaith centers. Now, one congregation's plan to place a 16-foot cross on a new building at the town's oldest interfaith center in Wilde Lake Village has stirred an anxious response. Some guardians of local tradition see the cross as a challenge to the core values of Columbia.

Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas has been dealing with Gov. Kathleen Sebelius  for a while now regarding her scandalous and unrepentant support, as a Catholic, of abortion. He has now taken further action. The Kansas City Star reports: Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius should stop taking Communion until she repudiates her support for the “serious moral evil” of abortion, the Catholic archbishop for northeast Kansas says. Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, also criticized the governor Friday for her recent veto of a bill imposing new restrictions on abortion providers. The...

An extraordinary on-line archive, The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, now makes available (and searchable) the records of London's main criminal court from 1674 through 1913. There's a staggering amount of material to play around in. Keyword "Romish" produced 102 records, including the following account of the 1674 condemnation of a Catholic priest. At this Sessions of Oier and Terminer for the City of London, and County of Middlesex, holden at Justice-Hall in the Old-Bayly, begun the Ninth, and continued till the 12th of this Instant December, 1674. Several Bills being found by the Grand Jury, or Inquest. Amongst many...

The Right Thing To Do... When Senator Barack Obama tells "Fellow Child-Murder Advocates" at Planned Parenthood that providing "Sex Education For Kindergartners" is "The Right Thing To Do", is he alleging that NOT teaching children how to "Get It On" is "The Wrong Thing To Do"? Can we all agree that NOT providing food and shelter for one's children would be "The Wrong Thing To Do"? Can we all agree that a Parent who fails to provide for their children should have their children taken from them... by force... if necessary? -

Memo to Arch-Tame Wuerl: Yes, sir, it can be done! Kansas, May. 9, 2008 (CWNews.com) - Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City has announced that Governor Kathleen Sebelius should not receive Communion because of her support for legal abortion. In a column appearing on May 9 in the archdiocesan newspaper, The Leaven, the archbishop said that Governor Sebelius has sent a "spiritually lethal message" by implying that she could remain a Catholic in good standing while supporting abortion on demand. The archbishop's column cited in particular the governor's veto of the Comprehensive Abortion Reform Act, which would have required abortionists...

[This article by Jim Akin is a good companion to the previous post about Arch-Tame Wuerl. Jim is director of apologetics and evangelization at "Catholic Answers" and is a contributing editor of This Rock. --PP] Abortion Is the Black Hole of Moral Issues A Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for Holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of the candidate’s permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia. When a Catholic does not share a candidate’s stand in favor of abortion and/or euthanasia but votes...

Discourse on the Restoration of the Jews, Delivered at the Tabernacle, N. Y., Oct. 28, and Dec. 2, ­1844, by M. M. Noah. New York, 1845, 8vo. pp. 55. The address of Judge Noah on the Restoration of the Jews, has excited a good deal of attention among our Christian fellow­citizens, more so at least than among ourselves; and the subject has also been noticed by the conversion paper in England, as well as the Voice of Jacob. We are not aware as yet whether other European papers have spoken of it, which however, is, likely enough, as Judge Noah...

Vatican City, May 8, 2008 / 11:14 am (CNA).- Pope Benedict received a large delegation of Melkite Greek Catholics this morning at the Vatican. The Pontiff called on the clergy to refrain from becoming involved in politics and exhorted the local Church to open the path to peace by proposing the light of the Gospel. The 300 Melkite Greek Catholics were lead by Patriarch Gregorious III Laham on a pilgrimage to Rome. The Melkite Greek Church is in communion with the Pope.Noting that the Church lives in an area that is a cultural and religious crossroads, Pope Benedict praised "the...

Another online attack by PZ Myers' thuggish fans. They're voting down the positive reviews for an anti-atheism book on Amazon.com: The Delusion of Disbelief: Why the New Atheism is a Threat to Your Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of HappinessIf you've got an Amazon account, please mark up the "helpful" rating of the favorable reviews and mark down the rating for negative reviews. Thank you!

We speak as bishops, as teachers of the Catholic faith and of the moral law. We have the duty to teach about human life and dignity, marriage and family, war and peace, the needs of the poor and the demands of justice. Today we continue our efforts to teach on a uniquely important matter that has recently been a source of concern for Catholics and others. It is the teaching of the Catholic Church from the very beginning, founded on her understanding of her Lord's own witness to the sacredness of human life, that the killing of an unborn child...

NEW YORK — Several years ago while he was still mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani and Cardinal Edward Egan of New York reached a private understanding. Giuliani agreed to refrain from receiving Communion because of his strong support for abortion rights. But when the pro-abortion politician breached his private commitment in just about the most public manner conceivable — by receiving the Eucharist at the April 19 Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York — Cardinal Egan decided an equally public rebuke was required. In an April 28 statement posted on the archdiocesan...

Does Catholic outreach matter? Even after Hillary Clinton’s impressive wins among Catholics in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana (though Obama did make modest gains among Catholics in that state and North Carolina yesterday) the conventional wisdom was that economic issues--not religion--were driving Catholics to support her over Obama. These Catholics, the thinking goes, overlap with the white working class voters that Obama has had difficult connecting to lately, particularly after his remarks about small towners and the Rev. Wright flap. As the Obama camp has struggled to win white Catholics, his advisors have joined the chorus of voices claiming that the...

Demography is destiny. For the most part, this apothegm has defined this year’s Democratic presidential election results. It sure characterized last night’s results in Indiana and North Carolina. As Christi Parsons and Mike Dorning, my old colleague at The Chicago Tribune, wrote, Blacks, young people and college-educated voters overwhelmingly favored Obama, while white working-class voters, seniors and white women lined up decisively behind Clinton, a division in the Democratic Party that now appears impervious to gaffes, attacks and multimillion-dollar ad buys. The results followed each state’s demographic makeup. Yet one voting group has been a demographic outlier: Catholics. In several...

At first blush, there’s no obvious reason to explain why Barack Obama is, according to exit polls, struggling with Catholic voters. He’s opposed the war in Iraq; he’s presented an ambitious plan to combat global warming; he’s taken a progressive attitude on capital punishment and immigration, emphasizes “social justice,” and while he’s pro-choice, Obama has talked at some length about the kind of policies that could reduce the number of abortions. Pepperdine’s Doug Kmiec, a conservative Catholic, endorsed Obama in February, saying he’s a “natural” for the Catholic vote. Except, it clearly hasn’t worked out that way. The white Catholic...

UT administrator suspended over TFP column By Justin R. Kalmes Toledo Free Press Managing Editor jkalmes@toledofreepress.com EDITOR'S NOTE: The April 6 Michael S. Miller column can be read here. The April 18 Crystal Dixon column can be read here. UT President Lloyd Jacob's response can be read here. The WTOL video report can be viewed here. A UT administrator has been placed on paid leave for opinions she expressed in a column posted on Toledo Free Press' Web site last month. As first reported on WTOL TV, Crystal Dixon, associate vice president of human resources, wrote in her column posted...

Shortly after his historic victory in Paraguay's mid-April elections, President-elect Fernando Lugo -- the retired bishop suspended from ministry after he declaring his run for office -- received a courtesy call from the papal nuncio to the Latin American country, Archbishop Orlando Antonini. While the Paraguay church's initial reaction to Lugo's expected defeat of its long-reigning Colorado party was little more than acknowledgment that it happened, Antonini called on the president-elect bearing a gift from B16: not a decree of excommunication, but a pen adorned with the papal coat of arms. The prelate-politico was reported to be emotional as...

In an article reproduced in the 12:48 PM 4/30/2008 post here, Phil Lawler exposes a patern of behavior on the part of the U. S. bishops in responding to any kind of problem that could have a public relations impact. While some took his article the wrong way -- presuming that he was equating the seriousness of sexual abuse and liturgical abuse -- in reality he was simply pointing out that the bishops seem to have the same way of dealing with any problem; it's just that in most cases -- like liturgical abuse -- this defect of ability impacts...

MAHOMETANISM AND CHRISTIANITY   An Address by Elder Parley P. Pratt, Delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, September 23, 1855. 3:38   My brother, George A. Smith, has wished us to excuse his Mahometan narration, but I would feel more like giving a vote of thanks to the Almighty and to His servant for so highly entertaining and instructing us. I am aware it is not without a great deal of prejudice that we, as Europeans, and Americans, and Christians in religion and in our education, so called, have looked upon the history of Mahomet, or even the...

5.7.08 Join the Celebration Webcast Tonight Tonight from 6:30-8:00 PM Arizona time, we'll be having a time of celebration at Community Church of Joy in Glendale, AZ. This will be an exciting time to discuss the 4.26.08 experience, hear stories of what God has begun in the hearts of many across the nation, and begin to pray, "What next, Lord?" If you're in Arizona, please join us at CCOJ, Loop 101 & 75th Avenue! Otherwise you can join us via live webcast by clicking here. Interact with us! We will be answering your questions during the celebration, so please feel...

He wrote to me in all innocence, a reader from a Catholic country where Mormon missionaries had only recently begun to gather congregations of believers. "I asked my priest," he said, "and he told me that Mormons are a cult." Setting aside the obvious riposte ("What did you think your priest would tell you, that Mormonism was true Christianity as restored by God to living prophets?"), I think it's worth considering just what we mean by "cult" and seeing whether it applies to the Mormon Church. Cult as Bad Word Anti-Mormons use "cult" the way gay activists use "homophobe"--as an...

Cardinal Nasrallah Peter Sfeir BEIRUT (AFP) — Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, from whose Maronite community Lebanese presidents are drawn, left on Sunday for the United States, for talks due to focus on Lebanon's protracted presidential vacuum.Sfeir will hold talks with President George W. Bush on May 22 after a stop in New York to meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, the Maronite church said.Sfeir said ahead of the visit he hoped Washington could contribute to efforts to ease the political crisis in Lebanon, which has been without a president since November amid wrangling between feuding leaders."The American officials know about...

In more sophisticated language, The New York Times columnist Frank Rich also sought to dismiss the general outrage at Wright's racist and anti-American diatribes. In Rich's view, American society's outrage at Wright is but one more example of American racism. His proof? America is not as angry at a white pastor, the Rev. John Hagee, who has endorsed Sen. John McCain, as it is at Wright and his 20-year bond with Sen. Barack Obama. In Rich's words, "Mr. Hagee's videos have never had the same circulation on television as Mr. Wright's. A sonorous white preacher spouting venom just doesn't have...

LONG BEACH - It's been more than 60 years but the memories of the Holocaust are etched in the minds of those like Hank Snapper who survived it. Hundreds gathered Sunday at The Alpert Jewish Community Center in Long Beach for "Yom Ha'Shoah, Day of Remembrance 2008/5768, Remember the Holocaust and Honor the Righteous." Each year, the Jewish community - and other faiths - comes together to remember the estimated 6 million Jews whose lives were lost during the Holocaust, which began under the rise of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party in 1933. "It's important for human beings to...

Governments throughout the world attempt to keep secrets from the people they rule. Some of these secrets are to protect the nations from their enemies. However, some people believe that governments keep secrets from their own people for the purpose of gaining some type of control over them. Many times people view these opinions as conspiracy theories. What is a conspiracy theory? According to Wikipedia, “The term ‘conspiracy theory’ is used by scholars and in popular culture to identify a type of folklore similar to an urban legend, having certain regular features, especially an explanatory narrative which is constructed with...

Hi all, several years ago those of you who were around FR might remember a band of young rocker brothers who did a song "Hateful Lies" that skeweed Michael Moore. Well, the band is still around, and has just released a music video for its new song "Westboro", inspired by the lunacy of the WBC. We thought some of you might be interested, if so the video can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD0oSIyBUBQ. If you like their music video, let them know please, they have a myspace at http://www.myspace.com/attilahuns. FYI, here are the lyrics: Westboro, words and music by Andrew O'Donnell...

<p>The events that took place after the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor led to the assassination of Joseph Smith by an angry mob.</p> <p>Joseph Smith is vilified by people who are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or the other Restorationist groups that split off from the main organization after its founder's death. But those who belong to what is termed the Restorationist Movement remember him as a martyr, and the prophet's assassination lives on as an important moment in their faith.</p>

Bill Donohue may not be tired of the culture wars–or internecine Catholic wars. The head of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights is often over the top in denunciations of anti-Catholicism, real or perceived, and of other Catholics who Donohue sees as not toeing the proper Catholic line. But even Donohue may have outdone himself, and done in his own organization, if his latest press release prompts an IRS investigation. The May 2 release is “Catholic Dissidents Advise Obama,” and it draws down on Obama’s Catholic National Advisory Committee, which includes several Commonwealers, such as Cathleen Kaveny and...

Contact: Loralei Coyle, 202-905-6852 cell, lcoyle@TheIRD.org; Radio Interviews: Jeff Walton, 202-413-5639 cell, jwalton@TheIRD.org; both with the Institute on Religion and Democracy FT. WORTH, Texas, May 3 /Christian Newswire/ -- The United Methodist General Conference, the Church's governing body that meets every 4 years, overwhelmingly adopted several petitions affirming the sanctity of life during its quadrennial meeting in Fort Worth. Conference delegates voted to: "Affirm and encourage the Church to assist the ministry of crisis pregnancy centers and pregnancy resource centers that compassionately help women find feasible alternatives to abortion." "Respect the sacredness of the life and well-being of the mother...

As you read today's column, you may be tempted to say, have we not been down this road many, many times? The answer is yes, we have. But since the question continues to be raised of how bishops should respond to Catholics in public life who support abortion legislation, I thought it would be helpful once again to highlight a number of issues for the record. All of these points have been addressed before by me, and collectively by the bishops of the United States. The first is the Church's position on abortion. In my column in the Catholic...

Mexico City, May 2, 2008 / 03:12 pm (CNA).- During celebrations marking the International Day of the Child, Archbishop Chavez Botello of Antequera-Oaxaca said having children should not be considered an obstacle to be overcome in life, as “there is no reason a mother cannot be a successful woman. What greater success is there than to give life?” he asked. “Giving life is the greatest triumph that we can obtain over death; the human being carries within himself the innate anxiety to be fulfilled by giving life. It has been proven that marital problems are more common in couples without...

ROME (AFP) — The Vatican on Friday dismissed the US newsweekly Time's annual list of the world's 100 most influential people as "bizarre and arbitrary," saying the Holy See was pleased that the pope was not included. "I am happy about this absence (of Pope Benedict XVI) from the list, whose composition is kind of bizarre and arbitrary," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told AFP. Lombardi said he doubted whether the magazine took fully into account the pope's spiritual and moral authority. This year's list does include the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama as well as the patriarch of the...

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During the last years of his service to the Church and the world, the Servant of God John Paul II addressed an assembly of the leaders of the “Catholic Action” movement in Italy on the “gospel of work”. His words echo on this day when much of the world commemorates “International Workers day.” He proclaimed a theme that was one of the many profound contributions of his extraordinary pontificate. It is one that is rooted in the Sacred Scriptures, expounded upon at length in the Christian Tradition and is DESPERATELY needed in this age of secular pursuits, the true meaning...

Is Barack Obama the AntiChrist? He was born in Honolulu a city of seven hills with seven streams leading to the bay. He has taken a metaphorical wound to the head (Pastor Wright) and has recovered with no marks. He has deceived intelligent people with his aura of empty promises. You be the judge.

On the Trip to the UN and the US "I Have Had the Joy of Announcing 'Christ Our Hope'" VATICAN CITY, APRIL 30, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today at the general audience in St. Peter's Square. * * * Even if a few days have already passed since my return, I would like to dedicate the catechesis of today, as I normally do, to the apostolic trip that I made to the United Nations and the United States of America this past April 15 to 21. Before all, I renew my most...

God's Guide to Sex Everyone knows about the similarities between animal and human sexuality, but what about the differences? And what are the implications of those differences? by David Treybig God cares deeply about your sex life. What? You've got to be kidding, right? After all, doesn't God say don't do it while most people do? Does He know what we've been doing? Surprising to many, God is quite concerned about our sexuality and wants us to have the best sex possible. And yes, He does know what each of us has been doing. And He's disappointed that so many...

A papal visit, with its weeks of build-up and intense media coverage, often seems to end with an afterglow — but very little news — once the pope and his party fly back to the Eternal City. Not so with Pope Benedict’s recent U.S. visit where, more than a week after it ended, the volatile issue of public figures, the abortion & Communion issue is making headlines.While journalists reported that prominent Catholic politicians who support abortion rights stepped up to receive the Eucharist during Masses in Washington and New York (here’s our story and blog post), the development was...