Notre Dame; Selling Out Jesus For The Messiah

Others have remarked on the gross inappropriateness of Obama giving the commencement speech at Notre Dame.  Here we have the most prominent and, in the eye of the American public, the most recognized Catholic institution in America showcasing the most pro-abortion, anti-life politician that’s come down the pike.  I would hazard that Norte Dame, as a Catholic institution, is more recognized as such than the Pope.

What ND President, The Reverend John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., a fully ordained priest of the Catholic Church, has given the most pro-abortion president ever a forum at the most premiere American Catholic institution.  And, with this forum, ND will hand Obama a Catholic imprimatur to speak out on moral issues, including abortion, euthanasia, stem cell research and birth control.  As pointed out by on either the American Spectator or Hugh Hewitt’s web site (I can’t exactly remember where) Obama, will now, on such occasions, use the cudgel of the antecedent phrase, “as I said at my speech at Notre Dame.”

But, there’s a deeper undercurrent here.  It’s been my impression that the American Catholic hierarchy has been in bed with the Democratic Party for a long time.  There’s an affinity that is probably only rivaled by the MSM.  And, what we’ve seen is a glossing over of the inconvenient subject of abortion; “social justice” in the form of high taxes and entitlement spending being a so much greater priority.  

I remember the late Cardinal Bernardin’s “seamless garment” of life.  This seamless garment turned out to be a litmus test consisting of a liberal wish list that included opposition to abortion.  But, it also included the “social justice” song and dance, opposition to any reasonable defense policy, opposition to the death penalty, and so on.  While on the face it did address a whole host of life and justice issues, it became, for a lot of liberal politicians a pass on abortion if you checked off on the rest of the agenda.  All, with a knowing wink from a lot of Catholic prelates.  And, that wasn’t to hard since this amounted to gutting defense policies and spending for uncontrolled entitlement spending.  Opposition to the killing of unborn life wasn’t enough.  To qualify for the Cardinal Bernardin club house, you had to buy the seamless garment; Democratic party style.

And, so, in the spirit (not Holy), of dialog, we have Notre Dame handing Obama a seamless garment to cover the ugliness of abortion on demand.  An abortion stance so extreme, that it would outlaw conscience provisions and overturn restrictions on partial birth abortions.  So now, Obama get his Catholic moral bona fides in the seamless garment club; publically bestowed by Notre Dame.  It’s otherwise called an “honorary degree.”

The American Catholic leadership better start treading with care because it may one day find itself on the ash heap of religious history along with the other gutted mainstream Protestant denominations.  As in the Episcopalian Catholic Church of America.

Obama Christian; Obama Muslim

Here’s the clip of Obama’s gaffe from Power Line.  

I’m not about to doubt Obama’s word that he’s a Christian.  But, he’s the son of a Muslim.  And, that, in the eyes of the Islamic world view makes him a Muslim.  By choosing Christianity he is therefore an apostate. (Wikipedia on Muslim apostasy).

The Koran is only really clear that Allah will punish the apostate in the afterlife.  But, the actual practice is a de facto death sentence in many Muslim countries; whether imposed by the state or by free-lance murderers with the state authorties looking the other way.

But. But. This is American and the whole issue of apostasy doesn’t matter.  Very likely, without much reflection on the theological implications from a Muslim point-of-view, Obama chose his brand of Christianity without giving a second thought.  Implications such as the fact, in the Muslim world view, he was Muslim by birthright and had no choice in choosing another faith.

But, again it doesn’t matter. And, all of the theological massaging in the attached Wikipedia article doesn’t matter. Here. In America.  Because, here in America, you can choose your religion like your favorite flavor of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.  And, unlike many other parts of the world, that that choice would not be your death sentence. Were Obama to be murdered for apostasy, the murderer, at least in America, would be arrested and tried for first degree murder. Theology would not be a mitigating defense. 

And why?  Simply because there are Americans who insist on the rule of law and are willing to defend that principle against the encroachments of Islamic imperialism. There are Americans who would insist that that choice of religious worship not be in any way threatened. There are Americans who are willing to call these Islamic encroachments against the precepts of our world-view that we call Western Civilization as an act of war. There are 19 year-olds who instead of doing drugs, like a certain Democratic presidental candidate, actually joined the military and are now carrying M16’s in the dusty backwaters of Iraq and Afganistan to insure that Islamic imperialism is contained and its baleful effects are not allowed to poison our country, Constitution and Bill of Rights.