WILL POPE FRANCIS CHANGE DOCTRINE?

There was a very interesting article in the New York Times by Ross Douthat titled: THE POPE’S PHONE CALL.

The phone call in question was from an Argentine woman who asked the pope if she could take communion despite being married to a divorced man…Pope Francis gave her permission to take communion.

The problem is that the Church teaches that the husband is in a state of adultery unless he gets his first marriage annulled (a divorce will not do). In this case, she is committing adultery being married to a man that is still married to another woman (in the eyes of the church).

Pope Francis is universally admired because he has shown a softer side of the Catholic Church; a side that does not just condemn but tries to understand members of the church and the realities of life they face here on earth.

This is quite admirable and obviously something people are desperate for but what about doctrine.

Here the pope has had to walk a fine line always saying that he is not changing well established doctrine; just kind of massaging it?

Pope Francis will eventually come to a point where he will have to admit that a doctrine governing a specific subject is just wrong and must be changed…or he may continue to just keep dancing around the subject such as, let’s say homosexuality.

The Church actually came close to doing just that on the subject of contraception in the 1960s. At that time the then pope commissioned a high level panel to study the issue and the panel decided that contraception should be allowed but the then pope developed cold feet thinking he would go down in history as the pope that changed doctrine…well maybe the time has come?

 

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: Fix K-12 Education First...

The Supreme Court upheld Michigan’s law that bans affirmative action based on race in college admissions but judging by all the articles in this Sunday’s paper, the issue is not going away.

Among all the points of argument, pro & con, I think everyone agrees that a level playing field must be achieved in K-12 education so that students applying for college admission would all have had a K-12 education of equal quality.

Here in Michigan, this is not something that can easily be achieved even though most of the pundits feel throwing more money at the problem will solve the problem….NOT!

Detroit students get the same amount of state money as do students in other parts of the state. The difference is in the local school systems that govern each school district.

The Detroit Public School system, like the city, has been broken for many years. The school board has been corrupt and incompetent for so long that the governor appointed special school czars with dictatorial powers to clean up the mess.

Firing and prosecuting teachers and principals that stole from the system is one thing; changing the culture built up over all these years is a different matter.

Attracting good quality teachers to Detroit schools is another problem. Many schools and classrooms are not safe and many students are woefully unprepared for school on a daily basis due to home conditions such as the lack of two parent households or parents that do not have the time or the inclination or the talent to help students with their homework.

Charter schools are all the rage in Detroit. These charter schools have the pick of the best students and leave the public schools all their rejects. I guess one can call this an improvement over the past since at least some students are getting a quality K-12 education.

I find it infuriating that all the talking heads are decrying the lack of affirmative action in getting black kids into U-M (even though they can get into other top notch schools) instead of getting their K-12 education on par with white K-12 education.

We moved out of Detroit so our kids could get the best education they could and they did. The problem is that after all these years; people still have to move out of Detroit so their kids can get a decent education…pitiful.

 

 

 

 

 

UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE UNION...the end is in sight!

Here is another example of a union trying to insure its own survival even though it kills the company that employs its members.

I am talking about the UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE UNION which has a sordid history especially in the days when the postal service had a virtual monopoly on the movement of letters and packages in the US and around the world.

In those days, union workers could give a shit about the public and worked at their own pace no matter what the demand. Management could not demand better performance because management just could not fire anyone in the union.

With the advent of fax machines, the internet and emails; the post office has competition and needs to actually provide better and cheaper service to stay alive…but as I said, the union does not give a shit about the post office staying alive; it only care if the union stays alive.

The post office has been losing $$$ BILLIONS every year mainly due to the fact that business has been down but costs (unionized workers) have been going up; an unsustainable position. I do have to say that because of on-line shopping, its package business has increased by 8%.

Management at the USPS has been scrambling to find ways to grow the business at the post office and not by just raising the price of stamps, which they have also done.

One way the post office is trying to grow business is by allowing STAPLES (office supply store) to open mini-post offices at their stores.

The kicker is that these mini post offices are staffed by Staples employees who make a lot less than the bloated wages of the postal union employees. In fact, these mini post offices can operate at a third (1/3) of the cost of regular post offices staffed by union labor…now that is a cost savings!

Does the average American give a shit where he or she goes to mail a package; not really since it costs the same no matter where you go BUT the lines at Staples are usually shorter and that has to be a plus?

The union is saying that the post office is trying to save costs (that is so bad) and eventually privatize services. Well it sure looks like that is the only way the post office will stay alive; cannot keep losing $$$BILLIONS every year!

The union is correct in thinking that eventually post offices will have to be closed and unionized postal workers will have to be laid off or just let go; a business cannot just exist for the workers; it has to exists as a profitable business.

You will be seeing a lot of protesters at Staples stores in the near future but as in other union efforts, the protests will fall on deaf ears as more and more people realize that unionism is coming to the end of the road.

 

 

TWO POPES CANONIZED...

Well its canonization time at the Vatican and Rome expects millions of tourists to come to the city specifically for this event even though I don’t really know why.

Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II will be officially made into saints …canonized.

I look at the bestowing of sainthood on a person as an award for a job well done as opposed to the usual definition of sainthood as extreme holiness which is a little hard to define.

Pope John XXIII (one of my favorites 1958-1963) did a great job in his few short years in office of “opening the windows” to let modernity into the stodgy old church and believe me, it needed some fresh air.

Succeeding popes tried to close that window of openness (Benedict XVI) but John’s initiative kept that flame alive to this very day where Catholics continue to battle to keep the Vatican II window open against those who want it closed.

Pope John Paul II gets great marks for closing the door on Communism in so doing releasing millions of enslaved peoples from the grip of the Soviet Union; this was a truly historic accomplishment.

John Paul was also from Poland which put an end to the joke: Is the Pope Italian?

John Paul also became a rock star visiting more countries than any other pope before him which humanized the papacy and gave it a truly international flavor.

On the other hand, he seemed to have ignored the priestly sex scandal even though his biographers insist he knew nothing about…really?

Bottom line is that both men deserve a star on the saint’s walk of fame.

 

 

Michigan's Affirmative Action Proposal ruled constitutional...

The headline reads: COURT BACKS AFFIRMATIVE ACTION BAN in Michigan.

This is like a never-ending story where people will not accept the ending but will constantly agitate for a different ending even though they will not get what they want. Reminds me of the Greek King Sisyphus who was punished by the gods to roll a huge boulder up a hill only to have the boulder roll down right before he reached the top of the hill…forever!  The adjective “Sisyphean” should be attached to what these groups are trying to achieve with their efforts.

I wrote way back in July of 2011 when Michigan’s Proposal 2 banning racial discrimination as well as gender preferences in public education, public employment and public contracting, was challenged by the ACLU, NAACP and BAWN (By Any Means Necessary).

Their challenge was based on the Fourteenth Amendment which states that no entity “can deprive a person of life, liberty or property without due process” or all people have equal protection under the law.

In their misguided thinking they argued that since Proposal 2 was entered into the state constitution, it would be practically impossible to change it, especially by minorities, therefore their “rights” were violated? This is plain BULLSHIT and even liberals agree that it is…so why push it all the way to the Supreme Court?

Anyway, the Supreme Court recognized the challenge as stupid and said that the Michigan proposal and subsequent law embedded in the state constitution was indeed constitutional by federal standards because it eliminated discrimination for all people.

Justice Roberts said it best when he said that the best way to end discrimination is to end discrimination.

Ironically, this does not end the discussion of using racial preferences when admitting students into premier universities like U-M; this only tackled the constitutionality of the Michigan proposal to eliminate discrimination in public education, public employment and public contracting.

I will agree that minorities, especially African-Americans need to be helped in achieving the educational level of non-minorities (whites) and that help comes in the form of upgrading the elementary and high school educational systems that are currently failing them; no use getting into U-M and then dropping out because you just can’t do the work necessary…level the playing field first.

 

 

 

 

The Easter Story...

There was an interesting article in the Detroit Free Press this Easter Sunday titled KENSINGTON MEGACHURCH REACHES OUT TO DOUBTERS FOR EASTER by Niraj Warikoo.

It is a timely article but what caught my eye was that the pastor at the church (Dave Wilson) was going to tackle the skepticism about the resurrection of Jesus…really?

I will agree that without the resurrection on Easter Sunday, Christianity would not have a purpose to exist; their whole theology is based on the belief that Jesus died for our sins (whatever they may be) and was raised from the dead and will eventually return to earth.

Having just recently buried my mother, I still remember the priest at the Catholic service saying that we do not die but go to heaven to be with the risen Jesus forever and ever.

I do not dabble so much in theology; people believe whatever they want to believe, but I do like to examine the evidence for said beliefs using whatever sources are available to us and in the case of Jesus, those sources are very few.

Pastor Wilson at least admits that there is no way to prove that Jesus was raised from the dead and even the synoptic Gospels which are not historical documents have very conflicting stories about the resurrection. The original ending of Mark had no resurrection just an empty tomb. Later added endings to Mark had Jesus appearing to certain people.

New scholarship doubts that Jesus was ever buried since the Romans had a standard policy of leaving the crucified on the cross as examples to others. Their bodies were eaten by birds and dogs and their bones were then thrown into a dump. Obviously the Gospel writers could not have that as an ending to their Messiah so they conjured up a resurrection story.

St. Paul, who basically invented Christianity but never met Jesus or even talked about any of Jesus’ teachings, was also conflicted about the resurrection as to whether it was a bodily resurrection or just a spiritual resurrection. To Paul, the resurrection is the basis of his teachings without which they would be empty of meaning.

As always, Christianity injects its religious observances into natural (pagan) celebrations with Easter coming at the time people are celebrating the arrival of spring as Christmas occurs on the natural (pagan) celebration of the arrival of a New Year.

In the end, Pastor Wilson does not have a specific plan to show skeptics that the resurrection actually occurred; there is no way to do that. What he wants is people to come to the church where he will wow them with a musical and dramatic extravaganza that will make them feel good and want to believe that Christianity is somehow based on actual occurrences…

 

Related articles

• The History and Origins of Easter
• Was Jesus really resurrected?
• The Resurrection is Believable
• Can you question the Resurrection and still be a Christian?
• The Truth About Easter
• Should Christians Celebrate Easter?

Putin and Ukraine...

Every day the news out of the Ukraine gets worst and everyone is holding their breaths as to what Vladimir Putin of Russia will do. He has amassed a large military force on the border with the Ukraine and is just waiting for a chance to invade under the pretext of protecting ethnic Russian citizens being “tortured” by ethnic Ukrainians.

This is a similar tactic used by Adolf Hitler when he invaded Czechoslovakia in 1938 (Sudetenland) under the pretext of saving ethnic Germans from persecution; we all know what happened afterwards.

I have been talking with my friends in Poland who are concerned about the escalation of tensions in the region; they fear their historical enemy Russia as they very well should.

The Ukraine is an interesting country with an interesting history; my wife is 50% Ukrainian which is interesting because Ukrainians and Poles did not like each other much and battled constantly; I guess me and my wife overcame our historical differences…I am 100% Polish.

I did business in the Ukraine and found the country to be dangerous, very poor and very corrupt. Russia has dominated the country for a long time even making Russian the official language. Stalin starved millions in the Ukraine and moved ethnic Russians into the country making it a divided country with Ukrainians/Poles in the west and Russians in the east; a civil war is possible.

Russians have historically an image problem; they thought of themselves as a great nation / power on par with any nation in the West but reality showed them to be a poor, badly governed nation that struggles to provide daily bread…Putin wants Russia to be a major power again and be reckoned with as a major power and to get that he will flex his military muscle…but to what end?

We can hurt Russia economically and Putin knows that but Putin needs what the Chinese say “to save face” and come out looking like the mighty dictator that he is; in essence, he needs to win this so called battle or at least appear to have won.

He has CRIMEA so that is a partial victory. He wants the Ukraine to be in his “sphere of influence” and that is going to be hard to achieve since Ukrainians want to align themselves with the West while ethnic Russians in the Ukraine want to remain close to Russia.

Partitioning the country is probably not an option but allowing certain areas “local rule” may be an option. In any event, Putin needs something from the Ukrainians he can hang his hat on…history in the making!

 

 

Related articles

• ON POINT: Russian Provocateurs Prepare The Ukrainian Battlefield
• 'Very few things' Ukraine can do to keep country together, Putin ally warns
• US to Putin: This could get ugly
• Putin warns Ukraine on brink of civil war as Kiev sends army in
• What Would Russian Troops Do Once They Cross the Ukrainian Border?
• Putin: 'We are not afraid of anyone'

Freedom from Religion in Warren, Michigan

There was an interesting article in the paper today titled: WARREN REFUSES ANTI-FAITH DISPLAY…Resident’s request denied for a city hall table near prayer site. Warren is a small city in the Detroit Metro area.

We are all aware at the continuing battle to keep religion out of politics as many in this country defy our First Amendment in our Constitution that prohibits government from endorsing any religion.

In the past, government bodies throughout the country endorsed Christian symbols (10 Commandments in courthouses) that were ruled unconstitutional because those symbols showed our government endorsing Christianity over all other faiths.

Now government bodies must allow all religions access to its public spaces and not just a specific religion.

Things are a little different in the Warren case since the person asking for a competing space next to the prayer station (which accommodates all religions) is a member of FREEDOM FROM RELIGION FOUNDATION which is basically an anti-religious organization.

I am a little conflicted here. If the group was an atheist group which is a competing “belief system” I would say that they have a right to a table next to the prayer table where people do proselytize (try to get people to join their religious group)…but here we are talking about an anti-religious group.

The Freedom from Religion group usually uses the slogan REASON OVER SUPERSTITION and if they were promoting that as a belief system, it would make them easier to accept next to prayer stations.

The underlying fact is that governments should not be promoting religions (any religions) on their public property and the Freedom from Religion is just challenging that and that is a good thing…we need to keep all government institutions free from any religious affiliation…that is the law and if you don’t obey it, you will be slammed and should be slammed hard…no room for ignorance anymore.

A CHOICE IN DEATH

My mother died yesterday at the age of 91; a month shy of 92. Her death was not a “good” death if death can ever be good.

Although she enjoyed relatively good mental and physical health most of her life, her decline in the last six months of her life left me wondering if there is a better way to exit this life.

I respect the work that nursing homes do even though they are always criticized for not doing enough for loved ones that need to be there. Also I respect hospice workers who have an arduous job preparing the patient and the family for eventual death; a job I could not dream of doing over and over again.

But was there a time in my mother’s decline where she could have said, enough; let me die?

Actually she said it on a number of occasions but it was not taken seriously maybe because she did not mean it seriously. As her mind wandered, she always thought that she could get back to health and her own apartment and we did not have the heart to tell her that this could not happen and that this is the end.

Each case is different and each person is different but I fervently believe that a “choice” has to be available to those who wish to stop at a point in their decline and say enough is enough; I do not wish to continue; I want to leave with dignity.

Our society is becoming more progressive as evidenced by the acceptance of gay marriage and therefore I have hope that eventually we will come to the realization that our lives are our own to control.

 

 

SAW THE MOVIE...NOAH

Just saw the movie NOAH with Russell Crowe, etc.

We are movies based on Biblical stories junkies. We grew up on Ben Hur, Quo Vadis, Samson & Delilah, Ten Commandments, etc.; we know how we like our Bible stories portrayed.

NOAH was different in a number of ways but mostly our new digital age has made portraying miraculous scenes very realistically and NOAH is no exception.

The acting, directing and cinematography are almost always brilliant but it is the “story” that I care most about and many “brilliant” movies have left me cold as to their “story”.

We all know the story of NOAH or the “flood” story in Genesis. The actual story in Genesis was a re-telling of a flood story from the great epic of GILGAMESH from around 2500 B.C. so it is hardly original. In fact, the Genesis story is an amalgamation of two different flood narratives…there are scholars that study nothing but this…really.

Obviously, the guy making this movie (Darren Aronofsky)(Jewish atheist) has to make a movie that excites and dazzles thereby generating enough buzz to get many people to want to see it so he has to take some “dramatic license” to jazz it up; he is not retelling the Bible story word for word on film…it would be boring.

For me and my wife, we expect miracles but we also like enough “realism” to make it believable and not cartoonish. In NOAH, the use of “angels” turned into “boulder” creatures by God because they tried to help the humans is a little much and spoils that realism we look for in these types of movies.

Yes, these boulder (rock) creatures play a vital role in the movie since they basically built the ark and they kept the raging hordes from occupying the ark but I think the writers could have come up with a better vehicle to fill that slot.

I liked the fact that the Big Bang theory was visualized during creation and that evolution was also visualized…this will definitely piss off the creationist and I think already has!

I also liked the fact that the writers played up the dualism of man as the ruler of the world against man as only the creature of God on earth.

Yes, the movie was a “spectacle” on the big screen and I did enjoy it but did not love it.