thoughts in and out of season
Here’s an interesting analysis of the outlook behind recent Vatican policies regarding Church, state, democracy, human rights and whatnot: What Kind of Caesar?. According to the author, Russell Hittinger, traditional Catholic teaching assumed that the state has a necessary sacral dimension—all authority, after all, is from God—and naturally wanted that dimension to be Catholic. … More ...
Mark Richardson, in [url=http://www.ozconservative.com/arewomenbetter.html]commentary[/url] on a Vatican position paper dealing with central issues of women’s lib, expresses appreciation (which is persuasive and gratifying to read) and also undertakes highly intelligent critique.
Mr. Richardson’s essay analysing this Catholic document serves, for me, not only its stated purpose but an additional very different purpose. To me, it … More ...
(Linked at RelCath: this story.)
So this is what pluralism has brought us to; where we can’t find anyone in authority with the cojones to just flat-out say certain beliefs are wrong, period – you’d think they’d be able to justify it on the basis that Satanists are too individualistic, and focused on self-gratification, … More ...
(I feel the legitimation of the tribe and the nation-state are among the central ideas of tradconservatism. One reason these ideas aren’t “racist,” of course, is they apply to all tribes and nation-states.)
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[url=http://www.ozconservative.com/changingnations.html]Here’s[/url] Mark Richardson:
[i]”What forms the basis of a national identity? Conservatives would answer that ethnicity does. Real historical ties of … More ...
On the whole, I find the Guardian a summation of the worst features of the intellectual Left gone mainstream and become dominant: smug, ignorant, narrow, self-centered, unimaginative, intolerant, and sometimes—whether it’s a cause or effect I don’t know—downright evil. In personal dealings with people who meet that description (mostly not leftists) I’ve noticed that the … More ...
This is an interesting story, given the sensitivity in the American mainstream media to concerns about anti-Semitism in general and to complaints that things are “run by Jews” in particular: Will Oscar Listen? The article, on the Academy Awards, is quite forthright on the point that Hollywood’s “Jewish roots” are the reason The Passion of … More ...
This story was linked at Relapsed Catholic (linked at the left side of Turnabout), but I thought it deserved to be highlighted. (Here’s Google’s translation of the cited article – it didn’t translate well, but it’s readable enough, and easily understood.)
The Muslims are getting bolder and bolder…
When I was an Episcopalian it seemed to me the name summed up the core belief that held the church together: they believed in bishops. It was pleasant being a bishop, it should be pleasant being a bishop, and if you didn’t go along with that you didn’t belong and you should go someplace else. … More ...
For those interested, here are English translations of more of the aphorisms of Nicols Gomez Davila.