What Will The New Abortion Bans Succeed At

 One could imitate a ringside announcer in introducing the two fighters in the abortion contest. In the the corner to my right are the Anti-Abortionists who call themselves Pro-lifers. Many times they believe in sending everyone who is involved in an abortion to jail. There are those times when they settle for making a get rich quick piñata by filling it with money and beating it with our legal system--see the Texas abortion law.

In the corner to my left are ideologically wild women who believe that abortion should be legal and accessible up until the time that the unborn fully exists its mother. They believe that this kind of access to abortion will free or enable women to become equal to men because they will have their cake of sexual freedom and eat it too.

And like the relationship between one's biological sex and gender equality where there are gender identities that lie in between the two opposites but their biological sex will be forced into choosing between one of two options. So too are all of those groups that lie in between those two fighters in the abortion contest. They will be counted as being in the camp of either the fighter in the right corner or the one in the left corner. And such overly simplistic thinking plays a major role in making a controversial issue into an unnecessarily high divisive one.

Oklahoma is the latest state to pass a restrictive abortion law since the Mississippi abortion law was heard by the Supreme Court. One has to wonder if those states that are passing restrictive abortion laws have some inside information regarding the upcoming SCOTUS decision on the Mississippi abortion law. That is because if SCOTUS rules significantly against the Mississippi abortion law, then state governments like Oklahoma must return to the drawing board of the abortion issue having just wasted their own time and taxpayer money in formulating new laws.

As a pro-lifer myself, one of my concerns, besides the lives of the unborn and the women involved, is how these laws will unnecessarily cause this nation to be even more divided than it is today. That isn't because I think that national unity is more important than human life, it isn't. But the more divided this nation becomes over this issue, the more each side, including the pro-life side, will be condemned to singing only to its own choir when discussing the issue either privately or publicly. And from my pro-life perspective, laws alone will not stop abortion, changed minds and hearts will. But the more divided we are about this issue, the less we will listen to each other and thus the more we will become solidly fixed with our current commitments.

Also, the more divided this nation becomes, the less that many of my fellow pro-lifers will refuse to listen to women as they share about the dilemma they face when pregnant. That abortion is not just about the lives of the unborn, it is about women and the sacrifices and risks that nature calls on them to make when carrying a child. And in a very true sense, a woman's labor begins after the child is born. All of that occurs in a context of the frailty of human relationships and in ever changing economic and social worlds. For some women, pregnancy is life threatening. And unless one has seen a women deliver a child,  one will never know that giving birth can be traumatic for many women because of the stress and strain put on the body. And all of us pro-lifers, especially those who have reduced the abortion issue to just the life and rights of the unborn, need to listen to a wide range of stories by women who have become pregnant with some who have carried their child to term while others have decided to get an abortion.

Unfortunately, the giving birth and raising of children by women is a victim of the oppression of women in our society. It is a victim by virtue of guilt by association. It has been unfairly associated with past, even present, male oppression of women. When the Sex Revolution began women were so often made dependent on men by society and its systems. And many women who had entered the workforce were, and still are not, treated as equals to men. And because giving birth and raising a child has been so strongly associated with men keeping women down, those women who struggle with that oppression have been understandably swayed into seeing motherhood as a tool of that oppression and thus are reluctant to recognize the human life that the unborn are because of what they think they need to do to be free of male oppression and be counted as equals to men.

In many ways, the fighters introduced at the beginning of this article are examples of the Pharisee from Jesus's parable of the two men praying (see Luke 18:9-14). In that parable, the Pharisee thanks God that he is a righteous person who shares none of the sins and faults of the person considered to be one of the worst in society at that time: the tax collector. So the more we become like one of the two fighters described above, the more we become like that Pharisee and that is displayed by how we talk about those who reside in the camp of the other fighter. That is why making abortion into such a divisive issue is so harmful to this nation. And such makes is less and less likely that we can resolve the abortion issue in a fair and just manner. 

Is The Abortion Debate A Microcosm Of The Incivility Of Our Society?

The new Alabama law on abortion has made the issue of abortion a very hot topic now. On the pro-choice side, we have memes showing a vast hypocrisy of many, not all, of those who oppose the legalization of elective abortion. Those memes describe how hypocritical it is for opponents of elective abortion when they do not also demonstrate the same care for children who are born as they do for the unborn. And those memes speak an inconvenient truth about many opponents of elective abortion who also show little to no concern for the children of asylum seekers who are locked up in cages. That inconvenient truth is that these opponents of elective abortion are unable to credibly claim that they care about children.

But if we take the converse of those memes, isn't another hypocrisy revealed? For how can one claim that they care about children regardless of their sincere concern for children of immigrants when they allow for the killing of those in the womb. After all, it isn't the children of immigrants who might infringe on the freedom of a woman to pursue a career or who could cause great distress in the taking care of the child if born, it is those in the womb.

The combination of the memes with their converses give a modern illustration of Jesus's parable of the two men praying (click here for the source):

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

It seems that both sides have forever been mirror grumbling at each other as the Pharisee grumbled about the tax collector. And that grumbling serves the purpose of causing onlookers to regard the issue as not worth their interest and effort. Thus we have what seems like a forever stalemate. And it is the political parties that use their respective groups on this issue who truly benefit from the stalemate. For each political party knows that for as long as they can portray themselves as either supporting or opposing the legalization of elective abortion, they can slide on so many other issues.

But if we looked at those in the abortion debate who keep accusing their opponents of hypocrisy as the only ones to whom Jesus's parable applies, then we have leaped without looking into the role of the Pharisee in the parable. For whenever we speak against some injustice without remembering the times where we have been unjust to others, we have passionately embraced the role of the Pharisee. For the point of Jesus's parable is that because we are all sinners, we can't afford to look down on others.

There is a solution to enabling fruitful discussions about the abortion issue. That solution is to be an advocate for either the pro-choice side or the anti-elective abortion side as the tax collector from the parable. So instead of touting our own moral superiority because we have chosen the right side of that issue, we become more and more connected with our failures and sins. That is because the more we are connected with our failures and sins, the more tolerant we will be with those with whom we disagree. And the more tolerant we are with those with whom we disagree, the more we will listen to them even if listening to them never changes anyone's mind.







 

The Pro-Life Hypocrisy Of The GOP

Being pressed for time because of a busy schedule, it is useful to write this review on an article that is a must read and needs little to no further explanation. John Pavlovitz (click here for his short self description) on how the GOP is political party that is not really interested in being pro-life. Rather, that political party's concern for human life outside of the womb shows the duplicity of its claim to be pro-life.

If the GOP is not pro-life, then what is it? Pavlovitz describes it perfectly in the following sentence (click here for the article):

The unborn are easy to advocate for because you can idealize them into something palatable to you, something benign and comfortable, something in your own image.

Pavlovitz concisely and correctly points out the inconsistencies between the GOP's pro-life claims, which, btw, are based solely on its stand against abortion, with its lack of concern for the lives of others, especially those of non-whites. This selective approach of choosing which victims to defend is an age-old undertaking. It consists of helping only those one can canonize as being guiltless. Perhaps that is one reason why groups from the poor to immigrants to Black Lives Matter to Palestinians and others do not merit any sympathy from the GOP. For faults can be found in each of those groups. And for as long as the GOP can be associated with protecting little angels, they have a lock on the votes of many a ignorant religiously conservative  Christian voter. 

Because faults can be found in most other groups of victims, there remains not compelling reason to do what requires the most energy of any human task: to change. Thus, doing something to save the lives of those other than unborn children is not necessary for many a religiously conservative Christian. That is because changing might mean abandoning materialistic riches or admitting sins. So being able to find faults in victims excuses many of these Christians from changing.

I won't say anything else about the article. There are a couple of minor points he makes with which I could disagree. But Pavlovitz's article is one of the best articles I've read and I prefer people reading his article instead reading whatever insights I could offer.


 

The Day After The People Strike Back

Whatever we want to call the election, the Women's March On Washington, and on other cities, was the people striking back. Not that this March was above criticism, it wasn't. The prohibiting of pro-life groups from participating as groups was wrong and shortsighted even though it was also understandable. It showed an example of how leaders often do not want their members to associate and find common ground with those from different groups. When their people do that, then the leaders lose control. 

As a pro-lifer, I was more than happy to join the March. Why? It was because I agreed with all but one of the positions taken by those organizing the March (click here for those positions). Thus, I saw no need to keep myself from celebrating what I had in common with those orchestrating and those participating in the March.  In addition, it was very refreshing to see that many people, I went to the NYC March,  joining together in a family safe environment with hundreds of thousands of people. In addition, the relationship between the police and the protesters was friendly and positive--something I always appreciate.

Trump moderated his usual response to criticism in how he responded to the March. He knew that the March was a rejection of his Presidency. But he also probably realized that too negative a response would only inspire more participation in the future. So he asked why those who marched didn't vote. His question was based on a false assumption. But then he acknowledged that protesting was part of Democracy.

The real question after the March becomes this: Where do we go from here? The people I spoke with at the March and afterwards were unanimous in saying that we have to march again. But they were also unanimous in saying something else that was contradicted by some of the chants heard at the March. Our target should not be Trump. Our target should be those conservatives who supported him. But how should we target those conservatives? We should make it our aim to persuade them. That is we should talk with them with the hopes of at least partially changing their minds.

To accomplish our goal, we can't afford to practice the same old self-isolation within the comfortable surroundings of our ideological ghettos. We need to meet people where they are, listen to them, try to identify common concerns, and then share what we believe is right as we allow them to do the same. This is part of what democracy looks like.

I know that there are some on the Left who abstained from the protest because it was a liberal Democratic Party event. This, again, follows the same  tactics of self-isolation that leaders of many groups hope for. This staying within our ideological ghettos adds to the problem our nation has with tribalism. With tribalism,  we only listen to accepted authority figures who give us the party line. We are taught to show antagonism toward those with different views. And we are taught to become highly offended when others reject what our own group has to say. Thus, because of tribalism, we are always at each others' throats because we are competing to conquer.

But, at the same time, what tribalism also does is to become Democracy's auto-immune disease. This constant infighting and attempts to conquer rather than to share and collaborate is what is destroying our Democracy. Thus, it seems that we don't need Russia's help to destroy our democracy.

Where do we go from here? On a personal level, we should listen and talk to people from other groups. We must try to find common ground which is more easily done when identifying problems than when proposing solutions. Then perhaps we should consider hybrid solutions that combine the ideas of different groups rather than forcing the will of our own group on others.

On an activist level, we need to march again and we must try to do so in greater numbers. Sporadic marches, regardless of their sizes, accomplish nothing. Constant marches of significant size puts pressure on our elected officials. Constant marches force our elected officials to listen and even moderate their tone and work. And these marches must be inclusive rather than exclusive.

That is where we go from here. Should we sit back and be content with and proud of a single march, we will find that we have accomplished nothing except to give ourselves a brief moment in the sun.


 

ONIM For December 19, 2016

Christian News

• How London Churches Are Battling The Housing Crisis -- Christian Today (UK)
• Pope, Bishops Called On To Break Stalemate In Democratic Republic Of Congo -- Christian Today (UK)
• Church Asked To Mediate Between Indigenous People And Chinese Mining Company In Ecuador -- Christian Today (UK)
• Here's What Happens When Christmas Falls On A Sunday -- Christianity Today
• Bombing Of Cairo Church's Sunday Service Kills Dozens On Muhammad's Birthday -- Christianity Today
• Kirsten Powers: Becoming A Christian Ruined My Love Of Christmas -- Christianity Today
• Church Discipline And Forgiveness -- Reformed African American Network
• Between Two Worlds -- Reformed African American Network
• Raise Up A Transcendent Voice In A Partisan World -- Gospel Coalition
• Some Things I've Learned Along The Way -- Prophets Of Culture
• Who Are Egypt's Coptic Christians? -- Yahoo News
• Rev. Graham: ACLU's War On Christmas Continues--Man Has 'Unwelcome Contact' With Cross, Causes 'Irreparable Harm' -- CNS News
• We Can't Be Pro-Life If We're Not Anti-Poverty -- For The Church
• The Head Of The Household Called To Do Women's Work? -- Mortification Of Spin
• Trump Rallies The Faithful Against The 'War On Christmas' -- Yahoo News

 
World News

• Joint DHS And ODNI Election Security Statement -- Office Of The Director Of National Intelligence
• Secret CIA Assessment Says Russia Was Trying To Help Trump Win White House -- Washington Post
• Julian Assange's New Platform: RT -- Columbia Journalism Review
• What Is Russia Today? -- Columbia Journalism Review
• When Spooks Were Reporters And Reporters Were Spooks -- Columbia Journalism Review
• Demagogue-In-Chief -- Truthdig
• Trump's Capricious Use Of Power To Denigrate And Even Endanger His Critics Must End -- Truthdig
• Mikhail Gorbachev On The Collapse Of The Soviet Union, Democracy In Russia And Putin's Popularity -- Newsweek
• India Arrests 12 For Not Standing During National Anthem -- Fox News
• Huge Mysterious UFO Disk-Shaped Object Captured Crossing Moon's Surface Was Alien Spaceship, Say ET Hunters -- Fox News
• Bernie Sanders: Donald Trump Won Because People Are Tired Of Political Correctness -- Reason.com
• Scientists Are Frantically Copying U.S. Climate Data, Fearing It Might Vanish Under Trump -- Washington Post
• Greg Palast: By Rejecting Recount, Is Michigan Covering Up 75,000 Ballots Never Counted? -- Democracy Now
• Israel Puts Celebrated Palestinian Activist On Trial -- Huffington Post
• EPA Finally Concludes Fracking Pollutes Drinking Water -- Common Dreams
• Putin Himself Involved In US Election Hack: Report -- Yahoo News
• Israel's West Bank Tourism Drive Makes Palestinians Invisible -- ZNet
• Brazil Senate Approves Austerity Package To Freeze Social Spending For 20 Years -- ZNet
• Dylann Roof Convicted Of All Counts In Church Slaughter -- Yahoo News
• A Collection Of Thoughts About American Foreign Policy -- Anti-Empire Report
• Canada's Liberal Government Stands By Plan To Use Military Against Pipeline Protests -- World Socialist Web Site
• Artists Around The World Respond To Donald Trump Becoming USA's President-Elect -- True Activist
• Days Of Revolt: The Corporate Coup D'etat With Ralph Nader -- Real News
• While Decrying "Massacre" In Aleppo, US Steps Up Bloodshed In Mosul -- World Socialist Web Site
• If Donald Trump Is So Upset About Iraq WMD Lies, Why Would He Want to Hire John Bolton? -- The Intercept
• Russia Destroys Most ISIS Heavy Weaponry, U.S. Promptly Airdrops 50-Tons Of Weapons Into Syria -- Mint Press News
• U.S. Election Agency Breached By Hackers After November Vote -- Yahoo News 
• Trump Picks Mick Mulvaney, South Carolina Congressman, As Budget Director -- New York Times
• Trump Corruption Grows As Senators Nail Education Pick For $5.3 Million In Unpaid Fines -- Politicus USA
• There's A Huge Education Drop-Off With The Trump Cabinet Picks --  Daily News
• Monica Crowley, Trump's Latest Addition To National Security Team, Believes In Fighting Islam 'The Way We Fought The Nazis' -- Yahoo News
• Car Bomb Kills 13 Turkish Soldiers On Bus; 7 Suspects Held -- Yahoo News
• Accessnow.org's Open Letter To Top Tech Executives -- Raging Chicken Press
• Extinguishing Free Expression In Algeria -- New York Times
• On Campus, Trump Fans Say They Need 'Safe Spaces' -- New York Times
• Europeans Greatly Overestimate Muslim Population, Poll Shows -- Guardian
• Trump Chooses Hardliner As Ambassador To Israel -- New York Times
• Jammeh Must Step Down, Say West African Leaders -- Yahoo News
• Trump Is Still Not Very Popular, And His Problem With Women Could Return -- New York Times
• Trump Names Andrew Puzder, A Fast-Food CEO And Critic Of Substantially Raising The Minimum Wage, To Head The Labor Department -- Washington Post 

 
Standing Rock Sioux - DAPL News

• Miles From Standing Rock, Pipeline Rupture Spills Unknown Amount Of Oil In North Dakota Waterway -- Free Thought Project
• Pipeline Spills 176,000 Gallons Of Crude Into Creek About 150 Miles From Dakota Access Pipeline -- Yahoo News
• Cops Are Finally Being Sued For Illegally Spraying Standing Rock Protesters With Water In Freezing Temperatures -- Counter Current News
• Wikileaks Calls On Obama To Submit Proof Of Russian Hacking For Verification -- RT
• Did Senator Wagner Shutdown Unemployment Centers -- Raging Chicken Press
• At Standing Rock, No One Goes Hungry -- Yes! Magazine
• Seattle Takes Steps To Divest $3 Billion From Wells Fargo Over Standing Rock -- Yes! Magazine
• Iowa: Residents Fight Dakota Access Pipeline Use Of Eminent Domain In Court -- Democracy Now

 
Pick(s) Of The Litter

• Russian Hackers Acted To Aid Trump In Election, US Says -- New York Times
• As Legacy Media Cuts Back On FOIA, Digital-Only News Outlets Step In -- Columbia Journalism Review
• US Judge Rejects Green Party's Pennsylvania Recount Case -- Yahoo News
• Senate Finally Approves Flint Aid At Expense Of The Golden State -- Truthdig
• Vowing To "Stop Political Correctness," Gen. John Kelly To Head Department Of Homeland Security -- Democracy Now
• Britain Has A New Official Definition Of 'Anti-Semitism -- Business Insider   
• Syrian Government Reportedly Kills Dozens Of Civilians In Aleppo, Some 'On The Spot,' UN Says -- Yahoo News   
• Suspect Arrested After Two Officers Shot During Traffic Stop In Georgia -- ABC News
• There Is More Than One Story To Tell In The Heartbreaking Story Of Aleppo -- Independent
• ICC Accuses UN Council Of Failing To Act On Darfur Fugitives -- Fox News
• Reversing Course, E.P.A. Says Fracking Can Contaminate Drinking Water -- New York Times
• Muslim Restaurant To Feed Homeless And Elderly For Free On Christmas Day -- CNN
• Socialism For The Rich, Capitalism For The Poor -- ZNet
• 'Unlike Western Mainstream Media, I've Spent The Last Three Days In East Aleppo' -- RT
• Trump Pick For Ambassador To Israel Supports Israeli Annexation Of West Bank And Calls Liberal Jews 'Kapos' -- Mondoweiss
• Report: Chemical Leak Reported Week Before Public Was Warned -- Yahoo News
• The Master List Of US 'Regime Changes' -- Global Research  
• Muslim Civil Rights Group Honors Jewish Counterpart With Award -- Huffington Post
• I'm A Scientist Who Has Gotten Death Threats. I fear What May Happen Under Trump -- Washington Post 
• Israelis, Moved By Scenes From Aleppo, Click To Donate To Their Syrian Neighbors -- Christian Science Monitor

Comments Which Conservatives Block From Their Blogs For July 6, 2016

July 2

To Albert Mohler and his blogpost that was a reaction piece to Mika Edmonson's article comparing Blacks Lives Matter to the Civil Rights Movement of the past. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website

There are two points to be made here. The first point is that while Mohler points out the distinctions Edmondon made between the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s and the Black Lives Matter movement, he neglected to point out the similarities between the two. According to Edmondson, the similarities were the tactics used, the near-term goals, and the rejection of social passivity.

The second point is a criticism of Edmonson's recognition of who belonged to the CIvil Rights Movement. For while Edmondson forcussed on King and the SLC, other groups were involved too such as SNCC, NAACP, the Black Panthers, Malcolm X, those who riioted and others. All of them worked for Civil Rights and are part of the Civil RIghts Movement.

All of this points to is the bar we set for individuals and groups who would be recognized as valid challengers to the status quo reflects our resistance to change. Quite often we set the bar unreasonably high so that unless those challenging the status quo appear as saints, we often reserve the right to discount what they have to say and what they are trying to do. All we have to do is look at the Palestinian struggle for life against Israel's Occupation as an example. Since the Palestinian struggle for freedom is marred by the use of violence, many of us have sided with the Occupation despite its brutality and the injustices that are carried out. The same applies here.

The  Civil Rights Movement encompassed a variety of groups, some of which would be difficult for us to discredit while others were not. But if our tendency is to first discredit those who are seeking to change the status quo in order to relieve some suffering and injustice, then we are acting just like those who resisted even the best parts of Civil Rights Movement. 

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To Joe Carter and his blogpost on a court ruling that struck down a pro-life law passed in Indiana. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website

What today's abortion issue brings up are the faults of those on both sides of the issue. Of course, the one side has promoted the position that the determination of what is human life worthy of rigths can be a subjective judgment depending on the group that life infringes on. Roe V. Wade must be overturned and Federal law correctly defining what human life is should be written.

On the other hand, many pro-life supporters use the abortion issue to play the role of the pharisee from the two men praying. For while they point to their opponents' sin of not caring for human life in the womb, they fail to see how America's policieis, both foreign and domestic, share the same lack of concern for human life regardless of the location of that life. Policies that impoverish regions where people live or that involve violence cause hardships and death. To not at least question those policies and the violence is to show the same lack of concern for human life that they accuse pro-choice supporters of having.

 

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To Kyle Hanby and his blogpost on Capitalism, Cronyism, and Socialism. This appeared in the Acton blog.

The first problem with this article is that both socialism and capitalism are spoken of as monoliths. Though undoubtedly, Hanby is thinking of Socialist examples like the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, North Korea, and possibly Venezuala as not being heroic. And his view of not seeing them as heroic is probably based on comparing them with the West, and the United States of the 20th century in particular. 

But what is often missed in those comparisons is context and I say this as not being a fan of the political outcomes of most of these nations. What Hanby misses is the context of those revolutions. Whether you are talking about the severe suffering that took place in totalitarian regimes that preceded the revolutions in Soviet Union, Cuba, and partly in China, one has to look at the revolutions as heroic. What is missed in all of that are the hardships some of the "socialist" nations have had endure from other nations, some of them Capitalist, that 20th century US did not have to endure. For example, after winning the Revolution, the Russian gov't had to fight against counterrevolutionaries and that also included having to fight against several western nations that joined the fight. In addition, America's significant losses during WW II are almost insignificant compared to Russia's losses. That America emerged from WW II as a superpower was due in part to the location of the theaters in which it fought in WW II. Russsia lost tens of thousands of villages and tens of millions of people because of Germany's invasion. In addition, it was forced into an arms race which it didn't want by the United States. That arms race contributed to growing the authoritarianism and economic problems experienced by Russia were contributed to by Western actions.

Now we should note what happened to Cuba. We essentially fought a terrorist war against Cuba attacking civilan targets and later on enforcing an embargo.

In Venezuela, there is evidence that we supported the attempted coup of 2002 and historical precedents that say that their current eonomic problems might have been created partially by other nations. After all, before the 1973 coup in Chile, we attempted to destabilize the nation as Britain did after Mossadegh started to nationalize oil resources in Iran. We also supported terrorist attacks, for which we were convicted, Nicaragua in order to influence their elections.

So the aftermath of many socialist revolutions have not worked out, but we should note that most of those revoutions were against dictators before the revolutions only to be met with hostile policies by the United States.

There are examples where Socialism did not result in tyranny and offered economic promise but it was prevented from meeting that promise because it savagely attacked afterwards by others in a number of nations, especially by Capitalists. Such examples include the Paris Commune, The Spanish Revolution, Chile in the early 70s, Iran in the early 50s, and Nicaragua in the 1980s. And what was found with some of those examples along with Venezuela is that there were those who were helped, in particular, some of the poor.

The claim of today's capitalists is that their system has contributed more to human flourishing than any other system in history. But what is overlooked in that claim is that the bar they had to meet to make that claim includes increasing the number of people who were living on more than around $1.35 per day--not a very high bar at all. Try living in a western nation on that. Another problem is that the two nations where the largest number of people who have been lifted out of abject poverty by global capitalism are the two nations that have the most slaves in the world: India and China. And the number of those enslaved there is either stagnant or increasing.

But the biggest problem Hanby has in making his case here is that while on one hand, Capitalism measures itself solely by its materiistic results. On the other hand, Hanby says that a combination of free-market Capitalism and moral values is what helps people. Here, we should note that the moral values Hanby says are needed are hostile to materialism and vice-versa. In addition, free-markets reject the imposition of moral values. As a result, we have a global economic system that is increasing wealth disparity in many nations. But not only that, it invites conflicts, it also is significantly contributing to the destruction of our environment

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To R. Scott Clark and his blogpost that reposted the Declaration of Independence. This appeared in the Heidelblog.

I think that we sometimes become too easily enamored by the wrong set of actions. For example, we are in awe of how our founding fathers regarded and treated themselves by declaring that all men are created equal. But if we judged their words and actions by how they regarded and treated others, would we come to the same conclusion? Here, we should note Frederick Douglass's  speech on what the 4th of July meant to slaves (see http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/what-to-the-slave-is-the-fourth-of-july/  ):

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.

Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the old world, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.

Yes, slavery is now illegal here though that has not been completely eradicated in our nation. Also, we should note that the above words seemed not include the plight of Native Americans. Finally, we should note that there are others who have received and still do receive injustice after injustice as a result of our domestic and foreign policies. So while we celebrate ourselves and our founding fathers for what was written and done in history, we might rephrase Douglass's question of what Independence Day meant to the slaves of his time to the following: What does our Independence Day mean to today's marginalized and vulnerable who are the victims of our domestic and foreign policies? For it is their numbers that give the best indication of how much we really believe in the statement,  'all men are created equal.'

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July 3

To Caroline Roberts and her blogpost on how Socialism has and will bring economic destruction. This appeared in Acton's blog.

What best indicates the fear Conservatives have of Socialism is demonstrated by what regimes they label as being socialist. This article provides no exception to the rule since the Nazi economics was described as being socialist and is used to counter the renewed interest in Socialism in our society. Why the interest in Socialism? It is because the failure of our economy both with the collapse of 2008 as well as the disparity that existed in the recovery from that collapse and the wealth disparity that exists in general. In addition,  supporters of our current economic system view the mere recognition of climate change as a threat to our economic well-being. In addition, our economic system is uncomfortably symbolized by the society from the Hunger Games movies. In that movie, there was the Capitol where life was good and the Districts where people lived in economic subsevience to the wants and whims of those living in the Capitol. What has made people more aware of the similarities here is that we are creating more and more domestic districts. This was one of the reasons why Occupy Wall Street took off in 2011.

The Nazis could, in no even remotely reasonable way, be labeled as Socialists from the Marxist tradition. And that shows the first error of how socialism is described in this article. For here, Caroline Roberts talks of Socialism as a monolith even though neither Socilaism nor Capitalism are monliths. Libertarian Socialism, for example, is a kind that is neither described nor mentioned. In fact, there is no Marxist related Socialism described or mentioned in the article above. Rather, what the Nazis tried to install is treated as if it was the epitome of Socialism

Another problem with the above article is that it is suggested that Socialism was the Nazis' problem. Here we should note that Hitler did lift the nation out of its economic woes. What reintroduced those economic woes was the losing of the war. And, btw, it was nationalism that caused Nazi hubris to result in the utter destruction of the nation. That Gregg, the person whom Roberts cites, would attribute to one variable the post war economic timeline of Germany shows an inadequate understanding of economics as well as an opportunistic attitude. Why didn't the German economic take off right after the war? Such should be a rhetorical question.

The next problem is that Roberts, following Gregg, made the Nazi economy the epitome of what happens when you have Socialism. If Roberts and Gregg are following the principle of universality here, then they should not mind if people used the overthrow of Allende and the installation of Pinochet's reign of terror as a predictor of what happens when you force free markets onto a nation. Chile is still trying to recover from that 1973 coup and its after effecs.

We might want to note that perhaps our economy has more similarities with Nazi Germany's economy than any socialist economy has. After all, Hitler's policies were supported by industry leaders, not workers. In a real socialist economy, workers would have control. And here we should note that present day Germany employs some Socialist mechanisms here because in all companies that have 2,000 or more workers, workers get a substantial amount of direct representation on the board of directors.

In short, what is labeled as socialism in the above article doesn't even remotely resemble it as it comes from the Marxist tradition. Thus, one has to ask what is Roberts really writing about.

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To Joe Carter and his blogpost entitled Is The Declaration Of Independence A 'Christian Document'? which was really about how only social conservatives literally believe in the line that declares 'all men are created equal.' This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website

This seems to be one of those bait-and-switch articles. That is that it uses the title to draw in those whose focus would be on the Declaration of Independence while surprising them by spending too much time on building a pedestal for social conservatives on which to stand. So in essence, this article is more of a marketing tool to sell social conservatism.

The question is this: Do social conservatives deserve the pedestal provided for them by this article? This pedestal is the claim that only social conservatives literally believe that 'all men are created equal'? One only needs to examine both the present and the past to answer the question. To believe those words to be literally true would include not having an opinion on equality for women. But suppose we include women in the mix. Have or do social conservatives literally believe that all men are created equal? Let's test that by looking at what they have and currently support. 

When we go back to the days of the Civil Rights Movement, we at least find an absence of support for it from social conservatives. The reaction from social conservatives to the movement ranged from apathy to opposition. And there was a belief among at least some social conservatives that Whites should maintain a privileged place of supremacy over Blacks in society. Some opposed the movement because they feared that civil liberties would be violated by laws that acquiesced to the demands of the Movement. Here we should note the difference between civil liberties and civil rights. The former stressed liberatiranism and freedom from gov't coercion while the latter stressed the need for gov't intervention to prevent racially-based oppression from the private sector. 

In response the claim that social conservatives either opposed or were apathetic to the Civil Rights Movement, many conservatives would point to the suppport Republican lawmakers gave to Civil RIghts legislation. But consider the following. First, not all Republican lawmakers were social conservatives. Second, voting on Civl Rights legislation was determined more by location than party affiliation so that the highest correlation for lawmakers who supported Civil Rights legislation was for those lawmakers who represented northern states.  Third, after the passage of Civil Rights legislation, we saw a great migration  of Southern Democrats over to the Republican Party as a backlash to President's Johnson's support of the Civil Rights and Voting Rigths Acts.

We might also ask how social conservatives feel about LGBT rights today. Do social conservatives support or oppose those state laws that allow people to be fired because of their sexual orientation? Do social conservatives support the legalization of same-sex marriage? Are social conservatives supporting or opposing the current wave of anti-LGBT laws? 

Finally, we might ask social conservatives how they feel about our foreign wars and interventsions. Why ask about that? Because their belief in the equality of all men could be, at least partially, measured in their concern for the welfare of non-white civilians and whether it rivals their concern for the safety of American citizens and American troops.

When we address these three tests that would measure the claims that social conservatives literally believe that all people are created equal, we find that the pedestal built for social conservatives in this article is unwarranted. Thus Carter's claim that only social conservatives literally believe the words 'all men are created equal' seems to have insufficient grounds.

ONIM For June 13, 2016

Christian News

• Scotish Episcopal Church Votes In Favor Of Same-Sex Marriage -- Christian Today (UK)
• Chile: Church Attacked As Student Protest TurnsViolent -- Christian Today (UK)
• Christian School Assemblies Contravene Human Rights, UN Tells Britain -- Christian Today (UK)
• Nicole Cliffe: How God Messed Up My Happy Atheist Life -- Christianity Today
• Amid 'Evangelism Crisis, ' Southern Baptists Bring In $400 Million More -- Christianity Today
• Why Being A Pro-Life Church Is Messier Than You Think -- Christianity Today
• Is Religion Going Extinct? -- The Christian Post
• Atheists Aren't Silencing Christians, 'Biblically Illiterate' Believers Have, Apologist Argues -- The Christian Post
• Trump's Challenge To Evangelical Values And Racism -- Reformed African American Network
• We Persevere (Round Up 2) -- Reformed African American Network
• Diabetic 15-Year-Old Weighing 37 Pounds Dies After Parents Choose Prayer Over Insulin -- Raw Story
• The Ugly In Christianity -- Huffington Post
• Refugees Seeking U.K. Asylum May Be Thwarted By Religious Bias -- Huffington Post
• Liberation & Politics: A Racial Realist Perspective -- Resist Daily
• Evangelicals Have Qualms With Trump, But See Nowhere Else To Turn -- Miami Herald
• People Are Seriously Wondering If God Is Punishing Us With The 2016 Election -- The Washington Post
• Evangelicals Feel Alienated: 'Nobody Hated More Than Christians'  -- Newsmax 

World News

• Hillary Clinton: Pulitzer Price-Winning Journalist Says Presidential Candidate Approved Sending Sarin Gas To Syrian Rebels -- Inquisitr
• Noam Chomsky On The Role Of Sports In Propaganda-Based Authority -- YouTube
• Trump: Foreign Countries Should Pay Us 'Protection Money' -- Freakout Nation
• Trump Tells Native American Protesters They 'Don't Look Like Indians' To Him -- Counter Current News
• Shut Down The Democratic National Convention -- Truthdig
• Israel-First McCarthyism: Andre Cuomo's Vow To Spy On BDS Activism (Video) -- Truthdig
• 10 Reasons Why The Brock Turner Rape Case Is Even More Awful Than It Looks -- Yahoo News
• Clinton On Trump's Foreign Policy: Right Message, Wrong Messenger -- Providence Mag
• Assessing Complimentarity In Palestine -- Lawfare Blog
• Hamas Is Ready For War With Israel -- Yahoo News
• Paul Ryan's 'Anti-Poverty Plan' A Rehash Of Old Proposals To Punish Poor People -- Daily Kos
• Norway Becomes World's First Country To Ban Deforestation -- EcoWatch
• Truthdig Sits Down With Green Party's Jill Stein (Video) -- Truthdig
• Palestinian Gunmen Kill 4 Israelis In Tel Aviv, 5 Wounded -- Yahoo News
• Israel Boycott Has Staying Power -- The Chronicle Of Higher Education
• Sanders Could Have Won California, But 2/3 Of His Votes Aren't Counted -- US Daily Politics
• How Donald Trump's Media Strategy Emerged Over Decades -- Columbia Journalism Review
• Nude Protests, Sex Strikes And The Power Of The Taboo -- Waging Nonviolence
• Inside The Growing Movement Against Campus Militarization -- Waging Nonviolence
• 4 Lessons For Climate Organizers From The Anti-Nuclear Movement -- Waging Nonviolence
• The Beauty Of An Arab American Ramadan -- Huffington Post
• Regulation Of Financial Industry Is History If Trade In Services Agreement Passes -- ZNet
• Hillary Clinton's 'Major Foreign Policy Address' Was Anything But -- ZNet
• AP's Clinton 'Victory' Story Breaches Journalism Ethics And Public Trust -- Truthdig
• 31,000 NATO Troops Take Part In Operation Anaconda, In Poland -- NBC News
• NATO Exercises Encircling Russia: U.S. Might Be Sleepwalking Into A Doomsday Scenario -- The Real News
• Democrats Will Learnd All The Wrong Lessons From Brush With Bernie -- Rolling Stone
• Nestle Abandons Poconos Spring Water Project Amid Opposition -- The Morning Call
• Jill Stein: What We Fear From Donald Trump, We Have Already Seen From Hillary Clinton -- Democracy Now
• Sanders Supporters Take Aim At Isreal-Palestinian Conflict -- New York Post
• Judge In Freddie Gray Case Scolds Prosecutors On First Day Of Officer Goodson's Trial -- UPI
• Integrity Disqualifies Sanders For White House -- The New Yorker
• ISIS Claims Deadly Suicide Bombings In Baghdad Area -- Yahoo News
• Desmond Tutu's Daughter Lost Her Job After Marrying A Woman -- Huffington Post
• Bernie Sanders Says He'll Continue Campaign After Meeting Obama -- Yahoo News
• How 'Students For Trump' Terrorized Portland State University -- Think Progress
• Green Party's Jill Stein To Bernie Sanders Fans: 'There's A Plan B Here' -- CNN
• Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump And Why The Wealthy Win Every Time -- Truthout
• Senate Proposal Would Expand Mandatory-Minimum Drug Sentencing--Again -- Truthout
• Muhammad Ali's Funeral Marks World's Final Goodbye To 'The Greatest' -- Huffington Post
• NYPD OFficers Arrest And Punch Rapper For Hanging Around Brooklyn Park -- Thing Progress
• Why The Environmental Movement Is Not Winning -- Huffington Post
• Volkswagon Not Alone In Flouting Pollution Limits -- The New York Times
• Noam Chomsky On The Breakdown Of American Society And A World In Transition -- Truthout
• Oklahoma Cops Can Now Seize Money From Prepaid Debit Cards, Without Filing Criminal Charges -- Forbes

Pick(s) Of The Litter

• How Grade Inflation Is Wrecking Higher Education -- Take Part
• 'Palestinians, Not Israel, Need Security Guarantees' -- Aljazeera
• Tel Aviv Mayor Links Terror Attack To Israeli Occupation Of Palestinian Lands -- The Washington Post
• These Four People Were Sued For $30 Million For Trying To Stop A Toxic Landfill -- Natural Blaze
• The Burning Statement That A Stanford Woman Reads To Her Rapist In Court -- Daily Kos
• The Swedish Stanford Students Who Rescued An Unconcious Sexual Assault Victim Speak Out -- The Washington Post
• Why Did Black Lives Matter Activist Face Four Years In Jail While Stanford Rapist Gets Six Months? -- Democracy Now
• State Department Blocks Release Of Hillary Clinton-Era TPP Emails Until After The Election -- International Business Times
• Israeli Minister Wants To Annex Half Of West Bank And Kick Out The Palestinians -- The Washington Post
• The Brave And The Few -- Columbia Journalism Review
• Voter Repression Is A Serious Problem: It Is Time For A New Freedom Summer -- ZNet
• Jail: Brock Turner In Stanford Sexual Assault Case Scheduled For Early Release In 3 Months -- Yahoo News
• NFL Start Richard Sherrman: Stop Making Taxpayers Pay For Billionaires' Stadiums -- Think Progress
• Democrats Are Now The Aggressive War Party -- Consortium News
• Bringing Home One Soldier's Ravages Of War -- Moyers & Company
• Robert Scheer And Anthonny Davis Discuss Football And Brain Trauma -- Truthdig
• 'We've Raced A Milestone' -- Facebook link
• US Is 'World Leader' In Child Poverty -- Raw Story
• Orlando Shooting: 50 Killed, Shooter Pledged ISIS Allegiance -- CNN