The Pope in front of Congress

El Papa in front of Congress, 

Thomas Merton-5, Jesus Christ-0

 The View from the Middle

This is a very difficult article for me to write.  I’ve just watched Pope Francis deliver his address to Congress and I’m watching the pundits slobbering all over themselves with glorious praise for his speech.  How can a person criticize a man who just talked about love, liberty and the importance of taking care of the poor? 

He may as well have come out in favor of mom, apple pie and the flag.  I guess he could have also come out in support of puppies.  Oh, and let’s throw the golden rule in there just for good measure.  One pundit did touch on the flaw in this speech, although it wasn’t positioned as a flaw.  She said the Pope offended no one except possibly ISIS and arms dealers.

And that is the problem I have with the Pope’s address.  He had the attention of the entire US Congress, the President, the Vice President and millions of Americans and he played it safe.  He spoke in vague generalities and on subjects that almost no one would disagree with when he could have challenged us to look deep inside ourselves and at the character of our nation.

About half way through his delivery my heart began to beat a little quicker when he said that we should protect human life during every stage of its development.  I thought to myself, here we go!  He’s going to segue into a discussion of partial birth abortion or Planned Parenthood’s barbaric practice of selling baby parts for profit.  I was truly excited.

But where did the Pope go?  To a global ban on the death penalty.  Don’t get me wrong, I have some real reservations about the death penalty.   Last year, however, only 35 people were put to death in the US penal system, and that number has been trending down since 1999 when we executed a total of 99 people.  This compares to over a million babies who are aborted every year in the United States and over 40 million worldwide.  

Pope Francis barely grazed on issues like abortion (that word was actually not mentioned), religious liberty and the traditional definition of marriage (I’m assuming that’s what he was addressing when he talked about marriage and family), but spent big chunks of his speech to talk about global warming and immigration.  Are these big issues?  Yes.  But does he risk becoming the Papal meteorologist instead of the Pope?  Should his goal be to make us feel comfortable or to challenge us to be better, or is it a little of both?  Today, he clearly erred on the comfort side.

Finally, as a Christian and former Catholic, I was disappointed that the Pope never mentioned the name of Jesus Christ either day.  Jesus separates us from all other religions and is the centerpiece of God’s plan to save the world.  He’s also a model for all of us to use if we want to be better people.  He mentioned Thomas Merton five times today.  God bless Thomas Merton, but he’s no Jesus Christ.

PS – The Pope did deliver a one liner about the importance of unity early in his address.  Personally, I think lack of unity and civility are huge problems in Washington, and this could be the closest thing to a controversy that that pundits could point to, if they even notice.

Ben Carson on a Muslim for President

Hassan Rouhani for President?

 The View from the Middle

Hassan Rouhani is the President of Iran, and obviously a real Muslim.  Could he be the President of The United States?  Sure, if he went through our rigorous vetting process called the primary and general elections and received enough votes.  The bigger question is “should” he or “would” you vote for him?

THAT is what Chuck Todd of NBC News asked of Ben Carson, and Mr. Carson answered honestly to those questions, which is a rarity in politics today.  I’m confident that Ben knows that a Muslim has a legal right to run for President.  He’s a pretty smart guy.  But he was specifically asked, “Should your faith matter to voters” and “Do you believe that Islam is consistent with our constitution”.  In effect, he was asking Carson if he would vote for a Muslim for President.  So, let me ask each of you if you would vote for a true Muslim for President.

Chuck Todd did not qualify his definition of Muslim to include Westernized Muslims who reject much of the Islamic doctrine, so Ben could only assume that Chuck was talking about a true Muslim.  So what does a true Muslim believe?

They believe that God is called Allah.  I don’t think that’s a big deal.  And they believe that Jesus was a prophet.  I think he was much more, but I don’t think that disqualifies them from holding office.  They do believe in the Quran, however, and that’s where the conflicts begin.

The Quran suggests that all non-Muslims and infidels must be converted or killed.  That doesn’t sound like it’s consistent with the first amendment of our Constitution, so let’s keep that in mind.  The Quran also encourages Muslims to lie to their enemies or infidels (we qualify as both) if it will help them overcome us.  In the United States, we take an oath on the Bible to tell the truth.  That’s a conflict!!

If you are a woman or gay in a Muslim country, things can get a pretty dicey.  Women must hide their faces in public.  In many countries they can’t drive a car or even walk on a public street without a male escort.  If you are gay, life is not even a given.  We’ve all seen videos of young gay men being thrown off rooftops to the concrete sidewalks below.  Talk about denying someone’s civil rights!

Finally, a Muslim believes that Sharia law should supersede the laws of our country, including our Constitution and Bill of Rights.  There are many conflicts with Sharia law and our constitution; for example, according to Sharia law if a person leaves the Muslim faith, the penalty is death.  Under Sharia, the penalty for stealing is to have your hands or feet cut off.  I think this might qualify as cruel and unusual punishment.  And under Sharia, women are held to a different and stricter rule of law than men.

So, the question is, would YOU vote for a true Muslim for President of the United States.  I commend Ben Carson for his thoughtful and truthful answer.  Now, I think THAT (being thoughtful and honest) is a good qualification for President of The United States.  Go Ben!!

El Papa Disappoints, So Far

El Papa Disappoints, So Far

 The View from the Middle

Don’t get me wrong.  I love Catholics.  Most of my family is Catholic, and I revere the office of the Pope.  But when the Pope gave his first speech in America with the President of the United States at his side, he had the opportunity to talk about a plethora of spiritual and religious issues.  And what did he open with – global warming?

I agree that we have a responsibility to be good stewards of our planet, but global warming is a theory and an area where the Pope speaks with the least amount of authority.  Even if you agree with all those who suggest that man is the problem and New York will be under water by next week, wouldn’t the Pope have been better off talking about this issue with China and India?

There are huge issues in this country where the Pope has much more credibility and where I think he could make a big difference.  The United States, for example, still aborts over a million babies a year and some in a most barbaric fashion called partial birth abortion.  Given that the Pope is familiar with the bible passage that suggests that God knew us while we were still in our mother’s womb, he could have begun to address this issue immediately.  He could have and should have taken a stand to protect the voiceless unborn children of God, but he didn’t.

Religious liberty is under assault in the US.  The Little Sisters of the Poor and Notre Dame are being forced to provide abortifacients, which cause an abortion to occur, for the people who work for them.  Make no mistake; these are not your mother’s birth control pills.  They cause a fertilized egg to be rejected by the mother’s womb, which is contrary to the Catholic Church’s teachings.  El Papa could have brought that subject up in front of the President and millions of Americans watching on TV, but he chose to highlight global warming.

The Catholic Church believes in the traditional definition of marriage.  While no one would suggest that the gay community should be persecuted, the Church should be standing up for a traditional definition of marriage and for all who embrace it.  The Pope should stand with the bakers who serve gays everyday in their shops, but find that providing a wedding cake for them would cause them to abandon their religious beliefs.   This doesn’t violate the civil rights of that gay couple (a cake will be provided by someone else) but it upholds the religious liberty of the baker.  The Pope could have started that discussion or many, many more, but he didn’t.

El Papa has another big opportunity to stand up for Catholics and other Christians everywhere when he addresses Congress tomorrow.  If he only discusses global warming, the minimum wage and universal health care, I will consider this visit a bust.

Debate winners and losers, including CNN and Fox

Debate Winners & Losers, Including CNN and Fox

The View from the Middle

Let me give you a very top line winner from yesterday’s debates and that was the American people.  15 of the 16 candidates came across as knowledgeable and articulate with a firm grasp on the issues.  They may have differed in approach at times, but even the stances I disagreed with were thoughtful and sound.  This did encourage me as to the strength of the bench in the Republican Party.

For those who weren’t willing to invest four hours to catch the undercard debate, the real winner was Lindsey Graham.  He was articulate and humorous, like when he suggested they would do more drinking in the White House if he were President, using Tip O’Neil and Ronald Reagan as a model.  But also, his message was clear and concise.  We need to kick ISIS’s butt no matter what it takes or else they will be here soon.  I’m not sure if this performance was enough to elevate him to the main event next time, but I think he was the clear winner of the early session.

In my opinion, Chris Christie was the winner of the main event.  He was tough but humorous and quick on his feet.  His line that Ben Carson “must have been talking about some of the other guys” when Ben questioned the motives of career politicians was classic and delivered with a smile.  He did have a theme thoughout that started in the very beginning.  He said this debate was not about him or any of the other candidates, but about the American people, and I liked that.

Carly Fiorina put in another solid performance.  Her grasp of the issues is impressive, and I love her drumbeat that government is too big, too corrupt, too inefficient, too complicated and it is crushing the average American.  Her connection of the Iran nuclear deal and government support of Planned Parenthood was very effective.  She said the Iran deal is about the defense of the security of this country and eliminating support for Planned Parenthood is about the defense of the character of this country.  She also challenged Hillary and Obama, very emotionally, to watch those videos and defend their support of Planned Parenthood funding.

The support for Donald Trump still mystifies me.  If his words had come out of any other candidate’s mouth, it would have been considered an implosion and probably the end of that candidate’s Presidential aspirations.  His personal attacks on Rand Paul, Jeb Bush (and George W), Governor Pataki, et al, are childish and impudent, and his knowledge of this issues is thin at best.  Despite all this, most people think that he won the debate.  I’m not a Trump hater or lover, but if I’m honest with myself, his performance last night was mediocre at best.

The biggest loser was CNN.  They made the debate way too long because they could sell the advertising and not because it was the best thing for the candidates or the American people.  They also tried to turn the debate into a Jerry Springer style slugfest by pitting the candidates against each other at every opportunity.  Thankfully, the candidates resisted more often than not.  Finally, because of their planned format they lost control of the event quite often and annoyingly interrupted the candidates when they felt their time was up.  Annoying being the key word.

The final loser this morning was Fox News as they tried to criticize CNN for doing exactly what they did in the last debate.  Generally, I’m a fan of Fox, but I have to call them out when they are out of line, and trust me, they did no better job in the last debate than CNN did last night!!

PS to the Bernie Sanders Bible study

PS to the Bernie Sanders Bible Study Lesson

The View from the Middle

A friend of mine reminded me yesterday that there are many more areas where the Bible does not support Mr. Sanders ideology.  For example, given verses like Jeremiah 1:5 (Before I was formed in the womb, God knew me) and Psalm 139:13 (He created my inmost being; He knit me together in my mother’s womb) I doubt God would approve of partial-birth abortion. 

Bernie, read the whole book – through God’s eyes instead of distorting it with the lens of your personal ideological agenda.