Rays of light

Only occasionally do I dip into the daily news.  There are intermittent periods of daily scanning the headlines, listening to talk radio, browsing websites and blogs, and scouting out podcasts about the current state of the world.

And then I pull my head back into my shell, in shock at what I've learned.

During this last such episode of attempted attentiveness, I didn't make it all the way back up the surface of awareness before I wanted to duck back into oblivion again.  What is going on?  I do realize that there is a constant tug-of-war between progressives and conservatives, that ground is fought over between secularism and faith, and that people with agendas are always agitating while everyone else is just trying to live a life.

All of which seems to have exploded and accelerated  in a very short while. Two strong examples come from the governments of Ontario, and the US. Dalton McGuinty, the Premier of Ontario, is pushing to have gay alliance clubs in all Ontario high schools, and GLBT sex taught in all Ontario schools (starting in early elementary grades).  If you don't have a high blood pressure problem, here's a short segment from Michael Coren about what our politicians are up to.   And here.  Oh Canada!

To the south of 49, I've been hearing about President Obama bulldozing his way through the Constitution of the United States of America by taking advantage of recess appointments, talking about not needing Congress because he would do what he wanted to do, and most recently, making kingly proclamations that cross the lines of personal freedoms - which if unchecked, would attempt to force people of faith to put their souls in danger. Hello Coliseum.

I've also read about young women across England who dress like prostitutes to go out clubbing because they like the attention it gets them from the boys.  Incidents of injuries have increased from drunken girls in high heels attempting to walk home.  What was the response to this very sad state of affairs?  Not a campaign to help the young ladies discover their value and worth beyond their sexuality, or community outreach to help young people find more productive, less demeaning activity.  No, a program  providing free paper slippers for the intoxicated hooker-wanna-bes to wear home.  How sweet.

What has become of reason and common sense? When did honour, integrity,character, and faith take a back seat to tolerance and psychology?  Why has faith become something to be ashamed of, to hide away like a dirty secret for fear of being labelled with some inaccurate '-ist' or "-phobic' tag?  (For example, I believe homosexual sex is unhealthy and immoral - I am NOT afraid of gay people which is what homophobic actually means) What happened to there being right and wrong, and being allowed to say so?

There is always a ray of light, however, and thank Goodness for it.  This week's ray comes from Baroness Sayeeda Warsi of England, who recently gave a speech about diplomatic relations between Britain and the Vatican in which she quotes Pope Benedict, and several encyclicals.  Do yourself a favour and read (or watch) her remarks.