The Aristophrenium

Proclaiming the truth of the gospel and the centrality of Christ in all things

Politics Archive

Tuesday

30

October 2012

6

COMMENTS

Championing pro-life views in the public square

Written by , Posted in Christian activism, Misc, Politics, Pro-Life / Abortion

As I alluded to in response to a comment made on my post reporting on the recent pro-life rally in Melbourne, there are a couple of things that I felt would have been beneficial to exclude from the event. I mention what those are in the below paragraphs. One of the more interesting points I noted with regards to the pro-abortion protesters in my previous article was the tactical angle of their messages: Shame, bigots, shame! Shame, bigots, shame! We won, you lost! We won, you lost! God raped Mary. She should have aborted Black, white, queer, straight! Women will control our fate! F*ck off, bigots, f*ck off! F*ck off, bigots, f*ck off! Jesus was a gay sheila who was pro-choice! You have 99 problems. They are all misogyny I had an abortion because I chose life Pro-choice is pro-life Not every ejaculation needs a name If the foetus you [...]

Saturday

13

October 2012

15

COMMENTS

“Pro-choice is pro-life” … or so the logic goes

Written by , Posted in Christian activism, Politics, Pro-Life / Abortion, Society & Culture

Today in Melbourne, VIC, Australia, the fourth annual March for the Babies rally took place, winding itself through the streets of the CBD to stage a peaceful protest on the steps of Parliament House. Four years ago, on 10 October 2008, the Victorian Parliament passed the Abortion Law Reform Act, which legalised abortion at any stage of a mother’s pregnancy. Not only did the killing – without restriction – of the unborn up until birth become legal in the state, but medical practitioners were stripped of any conscientious objections to take no part in abortion. The law forces them to refer women through to practitioners who hold no such objections, removing from them the option of referral to crisis pregnancy centers in line with their conscience. Estimates of the size of the pro-life crowd vary in reports, but I believe a figure upwards of 2,500 protesters would be a conservative [...]

Thursday

6

September 2012

0

COMMENTS

Francis Schaeffer: From Unthinkable to Thinkable

Written by , Posted in Apologetics, Christian activism, Ethics, Marriage & Family, Philosophy, Politics, Pro-Life / Abortion, Sexuality, Society & Culture

Francis Schaeffer was definitely a prophetic voice in his day. More than anyone else, he saw clearly what the trajectory of our post-Christian culture would be. He saw that the moral precepts that we regarded as axiomatic during the earlier part of the twentieth century could no longer be taken for granted today. This is important for us to consider because it is certain that this trend will continue over the next few decades, with certain things that are unthinkable now becoming more and more acceptable (just as the things that are acceptable now were unthinkable just a few short decades ago). In Schaeffer’s words: There is a thinkable and an unthinkable in every era. One era is quite certain intellectually and emotionally about what is acceptable. Yet another era decides that these “certainties” are unacceptable and puts another set of values into practice. On a humanistic base people drift [...]

Saturday

19

May 2012

1

COMMENTS

Why can’t the gay brothers be wed?

Written by , Posted in Ethics, Marriage & Family, Politics, Sexuality, Society & Culture

The title is somewhat tongue-in-cheek. However, in light of the arguments often advanced in support of legalising same-sex “marriage”, I believe it is a pertinent question. Why not let the gay brothers wed? If society and culture redefine marriage so that “any two persons can marry”, it seems no stretch of the argument at all to campaign for the legal wedding of two gay brothers to each other, or the wedding of an uncle to his adult nephew. In the Australian context, considering that our government is currently inquiring into the issue of legalizing same-sex “marriage” (see my last month’s post, Australian Senate considers marriage equality bill), our law enforces the following restrictions on people desiring to enter marriage: You must be an adult You must not be currently married You must not marry a close blood relation You must marry a member of the opposite sex Advocates of same-sex [...]

Sunday

1

April 2012

20

COMMENTS

Australian Senate considers marriage equality bill

Written by , Posted in Marriage & Family, Politics, Sexuality, Society & Culture

On April 2, 2012, the Australian Senate closes invitations from the public on their opinion regarding the legalisation of same-sex ‘marriage’. This is not the first time the Senate has been requested to do so; the last time was back in 2009. Yet the political climate in Australia is markedly different now. In 2009, the Labor Government had as it’s official party policy to support marriage as man-woman only; likewise the Opposition Government. The Bill put forward to redefine marriage to “any two persons”, the Marriage Equality Amendment Act 2009, by the Greens (a progressive left party) was resoundly dismissed. Yet this time round, we have a Labor Government who altered their party platform late last year to support same-sex ‘marriage’ and we have three bills being reviewed by the Senate to amend the Marriage Act 1961. One of the those bills is again from the Greens: the Marriage Equality [...]

Friday

15

July 2011

1

COMMENTS

Rob Ford vs. the LGBT Agenda and PC Peer Pressure Tactics

Written by , Posted in Elenctic Apologetics, Marriage & Family, Politics, Sexuality, Society & Culture

The debate over the increasing acceptance of LGBT lifestyles in mainstream culture is one issue which — at least in Canadian society — has been more or less dominated by one side, which seeks to label all dissenters as “bigots,” “homophobes,” and even “extremists.” If you do not give them your unconditional assent and affirmation, they will level the most relentless forms of criticism against you. And this is precisely the case in the recent controversy over Toronto city mayor Rob Ford’s decision not to attend the annual Pride Parade. To give a little background to people who are unfamiliar with this issue, Rob Ford is one of the most Conservative city mayors that Toronto has had in a long while. This particularly manifests in his policies regarding LGBT issues. He has publicly stated that he disagrees with same-sex marriage during his mayoral campaign, has refused to show up at [...]

Wednesday

15

June 2011

0

COMMENTS

Lose the histrionics about Jews and your point loses all its force

Written by , Posted in Anthropology, Politics, Soteriology, Witnessing

(HT: @Shinar_Squirrel) Cathy Lynn Grossman of USA Today published an opinionated response to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president Albert Mohler who seized upon Congressman Anthony Weiner entering “treatment” to make a point about Jesus Christ being the only answer for the problem of sin. Mohler tweeted the following on June 11, “Dear Congressman Weiner: There is no effective ‘treatment’ for sin. Only atonement, found only in Jesus Christ.” Grossman’s scurrilous opinion piece about Mohler began by describing his tweet as throwing “an evangelistic dig at Jews like Weiner and other non-Christians.” That sounds rather scandalous, does it not? But if you remove her spurious histrionics about Jews it loses all its force. For instance, consider if Grossman had instead described his tweet as throwing “an evangelistic dig at people like Weiner and other non-Christians.” But that risks representing Mohler and his tweet accurately—gasp!—which targeted Weiner as a person, not as [...]

Monday

11

April 2011

1

COMMENTS

Thoughts on the French Burqa Ban

Written by , Posted in Politics, Society & Culture

Earlier today, France has just put into effect a law banning the niqab and the burqa. This law was enacted about a month ago but has just been implemented now. It is the first in all of Europe, which is not surprising, given that France has the largest Muslim population in all of Europe (about 5 million of them at the very least). Violations of this ban result in a fine of €150. Already, however, there are people within the Muslim community who are making efforts to undermine this law, such as Kenza Drider, who intends to travel from Avignon to Paris wearing a niqab. Another notable figure is Rachid Nekkaz, a tycoon who will be paying off the fines of the burqa law violators. So far, it seems that the French are keeping their word. Two women have already been arrested as a result of this burqa law. So [...]

Wednesday

19

January 2011

4

COMMENTS

Don’t apologize, Governor Bentley!

Written by , Posted in Persecution, Politics

According to the Associated Press and Elizabeth Prann from FoxNews.com, Governor Robert Bentley of Alabama took “more than two days … to apologize for controversial remarks he made during a Martin Luther King Day speech.” So what did the governor say during his speech that was so terrible he needed to apologize for it? There may be some people here today who do not have living within them the Holy Spirit. But if you have been adopted in God’s family like I have and like you have if you’re a Christian and if you’re saved, and the Holy Spirit lives within you just like the Holy Spirit lives within me, then you know what that makes? It makes you and me brothers. And it makes you and me brother and sister. 1. Both the Associated Press and Prann said this comment “condemned the beliefs of non-Christians,” an indictment so irrational [...]

Thursday

4

November 2010

0

COMMENTS

The Tea Party must be racist!

Written by , Posted in Politics

Since Eugene Robinson does not get the driving force behind the Tea Party movement, he decided that it must be racism—thus proving that he truly does not get it! In an article for the Washington Post Writer’s Group published at RealClearPolitics.com 2 November 2010, Robinson attempted to demonstrate how the driving force behind the Tea Party movement must be latent racism. Almost immediately after the inauguration of the first African-American president, Robinson writes, there arose an “overwhelmingly white and lavishly funded” national movement which targeted every initiative of that president, while breathing new life into “the discredited and moribund” Republican party—a series of events that he says is no mere coincidence. What Robinson seems oblivious to, ironically, is the racism in his very own article, which he injects from the very first paragraph. Take notice that he described both the president and the Tea Party movement in terms of race, [...]