Did Pope Francis Really Say All Atheists are Redeemed?

by Brandon Vogt
Strange Notions

(Image credit: PopeResigns.net)

Yesterday, the Internet buzzed about some recent remarks from Pope Francis. A headline at Huffington Post read: "Pope Francis Says Atheists Who Do Good Are Redeemed, Not Just Catholics". A similar Reddit article became yesterday's second most-shared piece.
But was the headline right? Did the Pope really suggest that all atheists are redeemed? And if so, is this a shift in Catholic teaching?
To answer those questions we must first note the Gospel passage Pope Francis preached on when he made the statement, Mark 9:38-40:

"John said to Jesus,
“Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name,
and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.”
Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him.
There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name
who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.”"

Jesus' point here is that it's wrong to think people can't do good simply because they aren't Christian. As Pope Francis explained, “This [belief] was wrong...Jesus broadens the horizon...The root of this possibility of doing good—that we all have—is in creation."
From this passage and quote we discover that Pope Francis was primarily concerned with the possibility of goodness, not redemption. But then he continued:

"[A]ll of us have this commandment at heart: do good and do not do evil. All of us. ‘But, Father, this is not Catholic! He cannot do good.’ Yes, he can..."The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone!...We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there."

What should we make of the claim that "The Lord has redeemed all of us...Even the atheists"? Well first, this is nothing new, and therefore hardly "news." The Catholic Church has maintained for two-thousand years that Christ's sacrificial death was for all (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:15 and 1 Peter 3:18.) As the Church teaches in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

"At the end of the parable of the lost sheep Jesus recalled that God’s love excludes no one: “So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” He affirms that he came “to give his life as a ransom for many”; this last term is not restrictive, but contrasts the whole of humanity with the unique person of the redeemer who hands himself over to save us. The Church, following the apostles, teaches that Christ died for all men without exception: “There is not, never has been, and never will be a single human being for whom Christ did not suffer.” — (CCC, 605)

However in Catholic thought, Christ's redemptive sacrifice on the Cross is not the same thing as salvation. Salvation is the result of accepting Christ's redemption and applying it to our lives. Catholics know that Christ died for our sins but that we must receive that free gift by trusting in him, accepting his proposal of love, and following him with our life.
So while it's true that Christ redeemed all people, even atheists, that doesn't mean all atheists have accepted this gift or will be saved.
Perhaps an example will help clarify the difference between redemption and salvation. Suppose you destroyed your friend's car causing $10,000 in damage. You're taken to court, and the judge sentences you to five years in prison for the crime. But then I burst in and tell the judge, "My name is Brandon Vogt. I'm this man's friend and I want to pay his penalty. Whatever it costs to fix the car and make things right, I'll pay it." The judge agrees.
Now even though I offer to pay the charge and "redeem" you, you still have a choice. You can either accept my offer and become a free man or you can reject my offer and choose to go to jail. The choice, of course, would be yours.
Christ's redemption of all mankind is analogous to me paying off your $10,000 charge (to "redeem" literally means "to buy back" or "to restore.) Catholics understand that Christ paid the debt for every person, but we still must choose whether to accept that act of redemption—it's not forced on you. You make your choice by whom you give ultimate allegiance: God or yourself, selfless love or self-imposed prison.
Finally, what about the last part of the HuffPost headline? Is it true that all who do good are redeemed? The answer, again, is "Yes" since all people are redeemed by Christ's sacrifice. Whether you live a good life is completely irrelevant to redemption. As Mark Shea writes:

"All who do good, and all who do evil, and all saints, and all Nazis, and pirates, and Communists and Mormons, Swedenborgians, and Satanists, and plumbers, and students who are getting Fs, and little kids and old coots, and profoundly brain-damaged folk and really brilliant scientists, and tall, and fat, and short people, and Muslims, and atheists, and Jews, and Buddhists and everybody else with a pulse are redeemed. Stalin is redeemed along with St. Damien of Molokai, Jack the Ripper and St Francis of Assisi are both redeemed."

Catholics believe Jesus Christ died for every human being without exception. This redemption has nothing to do with our goodness, and everything to do with God's overwhelming generosity. Redemption is universal, salvation is not. Redemption is a proposal we must accept and salvation is the result.

Written by Brandon Vogt

Brandon Vogt is an award-winning writer, blogger, speaker, and the founder of StrangeNotions.com. He's been featured by several media outlets including NPR, CBS, FoxNews, SiriusXM, and EWTN. Brandon converted to Catholicism in 2008, and in 2011 he released his first book, The Church and New Media: Blogging Converts, Online Activists, and Bishops Who Tweet (Our Sunday Visitor, 2011). A mechanical engineer by day, Brandon is pursuing his MA in Theology from the Augustine Institute. He lives with his wife, Kathleen, and their three children in Central Florida. Follow his blog at BrandonVogt.com or connect through Twitter at @BrandonVogt1.

After the Boy Scouts? For a few, camping with doctrine

May 24, 2013 By Terry Mattingly

Get Religion

When considering the forces pulling at the Boy Scouts of America, one thing journalists really needed to consider was a simple statistical chart that can be found (.pdf) on the organization’s homepage. Here are the crucial numbers found at the top of this file:


Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — 37,856.
United Methodist Church — 10,868.
Catholic Church — 8,397.
Presbyterian Church — 3,597.
Lutheran Church — 3,827.
Baptist churches — 3,981.


These are these numbers? That would be the number of Scouting units hosted by these particular religious groups.
I am well aware, as I have written in a previous post, that this chart doesn’t tell us everything in terms of Scouting’s internal divisions and tensions. Once again, that is this “Presbyterian Church”? How many of those are liberal Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations, as opposed to congregations in the Presbyterian Church in America, or the Evangelical Presbyterian Church or, for that matter, more doctrinally conservative PCUSA flocks in the Sunbelt or elsewhere in flyover country?
The same question can be applied to that “Lutheran Church” reference. Are these part of the liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church in America or the conservative Missouri-Synod Lutheran Church? And those “Baptist churches,” are they Southern Baptist, American Baptist, independent Baptists, from one of the two National Baptist conventions or what?
But one thing is certain, given the realities shown in that chart. In keeping with trends in its own work, the Mormon leadership endorsed the policy of accepting openly gay Scouts, but no openly gay Scout leaders. The Mormon compromise was victorious.

Now, who comes next?
The United Methodists, that’s who. Outside the Sunbelt, there are few United Methodist congregations that will not accept, if not hail, this decision (unless they believe it does not go far enough).
Then how about your generic suburban American Catholic congregations?
In most of America, ordinary Catholic parishes rarely take stands about anything. Unless bishops revolt, I would expect very few Catholic parishes to shun the Scouts. Some will. Most will not. Watch the bishops, because there could be a story there — but I doubt it.
So what’s the big religion story in this? Essentially, the Mormons won the day. If anything, this vote represents another fascinating step in the ongoing journey of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints into the safe mushy middle of American religion, that great shopping mall of the soul.
The BSA leaders decided to go with the Mormons, United Methodists and suburban American Catholics. The clear losers? The Southern Baptists and other traditionalist groups, including America’s few truly conservative Catholic parishes.
So did anyone out there in mainstream media land pay attention to the religion groups and their role in hosting Scout units? Are you kidding me? This is a legal, cultural and political story.
It the religion angle is of interest to you, there is no need, whatsoever, to look at the muted victory story in The New York Times.
The Tribune Newspapers daily report that ran in The Baltimore Sun (the newspaper that lands in my front yard) is a bit better, in that it features quotes from a wider variety of voices — especially among conservatives who are planning to to open alternative organizations to compete with the Scouts. I found this section of the story especially poignant:
Carrie Evans, executive director of Equality Maryland, said the Boy Scouts will next need to address the issue of allowing gay troop leaders, but called the vote a “good first step.”
“They’re moving on so they can refocus the organization’s mission on developing young leaders, and not to have the first thing you associate with them be their ban on gay youth and gay leaders,” Evans said.
Opponents vowed to fight the new policy, which they warned would damage flagging membership and funding. Some of the protesters who opposed lifting the ban had gathered in Boy Scout uniforms on the road leading into the hotel. A few returned Thursday, looking crestfallen.
“It’s a disaster,” said William Tarbell, 68, a Boy Scout unit commissioner from Reno, taking off his 60-year-old broad-brimmed Scouting cap. “I will no longer wear it.” …
John Stemberger, president of the conservative Florida Family Policy Council, said opponents planned to meet in Louisville, Ky., next month to discuss forming an alternate youth group “that does have timeless values.” While standing at a news conference in his Scout uniform, he announced, “This will be the last time I wear this uniform.”
And at the very end, there was another nod towards the next stage in this, yes, religion-linked story.
Frank Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, said, “Our sadness for the Scouting organization as a whole cannot be overstated.” Southern Baptist leaders have been gearing up to absorb boys who leave Scouting into their own youth group, the Royal Ambassadors.
In other words, in an age in which the U.S. Justice Department continues to attempt to separate “freedom of worship” from “freedom of religion,” journalists can expect openly doctrinal, religious, niche forms of Scouting to emerge — with little crossover between the competing religious flocks. How many traditional Catholics will send their children to Royal Ambassador events, year after year? Not many.
This angle was, no surprise here, anticipated by Religion News Service the other day — in an Adelle Banks news feature about existing religious groups for boys. Check it out.
Oh, and one more thing: In terms of moral theology, both Catholics and Mormons emphasize that same-sex orientation is not the same thing as same-sex activity or conduct.
Thus, has anyone asked the leaders of the new Boy Scouts of America how they are defining — in written guidelines communicated to churches, parents and unit leaders — that crucial term “openly gay”?
Just asking. There could be a story there. You think?




About the writer: Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He writes a weekly column for the Scripps Howard News Service.

Cardinal McCarrick Calls Fr. Theodore Hesburgh One Of The 4 Greatest Americans

It's not often I have such a visceral reaction to something a Prince of the Church says, but this is outrageous. Cardinal McCarrick calling a priest who has called for women's ordination one of the four greatest Americans is beyond scandalous. Here is more of his platitudes (from the Catholic News Agency.)

Just as Washington began to build a nation, Father Hesburgh showed "an understanding of what a country should be," Cardinal McCarrick said. Just as Lincoln showed his concern for the poor, Father Hesburgh showed how the poor "should be a concern for all of us," he added. And as Jefferson knew what freedom of religion was, Father Hesburgh, the cardinal noted, "has tackled the whole question of human relations."

Below is a full report from Catholic World News

- Nick

Biden, Cardinal McCarrick pay tribute to Notre Dame’s Father Hesburgh

CWNews.com

Vice President Joe Biden joined Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and political figures from both parties in paying tribute to Father Theodore Hesburgh, who served as the president of the University of Notre Dame from 1952 to 1987.      “In 1972 I ran for public office as a 29-year-old kid because of your passion for civil rights,” Vice President Biden told Hesburgh, now 96, at a Capitol Hill reception in honor of the seventieth anniversary of his priestly ordination. “You're one of the reasons I've been so proud to be a Catholic.” Cardinal McCarrick called Hesburgh one of “four great Americans,” along with Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln.    Father Hesburgh, known for his support for the civil rights movement in the 1960s, was a principal organizer and signatory of the Land O' Lakes Statement, in which Catholic university presidents declared their “true autonomy and academic freedom in the face of authority of whatever kind, lay or clerical.” The priest also faced criticism for his role as board member and chairman of the Rockefeller Foundation, a staunch advocate for population control. (Hesburgh retired as chairman in 1982.)

In 2008, Father Hesburgh told the Wall Street Journal that he had no objection to the ordination of women.

Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" - May 24, 2013

Talking about the "things that matter most" on May 24

Guest Host: Jerry Usher

4:00 – Pope Francis Defends Atheists???
In a homily Wednesday, Pope Francis described doing good not as a matter of faith, but of "duty, it is an identity card that our Father has given to all of us, because he has made us in his image and likeness." Then, referring to non-Catholics and nonbelievers, he said, "if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good." Now the media is reporting this story as “Pope Francis Says Atheists Will Be Saved.” We talk to Fr. Peter Stravinskas, author of Salvation Outside the Church.

4:20 – News Flash: Pro-Life Groups Support Pro-Life Candidates
This week the abortion-rights giant NARAL released a groundbreaking report on the activities of the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List. The report contains shocking allegations and makes for fascinating reading. According to the report, Susan B. Anthony List 1) raises money for pro-life candidates, 2) supports pro-life laws, 3) hires pro-life people, and 4) receives grants from conservative foundations. Last spring the group even went so far as to hire a lobbyist to lobby against Planned Parenthood funding. Shocking! So pro-life organizations support pro-life candidates? Michael New is here to discuss this and other pro-life issues.

4:40 – Christian Street Preacher Arrested 3 Times: Lawsuit Filed
In three separate incidents beginning May 2011, David Allen, a Christian street preacher in Houston, Texas, was arrested, searched, jailed, and repeatedly denied his constitutional rights to free speech and free exercise of religion. He was never convicted on any of the charges.  To stop further harassment, the Thomas More Law Center announced it filed a federal lawsuit late last week on behalf of Allen. Allen’s three arrests occurred while he was preaching the Gospel message against the sins of abortion, homosexuality, and adultery on public sidewalks in Houston, Texas. Erin Mersino of the Thomas More Law Center joins us.

5:00 – Are We Losing the Battle for the Definition of Marriage?
For months and months, the National Organization for Marriage has been fighting hard to protect marriage in Illinois. That's why, with less than ten days left to go in the legislative session, gay activists are still scrambling to twist arms and strike backroom deals in Springfield. Yes, even in this deep blue state where Democrats hold a supermajority and the governor is pushing for gay marriage, they have so far managed to stop them in their tracks. We talk with Thomas Peters, director of culture with NOM about IL and the larger question – are we losing the battle over marriage?

5:20 – Boy Scouts of America Vote to Allow Gay Scouts – No Gay Adult Leaders
After lengthy and wrenching debate, local leaders of the Boy Scouts of America have voted to open their ranks to openly gay boys for the first time, but reactions from the left AND right made clear that the BSA's controversies are far from over. The longstanding ban on gay adults remains in force, and many liberal Scout leaders — as well as gay-rights groups — plan to continue pressing for an end to that exclusion even though the BSA's top officials aren't ready for that step. Meanwhile, many conservatives within the Scouts are distraught at the outcome of the vote and some are threatening to defect. A meeting is planned for next month to discuss the formation of a new organization for boys. John Stemberger of OnMyHonor.net is back with us.

5:40 – Film Reviews: Star Trek Into Darkness / 42
It’s Friday and if you may be headed to the movie theater this weekend film critic Steven Greydanus has some advice. He joins us to look at Star Trek: Into Darkness and 42, the bio pic on Jackie Robinson.

Today on Kresta in the Afternoon - May 23, 2013

Talking about the "things that matter most" on May 23

4:00 –The Big Same-Sex “Marriage” Lie
Same-sex marriage will never be widely accepted in America for a simple reason: It’s based on a lie. But don’t take our word on this; leading LGBT scholars and activists say as much.Take Masha Gessen, acclaimed author and former Russian director of Radio Liberty. “Fighting for gay marriage generally involves lying about what we are going to do with marriage when we get there — because we lie that the institution of marriage is not going to change,” Gessen said last year. Ryan Anderson is here to look at the big same-sex “marriage” lie.

4:40 – The Tape: Ryan Anderson vs Piers Morgan and Suze Orman

5:00 – Memorial Day: First-Hand Encounters
As we approach Memorial Day we want to hear stories of faith family and heroism. From first-hand witness, to loved ones’ stories, we want to inspire and honor those who have served us.

IRS: 'Please Detail the Content of Your Members' Prayers.'

The Campaign Spot

Election-driven news and views . . . by Jim Geraghty.

By Jim Geraghty

May 17, 2013 2:10 PM

NRO

Today’s hearing on IRS abuses had a lot of “are you kidding me?” moments, but this one stands out:
 
“It would surprise me that that question was asked,” acting commissioner Steven Miller tells Representative Aaron Schock, Republican of Illinois.
UPDATE: Chris Moody at Yahoo has the IRS letter and responses that began this line of inquiry: “Please explain how all of your activities, including the prayer meetings held outside of Planned Parenthood, are considered educational as defined under 501(c)(3).”
Among the other questions the IRS posed to the Iowa Coalition for Life: “You stated that you sponsored a Forum on Stem Cells, End of Life Decisions and a possible forum on Contraception. Please describe in detail the information provided at each of these forums.”

ECCLESIAL MOVEMENTS: THE CHURCH CANNOT BE LOCKED WITHIN ITSELF

Pope Francis holds a dove before his weekly audience in
St. Peter's Square at the Vatican May 15.
(CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano via Reuters)

Monday, May 20, 2013

Vatican City, 18 May 2013 (VIS) – Today and yesterday, events for ecclesial movements of new lay communities and associations to reflect on the theme “I Believe! Increase our Faith!” were held in Rome as part of the Year of Faith. Over 120,000 people were gathered in St. Peter's Square this afternoon when the Pope arrived at 5:30pm and, after greeting the pilgrims, initiated the Pentecost Vigil.

After the opening welcome by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, the image of the Virgin Mary Salus Populi Romani was brought in a procession to the centre of the square and then enthroned. After a series of readings, songs, and testimonials, Pope Francis answered four questions asked by representatives of the movements. Following are the questions with a summary of the Holy Father's answers.

Q: “How were you able to achieve certainty of faith in your life, and what path can you indicate to us so that each one of us can overcome our fragility of faith?”

A: “I have had the good fortune to grow up in a family where the faith was lived in a simple and concrete manner ... The first proclamation is in the home, within the family, right? And this makes me think of the love of so many mothers and so many grandmothers in the transmission of the faith. … We do not find our faith in the abstract, no! It is always a person who preaches it to us, who tells us who Jesus is, who gives us the faith, who gives us the first announcement. … But there is a very important day for me: September 21, 1953. I was almost 17. It was the 'Students' Day'.... Before going to the festival, I went to my parish and met a priest I did not know, but I felt the need to confess. … After confession I felt that something had changed. I was not the same. I felt a voice call me: I was convinced that I had to become a priest. This experience of faith is important. We say that we must seek God, go to him to ask for forgiveness ... but when we go, He is already waiting for us. He is the first one there! ... And this creates wonder in the hearts of those who do not believe, and this is how faith grows! With an encounter with a Person, with an encounter with the Lord.”

Regarding fragility: “Fragility’s biggest enemy curiously enough, is fear. But do not be afraid! We are weak, we know it but He is stronger! If you are with him, then there is no problem! A child is fragile—I see many today—but they are with their fathers and their mothers so they are safe! We too are safe with the Lord; we are secure. Faith grows with the Lord, out of the very hands of the Lord.”

Q: The second question concerned the challenge of evangelization and what the movements should do to put the task have been called to into practice.

A: “I will say just three words. First: Jesus. … If we move forward with planning and other things, beautiful things indeed, but without Jesus, then something is wrong. Jesus is the most important thing. … The second word is prayer. Look at the face of God, but above all ... know that you are being looked at in return. … And third, 'witness'. … the faith can only be communicated through witness and that is through love. Not with our ideas, but by living the Gospel in our own lives, which the Holy Spirit brings to life within us. … Not so much speaking, but speaking through the way you live: the consistency of your life … which means living Christianity as an encounter with Jesus that leads me towards others and not as a social fact. Socially this how we are. Are we Christians? Wrapped up in ourselves? No, not that. Witness!”

Q: The third question was how to live as “a poor Church, for the poor”.

A: “First of all, the main contribution we can make is to live the Gospel. The Church is not a political movement or a well-organized structure: That is not her. … The Church is the 'salt of the earth, the light of the world’. She is called to make the leaven of the Kingdom of God present in society and do it first by witness, her witness of fraternal love, solidarity … When you hear some say that solidarity is not a value, that it's a 'basic attitude' that needs to disappear ... this is wrong! … Moments of crisis, such as the one we are experiencing ... are not only an economic crisis, not a cultural crisis. It is a crisis of humanity: it is humanity that is in crisis. And what can be destroyed is mankind! But mankind is the image of God!”

“In this time of crisis we can't just worry about ourselves, can't get wrapped up in loneliness or discouragement … Please do not get locked away in yourselves! That is a danger: locking ourselves away inside our parish, among our friends, in our movement, with people who think the same way we do ... But you know what is happening? When the Church becomes closed up in itself it gets sick. ,,, The Church must go out from herself. Where? Towards the boundaries of existence, whatever those might be, but get out. Faith is an encounter with Jesus and we must do the same as Jesus, meet others. .… We have to bring about encounter. We have to make our faith a 'culture of encounter' and of friendship, a culture wherein we find brothers and sisters, where we can talk even with those who do not think like us, even with those with which have a different faith … Everyone has something in common with us: they are made in the image of God! … We must go out to meet with everyone without negotiating about the faith we belong to.”

“And another important point: we must go out to meet the poor. … Today, imagine, all the children who don't have something to eat is not news. This is serious. We cannot stay calm! We cannot become starch-pressed Christians, those Christians who are too highly educated, who speak of theological issues over tea, calmly. No! We must become courageous Christians and go out in search of those who are the flesh of Christ. … Poverty, for us Christians, is not a sociological or philosophical or cultural category. No. It is a theological category. I would say, perhaps, the first category, because God, the Son of God, humbled himself, became poor to walk along the road with us. This is our poverty: the poverty of the flesh of Christ; the poverty that has brought us the Son of God with his Incarnation.”

Q: The fourth question was: How can we help our brothers and sisters if there is little we can do to change the socio-political climate they are living under?

A: “Two virtues are needed to proclaim the Gospel: courage and patience. They are in the Church of patience. They suffer and there are more martyrs today than in the early centuries of the Church. … It should be noted that many times these conflicts do not have a religious origin. Often there are other causes of a social and political nature and unfortunately, religious affiliations are used like fuel to the fire. A Christian must always know how to respond to evil with good, although it is often difficult. We must try to make them feel—these brothers and sisters of ours—that we are deeply united ... to their situation, that we know that they are Christians who have 'entered a state of patience'. … they experience the limits, the very limits, between life and death. And for us, this experience should lead us to promote religious freedom for all: for everyone! Every man and woman should be free in their religious confession, whatever it may be. Why? Because that man and that woman are children of God.“

The vigil ended with the profession of faith, prayer intentions, and the singing of the Regina Coeli.

Human Cloning Has Arrived—Like It Or Not

Ave Maria Radio

By Kathy Schiffer 

Human cloning is finally here—but the scientific community and the popular media are reluctant to tell the story.

 

According to Wesley J. Smith, Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center for Human Exceptionalism, an international group of scientists have successfully created scores of cloned human embryos.  The team of scientists claimed, in the prominent peer-reviewed journal Cell, that they had allowed four of these cloned embryos to develop to the blastocyst stage (that is, about 150 to 200 cells).

 

Talking with Al Kresta on Ave Maria Radio on Tuesday, May 21, Dr. Smith explained that the scientific community has accurately reported their successful cloning experiment in professional journals, while downplaying the significance of the research in the mainstream press, making it seem that it isn’t really human cloning.  Popular news outlets, also trying not to alarm the public, have reported that the project is “an intermediate step toward human cloning,” rather than admitting that it is a successful cloning experiment.  

 

The blastocyst stage, Smith explained, is the point at which scientists can either destroy the embryos or implant them in the uterus.  Just like Dolly the sheep, the first “manufactured” animal which was created in a laboratory in 1996, these cloned human embryos have the potential to develop to maturity in the womb.  

 

The cloning process—called somatic cell nuclear transfer or SCNT—is accomplished by taking a human egg cell and removing the nucleus.  Then, Smith explained, scientists would take the nucleus from another cell, such as a skin cell, and implant it into the egg cell.  The resultant embryo, produced via asexual reproduction, would be essentially identical to the person who had contributed the original skin cell.    

 

Smith calls the cloning process—even if successfully applied to harvest organs or provide some other medical benefit, or for birth—a scientific triumph but an ethical earthquake.  Scientists would be guilty of manufacturing human life for the purpose of harvesting it like a corn crop—that is, for the very purpose of destroying it.  

 

It is likely that Congress and state legislatures will introduce anti-cloning legislation, as they have in recent years.  However, Smith warned against political sleight-of-hand such as that employed in an anti-cloning bill introduced in 2007 by Senators Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).  The Feinstein-Hatch wording, rather than banning human cloning, actually would have legalized it by codifying an inaccurate definition.  Feinstein and Hatch’s Human Cloning Ban and Stem Cell Protection Bill stated that “’human cloning’ means implanting or attempting to implant the produce of nuclear transplantation into a uterus or the functional equivalent of a uterus.”  More accurately, Smith explained, ‘cloning’ refers to the asexual creation of the cloned embryo, regardless of whether or not it is implanted.  

 

For more information about human cloning, read Wesley Smith’s article in the May 27, 2013 issue of the Weekly Standard.

 

To hear Wesley’s interview on “Kresta in the Afternoon” go to click here for the podcast.

Crowd attacks Pakistani village; 1,500 Christians flee

CWNews.com Residents of the Muslim village of Chak 30 attacked the Christian village of Chak 31 in the Pakistani province of Punjab after local Christians were accused of being disrespectful towards Islam.     According to the Fides news agency, when Christian villagers called for police protection, a policeman led a crowd of 60 Muslims in an attack on Chak 31. An estimated 1,500 Christians fled their village, and 20 Christians were arrested.    In a separate attack, a Muslim murdered a 14-year-old Catholic boy in Khushpur, the Catholic village sometimes known as the “Vatican of Pakistan.” The boy’s father and brother were also injured in the attack, which was related to a land dispute.

Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" - May 22, 2013

Talking about the "things that matter most" on May 22

Guest Hosts Bruce and Kris McGregor

4:00 – Did God Send the Tornado? The Problem of Natural Evils
When a person murders another person, there is outrage. Many ask, "How could God allow this?" Yet there remains an implicit understanding that humans have free will. When a murderer kills another human, we blame the murderer. But what about natural evils? Natural disasters? A tornado that kills children does not have free will. A tsunami does not have free will. A virus or cancer does not have free will. All these forces kill people. Why? Dr. Taylor Marshall helps us answer those questions.

4:40 – Immigration: What Does the Church Teach and What is a Matter of Prudential Judgment?
A few weeks ago Omar Gutierrez says he was listening to a conservative talk radio personality who is not just conservative but Catholic and prides him/her self on being Catholic. Nevertheless, it is on this program that he heard some of the most stupid statements he has ever heard about immigrants and immigration. Omar is here to address the question of immigration itself from the point of view of social doctrine –that Church teaching about which the majority of Catholics know very little.

5:00 – The Holy Spirit - The Church's Towering Lighthouse
In the remarkable visions of Saint Hildegard of Bingen ecclesial and sacramental truths are proposed through a vast array of rich images to draw us into new horizons of mystical wisdom.   In her vision of the Sacrament of Confirmation, she describes the Holy Spirit as a kind of brilliant lighthouse towering behind the Church.  This vision does not shy away from the mission of the Redeemer or the Church through which His saving work is extended.  If we will be saved, we must be reborn in Christ Jesus and in this new birth we must live by the light and strength of the Holy Spirit.  Dr. Anthony Lilles is here to talk about the Holy Spirit – The Church’s towering lighthouse.

5:40 – Boy Scouts of America to Vote Tomorrow on Allowing Openly Gay Scouts and Scout Leaders
After the successful efforts back in February to delay the BSA Executive Council’s attempt to change the Boy Scouts membership policy, the out-of-touch BSA leadership has now put forward a resolution that would allow open homosexuality in the Boy Scouts and would force it on boys in all scouting units. The resolution will be voted on by the BSA delegates tomorrow at the National Annual meeting. We talk to Jonathan Saenz of Texas Values

 

Top IRS official will invoke the Fifth Amendment in congressional hearing about tea party targeting program

Daily Mail

By David Martosko

The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday afternoon that Lois Lerner, who heads up the Internal Revenue Service's tax-exempt division, plans to invoke the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in a hearing Wednesday before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Affairs.

The Fifth Amendment provides that U.S. citizens may not be compelled to offer testimony if telling the truth would incriminate them.

Lerner's defense lawyer, William W. Taylor III, wrote to the committee on Tuesday that his client would refuse to answer questions related to what she knew about the extra levels of scrutiny appled to conservative nonprofit organizations that applied for tax-exempt status beginning in 2010.

She also will decline to say why she didn’t disclose what she knew to Congress, according to the LA Times.

Lerner 'has not committed any crime or made any misrepresentation,' Taylor's letter read, 'but under the circumstances she has no choice but to take this course.'

Lois Lerner heads the IRS's Exempt Organizations division. Her lawyer says she will plead the Fifth Amendment on Wednesday to avoid answering questions about her agency's tea party scandal during a congressional hearing

IRS headquarters in Washington, D.C. is fast becoming the epicenter of the tea party probe, despite an Inspector General report that focused on employees in Cincinnati, Ohio

He is asking the oversight committee to excuse Lerner from testifying, claiming that calling her in a congressional hearing would 'have no purpose other than to embarrass or burden her' since members would not expect her to answer questions.
Ahmad Ali, a committee spokesman, told MailOnline that 'Ms. Lerner remains under subpoena from Chairman Issa to appear at tomorrow's hearing - the Committee has a Constitutional obligation to conduct oversight.'

 

'Chairman [Darrel] Issa remains hopeful that she will ultimately decide to testify tomorrow about her knowledge of outrageous IRS targeting of Americans for their political beliefs.'

The IRS applied special criteria to conservative organizations seeking tax-exempt status, putting them on a 'Be On The Lookout' (BOLO) list, based on the groups' names and political philosophies.

President Barack Obama has said he was unaware of the program until May 10, when excerpts of an IRS Inspector General Report on the practice were leaked to reporters.

Jay Carney, the Obama administration's designated flak-catcher, insists that the president didn't know about the IRS targeting tea party groups until he learned about it during a TV news broadcast

But Jay Carney, the president's chief spokesman, confirmed Monday that senior White House staff, including White House Counsel Kathy Ruemmler and Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, knew about the IRS's habits as early as April 24, and chose not to tell Obama.

The Inspector General report found that Lerner and other IRS were notified in of before June 2011 that some staff in the agency's Cincinnati, Ohio office were using 'tea party,' 'patriots' and other key words to add applicants to the BOLO list.

Once on that list, the groups were subjected to additional auditing of their financial practices, their membership and their political activities.
Despite knowing about the program, Lerner and other senior IRS staffers withheld the information from Congress despite receiving several requests from House committees whose members heard from constituents that their tea party groups' tax-exempt approvals were taking as long as two years to be resolved.

The House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee was among those that specifically asked the IRS whether it was inspecting tea party groups more closely than other applicants, including those on the political left.

Under mounting pressure, President Barack Obama announced May 15 in the East Room of the White House that acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller would be stepping down. It emerged hours later, however, that Miller's term as acting commissioner was already scheduled to end in early June

 

Lerner herself launched her agency's scandal with a planted question-and-answer exchange during a May 10 American Bar Association conference.

Asked the pre-arranged question, Lerner responded by conceding that her employees had acted inappropriately.

'Instead of referring to the cases as advocacy cases, they actually used case names on this list,' she told the assembled tax lawyers.

'They used names like "tea party" or "Patriots," and they selected cases simply because the applications had those names in the title.That was wrong. That was absolutely incorrect, insensitive, and inappropriate — that’s not how we go about selecting cases for further review.'

She later claimed that the increase in scrutiny of tea party groups was due to an influx of new applications from right-wing organizations, following the Supreme Court's 'Citizens United' ruling, which opened the floodgates to greater political participation by nonprofit advocacy groups.

The Washington Post called that claim bogus, however, with the newspaper's fact checker awarding it a 'four Pinocchios' rating for dishonesty.

FOUR PINOCCHIOS: 'Between 2010 and 2012, we started seeing a very big uptick in the number of 501(c)(4) applications we were receiving,' Lerner claimed, but the Washington Post determined that wasn't true.

 

Lerner's boss, acting IRS commissioner Steven Miller, was relieved of his post by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew last week, although the term of his appointment to the job was already scheduled to end in early June.
Other higher-ups inside the IRS have not been publicly held accountable for the improper targeting of conservative organizations.

Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" - May 21, 2013

Talking about the "things that matter most" on May 21

4:00 – Kresta Comments

4:20 – The American Bible Challenge Comes to Ave Maria Radio – Callers Compete With Team ‘Sisters of Mary”
This Thursday the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist compete for the $100,000 grand prize in The Game Show Network’s “The American Bible Challenge” finale at 9 p.m. Eastern. The winner of The American Bible Challenge Fan Favorite contest will be announced during the show, as well, and will receive $10,000 for their team’s charity. Should they win, the Dominican Sisters will use their winnings from the show to provide for the treatment and care of the aging Sisters in the Order, and to ensure that they are provided for as they advance into retirement. Team Member Sr. Mary David is here with us in studio to compete with callers who can win prizes if they can top Sr. Mary David!

4:40 – Kresta Comments

5:00 – Kresta Comments

5:20 – Catholic Medical Association Issues White Paper on Physicians Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment - Identifies Significant Problems in New Form

The Catholic Medical Association has published a White Paper on POLST  (“Physicians Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment”)in CMA’s journal of medical ethics. POLST is a new kind of advanced medical decision-making document that is spreading rapidly across the United States as a result of an organized campaign. The White Paper identifies some significant problems posed by POLST, and makes practical recommendations about how to promote decision-making for vulnerable patients that is medically and ethically sound, and consistent with the Catholic Church’s teachings on respect for human life. CMA Executive Director Dr. John Brehany joins us.

 

5:40 – Brace Yourself for the Human Embryo Market

If you want to know what’s going to go wrong in the culture, read the professional journals. A case in point: An article in the April 10 New England Journal of Medicine called for the creation of a commodities market for “made-to-order” human embryos. The authors—university professors, of course—treat embryos as the equivalent of a prize cattle herd. They note that sperm and eggs are already bought and sold for in vitro fertilization (IVF) and, further, that New York legalized buying eggs for use in biotechnological research a few years ago. Hence, “it is not clear” why we should not also allow companies to make “made-to-order embryos” for profit, since that activity would be “more similar to the sale of gametes than the sale of children.” Bioethicist Wesley Smith joins us.

Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" - May 20, 2013

Talking about the "things that matter most" on May 20

4:00 – Pro-Life Undercover Work: Is it an Act of Immoral Lying?
Back during World War II, some people lied to save Jewish lives. More recently, Lila Rose has used undercover tactics to expose Planned Parenthood. At issue is the question of whether it is ever okay to lie, particularly when you're trying to save lives. We live in a violent world, and the issue keeps coming up in human history. Jimmy Akin is here to share some information you might want to be aware of involving Pope Francis and this question.

5:00 – Winning the Battle Against Sin: Hope-Filled Lessons from the Bible
In his latest book, Fr. Mitch Pacwa Details What is sin, why did it happen, and how can we overcome it? Fr. Mitch uses his extensive knowledge of the Scriptures to take us on a tour of the Bible to help us understand sin and why we need Jesus in our lives to defeat it. By examining important biblical passages, Fr. Pacwa provides us with hope that we can win the battle against sin by putting it to death on the cross and allowing the Holy Spirit to fill us and transform us. Fr. Mitch joins us.

Scholars warn of extreme Islamist threat to religious minorities

By Adelaide Mena

Washington D.C., May 18, 2013 / 07:08 am (EWTN News)

Rise of Islamism event in D.C. Credit: Adelaide Mena.

Experts in Islamic culture and current political trends in the Middle East and Southeast Asia warned that under the rise of Islamist extremism, religious minorities have faced increasing persecution.

“The Christians are not attacking the Takfiri,” said former Pakistani parliamentarian Farahnaz Ispahani of the situation in Pakistan. “The Hindus are not attacking, the Shi'a are not attacking.”
She emphasized that the trend of extremist violence in Pakistan and elsewhere is not a case of sectarian violence, as it is typically reported, but a drive for ideological “purification” of the country.
Ispahani spoke at a May 15 panel discussion hosted by the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. The conversation primarily focused upon persecution of religious minorities in Iran and Pakistan, though other nations were also discussed.
Other speakers included Jamsheed K Choksy, professor of Iranian, Central Asian and Islamic Studies at Indiana University, and Stephen Shwartz, executive director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism.

Ispahani’s presentation focused upon the persecution of religious minorities by the majority Sunni Muslims. Originally, she explained, the Pakistani government included religious representatives for every religious group present in the country, as well as representatives of Muslim minorities in the country.
However, in recent years, she said, there has been a steady rise of attacks on Christians and Hindus permitted by government officials, including forced marriages and conversions, and even the burning down of 100 Christian homes “while the police stood by” watching.
“Pakistan, which literally means ‘the land of the pure,’ is becoming the ‘the land of the purged,’” Ispahani warned.
While laws in Pakistan do, in theory, protect members of all religions, those belonging to religious minorities have faced unequal treatment under the law from government officials and other citizens, she said.
While Pakistani laws penalize “blasphemy against any recognized religion,” with consequences ranging from fines to death, these laws are overwhelmingly exercised against those who are believed to have blasphemed against Islam, she explained, charging that while non-Muslims comprise only three percent of the population, they account for two-thirds of blasphemy charges.
The persecution against minority religions is common in the Shi’a majority country of Iran as well, added Choksy.
While Iran does protect some non-Muslim religions, the scope and protections available are rather limited, he said. Armenian and Chaldean Christians, Jews and Zoarastrians are recognized, and thus protected as “heritage religious minorities,” but they are nonetheless barred from “high ranking” executive or judicial positions.
Other religious minorities, such as Catholics, protestant Christians and Baha’is, are left unprotected and face a number of religious liberty threats, he continued. Members of these faiths are completely barred from government office and are routinely persecuted and imprisoned for their beliefs under charges of posing a “threat to national security.”
Other sects of Islam are also rejected by the Shi’a mullahs, Chosky explained, noting that clerics within the country have begun to restructure Iran’s seminaries to remove and “keep in check” Sunni theology and thought.

Adherents of Sufi thought also face persecution in much of the Muslim world, said Schwartz, a convert to Islam and a follower of Sufi, or contemplative Islamic, practices.
“Nobody cares about the Sufis,” Schwartz said, explaining that group faces intense opposition because “we reject the idea of governance by clerics” that is promoted by some extremist Sunni and Shi’a groups.
On a positive note, he observed that there is hope for “real change” throughout Muslim-majority countries, pointing to “local resistance by moderate Muslims” as a means of combatting extremism.
Schwartz also expressed hope and optimism for countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia who are “growing tired” of the extreme measures enacted by their regimes. In these countries, he said, “if there is a change, it'll be a positive change.”

Read more: http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/US.php?id=7688#ixzz2TeaZr7gb

Stay Shocked

May 17, 2013, 7:00 PM

By Peggy Noonan
WSJ
Peggy Noonan's Blog HOME PAGE


Peggy Noonan

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So many people are sad about America and cynical about its government. They don’t expect anything good to happen. They think certain poisons have entered the system and nothing can be done about it. Leviathan will not be cut back or tamed, Leviathan will go on abusing the citizen. People are all too willing to believe the Internal Revenue Service is hopelessly political in its judgments and actions. They are not shocked. They don’t think anything can be done, that the system cannot be corrected. They just grip the arms of the seat and wait for the weather to get worse. But cynicism aids and abets deterioration. You’ve got to stay shocked. It’s disrespectful not to.

* * *

It actually is shocking that the IRS appears to have become political and ideological in a way that is systemic. It is shocking that the president claimed he read about the targeting of conservatives just last Friday, in the newspapers, and today the New York Times reports the leadership of the Treasury Department was told the charges were being investigated a year ago. And it has to be remembered that this is not your ordinary scandal. Your ordinary scandal is an embarrassment. Somebody did something bad and there’s an investigation or hearings. People are made to suffer for their missteps, if only in terms of notoriety and legal expense. Sometimes the innocent or mostly innocent are dragged in, too. But in the end it passes. Some new laws are passed or rules instituted. And we move on to the next scandal. In a government populated by humans there will never be a lack of them. But the IRS scandal is different because it speaks of the political corruption of a major and crucial governmental agency to whose rules and regulations every American—everyone who has a job or a bank account, or who engages in a financial transaction—is subject. Most people will never have an interaction with the State Department or the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but the IRS deals with an intimate and sensitive part of your life, your personal finances. It is the revenue-collecting arm of the government. It is needed. It does necessary work. When that work is done well it is rarely noted and almost never celebrated. When it’s done badly it’s a terrible thing, because it means a citizen was treated badly or abused. But as an agency it couldn’t be more important to the national mood, the national atmosphere. If we allow it to become politically corrupt that scandal will not pass, it will be with us every day.

* * *

Which gets us to soon-to-be-former IRS chief Steven Miller’s testimony today before the House Ways and Means Committee. It gave a bit of a shock. He’s the head of an agency accused of major wrongdoing but his attitude was arrogant, nonresponsive, full of gamesmanship. His general tone? I am insulated, baby. You can’t touch me. You can make your little speeches and I’ll endure them with my best approximation of a poker face, but at the end of the day what can you do? I’m leaving. I have a pension. You can’t prove a thing It was so bad that by the end it occurred to me he might be a secret whistleblower who’s trying to enrage Congress into digging in and finding out what really happened to the IRS, and how, and when, and who did it, and what the rest of the administration knew. Mr. Miller repeatedly suggested his agency hadn’t engaged in political targeting, it was just a matter of “mistakes” made “by people trying to be more efficient in their workload selection.” He said the IRS was guilty of bad “customer service.” He said he had never misled Congress when he testified, previously, that conservative groups were not being targeted: “I answered the questions as they were asked.” He stonewalled and nonanswered. Who started the targeting? “I don’t have that name for you.” This from the head of an agency in a government hell-bent to get to the bottom on this. There was an interesting moment when Mr. Miller admitted under questioning that the IRS’s seemingly spontaneous public acknowledgement of and apology for the targeting of conservatives was not, really, spontaneous, but part of a spin operation. He provided insight into the new IRS mindset in this exchange with Rep. Tom Price of Georgia:

Price: “Is it illegal what they have done?” Miller: “It is absolutely not illegal.” . . . Price: “Do you believe it is illegal for employees of the IRS to create lists to target individuals and groups and citizens in this country?” Miller: “I think the Treasury Inspector General indicated that it might not be, but others will be able to tell that.” Price: “What do you believe?” Miller: “I don’t believe it is.”

Oh. Well that would explain that.

* * *

So where does this go? Congress will have more hearings next week. Meaning, I suppose, that more IRS officials will be made momentarily uncomfortable. Also the attorney general, Eric Holder, says the FBI will launch an investigation. The president has said he doesn’t want a special prosecutor to look into the scandal because the investigations of Congress and the Justice Department should be enough. But they’re not. An independent counsel, with his particular powers and particular independence, is needed. The targeting of conservative groups and individuals by the IRS was a political operation that had political effects. We know this because only people with certain assumed political views were targeted and abused. No liberal groups were. According to today’s Washington Post, the Barack H. Obama Foundation, run by the president’s half-brother and named after their father, sailed through to tax-exempt status in a matter of weeks. When a problem is political it’s best to have politically independent people investigate it. Again, if what happened at the IRS is not stopped now, it will never stop. The next White House will come in and they’ll know they can do it too. And if they’re unlucky enough to be caught, they’ll have a have a few uncomfortable moments in Congress, and a few people who were going to retire in the summer will retire in the spring. And it will all go on. We are at a point now where you can make a list of things that, all combined and allowed to continue, can kill America. This is one of them. Widespread belief that the revenue-collecting arm of the US government is hopelessly corrupt is one of them. There is such a thing as national morale. Ours could use a boost. People have grown cynical. They expect nothing good to happen. They expect it all to be swept under the rug. They expect no one to pay a price. It is a matter of profound public need that the U.S. government show and prove that it is capable of correcting itself, that Leviathan can stop itself.