Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Today on Kresta - January 6, 2010

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Jan. 6

4:00 – Kresta Comments on Infant Baptism
It was this week in 1527 that Swiss Anabaptist reformer Felix Manz was drowned in punishment for preaching adult baptism and opposing infant baptism, becoming the first Protestant martyred by other Protestants. Al takes the opportunity to explain Catholic teaching on infant baptism.

4:20 – Counterknowledge: How we surrendered to conspiracy theories, quack medicine, bogus science and fake history
From 9/11 conspiracy theories to Holocaust denial, we are experiencing an epidemic of demonstrably untrue descriptions of the world. Now, British Catholic journalist Damien Thompson has written Counterknowledge: How we surrendered to conspiracy theories, quack medicine, bogus science and fake history. This work demonstrates that unless the defenders of enlightenment values fight back soon, the counterknowledge industry has the potential to create new political, social and economic disasters. We look at it.

4:40 – January 6, 1412 (traditional date): Joan of Arc is born
Today, January 6, is the traditional date of the birth of Joan of Arc, the French peasant mystic Christian who became a national heroine and her country's patron saint. We look at her life, legend, and the bizarre story from 2 years ago in which bones purported to be from Joan of Arc turned out to be those of an Egyptian mummy. We talk with Ann Astell, author of multiple books on Joan of Arc.

5:00 – Kresta Comments – Faith as the Oppressor of Science: Mendel vs. Galileo as a Case Study
This week we commemorate the deaths of both Gregor Mendel, an Augustinian monk who is the founder of the science of genetics as well as mathematician, physicist, and astronomer, Galileo Galilei. We take this opportunity to do a case study of the common notion that faith – especially Catholic faith – is in opposition to science. Such a claim could not possibly be more incorrect, and Al has the evidence.

5:20 – Global Restrictions on Religion
For more than half a century, the United Nations and numerous international organizations have affirmed the principle of religious freedom. For just as many decades, journalists and human rights groups have reported on persecution of minority faiths, outbreaks of sectarian violence and other pressures on religious individuals and communities in many countries. But until now, there has been no quantitative study that reviews an extensive number of sources to measure how governments and private actors infringe on religious beliefs and practices around the world. Global Restrictions on Religion, a new study by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life, finds that 64 nations - about one-third of the countries in the world - have high or very high restrictions on religion. But because some of the most restrictive countries are very populous, nearly 70 percent of the world's 6.8 billion people live in countries with high restrictions on religion, the brunt of which often falls on religious minorities. We look at the study with one of its principal authors, Brian Grim.

5:40 – The Feast of the Epiphany
The Solemn feast of the Epiphany of the Lord, traditionally occurs on January 6 following the twelve days of Christmas. Epiphany commemorates three scriptural events: the visit of the Magi to the stable of Bethlehem following the nativity of Jesus, Christ's Baptism in the Jordan, and his first miracle at the wedding feast at Cana. This Epiphany article focuses on the significance of the Magi or three wise men who follow the star in search of the King of kings. We look at these events with apologist Marcellino D’Ambrosio.

1 comment:

  1. Re: Infant Baptism vs. the Immaculate Conception of Mary

    Baptism removes original sin from our soul. Here's my question: at the moment we were baptized as infants, were we in the same state of grace as Mary, who never had original sin?

    If the answer is yes, why did the rest of us sin while Mary never sinned? It would appear that God uniquely provided Mary with an additional, ongoing, gift of grace.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia's entry on the Immaculate Conception says this: "Mary was ever to be in that exalted state of soul which the serpent had destroyed in man, i.e. in sanctifying grace. Only the continual union of Mary with grace explains sufficiently the enmity between her and Satan."

    Pope Pius IX, in Ineffabilis Deus, noted that the Fathers and writers of the Church thought that Mary "was, together with her Son, the only partaker of perpetual benediction."

    Is that right? Did God do more for Mary than simply exempt her from original sin?

    As I understand it, none of this deprived Mary of free will. So here's my final question. Why didn't God treat the rest of us like He treated Mary? That would have spared God and all of us a lot of grief.

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