Today is the feast of one of the Church’s recently canonized saints, Edith Stein, known in religion as Sr. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Sr. Teresa was a Jew who converted to Catholicism and entered the Carmelites. Naturally when the Nazis found out her Jewish roots they had to kill her.
Discalced Carmelite nuns are very dangerous to a godless government. They pray. They do good works. But worst of all, they believe in and serve God. Governments that try to get rid of God are rudderless, and become their own gods, and end up demonic.
It happens all the time. Any government, including our own, that tries to rid itself of God becomes totalitarian, fascistic, pagan and demonic.
Media Attack Candidate Keyes
Read your papers today: A man who wants to get prayer back into schools, wants to outlaw the killing of unborn children, wants men to marry women and women to marry men, is taking something of a beating from much of the secular press. His name is Ambassador Alan Keyes, and on Sunday he announced that he will run against pro-abortion, gay rights supporter Barack Obama.
This week the media has to go after Keys primarily because he is from Maryland. How dare he come out to Illinois and run for Senator! But Sun-Times columnist Tom Roeser presented a long list of legislators and politicians from different states who ran for office in other states, Douglas from Vermont to Illinois, Senator James Semple from Kentucky to Illinois to Missouri, to Kentucky and back to Illinois, Robert Kennedy from Massachusetts to New York, Hillary Clinton and on and on.
It’s not that rare and Keyes explained his main reason for accepting the invitation: Obama’s abortion record, even voting against the a law to protect live aborted babies. It is killing the columnists, but they are all having to roll out Keyes’ position on all these issues, and they know they will hear more when the debates begin.
Keyes referred in his address Sunday to a lawyer from Illinois via Kentucky and Indiana who became president and stood on principle, and Keyes concluded his talk by saying, “We must continue to assert and stand tall to defend the great principles of God’s authority and unalienable rights on which this nation is founded. If, indeed that land is still Illinois, then I have lived in the Land of Lincoln all my life . . . and I will be proud to call Illinois my home.”
Talent versus Truth
A story in Monday’s Chicago Sun-Times quotes me saying I was impressed by Obama’s speech at the Democrat Convention, “though I disagree with a lot of his philosophy.” As with many conservatives who disagree with just about everything Obama stands for, I did admit that he is a good speaker, and even appeared sincere. He followed all the rules for a successful talk.
The Monday column describes in some detail what he did right during his keynote speech .Since I taught public speaking at the college level for several years, I noticed that, too. But talent isn’t everything. One of the most mesmerizing speakers of the Twentieth Century century was Adolph Hitler. It was only that his philosophy was all wrong.
And it’s the same story with Obama. Besides, addressing a supportive crowd and debating a worthy opponent, perhaps even a more gifted public speaker, are two different things. We think Keyes will make mincemeat of Obama, because Obama has nowhere to go with his arguments and Keyes has Truth on his side. Six debates coming up. We can hardly wait.
Dangerous Attraction
One final comment. While we , along with many other opponents of Obama, recognize his abilities, we also know that such a talent can be the most dangerous talent to possess, because sincerity, or the appearance of sincerity, can be convincing. Remember the strange attraction of the anthropomorphic person of Satan in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. Contrast that figure with the one that frightened Judas out of his hiding place.
