The Christian Vanguard

No. The quotation some people have in mind when they think that he did is the following.  But in Europe, in the nineteenth century, the two models were joined by a third, socialism, which quickly split into two different branches, one totalitarian and the other democratic. Democratic socialism managed to fit within the two existing models as a welcome counterweight to the radical liberal positions, which it developed and corrected. It also managed to appeal to various denominations. In England it became the political party of the Catholics, who had never felt at home among either the Protestant conservatives or the liberals. In Wilhelmine Germany, too, Catholic groups felt closer to democratic socialism than to the rigidly Prussian and Protestant conservative forces. In many respects, democratic socialism was and is close to Catholic social doctrine and has in any case made a remarkable contribution to the formation of a social consciousness. The quotation from B16 is take...

I received Fr. Robert Sirico's book for free from a promotion I saw on Facebook from the Acton Institute . Here is my review .

Just finished watching this dcoumentary on Netflix. I recommend it.  I have positive things to say about it, and some critical things to say about it.  I agree with the general premise, that life's meaning doesn't come from certain goods or consuming certain goods, and that there is a culture out there that does kind of push us into there. The movie wants to call it "consumerism" but I think that's too cliche and doesn't really capture the nuances they themselves put forth later throughout the movie. I would just call debauchery. There is a culture of debauchery that does need to be resisted. I also like that they do explain that there isn't anything wrong with consumption per se (they make a great point that consumerism is anti-materialist because it devalues material goods by making them so dispensable), and so avoids a lot of the left leaning anti-capitalist messages out there that try to pontificate the same point. It does flirt with that me...

How many times have I heard the phrase, "The gap between the rich and the poor is getting bigger"? If I had a nickle for every time I heard that, the gap would get even larger. It's a misleading phrase, and it is supposed to reinforce the idea that the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer. And in one sense, that is true, but that's a good thing, not a bad thing. Allow me to explain.

It's been a while since I've posted anything up in a while. So here is an old essay I wrote. Unfortunately, the people of the Republic of California did not see things my way and passed the initiative.  2 Thessalonians 3:10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.” There has been much local talk about the “Living Wage” initiative here in Long Beach. Here are two articles from the Long Beach Post. http://www.lbpost.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2000000157%3A30-000-signatures-to-be-submitted-to-city-hall-today-for-living-wage&catid=85%3Anews&Itemid=650 http://www.lbpost.com/business/2000000168-long-beach-hospitality-workers-one-step-closer-to-living-wage-contentious-campaign-to-come The argument is a classic one. Because the workers cannot make a living off their wages, their wages must increase and if you oppose this, then you are greedy and heartless scum. I do not ...

I saw “Bowling for Columbine” a long time ago. I bought it at Wal-Mart because it was on sale for like three bucks. I had purchased it during the time in my life where I had already left behind communism, but wasn’t completely a conservative. I was free-market on most of the fiscal policy issues, and only partially in line with the republicans on the social issues (I supported the death penalty, “torturing”, our presence in the middle east [I believed a war with militant Muslims was attractive for an atheist] and was pro-gun [basically all the violent stuff lol!], but was for abortion and same-sex marriage). And so while I thought the documentary was crap, an off the cuff comment, or slogan, about health care had me thinking.

The Supreme Court of the United States recently declared what is called “Obama-care” constitutionally permissible. It was a milestone for this country, and a surprising one at that. I thought Obama-care wouldn’t pass, but not a few people were just as surprised as I was. There is no point in trying arguing whether it is unconstitutional or not now. I have had some intense debates about Obama-care, but almost none with disciples. The conversations about health care I’ve had are usually with non-believers. I should be having more with my brothers and sisters but I don’t. Is health care important, and if so, how are Christians to approach it? Let us look at some Scriptures first.