Pope Francis's troubled visit to Ireland in August was not only noticeable for the lack of adulation the once-overwhelmingly Catholic country bestowed upon the papal visitor, but also for a more disturbing moment that deserves greater attention.
In an address delivered at an event attended by Francis, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar took the startling tack of preaching to the pontiff on questions of morality:
The Ireland of the 21st century is a very different place today than it was in the past. Ireland is increasingly diverse.
One in six of us were not born here, and there are more and more people who adhere to other faiths, or who are comfortable in declaring that they subscribe to no organised religion.
We have voted in our parliament and by referendum to modernise our laws – understanding that marriages do not always work, that women should make their own decisions, and that families come in many forms including those headed by a grandparent, lone parent or same-sex parents or parents who are divorced.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar Feature
Personally, delivering such points in the presence of the leader of the largest Christian religious denomination on the planet not only comes across as defiant, but in our ultra-secular Western culture today, it is… something more.
Varadkar was ministering to the pope, preaching like a priest at the altar lectern the official state sermon on modern sexuality.
No matter what one may think of the Roman Catholic Church's horrific cover-up of child sexual abuse, it still should be startling to see an elected government official instructing a pope on the new sexual orthodoxy.
This is the same Varadkar who declared that Catholic hospitals in Ireland will be mandated to perform abortions, despite the Church's known religious proscription against child murder.
"It will not… be possible for publicly funded hospitals, no matter who their patron or owner is, to opt out of providing these necessary services which will be legal in this state once this legislation is passed by the Dáil and Seanad (senate)… I'm happy to give you that assurance," Varadkar said in June, Catholic website The Tablet reports.
"…[H]ospitals like for example Holles Street, which is a Catholic voluntary ethos hospital, the Mater, St Vincent's and others will be required, and will be expected to, carry out any procedure that is legal in this state and that is the model we will follow."
Abortion is a sacrament for the New Secular State Church, and no opposition to the imposition of the procedure will be brooked. Another Western country, Canada, has made it clear that Christian organizations must make known their adherence to this sacred tenet if they want to operate in the public square.
David Millard Haskell at Canadian Broadcasting Corporation describes how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government has ruled that all applicants to the nation's youth summer jobs program "must agree — by marking a box on an electronic form — that they respect charter rights, including 'women's rights and women's reproductive rights' in order to receive public funding under the program.
Christian youth camps all over Canada will be affected by the mandate. Check the box renouncing your religious beliefs or lose funding.
In moving to defund Christian organizations that actually believe what they profess, Canadian Employment Minister Patty Hajdu once again sounded more the priest than the politician in explaining the holy writ:
"Our ministry believes in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and these are fundamental expectations of Canadians, and we stand up for those rights — and we [will] ensure that the money that we disperse on behalf of Canadians is not used in a way that violates those hard-won rights."
Not to be outdone, America's political preachers of secular morality are doing their best to overthrow not only Christian values in public society but the very belief system that underscores those values. Homosexuality is another sacrament in the New State Religion and California politicians will not tolerate any questioning of it. A bill in the state legislature filed by Assemblymember Evan Low sought to use California's consumer fraud statute to outlaw homosexual conversion therapy.
Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi
That's right. Publicly advocating that homosexuals can change their personal behavior would be considered an act of fraud if the bill became law. Republican Assemblyman Travis Allen told journalist Todd Starnes that the Bible would be considered fraudulent material under such a scenario.
“The Bible’s teachings, if taken literally, could very clearly be a direct violation of AB 2943,” Allen told Starnes. "The faith community has every reason to be up in arms about this. Once Democrats start talking about banning books, this is a road we do not want to go down.”
One Democrat politician wasn't hiding the fact that this was an attempt to change Christian belief.
“The faith community, like anyone else, needs to evolve with the times,” Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi said of the proposed bill, Starnes reports. “The science is clear. The claim that the First Amendment can be used as a defense for promoting fraudulent conduct is a fallacious argument.”
None of this should come as a surprise.
It is all merely the logical endgame when liberal platitudes about "zero tolerance for intolerance" are taken to their inevitable conclusions. Allowing leftists to portray traditional Christian beliefs as bigotry has tyrannical consequences in a secular state in which Tolerance is the Golden Calf of the New Age.
Low's homosexual conversion fraud bill was withdrawn on Aug. 31. But they'll be back. Don't doubt that for a second. It is a religious imperative for the zealous high priests of our Secular State Religion.
