George Weigel notes the inadequately observed 20th anniversary of Centesimus Annus, Pope John Paul II’s most important encyclical, which has some important things to say about our political life and the concepts of social and economic justice.  Weigel concludes:

The encyclical’s analysis of the collapse of communism is also relevant to contemporary debates. Denying God, communism had a false view of the human person, and that was ultimately its undoing: it could not build a humane culture, politics or economics. This truth has implications for a world without communism, too. Culture is the key to making free economies and free politics work well, and at the heart of culture was religious conviction, John Paul insisted. Thus religious freedom had to be defended, not only against the hard totalitarianism of communist systems, but against softer, but nonetheless aggressive, forms of political pressure: pressures summed up in Pope Benedict’s biting (and wholly accurate) phrase, the “dictatorship of relativism.” Governments that impose political correctness through coercive state power—as, say, Canadian human rights tribunals do when they fine pastors for preaching biblical morality—are violating both religious freedom and weakening the moral-cultural foundations of democracy.

The article is here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I’m all for using the latest tools to spread the word.  But I’m glad that God, in his infinite wisdom, first gave us 2000 years to digest the message in a lower tech, more poetic form.  Imagine St. Paul with an iPad:

& now these 3 remain: faith hope ‘n luv but gr8est is luv

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But I will say this. Christianity is far more interesting than corn chips and cola, so it is not surprising that the ad’s creators would borrow some vivid imagery to prop up their inherently dull fare. I am surprised, though not shocked, that nobody in authority was able to recognize that this was a disaster in the making.

UPDATE: The video above has now been labeled “private.”  It can still be seen here, however.  Adweek says the actor playing the priest conceived the spot and says critics have misconstrued it, claiming that because the snacks were not consecrated they are just . . . well, snacks handed out by the priest.  Sure. Note Adweek‘s conclusion that the production company still wins big.  What’s that again?  A production company looks good by creating an ad that makes its client look bad?

I frequently spend Christmas in Germany.  But not this year.  A Christmas post featuring the Christmas Pageant at the Jakobskirche in Weimar will have to do.

Jakobskirche Christmas Pageant from Carol Reynolds on Vimeo.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Not to take anything away from the more serious issue presented here, but the ending credits say the choral performance is by the Monks of Saint Joseph Abbey.  I can’t imagine why someone decided to mix jungle drums with chant, but the monks take no credit for that.

Put up a Nativity scene on public property, and the courts will likely make you take it down.  Display the Ten Commandments in a courtroom, and expect to be labeled as a bigot.  But do a little anti-Christian kitsch and the Sacramento County Law Library might just welcome it to their collection.

Jeri Wyrick created a work called “Moral Values” that shows a Bible with a prominent label: “Warning! May Impair Judgment.”  The Sacramento Bee says:

In an “artist statement” posted next to her work, Jeri Wyrick said she created the piece after the 2004 presidential election: “I came to the conclusion that there must be something about religious faith which renders people stupid.”

Wyrick obviously feels compelled to explain away any ambiguity in her work lest we mistake what judgment is likely impaired and who is rendered stupid.  The “artist statement” however says everything Wyrick wants us to know, and makes the artwork itself superfluous.

In her statement, Wyrick described her work. She said that she decided to create her controversial piece after exit polls showed most people cited moral values as their reason for voting for President George W. Bush in 2004.

“I hope that these pieces are not presumed as a group to be pro-Muslim/anti Christian – which they are not – as opposed to just anti-religious – which they admittedly are.”

That last admission might pose problems though.  The Supreme Court has allowed Christmas displays that are not purely religious in nature.  Toss in some reindeer and snowmen and you can get by.  Might a purely anti-religious message violate the First Amendment?

But not to worry.  Despite Wyrick’s admission, her work is not just anti-religious.  It contains a sophomoric political message as well.

Now about that county name: Sacramento . . .

. . . in Dearborn, Michigan.

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But down the road in Lansing, the results are a little different.

[Rev. John] Elieff acknowledged the group’s right to protest, but he said the church’s civil rights were infringed upon when the service was disrupted.

No one was arrested at the church, and, Elieff said, as far as he knew, no arrests have been made.

The Easy Charge of Hypocrisy. Michael Gerson explains why conservatives don’t survive sex scandals.

Yet moral liberals have something to learn as well. The failure of human beings to meet their own ideals does not disprove or discredit those ideals. The fact that some are cowards does not make courage a myth. The fact that some are faithless does not make fidelity a joke. All moral standards create the possibility of hypocrisy. But I would rather live among those who recognize standards and fail to meet them than among those who mock all standards as lies. In the end, hypocrisy is preferable to decadence.

The Headline Says It All.

Transgender Men Go Topless at Delaware Beach – and Police Can’t Do a Thing

Why Do People Think Classical Music Is Always Soothing? Mozart’s music will be played at a German sewage treatment plant in an effort to speed up the microbes.

It is hoped that the Austrian’s soothing symphonies and operas will drive down energy costs at the waste-treatment facility in Treuenbrietzen, southwest of Berlin.

Don Giovanni is soo soooothing, I’m afraid it will put those microbes to sleep.

Daniel in the Lion’s Den vs. Solomon Who? It takes a certain fortitude to carry an Israeli flag through the middle of a pro-Palestinian demonstration. The video is worth watching for that lesson, but you have to go all the way to the end for the punch line.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Christopher Beam of Slate has seen Obama’s utopia, and a more hellish place can hardly be imagined. Christopher’s visit to Valhalla on the high holy day exposed the vapid and senseless land to which we go.

The theme of the celebration was, predictably, fitness . . .

No clinging to religion here.

First to emerge was the Easter Bunny—a piece of choreography designed to fill the children’s heads with positive associations, which then transferred directly to the next pseudo-deity to emerge: Barack Obama. “Happy Easter, everybody,” he said, failing to mention Jesus. Michelle Obama followed up with a pagan prayer: “Let’s say thank you to Mother Nature!” She then proceeded to praise the benefits of fitness, organic food, and generic Canadian import Justin Bieber. The last elicited screams.

Ah, the pagan roots of Easter!  A ritual of fertility. Self-respecting pagans would have gotten a great laugh from this celebration that made its boldest statement in support of the indisputably infertile:

The White House honored the family at the center of Florida’s battle over same-sex adoptions on Monday.

Martin Gill, his partner and their two adopted sons were guests at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.

The occasion was, as the prophetic Christopher suggests, the perfect metaphor for the glossy veneer that shrouds the empty and cheerless aspirations of the left.

“Enjoy the beauty of your decorated eggs but please do not eat them,” said a sign. “They are not edible.”

Image: Steven Depolo (Creative Commons)

William Byrd Mass for Three Voices – Sanctus

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