The coming catechism of the church of Secular Humanism
By Tom Quiner
The State is about to compel you to change your religion.
The establishment of a state religion is quickly taking place before your eyes. Forced conversions are rapidly under way, and they are targeting your children.
They are spreading across the nation.
Massachusetts is leading the way in the imposition of this religion, Secular Humanism. The state has already run Catholic Charities out of the business of adoptions. Formerly the largest provider of adoption services in the state, Massachusetts told them that unless they change their religious beliefs to those of Secular Humanism by adopting to same-sex couples, they had to get out of the business.
In other words, Massachusetts put their state religion ahead of the well-being of children, a common trait of this religion that views creation as a disease.
Now the Massachusetts Board of Education is expanding their reach directly into the schools, targeting our kids.
Kids will be taught Secular Humanism’s newly enshrined laws of “gender identity discrimination.” They are telling schools that they must move forward creating a culture “that would make gender-nonconforming and transgender kids “feel safe, supported, and fully included.”
In other words, kids can pick their own gender, whether they have a penis or a vulva. They can use the bathroom they want to use.
No one can stop them.
Kids who don’t feel comfortable going to the bathroom with someone of the opposite gender (according to a traditional scientific definition) will undergo counseling to reorient their thinking and create a more “tolerant” attitude.
The religion of Secular Humanism believes that gender is based on feelings, not biology. If a boy feels like a girl inside, he should live as a girl.
The catechism of Secular Humanism flies in the face of that of the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI warned of the dangers when:
“sex is no longer a given element of nature that man has to accept and personally make sense of” but instead is twisted into “a social role we choose for ourselves.”
When this happens, says Benedict, we lose sight of:
“an essential aspect of what being human is all about.” When “people dispute the idea that they have a nature, given by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being,” then they deny the truth that “male and female He created them.”
Human dignity is at stake, said the retired Pope:
“When freedom to be creative becomes the freedom to create oneself, then necessarily the Maker himself is denied and ultimately man too is stripped of his dignity as a creature of God.”
Secular Humanism is quickly spreading to other states, as sixteen states have passed laws which prohibit “discrimination” on the basis of gender identity. Even more, the Left is pushing “National Educational Sexuality Standards” which they dub, “the future of sex education.”
What do Catholics, Christians, Muslims, and Jews do who reject the religion being imposed on their kids in public schools? They can either enroll them in private schools, although there is no assurance that the State won’t pressure them to bend to the will of the new state religion.
Or they can home school.
But even home schooling is under attack by the Obama administration who wants to impose national graduation requirements. The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) is up in arms. Their Director of Federal Relations, Will Estrada, expressed the two threats to home schoolers’ freedom:
“The first one is very simply the Federal government taking on the role of telling the states when students should graduate or when they should stay in school until,” adding that “the more we see Federal involvement telling the states what to do with education policy [the more] it threatens the freedom of all parents, particularly home schoolers to educate their children.”
“But the second and more visceral danger for home schoolers is how it could effect with a definition what is a ‘graduation’.”
“Let’s say they graduate from a home school program at age 17, would that be under the Federal definition graduation from high school?”
You may say that graduation requirements have nothing to do with “gender identity.” You are correct, unless the government begins to impose specific, offensive curriculums on home schoolers. You are correct, unless the government begins imposing other ridiculous standards that home schoolers find offensive.
The Left wants their religion firmly established in every school, every precinct, every state. They want their catechism nailed to the wall of every public institution in the land.
They are systematically accomplishing their goal.
The rate of their success is breathtaking.
Reblogged this on Eyes Wide Open and commented:
Very good! Something to think about.
Thank-you, come again.
There is a reason why many conservative Christians don’t want their children exposed to children of gay parents. It would be hard to tell your five year old that he can’t play with Billy because his moms are lesbians and they are going to burn in hell for eternity for their sins. Eventually the kid will see that Billy is like any other kid who loves his parents as they love him – which may make him question why a loving God could throw Billy’s parents (perhaps even Billy) into a lake of fire for eternity.
Loving God. Lake of Fire. Eternity.
Bob: I think you misunderstand some things here. God doesn’t condemn Billy’s “mothers” to “burn in hell for eternity for their sins.” If that were the case, then not a single Catholic would make it into Heaven, because we’re all sinners. No exceptions. We are all every bit as cursed by sin as Billy’s two “mothers” are, as Charlie Manson is, as Osama bin Laden was, as Adolf Hitler was.
What may seem even more bizarre is that God loves ALL of them: Hitler, bin Laden, Manson, you, Billy’s “mothers” and me — the same.
He yearns for us to do what we ALL need to do — including Billy’s “mothers” — and REPENT of our sins, ask for forgiveness, and turn our hearts, minds and souls back to Him. If each of the aforementioned figures had done that, or does that, before death, each would have gone, or would go, to Heaven…no exceptions, not even for Billy’s “mothers.”
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that Billy’s “mothers” just can’t escape their infernal fate because they are “living in sin,” as the expression goes. The sin is homosexual relations…there’s nothing wrong with two women living together. They OUGHT to try to lead a celibate lifestyle…heck if only for health reasons!
Brief digression It’s funny how biblical injunctions tend to make sense on a number of different levels: on a very practical level, homosexuality is a VERY unhealthful “lifestyle.” For men, it could be fairly characterized as a “deathstyle.” Gay men’s lifespans are dramatically shorter than hetero lifespans. End of digression.
Back to Billy’s “moms” and a celibate life. Bob: I hear your skepticism, and I think it might be preventing you from understanding something else about God. When you turn your heart and mind and soul to Him, you realize you can conquer any urge, or desire or impulse. It’s not always easy, but it’s very doable. Many gay people have done so. And many gay people have “fallen off the wagon,” and got right back on the wagon. God welcomes them back each time — as if they’d never left.
The Catholic faith teaches a simple truth about sexual relations: the only proper sexual relations are between a man and his wife. This is HARDLY radical, out-of-the-mainstream thinking…I’d venture to wager you’d prefer that for YOUR children…Most people do. ESPECIALLY those who participated in the “free love” ’60’s. Boy! Talk about a misnomer! Love IS free, but not in the way intended by the expression!
The point is: God knows we’re imperfect; We know we’re imperfect — the remedy is NOT to turn our backs and pout and say, “Oh, well…guess I’m imperfect so I’m just going to Hell!” And the remedy SURE as heck isn’t to blame God, or deny His existence because WE know we’re imperfect or doing something wrong! Talk about biting off your nose to spite your face!
The remedy is to repent, to try as hard as we can to live the life that Jesus commanded us to live and to turn our hearts and minds and souls resolutely to God. When we do that, we can have the “peace that passeth all understanding” in our lives.
Bob, I think I hear the conflict in you…and I think it’s because when you imagine God, you seem to envision a cruel, arbitrary, inflexible tyrant. You might think differently if you consider Him from this perspective: God is our Father…He didn’t create us to disobey Him and turn our backs on Him, but he allows us to.
What would YOU think would happen to YOU if, when you die, you haven’t turned BACK to be with Him? Bob: If you’ve moved out of your Father’s house, He DOESN’T force you to move back in! It’s YOUR choice! If you’ve turned your back on Him and walked away, he doesn’t send angels after you to drag you back. He gives you the free will to abandon Him, but he still DEEPLY wants you back. He ALWAYS wants you back.
It seems as if God — as you think He is — is always forcing us to obey His will and to straitjacket ourselves into His narrow, inflexible rules. Nothing could be further from the truth. The point is he doesn’t force you to do ANYTHING you don’t want to do. If you decide you want to turn your back and walk away, sorrowfully, He lets you…but He always welcomes you back…when you come back, that is.
What if you never come back, and then you die. Serious question: You’ve willfully said you want out of God’s life, and now you die. Should He force you back? THAT would be a tyrant.
Look, I realize I’m on some thin theological ice here, because you also seem to think that Hell is a burning lake and all that dramatic stuff. I figure that Hell is easier to define than that: I think it’s the absence of God and of His love. You’ve told Him to go take a hike, so he does, and He, as you’ve requested, is absent. I think that’s Hell. Whatever OTHER form or forms it takes, I’ll leave to the REAL theologians. 🙂
Play a little thought game with me: Imagine you have a son, and he grows up and moves out, to the other side of town. But he doesn’t ever come home to help you with chores or keep you company, he never calls, never writes…gone. How do you feel?
When we pray (that’s calling and writing and keeping company), when we believe (that’s being close), when we ACT as Christians (that’s helping Dad with the chores).
But if we do NONE of that, then we’ve left Him. How SHOULD He feel?
Viewed in THAT light, God is a loving, caring Father, yearning for the return of his prodigal son.
And it’s what we’re taught in the Catholic faith. I believe it.
Best,
— x
What a beautiful response xpraetorious. Thank you!
We get together with a group every Wednesday morning from 7 – 9 am in a coffee shop to study the teachings of the church. Today we were discussing the paragraphs that deal with how as Christians we are called to lead a moral life, and to follow Christ and the moral law.
Someone brought up how people misunderstand these moral laws as being about God, and the church, trying to restrict our freedom and keep us from doing the things we want to do. As if God wants to keep us from having any fun.
But that is so far from the truth. The laws of God and the Church are given to us as gifts because God wants us to be happy and he KNOWS what makes people happy. Living immoral lives might give us momentary pleasure, but it will decidedly NOT make us happy.
I looked around the table this morning and saw a group of people who are happy and full of true joy. Everyone there has had some sort of serious struggle, every one of them is a sinner, but they know where their true home is and know that is where they want to go.
There isn’t a single one of them you wouldn’t like and want to get to know Bob. There isn’t a single one of them who you would feel judged by. But every one of them would want to try to give you this great and glorious gift we have because we are excited about it.
Bob, seriously???? If you actually find a Christian who would say that Billy’s two mothers are going to “burn in hell for their sins”, I want you to let me know. It is a very rare Christian that would use those terms.
I believe in hell, and there will certainly be people who go to hell, but I would NEVER say that anyone is going to burn in hell for a particular sin. We are not afraid to call sin when we see it, but it is up to God to be the judge of the individual.
You have a very distorted view of what Christianity is. I am telling you. I hang out with a lot of Christians, and what you describe as Christianity is way, way, way off base. It is like the only info you have about Christians is from the comics.
Of course there are some nutcases who make the news who call themselves Christian. Let me tell you, there are some pretty bad eggs who call themselves atheists as well.
A. The killing of innocents is evil and can never be justified. It is an absolute truth.
Or
B. Sometimes, the killing of innocents is necessary. Why else would God have commanded genocide in the Bible? (Even pregnant women and children)
If you believe in a Biblical God, then A cannot be true so therefore B would be true, and you would be admitting you really don’t understand why God does what he does – at least not completely.
We would have to admit that there can be exceptions to any of God’s rules. Who is to say that abortion is not part of God’s plan? Like slavery, which was justified then but not today, who can say that homosexuality (which once was seen as unacceptable behavior) is now acceptable? Perhaps, God thinks we have evolved enough now to be ready for gay marriage. Until God appears before us and tells us otherwise, who is to say?
We as a civilized people have evolved considerably in the last 4000 years. The Bible reflects the morality back then, whether OT or NT. Either murder of innocents is evil and has always has been or it is not. If God cannot live within his own rules, then everything as we know it becomes questionable and changeable by a God we clearly don’t understand. How can you base a Biblical morality on that?
Bob: I felt I had to respond to this one too. Again, I think there’s just a lot that you are misunderstanding here. You wrote a long post, so I’ll try to tackle it succinctly, but might drift into loquacity. My apologies in advance!
First: the difference between the Old Testament and the New. Don’t forget that the LAWS have never changed from the day of all creation to today. There are no exceptions or changes to God’s rules. Jesus made that very clear. However, Jesus’s selfless sacrifice means that now we can break those laws and obtain forgiveness. That — the New Covenant — is the HUGE difference between the Old Testament and the New. THAT allows your “A” and “B” to coexist in history. Jesus represents — at the same time — perfect continuity with the Old Testament, and a clean break with the Old Testament. He embodies a radical change in our relationship with God.
Before Jesus, you’re right, God had moments of severity and anger; after Jesus death and resurrection, God offered us this New Covenant. Because Jesus was a full, perfect and complete expiation for our sins, we have this New Covenant. Without Jesus’ sacrifice, we couldn’t have had it. Jesus, literally, made it possible for every person on the face of the Earth — from the most angelic child to the most hideous mass murderer — to come to God and eventually to go to Heaven.
Also, now, in this time of the New Covenant, as you said, “A” is true: the killing of innocents is evil and can never be justified. This explains the pretty simple conclusion that abortion is wrong: no one can prove that “the fetus” is not a genuine human life. All scientist in all disciplines agree — no exceptions — that this “fetus” IS human life. Is “it” A human life? Absent clear and incontrovertible proof that “it” is NOT a human being in full, you simply can’t be SURE you’re not — in your words — killing an innocent.
Bob: in our legal system we DEMAND proof “beyond a reasonable doubt” before we sentence a lawbreaker to PAROLE for cyrin’ out loud! Yet, without anything that ever remotely removed reasonable doubt, we kill millions of pre-born babies every year. It’s pretty easy to see why abortion is a serious moral wrong.
Your example of slavery being justified is a misunderstanding also. There is no endorsement of slavery in the Bible’s admonition to treat one’s slaves with decency. Just as the abolition of slavery in the United States required a bloody civil war, the institution of slavery was so intertwined with contemporaneous societies that to abolish it would have meant to turn society upside down.
The recognition of that reality does NOT constitute an endorsement of it. The Bible also speaks of our sins, of our pettinesses and cruelties and immaturities, as part of OUR realities. That doesn’t mean that God justifies them. God tells us to love our enemies, which doesn’t mean that He either justifies them or that we should justify them…simply that they are part of our reality, and God is telling how we are to relate to them.
You did say something that is absolutely correct: we don’t understand completely why God does what He does. God is infinite, we’re not…our finiteness makes it so that, by definition, we can’t understand everything. It’s why we have faith.
You have faith too, Bob. I could name a million things in which you have complete faith. Things large and small, ranging from: “the sun will rise tomorrow morning,” and “when I throw this ball in the air, it will fall to the ground,” to: “Jupiter will continue to go around the sun, our solar system will continue to move around the Milky Way, the Milky Way will continue on in the local cluster, and so on…for a very, very long time to come.”
Think about it for a moment: if you didn’t have COMPLETE faith in just ONE of those last items I mentioned, your VERY understanding of the universe and your place in it would be turned upside down, and you certainly couldn’t lead your life as you lead it now.
Bob: You said: “We as a civilized people have evolved considerably in the last 4000 years.” Oh? I see no evidence of it. We play with more sophisticated toys, but have our states of mind changed at all? It would be nice if we could say that — as a species! — we’re better, nicer, kinder, more humane, move loving, more merciful, more forgiving and some of us are. But, you’d better read this carefully: ALL these wonderful characteristics have increased ONLY in the areas that have been dominated by Judeo-Christian values. All the “evolution” you say you have observed has occurred BECAUSE of the adoption of Judeo-Christian values. All of it. No exceptions.
In every OTHER part of the world — where there has been NO influence from Judeo-Christian values — I don’t see any evidence whatsoever of the slightest improvement in humanity. I suspect you don’t either. And lots of places are either exactly the same as millennia ago or — China, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, for example — WORSE than in the past.
God DOES live within His own rules…He’s been perfectly consistent through all time. He doesn’t have to…He’s God, after all, but he has been. Never once has He given the slightest hint of any inconsistency. Even Jesus — the radical break with the past that he is — was promised to us.
One more thing on that topic: states of mind HAVE changed, but not what is right and wrong. What was wrong at the time of man’s creation is wrong now. What was right at the time of man’s creation is right now. We may be more or less “approving” or “tolerant” of it, but if it was wrong then, it’s wrong now. Whether or not WE’VE changed, IT hasn’t, and it’s still wrong. Things like homosexuality, for example. It doesn’t change the fact that we are commanded to love the gay person!
Bob: I hear your struggle; I’ve been there. I had all the same doubts, and am prey to doubts now…Why? My faith isn’t perfect, because I’m not perfect. I DO know one thing: Everything I’ve EVER prayed for — and I’ve prayed for a LOT — for myself, has been answered. Usually not as I envisioned it, or even as I had prayed for it, but always, and always better than when I prayed for it.
I challenge you to try it. No need to tell anyone you’re doing it, but do it. Pray for help, for peace for answers, for forgiveness, patience, happiness, love, mercy, growth… for anything that you think or recognize that you need…Ask for it all, but be open and ready to receive it. Then, be open and ready to be grateful.
If you do that, and you ARE open to His response, you WILL get that response, and it WILL be better than you imagined…
Best,
— x
Thanks for such a comprehensive response.
By definition, secular is the opposite of religion:
Secular – “Denoting attitudes, activities, or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis”
Religion – “The belief in and worship of a God or gods.”
Theism – “A belief in a God or Gods.”
Atheism – “No belief in a God or Gods.”
In this article, you try to show atheism as a religion because then it can be easily attacked but by definition it doesn’t hold up:
Atheism as a religion – “A belief in no belief in a God or Gods.” Logically it cancels itself out. We are all atheists on some degree. Christians are atheists when it comes to their belief in Thor. We don’t say you belong to a non-Thor religion.
Although anti-theists (belief in no God or Gods) are a small minority within the group of atheists, they are the easiest to attack and so many mislabel all atheists as anti-theists. For a person to prove there is no God cannot be proven any more than a person can prove there is. It comes down to faith.
You have questioned why I would care what you think, but you want to take your personal religious beliefs and control the lives of others who do not follow the same beliefs, and you want to do it all on YOUR faith – disregarding theirs.
Here are a few definitions of a religion:
– a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects:
– the body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices.
Secular humanism sounds like a religion to me.
And by the way, atheism is not necessarily the same as secular humanism. They might or might not cross over in their belief systems.
This goes hand in hand with recent statement on MSnbc about your children not belong to you but to the community!
Scary.
And the Common Core
Keeping spreading God’s truth and telling it like it is. ~ God Bless You ~
Thanks for reading. Come again.
Reblogged this on Virtually Speaking… and commented:
This blogger gives us all some very good points to think about.
I reblogged this post. Thank you for writing about this topic. I gives everyone some things to think about.
Thanks for the re-blog. I predict a growing conflict between the federal government and home schoolers. Hope I’m wrong.
If you haven’t all read the link Tom included, I suggest you do so. Skip ahead to the part about the standards. It will make you sick.