www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall 1960s and the Revolution

Gay marriages, church sex scandals, ACLU's war on religion, ban on Ten Commandments, ban on Nativity scene on town/city squares, demands for Catholic healthcare to offer abortion, cr*p on TV, anti-Christianity, etc.

Are we living at the beginning of another cultural revolution that will outdo the 1960s?

Joe

I believe we are living at the beginning of revival in America. Where sin abounds God's mercy abounds even more. If we lift our hearts and mind in prayer and thanksgiving to our Creator, we will see His abundant mercy in our day. The only way the wrongs of man can be changed!

LORD JESUS CHRIST, SON OF GOD, HAVE MERCY ON US SINNERS!

Dear Pani Rose,

Your posts are always so spiritually uplifting...Thank you dear sister in Christ!

Let us all pray that we are indeed, living in the early days of revival rather than the early days of our total demise.

Wishing you and yours a most blessed Lenten journey,
Alice

No you're just living in a secular state with freedom of religion and freedom of speech even for non-believers...

Get over it!

Christian

Dear OrthodoxSWE

As far as I know the USA is in a less bad situation if compared to the nations under the UE yoke. In the USA, even when most people belong to Protestant sects they are still more church-going and there's a movement of people who hold some kind of traditional values.

It's interesting how secular humanism applied on government institutions attacks Christians in particular, while Hinduism, Buddhism and foreign religions are the ones who take advantage of the situation.

Dear Mexican,

for startes, all the member states of the European Union are democratic countries that has voluntarily decided to be a part of the EU. The EU is no more a "yoke" in Europe than the Federal Government of Mexico is in your country.

I agree than Americans are probably more church-going than the population of most EU-countries (except for Ireland, Poland and Malta).

But that was not my issue, I was arguing that this church-going Christian majority (if it is majority?) should not be allowed to force it's religion on US citizens of other religions. The US constitution clearly separates Chruch and state, and then American Muslims, Buddhists and Atheists should not have have to be confronted with the 10 commandments in a court house which belong to them too.

Or how would you feel if a Muslim Judge somewhere in the US decided to put a big version of the Qu'ran in the lobby of his court house?

You want a Nativity scene on public grounds, for example in front of city hall? Would you also except that they put up a banner on city hall stating "There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is His prophet" during Ramadan?

It's interesting how secular humanism applied on government institutions attacks Christians in particular, while Hinduism, Buddhism and foreign religions are the ones who take advantage of the situation.

I didn't think there was such a thing as "foreign" religion in the US. Doesn't the US constitution give all citizens equal right regardless of religion and ethnic origin?

Or do you want the US to return to the time when only a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant was considered a "true" American?

Mexican,

freedom of religion means freedom for the followers of ALL religions, not just YOUR religion!

Christian

Some of us (including myself) enjoyed the nineteen-sixties. And even managed to do so without abandoning the Church.
Does freedom of religion mean freedom for ALL religion? Now there's a difficult question. The USA mostly bans simultaneous polygamy, despite various religions which enjoin this practice. It is unlikely that American courts would refrain from prosecuting somebody who had committed bodily harm on somebody else, on the basis that both parties were adherents of strict Islamic law and therefore were only following their religious convictions and precepts. Still less would American jurisprudence grant an exemption from the general law to the worshippers of the "goddess" Kali.
I could go on at length, but that will do for the moment.
Incognitus

It's mind boggling that anyone would ever think that the United States is too Christian, but if anyone does, I'd be more than happy to help them pack.

Hm, well down here we do have Nativity scenes on the courthouse lawn...as well as a Confederate soldier facing north, as well as an eternal flame commemorating all the Confederate soldiers, as well as angels harkening Christ's birth in the windows of the Courthouse, etc....

...And the best part is: no one cares and no one is offended because down here it's a homogeneous utopia of Church and State interrelation.

Logos Teen

I'm not sure what the connection between religious expression and monuments to the Confederacy is. Unless you count Southern ancestor worship as an American form of Shinto. There is a a statue of Robert E. Lee about half a block form my church (I live in Richmond, VA) and whenever there is a ceremony at the statue, I chase the Sons of the Confedacy out of our parking lot ..if they don't leave, we have them towed

Hi OrthodoxSWE

I can't really talk about the United States because it's a very heterogenous society and there are many religions. The majority is still Christian though. All Christian denominations there do celebrate Christmas publicaly for example, so why would they not express their feelings if they're the original inhabitants of that country?

The case of Mexico is even worse. Here nearly all the population is Catholic Christian and for years a small minority of liberals (during the XIX) and Communists (XX) imposed their own "no religion" view to the people. Now they're gone but many of their laws remain.

Why must this national majority stop expressing their nationality and religion in their own country just because a minority of Evangelical or Muslim people (whose religions and ideas are totaly foreign and alien to this country) can get offended?

Eastern Europe countries and their Orthodox Churches are doing the right thing now: restoring the status of national religion to their Orthodox Church. Some Catholics are doing the same, like Slovenia and Croatia.

The Roman Church wants its status as national church in Mexico to be restored, as the repairation of a historical injustice. Even though I am Orthodox myself I support this because the RC has always been a symbol of authority and order and Catholic culture has been important for the national identity.

Mexican,

Christians aren't the original inhabitants of the US. And, it would best if the mainstream Christian majority didn't do to those of other religions in this country what we did to its original inhabitants just because they were different from us.

Many years,

Neil

I must admit that I had not thought of "Southern ancestor worship as an American form of Shinto", but the suggestion delights me! Back in 1961, the fraternity house next to mine had the amazing custom of flying the Confederate flag on Memorial Day. As a result, my own fraternity house developed the custom of demonstrating outside the neighboring Confederate-flag-topped lair, while we sang "John Brown's Body Lies a-Mouldering in the Grave". An extra chorus and three cheers for our brother who chases the belated Confederates out of the church parking lot!
Lest I seem biased, however (who? me?) I should mention that my mother had a friend who really was descended from the Southern aristocracy. It was this lady's pleasant and amusing custom to drop into conversations on social occasions the assertion that her grandfather had been the only private in the Confederate army!
But all is not lost - does anyone remember Tom Lehrer's version of "Dixie"?

The problem isn't that Americans are too Christian, the problem is that some does not respect the separation between Church and State.

And your attitude is very symtomatic of this: "If they don't like the fact that we, the Class A Americans (Christians), are forcing our religion on them, the Class B Americans (non-Christians), they can leave..."

Christian

And this means in many cases, for example in Russia, to restrict the freedom of religion for Catholics.

Do you think this is right?

Christian