Is Secularism a Bigger Threat than Islam?

Thursday, November 18, 2010 Is Secularism a Greater Threat to the West than Islam? John Zmirak Last week, I pointed readers to the fascinating debate between Robert Spencer and Peter Kreeft on the subject of Islam, promising to offer my own reflections later. If you haven't yet watched the debate, go bookmark it now, and when you sit down to watch it, prepare to be . . . unsettled. Pour yourself a bourbon and keep the rest of the bottle ready. The truths this exchange turned up left all of us squirming in our seats -- especially the students and young couples in the audience. As they learned, a child born tomorrow will grow up in a world where two hostile forces will face off in what used to be Christendom. The first of those forces is Islam, which from its foundation is intrinsically as much a political ideology as a religion, a system for governing human society committed to imposing across the world what it holds to be the will of God. Read more Daily Meditations to Make Your Advent More Fruitful With his inspiring new booklet, Prepare the Way: Daily Meditations for Advent, Dr. Ron Thomas provides a 27-step path along which you can journey more deeply into Jesus’ loving heart, and through which Jesus can travel more deeply into yours in return. Order today, and you’ll receive this gorgeous booklet plus a companion CD recorded by the author for $1.   Click Here for details.   Theology of the Boy Marjorie Campbell Who is to blame for the suicides of teenage boys "struggling with sexual identity" that have been so highly publicized in the last two months? If we are to believe many media sources, primary blame rests on bullying peers. But I wonder: Is the homosexual community -- and the Catholic Church -- ignoring the darker, disturbing possibility that early sexualization and labeling of same-sex attracted adolescents drives these children into a secret despair? Suicide among teenagers appears to be on the rise. In 2004, suicide was the third highest cause of death for persons aged 10 to 24 years in the United States, amounting to 4,599 deaths. This came as a surprise, since the suicide rate in this age group had previously been on a steady decline. No consensus seems to explain the sudden increase noted in 2004, though the current media coverage focuses on bullying and, specifically, peer bullying of boys "because they were gay or because people thought they were gay." Read more On Dark Places Arturo Vasquez Recently, I encountered an online discussion among Catholic converts and Protestants that strayed into the topic of the St. Joseph house-selling kit. It was meant to be a sort of "gotcha!" moment for Catholics defending the cult of the saints. While I have no intention of going into the arguments concerning this particular practice, I will say that I have never been overly scandalized by it. While even cradle Catholics sometimes view this sort of thing as the antics of the black sheep of the family, on one level it has always struck me as perfectly normal -- maybe a little off the grid, but normal. That might be due to my upbringing. Read more From the Blog... Meet the new vice president of the USCCB. You're going to like him. What do your favorite shows say about you? Best weapon against bullying? Babies. Is the 'late late Mass' a good idea? The Politics of Biblical Archaeology. Is the presidency too big a job for one person?

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