Belle Plaine last year faced an attempt by militant Atheists to remove a Cross from the Veterans' War Memorial. Frustrated in that attempt, the Town Council has now approved a plan to erect a Satanic monument on the site.
The new monument is called the Baphometic Bowl of Wisdom and is a jet-black steel cube with inverted Satanic pentagrams etched into the sides and a black upside-down soldier's helmet planted on top. Nothing like High Art in the Prozac Nation.
As it happens, the US is in the middle of some iconoclasm. Memorials dedicated to the Confederacy are being pulled down all over the South. A statue of General Lee is offensive, whereas statues of Satan are considered enlightened and progressive. Regardless of what one thinks of the former Confederacy, it wasn't exactly wholly demonic and did reconcile with the United States after the Civil War. The Devil has never stopped trying to destroy America.
These kinds of contradictions though don't occur to the postmodern Ameroboob. Currently, for example, the President is visiting a State Sponsor of Terrorism after bombing a country which has given more fighting the Jihad than other. Trump and Tillerson spoke in Riyadh of religious toleration before a government which two days before had destroyed two Shiite mosques.
It's illegal in Saudi Arabia to practice Christianity; in fact Saudi forces have ethnically cleansed Christians in parts of Yemen, as well as in Syria and Iraq via proxies. The President also stated that countries like Saudi Arabia are partners in fighting terrorism in spite of the fact that every Jihadist terror attack against the US since 1993 has been connected to Saudi Arabia. Iran was denounced as a world threat although Iran hasn't attacked the US, protects religious minorities like Christians, and has been recognized by the UN as a leader in fighting terrorism and organized crime.
In such a cultural milieu, it's unsurprising that Satan should become an object of public worship. This is a country after all where the nation's most famous Catholic school stages a disgraceful protest during a commencement address by the Catholic Vice-President of the United States. Trash Culture has affected even Notre Dame.
Luckily for most Americans though, Saudi Arabia is also a major exporter of illegal Methamphetamines. While it may still be a downer to have a statue of Satan in the town square, after a few pills nobody really cares.
I think Notre Dame was lost a long time ago, although I couldn't pinpoint a single event that triggered its decline. What a miracle it would be if they would ever clean house. American Catholicism would be transformed.
ReplyDeleteHaving spent a much time in the Midwest in my younger days I understand fully what Notre Dame football meant to so many immigrant Catholics (and not just Irish Catholics) during Rockne's time - and their sons during Leahy's time and for many seasons thereafter - and the reasons why it did. The CINO libtard cesspool that this school has become reflects the larger culture. Fr. Sorin must be rolling in his grave. Try to tell that to a brainwashed "Domer" though - they will defend their apostate CINO cult to the death. I am depressed just writing this, ugh.
Well said---the leading American Catholic universities Notre Dame, CUA, Gonzaga, Holy Cross etc. are all shadows of their former selves. It's a big problem---I wish that Francis would give it the same attention as Benedict was. The former Pope recognized the problem and was starting to address it when he resigned.
DeleteCUA is still on the Newman Society's list - note how short the list is, particularly when you think about the large number of "Catholic" colleges and universities in the U.S. (I can easily name 30 or 40 off the top of my head):
Deletehttps://cardinalnewmansociety.org/recommended-colleges/
I do believe we are entering the final days. Unlike you, I think Francis is part of the problem - but we will have to respectfully disagree on that point :-)
Well, I seem to be in a minority supporting Francis anyway.
DeleteJustice Alito recently gave a speech at St. Charles Borremeo Seminary in Philadelphia warning incoming priests that religious liberty is under attack in the US. The story's on CNA but I don't have the link handy.
I'm on the road at the moment. I drove by this today:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.johncollinsauctioneers.com/commercial/ConventofMercyButtevantCoCork.html
This is not an anomaly but part of an overarching trend:
http://www.irishexaminer.com/property/commercial/well-kept-convent-a-godsend-for-225000-337647.html
http://www.irishtimes.com/business/commercial-property/ursuline-convent-conversion-in-cork-for-3-75m-1.2133707
The conquest of Ireland is nearly complete it seems - a mere 800 years it took.
I just learned today from Roger Buck that there is a new Irish Conservative forum.
ReplyDeletehttp://corjesusacratissimum.org/2017/05/getting-personal-ireland-and-more/
I couldn't get any traction with MAGA Ireland, but maybe these guys will have better luck:
http://irishconservative.freeforums.net/thread/12/new-right-ireland
Thank you for the positive endorsement. Actually, according to the statistics, we have a lot of readers from Ireland---even more than Britain which is a larger country.
DeleteCome on over to that Irish Conservative forum. Your insights would really be welcome there. It's small, but the participants are very smart and concerned with the same issues we are, and very civil. Moreover it seems like more than a talking shop. I could spend a lifetime reading interesting articles in the Orthosphere whilst nothing around me changes, and in fact deteriorates. I want to know how we can have an impact in the concrete world, not just in the world of ideas.
DeleteI learned today that Cork is filled with a disproportionate number of Marian shrines, some of them quite big. I will have to try to source why that is, presuming there is a logical reason.