{"id":3104,"date":"2016-09-27T21:24:07","date_gmt":"2016-09-27T21:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/?p=3104"},"modified":"2016-09-30T06:48:33","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T06:48:33","slug":"a-perilous-political-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/a-perilous-political-time\/","title":{"rendered":"A Perilous Political Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It is a truly dangerous crossroad in U.S. history, and politics is among the many “signs of the times.” <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the unavoidable race for the presidency are two candidates who as an amalgam present concerns about honesty, selflessness, humility, charity, greed, anger, materialism, and even occultism, the latter addressed in a recent “special report<\/a><\/span>” about an encounter with one of the candidates in the mid-1980s that left an unusually oppressive sensation even a “new” Christian could detect as akin to dark ritual. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This candidate is not an option for president and with the aura of abortion (blood sacrifice) could beckon natural disasters. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Rather than condemnation, prayer is needed; this candidate had a difficult childhood. The other may usher in social uprising. (Actually, this will probably occur with either.) Recall the Paschal vow to reject “the glamour of evil.”<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

For certain, neither candidate is haimish to the public-at-large and division already is more intense — as is obfuscation and vitriol in the public discourse — than at any time since the Viet Nam War and perhaps even further back (to the Civil one?). The “f-word” is used at rallies. There are scuffles. As for truth: there are no more objective media. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Folks these days — Democrat or Republican or Libertarian or whatever — too often decide what they want the truth to be and listen to nothing that doesn’t bolster that preconception. Never has there been such rancor, nastiness, and stridency.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This — division and confusion — is a hallmark of the enemy.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

So is persecution.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The intense involvement<\/a><\/span> in this election\u00a0of Planned Parenthood — which was founded by an occultist\/eugenicist — \u00a0is one of the very most chilling developments.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

And so: perilous times.<\/span> Does it come down to the Supreme Court? Are there other overarching issues?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

If one candidate is elected, frets a Catholic intellectual, George Weigel, “What\u2019s coming is an administration in which the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services will argue in the federal courts that religious freedom in full\u2014religious communities conducting their affairs and providing needed care for the weakest in our society according to their religious convictions about the moral life\u2014is misogynist and homophobic, a mask behind which lurk irrational biases that cannot be countenanced in law.”<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, if the opponent<\/a><\/span> wins?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

One is tempted to tune out;<\/span> every nuance of every issue in our time is eristic. And the absence of reliable facts — of truth — makes perilous times that much more precarious.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Notes another writer, David Mills:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

“Watching the debates just isn\u2019t a good use of time. But there\u2019s a Catholic reason to do something else. The debates work as part of a system that turns politics into a sporting event, the better to capture and hold people\u2019s love. Or, better, into a substitute religion \u2014 a faith in things unseen that will bring us a kind of salvation. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The debates are one of that system\u2019s rituals and ceremonies.\u00a0We almost inevitably find ourselves treating politics as ultimate. It\u2019s the way our minds and souls are wired. The world is too much with us, we have given our hearts away. We quickly become passionate about politics and more passionate than we tend to be about the Faith.\u00a0Look at how quickly even the devout Catholic will leap to the defense of his candidate and how assertive he will be, compared with how slowly and quietly he comes to the defense of Pius XII, say, or Mother Teresa, or his pastor” [full story here<\/a><\/span>].<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

When we are nasty, we reveal more about ourselves than about the person we are being nasty about.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Some headlines in the past day:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Chelsea Clinton pans Trump dig at dad<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

First lady: Vote for an adult<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Comey on Clinton email probe: ‘Don’t call us weasels’<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Former Miss Universe derided by Trump as ‘Miss Piggy’<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Enabler or cheater?<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hillary\u2019s Debate Prop Turns Out to be Porn Actress<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the nicer stuff.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

To turn on the radio or Twitter, in however a fleeting way, is to hear a barrage of insults: words like “slimy” and (even from network TV commentators) others that can not here be repeated (or even abbreviated).<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the lurch<\/span> and rancor and division — the noise — is the future of a country founded on what was once, in governance and discourse, but no more, authentic Christianity.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yet above it all, we look at the logs in our own eyes, and we look to the teachings of Jesus, and perhaps those who have “life reviews” in near-death experiences; for they all seem to share one message. “As I drifted away, there was only one overwhelming question, not asked by a voice, but with energy that echoed into every cell of my being,” writes one. “The question was simply, ‘To what degree have you learned to love?’<\/em>“<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s a question for each of us as well as each of the candidates.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[Return to Spirit Daily<\/a><\/span>]<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

[Join us at our upcoming San Francisco Retreat on October 29; details here<\/a><\/span>]<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

[Special reports<\/a><\/span>]<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

[Bookstore main page<\/a><\/span>]<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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It is a truly dangerous crossroad in U.S. history, and politics is among the many “signs of the times.” In.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[283,424],"class_list":{"0":"post-3104","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-commentary","7":"tag-donald-trump","8":"tag-perilous-time","9":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3104\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}