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The Blanket - A Journal of Protest & Dissent

Shared Ultra Conservatism

The new Pope Benedict XVI is more Protestant in some of his doctrines than the liberal 'wets' in some of the mainstream Protestant denominations.

Dr John Coulter • 25 April 2005

Benedict the 16th is a pope Protestantism can do business with, so fundamentalists should shelve their propaganda the pontiff represents the Biblical Anti-Christ and join forces on issues both can benefit from.

Benedict's predecessor, John Paul the Great, did much to encourage the Evangelical Catholic movement, especially in Ireland and Africa. He pushed Scriptural unity rather than ecumenical structural unity between the various Christian denominations.

With his background in the Hitler Youth and his role as John Paul's doctrinal enforcer, Benedict's image as a religious 'hard man' will stand him in good stead in his bid to re-establish the Catholic pulpit as a place of moral responsibility, not public ridicule.

The big fear was that the cardinals would elect a theologically liberal 'wet', who would go soft on crucial issues such as abortion, homosexuality, human cloning, GM foods, same-sex marriages, radical Islam, and gay clergy.

Whilst Benedict's election may not please the Catholic Church's liberals, especially in the United States and Europe, let's hope he is not forced to compromise his ultra-conservative stance on spiritual issues which are just as important to fundamentalist Protestants.

Viewed as a close ally of the late John Paul, there are two elements of the late pontiff's legacy which Benedict must ensure are not swept under the clerical carpet. Although John Paul is less than a month dead, his critics have already accused him of not acting tough on the issue of paedophile priests.

This issue has done more damage to the confidence of ordinary Catholics in their clergy than pluralism or commercialism. Benedict needs to ensure victims of clergy abuse are financially and spiritually compensated, and convicted paedophile clergy are excommunicated from the Church.

If Benedict maintains his tough line on opposing homosexuality and the ordination of gay clergy, it will lend weight to Protestants within the worldwide Anglican Communion - especially in England and America - who are facing similar challenges.

John Paul is credited with breaking the back of communism in Europe. Benedict must continue this campaign and wipe the scourge of atheistic communism from other nations, such as Zimbabwe, North Korea, China and South America.

John Paul was tough on those who preached and supported liberation theology - Benedict should stamp it out altogether.

With the growth globally in mystic religions, crazy cults, and the occult generally, now is the time for Catholicism and Protestantism to unite spiritually against these anti-Christian movements.

Benedict should kick off his first year as pontiff by hosting a worldwide convention on how the Christian churches can stamp out anti-Biblical heresy and blasphemy.
Opposing paganism, New Age religions and witchcraft cults is surely an issue upon which even Ian Paisley's Free Presbyterians and Benedict's ultra-conservatives could form a united front.

Ironically, Benedict in parts of his doctrine is more Protestant than some liberal 'wets' within the Church of Ireland, Irish Methodism and even mainstream Irish Presbyterianism.

Protestantism can also unite with Benedict in a global campaign to help mainstream moderate Islam combat the threat posed by radical Muslim fundamentalism.

Just as Islamic fanatics are looking to Saladin, the radical leader who founded the concept of the 'jihad' (holy war) during the Crusades of the Middle Ages, so too must Benedict look to the heroes of the First Crusade who liberated the holy city of Jesusalem from militant Muslim control.

Benedict and Protestant fundamentalism must also marshal their respective forces to fight another dangerous 'ism' facing Christianity - historical revisionism. To placate radical muslims, there is even a perception some parts of the media are indulging in a revisionist attitude towards the Crusades of the Middle Ages.

This is by painting Christendom's heroes, such as Richard the Lionheart, as a psychotic murderer, whilst the real mass killers, such as the butcher Saladin, are portrayed as caring and compassionate leaders of their people.

It should not be forgotten many of today's radical muslim extremists find inspiration for their suicide slaughter tactics in Saladin's original 'jihad' of the late 1180s to capture the Christian city of Jerusalem.

Just a few weeks before capturing Jerusalem, Saladin murdered thousands of Christian knights in a slaughter which was to spark the Third Crusade.

Radical Islamics seem to conveniently overlook that Saladin butchered thousands of his own muslim people in his tyrannical lust for power across Egypt, Syria and Arabia in the decade before the fateful Third Crusade.

His decision to attack the Christian citadel of Jerusalem was prompted more to prevent a coup in his own ranks rather than progress the cause of radical Islam. His move on the Holy City (to both Christians and muslims alike) came almost 90 years after it had fallen to Christendom during the bloody First Crusade.

For Christianity, the city is holy because it was where Jesus Christ was welcomed as he rode in on a donkey in what the Christian calendar now celebrates as Palm Sunday.

For muslims, the city is equally holy because it was where their prophet Mohammed reportedly went to heaven to see God.

By 1187, Saladin's reputation was more notorious as a butcher of fellow muslims than attacking Christendom. His decision to attack Jerusalem that year was also fuelled by the fact European Christianity was so politically fragmented, he could take a gamble on attacking the city without fear of retaliation from a Christian army.

More than eight centuries after Saladin's blood bath, the relevance of these events to the modern Christian Faith is that there is a significant body of liberal 'do-gooders' who want to appease radical Islam by apologising for the Crusades.

There is a major difference between the late John Paul's public apologetic stance because of the Vatican's attitude towards the Jews during the Second World War, and bowing the knee to the religious mentality which inspired the 9/11 massacre.

Catholics in particular and Christians generally can rest assured that Benedict - if he sticks to his ulta-conservative doctrines - will not make concessions to radical Islam.

Such an immoral concession will be viewed by Osama bin Laden-style Islamic fundamentalists as further evidence of the so-called decadent West, and would actually fuel radical Islam's fervent hatred of Christianity rather than calm troubled political waters.

Indeed, generally 21st century Christendom must take a tough stance against clerics who openly consider issuing apologies for the Crusades on behalf of the Christian Faith. This 'atonement of past sins' trend from the liberal 'do-gooders' is also being felt within Christianity itself.

On one hand, there is a push to persuade the Catholic Church to publicly apologise for the torture and burning of Protestant martyrs by the Spanish Inquisition. Whilst on the other, elements within liberal Protestantism believe it would be an appropriate gesture to help ecumenical relations if the Reformed Faith apologised to the Vatican for the bloody campaign against Southern Irish Catholics by Oliver Cromwell, the Puritan victor of the English Civil War.

Rightly or wrongly, revisionism is becoming a popular concept as many religions try to adapt to an increasingly pluralist world.

But for Biblical Christianity, revisionism is not an option. Modern-day Christians need to demonstrate the same zeal to protect their principles as the valiant knights of the First Crusade who captured Jerusalem for Christendom.

In practical terms, both Benedict and Protestant evangelicals and fundamentalists must instruct their respective parishes, congregations and fellowships that they need to chose their clerics wisely to ensure naïve concessions from the pulpit do not deteriorate into un-Biblical heresy.

Certainly, one concession Benedict must make in his ultra-conservatism which would strengthen the spiritual bond with Protestant fundamentalism - allow the Catholic clergy to marry as part of a campaign to preserve the sanctity of marriage against the ravages of divorce.

 

 



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The Blanket - A Journal of Protest & Dissent



 

 

All censorships exist to prevent any one from challenging current conceptions and existing institutions. All progress is initiated by challenging current conceptions, and executed by supplanting existing institutions. Consequently the first condition of progress is the removal of censorships.
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Index: Current Articles



29 April 2005

Other Articles From This Issue:

I Believe
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Behaving Justly
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Stop the Cover Up -- Give Us Peace
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Justice Needs Done
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More Than Politics to NI Process
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Jude the Obscure Republican
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Shared Ultra Conservatism
Dr John Coulter

* More Election Coverage *

Europe and the General Election
John O'Farrell

ELECTION MANIFESTO
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Robert McCartney's family appeal to Sinn Fein
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Informer!
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'Dreary Ireland'
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An Ireland of Welcomes Should Be
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Pawns!
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A Spartan's Story
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* Election Coverage *

ELECTION MANIFESTO
Martin Cunningham, Newry and Mourne District Council

 

 

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