DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF ST. JOHN, ARCHBISHOP OF SHANGHAI AND SAN
FRANCISCO
ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN WITNESS (USPS 412-260)
is published monthly by St. Nectarios American Orthodox Cathedral,
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Fr. Neketas S. Palassis, Editor Email: frneketas@stnectariospress.com
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Fax: 206-523-0550
APRIL, 2005 Vol XXIX, No. 4(1547)
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. ORTHODOX SPIRITUAL AND INTELLECTUAL FIGURES
2. SHOIULD THE CHURCH BE INSTEP WITH THE TIMES?
3. PRESS RELEASE: INTER-ORTHODOX CONFERENCE
4. STOMPING ON FREE SPEECH
5. LIFE-SUPPORT
6.NEW FROM THE BOOK CENTER
If the demons attempt to capture a man's spirit through his own
impetus, they draw him in this manner until they lead to an invisible
passion. Then, at that point, if the spirit returns and seeks after God
and if it remembers the eternal judgment, immediately the passion falls
away and disappears. It is written, "In returning and rest you shall be
saved." (Isaiah 30:15)
Abba Cronius
1. Orthodox Spiritual and Intellectual figures:
Alexandros Papadiamandis and Papa Nikolas Planas
I would like to present two people who I believe were men of
burning faith: a layman and a clergyman. The first, is one of the most
outstanding men of modern Greek literature, Alexandros Papadiamandis.
He was born in Skiathos, Greece in 1851 and died in Skiathos in 1911.
The other is a simple priest named Papa Nikolas Planas, who was born in
Naxos in 1851 and died in Athens in 1932. What these two men had in
common was a genuine Orthodox spirituality and faith and a profound
experience of Orthodox liturgical life which they shared together in a
small chapel on the outskirts of Athens.
I believe that Papadiamandis has a unique importance to Orthodoxy as a
writer. He describes real life penetrated by Orthodoxy, and therefore
presents Orthodoxy in a truly existential manner. Papadiamandis is not
a theologian in an academic sense, but he is a theologian in an
Orthodox sense. He presents theology through life, and he demonstrates
in a perfect manner how intellectually unsophisticated people can
experience and express theology in a profound yet non-intellectual way.
Papadiamandis' significance, as far as the intellectual life of the
Church is concerned is exceptional, because he shows how everyday life
can assimilate the liturgical wealth of the Church, how the one can
penetrate the other to the extent that it is almost impossible to
separate them. The life of the simple people Papadiamandis describes
revolves around the liturgical calendar. His characters are not
idealized and unreal. He does not distinguish them as either good or
bad, but he can see both those elements in his characters and love them
passionately. In spite of their imperfections he recognizes the image
of God in them, whose grace can heal that which is infirm and complete
that which is wanting. Papadiamandis' characters are saved by grace,
not by merit, and they never cease asking for that grace. They can be
mean occasionally, even ruthless, but they are always keenly aware of
the presence of God in their lives. Sometimes they worship Him;
sometimes they fight Him---but they never loose sight of Him.
Papadiamandis' description of those peoples' participation in the
liturgical life is beautiful. The preparation for an expedition very
early in the morning to celebrate the memory of the patron saint of a
remote chapel up in the mountains becomes a moment of reverence. The
journey sounds much like a church service. The events following the
services become extensions of the religious ceremony, plain picnics
where the secular celebration blends with the religious. All op these
things are presented by Papadiamandis in a way that makes them
memorable, sacred events in spite of their extreme simplicity.
Papadiamandis was like his characters. His whole existence was immersed
in Orthodoxy, but he did not cease being human, and he never pretended
that he was not. He had what he called the "thirst of David," the
thirst of a virgin soul that is stimulated and excited by the
liturgical life. He was an expert in the regulations of worship (the
typikon), and an admirer of Byzantine music, which he knew very well
even though he never took any lessons. As he used to say, "My soul
might have studied Byzantine Music on Mount Athos, but not I." He
loved to participate as a chanter in the services, which sometimes
lasted for hours. His love for this experience was so great that he
sometimes seemed to see his role as a chanter as more important that
his role has a writer. His whole life was a burning torch of faith for
his Lord Jesus Christ.
He lived immersed in the liturgical life of the Church and he died the
same way. When he became seriously ill and his relatives wanted to call
the doctor, Papadiamandis said, "the heavenly physician first." Of
course, he meant the priest. He left his earthly painful life chanting
the hymn, "Your hand which touched the head of the Master, free of
corruption, the same with which You did point Him to us by the pointing
of the finger, raise it to Him for our sakes, O Forerunner."
Papa Nikolas Planas was almost illiterate. He was able to read the
prayers of the services without mistakes because he was repeating them
constantly. He did not do so well with the Gospel readings because they
were not always the same. The mistakes he made sounded funny-he
stammered-but nobody ever laughed. He was short and homely, but he was
a man of the Liturgy. For fifty years, he served the Liturgy from eight
in the morning to three in the afternoon, in addition to Orthros,
Complines, Vespers, the Service of Supplication to the Virgin Mary, and
vigils. He spent his whole life in the Church. One time somebody asked,
"Father why do you stay in the church so much?" He answered, "When you
open your store, don't you stay there all day? The same is the Church
for me."
Every time somebody gave him names to commemorate he kept them in his
bosom. He never threw any of them away, and when he did the Service of
the Preparation of the Gifts (the Proskomide) it took him three hours
to commemorate the names he had collected. A few times, young children
who served him as altar boys reported that when Papa Nikolas celebrated
the 'Divine Liturgy he hovered one foot above the ground. We may wonder
whether this actually happened or if it was just an illusion, but the
point is that he celebrated the Liturgy in such a way that he made
people feel that he stood a foot above the ground. He had no interest
in money. One time a follower gave him a considerable amount of money
for a church service, and Papa Nikolas gave the envelope to a poor
woman without seeing what was in it.
There were reports about many miraculous things that he had done or
that took place during his services. Papa Nikolas always covered them
up saying, "Do not pay any attention to me; I am an old senile man."
One time a lady from the upper class who had heard about Papa Nikolas,
and who did not believe what she heard, decided to put Papa Nikolas to
the test. She asked him to go to her house for forty days and say the
service of the Supplication to the Virgin Mary for her. He accepted the
invitation, and he went for the first service. At the end she gave him
one penny and said, Father, do not forget I expect you tomorrow again."
Papa Nikolas did not forget he went the next day, and she gave him
again one penny. She continued doing this to the fortieth day, and Papa
Nikolas did not show any irritation. He did not refuse to take the
penny (which would be the least I would do), but faithfully and humbly
he received his penny. Every day for forty days, he made the five-mile
trip. The last day that sophisticated and skeptical intellectual woman
fell on Papa Planas' feet and worshipped him.
It was not just that lady who adored Papa Planas. This illiterate,
untalented insignificant priest inspired, and keeps inspiring thousands
of people.
Papadiamandis' and Papa Planas' way is the way to approach the
liturgical life if we want to get out of it what we can offer to it.
Unfortunately there are many who are willing to play magician for
us. They can be either "White House Theologians" who promise to
spare us the pain of growth and help us spend our life in luxury and
comfort if we use the trick of positive thinking; or they can be even
less competent and less imaginative and try to entertain who with
intellectual lollipops: plans for a liturgical renewal which are not
only naïve but also unoriginal. If this is what we are looking
for, and if we are not motivated to grow, nothing can save us, except
the very frustration and the emptiness of an uncommitted life. But if
we are really motivated to grow, then we will not be interested in
tricks. We will realize that to have a more fulfilling religious life
and a deeper experience of the liturgy, we have to decrease our
investment in the world and increase our investment in God.
Extracted from Functional and Dysfunctional
Christianity by Philotheos Faros published by Holy Cross Orthodox
Press. This is first of selections from this book.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
2. Should the Church Be In Step With the Times?
by Archbishop Averky
*
In a time when under the name of Christianity, even Orthodox
Christianity, every kind of compromise and surrogate is offered men
whose spiritual hunger can be satisfied only by uncompromising Truth,
the spiritual shepherds have become few who speak straightforwardly the
saving word. Archbishop Averky, Abbot of Holy Trinity Monastery at
Jordanville, New York, and a leading hierarch of the Russian Church
Abroad, is one of these few. In the pages of the Russian religious
newspaper published by the Monastery, Orthodox Russia, his voice is
continually heard, calling for faithfulness to Holy Orthodoxy and
warning of the impending judgment of God on this evil generation.
"Know that we must serve, not the times, but God." St. Athanasius the
Great, Letter to Dracontius
IN STEP WITH THE TIMES!-Behold the watchword of all those who in our
time so intensely strive to lead the Church of Christ away from Christ,
to lead Orthodoxy away from true confession of the Orthodox Christian
Faith. Perhaps this watchword does not always nor with everyone resound
so loudly, clearly, and openly-this, after all, might push some
away!-The important thing is the practical following of this watchword
in life, the striving in one way or another, in greater or lesser
degree and measure, to put it into practice.
Against this fashionable, "modern" watchword, perilous to souls however
it may be proclaimed or however put into practice, openly or under
cover, we cannot but fight-we who are faithful sons and representatives
of the Russian Church Abroad, the whole essence of whose ideology, in
the name of which it exists in the world, is not to be "in step with
the times," but to preserve an unchanging faithfulness to Christ the
Saviour, to the true Orthodox Christian Faith and Church.
Let us recall how the Blessed Metropolitan Anthony, founder and first
head of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, in his remarkable essay,
"How does the Orthodox Faith differ from the Western Confessions?"
wrote concerning the profound difference between our Faith and
heterodoxy. He finds this profound difference in the fact that the
Orthodox Faith teaches how to construct life according to the demands
of Christian perfection, whereas heterodoxy takes from Christianity
only those things which are, and to the degree to which they are,
compatib1e with the conditions of contemporary cultural life.
"Orthodoxy looks upon Christianity as the eternal foundation of true
life and demands of everyone to force himself and life until they
attain this standard; whereas heterodoxy looks upon the foundations of
contemporary cultural life as an unshakable fact. Orthodoxy demands
moral heroism-podvig; heterodoxy searches for what in Christianity
would be useful to us in our present conditions of life. For Orthodox
man, called to eternity beyond the grave, where true life begins, the
historically-formed mechanism of contemporary life is an insubstantial
phantom; whereas for the heterodox the teaching concerning the future
life is a lofty, ennobling idea, an idea which helps one ever better to
construct real life here."
These are golden words, indicating for us clearly and sharply the truly
bottomless abyss that separates genuine Christian faith-Orthodoxy-from
its mutilation-heterodoxy! In the one is to be found ascetic labor
(podvig), a turning to eternity; in the other, a strong attachment to
the earth, a faith in the progress of mankind on earth.
Further, as Metropolitan Anthony so sharply and justly sets forth, "the
Orthodox Faith is an ascetic faith," and "the blessed state which the
worshippers of the 'superstition of progress' (to use the felicitous
expression of S. A. Rachinsky) expect on earth, was promised by the
Saviour in the future life; but neither the Latins nor the Protestants
desire to reconcile themselves to this, for the simple reason-to speak
frankly-that they poorly believe in the resurrection and strongly
believe in happiness in the present life, which, on the contrary, the
Apostles call a vapor that shall vanish away (James 4:14). This is why
the pseudo-Christian West does not wish and is unable to understand the
renunciation of this life by Christianity, which enjoins us to fight,
having put off the old man with his deeds, and having put on the new
man, that is renewed unto knowledge after the image of Him that created
him (Col. 3: 9-l0).
"If we investigate all the errors of the West." Vladika Anthony writes
further, "both those which have entered into its doctrinal teaching and
those present in its morals, we shall see that they are all rooted in a
failure to understand Christianity as ascetic labor (podvig) involving
the gradual self-perfection of man."
"Christianity is an ascetic religion," concludes this excellent,
forcefully and perspicuously-written essay. "Christianity is a teaching
of constant battling with the passions, of the means and conditions for
the gradual assimilation of virtues. These conditions are both
internal-ascetic labors-and given from without-our dogmatic beliefs and
grace-bestowing sacramental actions, which have one purpose: to heal
human sinfulness and raise us to perfection."
And what do we see now in contemporary "Orthodoxy"-the "Orthodoxy" that
has entered into the so-called "Ecumenical Movement"? We see the
complete negation of the above-cited holy truths; in other words:
renunciation of true Orthodoxy in the interest of spiritual fusion with
the heterodox West. The ''Orthodoxy'' that has placed itself on the
path of "Ecumenism" thinks not of raising contemporary life, which is
constantly declining with regard to religion and morals, to the level
of the Gospel commandments and the demands of the Church, but rather of
''adapting" the Church herself to the level of this declining life.
This path of actual renunciation of the very essence of Holy
Orthodoxy-ascetic labor, for the purpose of uprooting the passions and
implanting the virtues-was taken in their time by the partisans of the
so-called "Living Church" or ''Renovated Church". This movement
immediately spread from Russia, which had been cast down into the dust
by the ferocious atheists, to other Orthodox countries as well. Still
fresh in our memory is the "Pan-Orthodox Congress" convened by
Ecumenical Patriarch Meletios IV of sorry memory in 1923, at which were
devised such "reforms" as a married episcopate, remarriage of priests,
the abolition of monasticism and the fasts, abbreviation of Divine
services, suppression of special dress for clergy, etc.
Notwithstanding the collapse at that time of these impious designs, the
dark powers were not, of course, pacified, and continued from that time
their obstinate and perseverant activity, finding for themselves
obedient tools in the ranks of the hierarchy of various Local Orthodox
Churches. At the present time also, by the allowance of God, they have
attained great success: almost all the Local Orthodox Churches have
already entered into the "Ecumenical Movement," which has set as its
purpose the abolition of all presently-existing churches-including, of
course, the Orthodox Church-and the establishment of some kind of
absolutely new "church," which will be completely "in step with the
times," having cast away as useless rags, as something "obsolete" and
"behind the times," all the genuine foundations of true Christianity,
and first of all, of course, asceticism, this being the indispensable
condition for the main purpose of Christianity: the uprooting of sinful
passions and the implanting of Christian virtues.
We have before us, as an example, an official document of this sort,
belonging to the Local Church of Serbia: the journal Theology,
published by the Orthodox Theological Faculty in Belgrade (8th year,
issues 1 and 2 for 1964). In this journal we find a lead article
literally entitled: "The Necessity for the Codification and Publication
of a New Collection of Canons of the Orthodox Church." The author of
this article, while cunningly affirming that "the ideal principles of
the Church will remain everywhere and always unchanging," nonetheless
attempts to prove that the collection of canons of the Orthodox Church
is only the product of a time long since passed into eternity, and
therefore that it does not answer to the demands of contemporary life
and must be abolished and replaced by another. This new collection of
canons, observe, "must be brought into agreement with the fundamental
principles of life," with which the Church supposedly "has always
reckoned." "Our time," says this cunning author, "is different in many
respects from the time of the Ecumenical Councils, at which these
canons were composed, and therefore these canons cannot now be applied."
Let us look now and see precisely which canons it is that this
modernist author considers obsolete and subject to abrogation:
-The 9th canon of the Holy Apostles, which demands that the faithful,
after entering church, should remain at the Divine service to the end,
and should not cause disorder by walking about the church.
-The 80th canon of the Council of Trullo, which punishes clergy by
deposition, and laymen with excommunication, for failure to attend
church for three successive Sundays without some important reason.
-The 24th canon of the Council of Trullo, which prohibits clergy and
monks from visiting race tracks and other entertainments; to this canon
the author adds the entirely naive, strange remark that it was only in
earlier times that such amusements were places of depravity and vice,
while now they are supposedly "centers of culture and education."(?!)
-The 54th canon of the Holy Apostles, which prohibits clergy, without
unavoidable necessity, from entering a tavern; here again it somehow
seems that previously the tavern was some different kind of
establishment from what it is now.
-The 77th canon of the Council of Trullo and the 30th canon of the
Council of Laodicea, which prohibit Christian men from bathing together
with women; why it is necessary to acknowledge these canons too as
"obsolete" is completely incomprehensible!
-The 96th canon of the Council of Trullo, which condemns artificial
curling of the hair and in general all adornment of oneself with
various kinds of finery "for the enticement of unstable souls"-instead
of "adorning oneself with virtues and with good and pure morals"; this
canon in our times, it would seem, has not only not become "obsolete,"
it has become especially imperative, if we call to mind the indecent,
shameless womens fashions of today, which are completely unsuitable for
Christian women.
This is sufficient for us to see what purpose it is that the
aforementioned "reform" in our Orthodox Church has in view, with what
aim there is proposed the convocation of an Eighth Ecumenical Council,
about which all "modernists" so dream, already having a foretaste of
the "carefree life" that will then be openly permitted and legitimized
for all!
But let us reflect more deeply upon what is the terrible essence of all
these demands for the abrogation of supposedly "obsolete" canonical
rules. It is this: these contemporary church "reformers" who now so
impudently raise their heads even in the bosom of our Orthodox Church
itself (and terrible to say, their number includes not merely clergy,
but even eminent hierarchs!) accept contemporary life with all its
monstrous, immoral manifestations as an unshakable fact (which is, as
we have seen above, not at all an Orthodox, but a heterodox, Western
conception!), and they wish to abrogate all those canonical rules which
precisely characterize Orthodoxy as an ascetic faith that calls to
ascetic labor, in the name of the uprooting of sinful passions and the
implanting of Christian virtues. This is a terrible movement, perilous
for our Faith and Church; it wishes to cause, in the expression of
Christ the Saviour, the salt to lose its savor; it is a movement
directed toward the overthrow and annihilation of the true Church of
Christ by means of the cunning substitution for it of a false church.
The above-mentioned article in the Serbian theological journal is still
discreet, refraining from complete openness. It speaks of the
permissibility in principle of marriage for bishops, but in life we
hear ever more frequent and persistent talk of far worse-namely, of the
supposed inapplicability in our times of all those canonical rules
which demand of candidates to the priesthood and of priests themselves
a pure and unblemished moral life; or, to speak more simply, of the
permissibility for them of that terrifying depravity into the abyss of
which contemporary mankind more and more plunges itself.
It is one thing to sin and repent, knowing and acknowledging that one
is sinning and is in need of repentance and correction of life. It is
something else again to legitimize lawlessness, to sanction sin,
lulling thus one's conscience and thus abolishing the very foundations
of the Church. To this we have no right, and it is a most grievous
crime before God, the Holy Church, and the souls of the faithful who
seek eternal salvation.
And for how long, to what limits may we permit ourselves to go on such
a slippery path, abrogating the Church canons which uphold Christian
morality? Right now in America and, as we hear, in places also in other
countries which have accepted contemporary "culture," there is
increasing propaganda for the official abrogation of marriage and the
legalization in place of marriage of "free love"; the use of
contraceptive pills is being sanctioned for married couples, and even
for the unmarried, since marriage supposedly has as its purpose not the
procreation of children, but "love"; legal recognition is being
prepared for the heinous, unnatural passion of homosexuality, all the
way to the establishment for homosexuals of a special church wedding
rite (proposal of an Anglican bishop); etc., etc.
And so? Should our Church too follow this fashionable path- "in step
with the times," so as not to be left behind the march of life? But
what kind of "church" will this be that will allow itself all this, or
even merely look at it with all-forgiving condescension? It will be no
longer a church at all, but a veritable Sodom and Gomorrah, which will
not escape, sooner or later, the terrible chastisement of God.
We must not allow ourselves to be deluded and deceived, for we do not
need such a "church," or rather "false church." We may ourselves be
weak, and feeble, and we may often sin, but we will not allow the
Church canons to be abrogated, for then it will become necessary to
acknowledge the very Gospel of Christ, by which contemporary men do not
wish to live, as "obsolete," as "not answering to the spirit of the
times," and abrogate it!
But the Gospel of Christ, together with all the canons of the Church,
as well as the Church ordinances, outline for us that Christian ideal
toward which we must strive if we desire for ourselves eternal
salvation. We cannot allow a lowering of this ideal for the
gratification of sinful passions and desires, a blasphemous abuse of
these holy things.
Whatever "reforms" all these contemporary criminal "reformers" may
desire, the truly-believing Orthodox Church consciousness cannot
acknowledge or accept them. And whatever the apostates from true
Orthodoxy, from the ascetic Faith, may do, we will not allow the
modernization of our Church, and we will NOT go "in step with the
times"!
_____________________________________________________________________________________
3.. PRESS RELEASE : INTER-ORTHODOX CONFERENCE:
"Ecumenism: Origins, Expectations, Disenchantment"
"In love, we reject Ecumenism, because we desire to offer to
the heterodox precisely that which the Lord richly bestowed upon all of
us within His Holy Orthodox Church: the opportunity to become members
of His Body."
This, among other things, was stressed at the Inter-Orthodox
Conference: "Ecumenism: Origins, Expectations, Disenchantment", which
was successfully co-sponsored by the Department of Pastoral Theology of
the Theological School of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the
"Society of Orthodox Studies" in the midst of large crowds who filled
Ceremony Hall at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
The conference took place from September 20-24, 2004. His All-holiness
Metropolitan Anthimos of Thessaloniki declared the commencement of the
conference. Other Metropolitans and Bishops, the mayor of Thessaloniki,
Mr. Panagiotis Psomiadis, Parliament representatives, and university
professors were all on hand to offer greetings to the conference and
its attendees. Before a packed audience composed of the Abbots of holy
monasteries, clergy, monks, and laity, among which were many
theologians and students of the Theological School, over a five day
period roughly sixty speakers, including Hierarchs, from nearly all of
the Local Orthodox Churches, analyzed thoroughly the phenomenon of
Ecumenism.
At the conference it was noted that the roughly one hundred year old
movement of Ecumenism-the organized efforts to unite divided
Christians-even if it was, in the beginning of its development,
animated by good intentions, has today reached a total dead end-a truth
which is confessed by even the most fervent supporters of
inter-Christian dialogue. This is due to the way in which these
dialogues were established and directed, and are conducted even today.
Inter-Christian dialogues, with their unacceptable joint prayers and
their syncretism, quickly led to inter-religious syncretism, the
underpinning of which is the new age theory which proclaims that all of
the religions are paths which lead to the same God.
Ecumenism, with these dialogues, gatherings and joint prayers, is
placed among the so-called New Age, the New Order, and Globalization
and serves political and geo-strategic aims, which are especially
visible, even to the most uninformed observer, after the eleventh of
September, 2001.
The ultimate conclusion of the conference is that the conditions have
matured and been met and now render imperative the re-examination of
the Orthodox Church's participation in the "World Council of Churches",
and the so-called Ecumenical Movement more generally, as well as
inter-religious gatherings.
For additional information go to this web site:
www.uncutmountain.com
Editor's observation: Though the official statement which has been
issued by this conference has roundly condemned ecumenism and proposed
the withdrawal of the Orthodox Church from the World Council of
Churches, the leadership comprising World Orthodoxy has in no way taken
any steps towards withdrawing from ecumenical activities. In fact, some
weeks after this conference the Ecumenical Patriarchate's Metropolis in
Germany formerly recognized the validity of baptisms of the Evangelical
Church in Germany.
______________________________________________________________________________
4. Stomping on free speech by John Leo
[U. S. News and World Report, April 19, 2004]
"CANADA IS A PLEASANTLY authoritarian country," Alan Borovoy,
general counsel of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said a few
years ago. An example of what he means is Bill C-250, a repressive,
anti-free-speech measure that is on the brink of becoming law in
Canada. It would add "sexual orientation" to the Canadian hate
propaganda law, thus making public criticism of homosexuality a crime.
It is sometimes called the "Bible as Hate Literature" bill," or simply
""the chill bill."" It could ban publicly expressed opposition to gay
marriage or any other political goal of gay groups. The bill has a
loophole for religious opposition to homosexuality, but few scholars
think it will offer protection, given the strength of the gay lobby and
the trend toward censorship in Canada. Law Prof. David Bernstein, in
his new book You Can't Say That! wrote that "it has apparently become
illegal in Canada to advocate traditional Christian opposition to
homosexual sex." Or traditional Jewish or Muslim opposition, too.
Since Canada has no First Amendment, anti-bias laws
generally trump free speech and freedom of religion. A recent flurry of
cases has mostly gone against free expression. The Saskatchewan Human
Rights Commission ruled that a newspaper ad listing biblical passages
that oppose homosexuality was a human rights offense. The commission
ordered the paper and Hugh Owens, the man who placed the ad, to pay
$1,500 each to three gay men who objected to it. In another case, a
British Columbia court upheld the one-month suspension, without pay, of
a high school teacher who wrote letters to a local paper arguing that
homosexuality is not a fixed orientation but a condition that can and
should be treated. The teacher, Chris Kempling, was not accused of
discrimination, merely of expressing thoughts that the state defines as
improper.
That anti-free-speech principle, social
conservatives argue, will become explicit national policy under C-250,
with criminal penalties attached. Religious groups say it would become
risky for them to teach certain biblical passages. If a student says
something that irritates homosexuals in class, the student's' parents
might be held legally liable. Some Canadians worry that, for instance,
discussions about gay men giving blood will be suppressed. Robert
Spitzer of Columbia University, a longtime supporter of gay rights and
an important figure in the American Psychiatric Association, published
a study finding that many gays can become heterosexual. Would that
study be banned under C-250 as hate speech? And since C-250 does not
mention homosexuality but focuses broadly on "sexual orientation,"
Canada's freewheeling judiciary may explicitly extend protection to
many "sexual minorities." Pedophilia and sadism are among the
conditions listed by the American Psychiatric Association under "sexual
orientation."
Church foes? The churches seem to be the key target
of C-250. One of Canada's gay senators denounced "ecclesiastical
dictators" and wrote to a critic, "You people are sick. God should
strike you dead." In 1998, lesbian lawyer Barbara Finlay of British
Columbia said "the legal struggle for queer rights will one day be a
struggle between freedom of religion versus sexual orientation."
It's starting to be defined just that way in other
countries. In Sweden, sermons are explicitly covered by an
anti-hate-speech law passed to protect homosexuals. The Swedish
chancellor of justice said any reference to the Bible's stating that
homosexuality is sinful might be a criminal offense, and a Pentecostal
minister is already facing charges. In Britain, police investigated
Anglican Bishop Peter Forster of Chester after he told a local paper:
"Some people who are primarily homosexual can reorientate themselves. I
would encourage them to consider that as an option." Police sent a copy
of his remarks to prosecutors, but the case was dropped. In Ireland
last August, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties warned that clergy
who circulated a Vatican statement opposing gay marriages could face
prosecution under incitement-to-hatred legislation.
In the United States, the dominance of anti-bias
laws and rules limiting free speech and free exercise of religion is
clear on campuses, not so clear in the real world. Still, First
Amendment arguments are losing ground to antidiscrimination laws in
many areas, and once stalwart free-speech groups, like the American
Civil Liberties Union, have mostly gone over to the other side. An
unlikely split has occurred. In the interest of fighting bias, liberal
groups reliably promote laws that limit First Amendment principles. The
best defenders of free speech and freedom of religion are no longer on
the left. They are found on the right.
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5. Life support
[World, August 14, 2004]
Joel Belz, Publisher
Our sick health insurance system has to change - and one option
actually looks promising
IF YOU THINK THAT THE GREATEST SIGNIFICANCE OF the
collapse of the Berlin Wall 15 years ago was the freedom that event
brought to several million East Germans, think again.
The really important lesson from that great tumble
was this: Don't ever assume that the impossible can't happen! Don't
think that any captivity must necessarily last forever.
I thought about that last week with reference to two
much more mundane, but still very costly, forms of bondage: health
insurance and Social Security. Most of us these days typically set
aside more than 25 percent of every paycheck to cover those two items,
and are assured by the actuaries that we're on a trajectory where it
will soon take a full third of our compensation. Still, we gloomily
knuckle under and consign ourselves to perpetual oppression.
Well. As candidate John Kerry would say - but not at
all in the sense in which he means it: Help is on the way! The Berlin
Walls of health insurance and Social Security are showing some huge
cracks. And the election of 2004 will go far to tell us whether it's
real or phony help.
Next week, we'll look at a promising new option
involving Social Security. This week, let's look at what real help
might look like with reference to health insurance:
A relatively new approach called "Health Savings
Accounts" (HSA) is picking up speed. Part of the Medicare Reform Act
effective since June 1 of this year, and therefore now the law of the
land, HSAs have several advantages over traditional medical insurance.
The key is in moving important parts of responsibility for health care
from the employer to the employee.
If your employer were to go to an HSA, it would work
something like this: Your employer would buy a health insurance policy
for you with a high annual deductible -perhaps something like $5,000.
At the same time, your employer would put a significant sum - perhaps
$3,000 annually - into a debit account for you, out of which you would
pay all your routine medical expenses for each year. (You would also be
able to add to this account personally on a tax-favored basis.) You
would pay all your routine medical costs without any reference to
co-pays, deductibles, or any other insurance gobbledygook. You might
well carry a medical debit card by which payments would be made, just
like cash deductions, from your account.
Two things, of course, might happen during any given
year. One is that you would use up the whole $3,000 in your debit
account. In that case, you would have to cover the next $2,000 of costs
(the difference between the $3,000 account and the $5,000 deductible)
out of your own pocket. Then the high-deductible policy would kick in
for all other expenses. On the other hand, if you are blessed with good
health and low routine medical costs, you might spend only $1,500 out
of your original $3,000 account. Under the new regulations, you would
get to carry over-as part of a tax-favored account-the $1,500 you
didn't use. You would be allowed to invest that $1,500 in any approved
instrument you wanted. Everything you didn't use out of your account
you would keep. (Figures used here are only illustrative; real-life
plans might differ significantly.)
The incentives are at least threefold: (1) your
desire to keep the money in that account for yourself, and perhaps to
watch it grow year after year, slowing down your use of healthcare
services; (2) your ability to shop among a variety of healthcare
providers, with no limitations dictated by your insurance company; and
(3) your option to ask your healthcare provider for a discount for
cash-a discount increasingly available from providers eager to escape
the high cost of paperwork and process. The huge overhead of the
insurance bureaucracy, estimated by many to range between 30 percent
and 50 percent of all healthcare costs, would begin to disappear.
Richard Matthews, a specialist in employee benefits
for the last three decades, told us last week while outlining some of
these details that no matter what, responsibility for health-care
provision will pass soon from the nation's employers. "Employers simply
can't continue paying double-digit annual increases for health
insurance," Mr. Matthews said. "Their only option-already-is to take it
out of employee paychecks. So now, the only question is whether
employers pass that responsibility back to individual employees for
their own decision-making (just like they do for homeowners insurance
and car insurance) or to the federal government and a nationalized
healthcare system. It will be one or the other. The present system will
not continue."
In other words, this part of the Berlin Wall will
either soon be torn down - or it will be built even higher. With a
decision like that staring us in the face, isn't it time for a little
optimism?
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6 .NEW FROM THE BOOK CENTER
(CM) THE CHINESE NEW MARTYRS. The lives and the liturgical
service to the Chinese Orthodox martyred during the Boxer Rebellion in
1900, reprinted from THE TRUE VINE, issue #8. Includes an
interesting historical background of the era. 56pp.
Paper d$5.00
(NT) NORTHERN THEBAID. Monastic Saints of the Russian North
compiled and translated by Fr. Seraphim Rose and Abbot Herman
Podmoshensky Contains 12 biographies of 14th to 17th century strugglers
in Russia's northern"desert." New edition of an old
favorite. 301pp Paper d$17.00
(TM63) THE DIVINE LITURGY OF THE HOLY ORTHODOX CHURCH OF ANTIOCH.
Chanted in English by the Mt. Lebanon Choir, with Archimandrite
Pandeleimon of St. Mary's Monastery as celebrant. A very solemn and
beautiful presentation. d$18.00
(PHE) ON THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE HOLY EUCHARIST. Translated
by Protopresbyter George Dion. Dragas. Three patristic texts on the
Priesthood and the Holy Eucharist by St. Symeon of Thessalonika,
Patriarch Kallinikos of Constantinople and St. Mark of Ephesus. These
texts serve as a reminder to clergy and laity alike that prayer and
liturgy are the primary functions of priests. 92 pp Paper d$8.00