Postcards from the culture wars (7.20)

“He believes in order to be true to God he must be ‘a bad guy’ to me.”

“Both the longing for a Westminster Confession/Sola Scriptura/Inerrant Bible full of clear, theological guidelines and for an Infallible Magisterium and Tradition with a capital ‘T’ are ways of avoiding the hard work of thinking through the ambiguities and challenges of modern existence.”

“Let’s just say that, based on the 100 or so signatories, an awful lot of the American religious community doesn’t see it that way.

“In the U.S., social conservatives embraced a hyper-modern economic system and somehow expected it wouldn’t de-legitimize pre-modern metaphysical principles.”

“Many of these critics are bomb throwers who believe that by destroying the credibility of those working for social justice they will somehow enhance the pro-life agenda.”

“Our Catholic social justice tradition motivates us to work for strong families and expansive social protections, and these can only be achieved when all families are treated fairly and equally under the law.”

“Perhaps it was to be expected that a community forum intended to foster dialogue and a greater understanding of Muslims in America degenerated into a hate-filled free-for-all.”

“This is why we must continue our heritage as a Christian nation and remove all other gods.”

“Beware. The text says beware.”

“I know how important this is because as a young woman, the only health care I received — preventative care, cancer screenings, checkups, etc. — came from a women’s health clinic close to where I live in Fort Worth.”

“They really buy into a culture that doesn’t value what we’ve feminized. They begin to devalue their relational parts to themselves, their relational desires. If we’re in a culture that doesn’t value caring, doesn’t value relationships, doesn’t value empathy — you are going to have boys and girls, men and women, go crazy.”

“The result of these teachings has been a generation of Christian youth with warped and toxic ideas about sex, dating, and even their own bodies.”

“Of course it’s a war on birth control, abortion, everything — ‘that’s what family planning is supposed to be about.”

“So the woman found his mom on Facebook and sent it to her.”