Light On Dark Water

The Campaign for Leviathan

Patrick J. Deenan of Notre Dame, formerly of Georgetown, offers one of the better commentaries I've seen on what the Obama administration's moves against religious liberty really mean. His conclusion:

During the bloody twentieth century, the Church stood against the totalitarian ambitions of Fascism and Communism. A third ideology is clearly flexing its muscles today—threatening to make those victories of the last century merely Pyrrhic. The totalitarian impulse today is embedded in the very logic of liberalism, which seeks to expand its dominion into every aspect of life and against every competitor to its demand for the exclusive allegiance of individuals. 

Read the whole thing at First Things. I think those on either side who see the HHS mandate and the resistance to it as legalistic quibbling miss what's really going on, but the administration and the bishops understand it perfectly well.

Maclin Horton
,

13 responses to “The Campaign for Leviathan”

  1. Marianne

    Sobering and scary reading.
    One maybe small glimmer of hope, though: The piece, which was posted on October 3, starts by mentioning that Obama was leading Romney among women by 18 points. Last week, I read that a new poll showed this gap had disappeared. So, maybe the siren song of free contraception, at least, hasn’t fully captured a good portion of women.

    Reply
  2. Mac

    Yes, and as that gap has shrunk the Obama campaign seems to be getting even weirder in pursuing its notion of the female vote, especially the young single female vote. Have you heard about this?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3jzyKF6M7g&feature=fvst
    It’s not some fringe free-lance work, it’s an official campaign product.

    Reply
  3. Janet

    Have you seen the prototype?
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/9112242/Vladimir-Putin-virgin-voter-advert-becomes-online-hit.html
    AMDG

    Reply
  4. Marianne

    I’d read about both those ads, but hadn’t seen them. Oh, my.
    Offensive as the sexual innuendo is, the worst of it is the sheer frivolousness they impart, which is actually much worse in the Obama ad. All part of a big consumer game — buying clothes, “dating,” voting, whatever.

    Reply
  5. Mac

    I admit I only listened to about half the ad. The supposed allies of women seem to be determined to make them look stupid.
    Yes, I have seen that, Janet, and it turns out it also was a copy of something else. So the Obama one is actually third-hand. Louise will probably not be surprised to see its source:
    http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/qed/2012/10/the-great-seducer

    Reply
  6. Louise

    oh spew!!!
    Those wretched Greens!

    Reply
  7. Noah G.

    I really like what I’ve read of Deenan in the past, I’ll definitely read this article.
    What I read about that video was that the girl did it on her own and the campaign endorsed it. She’s a television actress or something. A bad move either way on their part, and of course in very poor taste.

    Reply
  8. Mac

    Deneen is really good–Catholic and conservative in a way that’s actually, like, conservative.:-)
    Interesting that you call her a “girl.” So do I. She just doesn’t come across as being mature enough to be called a woman. I had never heard her name but I gather she’s actually pretty well-known due to some TV show.

    Reply
  9. Marianne

    With regard to the HHS mandate and the bishops, just read this at The Right Coast blog:
    I’m guessing Catholic turnout in Ohio will be high. Simplifying somewhat, my interpretation of what I heard this last Sunday in the homily was, if I don’t vote against Obama, you will probably go to hell. I was taken aback by the, uh, directness of the sermon. I had already made up my mind how to vote, so it had little effect on me, but still. In fifty some years of going to Mass (admittedly, off and on) I have never heard a message from the pulpit that was so forceful and direct. And in spite of how this probably sounds, also articulate and dignified. But still, bottom line, fire, devils, brimstone, etc., are implicit in the whole eternal damnation proposition, or equally nasty spiritual equivalents thereof. And, at the end of the homily, spontaneous applause, a lot. I have never heard that at the end of a sermon, ever. (We Catholics as a rule are not very demonstrative in church.) Ours is a middle class (i.e. mostly working class) parish in a most unfashionable quadrant of San Diego, majority non-white. Not in Brookline or Georgetown, but in many, many parishes, I bet something similar was said last Sunday, very much including Ohio, Iowa, Minnesota, Virginia and so on. I have never seen so many Catholics so pissed off about anything in my entire life. I’m telling you, it was a jaw dropper. Who knows; maybe it will make a difference in some swing states. I also wonder how to say “stuff your free birth control” in Latin.
    Anything like that happen at your church?

    Reply
  10. Janet

    There has not been one word about the HHS mandate in our parish ever. Makes me crazy.
    AMDG

    Reply
  11. Mac

    I haven’t been going to my regular rather large parish for some months now, but I have the impression that there has been at least some talk about it in parishes. The KofC at my parish are speaking out. Our bishop is speaking out loud and clear and has been since the beginning.

    Reply
  12. Louise

    I also wonder how to say “stuff your free birth control” in Latin.
    Love it! I wonder if we have a Latin scholar in our midst to do this for us?
    I might ask my friend, Giovanna.

    Reply
  13. source

    The expansion of state power is justified for its liberative effects, freeing women from the oppression of an antiquated institution (its irrelevance was reinforced by frequent citation of the questionable statistic that 98% of Catholic women use contraceptives).

    Reply

Leave a comment

Instagram / TikTok / X

Designed with WordPress