120th Anniversary Marked for Labor Encyclical 'Rerum Novarum' | Daily News | NCRegister.com
120th Anniversary Marked for Labor Encyclical 'Rerum Novarum' | Daily News | NCRegister.com
The May 2010 Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Newsletter can now be found at: http://www.euthanasiaprevention.on.ca/Newsletters/Newsletter108(May2010)(RGB).pdf Bill C-384 was soundly defeated by a vote of 228 to 59. Check how the Members of Parliament voted at: http://www.euthanasiaprevention.on.ca/HowTheyVoted.pdf On June 5, 2010, we are co-hosting the US/Canda Push-Back Seminar at the Radisson Gateway Hotel at the Seattle/Tacoma Airport. The overwhelming defeat of Bill C-384 proved that we can Push-Back the euthanasia lobby in the US and Canada and convince people that euthanasia and assisted suicide are a dangerous public policy. Register for the Seminar at: http://www.euthanasiaprevention.on.ca/2010SeminarFlyer(RGB)(LetterFormat).pdf The Schindler family are being attacked by a Florida television station and Michael Schiavo. The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition is standing in solidarity with the Schindler family. My blog comments: http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2010/05/att...
As a 36 year union member and also active on the executive I think I have some insight into the operations of unions. First of all let me be clear, YES, unions were necessary especially 120 years ago and even in the last 50-80 years. Workers were treated miserably and worked God-awful hours. Change was needed and unions accomplished that and raised our standard of living.
ReplyDeleteBut where I take issue is today's unions which are very political and have forgotten the average person. They no longer fight for the individual, but seek power and fame. They have become very anti-Christian in that they support such policies as abortion and same-sex marriage. How can the Christian/Catholic Church continue to support this dichotomy? This Labour Encyclical is not flawed, but certainly needs an update into the 21st century especially with a few cautions/riders attached. As it stands today, we cannot give blanket approval to Unions as they currently exist
Cliff
Unions are not anti-Christian. They are anti-theocracy. If unions have no place in politics, then neither do the churches!
ReplyDeleteAccess to abortion is not anti-Christian. Lots of Christians support choice. Ditto with same-sex marriages. These are individual choices, not social mandates.
I don't know how you can say that unions no longer fight for the individual on the one hand, and then turn around and complain that they fight too much for the individual!
Lots of Christians may support choice, but historically the Christian-Catholic Church has been pro-life.
ReplyDeleteTake for instance the Orthodox Scholar Alex Webster who stated: "That it [abortion] is one of only several moral issues on which not one dissenting opinion has ever been expressed by the Church Fathers."
JUSTIN MARTYR 1st Apology, Great Church Father. “We have been taught that it is wicked to expose even newly born children…[for we] would then be murderers.”
Looks like we are one speaking terms again?
Cliff
Lady Janus: You write - "Unions are not anti-Christian. They are anti-theocracy. If unions have no place in politics, then neither do the churches!"
ReplyDeleteFirst off, you are correct in your first contention. There is nothing in the essence of a union that is 'anti-Christian'. We all know though that there have been examples where unions have acted in un-Christian ways. (Teamsters?) I disagree though with your second contention. Unions are not essentially anti-theocratic. The Solidarity union in Poland which brought down the Iron curtain could not have come to fruition without the Catholic Church's social teachings being forcefully taught by a Polish Pope and the Polish Church. It (Solidarity) certainly was not (and is not) anti or pro theocratic. It's the same argument as applied in the 'believing in nothing vs nothing to believe' discussion. Yes?
Fr. Tim
Yes, actually. But I was responding to Cliff's assertion that unions are anti-Christian, and his holding up their support of an individual's choice as "proof." That's not anti-Christian. It's actually anti-totalitarianism -- anti-do-as-I-say-and-don't-ask-questions. I wasn't as clear as I could have been.
ReplyDeleteUn- does not equal anti-. You are correct.