Some more things you cannot discuss in Scotland

 How come nobody says the word "christophobia" when it clearly exists?

From LiveAction.org comes the story of a American substitute teacher working in Scotland being summarily fired after answering student's questions on the subject of abortion in America. 

 Sarah Morse was teaching at Arbroath High School when a group of older teenage students began asking her questions after noticing her American accent. Among questions about fast food and school buses arose one regarding the topic of abortion.

In turn, Sarah answered prudently (knowing that she was teaching in a secular school): “I’m a faithful Roman Catholic, so I don’t agree with it; I don’t support it.”

When a student broached the subject of rape, Sarah replied that she did not believe it was correct to penalize a child for the wrongdoing of a parent. Her aim, she maintained, was not to provoke an argument. 

“There was no back and forth,” she told Live Action News. “It was more like a hailstorm of arguments, but with replies answered in short sentences.”

Morse felt she was merely doing what a teacher had to do: answer students’ questions, keep order in the room, and move on to the next task at hand. 

Later that day, however, she was summoned into the school office and fired on the basis that she had discussed her “religion and abortion.”

,,,The school’s decision to fire her reveals a deep-seated problem: the misuse of “balance” and “impartiality” language to quash traditional Christian and pro-life voices. She said educators are increasingly being forced to implement one authorized ideological line.

“If you only ever hear one opinion, it’s not education, it’s indoctrination,” Morse told Live Action News. 

She believes that Christians are particularly susceptible to being singled out, even though many religious traditions have moral objections to abortion...

...If Morse has one message for other Christian and pro-life teachers, it is to be wise, faithful, and ready for persecution. She also cautioned that if teachers choose to remain in the classroom, they may still share their beliefs when appropriate, but also be prepared for the possible backlash that may ensue.

...All in all, Morse’s story is not solely an anecdote about her losing her job. It is about whether pro-life beliefs remain in their rightful place in the public sphere without consequences. In view of how so many people are tempted to hide their beliefs for fear of reprisal, Morse’s courage reminds us that sometimes, the most powerful witness is calm, principled, and unwavering. 

She is contesting this in court. Stay tuned. 

 

Water boarding

This Sundays reading is from Matthew 14:22-33,  "Jesus Walks on the Water."

Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.  And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,  but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them.  And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.  But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear.  But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”  He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.  But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.”  Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”  And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.  And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” -ESV

Do you believe it?

If not, do you believe in God, and what can He not do?

Sisters Act: By filing suit

 I sure hope they win.

From Paul Anagnostopoulos at The IRD,

On July 17, the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, alongside several other groups, filed a complaint against the state of New York for the implementation of doctor-assisted suicide, known by its proponents as Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD). The sisters object to any forced participation in the MAiD program and filed suit arguing that the law, set to take effect this August, has not provided proper protections for their religious order.

Implementation of the new law comes with the expectation that healthcare providers and staff are required to inform patients about their option to end their own life through the new system. While the law doesn’t require nuns or religious sisters to directly assist in a suicide, opt-out requirements do not allow the nuns to refuse to inform a patient in their care about it. Failure to inform patients about the program under current regulations would mean that these groups would face heavy fines and sanctions.

Under the law passed in February, these organizations would be forced to compromise their beliefs. The law requires that a patient must “be able to self-administer the medication” and would compel Catholic ministries to inform patients of their eligibility to kill themselves, contrary to Catholic teaching...

...With the bill coming into effect August 6, the Catholic institutions seek to avoid legal punishment for their beliefs on the sanctity of human life.

“Christ the Divine Physician calls us to accompany the sick and dying with compassion, not abandon them to death,” Barres stated...

UPDATE [8/3/2026]: Becket has announced that, with agreement from the state of New York, a federal judge ordered the state not to enforce its assisted-suicide mandate against four orders of Catholic nuns and several Catholic healthcare ministries while their federal lawsuit proceeds. The temporary agreement protects the ministries from being forced to help terminally ill patients end their lives via suicide in direct violation of their faith.

I have visited New York once, stayed at the Waldorf  Astoria in the Presidential suite, and suffered through their airports several times. This and other stories about the horrors that the state and city governments (and voters) are allowing have convinced me to never go there again. 

Judeo-Christians fight back

 With the rise in antisemitism that we are seeing in the world it might be wise to look into our own backyards for signs of it encroaching into our lawns. I did not know this until recently, but the term "Judeo-Christian" is not liked by some who think of themselves as "Christian." Those who would throw out the tree to which we were engrafted are falling for the old heresy of Marcionism which rejected the Old Testament God. 

Educate yourself and see Bill Muehlenberg who has a long post on the topic titled, "On the Term ‘Judeo-Christian’".

If you encounter someone who does not accept the "Term", please don't jump on them and call them an antisemite even though they might be one. Armed with the Biblical facts, first ask them about how they reached that conclusion, and then practice your apologetics with them. 

Believe it, or what?

 This Sunday's reading from Matthew 14:13-21 tells the miracle of the loaves and fishes.

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ They replied, ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ And he said, ‘Bring them here to me.’ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

A remarkable miracle retold in all four Gospels. I have heard a lot of revisionist preachers challenge the feeding of the thousands saying things like, "Oh, the people probably had food stashed away and brought out the leftovers at the end to put in the baskets" and other such attempts to explain away the miracle. I believe that those preaching the Gospel back in the early days went unchallenged because there were thousands of witnesses to back them up! So the story stuck. 

For a person who professes to be a Christian to deny that God can produce any miracle sounds decidedly unchristian to me.

"We better wake up fast, or we will lose it all"

 Bill Muehlenberg recently posted an excellent summary of Islamic terror plots and the West's inability to expound on the "M.I.T." words (Muslim, Islam, and Terrorist). Even the organizers of the Pride parade in Germany that probably inspired the most recent attacker won't connect the dots. 

Muehlenberg's conclusion is in his title, "Islam and the West Cannot Peacefully Coexist." 

Having studied the Koran (an English translation) after the attacks of 911, I agree. The only peace Islam leads to is peace through bloodshed. 

Compare that to the way of Christ.

Meanwhile, in Paris there was another attack, 

"The suspect subdued after allegedly stabbing three women in Paris on Monday uttered, 'it is Allah who commanded me' to a crowd that appeared to be holding him down after the apparent terror attack..."

"...A 31-year-old man, whose name was not immediately released, was seen on the ground after allegedly stabbing three women, one of whom was reportedly pregnant..."

"...Two victims were listed in 'absolute emergency' condition, while the third was listed in "relative emergency" condition, according to local press." -Fox News

As Muehlenberg wrote, "We better wake up fast, or we will lose it all."

Praying for the persecuted

 This Sundays reading is from Romans 8:26-39, and it reminds me that Christians are dying for the Faith every day somewhere in this world.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.

What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written,

‘For your sake we are being killed all day long;

   we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.