Long ago, I wrote a piece called “Truth Cancer and the Redemption of Rebellion“. Among other things, I observed that heresy (that is, Truth Cancer) is not so much a lie as a metastasized truth, a kind of cancer of the mind. It is a real truth affirmed by the Faith that becomes monstrously swollen like a tumor and becomes, in the mind of the heretic, the Only Truth There Is.
Like a cancer, that truth then becomes weaponized in the hands of the heretic who sets out to destroy all other truths he perceives as enemies of The Only Truth There Is. If the Truth Cancer is not successfully destroyed it eventually kills all the healthy tissue, not only in the Body of Christ, but in human society as well, resulting inevitably in insanity and all sorts of spiritual and physical death.
The archetype of heresy in the Christian tradition is the Arian heresy. It took the single greatest good the Church adores–God the Father–and weaponized him against the other two Persons of the Blessed Trinity. It was precisely the goodness and greatness of God the Father that made it such a potent heresy, because any attempt to talk sense to the heretics was instantly perceived as an assault on the majesty of the Father, not as what it truly was, an attempt to defend the deity and majesty of the Son and the Holy Spirit. The lesson here is that the greater the truth, the more deadly the heresy that gloms on to it.
The weird thing about heresy is that, like cancer, it tends to mutate into its opposite if unchecked. Arianism is, again, instructive. A resurgent form of it re-asserted itself in the 17th century among Puritans. They rejected the Trinity as “Romish” and unbiblical. Only this time there was nothing to check the heresy. Eventually, it declined into Unitarianism and much of Unitarianism abandoned theism as a living faith altogether.
I mention this curious phenomenon of mutation because we are witnessing the same thing with the monomaniac heresy that was once the “prolife” movement. Long ago, it really was dominated by people who sought to “defend human life from conception to natural death” as the phrase goes. It was defending a high and holy truth: the dignity of the human person.
But for the past forty years, they have been systematically brainwashed with the lie that our abortion regime (which is 100% the creation of a Supreme Court that has been dominated by GOP appointees since 1970) can be magicked away if only we commit ourselves to voting GOP. Again and again, the prolife movement has believed this manipulative lie and, again and again, the only result has been that “prolife” believers have brainwashed themselves with the lie that, so long as they support GOP policies that are ever more sadistic, thieving, cruel, stupid, racist and idiotic, they will–this time for sure–“outlaw abortion”.
The result, as with all monomaniac heresy, has been the now-fanatical and blind belief that Opposition to Abortion Taketh Away the Sin of the World. Any evil, including complicity in the mass killing of innocents, is now justified by the MAGA “prolife” heresy.
So, as we face a Pandemic that has killed nearly a million Americans, it is MAGA “prolife” leaders like Abby Johnson who have not only fought vaccination tooth and nail, but have even called for what she says is “herd immunity” but is in fact a eugenic policy of leaving the disease to burn through the population and kill the weak.
Indeed, the MAGA “prolife” subculture has consistently led the charge in striving to spread Pandemic as much as possible. From stupid, self-pitying mask protests to moronic claims that vaccines are “godless” the “prolife” have now mutated into a murder/suicide cult bent on killing as many as possible by COVID. They are the backbone of the GOP effort to paint vaccination campaigns as some absurd totalitarian threat. Their criminally lying organs of propaganda spread the lie that vaccines are “against nature”. And while they spread their filthy, deadly, evil lies they do what this evil cult always does: ignore the hundreds of thousands of victims they have killed with their lies focus all their pity on themselves, screaming that they are “discriminated against” because they recklessly spread the virus.
Cheered.
Because some within society — and even within the church — have spread dangerous misinformation about the vaccines, the Vatican has published a document clarifying the vaccines’ safety, effectiveness and moral acceptability (see humandevelopment.va). Here are some of the document’s more salient points:
But the Greatest Catholics of All Time who form the backbone of the MAGA “prolife” heresy know better than the Church. So when a demagogue like Fr. James Altman, in between suggesting that Warsaw Jews had it coming in the Holocaust and describing lynching as capital punishment, spews deadly lies in support of vaccine conspiracy kookery, the MAGA Cult naturally invites him to CPAC to spew more nonsense.
The good news is that his bishop has told him to shut his yap:
The bad news is that Altman spits in his bishop’s face:
And a lot suckers are ready to throw a bunch of $$$ at this grifting megalomaniac. He’s already collected 3/4 of a million bucks for his “defense fund” from chumps who don’t know that a canon law trial costs him nothing. And now he has set up a website to part more fools from their money.
And the unborn lives being saved by all this grifting? None. All that is achieved is that Altman spread lies and death amid pandemic and grifts suckers while platforming the crook Vigano, who screamed “Resign!” at the pope a couple of years ago to cover his own ass for failing to move against McCarrick.
The Greatest Catholics of All Time have mutated into enemies of the Church and the MAGA “prolife” Cult has mutated into a murder/suicide cult at war with holy Church, at war with public health, at war with their neighbors, and at war with God.
Not there is nothing left of the prolife movement. The Dems want to give out monthly child tax credits that will greatly ease pressure on the poor to abort. That’s why I voted for them: because I’m prolife.
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29 Responses
“As long as the vast majority of people are vaccinated, it is much more difficult for an outbreak of disease to occur, let alone spread. This effect is called herd immunity.’
From: the Wikipedia article on vaccines. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccine
Herd immunity isn’t eugenics you dunce. It’s part of how vaccines work.
Herd immunity presumes vaccination. Your cult’s big plan was just to let everybody get the virus and let the weak ones die. That’s not herd immunity. That’s eugenics cruelty and irresponsibility. That Johnson *called* it herd immunity illustrates your cult’s stupidity, not mine.
Informed consent is what I wish we had. I don’t want propaganda from either side of this issue. What’s the Truth about this vaccine. The Vatican can only tell you what the medical community is stating. But Truth be told, no one really knows the long term ramifications of this Vaccine. No one knows if it was a smart thing to do or not. Only in hindsight will we know for sure, and even then it will be argued just like we still argue over how other things should have be handled in the past. With all the unknowns, I believe it is wrong to coerce people into taking it. Let everyone make an informed decision for their particular situation. No propaganda either way. No fear. What did FDR say, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” It seems as if the powers that be on all sides of this are trying to use fear to bring you to their side of the issue. Just my opinion. I had doc once try to do surgery on my knee saying he didn’t need any testing to tell him I needed surgery. I said thanks, and went and go a second opinion. That doc ran a test and said I had inflammation and to rest it. Haven’t had any problems with it for the last 20 years. Doc’s practice medicine and are not perfect at it all the time. Informed consent. I think all sides are playing fast and loose with the Truth, not telling us everything. The ends cannot justify the means.
Shorter tad: “Ignore the data. Ignore it all.”
But just in case you should change your mind about ignoring data, here is a good place to start educating yourself:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-vaccine/art-20484859
The truth about the vaccine is that it works. The Pandemic is now a phenomenon of the unvaccinated and those innocent victims under the thumbs of the ignorant, stubborn, and stupid who refuse to be vaccinated.
Congratulations! A long statement that is completely evidence free. We have 200 years of public health experience that say that vaccines are a good idea, that they work. Are they 100% perfect? no, they are not. Are they 100% safe? No, but 9o% of the time, they are 99% safe. Taking an aspirin can kill you.
Hereis what ISN’T true. Your 30 minute google search is not worth 20 years of study in medicine. Your one incompetent doctor does not prove that all doctors are witch doctors. It only proves that YOU wised up in time to avoid a useless surgery,
This issue is not about a surgery-happy surgeon. It is about epidemiology, virology, molecular biology/molecular genetics, immunology, and infectious diseases. The medical & scientific communities who are experts in these fields by and large have supported the vaccine effort. The few medical practitioners-refusniks whom I have read have no expertise in the aforementioned medical & scientific fields. Some of them I would even characterize as cranks and grifters! Long term effects of vaccines developed quickly? The newly developed vaccine technology has favored rapid development of effective vaccines. This is great news for the global human population if only we would exploit this technology fully. We have already seen the incipient development of long term effects of a significant portion of survivors of Covid-19. Those effects are very troubling. The vaccines work. Achieving herd immunity by non-vaccine means (if that is possible) is tantamount to ignoring the plight of the elderly and the infirm. This is the worst of attitudes that we have seen in the past in the19th Century’s Social Darwinism which has no place in a civilized society. I am utterly astounded at the objections to life saving and society saving vaccines. Go figure . . . .
Gosh, mark. I guess I inspired you yesterday,
See! we atheists are good for all kinds of things. 😬😘🤔😳
A strength of the Church of Rome has always been its ability to reign-in enthusiasts, wannabe personality cult leaders and loose cannons…and though sometimes this went to far and punished/restrained people who were not these things unfairly, here it is clearly working for the best.
What I don’t get is why someone would be a Roman Catholic priest and then claim he knows better than the hierarchy. Isn’t the whole point—or at least a big part—of being Roman Catholic is you know exactly who to listen to and obey (they even have official uniforms if you’re confused)!?
When you believe in a thing because you think it is always going to back up your megalomania and then discover that you were wrong and it is not All About You, the megalomaniac is in for a helluva shock.
I’ve known a lot of priests in my time. Most of them were decent guys trying to do a good job. More than a few were exceptional. A few had/have personality disorders. Interestingly enough it was one of the guys with the personality disorder that told us that a need for control was the basis for most human conflict. He says he learned this by hearing confessions. I find it interesting that he made the point while being one of the most controlling priests I’ve ever met. We finally reported him to his archbishop when we couldn’t look the other way anymore, and he was *forced* to apologize to us for some of his antics. But it was like pulling teeth to get him to do it. He’s a brilliant guy, but he would have been much better suited to a podium in a lecture hall with license to torture college students.
He once bragged to the congregation that one of his professors in seminary strongly warned against ordaining him. He was in a state of glee because that priest eventually left the priesthood.
I’m afraid that some weird dudes go into the priesthood because power is their drug of choice. It makes sense when you listen to their stories. The guy that bullied us had been abused by his parents and bullied in school most of his life. He acts like he’s above it all now– a preening narcissist who doesn’t have enough self awareness not to complain in public if he had to wake up in the middle of the night to anoint a dying person. So sad.
My 29 y.o. nephew caught the Delta variant at Disneyland a couple of weeks ago. He is a healthy, strong kid. He said it was two weeks of living hell, that he couldn’t breathe and felt like somebody put a hot poker down his throat. He also said that at one point he thought he might die.
When we asked him why he didn’t just take the prick to the arm, he said “the shot is scary”.
Some of his friends also tested positive but didn’t feel anything because they were immunized.
“the shot is scary”
I got a tetanus jab yesterday. It hurt more than the COVID jabs.
Getting an eyelash in my eye hurts more than the Covid shot.
We have all but eliminated critical thinking as a core skill in our country, and this is the result.
jj
Pro life Qhristianity keeps getting better and better, if my “better” you mean even deathier! The state of Tennessee isn’t merely going after COVID, but have decided to make sure they are the most prodeath pro life party EVAH!
The Tennessean reports:
The Tennessee Department of Health will halt all adolescent vaccine outreach – not just for coronavirus, but all diseases – amid pressure from Republican state lawmakers, according to an internal report and agency emails obtained by the Tennessean. If the health department must issue any information about vaccines, staff are instructed to strip the agency logo off the documents.
The health department will also stop all COVID-19 vaccine events on school property, despite holding at least one such event this month. The decisions to end vaccine outreach and school events come directly from Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey, the internal report states. Additionally, the health department will take steps to ensure it no longer sends postcards or other notices reminding teenagers to get their second dose of the coronavirus vaccines.
@ Ben
You’ve got it backwards, you Marxist. How would kids even be able to *get* Polio if the Dem’s aborted them all? What do you say to that, huh?
@ arteveide
I have been stymied in my plans for world domination and free bacon for everyone.
SHAME! SHAME!
@ Ben
You made me yell ”everything tastes better with bacon”, while I should be thinking of escargots and Chablis today, in honour of my southern neighbours.
@arteveide
Bacon is the candy of meat. Can you say that about escargot?
Baby back ribs with barbeque sauce are clearly the candy of meat.
I fear I must correct your grave, grave error.
Bacon is the candy of meat. Baby back ribs with barbecue sauce are meat with candy on them.
A world of difference!
@ Ben, taco,
Paraphrasing Mark in his latest post: I am not interested in being a good Baconist or a good liberal, but I am not afraid to side with what is true. And even though I would not elevate the greatness of bacon to a moral of metaphysical good, I feel obliged to side with Ben. I will oppose him when I think he is wrong, but be on his side when it comes to bacon.
@ Ben, taco
Please exchange the world ”liberal” for the word ”ribber”. I don’t mind not being a liberal, but I abhor being nonsensical, whih is the path to ehhhm, conservatism.
Enough for today. I do no longer am able to comprehend what I write myself.
@arteveide
Have some bacon. Among its many blessings, you just stop thinking about anything else.
There is american bacon, which is truly the candy of meat.
The bacon available at the polish deli in San Francisco is superb, but it is not American bacon. It will make a fabulous carbonara.
@ Ben, who …
Couldn’t get guanciale
Couldn’t even get pancetta
Decides to use bacon in his carbonara
Is now being reported to the Italian ministry of Culture
@ arteveide
You have to blame the poles for this, not me. They call it bacon for the benefit of us non poles. What they call it has too many consonants for me to remember.
Some definite “the dwarves from CS Lewis’ THE LAST BATTLE” energy emanating from the MAGA corner. Not only the mulish, anti-empirical stupidity and jeering, but also the racist prejudices against brown people who wear turbans…