Bullying!

It's a shameful act for people to engage in. I found this anti-bullying video on YouTube, and want to post it. In elementary school I was rejected, made fun of, and called names, even though I went to a Christian school. It hurt. The most egregious example happened at a very bad time in my life. I don't remember how old I was; elementary age is the closest I can get. My great-grandmother, whom, according to my parents, I loved more than I loved them, was very sick. I was worried that she was going to die. At that time, I didn't quite know how my she was related to me, so I asked prayer "for my granny who is sick and might die." As soon as I'd said that, one of my classmates responded with "She's your great-grandmother, stupid!" I'm almost 37 years old, and I still feel a pang when I think about that. Sticks and stones can cause a lot of physical damage, but they can't accomplish the level of destruction words can bring about. I'm proud of this girl for admitting her hurt and reaching out for help, and I rejoice in the encouragement she's gotten from YouTubers and other sources!

Christopher Hitchens discusses prayer in a recent article.

Update, 9/5/10:
A great article about this situation (much better than mine which is just random thoughts that occurred to me during my reading of "Unanswerable Prayers") from Wesley J. Smith at First Things's Secondhand Smoke blog. I completely agree with this: "But I also think that to force prayers on an atheist is to not support the person as he or she is, but to be prideful, by using the ill person’s illness to make oneself feel virtuous. If one wishes to pray for such a person, by all means do, but in the closet. If God is there, he will hear the prayer."


Continuing my post:
Perhaps it would be better to say that he discusses people who are praying for him and their reasons for doing so. [Article here.]

I'm one of those people, although I'm not one of the many who have written or e-mailed him to inform him of that fact. So many people have such odd ideas about prayer. Despite the fact that I've been a Christian for 32 years now ("Saved at the age of four!" as the Baptists would say), I certainly don't think I know everything there is to know about prayer. It is a mystery. I hope I know enough to keep from making some of the mistakes reflected by people in Hitchens's article.

Not technically a prayer (posted on a presumably Christian web site:

"Who else feels Christopher Hitchens getting terminal throat cancer [sic] was God’s revenge for him using his voice to blaspheme him?"

Well, I don't. And I'm ashamed of you for doing so!

The post continues:

"Atheists like to ignore FACTS. They like to act like everything is a “coincidence”. Really? It’s just a “coincidence” [that] out of any part of his body, Christopher Hitchens got cancer in the one part of his body he used for blasphemy? Yea, keep believing that Atheists. He’s going to writhe in agony and pain and wither away to nothing and then die a horrible agonizing death, and THEN comes the real fun, when he’s sent to HELLFIRE forever to be tortured and set afire."

What is wrong with this idiot? Rejoicing in someone's (potential) eternal damnation? Somehow I missed that in the Gospels. Let us pray for that particular poster to have a change of heart, lest he/she "likewise perish".

Hitchens asks, "… would this anonymous author want his views to be read by my unoffending children, who are also being given a hard time in their way, and by the same god?"

Unfortunately, I can think of several people, all of whom, interestingly, are Fundamentalist Christians, who would indeed want his children to read that post because it might warn them of their presumable fate. I used to be one of them. Thankfully,  because of God's grace, I know better now. Let us pray that Christians who hold this or similar views will repent, lest they "all likewise perish".

Hitchens writes: "Almost all men get cancer of the prostate if they live long enough: it’s an undignified thing but quite evenly distributed among saints and sinners, believers and unbelievers. If you maintain that god awards the appropriate cancers, you must also account for the numbers of infants who contract leukemia. Devout persons have died young and in pain. Bertrand Russell and Voltaire, by contrast, remained spry until the end, as many psychopathic criminals and tyrants have also done. These visitations, then, seem awfully random."

Indeed, who can know the mind of God? I wish some Christians would stop behaving as though they do. God allows good and bad things to happen to everyone. Let us pray for the grace to accept and endure the hardships that we either are experiencing or that we will experience.

"As with many of the Catholics who essentially pray for me to see the light as much as to get better, they were very honest. Salvation was the main point. 'We are, to be sure, concerned for your health, too, but that is a very secondary consideration. "For what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his own soul?" [Matthew 16:26.]' That was Larry Taunton. Pastor Wilson responded that when he heard the news he prayed for three things: that I would fight off the disease, that I would make myself right with eternity, and that the process would bring the two of us back into contact. He couldn’t resist adding rather puckishly that the third prayer had already been answered…"

Let us indeed pray for the healing and conversion of Christopher Hitchens, but let us not make the mistake of thinking "If Hitchens becomes a Christian, just think of all the atheists who will have to reexamine their beliefs and become Christians, too!" Very often, God does great works for the hidden sanctification of individual souls. We tend to think that a grand, public witness does great good for God's kingdom, but I think many of our attempts do great harm (televangelism, for example). The early Christians were known for their charity and their chastity. In America, Christians are known for being against abortion and against "gay rights". Perhaps the primary reason we're "losing the culture war" is that we are no longer known for our charity? How often do we talk about "loving the sinner and hating the sin" while demonstrating hate for the sin and no compassion for the sinner? I'm just as guilty. Let us pray that we all may grow in the virtues, lest we "all likewise perish."

Fight FOCA!

The Freedom of Choice Act has got to be one of the most deplorable Acts ever imagined by anyone in this nation. We need to fight it with every legitmate means we have and with all our strength.

I was going to refer you to Jimmy Akin's web site for the best links, but, unfortunately, my porn filter won't allow me to access the permanent entry for the post. On his site, it's the entry of November 13. Please read about the story there.

The links provided are-

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on FOCA

An article on the Americans United for Life web site

(Main AUL web site here)

A petition sponsored by AUL Act

An article of FOCA at the National Catholic Register

the AUL blog

and other links.

Once more, visit Jimmy's site, visit the other sights, sign the petition, and consider writing your own letter to President-elect Obama, and those who represent you in government.

And don't forget:

Pray for an end to abortion

Give time and/or money to your local Crisis Pregnancy Center(s)

Help take care of the unwed and single mothers in your neighborhood, parish, city, etc.