More
Government Attacks
on Parents’ Rights
It’s no accident that the founders of
Communism, when they sought to overtake a people, attacked primarily the family
and religion, especially the Catholic Church.
It’s no accident that modern liberalism does the same. These two have always been the prime targets
of the devil.
We are currently witnessing more and
more parental rights being usurped by the state, to a degree I would have
thought totally unrealistic just a decade ago.
But now, what seemed ridiculous has become reality, and we hear almost
nothing about it. The vast majority of
Americans remain silent while the state takes control of our children, and
raises them according to its values, instilled by force. This is not only an American problem. The atrocities in China are horrific and are
thankfully finally making some headlines.
But the entire West is under siege, and the silence is deafening.
We face a critical election in only
four months, that may determine the ultimate fate of our nation, and the media
have people convinced that the whole thing is about the economy. This is no small issue, to be sure, but in
the West we have a culture whose depravity rivals that of ancient pagan
Rome. We do not have the luxury of
casting our vote according to a candidate’s tax policy.
One of the growing threats is what I
mentioned at the beginning of this article, namely the state’s encroachment on
parental rights. The current battle for
religious freedom is obvious, but what about parental rights?
In California, SB 1172 is moving
through the legislature and will almost certainly get the governor’s signature
if it reaches his desk. This bill prohibits
any child under 18 from receiving any help for unwanted same-sex attraction. I have written on this extensively, including
two posts on this blog. If you live in
California, please contact your assembly member today and urge him or her to
oppose it. This bill sacrifices children
to a political agenda and robs parents of the right to raise their children according
to their Faith. They can not even give a
suicidal child who desperately wants help the therapy he or she needs that may
potentially save that child’s life.
In Delaware SB 234 would expand the
definition of child abuse to include any act that causes pain to a child. This bill, which has passed the senate and is
now under review in the house, would make the spanking of a three-year-old
child a felony, punishable by two years in jail. Spanking a child over three gets you only one
year. Once again, parental rights are being
trampled. I am not recommending spanking
or not spanking a child as a form of discipline, but there can be no arguing
that this bill robs parents of the right to raise and discipline children
according to reasonable beliefs, simply because politicians say so. The bill, incidentally, is being heavily
pushed by Delaware attorney general Beau Biden, the son of the vice president.
At the same time, the state is
enforcing abuse on children by forcing their adoption to same-sex couples. Now there are same-sex couples who are loving
and tender people, and who truly love children, but they can not give a child
what he or she truly needs from a family.
Intentionally putting a child in a family situation in which they are
deprived of a mother and a father is child abuse. Every reputable study (not to mention common
sense) demonstrates this. Studies to the
contrary have been discredited due to prejudice or poor methodology, as simple
research can prove.
Not only is the state completely
dismissing the needs of children, and putting them in situations that are by
their nature abusive, while married couples languish on adoption waiting lists,
it has demanded that the Church be complicit in this act. In more than one city the Catholic Church has
had to stop its charitable work with adoption because of its failure to comply
with this immoral directive.
Clearly the interests of the state
(particularly social liberals in government) do not lie with the welfare of
children. California’s SB 1172, Delaware’s
SB 234 and current widespread government adoption policy are all calculated to
advance a specific political agenda at the expense of the welfare of
children.
And the movement is advancing. In fact, it is picking up speed. Regardless of where we live, it will not be
long before we are told how to raise our children, and what liberal social
values we must instill, or else risk having our children taken away and / or
being put in jail. We had better start
to fight back, furiously. We have to
defend our rights, our freedoms, and our children unceasingly if we are to
defeat the beast that advances on us.
Of course, we must do so as
Christians. We are so often the target
of attacks because we are safe to attack.
We don’t go around bombing things or killing people. And thank God that we don’t. If that was how we were to respond, they
would have robbed us of our Faith already.
We still live in a society that provides us with peaceful and powerful means
of defending ourselves. We still get
decent political candidates running for office.
And there are enough Catholics in this country to elect a President by
ourselves if we were united.
We must take these next four months to
speak out. Use the social media, write
to newspapers, call in to radio shows, support organizations that are trying to
mobilize Catholic voters to vote according to our Faith. And pray without ceasing. Our bishops are speaking out, but it is up to
us to be the foot soldiers. Jesus Christ
defeated evil and transformed the world with courage, but as the Prince of
Peace. May we, in this pivotal time in
our history, do the same as the Body of Christ.
