For Hiram

Hiram is an occasional visitor to Dan Trabue's comedy blog.  He interjected a comment referencing an alleged "Catholic conservative" who writes tweets, columns and books and asked for insights on what I believe was   this article mainly, though I could be wrong.  If I am wrong, and Hiram was more concerned with something else written by this guy, I trust he will let me know and I'll do another post.  In the meantime, I'm going with this one because it seemed to relate to the topic of the thread in which his request appeared.  So...

Michael Coren is typical of the "progressive" Christian, based on what the linked article implies.  He apparently has written a number of books, with the latest being entitled "Epiphany: A Christians' Change of Heart Over Same-Sex Marriage".  The article in question speaks of a "proposal by Trinity Western University of Langley, B.C., to establish a law school."  The issue revolves around a conflict between Canadian law which supports the travesty of SSM and the right of a religious school to impose standards upon its students...the disregard for which can lead to expulsion.  This is the typical conflict imposed by all states or nations that choose to support a behavior long considered immoral and abnormal.  In the good old U.S. of A., our Constitution acknowledges our right to express our faith as we see fit in all we do.  Such legal impositions such as state recognition of sexual immorality naturally causes hardship for people of faith and reason and naturally pits "rights" against each other.

Such is the case with Trinity, as they seek to maintain standards of conduct among their students, faculty and employees.  It is their right to do so and as these standards are up front, open and easily found out by all who seek to spot among their community, the whine that they are "denying" or "discriminating"...as if homosexuality is akin to race or sex...is ludicrous.

But worse, the hatred for those who uphold long held and time-tested standards of morality and virtue extends to the hiring of those who acquire their law degree through this university.  The problem is that British Columbia will, like Ontario, deny law licenses to graduates of Trinity's law program, simply because the school has moral expectations for their students!  It's not like graduates are obliged to ignore the law simply because they signed onto a covenant.  But just like in the case of Amy Coney Barrett, somehow leftists, and this Coren dude, can't believe that a Christian can uphold the law if it conflicts with their religious beliefs.  In the case of BC and Ontario, apparently, they aren't even going to take the chance, as idiotic as the notion might be. 

So what of Coren?  Early in the piece he makes the cheesy and woefully deceitful argument (though typical of the "progressive" Christian) that after His resurrection, Christ "went on again to not address sex, abortion, contraception, pornography or any of the other topics that seem to so obsess the Christian right. Odd, that."  Not odd at all, given three very significant factors:

1.  Christ was known to uphold the commandments of the Father, encouraging obedience to them, including those regarding human sexuality, which prohibits various immoral expressions of it.  What this doofus refers to as "obsession" (another typical argument and equally false) is actually concern with the obsession of the immoral that has led to laws that codify immorality.  As sexual immorality is harmful to body, mind and soul, decent Christians are justified in opposing it where proponents seek to legitimize it.

2.  Jewish law in the time of Christ resulted in sexual immorality not being as common as it otherwise might have been, and the punishment for being guilty of engaging in homosexual behavior was death, so it wasn't prevalent in Jewish society...at least not that anyone has ever proven.  Why would Jesus spend time speaking on that which was not a problem for the targets of His preaching at the time?

3.  It is said by John (I believe) that there is much that Christ said and did that he did not record in his gospel.  To suggest that Christ NEVER broached the subject of homosexuality is an assertion without basis. 

Again, Coren assume Christians can't do the job because of their faith.  He says Trinity is inconsistent in their policy:

"The question is whether those future graduates should then be permitted to work as lawyers within the public square, to participate in a legal and social framework where the equality of LGBTQ people is the law — a fundamental human right. Trinity’s advocates respond by claiming the covenant is about protecting the sanctity of marriage, not homophobia. That’s a rather disingenuous claim, to say the least. What if a heterosexual student had a sexual relationship while enrolled at the college?"

An actual journalist, or an actual Christian concerned with truth and facts would have the answer to that question before writing an article about the case.  In Illinois, Wheaton college has a similar covenant incoming students are contractually expected to abide.  It is my understanding that ANY sexual immorality results in the same consequences.  I would assume Trinity is the same, but I'm not opposed to what has been stated about their covenant...Coren is.  If he wishes to portray them as wacky, interview someone from the school who is solidly familiar with the covenant in question.  Doing so may even have resulted in making his article unnecessary.  Having all the facts can do that.

But it seems that Coren believes that one cannot live one way and abide and defend the law at the same time.  One might be led to believe that there is absolutely no law that any Canadian lawyer finds objectionable.  It's absurd and unjustly derogatory toward Christians who do not pervert the Word of God to suit their personal preferences and opinions...like Dan and feo.

Then Coren goes all in.

"Prejudice is what it is, by the way, and I’m sick and tired of people trying to use and abuse Christianity to justify their own baser feelings. Homosexuality is hardly mentioned in the Bible. Jesus doesn’t refer to it at all. The Old Testament never mentions lesbianism, the story of Sodom is more about rejecting the stranger than gay sex … and let’s just say that David and Jonathan might have had a tough time becoming law students at Trinity Western.
Frankly, scripture is vague on the issue. But sex and sexuality simply do not figure large in the Bible story, particularly when Christ becomes its centre."


Like all false Christians, Coren believes that discriminating against bad behaviors is anti-Christian, as if Christ never spoke about human behaviors.  This is what Coren regards as "baser feelings".
---He also suggests that how much something is mentioned matters to whether or not it is moral or immoral.  A single, solitary "Thou shalt not" is sufficient to all true Christians who seek to live a life pleasing to God.  It doesn't require reiteration every other page throughout the entirety of Scripture.  As I've demonstrated to Dan over the years on more than one occasion (because for him, reiteration is required, though never sufficient for edification), even pro-homosexual scholars and theologians acknowledge the clear and unmistakable prohibition of homosexual behavior in any context or scenario in which it might take place.  It is always an abomination, detestable, sinful and forbidden.

---The OT doesn't need to mention lesbianism.  As "progressive" Christians are quick to remind us, the ancient Hebrews were a patriarchal culture.  They counted their population by the number of adult men, not by how many men, women AND children there were.  What applied to men was (at least) equally applicable to women.  If a man was prohibited from lying with a male as one would with a female, there's no way a woman could lie with a female as one would with a male.

---The story of Sodom is NOT about rejecting the stranger as the men of Sodom were absolutely NOT looking to reject the two strangers Lot was protecting.  The homosexual aspect of the tale describes just how wicked the people of Sodom were, that they would welcome strangers by having homosexual sex with them.  If anyone was being rejected, it was the men of Sodom in their intentions to welcome the visitors in their customary manner.  I'm being only partially snarky here.  They didn't get pissed and attempt to force their will until after they were refused by Lot.

---Nothing is more desperate than the homosexual attempt to portray the David/Jonathan friendship as homosexual.  The activist/enabler is so corrupt as to accuse them of vile and detestable desires just to pretend there is Biblical precedent for their own.

Scripture is not "vague" at all on the subject of sexual immorality in general and certainly not with regard to homosexuality behavior.  God forbids it because it is detestable, and even mandates capital punishment until the sacrifice of Christ on the cross paid for that sin as well.

Coren is not a Christian any more than are feo or Dan.  They all worship a god of their own making who has only a loose similarity to the God of the Bible.  It is not conservative Christians who drive people away.  It is the sin nature of those who find the moral teachings of Christianity inconvenient that does it.  

Is the G.O.P racist?

It ain't a trick question.  It's an irrational but widely held belief by those who oppose the GOP.  There is no real, true, honest (sorry for the redundancy) basis for the belief, but it proliferates.  Purposely.  It's a good lie to tell because it puts center-right people on the defensive and distracts from shortcomings of the left as the center-right wastes time explaining reality and/or distancing themselves from whatever provoked the charge in any given circumstance.

Here's Dan Trabue commenting on the subject in the comments section attached to a recent post of his from August 26, 2017 at 10:11 PM:

"WHEN it already appears that you are a party of racists, WHEN there is a literal history of you all being on the wrong side of racism, WHEN your presidential candidate repeatedly played to/appealed to racists, THEN you damn well better make a showy, outward public protest of the racists in your midst.

And that is why you all are viewed as the party of racists and racist supporters."

The following is an even more egregious example of this blatant falsehood that Dan perpetuates.  It is the lie that provokes this post:

"Not implying anything.

I'm saying:

1. The GOP has a racism problem. They are perceived by many to be harboring racists. This is just a point of fact.

2. The GOP's racism problem didn't arise from nothing. It's based on real world events and words from conservative types.

3. There ARE racists in the GOP/right wing, point of fact. Yes, it's also true that there are racists in the DNC/left wing, but not to the point that it's as big a problem as with the Right. We don't know how large the numbers of racists/nazis/scumbag types there are in the GOP, but it appears to be a significant number. Trump could not have won without the votes of racists/"alt-right"/nazis.

4. We warned you all (indeed, many conservatives warned us all) that Trump was invoking racist language and empowering racist groups back when he was campaigning. It was obvious enough/clear enough that many conservatives noted it.

5. And those warnings went unheeded, and now we have a president who has made nazis/KKK-types/racists feel comfortable and emboldened to crawl out from under their rocks. The nazis/racists will tell you that they have been emboldened by Trump and that "wing" of the conservative movement.

So, while we don't know the number of racists/nazis/white supremacists in the party, they are having their day and their way with the Trump presidency. The GOP/Right Wing is in a crisis because of this maniac and is not doing enough to stop it.

Disagree all you want, the data is there. I just hope enough of the Good Conservatives grow some spines and start taking courageous steps to (non-violently) end this fiasco.

In the meantime, we on the Left will keep fighting racists and nazis, it's kind of what we do. I just hope you all can swallow your pride and join us at some point. Redeem yourselves.

~Dan

August 27, 2017 at 11:54 PM"

Sorry to have posted such a large chunk of his steaming pile, but it needs to be addressed.  But before I do, I have one more from Dan that I feel is relevant.  Speaking of those like himself, and ostensibly the progressive left in general, Dan, presumably with a straight face types:

"We hate lies, we hate racism, we hate gross stupidity/ignorance in places of great authority."This is not at all true, as lies are essential to much of what the left, and Dan, promotes.  As regular readers (such as they may be) know, I've an ongoing series called "Agenda Lies" that speaks to just one issue championed by the left which details all the lies that led to an unconstitutional Supreme Court ruling.  The stupidity of the left is also blatant and obvious regarding that issue, and no more so than the stupidity of believing the rest of us are stupid enough to buy into the lies of those who promoted the "agenda that doesn't exist".  That stupidity/ignorance was also on display in every center-left politician who supported that agenda and the achievement of its goals. 

But here we're dealing with a different issue...race...and the supposed hatred of racism by the left is laughable considering the history of the Democratic Party, even until quite recently.  Heck, the support for Affirmative Action requires a level of racism in the belief that a particular race requires government help to achieve.  On that subject alone, the center-right population demonstrates far less racial preference in its position that no race is such that government assistance is necessary for those of that race to succeed in life, any more than for our own selves.   So that's just for starters.  Let us carry on beginning with the first quote from old Danny-boy.

---To whom does it appear that the GOP is a party of racists?  Why, to those who oppose the party, of course.  To those who intend that people perceive them as such.  It doesn't actually have that appearance, since it is a party of racists at all, and honest people do not perceive it that way.  How could they when it's not true.

---In what way does "literal history" portray the GOP as being on the wrong side of racism?  I can think of no such evidence, and Dan has not bothered to provide any.  He's free to do so here, and I'll enjoy a good laugh when he does.

---Now here comes the really funny part:  Dan insists, as do other nutjob lefties, that candidate Trump "repeatedly played to/appealed to racists".   It's the really funny part because as a business man, I can't see that Trump would be concerned about appealing to a portion of the population that is tinier than the LGBT community...and that's really tiny.  The fact is that by running on a platform of immigration reform and enforcement in the manner that he did, the left willfully chose to interpret that as racist or anti-immigrant.  That is, protecting our people and borders is said by the left to be a sign of racism...in much the same way as protecting the lives of people not yet born to be proof of misogyny.  That's called "lying".

---Daniel then goes on to say that the GOP "damn well better make a showy, outward public protest of the racists in your midst."  Well, let's see...we've already rejected David Duke, but he's been a member of five different parties and will likely jump ship again when it best seems beneficial for him to do so.  Aside from him, who else is there?  Most racists in American history have been Democrats, with Robert Byrd being the most notorious of recent times.  Most of the Confederate officers, whose statues the left now wants to tear down, were themselves Dems honored with those statues by Democrats.  But then there's Maxine Waters, Sheila Jackson Lee, Michelle Obama, Eric Holder, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton...oh, wait!   They're all black people!  What am I saying?  Black people can't be racist!  At least that's what they tell us, and the white people on the left will never point out the racist speech of any of these people.  (Meanwhile, here on the plantation, Thomas Sowell, Clarence Thomas, Mia Love, Larry Elder, Tim Scott are all self-loathing house n***ers...according to the left)

Let's look at Trabue's list from his second comment:

1.  The only racism problem the GOP has is lefties and deluded minorities accusing the GOP of racism without any proof to back it up.  It's like insisting Dan's a goat regardless of the reality.   That such buffoons insist on perceiving the GOP in this way cannot be helped.  Liars lie.

2.  It's true.  The GOP's "racism problem" did not arise from nothing.  But Dan lies again.  It arose from willful distortions of what may have been said by certain GOP politicians.  As I said, liars lie.

3.  Dan believes it's a "point of fact" that there are racists in the GOP.  If he's referring to party members, specifically elected officials, he'll need to name them and provide evidence of their racism.  Whether or not there are racist voters who routinely vote for Republicans I would not dispute.  But then again, how can one tell without polling data of some kind, or simply such voters openly proclaiming their racism.  Remember...we cannot, and should not, give credence to the claims of those who oppose the GOP for such statistics as they are given to making every statement "code" for racism as it suits them to do so.

But Dan believes there are "a significant number" of racists in the GOP, though he gives no clue as to how he's support the charge.  Given that there is not a significant number of racists in the nation (that is, klansmen or neo-nazis---the best estimates seem to be no more than a few hundred thousand total), it seems not a little deceitful to suggest there could possibly be a significant number within the GOP.  It's a baseless assertion and a desperate hope to distract from the fact of racism in the Democrat Party.   Indeed, as I've pointed out with my own small list, it's a far bigger problem for Dems.  They just aren't honest enough to admit it.  Dan certainly isn't.

4.  Dan has a very mentally dysfunctional notion of what constitutes conservatism, and more so what constitutes a conservative.  To him, anyone puts an (R) behind his own name just has to be a rock solid conservative.  This is crap, as actual conservatives have long had a problem with the GOP for preferring wishy-washy Republicans over true conservatives.  Just check out the "love" those like Mitch McConnell have for those like Ted Cruz and Mike Lee.  He prefers "establishment" Republicans, not Cruz or Lee.

And again, Dan prefers to regard Trump's unpolished references to those like immigrants and refugees as racist, when honest people see Trump's meaning through his inarticulate expression.  Dan wants Trump to be racist.  And for the left in general, there's no way that a white person is not racist.  That's the law.  So it's not that Trump actually intends to use racist language or seeks to inflame racist passion...it's simply that the left asserts such things in their hatred of non-leftist politicians.  (The irony here being that Trump is really less conservative than he is liberal)

5.  It's not Trump who has made racists feel comfortable.  It's the left who has done that.  I have a post in mind to address that in more detail, but in general, Trump's existence in the political arena is the result of leftist policies and politically correct BS with which the left has so horribly bored us.  This nonsense has left many feeling that despite their calls for consideration for the feelings of "protected" groups, it is just fine and dandy to say any nasty thing that comes to mind if the target is white, Christian and or conservative.  Given all the crap about "white privilege", it's hard to believe that among those fed up with this leftist PC attitude that racists wouldn't be among them.  For Trump to act with disregard for such PC considerations, only to have the left pretend said disregard means he's purposely seeking to attract racists to his cause is idiotic and willfully deceitful.  But that's who the left is: idiotic and willfully deceitful.

Dan believes that racism is a problem for the GOP.  He offers no data while claiming data exists to prove his premise.  Yet, lefties like Dan ignore the racist activity of the left and the Democratic Party in American history against which the right and the GOP had always been a foe...and still is.  The left has been accusing the GOP of racism for a long time...projecting it's called.  The "racism problem" of the right is in fact no more than the accusation of racism by the left, and the gullibility of those who've bought into it.  Dan can no more prove the GOP is racist than he can prove the Democratic Party isn't.