I've been reading a number of posts on Catholic blogs which argue that the abortion fight as it has been fought is over. The cocktail circuit republicans have no use for us. Obama will probably win and he will probably get the Freedom of Choice Act passed. We Christians, these bloggers say, need to take a different approach.
Maybe. I know that if just 50 maybe even only 40% of Catholics were serious about the Faith we could change the world.
There was a time in this country when Catholicism was respected. I'm sure that there were many anti Christians in Hollywood in the 50s and early 60s but they knew that if they made a movie that was offensive decent people wouldn't watch it and their gravy trian would come to an end. Now we, Christians act and react like everybody else. We are too afraid and ashamed of the gospel to stand in the arena so we sit, perhaps in the back, but still there with the people who are cheering on the lions. We want so badly to not look provincial, backwards, uncool that we melt right in to the muck.
If every Christian man who indulges in skin magazines decided to stop reading FM, King, Maxim, and all those others they could drive those publications out of business. If every Catholic woman who buys condoms before a hot date would decide to live chastely it would cause a positive ripple effect. If every Christian woman who wastes her money on "spicy romance" novels gave it up, the publishing world would have to sit up and take notice. If every Christian man who is guffawing at South Park, Family Guy, etc. decided to pass that stuff by we could make network television less dangerous.
Do you remember when NYPD Blue showed a completely naked actress in prime time? How many Christians tuned in that night? I remember flipping chanels and seeing an extreme sex scene one night on HBO. It was only half a step from straight up porn. I turned the channel but I'll bet millions of Christians didn't. Remember the original 90210 or Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Sex in the City? All were beloved by women and all featured a cast where every character was having sex outside of marriage with no consequences. It wasn't just pagans who made those shows into hits.
We, who profess the gospel of Jesus Christ have to change our ways. I'm not saying we need to act like the Amish but we ought not be Young Goodman Brown either. We do need to stand out and live a noiceably different way. We have to actually practice what our better priests and bishops preach. This will not be fun. It will be painful and it might cost friendships, invitations to the better parities and for some of us, even our jobs. But, we are in a spiritual war and every war has it's casualities.
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