More on the Bishops v. Obama

The essay is an indirect assault on the possible pusillanimity of the USCC.  It's also (indirectly) a condemnation of the (R-Pussycat) types.

...Although the new Christian pessimism sees itself as bold and prophetic, it’s actually as hollow as a shell. Intimidated by secularism, it follows the path of least resistance: what better way to relieve oneself of the stress of fighting for Christianity then to issue pre-emptive concession speeches and wave the white flag of cultural surrender? And never mind if inconvenient facts pop up from time to time, revealing evidence of a resilient Christian populace—that can always be explained away as a mere blip on our sinking cultural titanic.

The other striking aspect about the new Christian pessimists is how little faith they appear to have in the power of prayer and the promises of Christ. All throughout the Gospel, Christ exhorts us to have faith in Him, and trust we will be secure. He tells us not to worry, that every hair on our head is counted. He declares that if we have enough faith, we can move mountains. But you’d never know that listening to today’s counselors of despair. All they need do is read one survey or one article about the weakening of the Judeo-Christian vision, and they immediately become despondent. They act as if a Pew Research poll is more powerful than the Holy Spirit....

Umnnhhh.....

...Recently, the American Conservative’s Rod Dreher mentioned his “despair on the gay marriage question,” while two paragraphs later, assured readers: “If I thought there was nothing to be done but surrender, I wouldn’t even bring this stuff up. My sense is that we Christians and other traditionalists had better plan for resistance in the long run.” Which is it? Despair isn’t consistent with resistance, much less victory in the long run. Thomas Peters, at CatholicVote.org, published a wonderfully clarifying post, responding to all this confusion: “We Only Lose Marriage if We Spend all Our Time Saying We Will Lose Marriage.”

...Christianity is not for quitters. It is a religion of fortitude and hope, and never would have become the religion it has had it been guided by naysayers who capitulated every time the going got rough. No situation could have been more dire than the one which faced the early Christians, yet they persevered, and eventually “baptized” a radically secularized culture, and transformed the world. Today’s Christians should be equally courageous....

Yup.