Monday, March 28, 2011

For the few who still believe in the existence of the devil and hell

“Omnes dii gentium daemonia” (“All of the gods of the gentiles are devils”), say the Scriptures.

In this structuralist perspective, in which magic is presented as a form of knowledge, to what degree may a Catholic perceive the deceitful flashes, the canticle (at once sinister and attractive, soothing and delirious, atheistic and fetishistically credulous) with which, from the bottom of the abysses where he lies eternally, the Prince of Darkness attracts those who have denied Jesus Christ and His Church?

This is a question that theologians can and should discuss. We mean the real theologians, that is, the few who still believe in the existence of the devil and hell, especially the few among these few who have the courage to face the scorn and persecution of the mass media and to speak out.

Source: Plinio Correa de Oliveira, Revolution and Counter-Revolution

http://www.pliniocorreadeoliveira.info/UK_RCR.pdf

11 Ways the The Modern Religion of Equality Can Influence You

Exposing the Dictatorship of Equality

Why do most people feel uncomfortable talking about equality?
Is it fear of being “different?” Fear of being ridiculed? Fear of rejection? Political correctness? Peer pressure?

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(Like modern buildings, equality has a leveling affect on society.)

No one admits it, but everyone is aware of an ill-disguised dictatorship of equality that creates uneasiness at the sole mention of this most hated “i-word”: Inequality.

One of the main tenets of modern political mythology is precisely the myth of equality and people perceive that those who do not burn incense to this idol are demonized as ignorant and parochial hillbillies, retrograde medieval men adverse to the advancement of society, or enemies of democracy.

The root of this myth is a moral difficulty: the problem of accepting a superior – to acknowledge that there are those who are more intelligent, more talented, of a higher status, better educated, or richer....

“Humility is truth,” said Saint Teresa of Avila. To live this “truth” means we never deny the gifts in ourselves, but thank God for them. Conversely, we should never deny the gifts in others, especially if theirs are greater than our own.

Humility practiced in this way becomes a fundamental virtue for cordial social relations and harmonious life in society.
It is hard to keep the balance after Original Sin, since we live in an era of pride. Egalitarianism deeply pervades the modern mentality.

Everything Works in Favor of Equality
Thus, we face a situation which dominates, embodies and encompasses all: an Egalitarian Revolution. This is why in our days everything seems to favor equality.1


We can see this equality manifested in many ways:

1. Equality in the World Around Us
Variety easily leads to inequality of status. Hence, variety in dress, housing, furniture, habits, and other fields is to be avoided as much as possible.

• Equality of clothing: there is no difference between men and women, old and young people, civilian and military, clergy and laity; between people living in the tropics and living in more temperate climates; those living in Asia, Africa or America: everybody wears the same blue jeans, T-shirt, and sneakers.

• Equality in architecture: The same ugly skyscrapers or boxlike buildings make New York, São Paulo, Algiers or Manila look alike.

• Equality in music and songs: The same howl, the same drumming, the same cacophony and dissonance disturbs equally Americans, Italians, Malaysians, Japanese and Africans.

• Equality in food: Fast food chains standardize eating habits leading to the eradication of traditional local cuisine.

2. Equality Between Sexes
An egalitarian person hates all inequalities, including distinguishing between the sexes or within the family:

There is no recognition of any social, political, economical or other like distinction between men and women.
Equality of roles and behavior between husband and wife, parents and children are promoted.

3. Equality Between People of Different Status, Position, Age
The logic of egalitarianism rejects differences between teachers and students, employers and employees, old and young people:

Everybody is addressed by their given names or nicknames.
Everybody is dealt with in the same way regardless of merit.

4. Equality in the Structure of Society
Egalitarianism in personal relationships leads to social egalitarianism:

• There is the suppression of classes, especially those perpetuated by heredity, and the uprooting of all aristocratic influences upon the leadership, culture and customs of society. There is the eradication of even the natural hierarchy that can be seen in the natural superiority of intellectual over manual work.

5. Equality in the Political Realm
The doctrine of the equality of man is easily transposed from the social realm to the political:

• No difference between the rulers and ruled (there are no “subjects”): Elimination or at least the lessening of the inequality between the rulers and the ruled. Power comes not from God but from the masses.
Consequently, monarchy and aristocracy are to be proscribed as intrinsically evil regimes because they are anti-egalitarian. Only “democracy” is legitimate, just, and “evangelical” (i.e., according to the teachings of the Gospel).

6. Equality in the Economic Realm
Economic inequality inevitably leads to social and political inequality. Therefore:

• No private property: No one should own anything; everything should belong to the community (communism/socialism).
• No right to choose one’s profession: If each one chooses his/her profession freely, inequalities will be created since there will always be those who are more capable, dynamic or ambitious. Therefore, in an ideal egalitarian society one’s occupation is prescribed by the State.

7. Equality in the Ecclesiastical Realm
Egalitarianism points also to the abolition of all differences inside the Church:

• It holds that there be no priests above the faithful: Egalitarian people want the suppression of a priesthood endowed with the power of Orders, Magisterium, and government, or at least of a priesthood with hierarchical degrees.
Thus, they claim that there is no distinction between the celebrant and the “assembly” or “congregation.” Everyone “con-celebrates.”

8. Equality Among All Religions
An egalitarian person shakes with rage at the very idea that there may be a true religion:

Actually, to claim that only one religion is true (the Catholic Church) to the exclusion of all others, amounts to affirming superiority, contradicting the “fundamental equality of men.”
Likewise, in the name of the “dogma of equality,” secular states in the modern world place all religions on equal footing.

9. Equality of Souls
This true Cultural Psychological Warfare culminates in the total suffocation of all legitimate differences, complete standardization, and massification:

• Mass marketing and media standardize all souls, taking away their distinct features and unique lifestyle. As a result, the people (i.e. that great family of different but harmonious souls united by what is common to them) disappears, giving way to one, enormous, and empty mass with its collective and enslaved soul.

10. Equality Between Man and Other Living Beings
Stripped of his personality, man is reduced to just one among the many living beings, having no more rights than they do:

• Egalitarian environmentalism seeks to eliminate even the differences between men and other living things, in favor of an egalitarian consideration of the “dignity of all living beings.”

11. Equality Between Man and God
The last and absurdest form of egalitarianism, fruit of human pride, is the attempt to abolish the infinite inequality between God and man, that is, between the Creator and the creature:

• Pantheism, immanentism, and other esoteric forms of religion divinize man (e.g. the New Age movement).

• Atheism: Others, to avoid the absurdity of affirming that man is God, commit another absurdity of declaring that God does not exist. In essence, an atheist is an extremely egalitarian person.

The Egalitarian Revolution
Egalitarianism is not a spontaneous phenomenon but the result of a long process. It is the fruit of an Egalitarian Revolution.2
Both modern and contemporary history are marked by the efforts of those who wish to eradicate all inequalities and impose an egalitarian society, an egalitarian culture, an egalitarian religion − in a word, an egalitarian Weltanschauung (a comprehensive view of the world and human life).
The origin of this Egalitarian Revolution was an explosion of pride and sensuality at the end of the Middle Ages.3 Since then, this egalitarian movement has been increasing in pace and radicalism.


Egalitarianism: Metaphysics and Religion of the Modern World
“Two notions conceived as metaphysical values express well the spirit of the Revolution: absolute equality, complete liberty.”4
Pride leads to an egalitarian view of the world and human life. It leads to an egalitarian metaphysics.

This egalitarian metaphysics leads to the moral error that equates equality and justice. It holds that God Himself established a complete equality between men. This view generally prevails in the modern world.

Thus, egalitarianism has become the true metaphysics and unacknowledged religion of the modern world.

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Taken from the The Dictatorship of Equality - A Catholic Perspective, by Gustavo Solimeo

Photo by Ilpos Sojourn and used with permission from the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.