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Pope: "Democracy Without Values Easily Turns Into Open Or Thinly Disguised Totalitarianism"

By John-Henry Westen

VATICAN, January 30, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In an address to the leaders of the Christian Associations of Italian Workers Friday, Pope Benedict XVI warned, "As history demonstrates, a democracy without values easily turns into open or thinly disguised totalitarianism."  Benedict was in fact making his own the statement first uttered by his predecessor John Paul II, who made the statement in 2000. (see coverage: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2000/feb/00022501.html )  John Paul originally wrote the statement in 1991 in the encyclical Centesimus Annus.

Benedict XVI highlighted how, in our time, science and technology "present huge possibilities for improving everyone's lives," but warned that "the misguided use of such power can provoke grave and irreparable threats to the future of life itself."

"The defense of life - from conception to natural end - wherever it is threatened, offended or trampled underfoot, is the primary duty of an authentic ethic of responsibility, and this may be coherently extended to all other forms of poverty, injustice and exclusion," he said.

In addition to laws offending life, the Church sees the potential for totalitarianism wherever natural law is rejected, such as in the case of homosexual unions. 

In a brief submitted to Parliament last year the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops presented their grave concerns over the proposal to legalize homosexual 'marriage'.  When a society issues arbitrary laws that reject the primacy of natural law, the result is not only the risk of social chaos and disorder but, as the 20th century witnessed, a potential basis for state totalitarianism," said the brief.

Well known Canadian Catholic author Michael O'Brien warned last year in a commentary exclusive to LifeSiteNews.com that Canada was indeed rapidly heading toward a totalitarian state. 

In the essay, "Same-Sex 'Marriage,' 'Hate Crimes,' and the New Totalitarianism," O'Brien noted that hundreds of new laws are proliferating a climate of legalism that is "directed not at criminals but at the moral structure of private life." The new laws, far from protecting citizens against unjust discrimination, are to be "wielded as a cudgel to intimidate those who simply disagree with (the ideology) and to punish those who are outspoken about it."

O'Brien writes, "In just over one generation we have been shifted from a society in which homosexual acts were a crime under the then existing law, to a society in which homosexual acts have become a government-protected and fostered activity, while voicing criticism of it 'publicly' has become the crime. Call it by any name you like, but this is Thought Crime." (see O'Brien's full essay here: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/feb/050228a.html )

See Pope Benedict's full address (in Italian) here:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/january/documents/h...

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Vatican Cardinal: "We are realizing the worst prophecies of aging and demographic implosion"

Speaker says "it was the politicians who were whistling past the graveyard, dodging reality at all costs"

By John-Henry Westen

ROME, January 31, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The UK Ambassador to the Vatican got an earful from a Vatican Cardinal at a Rome conference ten days ago for refusing to acknowledge facts about fertility decline and its serious implications.

Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, the President of the Pontifical Council on the Family was the keynote speaker at the conference titled "The Family in the New Economy: Reflections on the Margins on Centesimus Annus".  The conference, sponsored by the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, was also addressed by Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, a Senior Fellow in Economics at the Institute.

Morse presented the facts on the below-replacement fertility rates for the whole of Europe and the dire social and economic consequences that would ensue.  In an article based on her talk she wrote: "The fertility rates in the western industrialized countries are well below the replacement rate of 2.1 babies per woman. For the European Union as a whole, the estimated 2005 fertility rate was 1.47 babies per woman. In some countries, the rate is even lower. However, in France, approximately one birth in three is to a Muslim family. Stripped of the Muslim influence, the fertility rate of the native-born or traditionally European French would be 1.2, similar to the rates in Italy and Spain."  (see the full write-up here:
http://www.acton.org/ppolicy/comment/article.php?article=307  )

In a column, describing events at the conference, Morse writes, "Some, who were involved in politics in their respective countries, claimed that my analysis had nothing to do with their countries. The demographic situation wasn't nearly so dire. And anyway, the non-dire fertility decline would surely be solved by state programs providing family support." 

National Catholic Reporter's Vatican correspondent John Allen was on hand at the conference and reports that the doubting Thomas was none other than Francis Campbell, the Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the Holy See.  Campbell, reports Allen, said that fertility rates were cyclical and the current state reflects such a cycle.

For her part, Morse offered a conciliatory response, but she recalls, "Cardinal Lopez Trujillo wouldn't have any part of that."

The Cardinal supported her findings with statistical data accumulated by the Vatican. "He assured the audience that his office at the Pontifical Council on the Family had been gathering world-wide demographic data for a long time. The trends were absolutely as devastating . . . Fertility rates have been falling for decades. Differences in state support for families made some difference, but not a significant difference in fertility rates. This is not a short-term phenomenon that can be easily reversed. Rather, the decline in fertility is a complex phenomenon in which economic incentives and cultural attitudes are deeply intertwined," reports Morse.

Allen records some of the words used by Cardinal Trujillo in response to Campbell's remarks.  Trujillo insisted upon the "frightening fact" of demographic trends in Europe, reports Allen.

"We are realizing the worst prophecies of aging and demographic implosion, and European politicians are seeing this with alarm," said the Cardinal. "The myth of over-population has collapsed."

Reflecting on the exchange Morse writes, "I thought to myself, it isn't every day that I have a Cardinal to take my part in a debate. And not only that, but the churchman was taking a much more realistic position than the politicians. While much of the secular world assumes religious people are pie-in-the-sky-dreamy-eyed, here it was the politicians who were whistling past the graveyard, dodging reality at all costs.  The Cardinal was taking the long-term view, facing the problem on its own terms, which includes both economics and attitudes."

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Happy Marriage and Touch Reduces Fight-Or-Flight Stress Response

NEW YORK, January 31, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The New York Times reports today on a study showing that a combination of physical touch and the deep emotional commitment between married couples greatly reduces the neurological signs of stress.

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Virginia studied the effects of touch on 16 couples that rated “very happily married” on a questionnaire. The research showed that a touch of the hand from a husband had a significant soothing effect on his wife’s stress levels.

The woman’s normal neural reaction to anticipating threatening situation, in this case a low-level electric shock, leveled off when her husband held her hand. "The effect of this simple gesture of social support is that the brain and body don't have to work as hard, they're less stressed in response to a threat," said Dr. James A. Coan, a psychologist at the University of Virginia and the study's lead author.

The scientists believe that the normal fight-or-flight response to physical or emotional danger can be over reactive in the day to day situations most people face and a hug or other touch “is a very good thing, is deeply soothing,” said Dr. Coan. The Times says the study answers the longstanding question of why married couples tend to be healthier than singles.

The hand-holding effect was even more pronounced on “supercouples” those who enjoyed an extremely emotionally close relationship. The stress-reducing effect was present but less pronounced when the hand-holding is from a stranger the study found.

The study is set to appear in the journal Psychological Science this year.

Read New York Times coverage:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/31/health/psychology/31marr.html

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British Medical Journal Editor Calls for Legalized Prostitution

By Hilary White

LONDON, January 31, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – One of the most prestigious medical publications in the world, the British Medical Journal, has published an editorial calling for the legalisation of brothels. Fiona Godlee, the Journal’s editor said that the creation of legalised establishments in which three prostitutes would work together would reduce child prostitution and sex-slavery, a proposal denounced by anti-trafficking activists.

Godlee is responding to a proposal of the Blair government to change the definition of what constitutes a brothel in order to allow up to three women to work from the same address. A government strategy document said, "At present only one person may work as a prostitute – more than that…and the premises are classed in case law as a brothel.”

Godlee is following the “harm reduction” philosophy that is increasingly popular with dispensers of public health programmes that “sex work” should be protected, not stopped. She writes, "It is surely time for an end to the arguments of moral opprobrium and for some bolder steps towards legalisation if we are to improve public health and human rights."

Anti-trafficking activists are seeing many governments going down the legalisation path. Gregory Carlin of the Irish Anti-Trafficking Coalition said, "It is not possible to make street prostitution safe."

"Allowing prostitutes to work in licensed premises has not helped prevent child prostitution, people trafficking and slavery in Holland, Australia, New Zealand or Germany," Carlin told LifeSiteNews.com.

Godlee wrote that the present prohibition on brothels "runs counter to advice that women should not work alone in the interest of safety. The Government will make proposals for an amendment to the definition of a brothel so two or three individuals may work together."

"Child protectionists are trying to identify how many sex offenders are working in the British health service. The BMJ should perhaps invest some learned scribbling towards a solution of that issue,” said Carlin.
 
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jan/06011710.html

 

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LifeSiteNews.com NewsBytes

Alito Sworn In as Nation's 110th Supreme Court Justice
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,183270,00.html

The Lessons of Alito - It's important to remember one thing: quality matters.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/648jhqpm.asp

A Supreme Day for America as Justice Alito Takes the Bench    
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10030/LEGAL/scourt/index.htm

The Liberal Nightmare Begins
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/1/31/154642.shtml

UK Anti-euthanasia alliance launched
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4662312.stm

A majority of women in Britain want the abortion laws to be tightened to make it harder, or impossible, for them to terminate a pregnancy.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0%2C%2C1697578%2C00.html

She refused abortion, though her little boy had no brain
http://www.latimes.com/la-na-hospice28jan28,0,1197650.story?coll=la-homepage-cal...

Mohler: 80-90% of Down syndrome babies killed in push for ‘human perfection’
http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=22533

Reuters on Abortion Debate: "Conservatives" vs. "Abortion Rights Activists" - the conservatives are religious or church groups, but the liberals are not only not liberal, they're not feminists or secularists
http://newsbusters.org/node/3836

The 11-year-old Massachusetts girl who is defying the odds, and the courts.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/635seuoj.asp

In New York, a grisly traffic in body parts
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11067065/

The question of what will be done, if anything, about theologians and priests, backed by bishops and religious orders, who have thrown down the gauntlet in publicly rejecting the Church’s teaching and authority with respect to human sexuality - Richard John Neuhaus
http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0602/public.html

Google Is Watching Every Web Move You Make
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-2014215,00.html

Terri Schiavo's brother speaks at Walk for Life
http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2006/01/29/local/doc43dc0f2057751316335690.t...

Britons unconvinced on evolution
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4648598.stm

White House Praised for Talking the Talk, Walking the Walk on Pro-Life Front
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/1/afa/312006a.asp

Documentary reveals truth behind abortion industry
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=5882

an eye-opening look at the perils of radical feminism in her new book, "Women Who Make the World Worse."
http://www.family.org/cforum/feature/a0039281.cfm

Pro-Abortion New Yorkers Open Their Homes
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039364.cfm

AIDS-Relief Money Going to Faith-Based Groups
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039365.cfm

Next Conservatism #28: The Next Conservatism and Education
http://www.freecongress.org/

The NDP are not even a player. They are the fourth party, utterly unable to affect any vote in the House
http://thetyee.ca/Views/2006/01/30/LiberalStrength/

Hollywood Acts for the U.N.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/1/30/92938.shtml

The Digital Solidarity Fund: A UN Internet tax in disguise
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/klein013006.htm

Porn washed over youth
http://www.michnews.com/artman/publish/article_11533.shtml

DVD Addresses Ten Common Questions About Same-Sex Marriage
http://www.family.org/cforum/feature/a0039348.cfm

Washington State Approves Gay Rights Bill
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gay28jan28,0,4959179.story?...

Pro-Homosexual School Posters Fostering 'Intolerance,' Says Family Advocate
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/1/302006a.asp

The Perils of Gay Advertising
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/1/28/175550.shtml

Microsoft Gay-Rights Stance May Spark a Stock Boycott (Update2)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aJM4HaNLjBt8&refer=u...

Sweeping anti-abortion laws proposed in US states
http://www.washtimes.com/upi/20060131-090347-1251r.htm

IN Canada Democracy fells yet another anti-American government - Mark Steyn
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007884

Harper hopes his move to the centre will make the Tories into Canada's new natural governing party. But what price are Conservatives willing to pay for power?
http://www.westernstandard.ca/website/index.cfm?page=article&article_id=1394

British Transsexuals 'to get 2 ID cards'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4664142.stm

Church leaders in India today condemned the attack on Bishop Thomas Dabre of Vasai and three priests allegedly by pro-Hindu activists
http://www.theindiancatholic.com/news_read.asp?nid=1064

Cardinal Francis George says I should've done more about abuser priest
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-priest31.html

Imams 'condone domestic violence' against women
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17977910%5E2702,00...

Canada's Islamist Seat
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=21084

Financial Post Column - Harper can win cities by dropping anti-gay policies, march in gay pride parade and harshly deal with caucus members who oppose this  change
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=a8a0a00d-c02b-40d...

Kansas Judge Dismisses Lawsuit to End Medicaid-Funded Abortions in State
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/13701421.htm

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