"There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church, which is, of course, quite a different thing." -Bishop Fulton J. Sheen
Placating terrorists, meeting with dictators, compassion for murderers... but no humanity for the unborn... incredible.
OOT
Re: This is a crime.... Yeah, I know. Sorry! I just can't believe parents don't see anything wrong with doing this to their little children. They think it's "cute". Having a daughter now, I have become even more aware of the scandalous clothing they have out there even for the tiniest little girls. It's absolutely sickening. And of course, parading them around in "beauty pageants" as babies.
Which brings me to another thought. I am sure you have heard about Miss California who lost the Miss USA pageant because of her comments on gay marriage. Good for her standing up for her beliefs and exposing gay marriage proponents for the bigots they are (ironic, isn't it?). However, at the same time, I could clearly appreciate the conflict here. On one hand, Miss California defended her Christian belief in traditional marriage. On the other hand, she was parading around on stage in a teeny bikini in front of an audience of millions to try to win a popularity contest and had taken modeling pictures for agencies and magazines where she was barely covered.
Although the leaking of some of these pictures was certainly meant to be inflammatory because of her views on gay marriage, it wouldn't have been a concern if there were no such pictures to be leaked. (Of course, that's hypocrisy at its height anyway given the level of acceptance of sexual images in this country. Victoria's Secret anyone?) It is impossible to reconcile the practice of professed Christians who dress provocatively and engage in other similar behaviors with the beliefs they claim to hold. And the message to young girls is that they have to bare themselves in order to get anywhere. Of course, I guess the sad reality is that it's true. Donald Trump's words sum up the popular opinion of this sexualized nation, "We looked at the pictures very carefully," (yeah, I bet they did) "and they are fine."
Re: This is a crime.... Little girls are cute. They are adorable. All by themselves. I can only imagine the harm that putting young girls in bikinis does to their self image.
Re: This is a crime.... Well, it's two-fold. One is that they grow up believing that this is an appropriate and preferable way to dress. Girls are supposed to walk around with their rearends and bellies hanging out. That's how they look pretty and get noticed by boys. Parents are objectifying their children, even if they don't realize it when they do it. Then they also end up looking older, which leads to them act older, etc. Their childhood is being stolen from them and parents do nothing, yet if their home was robbed or their car was stolen, they'd be on the phone to the police immediately.
It also gives them an unrealistic view of what is beautiful. To be beautiful, you have to be sexualy appealing, and to be sexually appealing, you have to wear revealing clothes, and to wear revealing clothes, you have to have a good body. So now we're hearing even little girls fret about their weight. On a walk with the 3 little girls down the street last Saturday, they were talking about how maybe the walk would help them lose weight. These girls range from ages 5 -10. (Of course, I also have to recognize the probability that their mother being very overweight herself may contribute to this, but still.)
Little girls are being set up for so many emotional problems it's unbelievable. And it's criminal.
Re: This is a crime.... You said it more completely than I would but that these little girls will get the idea early that to be cute they have to show skin is just nauseating to me. But then I am old enough to remember when beauty pageants only allowed one piece bathing suits.
Re: This is a crime.... I would be the first one to say that a Gay Christian should be an oxymoron, based on biblical writings. However, the girl standing up for her beliefs and losing out on Miss USA, or whatever, is more of a freedom of speech/religion issue, wouldn't you say?
A religious gay marriage doesn't make sense, granted, and she has a right to her belief, and should not be penalized for it, but some of it, from what I saw on the news, deteriorated to more of the 'God hates fags' song, which I absolutely abhor. As Christians, is it not important to refrain from judgment?
I thought the whole point of Jesus' teachings in that respect was that not one of us is a perfect example, so to make any kind of moral judgments on others, instead of trying to control your own actions, is highly hypocritical? Just a thought...
Lauchlin
Re: This is a crime.... That Perez Hilton is a weirdo and he set a tone for nastiness after the pageant that gay pressure groups then piled on. What we basically saw was a bunch of angry homosexuals picking on a pretty and somewhat vacuous young girl from California who at least was right about what marriage is. She is hardly worthy of being held up as an example of Christian womanhood and her 15 minutes may already be up.