One of the myths or lies of pluralism and secular fundamentalism is that religion should be excluded from the public square. Regardless of their protestations to the contrary, secularists don’t believe that religion should be excluded; on the contrary, they believe that all religion should be excluded except their own. Secularism fills the public square, and the public airwaves, with its own quasi-religion of radical relativism. It is also happy that Catholicism is present as long as it is present as a bete noir to be villified, as long as it as an object of hate upon which to pour scorn or upon which to vent spleens. Nowhere is this secularist hypocrisy more apparent than in the case of PBS, the so-called “public” broadcasting network. PBS has long been promoting pseudo-historical documentaries which are little more than veiled attacks upon Catholicism. The most recent example is the documentary claiming to reveal the secret anti-Catholicism of Michelangelo, the great Renaissance artist responsible for some of the finest Catholic art ever produced in the service of the Church. Apart from the fact that that such documentaries are the historical equivalent of tabloid newspapers, twisting and manipulating the truth in the service of sordid and salacious sensationalism, they are guilty of bringing religion to the public square. They are secularist anti-Catholic propaganda.
Imagine a documentary on PBS showing the role of the Benedictines in preserving civilization in the dark ages; imagine a documentary on PBS showing the role of the monasteries in providing care of the poor and the sick in medieval times; imagine a documentary on PBS showing the positive social impact of the Dominican and Franciscan orders; imagine a documentary on PBS extolling the virtues of the Catholic Counter-Reformation, focusing especially on the great saints of the period, on the Jesuits, and on the great art of the period; imagine a documentary on PBS showing the ways in which the Church has always opposed the murderous regimes of secular fundamentalism, such as the Great Terror of the French Revolution, the Gulags of the Soviet Union, the concentration camps of the Nazis, the millions killled by communism in China and Cambodia, et cetera. Imagine a documentary on PBS showing how the Catholic Church has opposed the mass infanticide of abortion, detailing how secular fundamentalism in the United States alone is responsible for the slaughter of fifty million unborn children. Now imagine how unthinkable it is that PBS would ever show such doumentaries, even though such documentaries would be based on solid facts rather than sordid fantasy. Such is the pure hypocrisy of secular fundamentalism that only its own propaganda is permitted on so-called “public” broadcasting. There is no even-handedness, no objectivity, no voice for those who do not kow tow to the relativist dogma. Such is the self-proclaimed “tolerance” of secular fundamentalism.
Well, I don’t have anything intelligent to add, but I wanted to write and let you know that I agree 100% with what you have said. And, I got a chuckle out of the title of your article. Good job.
Rachel
p.s. ya know, the folks who say that “conservatives” are not “tolerant” really are the least tolerant aren’t they? They will tolerate anything as long as it does not challenge their quasi-religious beliefs or wreak of any sort of authentic Christianity.
Was it Chesterton who said that history (books) belongs to the victors? In this case, spin meisters with access to technological resourses that enable them to exercise the gift of free will by vastly misrepresenting history, thereby misusing and mistaking their God-given gifts AS gods. Airing such vapidly rabid vapors have been mind-fogging & dangerously soul-smothering to many. Those who have repeatedly accused Catholics of being indoctrinated do not recognize that they themselves have embraced doctrine & dogma, theirs dictated by the deity of raving nothingness. Which brings to mind another (sadly, astutely accurate) Chesterton nugget, that notes that atheists espouse the erroneous & unbelievable belief that everything stems from, not Someone, but no one…
All this affords us the opportunity to exercise our free will as well, drawing from His grace the strength to act rather than react, by praying that “they”, for His sake, join “us”, and that we all remain forever in Him.
Where they dig up this stuff, I don’t know–Maybe they use Dan Brown’s research staff. Michelangelo’s biography says utterly otherwise. He was very devout, actually. Though he had a temper, he was a very humble man. He credited the Lord entirely with his artistry. Some people are not aware that he also wrote poetry. I have an ancient little book of his sonnets here (c. 1900). Here are the first few lines of one:
In my rude hammer lend enduring stone/Similitude of life, being swayed and plied/By arm of one who doth its labor guide,/It moveth with a motion not its own;/But that on high, which lieth by God’s throne . . .
PBS, A&E, History Channel, all those who produce “documentaries” are such a joke. I never watch them if I want to see something serious. They offend Truth in all its expressions: history, research, scholarship, creditable authority. Also they’re so personally offensive. (Do they really believe that their viewers are all illiterate?) Well, maybe so. Anyone who can’t distinguish his own overtly biased opinion from historically verified fact probably doesn’t see others as very bright…