Point of no return...

Last fall I read an article by Mark Steyn in which he said that should Obama be elected, it would mark a "point of no return" for America. I was hoping he had overstated the case. I remember telling my son Tim that the wheels of government turn so slowly that not much damage could be done. Silly me.

I was horrified to read about this bill on the website for Touchstone Magazine. Apparently someone in Connecticut thinks it is a good idea to have a government-sanctioned advisory board for churches, instead of allowing churches to run themselves. As Anthony Esolen says:

In any case, the battle is here. And it is not a battle for my Catholic Church alone. It is a battle for all the churches, and for the soul of this republic: we will either have the free exercise of our faith, without being pecked to death by courts and bureaucrats and addled lawmakers, or we will be wards of the state, like old ladies allowed to hug our stuffed animals in a nursing home. And here I have a vision. Bishop Martino of Scranton shows me the path of our counterattack. If the Freedom of Choice Act passes, he has recently said, and if it means that Catholic hospitals will have to provide abortions or contraception, then he will shut down the three Catholic hospitals in Lackawanna County immediately and board them up. The county -- no, the commonwealth itself could not sustain the loss of those hospitals. It would be an instant crisis; and it would have to be done, or freedom of religion would die. The fact is that without the services that the Christian churches provide -- without the hospitals, schools, nursing homes, soup kitchens, clinics, welfare cooperatives, and so forth -- this country could never sustain the millions of people suddenly needing its help. That is not to mention the assistance that many more millions of Christians give by working as doctors, nurses, teachers, you name it. We may yet come to the point when nothing will avail but a general shutdown or strike, or massive peaceful disobedience. So then, we say, you want to take from us our freedom of worship? You and whose army?

You can read all his reflections here.

George Grant summed it up nicely at his Elevetary blog:

Worst Case Scenario
1. Asking Hillary to steer foreign policy at State
2. Reversing Mexico City
3. Requiring tax funding for abortion-harvested stem cells
4. Boosting abortion businesses with a $457 million stimulus package
5. Picking Dawn Johnsen, NARAL shill, for Assistant Attorney General
6. Nominating Tim Kaine for DNC
7. Tapping Michael Schiavo attorney, Thomas Perrelli for Justice
8. Choosing James Steinberg for Deputy Secretary of State
9. Picking David Ogden as Deputy Attorney General
10. Going on a $410 billion porkalooza spending spree
11. Nominating Kathleen Sebelius for HHS

It is time, as it has always been I guess, for believers to live consistent lives. I'm just afraid that living Biblically is about to become more costly.