A test coming 2

Re-post from 2021, "Robbie" George's choice for integrity

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

So Princeton Professor of Law Robert P. George has made up his mind in advance of the testing he thinks will come. When/if powers in our culture demand that he affirm what he does not believe, he will not do it. Not in public, not in private, not to save career or friendship.

"There is only one thing about my life that is completely in my control, namely, my integrity. No one can take it from me. If I lose it, it can only be by way of my own freely chosen decision to yield it up. This I will not do.

"How about you? The only thing in your life that no one can take from you--even if they take from you everything else, everything you love, treasure, or cherish--is your integrity. Will you sacrifice it for other things? Or will you refuse to yield it up, no matter the cost?

"You will face the test. Pray for me, as I will pray for you, dear friends, that all of us, with God's help, will pass the test--that "like a tree planted by the water, we shall not be moved."

Must hide

Robert P. George is a legal scholar, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University in New Jersey. Many other honors and degrees are listed here.

He has a number of anonymous twitter followers and asked them to identify themselves, only to learn that they didn't dare. Why? Same situation that Karlyn Borysenko (here and here) discovered: a bullying, shaming environment.

Many of them are academics, some even tenured professors who expect that their tenure could be stripped from them. 

“Is this the country we now live in?” George asked. “One in which many people feel they must hide their beliefs in order to keep their jobs or maintain their careers? One in which people live in fear of speaking their minds — worrying for their futures and their families' well-being if they do?”

(cont'd tomorrow)

Moral courage 1

Some of us prefer to avoid conflict if possible, especially when we feel alone. It's hard to stand against your peers. But examples of moral courage inspire us - like that father at a school board meeting, or the NY teacher, or Robert P. George, or Peter Boghossian. 

What if you promoted a movement you thought was good, and then discovered it was bad? Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz joined the Nazi party before World War II, but later decided that he was "fundamentally deceived" about the organization he had joined. 

In 1943, the organizer of the Gestapo told him that they were going to round up all the Jews in Denmark on October 1. Duckwitz approached Sweden's prime minister, who agreed to take the Jewish refugees. He told a Danish contact about the Nazi plan on September 29, who then warned the acting chief rabbi and the head of the Jewish community. 

Word spread quickly. Over the next two months, ordinary Danish people hid them and then organized a mass escape of 7200 Jews and 700 of their non-Jewish relatives over the sea to Sweden. 

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from Wikipedia

(cont'd tomorrow)

Decision guts

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

If you believe that women have a right to abortion and are upset with SCOTUS, here's a thought experiment for you.

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Suppose for a moment that the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade really believed it was the right decision. What price did they pay to follow their hearts? A big one. Dr. Robert P. George of Princeton University explains the consequences:

"Please take a moment to appreciate the courage of the justices who today overturned Roe v. Wade. In doing what they did, they took their lives into their hands. Each knew that for the rest of his or her life he or she will have a target on his or her back.

"They and their families have witnessed the ugly scenes in front of their homes. They've heard the abusive chants. They know that an armed man came to the home of Justice Kavanaugh intending to murder him.

"Life for the justices will never return to normal. There is no going back. The campaign of intimidation against them failed, but they will never again be safe. They know that. They knew it when they decided the case and authorized the release of the decision. It took guts."

from his fb post

Fidelity month

This month is National Camping Month, National Country Cooking Month, and of course Pride Month. Now Robert P. George issues a new call to Americans to "Fidelity Month." The word fidelity comes from the Latin word which describes a person who is faithful, loyal, and worthy of being trusted by others.

A survey released in March by Wall Street Journal showed that many Americans have abandoned the values that described us in the past, even the recent past. We were united by those values, though we often disagreed on how to implement them. 

Now much of our society rejects the values of faith in God, respect for our laws and our country, the inherent value of every human being. You, my reader, are well aware of it.

But many of us (maybe still a majority?) believe in these things. He calls us to be faithful to them - in spite of opposition - with his statement posted on Facebook:

"At the foundation of America’s greatness are the virtues of her people. It is those virtues that sustain the principles and practices of our nation's constitutional order--our "experiment" (as our Founders described it) in republican government and ordered liberty."

(cont'd tomorrow)

Intolerant

"Severe abusers of religious freedom" are the focus of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). 

According to a 1998 law, the U.S. government must designate Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) where there is severe religious intolerance. The USCIRF investigates and recommends countries for this egregious list. For example, North Korea is one of those countries (to no one's surprise).

Two more countries should be added to the list according to the Commission's report this year. Pakistan imprisons or executes "blasphemers" in large numbers. Nigeria suffers from the presence of the "most deadly organization in the world," Boko Haram.

Forty-four child suicide bombers were used in 2015 by this Islamist terror group, compared to just four in 2014.

USCIRF Chairman Robert P. George says, "“Things are not going in the right direction . . we need the public to get behind this and we need to make religious freedom a top priority.”

Integrity 2

 (cont'd from yesterday's post)

So Princeton Professor of Law Robert P. George has made up his mind in advance of the testing he thinks will come. When/if powers in our culture demand that he affirm what he does not believe, he will not do it. Not in public, not in private, not to save career or friendship.

"There is only one thing about my life that is completely in my control, namely, my integrity. No one can take it from me. If I lose it, it can only be by way of my own freely chosen decision to yield it up. This I will not do.

"How about you? The only thing in your life that no one can take from you--even if they take from you everything else, everything you love, treasure, or cherish--is your integrity. Will you sacrifice it for other things? Or will you refuse to yield it up, no matter the cost?

"You will face the test. Pray for me, as I will pray for you, dear friends, that all of us, with God's help, will pass the test--that "like a tree planted by the water, we shall not be moved."

Integrity 1

In Isaiah 5:2, God says, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness . . . "

Corruption in our national life is distressing. People of integrity will have to decide whether to  cave under pressure, or take a stand against the corruption.

Robert P. George posted the following on Facebook.

"A time of testing is coming--indeed, for some it has already come. We are each going to have to decide. As for myself:

"I will not pretend to believe what I do not believe, or pretend not to believe what I do believe.

"I will not speak as if I believe to be true something I in fact believe to be false.

"Not in public. Not in private. Not for the sake of career or friendships. Not to fit in or avoid being thrown out (or "canceled").

(cont'd tomorrow)

For yourself

Robert P. George is a law professor at Princeton University. He posted this on Facebook:

"Here's something I've learned in thirty-six years of teaching super talented and high achieving, highly ambitious young men and women: A great many people believe what they believe because they believe it is what smart, sophisticated, high achieving people are supposed to believe; and they want to be smart, sophisticated, and high achieving.

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"Of course, smart, sophisticated, high achieving people can be wrong, and indeed are wrong about many things. That is why thinking for oneself is so critically important. It is a teacher's duty, or so it seems to me, to encourage students to shun intellectual conformism--groupthink--and think for themselves.

"The best way for a teacher to do that is by setting an example. What a teacher says is important--very important; what a teacher does is even more important. Every parent knows this from his or her own experience in bringing up children. Do you want your young charges to be courageous? Model courage for them. Do you want them to question conventional opinions? Question them yourself. Do you want them to think for themselves? Think for yourself."

A test coming 1

 A re-post from 2021, well worth seeing again

Corruption in our national life is distressing. People of integrity will have to decide whether to  cave under pressure, or take a stand against the corruption.

Robert P. George posted the following on Facebook.

"A time of testing is coming--indeed, for some it has already come. We are each going to have to decide. As for myself:

"I will not pretend to believe what I do not believe, or pretend not to believe what I do believe.

"I will not speak as if I believe to be true something I in fact believe to be false.

"Not in public. Not in private. Not for the sake of career or friendships. Not to fit in or avoid being thrown out (or "canceled").

(cont'd tomorrow)

Gratitude

Sometimes you will hear about someone who narrowly missed dying, or whose loved one narrowly survived, and they will urge us to be grateful for every day of life because "tomorrow is not guaranteed." It's a bit of a cliche, but probably only if you haven't been there.

Prof. Robert "Robby" P. George of Princeton was suddenly hospitalized two months ago with a life threatening condition. On his fb page he credits his doctors and the prayers of thousands for his recovery, overwhelmed with gratitude to God and to them:

"Beloved Friends: Please accept these brief but heartfelt words of thanks from the most fortunate, most richly blessed man in the world. . .  There is no way I can claim to be worthy of such an extraordinary outpouring of love; but with all my heart I thank you for it, and I thank God for you—each and every one of you."

"Every morning when I brush my teeth and look at the guy in the mirror, I see someone who was radicalized by gratitude. For which, I must say, I am radically grateful.”