When God Speaks My Love Language

Readers, I have a confession to make. 

I have an addiction. 

An addiction…

To adoration!!

That was awful. I'll never joke again. So, on to all seriousness: Eucharistic Adoration is probably my favorite thing in the whole world. It wasn't always, though. As a kid, I remember being dragged along to Adoration and feeling that it was the most boring thing anyone could possibly do. I didn't actually believe in the Real Presence back then. I couldn't tell that Jesus was there using my senses, so I couldn't really believe. Why would someone spend an hour in silence staring at a piece of bread, when she could be out climbing trees or playing kickball? 

Pro-Life and Post-Abortive: Women Impacted by Abortion Tell Their Story, Continued

Last week marked the forty-second anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, as well as the annual March for Life. Too often, when discussing abortion, we are quick to forget the perspective of those most affected by the procedure: the women who have them and live with that decision for the rest of their lives. This post is continues our series of interviews addressing abortion, with a focus on women who have had abortions and now oppose it.

Béatrice Fedor is a French woman who used to support abortion rights. She had a change of heart after she married her husband and faced her demons. She is now a Silent No More Awareness Campaign regional coordinator. She writes about the journey to healing after abortion and reflects on ways we can change our culture to make abortion unnecessary at 400 Words for Women. Her essays and poems have been reprinted in several online publications and in The American Feminist, Feminists For Life's magazine. Béatrice lives in South Carolina with her husband and four children.

Je Suis Chrétien

Today marks one week since the Islamist assault on the anti-clerical satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo, a publication which has published — and continues to publish — cartoons mocking Mohammed, the founder of the Muslim religion. The world reacted in horror at not just the senseless deaths at the hands of madmen but at the symbolism of the attack: that in a free and secular society, the freedom of expression might be held hostage to fanatical barbarism.

Many of those who condemned the attack were quick to point out that the publication was not merely anti-Islam but anti-Catholicism, anti-Judaism and anti-any non-secular belief system (examples of such cartoons can be viewed here and here, but warning: some are quite graphic and sexual in nature). What's more, despite being a generally Left-wing outfit, Charlie Hebdo was frequently accused of indulging in racism in the process of staking out its positions. An excellent appraisal of their cover depicting the kidnapping and rape victims of Boko Haram as welfare queens is explained here, and I promise never to link to Vox again if you promise to read it.

But for all of the high praise given Charlie Hebdo for its defiance in the face of violence — its offices had been firebombed for portraying Mohammed before, with no casualties — there has been criticism, as well. Yes, the killings of the magazine's staff were unjustified, the critics argue, but so too was their mockery uncalled for. And here we are faced with the question: Just because we can do something, does it mean we should?

Drunken Book Club Presents: Save Send Delete, by Danusha V. Goshka

Welcome to the first episode of Drunken Book Club!

Featuring:

Walker Percy, True Detective

Welcome, The American Conservative readers! If you like what you see here, kindly give our Facebook page a "like" and follow us on Twitter!

Walker Percy enthusiasts have wondered when one of his novels would find its way to Hollywood. I am convinced the famed Southern Catholic author has already made his mark — but not in the way one might expect. The HBO series True Detective is an explicit and crude show at times that nonetheless is how I picture Walker Percy crime noir.

It's a man within a man... Know what that reminds me of?

Baptism By Fire: The Unwilling Godparent's Dilemma

But he has to, Don! He's not Catholic!

Recently, a good friend of mine contacted me because he is facing a particularly awkward family situation. My friend was born into a Catholic family, but he is not religious himself. His brother asked him to be the godfather to his newborn niece, and he is incredibly uncomfortable being placed into such a situation. The first half of this post is our exchange on the matter, with only minor edits for clarity. For the sake of confidence, I have changed my friend's name to Tim and his niece's to Lily. Tim's words are in italics:

Pro-Life and Atheist: The Secular Case for the Unborn, Continued

Secular Pro-Life represented at the 2014 March for Life

Many of you have undoubtedly read our first post profiling two individuals who do not believe in God, yet happen to agree with the Church that innocent, unborn human life deserves protection. We have been fortunate to add a third person to that list. Without further ado, here is the second part of our series:

Pro-Life and Atheist: The Secular Case for the Unborn

It should come as no surprise that the official editorial position of Unpleasant Accents is a Catholic one. Our contributors are all pro-life and all Catholic (Yours Truly, as an Anglo-Catholic, filling our heretic quota). The Roman Catholic Church's opposition to abortion is well-known. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person — among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being of life." Indeed, as early as the last first century, we have evidence of Christian opposition to abortion in the Didache, one of the earliest extant extrabiblical texts, which lists abortion amongst sins such as theft, murder and adultery.

The Church's witness for life has been both a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing in that her advocacy for the protection of all life, from conception until natural death, is unrivalled by any other organisation — religious or secular — in terms of the sheer amount of investment she has placed in hospitals, orphanages and other social services. It is a curse, however, in that in our increasingly irreligious age, it is more difficult for faith-based groups to argue for their values without being dismissed by their opponents as merely regurgitating dogma, rather than contributing a legitimate point of view. This is where the subjects of our post come in.

God and Man at Columbia

The first BioShock is a masterpiece of a game, and I eagerly awaited creator Ken Levine’s latest project: BioShock Infinite. Rather than an underwater city filled with characters from a Galt’s Gulch gone terribly wrong, this game features a floating city in the sky. On first glance, it’s a quasi-Mormon paradise inflamed with American nationalism, but below the surface there lies a society scarred by racism, crony capitalism, and a dangerous cult of "the Prophet." BioShock Infinite has taken the gaming world by storm and won more awards than I can count. It's a creative piece of storytelling and is probably worth playing if you like fast-paced shooters. The game’s religious themes in particular were irresistible to me as a Catholic, and so I’d like to dig into them, as I haven’t seen these ideas seriously addressed elsewhere. I’ll assume the good reader has either completed the game and knows the ending or isn't a gamer and actually wouldn't mind it being spoiled… so read at your own discretion.