This
blog, Principium et Finis, took a back seat this past week to the beginning
of classes for the year, which is why I didn't publish much until the end of the
week. I was working on a few things
while I could, and I did manage to pull a few items together. One that never quite took shape was a
full-bore Culture War Rant on this story [here]
in Indiana, where the usual lone atheist was “offended” by a small cross (not a
crucifix; it looks more like a representation of a grave marker) that’s part of a
larger sculpture that a veterans group is trying to place in a public park
dedicated to, well, veterans. This individual contacted the felicitously named
Freedom From Religion Foundation, which is working assiduously to force the
State of Indiana to remove any evidence that its citizens who died for their
country entertained any sort of religious sentiments. I had intended to expound
(very eloquently, naturally) on the corruption of language involved in equating the
allowing of private individuals to express themselves on public land with a
government Establishment of Religion.
The one thing that people most remember about George Orwell’s novel 1984
is his vivid depiction of how a totalitarian state corrupts language, and in
doing so destroys the very concept of truth. That tendency is very much with us
today, and is a theme in several of the posts listed below.
Speaking
of which, here are this past week’s posts at Principium et Finis:
Monday
– I took a break this week from
composers whose names start with “H”; instead I went for one of the Boyz with a
B. Needless to say, it’s simply
Beautiful: “JOHANNES BRAHMS Sacred Choral Music SANCTUS” [here]
Thursday
– This past winter everyone, it seems,
was talking about this one little cake shop in Denver. In this Throwback Thursday post I warn that a
failure to insist on clear distinctions in language can lead us into a trap, as
intended by those who would transform society in their own image: “Bake Me A
Cake: Loving the Sinner, Hating the Sin” [here]
Friday
– A little college Mass gives a tantalizing glimpse of what could be: “The Reform
Of The Reform” [here]
Saturday
– We should be unnerved that the crimes of which Bishop Clemens August von
Galen accuses the government of Nazi Germany have become common today: “It Is A
Fearful Thing When Man Sets His Will Against The Will Of God” [here]
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