The Practical Parson

 President Volodymyr Zelensky has recently signed into law a complete ban on the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.   While that may seem and sound like a commendable action from the outside, banning a church that has a patriarch in Russia while there is an ongoing war with Russia; the reality of what the law invites is actually quite sinister, and I would dare say, diabolical.  Let's start with the foundational issue: banning Russian Orthodox anything in Ukraine.  While it might sound like they're just cutting off the Patriarch of Moscow, what is truly happening is the Ukrainian government is seizing church properties: monasteries, cathedrals, convents, churches, shelters for the poor and homeless- all being seized by the state.  However it doesn't end at seizing church property, oh no.  The government has now enabled themselves to seize the personal and private property of private citizens who are Russian Orthodox as well.  This level of land-g...

Today, possibly one of the world's most pointless and impotent organizations voted to demand a ceasefire in Gaza.  They decried the "humanitarian" crisis which they claim Israel has perpetrated on the people living in Gaza, and demand an immediate ceasefire.  The secretary General of the UN claims he has never before encountered such a horrendous situation and loss of civilian lived on his watch as secretary general. In total, there are 13 (registered) major wars/ armed conflicts currently ongoing across the globe. On the continent of Africa alone, millions of lives have been lost to civil war and Islamist terrorist uprisings for over 25 years.  In the north of the European continent, of course we have the Russian-Ukrainian war which has been going on for almost 2 years at this point.  Do you want to know what every other war or armed conflict in the world has in common, not shared with the Israel-Hamas conflict?   A United Nations resolution demanding a ce...

 Today, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Christian graphic designer who creates wedding websites, that she is not obliged to extend her services to same-sex couples who are getting married.  Of course the instant outrage over "Gay rights denied!" has been noted, with people and the dissent from the liberal justices on the court saying this will "make gay people second class citizens".   But, will it?  When you talk about discrimination, everyone automatically goes "Oh, discrimination bad!", as well they should; but wherein lies the truth in cases such as this?   Was it really a gay couple who so sincerely wanted this designer's services and she was the only person who could do the job; or was it on the other hand, a group of people who wanted to 'prove a point' about supposed equality?   The fact of the matter is that while there are legitimate cases of discrimination which occur every single day; cases such as this one before the Sup...