Beacon2Light

Millions march across France after Islamic extremists attack The problem with Charlie Hebdo and the massacre of people there who were exercising a freedom we all take for granted is that, for the Christian, Charlie Hebdo represents among the worst that society has to offer in publications. It is a rag, blasphemous (even against Christ and Christianity), immoral and intemperate. It has the right to exist and to offend one and all (and eventually succeeds at doing just that). However, that doesn't mean that we applaud its exercising of that right in the ways that they have done it. I think the difference between anarchy (that's really extreme freedom, people) and freedom is that the people have some restraint from outside and inside of themselves. Charlie Hebdo operates without restraint and its now deceased editor ( according to a European press source that I read ) was a communist. Also, for the French, and any other nationality that seeks to jump on the bandwagon of su...

I just finished watching Sarah's Key , a film I put on my Netflix queue quite some time ago. I finally took the time to watch it. It is about a Jewish girl from Paris who in 1942 was whisked away with her family but not with her little brother that she adored.  She placed him inside a hidden closet and locked the door behind him, telling him to stay quiet as they practiced and that she would be back for him.  The story is sweet, sad and inspiring.  A journalist picks up the trail decades later to unravel what happened to Sarah's parents, to Sarah and her little brother.  To find out, she interviews people in Paris, Italy and Brooklyn.  She researches and finds dead ends and new trails that lead her to where the answers are. The Holocaust is an awful event that must be remembered.  Sarah's Key is one way of doing that.  I would wholeheartedly encourage you to watch it.  

In an article entitled, “ Religious Freedom in Retreat ,” Eric Metaxas warns that religious liberty is under assault worldwide.   Thomas Farr, director of The Religious Freedom Project at Georgetown’s Berkley Center, is quoted by Metaxas as stating that nearly three quarters of the world’s population (almost 5 billion) live in nations where religious freedom is severely restricted.   http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/religious-freedom-under-gun_648235.html For those who think that this hostility is unique to the Middle East, North Africa and some portions of Asia, Farr notes that “French government restrictions have increased too, moving it ahead of CUBA [emphasis mine] in that category.”  In fact, Europe which is historically Christian “is the region with the largest proportion of nations where hostility toward religion is rising . . . Social hostility in the United Kingdom has increased so much that the country now stands with Iran and Saudi Arabia in the cat...