Freedom of Thought and Religion

Family friends recently returned from a visit to D.C., where the photo above was taken.

Thomas Jefferson Memorial Inscriptions

Northwest Portico

"Almighty God hath created the mind free. All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens . . . are a departure from the plan of the holy Author of our religion . . . No man shall be compelled to frequent or support religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion. I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively."

-Excerpted from A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, drafted in 1777. First introduced in the Virginia General Assembly in 1779, after he had become Governor. Passed by the Virginia Assembly in 1786, while Jefferson was serving as Minister to France. The last sentence is excerpted from a letter to James Madison, August 28, 1789, as he was returning to America to assume his position as Secretary of State.

There seems to be some interest in religion in the news lately, with the Pope weighing in on the morality of war with Iran, conspiracy theories running amok and more . . .

Now that the hard work is over, another religious belief appears:

We did it. With Europeans in charge, Strait of Hormuz will be open in just 4-6 months, following a climate assesment and a summit in Davos https://t.co/ODfc8OEiDR

— Matthias Schmidt (@eurofounder) April 17, 2026

Is "Just War" the only moral consideration in dealing with Iran?

A lot of people were taken by surprise when the USA joined Israel in attacking Iran's leadership and defense industry. Lee Smith has an explanation in: The Return of the Echo Chamber - How the Obama-era communications infrastructure is working to rope Trump into the next JCPOA

Iran can’t have a nuclear bomb, says Donald Trump, so it can’t be allowed to enrich uranium—not now, not ever. Accordingly, former Barack Obama aides responded favorably to news that Vice President JD Vance told the Iranian delegation he met with in Pakistan last weekend that he was willing to erase his boss’s red line and offer Iran a deal that allows it to enrich after 20 years. . . .

Soon after the actions to take out Iran's existing bomb program, they massively increased their conventional weapons production. This is how they got to be suppliers of sophisticated drones to Russia, for example.

The JCPOA was designed to protect Iran’s nuclear weapons program until the regime could protect it itself. Thus, while the JCPOA put time-limited restrictions on the nuclear program, it undid restrictions on Iran’s conventional ballistic missiles program. This meant that by the time the restrictions on its nuclear activities expired, Iran would have an enormous arsenal of ballistic missiles to defend the nuclear program against Israel and any U.S. president willing to take military action to end it. As Iran’s conventional arsenal was approaching that point of no return, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to see Trump in his Florida home at the end of December.

Whether or not to leave future generations to deal with an Iran thus armed was the question. Would the leaders of the country feel compelled at some point to bring chaos to the world (according to their theology) in order to allow for the return of the Hidden Imam?

The Pope does not think the current war is moral.

Grim at Grim's Hall:

Wretchard, or Richard Fernandez, says that he thinks you can't properly understand the discussion within the context of Just War Theory alone: you have to engage also the theory of Jihad, which is Iran's rather than ours.

Inevitably it requires us to consider not only what Christians believe but what the Islamic equivalent to Just War -- the doctrine of Jihad -- actually teaches. In many ways the two are as different as chalk and cheese. In the first place Christianity is a nonstate religion while Islam aims to be a “universal religion and a universal state”. . .

Daniel Greenfield: Pope Leo Ignores Christian and Jewish Genocide in Algeria

Alongside paying tribute to the 19 Martyrs of Algeria, beatified in 2018, priests, monks and nuns, including 7 beheaded monks and 2 nuns murdered on the way to mass, by Islamic terrorists who later received amnesty for their crimes from the Algerian government, Pope Leo also paid tribute to the Jihadis at their memorial.

Pope Leo visited Algeria’s so-called Martyrs’ Monument, “Maqam Echahid,” located above the El Mujahid or Jihadi Museum, erected by former Islamic-Socialist terrorist dictator Houari Boumédiène who had headed the ALN, one of whose specialties was the “Smile of Kabylie” in which the tongue was pulled through a slit throat, and which was responsible for the Oran Massacre of Christians and Jews that ethnically cleansing a formerly non-Muslim city.

Women and children had their throats cut by Muslim mobs bent on slaughter. 250,000 non-Muslims had lived in Oran. After the massacres, over 200,000 survivors fled, told that they had a choice between a “suitcase and a coffin”.

Praising the Arab Muslim terrorists who had set out to eliminate Christianity from Algeria, the pontiff declared that “they lost their lives but in doing so, they gave them up for the love of their own people. May their example sustain the people of Algeria and all of us on our journey, for true freedom is not merely inherited, it is chosen anew every day.”

The “love of their own people” was based on a fervent hatred of all non-Muslims, acted out through horrible atrocities, including the deliberate murder of children.

As one Catholic put it, pray both for the Pope and for Trump.

(And watch out for weird attempts to separate Catholics and Protestants politically.)

Weekend

The Week In Pictures: Swalwell Meets the Pope Edition

It was quite a week. The Democrats decided they needed to get rid of a candidate in the crowded field for Governor of California, and the fall guy was Eric Swalwell. It turned out that the Democrats and their reporters had known all along that Swalwell was a sexual predator, but until now it wasn’t opportune to mention it.

President Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus, or maybe just as a doctor, healing someone. That prompted howls of outrage from the people who are always howling in outrage, and an extraordinary outpouring of memes showing Trump and others as Jesus, or just as healers.

Speaking of Jesus, the Pope tried to intervene in the midterm elections on behalf of the Democrats–he was a Chicago lefty before he became Pope–and President Trump didn’t take it lying down. The memesters were generally on Trump’s side.

In more positive news, Artemis returned to Earth and, as the week drew to a close, the Strait of Hormuz re-opened and an agreement with Iran seemed to be on the horizon.

Music

From Don in Kansas

Hope you have something nice planned for this weekend.

This is the Thread before the Gardening Thread.

Last week's thread, April 11, Old Civilizations, Wonderful Things

Comments are closed so you won't ban yourself by trying to comment on a week-old thread. But don't try it anyway.

posted by K.T. at 11:29 AM

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