All Is Lost: The Military Edition

First, read this:

Larry Choate III married Daniel Lennox Saturday afternoon at the U.S. Military Academy’s Cadet Chapel. It was the first wedding of two men at West Point.

west-point-marriage

WEST POINT, N.Y. — Two West Point graduates were married Saturday in the military academy’s first wedding between two men.

Larry Choate III, class of 2009, married Daniel Lennox, class of 2007, before about 20 guests.

Choate, 27, taught Sunday school at the U.S. Military Academy’s Cadet Chapel and said he always thought of it as the place he would get married if he could.

West Point hosted two same-sex weddings of women in late 2012, more than a year after New York state legalized gay marriage. But Saturday’s wedding was the first time two men wed at West Point.

“It’s maybe one more barrier that’s pushed over a little bit, or maybe one more glass ceiling that’s shattered that makes it easier for the next couple,” Choate said Friday.

Choate and Lennox are out of the military and wore tuxedoes for the ceremony. Some of their guests were in uniform.

The 28-year-old Lennox is getting his master’s degree in business administration at Harvard University. Choate is applying to Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

The pair did not know each other as cadets but met later through a friend.

Chaplain Cynthia Lindenmeyer officiated at the ceremony.

Well, what else is there to say? Maybe that we have gone through the wormhole and have come out on the other side.

I get it: we lost. Clearly common sense and tradition no longer have any bearing. On the other hand, that doesn’t mean that illogic and licentiousness have won. They can’t. No civilization can be maintained when such absurdity is deemed to be normative.

In this and a following essay, Monomakhos will examine the effects of sodomy and feminism, the twin demons which have accelerated our society’s collapse and see what effects they have in undermining the Armed Forces. Today, we will examine the United States Army. Do people honestly believe that the unit cohesion that is necessary to maintain morale can be maintained in today’s regime? The masculine nature that is necessary for military preparedness cannot be divorced from the profession of arms. Let us cut to the chase: the open celebration of homosexuality will result in increased sexual assaults, intrigues, and fragging. Why? Because the revulsion against sodomy by heterosexual males is hard-wired into our consciousness, it always has been and always will be. No amount of eye-rolling, mockery, and sensitivity-training will eradicate this fundamental human impulse.

This is not to say that the United States will lose its lethality or be in danger of losing any wars in the near future. Instead, a bifurcation will develop between the Regular Army which will be riven by sensitivity training and the Special Forces which will continue to rely on brute Darwinism. Unfortunately, some of these Special Forces will be private contractors (read: mercenaries) such as Blackwater which will not be under the writ of any national government. For a constitutional Republic, this is dangerous territory. These forces will not allow a reduction in their standards mainly because they can’t. And truth be told, those who are more into inclusiveness and diversity will steer themselves away from its rigors.

Compare if you will the military with college athletics: despite the best efforts of Title XIX to raise women’s sports to an equal level with that of men, the fact remains that nobody cares about badminton or water polo. College football is where the action’s at. In like manner, this has already happened to an extent in organized religion. Once the Episcopal Church succumbed to priestesses and homosexuals in the clergy, it lost whatever luster it had. Its prestige is so low that the Episcopalian priesthood has ceased being a venue for those who previously screamed to get in. Ironic, isn’t it? College football requires the most stringent physical standards that no woman can possibly aspire to and nobody complains. No women are agitating to sign up no matter how athletic they may be. Nor for that matter are women flooding the Episcopal priesthood any more even though its entrance standards have been loosened to accommodate them.

So it will be with the military. The Regular Army will atrophy into a supporting role while the Special Forces will take control. We’ve seen this happen with the once-proud Roman Army which once controlled the civilized world. By the fifth century, it was essentially over for the Empire in the West. It got so bad that Roman legions could never go into battle without barbarian foederates leading the way. According to the historian Jordanes, Attila told his Hunnic army at Chalons to ignore the Romans on the left flank and concentrate instead on the Alans and Visigoths who were arrayed in the center and the right flank respectively. “The dust of battle overwhelms them while they fight in close formation under a screen of protective shields!” he yelled as he rallied his troops.

This contempt was earned. While the Romans continued to use the old formations they increasingly ignored the intensive drill and rigorous discipline necessary to use them effectively. The once-proud legions were merely going through the motions. They looked spiffy in their uniforms but manly vigor had been bred out of them. Still, Rome needed to exert force, therefore specialization was needed to make up for the lack of martial vigor in the legions. The barbarian foederates became the tip of the spear while the Roman regulars were “in the rear with the gear.”

Although Attila was not able to defeat the combined forces of Aetius, the handwriting was on the wall. Without a disciplined army, there was no way that Rome could contain the necessary violence of their barbarian allies –those who did the actual fighting. And with the barbarians in the driver’s seat, there was no reason for the Roman polity to survive in the West. It was ludicrous to expect that the natives would not pay taxes for the pleasure of seeing troops who could only march in formation and do nothing else. How the mighty had fallen! “Let them hate me so long as they respect me” Tiberius had said some three centuries earlier. Because of the fighting trim of the average legionary, Rome was feared but it was also respected. By the time of Chalons, the Romans were neither hated nor respected.

So what does the homosexualization of our Army portend for the future of our Republic? Will the it result in our own nation’s collapse? It’s hard to say. All things being equal it would seem to be so. On the other hand, these same pathologies are overtaking the militaries of the other First World nations. Even the Israeli Defense Forces allow homosexuals to serve openly. Nor should we forget that violence can be visited upon our enemies with drone strikes; technology will increasingly be called upon to compensate for human frailty. But we delude ourselves if we believe that wars can be won without boots on the ground.

We may be at the end of our tether. While cultural Marxism has hollowed out our churches, academies, and private industries, our Armed Forces have heretofore remained largely immune from its destructiveness. Sadly, this immunity is largely at an end. Perhaps it was pollyannish to believe that these same forces that eroded our civilian institutions would somehow escape our military. On the other hand, there were those who predicted it would happen sooner or later. What is stunning is the swiftness of our loss and the overwhelming dominance of the new order.

The only question at this point is, how long will it last?

Comments

  1. I count two men in that photo. That’s “homosexualization of our Army”?

    You’ve said before that you’re a “live and let live kind of guy” and that your only objection to homosexuals has to do with the advancement of a homosexualist agenda within the Orthodox Church. I don’t see how this post squares with your claim.

    • George Michalopulos says

      Fair question. I’m still a “live-and-let-live” kinda guy. I just don’t believe that society and its institutions should be disfigured to accommodate homosexual coupling as “marriage.” As far as I remember in this country (even in the South and Midwest), homosexuals always existed and were left unmolested by others. In all my years of watching The Tonight Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, etc I never once remember Truman Capote or Liberace being or Queen or Elton John being dragged off the stage and lynched by an outraged mob.

  2. Bishop Tikhon Fitzgerald says

    Clare, There are apparently an almost infinite number of possible ways to express the classical, ‘The Sky is Falling.’ It’s a kind of jingle and substitute for rational expression. Boehner, Bachmann, Limbaugh, the whole losing team, has been polluting public discourse with it since President Obama was elected. This latest non-event at West Point is of course another opportunity to repeat it.

  3. Sean Richardson says

    Just a note of clarification: This article states: “Nor for that matter are women flooding the Episcopal priesthood any more even though its entrance standards have been loosened to accommodate them.” In Southern California, in the Episcopal Church, two of the three bishops, and three of every four priests ordained, are women. There currently is such a glut of Episcopal priests in Southern California that there aren’t nearly enough churches for them to serve in. Of course part of the reason there aren’t enough churches is because the total number of practicing members of the Episcopal church continues to decline. This is the classic example of a denomination that has lost its vision and its Christian calling. It is floundering.

    • Daniel E Fall says

      The idea the Episcopalians have lost their vision to the ordination of women and that is the reason for their decline is pure conjecture on your part. You certainly cannot provide a statistical correlation for such a statement.

      If I had to conjure up a reason for the decline; it would be that people have busy lives these days and it is easy for church to take the back burner, or that churches lauding against 1% or less of society is seen by many as IRANIAN. Or, much worse and probably more spot on, the recognition by society of the ills created by religions, et al. That is the behavior of Muslims on behalf of their religion, but giving many pause about what religion is saying, doing, causing, for the minorities in the world. Of course, this is my own conjecture, but I’m offering it as an example of other reasons for churches declines.

      Or, it could be bishops behaving so terribly, people see the church as baloney.

      As to the editorial, I don’t really care about the gays, but the question as to whether the military would require an Orthodox chaplain to marry to gay cadets looms. I think it would be a place where the church would certainly need to take a stand.

      • Sean Richardson says

        It’s tough to argue your point, since there are many denominations that are growing in membership, while there are some that are declining. I have not seen the numbers for the Orthodox Church here in the United States, but the Episcopal Church is declining in membership, as are the Southern Baptists. Check out this website, it’ll answer at least some of your questions

        http://www.christianpost.com/news/2011-church-membership-southern-baptists-decline-cults-growing-48984/

        • Virtually all the old denominations are in decline. The Catholics and Baptists held out the longest. The situation of Orthodoxy in the US is unclear. Measured by official church membership alone, the situation (and trend) is not good, but it is unclear to what degree there are barely-practising Orthodox immigrants who are not church members. The estimates for Orthodoxy in the US range from about 0.5-2.0%, a huge difference in proportion. Again, whether this per centage is moving up or down is unclear, though certainly it cannot be in decline to the same degree as most Protestant denominations (though OCA probably is).

          Canada includes religious questions on its (long-form) census and there Orthodoxy is still growing in both numbers and proportion (up to 1.7%), even while most all denominations are experiencing rapid decline.

      • The Episcopal Church *IS* the church of the 1%ers, and it always has been no matter what its social politics or pronouncements on economic policy have been.

        You may inadvertently have half a point, however. The ECUSA has declined less rapidly than most all Mainline denominations. My hypothesis for this is that it is particularly known for strong liberal stands so it attracts (in my experience) upper-educated liberals who have a religious background and do not give up theism and also that it is associated disproportionately with wealth, successful people, and intelligentsia so it people sometimes join it for social reasons. This offsets its huge losses whereas fewer people are drawn to more lower-middle-class and wishy-washy churches like the United Methodist Church and the ELCA.

        • Tim R. Mortiss says

          I think that your observations are correct, but your reasons are less so. Historically in this country the Presbyterians were the “establishment” church, alongside the Episcopalians, especially in many parts of the country.

          What holds the Episcopalians together more than the other mainline churches to this day is the liturgy. The great music and beauty of the Book of Common Prayer services holds many an apostate EC believer; whereas if one is a Presbyterian, when belief is gone, the austere Calvinist service holds little charm.

    • Tim R. Mortiss says

      It’s not floundering, it’s foundering. The water is over the decks.

    • Gail Shepppard says

      To Sean regarding: “In Southern California, in the Episcopal Church, two of the three bishops, and three of every four priests ordained, are women.” Perhaps the tread is just as indicative of Southern California, as it is of the Episcopal Church. – Bet they’re all bleached blonds. 🙂

  4. Not homosexualization of Army says

    Choate and Lennox are out of the military and wore tuxedoes for the ceremony. Some of their guests were in uniform.

    They seem to have only rented the West Point chapel and used a female priestess. None of this was official West Point

    • jacksondowns says

      Au contraire, my friend. One does not “rent the West Point chapel.” Using a military academy chapel for a wedding is only open to graduates and staff, and there is no cost to anyone. The policy of military academies is that every wedding must be performed by a chaplain or a civilian clergy person specifically vetted by the chapel staff. Every event taking place at a military chapel, in fact, is considered a command chapel program – sponsored program or event.

      This couple made an official request, and their request was facilitated by the Command Chaplain, in conference with the USMA superintendent’s office – there is no question at all about it. USMA is required by their own (and DoD) policies to facilitate such an event. The wedding coordinator was provided free of charge, and the entire wedding constitutes an institutional blessing of same-sex marriage by USMA and the Department of the Army.

      It’s important for all of us to avoid pretending to understand institutions that are foreign to our experience. A 10-second browsing of the web does not give one all of the facts.

  5. Engaged observer says

    George,

    While I share your sadness about this event at West Point, I don’t want your readers to get the impression that the US military is now a bunch of pansies whose members spend more time kissing each other than they do protecting America and obeying their military and civilian leadership.

    The military is a reflection of society — thus, (as a general rule) what is acceptable in society will eventually be acceptable in the military. Period. The military is ultimately governed by civilians (the various Secretaries of the Army, Navy, etc., the SecDef, the President — all civilians). As I understand it, this was to help prevent a military coup from taking place in America. But in our secular society, which knows no absolutes except for the absolute that there are no absolutes, that secularism will inevitably creep into the military.

    I’ve been in the military for a long time, and I can tell you that yes, there are active homosexuals serving. And yes, they are a very small number. Probably about the same percentage as those who work at any company or organization anywhere. And most active homosexuals get out of the military when they can — because it is still easier to be an active homosexual in the civilian world than in the military. Even today, the US military is still overwhelmingly conservative and overwhelmingly evangelical Protestant. (Why do you think that President Obama can’t stand the military? Not joking here — this is well known in military circles, though not discussed, that the President hates us. It is the irony of ironies that our Commander in Chief hates the military of which he is in charge — most likely because he knows that more than 90% of its members think he is a complete joke. But that’s another story.)

    I’m not saying that this same-sex marriage event doesn’t matter, but as most Americans have nothing to do with the military anymore, and many don’t even know anyone personally who serves or who has served, I don’t want your readers to get the wrong impression of the vast majority of marines and sailors and soldiers and airmen. Most of us have deployed many times. Most of us spend lots of time away from our families. Military life is hard on families. Most of us don’t like the secularization of America. And yes, military life still attracts people who like traditional values of God and country and service and freedom.

    George, I think you could have summed up this same-sex Army marriage event much better by simply stating the truism that same-sex marriage and freedom of religion cannot coexist in the same society.

    To repeat: same sex marriage and freedom of religion cannot coexist in the same society. We’re fooling ourselves if we think that they can coexist. At some point, one of these two is going to give, and it looks like it will be freedom of religion.

    What does this mean for we Orthodox Christians who are used to be conveniently forgotten about? This is the much larger issue that we must address — we needn’t agonize over two 20-something very junior Army officers who get “married” whose gay relationship (by all statistical likelihood) will be ancient history in a few years.

    • George Michalopulos says

      Extremely thoughtful reply. Of course the homosexualization of the Army will take time but true Fabian Socialists have nothing but time. That’s their credo. Also, there has been a growing chorus of complaints by Regular Army of a “purge.” Certain generals are being cashiered for one reason or another.

      But your point is taken and I thought I made it somewhat clear in my essay although using different words: there’s no way that the Army can not be a reflection of society and our society is pretty corrupt and degenerate (as are many mainline Protestant denominations).

      Thank you for your service to our country.

    • Daniel E Fall says

      As George said, I appreciated your reply as well, but with one exception. The President understands the military is generally conservative and won’t agree with him on many issues. You suggest a sort of mutual hatred, but I don’t think that hatred is mutual. While Obama might wish the military were made up of his full supporters, he has little concern for what they think of him and he certainly doesn’t hate the military he leads. On that point, I think you are full of hooey; the rest of the things you said were wise.

      My personal opinion is again a solution. I see no reason for government to bless personal relationships with certificates of marriage. Unfortunately, no party has the cajones to say marriage should be outside of government’s blessing. The right wants the status quo, the left wants to let the gays have time in the sun, but neither position is logical to me. We would need a special SCOTUS to make the thing right by me.

      • George Michalopulos says

        The contempt this president feels for the historic American nation is pretty evident and has been evident for quite awhile. (“Bitter clingers” anyone). I’d be shocked to find out that he didn’t feel the same for the Armed Forces.

        As for your libertarian view that government should be out of the marriage business, OK, let’s go there. But let’s go all the way there. Government shouldn’t give welfare or WIC benefits to divorcees, it shouldn’t care about children going hungry because mommy’s a prostitute and daddy’s a crack addict. Shall we go on.

        Last point: you seem preoccupied by the notion that marriage (however defined) should be between two –and only two–people. Why two? What’s so magical about that number?

        • Daniel E Fall says

          I don’t agree a child should go hungry because the dad is a crack addict. That is where I fail as a libertarian. The government can give the kid some Cheerios. It still funds oil exploration when the oil companies are raking in billions.

          I’m not taking the bait on the two person marriage thing George. I still say government has no business in the personal relationships of individuals. There are already polyamorous relationships-the government has no place blessing them anymore than they do blessing heterosexual or gay marriage by me. Maybe if the polys try to get a three person marriage-the SCOTUS will finally say government has no business blessing marriage of any kind like I would prefer.

          Let’s just not have the conservatives try to fight it for all sorts of ill conceived reasons or it will probably prevail. It is against natural order so it must be illegal!!!!! Not like cars are natural order…..

          The guy working next to me was married and got a health care benefit for his spouse and family. That is bogus. Just because he is married he was entitled? I guess that is the entitlement mentality of conservatives? And we wonder why the gays wanted marriage?

          I gotta go…

          • George Michalopulos says

            Mr Fall, it’s interesting that you’re not taking bait on the “two person” marriage thing. It may be because you (like most people, myself included) have never thought about it much. Or it may be because you have thought about it and seen how destructive its logic is to the whole “marriage equality” project.

            I’ll answer “why two people only in a marriage?” Because there are two and only two sexes.

            Like you, I’d rather we didn’t have to fight this ridiculous battle. It’s a no-thing. We could get worked up by unicorns for that matter. Marriage by definition is only between two people of the opposite sex. Even in polygynous societies a man may contract more than one marriage but the plural wives have no claim on each other or their relationship with the man.

    • Tim R. Mortiss says

      Amen, brother.

    • Michael Bauman says

      Same sex puesdo marriage and freedom of religion can’t exist in the same society because as with counterfeit money: “bad money drives out good”.

  6. Michael Kinsey says

    I reference the first 3 centuries of the Christian military, who never fought a physical battle and never killed anyone. These were highly disciplined to love their enemies and do good to those who hate them. They were exceedingly joyous to be the best that they could be, servants of the Living God, Jesus Christ. They were truly the freest of men and women, and free are always the very best soldiers. They had no allegiance to any state or ethnic group. They laid down their lives for their friends in matchless self sacrifice. These, with God, conquered, as they shall again, when they gain victory over the beast and his mark. These will face the armies of the evil one in the present and coming prosecutions.They will endure as did the authentic Orthodox church did in the Soviet Union. There were authentic Orthodox Christian Faithful in the USSR when it fell, and they won.
    We, in the US, face a similar demonic foe, whose attack is well underway, with destruction for destruction’s sake its only goal. This will become painfully obvious when the economy goes into perdition carrying the great whore with it. In Operation Rescue, I did meet some with this suburb enthusiasm. It is my personal experience, I know such spirit exists. Victorious Lord Jesus Christ seeks among all men, those who are willing to carry His Spirit and bear His Cross. Let the heathen think they won. Sadly, they lose everything.

    • Michael Bauman says

      Mr. Kinsey you are aware of the many great saints who served in the Roman army with fidelity and distinction?

      • Michael Kinsey says

        I think it is most likely, that these Christian soldiers were converted after the were enrolled in the Roman Army. And the most exalted of these saints were those Christian soldiers who were martyred for disobeying unjust orders. Exceptions are possible, of course. My point being, authentic Christian soldiers are not warlike, in any physical manner. The Christ demonstrated His disapproval of war to St Peter by healing the ear of the servant of the high priest. I refused to serve in the killing in Vietnam, while a US sailor and was sent to Portsmith N.H, a federal prison. I have no guilt or feelings of dishonor concerning a punitive discharge from the military. I have no blood on my hands, a state of conscience most who have killed dearly would like to be able to return to. I fervently desire to guide young Christian men to consider not serving the imperialistic, lying, warlike beast that the US military is. Navy sucks!

        • Michael Bauman says

          All were converts at that time as now.

          The way of martyrdom requires a selfless love enemy that is equally unconcerned with keeping ones own hands clean.

          Consider one: St. Demetrios who not only blessed St. Nestor to kill the Emperor’s champion in single combat, but is well known for his martial attitude in protecting his beloved Thessolonica and has an icon on which he is spearing a Persian soldier.

          The act that precipitated the martyrdom of St. George was his refusal to offer incense to Caesar when Caesar was there to honor St. George for his leadership in battle. Not to mention the multiple reports from Allied soldiers on the night before the battle of El Alamain of St George walking through the ranks to inspire them for the coming battle.

          It is rare, it should be rare but there need be no shame and no filthiness in picking up a sword with purity of heart either.

          • Michael Kinsey says

            The common theme in you examples is self defense, and defense of a loved one. St Peter acted upon this love of the Lord in the Lords defense . The Christ did not rebuke St Peter, He only said IT IS ENOUGH! The Christ’s servants will fight for the kingdom of Heaven, also a common theme in your examples. Those who genuinely act in the purity you describe do exist, Joan Andrews and Shelly Shannon are personal friends of mine. I was in 2 trials for blockades with Shelly. Her fault. was she was too brave, when she shot Dr. Tiller in the hand. They both call me Country. My comment to the Oregonian was the same as the Lords. It is enough. We cannot stop murder by committing murder.
            Keeping one own hands clean is being wise, charitable and self controlled, and I rebuke any criticism for striving to do it, and refusing to serve in the killing in Vietnam, which was done unto death. God knows, I feel no need to prove it.

  7. “ALL IS LOST”? Really?

    Makes no difference to me if these two soldiers want to get married at West Point. What does it say about America? Not much. Gays in the military, nothing new there. They have been fighting and dying for their country since the beginning of wars.

    Non-story George. We have gays serving as Navy Seals right now, in every branch of the armed forces as line officers and regular military, and you know what, we pray for all of them at every divine service in the Church. Why, because they put their lives on the line, not because they are gay or straight or whatever, not because they are Christian ,Muslim, Hindu, agnostics, atheists, or whatever in between. No we pray for them because they are willing to die for us if necessary, to lay down their lives to protect us.

    All is not lost because a small percentage of the total population are gays and lesbians who choose to serve in our military services. We have gotten to this point in our American history with “those people” dying for us in every war and God bless them and I thank them for their service!

    • George Michalopulos says

      I am sure James that those who are afflicted with same sex attraction have served honorably in our military from Bunker Hill to Fallujah. That is not the issue, a man’s private life is his own business but only to a point. Those who know the military know that when considering who should ascend the officer track, senior officers gather and look at the intangibles of a man’s life: his marriage, his wife’s poise, whether his children run riot, if he’s a drinker, a kibitzer, etc., (parameters not unlike the Pauline strictures for the episcopate).

      The issue for me has always been whether civilization should be reordered to accommodate the non-heterosexual, non-monogamous ideal. That’s all. Besides you and I know that gay “marriage” is about as valid and prestigious as the Episcopalian priesthood at this point. Yeah, we don’t throw stones at priestesses but nobody takes them seriously. Most of all other women.

      • George,

        Civilization has been reordered to permit SSM in some states and in other countries around it being a civil rights issue, protection under the law, etc. I don’t think that this will extend to the Orthodox Church when it comes to the Priesthood. Heck, we still have the women priesthood question and that ain’t going to happen, so the idea of the Church blessing these arrangements won’t be on the radar for a long time, if ever.

        As to how clergy deal with people with SSA or active homosexuals now, if clergy take the easy and wide path of saying “it’s ok, Jesus loves you, blah, blah, blah, and don’t say that it is a sin, then God will be the just Judge. He is already judging clergy who are themselves gay or politically pro-gay and thus have little “integrity” to lead anyone with SSA or who are active homosexuals. We know that is going on but we also know that some clergy just don’t want to deal with this question and slam the door or just kick these folks out. Both are extreme and both are wrong and what makes me uncomfortable, at least in the OCA, is that those who are trying to bring this issue to the table are not who I would call unbiased in their thinking. Some that I know have gay children, one whose child is legally married to another same sex person. That complicates the issue. Some might say that this makes their insights better. It might also make it nearly impossible to be unbiased. Tough predicament and means, to me, that the priest has to face what he is called to teach on this issue without compromise. Glad I am not a priest.

  8. They seem to have only rented the West Point chapel and used a female priestess. None of this was official West Point

    That is akin to my saying these two perverts got married at my house, but my official position to to oppose such a thing.

    • You said

      That is akin to my saying these two perverts got married at my house, but my official position to oppose such a thing.

      It is not the same thing. Something like that happening in your house implies informed official consent to the proceedings. But this was a ceremony that took place at a non denominational shared facility where Buddhist and Jainist and who knows whatever else ceremonies can and do take place. This was planned by alumni not the military to take place in a not necessarily Christian space, i.e. not always Christian space and no informed consent was necessary.

      The military’s religious and moral policy is not implied by alumni use of the space for their particular religion, whatever the gay religion might be. We know it was not an Orthodox ceremony as we do not have priestesses.

  9. cynthia curran says

    Really, George there probably was less homosexuality in the 400’s than the 100’ss. The west fell because of bad politicians and bad luck. The east also had some barbarians behind the throne like Asper but managed to rid themselves of it. The emperors of the 4th and 5th didn’t have the same sexual reputation as Hadrian did who was gay and had a lover. Valentian the 3rd was a playboy but even Procopius in his Vandal War mention that the guy was an adulterer and not gay. There is not the homosexual and bisexual gossip of the 3rd to 5th like Suetonius Life of the Twelve Caesar’s which is first century B.C. to late first century A.D.

  10. Bishop Tikhon Fitzgerald says

    One can’t say it too often: “The sky is falling!!!”

  11. Peter A. Papoutsis says

    Hate to tell you this but now that the Anti-Discrimination Law has been passed in the Senate and the House will most likely pass it, we are going to be in a lot of trouble. The Homosexuals will come after us and come after us hard. I hope you are all prepared.

    Btw, IL just legalized Gay Marriage. The war is on and its about to get bad, really bad. Again, I hope you are ready because its about to get really, really, REAL!

    Peter A. Papoutsis

    • Archpriest Alexander F. C. Webster, PhD says

      Peter, you’re referring, of course, to the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), another poison meal offered by political left as a menu item cloaked, Luciferian style, in the language of human rights, equal justice, common sense, and decency.

      As you intimate, the danger that such a federal law will pose to us Orthodox Christians and other persons and communities who, for moral reasons grounded in at least 5000 years of Western Civilization as well as revelatory traditions, decline to affirm and celebrate self-proclaimed homosexuals, transvestites, trans-sexuals or “trans-gendered” folk, or those who simply wish to identify their sexual orientation day by day in an arbitrary, subjective, chameleon manner (or “gender identity” in the sexual radicals’ Newspeak), is, as I understand the bill now heading to the U.S. House of Representatives, nothing less than this: organizations, groups, companies, etc., that employ fifteen or more persons will be subject to a federal mandate to recognize, affirm, and treat equally in every way employees and job applicants irrespective of their “sexual orientation” or “gender identity.”

      We’ve already seen the long arm of the Obama federal apparachiks reach into the health care policies and coverage provided by religious organizations such as Roman Catholic charitable organizations, hospitals, and institutions of higher education, insisting that they subsidize contraceptives including those so-called contraceptives such as certain birth-control pills and the infamous IUD which are, in fact, abortifacients. If ENDA is passed by the House and then signed by the president, the unwanted intrusion by the federal sexual orientation police into the hiring, firing, and expected conduct of employees by various Christian hospitals, charities, bookstores, schools and universities, and, yes, even churches themselves could become an enormity that we cannot even imagine at present.

      The ENDA monstrosity signals, at least, a direct assault on the freedom of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that overruled the Defense of Marriage Act, Justice Kennedy announced the game plan: those Americans who continue to insist on traditional natural marriage between a man and woman are guilty of violating a fundamental “human right.” Thus we are suddenly violators of human rights, targets of opportunity for the legions of the left to impose their perverse misconstruing of marriage and human sexuality. I do not exaggerate when I suggest that the ultimate disposition of those of us who dissent from the emerging civil morality and civil religion in America may reflect the three options that French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau envisioned in The Social Contract in 1762 for those who resisted the “General Will” in his post-revolutionary utopian society: (1) re-education programs, (2) exile, or (3) execution.

      But all is not yet lost, Peter. House Speaker Boehner has no intention of allowing ENDA to come before the full House–at least not at the moment. So conscientious citizens ought to encourage him to stand his ground against what will surely be a tsunami of demands from the Senate Democrats, the mainstream media, and other special interest groups to allow a vote on the bill. The usual means are at our disposal: telephone calls and e-mails to Speaker Boehner’s offices in DC and Ohio.

      If Boehner should buckle and the bill eventually reach the floor of the House, then the same direct appeals to our own Congressman or Congresswoman would be in order. I have already called the Capitol Hill office of my Congressman (Frank R. Wolf of Virginia) and urged him to vote against ENDA if he has the opportunity. For the sake of our Church and our country, I urge you and others to do the same.

  12. Gail Shepppard says

    Yeah, all this bothers me, too.

    Where have all the good men gone
    And where are all the gods?
    Where’s the street-wise Hercules
    To fight the rising odds?

    Read more: Bonnie Tyler – I Need A Hero Lyrics | MetroLyrics

  13. M. Stankovich says

    With the best epidemiology and statistical techniques at our disposal – even attempting to account for “stigmatizing” conditions that isolate and result in significant difficulties in accurate population estimations – the prevalence rate of homosexuality in the world population is 6-8%. As I read thread after thread, post after post, I see nothing but articulations & riffs on the word impotency: natural law is lay sieged and Christian marriage is at the brink; masculinity itself is lay sieged; underlying the very governing of the church is a “lavender mafia”; those already “compromised” will not police their own; “Where have the good men gone?”; “Where will this all end?” The culprit? Gay, Inc.; homosexuals; Progressives; those who would normalize homosexuality – subtly by the narcotizing empiricism of science or the “new” anthropology, or dramatically by assuming the civil rights position, “We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it!” In my estimation, the “enemy” has been sorely misjudged. The enemy of longstanding, in fact, is indifference.

    I suspect that most of what Fr. Alexander Webster predicts above as consequence of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is true. He has also personally accused me of only being “ethereal” when discussing homosexuality; that I need to “get into the trenches and show the everyday people – teachers, employers, people who are impacted by [these laws] – that I am on the same side.” While my “side” is as a clinician with a degree in Orthodox Theology, and my “trenches” should be fairly obvious, I commend Fr. Alexander for being the first person here to actually respond to my question: What to do? Following his instruction, I made my calls yesterday. I look at this, however, as a “stopgap,” too-little-too-late, generally speaking, a waste of time. Why? It is as good as the mid-term elections of 2014, or until the majority changes in the Congress. I agree with Mr. Bauman, “The ENDA is near.” It is inevitable as the the Speaker’s need for re-election funding & support, and as predictable as the richest man in the senate’s return to “his Orthodox parish” in San Diego when his term is up for re-election, with a fat check and a warm hand. And again, we Orthodox, “the Haven for the tempest-tossed, the Port for those bestormed, the Hope of all Christians” cannot answer the simple question, “Who is the bishop of Chicago?” without five or so similarly dressed, similarly authoritative guys rising to state, “I am.”

    All told, however, I strongly suspect that some form of resolution is coming, and we stand to be plenty embarrassed. When the dust has settled and the Progressives are feeling empowered and victorious in having neutralized moralists such as the Orthodox, someone is bound to test the waters – and you know they will – and purposely bring action against an Evangelical stalwart such as Oral Roberts University or Bob Jones University, perhaps a “name-brand” Evangelical minister, for discrimination. I believe the Evangelicals will teach the US Congress – and us – a lesson in courage & politics that no one will forget. And perhaps we can return, as Fr. Florovsky – the registered Republican – so aptly noted, to teaching the society about piety, meekness, obedience, chastity, love for the Scripture & Tradition, and that “today Salvation has come to the world.” Otherwise, we are the only ones whom the Lord has prepared, with His own hand, to suffer.

    • Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

      Thanks for these thoughts, M. Stankovich. The CDC places this percentage for men at 2% (see its discussion within this link, http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/risk/gender/msm/facts/) and the range of percentages (including those you cite) indicates the difficulty of sorting through behavior, orientation, and identity in essentialist ways. What would the percentage of heterosexuals be, and how is it possible to calculate that? What categories would add up to a mythical 100%? Where would one include celibate monastics? Yet social science tries to quantify the unquantifiable. Neither category (or others) should be essentialized and objectified.

      Please pray for me the sinner,

      Kentigern

      • M. Stankovich says

        There has been an ongoing debate since 2009 when most current researchers determined that the CDC’s insistence on using behavioural criteria that led to “contagion” – they are, after all, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention – resulted in unstable data that said nothing in regard to homosexuality. For example, “men who have sex with men” includes men in prison, where such behaviour is condoned and is not considered homosexual behaviour, rarely pursued upon release; as well as the source of the most unstable data, “bisexuality.” Current researchers focus on the psychological criteria of sexual attraction and sexual fantasy as to be the least affected by societal pressure, more fundamental, and therefore more stable. Hey, I’m not rigid, let’s settle on 3% for the sake of argument, as it still demonstrates moderate familiality & heritability.

        I offered the number(s) not to “quantify the unquantifiable,” nor to “essentialize or objectify,” as this, apparently, is your new “ticket item” after “conciliaity,” “strategic planning,” “natural law,” “natural marriage,” “ontology,” and the “secret places.” I said, homosexuality is a statistical anomaly of human behaviour; not a “class,” not a “subclass,” not an “infraclass,” and certainly not statistically significant for “protection.” Irony, Prof. Siewers, was the intention: how was it possible that we will be over-run by 3% of the population? We will not. We will be over-run by our collective indifference. So, back to the drawing board, where I have written (and ask anyone who has seen my eminently readable block print): What to do?

        • Michael Bauman says

          It would be interesting, if not really possible, to see a ‘contagion tree’ of a specific sin sort of like the diagram I saw at my Dad’s health department when they were trying to trace down an outbreak of gonorrhea back in the late 50’s.

          There is much to be said for the idea that sin is a communicable disease. Sometimes quarantines need to be established, other times just a brief treatment.

          Don’t you think MS?

          It might make confession more fruitful if I thought in terms of “to whom did I spread the sin of …. today?” Not only offer that up to God, but go and ask forgiveness. Going forward to not do it any more or at least less frequently. Even though I know differently, I tend to think of myself as autonomous all to often.

          God forgive me a sinner and for the, at times, offal I have deposited here all please forgive.

    • Michael Bauman says

      MS. I agree with you. God strengthen us, especially our young people for whatever is to come. Maybe Mr. Fall will heed your words.

      Oh, there is only one Bishop of Wichita and a worthy one.