{"id":91634,"date":"2015-03-16T00:08:05","date_gmt":"2015-03-16T07:08:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=91634"},"modified":"2015-03-13T12:57:56","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T19:57:56","slug":"the-fcc-net-neutrality-prudential-judgment-the-death-penalty-and-luke-1610-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/03\/the-fcc-net-neutrality-prudential-judgment-the-death-penalty-and-luke-1610-12.html","title":{"rendered":"The FCC, net neutrality, prudential judgment, the death penalty, and Luke 16:10-12"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Permit me some wide-ranging musings, beginning with the relatively (in the cosmic scheme of salvation) small potatoes question of net neutrality.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be clear. Net neutrality is a good thing:<\/p>\n

<\/iframe><\/p>\nIt is, in a word, what we\u2019ve always had. The only people who opposed it were people bent on making your life and mine miserable for the sake of profit. So when the FCC, to almost everybody\u2019s intense relief, did the right thing and upheld net neutrality what was the reaction of the rightwingosphere that perpetually declares \u201cprudential judgment\u201d as its rationale for dissenting from clear Church teaching on everything from war to torture to the death penalty?<\/p>\nWell, Sen. Ted Cruz made\u00a0good on the dollarpalooza of money he received from telecom lobbyists by lying that net neutrality is \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/the-fix\/wp\/2015\/02\/26\/how-net-neutrality-won-and-obamacare-for-the-internet-lost\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Obamacare for the Internet<\/a>\u201c.<\/p>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/theoatmeal.com\/blog\/net_neutrality\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Thing is:\u00a0It\u2019s just not.<\/a>\u00a0But that did not stop the rightwingosphere from dutifully stampeding itself into a full-on panic du jour on net neutrality, repeating\u00a0the \u201cObamacare for the Internet\u201d trope <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=obamacare+for+the+internet&oq=Obama&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j69i59j0l3j69i60.3487j0j4&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8#q=%22obamacare+for+the+internet%22\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">87,700\u00a0times<\/a> and\u00a0once again coming down on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.realclearscience.com\/blog\/2015\/02\/fox_news_net_neutrality_bad_because_obama.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">visible-from-space wrong side of an issue<\/a>\u00a0while\u00a0terrifying\u00a0the very people who are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/2015\/02\/fcc-votes-yes-net-neutrality\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">going to benefit from this obviously right decision<\/a>. Suddenly, everybody in the rightwingosphere was fantasizing that the effect of this decision was not (as it is) to maintain the status quo, but that it somehow meant that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=FCC+net+neutrality+free+speech&oq=FCC+net+neutrality+free+speech&aqs=chrome..69i57.10687j0j9&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8#q=FCC+net+neutrality+threat+to+free+speech\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">FCC was going to police our speech<\/a> and throw us into one of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=FCC+net+neutrality+free+speech&oq=FCC+net+neutrality+free+speech&aqs=chrome..69i57.10687j0j9&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8#q=obama+fema+concentration+camps\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Obama\u2019s Nazi Muslim concentration camps<\/a>. You know, the same FCC that had FOX News, Rush Limbaugh, and every talk radio host rounded up and gassed years ago.<\/p>\nTom McDonald (who differs with me in that he is more concerned about how the FCC sausage was made than I am, but not in seeing that the sausage still tastes good and is quite edible) mentions the absurd hysteria <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/godandthemachine\/2015\/03\/should-we-be-panicking-over-netneutrality-rules\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">in his piece about the decision:<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><a href=\"http:\/\/arstechnica.com\/business\/2015\/03\/net-neutrality-is-big-brother-obamanet-and-other-brilliant-criticism-of-fcc\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Ars compiled this selection of replies from opponents<\/a>, which is notably most for 1) wingnuttery, 2) lies, 3) idiocy.<\/p>\nEverything in this statement from\u00a0US Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is utter nonsense:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\u201cIronically, this order will likely do nothing to address the fairness issues raised by Democrats and Internet activists. Rather, under the guise of keeping the Internet \u2018free and open\u2019, they simply advocated for an approach that allows Big Brother to step into the shoes of service providers. The government will regulate rates, create its own fast lanes, control the placement of content, and raise fees and taxes. If you like your service plan, you will not be able to keep it. The age of ObamaNet is upon us and I hope the government proves better at running a network than a website, but logic would seem to dictate that I not hold my breath.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\nIn fact, of course, all this obviously good decision does is make sure that we will continue to enjoy the amazing power of the internet without companies like Comcast ruining life for everybody but themselves and the corrupt politicians they have in their pockets. Could there be a downside to it? Sure. There is a downside to almost every human act. Tom McDonald makes a reasonable case for why some people might have misgivings that I can respect. \u00a0 But the thing is, not many FCC critics make Tom\u2019s reasonable case. Most make the hysterical lying demagogic case Tom rightly rejects.<\/p>\nMore than that, I\u2019m just not feeling the downside all that much which is why, with respect, I disagree with my honored Patheosi colleague Tom that there was something especially problematic with FCC procedure here. \u00a0It seems to have been conducted like any other with one exception: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/blogs\/alltechconsidered\/2014\/06\/03\/318458496\/john-oliver-helps-rally-45-000-net-neutrality-comments-to-fcc\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">there was vastly *more* input from the public than usual<\/a>. \u00a0And hurrah for that since, as far as human reason can ascertain, the downside of the FCC protection of net neutrality is so negligible that this easily qualifies as a good call and exactly what an informed\u00a0public wanted. Meanwhile the downside to believing the documentably stupid lies of people like Cruz, Blackburn and the kooks, crooks, and liars Tom rightly ridicules\u00a0would be disaster and nothing but disaster for the very suckers who are regurgitating their propaganda. And it is they, make not mistake, and not people like Tom whose voices completely dominate the rightwingosphere response to the FCC ruling.<\/p>\nWhy do I mention this? \u00a0What does it have to do with the Catholic faith?<\/p>\nThis: \u00a0Every time I hear a conservative Catholic argue to ignore the teaching of the Church, the appeal is made to \u201cprudential judgment\u201d as the rationale for doing so.<\/p>\nAll that might be reasonable\u2013if the demographic\u00a0who perpetually appealed to their superior powers of prudential judgment over the teaching of the Church demonstrated the prudence God gave geese. \u00a0But the reality is that this demographic\u00a0demonstrates, in almost every matter apart from opposition to abortion, euthanasia, and gay \u201cmarriage\u201d, an almost preternatural capacity for sheer obvious wrongness and an eagerness to listen to demagogues and not reasoned discourse. \u00a0The same keen discernment that sees net neutrality as the prelude to tyranny<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>lionized <a href=\"thecolbertreport.cc.com\/videos\/ehanpl\/the-ballad-of-cliven-bundy\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Cliven Bundy<\/a>,<\/li>\n<li>promoted to a leadership position a\u00a0SC GOP party leader (\u201cprolife\u201d, doncha knowing) who\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rawstory.com\/rs\/2014\/10\/former-sc-gop-director-execute-anyone-who-comes-into-contact-with-ebola-its-just-math\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">called for the summary execution of ebola victims<\/a>\u00a0during the ginned up pre-election panic last October,<\/li>\n<li>continues to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kylecupp\/2015\/02\/michael-novak-still-defending-the-iraq-war\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">defend the genius of the Iraq War<\/a>,<\/li>\n<li>doggedly defended <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commonwealmagazine.org\/blog\/no-marcial-maciel-was-not-mary-magdalene-all-updated\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Maciel <\/a>and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Di538dp9SQk\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Corapi<\/a>,<\/li>\n<li>cheers for the torture and murder of innocents (by such marginal\u00a0conservative nobodies as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/rickungar\/2014\/12\/15\/dick-cheneys-tortured-appearance-on-meet-the-press-should-be-his-public-swan-song\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Dick Cheney<\/a>\u00a0and his Catholic court prophet Marc Theissen (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/marc-thiessen-democrats-lose-the-torture-debate\/2015\/01\/05\/5e5347ca-94da-11e4-927a-4fa2638cd1b0_story.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">seen here obscenely defending anal rape, beatings, suffocation, and freezing innocents to death<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>lionizes creatures like\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-admin\/www.anncoulter.com\/columns\/2014-08-06.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Ann \u201cattack Christian doctors for trying help Ebola Victims instead of converting and milking \u2018rich Hollywood liberals\u2019 (read: \u2018Jews\u2019) for their money\u201d Coulter<\/a><\/li>\n<li>cheers for Rush Limbaugh\u2019s attacks on\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/uproxx.com\/tv\/2014\/05\/jon-stewart-rush-limbaugh-bringbackourgirls\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Bring Back our Girls<\/a>, his\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mercurynews.com\/entertainment\/ci_26552836\/rush-limbaugh-says-sometimes-womans-no-really-means\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">soft-pedaling of sexual assault<\/a>,\u00a0and his empathetic\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theamericanconservative.com\/dreher\/limbaugh-liberalism-killed-robin-williams\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\u201cLiberalism killed Robin Williams\u201d<\/a>\u00a0analyses<\/li>\n<li>panics along with Lindsey Graham\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/thedailyshow.cc.com\/videos\/6734gx\/a-nightmare-on-graham-street\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">perpetual hysteria<\/a> and call for war to solve every problem (the same Graham who is so committed to American values and the Constitution that he said he would \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vox.com\/2015\/3\/11\/8193751\/lindsey-graham-military-coup\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">literally use the military<\/a>\u201d to force Congress to approve more military spending. \u00a0Graham later explained that \u201cliterally\u201d actually meant \u201cI\u2019m just joking\u201d).<\/span><\/li>\n<li>never loses faith in the prophetic powers of Bill \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thewire.com\/politics\/2011\/06\/giuliani-bill-kristol-and-bad-predictions-timeline\/38655\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Wrong About Everything Always<\/a>\u201d Kristol<\/li>\n<li>strokes its chin in approval of New Testament scholar Bill \u201cLet\u2019s talk\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/articles\/A7578-2004Oct28.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">phone sex<\/a>\u00a0while saying\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/books\/2013\/dec\/18\/killing-jesus-bill-oreilly-review\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Jesus was crucified because he interrupted the revenue stream to the Big Government Temple<\/a>\u201d O\u2019Reilly<\/li>\n<li>erupts in beaucoup excuses for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.salon.com\/2015\/03\/09\/bill_oreillys_sick_pathology_why_his_systematic_lying_is_even_worse_than_reported\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">O\u2019Reilly\u2019s multiple documented fabulisms<\/a> while complaining of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/erik-wemple\/wp\/2015\/02\/26\/the-massive-lefty-conspiracy-against-bill-oreilly\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">how cruel it is that the Liberal News Media hold him and FOX to the same standard they hold themselves<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailykos.com\/story\/2013\/11\/21\/1257379\/-Stossel-Pretends-to-be-a-homeless-panhandler-Learns-nothing-Blasts-us-for-enabling-scammers\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">applauding the humiliation of the poor<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailykos.com\/story\/2012\/11\/21\/1163706\/-Rush-Limbaugh-Walmart-protests-show-the-assault-on-capitalism-is-still-under-way\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">cheers\u00a0<\/a>for\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/2013-11-13\/how-mcdonald-s-and-wal-mart-became-welfare-queens.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">defrauding workers of their wages<\/a> (the sin nobody hears crying out to heaven for vengeance because of the din raised on behalf of bailing out Job Creators with our taxes)<\/li>\n<li>tells poor families that they must not use artificial contraception on pain of mortal sin while simultaneously <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncregister.com\/blog\/mark-shea\/on-low-income-women-in-crisis-pregnancies\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">rah-rahing for punishing those families by having their benefits capped<\/a>\u00a0for the crime of having \u201ctoo many children\u201d (thereby discrediting the Church\u2019s perfectly true and widely ridiculed teaching as something even \u201cfaithful conservative Catholics\u201d don\u2019t believe)<\/li>\n<li>struggles\u00a0to make sure that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2014\/06\/25\/nra-stalkers-_n_5530097.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">convicted stalkers<\/a>\u00a0have access to\u00a0the technology of mass slaughter, while insanely and brutally <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=sandy%20hook%20hoax\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">accusing the parents of the dead children at Sandy Hook of being part of a conspiracy to make gun proponents\u00a0look bad<\/a> (no help needed there)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.harvestingthefruit.com\/benedict-the-abdicator-sighting\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">offers bizarre conspiracy theories that Benedict is still semi-pope<\/a>,<\/li>\n<li>says that girls\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.pasconnect.org\/pa-researchers-find-moral-beliefs-barrier-to-hpv-vaccine\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">should not be vaccinated with HPV vaccine in order to make sure they get cervical cancer as the God-ordained punishment for being tramps<\/a>\u00a0(I was told\u2013by the director of an anti-euthanasia program no less\u2013that it is better to make immoral women to \u201cface the consequences of their sins\u201d than to immunize against HPV. Strangely, this is not something recommended for punishing red-meat-eating males with heart disease or sugar-eating males with diabetes)<\/li>\n<li>lionizes a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thesmokinggun.com\/buster\/department-justice\/dsouza-spared-prison-time-980347\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">wife-beating grifter<\/a>\u00a0who\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.politicususa.com\/2012\/10\/19\/dinish-dsouza-championed-family-values-adulterous-tryst.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">ditched his first wife for a new squeeze while still president of a Christian college and championing \u201cfamily values\u201d<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.angryasianman.com\/2014\/09\/fox-news-panelist-argues-internment.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">defends herding whole populations into internment camps<\/a>\u00a0(and suggesting we need to revive that for Muslims and other undesirables)<\/li>\n<li>treats the reshuffling of the Vatican bureaucracy as <a href=\"http:\/\/stlouiscatholic.blogspot.com\/2014\/11\/im-here-to-help-mark-shea-and-simcha.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">equivalent to a sentence of death by ebola<\/a> and treats\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncregister.com\/blog\/simcha-fisher\/have-you-heard-the-latest-about-cardinal-burke\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Catholics who calmly trust the Spirit\u2019s guidance of the Church<\/a> as lying servants of Mammon, all while making clear that care for the sick and dying is a form of disgusting punishment fit only for losers like Mother Teresa and not for a figure in which one invests one\u2019s own<\/em> dreams of power.<\/li>\n<li>cheers for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CB4QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.slate.com%2Farticles%2Fnews_and_politics%2Fpolitics%2F2014%2F07%2Frolling_coal_conservatives_who_show_their_annoyance_with_liberals_obama.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">rolling coal<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2012\/01\/murderers-for-jesus.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">applauds the cold blooded murder of civilians in a country with whom we are not at war<\/a><\/li>\n<li>has\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Barack_Obama_citizenship_conspiracy_theories\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">birtherism\u00a0<\/a>panics<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/2008\/jun\/13\/television.barackobama\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">has\u00a0fist bump<\/a>\u00a0panics<\/li>\n<li>has\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/decentfilms.com\/articles\/harrypotterandthepope\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Harry Potter<\/a> panics<\/li>\n<li>has\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/erikkain\/2012\/07\/20\/conservative-bane-creator-says-rush-limbaughs-dark-knight-rises-conspiracy-theory-is-silly\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Liberal Batman panics<\/a><\/li>\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/tradcatknight.blogspot.com\/2014\/10\/francis-francis-francis.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Francis the Modernist Evolutionist<\/a>\u201d panics<\/li>\n<li>has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=fema+concentration+camps+catholic\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">FEMA concentration camp<\/a> panics<\/li>\n<li>panics about such dangerous films as \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.newrepublic.com\/article\/116575\/lego-movie-anti-capitalist-fox-business-says-theyre-right\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Lego Movie<\/a>\u201d and \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.avclub.com\/article\/fox-news-anchor-the-muppets-hate-capitalism-66050\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Muppet Movie<\/a>\u201c<\/li>\n<li>has\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/rickungar\/2013\/03\/08\/james-okeefe-pays-100000-to-acorn-employee-he-smeared-conservative-media-yawns\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">fraudulent\u00a0James O\u2019Keefe\u00a0<\/a>panics<\/li>\n<li>has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=Saul+alinsky+satan+worship\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Saul Alinsky-the-Satan-worshipper<\/a> panics<\/li>\n<li>has\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/thedailyshow.cc.com\/videos\/b7hxzd\/the-way-we-war\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Lattegate<\/a> panics<\/li>\n<li>and is stampeded into ginned up panics against desperate and persecuted Middle Eastern Christians with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/09\/14\/opinion\/sunday\/ross-douthat-the-middle-easts-friendless-christians.html?_r=0\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Ted Cruz standing on a mound top of thousands of their corpses in order to insult them as anti-semites and fundraise at the same time<\/a>.\u00a0 Sen. Cruz, by the way, is hailed by his father as <a href=\"http:\/\/disinfo.com\/2013\/10\/ted-cruzs-father-preaches-son-anointed-king-will-bring-end-time-transfer-wealth\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">an \u201cAnointed King\u201d Who Will Bring The \u201cEnd Time Transfer Of Wealth\u201d<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nIt\u2019s this sort of thing, piled up a hundredfold over the past decade, that has completely killed my ability to take seriously conservative claims to a prudential judgment superior to the guidance of the Church on the death penalty, particularly when, with now-trademark lack of judgment, that demographic appeals to Conservative Folk Hero Antonin Scalia as the trump card against the Magisterium\u2013<a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/antonin-scalia-says-executing-the-innocent-is-constitutional-2014-9\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">a man who says that executing the innocent is constitutional<\/a>. \u00a0Yesirree, if there\u2019s one thing Roe v. Wade<\/em>\u00a0means, it\u2019s that killing innocents is perfectly fine as long as it\u2019s legal.<\/p>\nJesus says: \u201cHe who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another\u2019s, who will give you that which is your own?\u201d (Lk 16:10\u201312).<\/p>\nThe Left is epically wrong on some very large issues and lies that it is appealing to \u201cprimacy of conscience\u201d to rationalize those evil it approves. \u00a0But the Right, flying the false banner of \u201cprudential judgment\u201d has perversely taken it upon itself to be massively and imprudently wrong on what sometimes seems like practically everything else. \u00a0Meanwhile, the sanity of the Church calls to us saying:<\/p>\n<blockquote>We are the temple of the living God; as God said, \n\u201cI will live in them and move among them, \nand I will be their God, \nand they shall be my people. \nTherefore come out from them, \nand be separate from them, says the Lord, \nand touch nothing unclean; \nthen I will welcome you, \nAnd I will be a father to you, \nand you shall be my sons and daughters, \nsays the Lord Almighty.\u201d<\/p>\nSince we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God. (2 Co 6:16\u20137:1)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Permit me some wide-ranging musings, beginning with the relatively (in the cosmic scheme of salvation) small potatoes question of net neutrality. Let\u2019s be clear. Net neutrality is a good thing: It is, in a word, what we\u2019ve always had. The only people who opposed it were people bent on making your life and mine miserable […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[495,278,687,650],"class_list":["post-91634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-prudential-judgment-is-rghtspeak-for-screw-the-church","tag-abolish-the-death-penalty","tag-in-christ-there-is-neither-left-nor-right","tag-na"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>The FCC, net neutrality, prudential judgment, the death penalty, and Luke 16:10-12<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Permit me some wide-ranging musings, beginning with the relatively (in the cosmic scheme of salvation) small potatoes question of net neutrality. Let's be\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/03\/the-fcc-net-neutrality-prudential-judgment-the-death-penalty-and-luke-1610-12.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The FCC, net neutrality, prudential judgment, the death penalty, and Luke 16:10-12\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Permit me some wide-ranging musings, beginning with the relatively (in the cosmic scheme of salvation) small potatoes question of net neutrality. 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