Posted on 08/20/2004 8:01:27 PM PDT by Coleus
The entry of Poland into the European Union was supposed to have ushered in a new era of democracy, tolerance and freedom to the former Soviet Bloc nation. Gone forever was the totalitarian past of Communist regimes.
Such hopes are now apparently premature. The threat of a cultural revolution threatens to impose new laws and customs upon Catholic Poland. Especially targeted is Catholic morality which opposes abortion and same-sex “marriage.”
Fortunately, proponents of this new “morality” have met with numerous setbacks. The first such setback was in the field of abortion. With their new-founded freedom, Polish anti-abortion activists succeeded in rolling back its Soviet era abortion laws, thus earning for Poland the honor of being the only nation in the world to outlaw abortion where it was once legal.
Same-sex “marriage” advocates have met with similar obstacles. In November 2003, a group of ex-communist senators supported by homosexual organizations tried to push through a bill equalizing homosexual unions with traditional marriage with little public debate.
The TFP-inspired Fr. Peter Skarga Association for Christian Culture was among those opposing the measure. It published a public statement in major newspapers and promoted public conferences on the subject. When the public became aware of the bill, it was put on the back burner.
The miniscule homosexual movement has also had problems organizing its pride parades this summer. Both in Krakow and Warsaw, the unpopular marches ended in spectacular failures.
The Fr. Peter Skarga Association for Christian Culture was also active in opposing the parades and affirming Catholic teaching. It did this through raising doctrinal objections. It always employs peaceful and legal means. In Krakow alone, it mailed out over 280,000 protest fliers, asking citizens to exercise their right to free speech by protesting to the city’s mayor. A similar effort followed in Warsaw where over 700,000 flyers were sent out.
In a country where the overwhelming majority of the population is Catholic, it is hardly surprising that people objected to the fact that their cities were being used to promote an immoral lifestyle. The Krakow parade ended amid popular protest. The Warsaw march did not take place at all.
Such obstacles were apparently too much for the homosexual lobby and leftist politicians. On August 9, the Fr. Peter Skarga Association for Christian Culture received a letter from the Polish Post Office saying it would not deliver protest flyers against homosexuality or same-sex unions since these flyers are “too controversial.”
Such a measure calls into question the state of the principles of democracy and freedom of speech in Poland. Protest is part of free speech. However, now it seems that the Polish people do not have the right to be informed about unpopular measures that oppose the Catholic convictions of the majority of the population. It seems incredible the government would resort to totalitarian methods to stop dissent on this most basic issue where all voices need to be heard.
The American TFP is protesting the return of such tactics. It is asking the Prime Minister to free the mails and allow all Poles the right to protest and affirm their Faith.
I don't think Poland's entry to the EU is necessarily going to undermine the nations strict Catholic ethics.
Irelands been in the EU for over 30 years - abortion is still illegal, and same sex marriages aren't even considered here.
What was that vote in Ireland a couple of yrs ago where the Irish went overwhelmingly one way, but the defeated opponents succeeded in calling another vote on the same thing not too long thereafter where they were able to finally win?
Was it acceptance of the EU currency?
I know there was something where the pro-EU positon lost, but then won. It seemed a bit as if the game were fixed; as though the eventual winners would just keep holding votes until they won.
That was the Nice Treaty.
Much of the contention with that was the foundation of the European Rapid Reaction Force, which many of those who opposed it felt would jeopardise Ireland's traditional neutrality stance.
I actually voted Yes for Nice in the first outing, but changed my vote to NO the second time round, because I felt Europe were ramming the referendum down our throats, and saying 'You will vote as many times as it takes for us to get you to vote OUR way'.
Cool article. We need a major lesson from Poland and a few other countries on how to beat back the queers. They are taking over this country -- and as we have seen in New Jersey, even exposing them in high-level governmental positions. We cannot let up.
Ireland is almost split on the abortion issue.
This week's referendum on abortion was rejected by the narrowest of margins: 49.58% in favour and 50.42% against. Hardly a definitive outcome, with a large split between urban and rural voters; 60% of Ireland's city residents voted No, while 60% of rural inhabitants voted Yes.
Can I ask you for a link?
The last abortion referendum covered three issues... the right to travel and right to information, followed by a very clumsily worded 'substantive issue' (which to all intents and purposes was 'abortion on demand', but the language used (to change the constitution) was muddy and almost incomprensible)
If the Government had a plebiscite in Ireland saying. Do you want abortion on demand available in this country? Yes or No? The outcome would be No.
That the urban Irish would vote against abortion and the rural Irish vote for it is surprising. One would think the influence of the clergy and the Catholic Church is stronger in rural Ireland, much as evangelical Protestant beliefs are more widespread in "red" America of the small towns and farms than in the cities, especially those of the Northeast and the West Coast.
Like I said in a previous post, the wording of the last abortion referendum in Ireland was as clear as MUD.
And also voting Yes (because of the way it was worded) meant that you were opposed to abortion on demand. Voting No represented you were pro-choice.
Like I said, very confusing - particularly for older voters.
The majority of people in rural areas (like myself) were opposed to the introduction of abortion on demand in Ireland.
I put Ireland Abortion in Google.com and many sites came up addressing the issue. I understand the economy is doing very well over there.
Yeah, the economy has been on an upward swing for some years - with a temporary levelling earlier this year, but back on the up and up now.
Most of it is due to a particularly good Finance minister who made most of the high spend departments (like health and education) stick within budgets.
Unfortunately, Minister McCreevy (the finance Minister) has now been sent to take up a job in Europe. (I think Ireland will rue the day because of this). But if he (as a Euro-skeptic) can rein in some of Europes socialist spending ideas, it might turn out okay for the Continent.
Memebership in the EU is basically a disaster for any nation that desires to retain its basic character. This is especially true for traditionally Catholic countries such as Poland and Ireland. The basic purpose of the EU is to bring all of the client countries under the control of the unelected, unaccountable bureaucracy in Brussels. Sooner or later, member states will be compelled - either through bureaucratic or judicial rulings - to comply with EU "hate crimes" statutes and "reproductive rights" laws, irrespective of what the voters say in any given country.
At the same time, Poland and Ireland can look forward to incoming floods of Islamic "refugees" and other assorted migrants which are allowed in for the purpose of eventually reducing the native populations to minority status in their own countries. This will facilitate control of a centralized regime in Brussels which is essentially totalitarian in character. How ironic that the Poles were freed by the collapse of the Soviet Empire and voluntarily elected to submit to EU totalitarianism a few short years later. Unless Poland and Ireland wake up and come to their senses, they will end up as minor satrapies of the emerging Caliphate of Europe.
I see that your knowledge about EU is at least incomplete.
OMG, what are you talking about? "Reproductive rights"? Now, what's that???
How can Ireland and Poland wait for floods of Islamic Refugees? Every "northern" country including US and Canada is under pressure of adopting immigrants from poor nations, some of them muslim. And how a "regime" in Brussels can be totalitarian if we have just voted in Euro Parliamentary elections- "totalitarian democracy?". I see you have no clue what the words you are writing mean.
"totalitarian democracy?"
Have another look at the writings of the Founding Fathers.
A democracy can be as foul a tyranny as an oligarchy or a monarchy.
Which is one reason they gave us a representative republic instead of a democracy. And with every step we've taken away from that and toward democracy, we've lost freedoms.
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