And the winner is....

In 1966, the Oscar for Best Picture went to “A Man for All Seasons.”  That movie is about the life of Saint Thomas More, who on principle, stood against King Henry VIII.  SPOILER ALERT - In the end, More was beheaded for standing with his church and not granting the king a series of divorces and annulments. 

That was 1966 or the 16^th century, however you prefer to look at it.  This is 2013.  What’s the point?  First point, can you, in your deepest imagination, even  conger a serious thought of movie about a Saint even being considered for a Best Picture Oscar in today’s Hollywood?  It more likely that you will be struck lightening, win the power ball jackpot, be mauled by a polar bear and see the Cincinnati Bengals hoist the Super Bowl trophy all on the same day than see the current group of Hollywood big shots give such a movie a fair shot.

Next point, what was More standing against?  More stood firmly against an onerous all-powerful king.  Henry thought that by edict he could tell people what to think, how to act and who to serve.   More would have none of it. 

So Henry jailed More in the Tower of London for more than a year to work on More’s stubborn conscience.  When Henry failed to convince More of the advantages of seeing religion as the king saw religion, Henry had More tried for treason and his head lopped off.

Next point, what was More standing for? In a time when it would certainly would have been easier for More to go along and get along, he stood for his Church, the rights of man, religious liberty and freedom.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, what does that have to do with today?  How is today any different?  We have know-nothing little twerp telling us that we have to pay for the neighbor’s abortion – even if it violates deeply held religious beliefs.  We have the twerp telling us that Catholic schools should be shut down because they are divisive.  You have a government shutting down Catholic adoption services because Catholics insist on the quaint idea that children are best served in a home with married mother and father.  You have government defunding Catholic refugee services because they refuse to offer abortion and contraceptives.  The Supreme Court is about to announce its ruling on homosexual marriage, that could place Catholic Churches in the position of marring homosexuals or losing tax exempt status.  We have a government that thinks it is perfectly OK to collect every bit of information on us as long as they promise not to use it until later.

So if we fail to bow at the alter liberalism and fund its sacraments of abortion, homosexual marriage and a basic hedonistic lifestyle, we’ll end like More on the wrong side of a tyrannical government.   Now, that tyrannical knows government knows everything about us.  Oh sure, a tyrant would never use any of that information to shut us up, get a Supreme Court Justice to vote their way, scare certain people out of politics or even from voting. 

The NSA spy thing is the government’s Tower of London of today.  They won’t put you on the rack.  They’ll threaten to expose you, your children, your wife or something else you hold dear to get you to do what they want. 

So, who is the man for all seasons in the mess we’ve created for ourselves?  Who will stand up to this tyrannical government?