President Obama has called on the new transitional government of Libya to “build an inclusive and tolerant and democratic Libya”.

He knows already that that is not going to happen.

Libya, like Egypt and Tunisia, is emerging from the “Arab Spring” more than ever dominated by “Islamism”.

The current leader, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, has announced that Sharia Law will be “the basic source” of Libya’s  laws.

That he meant this in the literal and most stark sense, he made clear by asserting that polygamy will be re-legalised.

* * *

Islam and Christian religion are incompatible in many ways.

The understanding of marriage is one of them.

Mohammed, himself, had multiple wives.

If the western nations want to help those who live in Islamic countries, trying to talk them into holding elections etc. is not very relevant.

What they need is to be convinced to quit Islam.

That can’t happen while the west rejects its own Christian cultural origins.

Worst of all if the Church itself had no zeal for converting non-Christians.

* * *

The late Pope John Paul II made himself notorious when he kissed the Koran as a gesture of “goodwill”.

Obviously it was an act of bad will – but the Church has never refuted it.

On October 27, a gathering of leaders of world religions — including, bizarrely, prominent atheists — will take place in Assisi.

A thoroughly un-Catholic move.

As Pope Pius XI said in the 1920’s, “The Catholic Church has never permitted its subjects to take part in congresses of non-Catholics.”

Journalist, Dylan Welch, (The Age, October 12, 2011) quoted an ASIO report suggesting that Australia harbours “a persistent but small sub-culture of racist and nationalist extremists”.

He went on to talk about Norwegian terrorist, Anders Breivik, being “a Christian who described himself as a ‘modern-day crusader’”.

In his manifesto, “2083 — A European Declaration of Independence”, Brievik did write:

“Myself and many more like me do not necessarily have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and God. We do however believe in Christianity as a cultural, social, identity and moral platform. This makes us Christian . . . Regarding my personal relationship with God, I guess I’m not an excessively religious man.”

But Christianity (as taught by Christ himself) says that the first Commandment is to love God with all one’s heart and soul.

To be a Christian, one’s every political idea and act must be motivated by that relationship.

This key point was missed by Anders Breivik (and, perhaps, by Dylan Welch).

Robert Jeffress, a supporter of would-be Republican candidate for the US Presidency, Rick Perry, has caused a stir.

He says that opposing candidate Mitt Romney — a Mormon– is “not a Christian”.

He labels Mormonism a “cult”.

Mr Jeffress is pastor of a Baptist 10,000-member “mega church”.

Question: are Baptist mega churches Christian?

Anyway, the Democrats are enjoying watching the Republicans undermining each others’ credibility.

And the secular media are bleating about more “separation of Church and State”.

And “keeping religion out of politics”.

* * *

Yes, there must be a degree of “separation of Church and State” – or we’ll end up with injustice.

Two examples:

(1) State-dominating-Church as in China: where the government interferes with the appointment of Catholic bishops.

(2) Church-dominating-State as in Egypt: where today and tomorrow people are shot to pieces or run over by tanks for being non-Muslims.

But “keeping religion out of politics” is something else.

Keeping religion out of politics is not possible.

Without true religion, how does one determine right from wrong?

Without true religion, those getting in your way merit no special respect, being simply animals/robots who, if inconvenient, can be thrust aside or disassembled.

* * *

Think about the practical questions of surrogate pregnancy, abortion, human cloning, euthanasia, same sex “marriage”, business fraud etc.

On issues like these, Mr Romney has been willing to flexibly adopt whatever stance seems politically expedient.

A Catholic cannot do that.

If he tries it, his bishop must discipline him — and, if necessary, excommunicate him.

If not, that bishop must, himself, be attended to by somebody acting for the Pope.

Fauzi Bowo, Governor of Jakarta, Indonesia, is in the news for warning females not to wear provocative clothing on public transport to avoid being raped.

Feminist groups, greenie groups and similar are condemning his remark as being “deeply insulting and insensitive”. (e.g. petition-organising lobby group, Care-2)

Such people claim that rapists are not looking for exhibitionist fashion-wearers, but for those whose appearance is “submissive”.

And they claim that rape is motivated, not so much by sexual desire, as by desire to exert power and to express contempt for their victim.

* * *

The question of motives is indeed important.

Women should turn that question on themselves as well as on others.

Females exposing themselves is contrary to nature. Why do male birds have the bright colours while the females are more often brownish or other inconspicuous colours?

Because the mother bird, attending to her eggs or hatchlings needs to go unnoticed by predators.

Mother bird would tell us, “I don’t need to display myself. The job I do for my family is more important than attention-seeking.”

* * *

And are women who dress immodestly also acting out feelings of contempt for males?

Knowing that boys/men have trouble ignoring distracting displays of thighs, breasts etc . . . .

They seek to exploit this weakness – and so exert a bit of dominance.

* * *

The Bible warns against attention-seeking clothing:

“Women should dress themselves decently, with modesty . . . let a woman learn in silence with submissiveness . . . in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.” (Saint Paul’s first letter to Timothy)

An Australian citizen, Brian Schmidt, is one of the winners of the 2011 Nobel Prize for Physics.

His work is said to show that the universe is expanding faster and faster – not slower and slower, as we were being told to believe until recently.

Why so fast? Because of “dark energy” mate.

Dark energy is something that possibly does not exist. But if it does exist, it comprises 70-odd percent of the universe.

The Nobel Academy spokespersons described his discovery as “astounding”.

It isn’t easy to be astounded by something you can’t really imagine . . . .

And something which we will, almost certainly, be told is wrong after all, within a few months or years.

,* * *

Science is something beyond most of us.

The one thing we know for sure is that science is always wrong.

Isn’t that  what “progress” means?

That what we know today proves that what they believed yesterday was wrong . . . . .

And, presumably, what we believe today will be proved wrong tomorrow.

* * *

Fortunately science doesn’t matter very much.

What matters more is how we use the things scientists make it possible to invent.

Things as diverse as life-saving antibiotics . . . and life-terminating bombs . . . .

Plus chemicals to increase crop yields . . . and chemicals to defoliate the crops of those we hope to starve to death.

Science has nothing to do with right and wrong.

Yet are not right and wrong, ultimately, all that matters?

Science can help a little bit, insofar as it reveals a universe (multiverse or whatever) that has Order.

Which confirms, to the un-blinkered, that God exists.

Melbourne journalist, Andrew Bolt, was found guilty on Wednesday of having contravened the Racial Discrimination Act.

The Judge said that two articles he wrote in the Melbourne Herald Sun contained “errors of fact” and were “inflammatory and provocative”.

Mr Bolt had spoken about what he termed “political Aborigines” – i.e. white-skinned people, with minimal Aboriginal blood in their family tree, who choose to identify as Aboriginal in order to receive benefits, scholarships, awards, celebrity status etc. on the strength of it.

The Prime Minister has declined to comment.

The Attorney General says the government supports the Act.

The Opposition says it will amend the Act — so as to preserve some vestiges of free speech in this country.

* * *

The question is not whether Mr Bolt’s remarks were inaccurate or impolite . . . .

Listen to Australia’s Parliament on radio — or to anything at all on television — and you’ll encounter a wall-to-wall torrent of lies and rudeness exceeding anything Mr Bolt ever descends to.

No doubt he could have made his points less abrasively, and perhaps he should have.

But criticism is something everyone has to put up with at times.

Special laws protecting certain minorities from criticism are classic examples of the mentality that Mr Bolt rightly wants to protect Australia from.

* * *

God has made the human race – with all its variations — one in status and value in his sight.

He requires of us all, regardless of race, to keep his Ten Commandments and seek him through the Sacraments of his Church.

That is what really matters.