Throughout much of its history the Catholic church has relied heavily upon its religious orders. The orders fulfilled varied missions and duties for the mother church that were not best performed by the clerks regular.

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This has, not surprisingly caused some friction and competition between the various religious orders. It’s natural that they compete for funding, prestige, and postulants.

Two young men considering a religious vocation were having a conversation. “What is similar about the Jesuit and Dominican Orders?” the one asked.

The second replied, “Well, they were both founded by Spaniards – St. Dominic for the Dominicans, and St. Ignatius of Loyola for the Jesuits. They were also both founded to combat heresy – the Dominicans to fight the Albigensians, and the Jesuits to fight the Protestants.”

“What is different about the Jesuit and Dominican Orders?” The first asked.

“Met any Albigensians lately?”

That about sums that one up. The Dominicans ensured that the Catholic church’s “catharsis” was complete. The Jesuits, on the other hand, weren’t nearly so effective.

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On Wednesday, January 11, 2012 the US Supreme Court delivered a well-deserved spanking to Obama’s boy, Eric Holder. In an unanimous decision the SCOTUS informed the worthless and murderously criminal Holder – and his overseer at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. – that, despite the Obama Regime’s best efforts, the Constitution is still the highest law in the land and it includes the right of religious freedom.

In the case of Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC the SCOTUS Justices rendered a blunt 9-0 ruling that the Obama Regime does not have the right or privilege to tell a religious institution who may or may not be in their clergy nor under what terms they onboard or offboard such ministers and/or priests, overruling and reversing the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals’ early decision.

The interest of society in the enforcement of employment discrimination statutes is undoubtedly important. But so too is the interest of religious groups in choosing who will preach their beliefs, teach their faith, and carry out their mission. When a minister who has been fired sues her church alleging that her termination was discriminatory, the First Amendment has struck the balance for us. The church must be free to choose those who will guide it on its way.

The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is reversed.

It is so ordered.

– Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.
Writing for the Court

So, for now, the shades of the Founding Fathers are smiling. The Supreme Court unanimously slapped down the Obama Regime’s attempt to violate the 1st Amendment and Americans’ freedom of religion.

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I’m Pagan and I celebrate Christmas. I also celebrate Yule. To my mind there’s no inherent conflict in this. Yule is my religious holiday and Christmas is my American holiday and is largely secular in nature.

Perhaps this should be of some concern to Christians, a wee bit more so than arguments about “Happy Holidays” vs. “Merry Christmas.”

After all, the customs, trappings, and imagery of an American Christmas: Santa, Frosty The Snow Man, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Christmas Trees and decorations, and so very many others have nothing to do with Missa Christi aka Crīstesmæsse aka Christ’s Mass.

I think that “the war on Christmas” is one that Christians have already largely lost and that the current trend towards anti-theism and anti-Christianity is just a mopping up operation, the Christians, by and large, having already ceded the field.

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