Putin or Biden: Which Speaks Like a Christian Statesman?

A Catholic who adheres to the Faith as it was held doctrinally and practiced liturgically before post-Vatican II “reforms” can only dream of what the world might be like today, even with a Modernist pope in Rome, had the West still been Christian when Russia became so again after seven decades of Godless Communist misrule. Working together in genuine partnership they could have prevented the rise of Islamic jihadism and kept China from spreading its form of globalism as far as it has.

Of course that did not happen. Instead the West in which the false philosophy of liberalism had supplanted Christianity as the center around which the life of society was organized, and perceiving Russia as inimical insofar as it is the only major country left in which Christianity plays a visible role in the life of the nation, has decided to brand it an enemy and treat it as such. This has gone so far that supposed U.S. President Joe Biden publicly called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “killer”.

Taking the high road, Putin shrugged off the affront, deftly suggesting, though not in so many words, that it was simply an additional example of poor Mr. Biden’s obvious senility.

Doubtless it was, but that is not to say that the differences between Russia and the formerly Christian West are not real. They certainly are. In fact they are so great that it is not wrong for our liberals, including many who call themselves “conservative,” to view Russia as an enemy. Sacramental Christianity, even when it is schismatic, will always stand against secular liberalism like the West’s because Christianity has a unique purchase on Truth, whereas liberalism in all its forms is an illusion, holding as it does that individuals and society are better off without God, whether that be by living as if He does not exist, as in the modern West, or by formally denying His existence, as under Communism.

What are the differences? President Putin delineated some of them in a wide-ranging speech he delivered in November at this year’s Valdai Discussion Group, Russia’s answer to the meeting of the Great Reset crowd of billionaires and government leaders who gather annually in Davos, Switzerland, to decide how you and I will live if their money and power have anything to do about it.

Of the subjects Putin touched on, only one interests us here: transgenderism, a form of madness that has the politically correct by the throat and saw, for instance, a Mister crowned Miss Nevada in a beauty contest last spring and, more recently, a biological man who says he is a woman honored with the four stars of a U.S. Navy admiral. ¹

It is not a big deal, and does not alter the message or the essential facts of Gary’s otherwise excellent article, so I am not trying to be pedantic, but I always thought that your logical predisposition was towards accuracy.

These developments would be seen as silly if sanity prevailed across American society. They become something else when all of us — society — are expected to act as if such personal delusion is reality.

Anyway, in words such as will never scroll down Mr. Biden’s teleprompter, here is an extract from Putin’s speech. (The historical parallels he draws don’t need underlining by me, their obviousness being evident to a reader as soon as Putin points them out.)

“We see with amusement the paralysis unfolding in countries that have grown accustomed to viewing themselves as the flagships of progress. Of course it’s none of our business what is happening in some Western countries — the aggressive blotting out of whole pages of their own history, the affirmative action in the interest of minorities, and the requirement to renounce the traditional interpretation of such basic values as mother, father, family and the distinction between the sexes as a milestone, a renewal of society….

“There is one thing I would like to say. The prescriptions they come with are nothing new… It happened in our country after the 1917 revolution the Bolsheviks followed the dogmas of Marx and Engels. And they also declared that they would change the traditional lifestyle, the political and economic lifestyle, as well as the very notion of morality, the basic principles of a healthy society. They were trying to change centuries-long values… It was hailed as the march of progress… It is happening right now…

“It is with puzzlement that we see the practices Russia used to have and that we have left behind: the fight for equality and against discrimination turning into an aggressive dogmatism on the brink of absurdity, when great authors of the past such as Shakespeare are no longer taught in schools and universities because they did not understand the importance of race and gender…

“You know, the Bolsheviks were about notions of property, but also women. The proponents of new approaches go so far as to want to eliminate the whole notions of men and women, and those who dare to say that men and women exist and this is a fact — they are all but ostracized. “Parent Number One,” “Parent Number Two,” or “Parent who has given birth,” or instead of breast milk you say “human milk “ you say all of that so the people who are not sure of their sexual identity won’t be unhappy.

“There are some monstrous things where from a very early age you teach the boy can easily become a girl and you impose on them this choice. You push the parents aside and make the child take this decision that can destroy his life. And if you call a spade a spade this is nigh a crime against humanity and all of this under the banner of progress.”

One final observation: A few days after Putin spoke at the Valdai conference it was announced in Washington that United States passports will now show bearers to be male, female, or X.

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