National Sunday Law -- A Hoax?

Wow, after the statement from the North American Religious Liberty Association that attempted to debunk the possibility of a National Sunday Law push from the Pope during his visit to the United States, the letter below really took me by surprise. Apparently, Brother Standish now believes that Sunday Worship was indeed promoted during the pope's visit. What do you believe? Questions, comments, concerns are welcome.

04/21/2008

Dear Friends of Freedom,

Last week was quite a week in Washington. Not only did spring finally arrive in all its glory, but the Prime Minister of Great Britain was on a state visit to the nation's capital. Not that you would know it. On Friday the Washington Post devoted its front page to Pope Benedict, with the British Prime Minister relegated to the second page. Maybe this is appropriate. Even though Joseph Stalin is reported to have dismissed the Pope by asking "How many [military] divisions does he have?" Stalin's successors found out the hard way that the leader of the world's one billion Catholics can wield enormous temporal power.

That power was on display time and time again during the Pope's brief visit. President Bush took the unusual step of traveling out to the airbase to greet the Pope in person. American politicians strained at every opportunity to get face time with the Pope. In a city used to visiting heads of state and being home to the President of the most powerful nation in history, the steps taken to accommodate the Pope were exceptional with daily commuting thrown into chaos. And it was not only what the Pope did that caused heads to turn, it is what he didn't do. When the White House held a state dinner hosted by the President of the United States in the Pope's honor, the Pope chose not to attend. Maybe there could be no more elegant a statement of the relative prestige of the papacy and the U.S. presidency.

During the Pope's visit, the President of the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops presented an outline of the American Catholic Church's priorities over the next years as follows:
The episcopal conference has recently identified the strengthening of marriage and of family life as one of five priorities for our common attention in the next several years. The other four are protecting the life and dignity of the human person at every stage of life's journey; handing on the faith in the context of sacramental practice and the observance of Sunday worship {emphasis mine}; fostering vocations to ordained priesthood and consecrated life; and profiting from the cultural diversity of the church here, especially from the gifts of Hispanic Catholics. www.uspapalvisit.org/speeches/text02_nationalshrine_george.htm

How has the papacy been able to survive the assault of Protestantism, secularism and relativism? Why are so many people drawn to the Pope today? Maybe there are two explanations. In a world of immense uncertainty, it is comforting to believe in an infallible leader you can see in the flesh and who issues guidance as the world changes. Second, the Catholic Church has remained true to its core claims-refusing to compromise even on its most unpopular teachings. In a city where leaders' messages change with polling data, the courage of an institution to take a stand no matter the consequence, appears almost supernatural within itself.
And yet, for Seventh-day Adventist Christians, acknowledgement of the power, prestige, and strengths of the modern papacy is tempered by deep and fundamental theological differences. We believe that only God is holy, and thus reject the use of a title ascribing holiness to any sinful human being. Further, we point all humanity to One Savior, One Advocate, and only One Forgiver-and that is our Lord Jesus Christ. No human being has the power to absolve sin or the right to stand between a sinner and her God, and no sinful human being can change the law of God in order to sanctify Sunday. While looking only to the invisible Christ rather than a physical human being can be difficult at times; while living with some ambiguity over precisely how to apply Scripture to today's challenges can be disquieting; and while simple, humble worship cannot compete with papal pageantry, the beauty of God's own Word and the strength of the Holy Spirit is more than sufficient-both in this life and in the life to come.

Now is the time for each of us to dedicate ourselves fully to God, steadfast in the strength of His Word and the power of His Spirit,

May God bless you,
James Standish