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The new Pharisees, often wearing business attire and clothed with an exalted education, wield the sword of misguided legislation or use Courts as a weapon.

GLADE PARK, Colorado (Catholic Online) - As we read the Gospel, a growing tension between Jesus and those who oppose him becomes evident. There is that pointed question: "Why does this man speak this way?” which gives rise to the grave accusation: "He is blaspheming" (Mark 2:7).What begins as tension soon turns into open conflict; a battle between truth and falsehood, love and hate. Once, when Jesus entered the synagogue, there were men bearing mixed attitudes toward him. Also present was a man with a withered hand. Those who had set themselves against our Lord’s teaching "watched him closely to see if he would cure" the man with the withered hand "on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him." Our Lord, "Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart," said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." The man did so, "and his hand was restored." With that, the Pharisees, "went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death." (cf. Mark 3:1-6). This conflict runs throughout the Gospel and culminates in the crucifixion of our Lord. But that is not the end of it.

A.D. 64: Ten of Rome’s fourteen districts lay in charred ruins. The Emperor Nero, fearful of the rumor which held him to blame for starting the terrible fire, decided to direct attention away from himself toward the Christians, placing blame upon them for the fiery blaze. Many of the Roman people misunderstood the Christians; some feared them; some hated them. Nero set about killing them. The Roman historian Tacitus wrote: "First, then, the confessed members of the sect were arrested; next, on their disclosures, vast numbers were convicted, not so much on the count of arson as for hatred of the human race. And derision accompanied their end: they were covered with wild beasts’ skins and torn to death by dogs; or they were fastened on crosses, and, when daylight failed, were burned to serve as lamps at night" (Tacitus, Annals XV: XLIV, 283-85).

Christians are well aware of the multitudes of martyrs who have died for the Faith; from the apostles to those whose lives have more recently been offered for God’s glory in various parts of the world, the death toll continues. As with the Pharisees and Nero, there is no doubt still present in the world that magnitude of hate which strikes out with lethal force, intent on bringing death upon those who live for Christ. But there are others of a different sort who are rearing their heads in numbers far exceeding those of the Pharisees of the past. They do not openly crucify, nailing their victims upon crosses in broad daylight; they do not burn Christians as lamps in the night; nor do they cover their prey with wild beasts’ skins that they be torn apart by dogs. Rather than bloody attacks, they prefer another approach.

The new Pharisees, often wearing business attire and clothed with an exalted education, wield the sword of misguided legislation or use Courts as a weapon. Though not as openly hostile, he is no less cunning. He is determined and focused. He is a propagandist, relying on misinformation and the power of the media. He incrementally chips away at the truth, attacking elements of the Faith with progressive steadiness and ill intent. Rather than feed Christians to the beasts, he crafts laws in order to silence them; rather than burn his opponents at the stake; he persecutes, marginalizes or even jails them for what is sometimes called “Ethnic Intimidation”.

An example of this occurred on October 10, 2004. A taxpayer funded celebration of the homosexual lifestyle known as "OutFest" was taking place on the streets of Philadelphia. Eleven members of a group called Repent America were present to proclaim the Gospel. Their message was simple: homosexual sex acts are sinful; stop sinning, repent, and accept Jesus Christ. Homosexual activists harassed the Christians in a severe manner: they screamed obscenities, blew horns, and prevented the Christians’ movement by using their large pink signs to obstruct. Even though they had acted respectfully and peaceably, the Christians were arrested, jailed for twenty-one hours, and charged with "Ethnic Intimidation" under Pennsylvania’s hate crimes law. Five years later, on Saturday night, Oct. 10, 2009, at the Banquet of the "Human Rights Campaign", the Nation witnessed the public denial of the institution of marriage with words spoken in arrogant confidence by the President himself: "You will see a time in which we as a nation finally recognize relationships between two men or two women as just as real and admirable as relationships between a man and a woman." Welcome to the age of the Twenty-First century Pharisees.

In the first few centuries of the Catholic Church, Christ’s enemies actually sought to kill Christians. The Twenty-First century Pharisees, however, seek to legislate or litigate in an effort to silence them. The intent is to empty the ...