A Catholic punk is someone who goes against the societal views of moral relativism and promotes the message of the Catholic Church.  No one does that better than Michael Coren.  If you have never heard of him, it is time you have.  He is a television and radio host, a syndicated columnist and an author.  Born in England to parents of Jewish heritage, he converted to Catholicism in his youth but then became a stauch Evangelical Christian until 2004, when he rejoined the Catholic Church with renewed fervour.   This man, according to his own website, is brutally honest, confident, opinionated and strong-minded.  He also gives some of the strongest defences of Christianity and the Catholic faith that this Catholic punk has ever seen!  In his new book, “Heresy: Ten Lies They Spread About Christianity”, he confronts the accusations that Christianity has supported slavery, is sexist, is against homosexuals, promotes wars, is anti-scientific and is antiquated.  His incredible “Why Catholics Are Right” takes on misconceptions about Mother Church, using history and critical thinking to defend the Truth!  If you have ever struggled with your atheist, Protestant or weak-livered liberal Catholic friends when the discussion turns to the abuse scandals, the Inquisition, the Crusades, Galileo, the Holocaust, Mary, Papal Infallibility, the Immaculate Conception or why the Church doesn’t believe in Faith or Bible Alone, this book has it all, in no-nonsense  explanations.   These should be on the bookshelf or e-reader of every Catholic Punk!   Go out and arm yourself for the fight.

You think I exaggerate when I say that those who follow Church teachings are now the punks of society?  Check out this video by gay activist Dan Savage, where he refers to the “Bulls__t” in the Bible and insults those Christian kids who chose to leave his talk.   This being said, I am not going to go on a rant about this speaker.  His hatred of the Bible and Christians is pretty clear.  However, as a Catholic, do you hear what he says about slavery and the stoning of women, and does it cast doubts in your mind?  If it does, then START educating yourself.  READ about what the Catholic Church says about the topic because if you can’t counter Mr. Savage’s arguments, then you are trying to fight back without any tools.

Remember that Catholics understand the Bible as a whole and living document, where the Old Testament is fulfilled in the New Testament.  We DO NOT take a phrase here and there out of context and throw it out to prove a point.  Mr. Savage is no better than the Fundamentalist Christians he loathes by using the same “verse-slinging” logic.  Read about the different types of slavery in those Roman times.   Certain slaves, for example, could buy their own freedom.   Slavery was a secular reality and the New Testament has to be read in these historical terms.  Read about what the early Church Fathers said about slavery, and whether slavery in which  the slave was denied their personhood was EVER condoned.   The Church’s teaching on homosexuality is also based NOT ONLY on the Bible but also on natural law.  If you are confused by even this shallow bit of critical thinking in a youtube video, then you need to toughen up and be more of a Catholic punk!

Although Catholics believe the act of homosexuality is wrong, we would never refer to a gay person as being “pansie-assed” as Mr. Savage calls those who walked out quietly out of his speech in protest…. that would be a clear case of bullying and would obviously be wrong.