A Catholic challenge to American exceptionalism

(iStock)

Thomas J. Massaro

July 07, 2025

Editor's note: This essay is adapted from the McGinley Lecture delivered at Fordham University on April 9, 2025.

While being a U.S. citizen includes many wonderful features and certainly accords many advantages, it also brings along some stigma and cringeworthy aspects. For example, as a people, we tend to be hopelessly monolingual and (perhaps relatedly) do not travel well at all. We all know the stereotype of the “ugly American” traveling abroad with no clue about appropriate behavior regarding local standards of etiquette or respect for cultural differences.

A more consequential aspect of behaviors and attitudes prevalent among the people of the United States is the phenomenon of American exceptionalism—a loose bundle of concepts that have fascinated observers of our national life for generations, despite being notoriously hard to define with any precision.

In the literature of the social sciences, that term has been employed to document how the United States is a statistical outlier among other nations on many scales, from material prosperity and productivity (we are fortunate to be way up on those scales) to the prevalence of gun violence and incarceration (sadly, we are also a world leader in many such measures).

But if we wish to conduct a theologically grounded evaluation of American exceptionalism, we have more work to do than just counting up instances of nation-specific phenomena. Any theological assessment of the phenomenon will engage the inherited claim that the United States possesses a special mission in the world. Such a project aspires to dig considerably deeper into the culture, history and collective value commitments of the American people than sociologists typically attempt.

This essay seeks to identify both constructive and potentially regrettable aspects of these prevalent attitudes regarding the supposedly unique status of the United States. Key questions will include these two: When Americans affirm that our nation is special and somehow set apart from other countries, are we betraying a delusional arrogance? Is it possible to embrace the idea of a special, evenly divinely ordained mission for America without violating Christian ethical principles and dismissing key religious virtues like mercy and humility?

Civil Religion

Any study of the collective values and virtues of a given people builds upon the seminal insights of Plato. In his treatment of justice in the Republic, Plato contended that the state is the individual writ large, or more precisely that the polis is somehow the magnified image of the souls of its residents, reflecting their collective virtues as well as their vices and pathologies. Many subsequent commentators have proposed a supposed invariant national character as an explanation for why countries behave in certain ways and not others. Wandering too far down this path risks adopting a determinism that pigeonholes entire peoples based on rank generalizations and arbitrarily ascribed traits, and of course this type of reductionism quickly becomes objectionable.

"The Three Paths" | Dr Conrad Vine | State Line SDA Church Camp Meeting

"The Three Paths" | Dr Conrad Vine | State Line SDA Church Camp Meeting

Dr. Conrad Vine

Mar 30, 2025

In this urgent message, we confront the critical times we live in—between Daniel 11:40's "time of the end" and Christ's soon return. As the speaker I step down from leadership to focus on preaching with greater freedom—preparing the church spiritually and structurally for the final crisis. This sermon examines three paths: the Recent path (the church's 2015 vaccination statement and its consequences), the Wrong path (compromising biblical principles for secular authority), and the Right path (standing firm on liberty of conscience and divine truth). Watch now and be equipped for the coming storm.

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Reaffirming the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Response to COVID-19[1]

General Conference
Reaffirming the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Response to COVID-19[1]

October 25, 2021

Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
General Conference Administration, Biblical Research Institute, General Conference Health Ministries, Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Department, General Conference Office of General Counsel, and Loma Linda University Health.

[Photo Credit of Getty Images]


This document has been produced by the General Conference Administration, Biblical Research Institute, General Conference Health Ministries, Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Department, General Conference Office of General Counsel, and Loma Linda University Health. It builds on the immunization statement voted in April 2015 and affirms both this latter statement, and the information on the COVID-19 vaccines shared on December 22, 2020.


The COVID-19 pandemic is the greatest public health crisis in a hundred years. It has devastated populations around the world and severely affected physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, and relational health. In its wake isolation, recurrent surges, economic disruption, and death are all ongoing. We are confronted with mitigation measures such as masking, social (physical) distancing, handwashing, early detection, testing, and contact tracing that have become part of our daily lives.

In the midst of this time of crisis and disruption the Seventh-day Adventist Church is committed to the mission of lifting up Christ, His Word, His righteousness, and the proclamation of His Three Angels’ Messages to the world in preparing people, through the Holy Spirit’s power, for Jesus’ soon coming. The health message is the right arm of the gospel and therefore a healthy lifestyle has been an important part of the beliefs of the Adventist Church since its early years and remains so. We are still committed to live, share, and promote healthy living as expressed by the wholistic Adventist health message entrusted to the Church. The Adventist health studies have confirmed the unequivocal benefits of increased longevity and quality of life through implementing such health practices. These include a balanced vegetarian diet, exercise, drinking adequate volumes of water, regular exercise, careful exposure to sunshine, fresh air, abstaining from alcohol, tobacco, and other harmful substances, adequate rest and sleep, and importantly, trust in God. These practices enhance and maintain healthy immunity. Beyond those benefits of healthy lifestyle principles and preventive public health practices, the Church affirms and recommends the responsible use of vaccines as an important public health measure, especially during a pandemic. At the same time, the Church respects the rights of individuals’ freedom of choice for those who choose not to be vaccinated. https://www.adventist.org/official-statements/immunization/

TED WILSON IS NOT CHRIST: PRAY UNTO GOD#sabbathkeeper #seventhdayadventis...

7/7 bombings: Victims and responders tell their stories 20 years on

London bombings of 2005

On 7 July 2005 four suicide bombers struck London's transport network, killing 52 people and injuring over 770 others.

Three of the blasts happened on London Underground, on or around 8.50am, in the vicinity of Aldgate, Edgware Road and Russell Square stations. The fourth device exploded at 9.47am on a bus that had been diverted via Tavistock Square, close to where BTP’s HQ was at the time. The building became a base for the walking wounded to assemble in.

BTP officers and staff from across the organisation worked tirelessly on the day of the bombings and in the days, weeks and months that followed to deal with the tragic consequences of these acts and to help ensure safety on the rail way.

Many colleagues were honoured for their extraordinary efforts during what was described as one of the biggest challenges faced by the police service in post-war Britain. The circumstances were complex, difficult and dangerous, however BTP officers carried out their vital and specialist roles - including initial rescue, body recovery, search and mortuary duties, as well as supporting the extensive coroner’s inquiry which followed. They showed exceptional courage and professionalism during this critical time.

They were supported by non-operational colleagues who also went above and beyond to support the frontline professionally and sensitively, whilst helping to get the transport network in London restored quickly, efficiently and safely following the attacks.

Chief Constable Paul Crowther said: “The heroic efforts of BTP personnel and all agencies who responded to the events of 7 July 2005 will never be forgotten and the memories of what happened on that day remain firmly in our minds.

“During the most difficult circumstances, BTP provided an absolutely outstanding level of service.

“A lot of things have changed since 7/7, both in how we monitor threats and how we respond when they are apparent.

“We now have comprehensive communications system which allows us to link in with Transport for London and other agencies much more efficiently.

“We have far greater access to CCTV, with more widespread coverage than ten years ago, and we use regular training exercises to test our response to threats.

“All of these changes are designed to help us ensure this terrible tragedy never happens again.”

Read More

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ICE Goes After Church Leaders and Christians Fleeing Persecution

ANDY OLSEN


On Tuesday, Iranian asylum-seekers were detained in Los Angeles, adding to the count of church members taken despite lawful status.

Pastor Ara Torosian filmed ICE arresting Iranian members of his congregation.
CHRISTIANITY TODAYJUNE 26, 2025

Ara Torosian

On June 19, as Iran and Israel exchanged volleys of missiles and officials secretly finalized plans to dispatch American bombers to strike Iranian nuclear sites, pastor Ara Torosian published a letter to his church.

Torosian, an Iranian pastor at Cornerstone West Los Angeles, leads the church’s Farsi-speaking congregation. He came to the United States as a refugee 15 years ago after being imprisoned for his faith. He has always carried in his heart a prayer, Torosian wrote: “that Iran would be free.”

Now, explosions were rocking Tehran and other Iranian cities, wounding and killing children and grandparents, and Torosian was shouldering new burdens from halfway across the globe.

“There are people currently in Iran who were baptized in this very church and still listen to our sermons regularly. We are far from them,” Torosian wrote, urging Cornerstone’s English- and Spanish-speaking congregations to stand with and pray for the Persian worshipers. “We Farsi-speaking believers are living minute by minute with heavy hearts. We’re asking: Are our loved ones safe? Are they alive? What is happening to them?”

But five days later, the suffering of his loved ones came suddenly very close.

On Tuesday, the pastor recorded on his phone as masked federal immigration agents arrested two of his church members on a Los Angeles sidewalk. The Iranian husband and wife had pending asylum cases, according to Torosian. They fled Iran for fear of persecution for being Christians and had been part of his congregation for about a year.

Pope Leo XIV is Going to Celebrate the First Climate Change Mass...

Pope Leo XIV is Going to Celebrate the First Climate Change Mass in Castel Gandolfo as the Satanists Celebrate their Black Mass Nearby!

5 July 2025 adm-zagami


Donation in support of Leo’s work through GoFundMe https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-leo-zagami-show-lesule and https://cash.app/$leozagami

Article by Leo Zagami


In Confessions of an Illuminati Volume 12, I explain how, “Pope Francis’ Laudato si’ the leftist encyclical, published in 2015,” is “mostly read for its political parts and not for its Catholic message,” and is still considered “a (sort of) mandatory reading” for leftist “politicians, diplomats, and economists, who have widely used excerpts of it in their speeches in the last few years,” especially in Europe, but also in the United States. Against any scientific certainty about so-called “climate change “the late Pope Francis, who loved dogmas, declared that the science of climate change” was indeed “clear,” and beyond criticism. The Catholic church, as I explained in my latest book, is now in hands of the Jesuits who have been pushing this agenda since the late 60s, must suddenly be forced to view “climate change as a moral issue that must be addressed to protect the earth and everyone on it.”

Now, with Pope Francis’ successor, the diabolical direction instigated by the Jesuits in favor of the lies and propaganda of so-called “climate change,” is moving forward, as Pope Leo XIV is going to celebrate for the first time a new votive Mass devised “for the care of creation” on July 9, 2025, in which the current pope will use, in a private mass for the “Borgo Laudato Si’” an educational group established by Pope Francis at Castel Gandolfo to promote “ecological conversion” by using the ”Pontifical Villas’ garden as an example,[1] a set of new prayers in favor of the Jesuit green agenda officially entitled “Missa pro custodia creationis” (“ Mass for the care of creation”). The term “Castel Gandalf” has been used by Alex Jones in the past in a combination of “Castel Gandolfo” (the Pope’s summer residence outside Rome) and “Gandalf” (a character from the Lord of the Rings series).

The new Mass prayers were presented a couple of days ago in the Vatican with a press conference by the influential Jesuit Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, and the Franciscan Archbishop Vittorio Francesco Viola, secretary of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.[2]

Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ, participated in the collaborative effort to create the prayers, alongside other Vatican departments mostly controlled by the Jesuits.

Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ, made the following speech that gives us a full understanding of how the Jesuits are further high-jacking the Catholic Mass in line with the other monstrosities of the Second Vatican Council:

In the Roman Missal, there are 49 Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions. Twenty are for the Church, 17 for civil needs, and 12 for various occasions. Among the formularies “for civil needs,” today we are happy to introduce a “Mass for the care of creation” (Missa pro custodia creationis), in response to requests suggested by Laudato si’.

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Were SDA Churches used as COVID19 Vaccination Sites?

AI Overview

Yes, Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) churches have been used as COVID-19 vaccination sites.
For example, the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists (NAD) partnered with a local hospital to offer two COVID-19 vaccine clinics at their building. These events successfully vaccinated a significant number of community members, including adults and children, and booster shots were provided.

 
The SDA Church, in general, encourages responsible immunization and vaccination as part of its emphasis on health and well-being. They consider vaccination programs important for the safety and health of their members and the wider community, viewing it as a public health issue rather than a matter of religious liberty. While they acknowledge individual choices regarding vaccination, the church does not officially support religious exemptions to vaccine mandates.

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NAD Partners with Local Hospital to Offer Two COVID-19 Vaccine Clinics

Working with Howard County General Hospital, the North American Division hosted two clinics — also giving away fresh produce to 100 families — and plans to do it again in January 2022.

December 21, 2021 | Columbia, Md. | Kimberly Luste Maran




A vaccination is prepared by during the NAD's Dec. 12, 2021, clinic held at the divison's headquarters in Columbia, Maryland. Photo/screenshot by Pieter Damsteegt

On Dec. 12, 2021, the sun beamed down on a crisp afternoon as a stream of personal vehicles pulled into the North American Division headquarters’ parking lot. Once parked, people of all ages were welcomed and directed inside to the second COVID-19 vaccine clinic held this fall at the headquarters. The clinic, hosted by the NAD Public Affairs and Religious Liberty department in partnership with Howard County General Hospital, made use of the Charles E. Bradford Conference Center on the first floor of the building. For some, this was a return for a second shot after getting their first vaccination on Nov. 21. For others, this was either a booster or first time vaccination.

“On behalf of the Public Affairs and Religious Liberty department, a heartfelt thank you to our NAD family for making the vaccination clinics and produce giveaway a tremendous success,” said organizer Melissa Reid, a PARL associate director.

An elderly patient gets ready to receive a COVID-19 vaccination at the North American Division headquarters, where the NAD hosted a clinic in partnership with Howard County General Hospital, Johns Hopkins Health System COVID-19 Mobile Vaccine Team. Photo/screenshot by Pieter Damsteegt

“Community events such as this one are key to helping us vaccinate as many people as possible, allowing us to take one more step towards ending the pandemic,” said Ben Bigelow, director of the COVID-19 Mobile Vaccine Team, Johns Hopkins Health System. “This event was a tremendous success and we are grateful to NAD for allowing us to use their building.”

During the first clinic a total of 255 community members received vaccinations (six first and second doses for adults; 131 third/booster doses; and 118 pediatric doses). In the first half-hour of the event, 75 people were served. We were also able to distribute a pallet of yams, Irish potatoes, squash, onions, and bananas to 100 families in under 90 minutes.

The number of people seen during the second clinic on Dec. 12 grew to a total of 415 (17 first and second adult doses; 228 third/booster dose; and 170 pediatric doses). Bags of produce were again distributed to 100 families.

As members of the community left the NAD, many expressed their thanks, pleased with the smooth and organized vaccination process. One patient, who declined to share his name, said he had been hospitalized in January 2021 with COVID-19 and was now getting boosted. “This is a lovely building and a really good location,” he shared. “I’m glad I found out the clinic was happening here. It means a lot that a church organization would open their doors for the community.”

Two personnel from the Johns Hopkins Health System in Howard County, Maryland, direct visitors to the NAD COVID-19 vaccination clinic on where to go. Photo by Brian Patrick Tagalog

Felicia Ward, another area resident agreed, saying, “I live here in Columbia so I came here because it was convenient for us. And it was easy for us to get an appointment.”

Ward, who came with another family member, added, “I feel it's important for us to get the vaccine to help slow this down and get back to really what life is normally about.”

Mandy Leblanc, from Highland, brought her two children, ages 7 and 9, for their vaccination. “I think the clinic was great. It was quick. It was easy. It was good. The kids were a little a little scared, but it's important to help keep them safe and healthy and doing the things that they love.”

Leblanc plans to follow up next month with the second shot. “I think it's great to be able to partner with the community and help build that relationship. Will see you guys [for] the next one,” she finished.

In addition to Howard County hospital workers and volunteers, NAD staff members also participated, including assistance with set up and greeting visitors.

“We give special thanks to our incredible NAD administration, facility services team, custodial staff, security team, volunteer greeters and local church members who facilitated the produce giveaway,” said Reid. “We even had help by some of our friendly staff kids! We are especially grateful to our ministry partners, specifically Adventist Community Services, Publishing Ministries, and Stewardship, for providing disposable bags, sharing literature, and children’s activity pages.

This is not the first time the NAD has held a health clinic at its headquarters. The division has opened its doors to host health and wellness screenings, and has offered a place for people to receive flu shots. And with the help of volunteers, they’ve also distributed food to area residents at least twice.

“Volunteers responded positively, it really turned into friendship evangelism,” Reid shared about one of the previous produce giveaway events. “God showed us that He doesn’t always work in the same way, He just wants us to be consistent when it comes to our willingness to supply the needs of others.”

“Thank you again for your partnership in ministry and for helping us reflect Christ’s message of hope and wholeness to our Howard County neighbors,” added Reid, regarding health partners and volunteers, as she looks forward to the next vaccination clinic on January 9, 2022.

“We are excited to be returning for a third clinic at the NAD,” Bigelow said. “We have also partnered with individual Adventist churches in the area and we know that the partnerships we build currently will serve us after the pandemic as we continue to promote healthy practices in the community.”

Source

Adventist World magazine with 1.5 million circulation closes, merges with Adventist Review

By Michael Gryboski, Editor

Thursday, July 03, 2025

The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Church is located in Silver Spring, Maryland. | Wikimedia Commons/Eldridge roy2017 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:General_Conference.jpg

Adventist World, a magazine of the Seventh-day Adventist Church with a circulation of around 1.5 million, has ceased publication, with its final edition released in June.

Merle Poirier, a former Adventist World staff member and current operations manager for Adventist Review, announced the closing of the 20-year-old publication in last month’s edition.

“You hold in your hand the last issue of Adventist World,” she wrote. “Just let that sink in a bit. Even though I’ve known this day was coming, it’s still difficult for me to write, let alone read.”

The Adventist Review, an old denominational publication that was restricted to North America, will take on the role that Adventist World had in distributing stories to the denomination worldwide.

“[W]hen one is a person of faith and a follower of God, while times might be disheartening, we can never remain there long, because we know who is in charge,” wrote Poirier.

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Tell Wilson & Diop: They Are Of Their Father The Devil. Greedy & Backsli...

 

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P.S.

Ganoune Diop, Director of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty; Ted Wilson, President of General Conference of Seventh Day Adventists; Ban Ki Moon, Secretary-General of the U.N.; Joseph Verner Reed, Jr, U S. Ambassador; John Graz, ex-Director of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty.

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Ganoune Diop: “I Never Said I Don’t Preach the Three Angels' Message—Tha...

Ganoune Diop: “I Never Said I Don’t Preach the Three Angels' Message—That Would Be Nonsense”

Advent Messenger

Jul 3, 2025

While walking down the hallway at the America’s Center Convention Complex—the site of the 62nd General Conference Session—I saw Ganoune Diop approaching. Knowing how busy church leaders are during these sessions, I asked if he had time to answer just one question. He stopped to look at me, and I asked him directly, “Why don’t you preach the Three Angels’ Messages? Why do you only preach Jesus?” As he began to respond, I asked if I could record his answer, and he consented. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to record my question in the video—only his response. 

In the video, Diop begins with a public-relations-style answer about all the different approaches to sharing the Seventh-day Adventist. But when he got to the part where he was about to accuse others of fabricating things about him, I politely interrupted him by saying it was in a video from Africa where he said those things in his own words. That’s when he cut me off and declared, “Yes, but I never said I don’t preach the Three Angels’ Message—that would be nonsense.” 

Ganoune Diop then stated that he does preach Jesus, insisting that Christ should be the “center of attraction,” as Ellen White affirms. He claims that this was the true intent behind his statements. But then he pivoted, expressing concern that some people reduce Adventism to simply pointing out that other religions are part of the beast power—something he openly opposes. 

That’s a troubling stance because it isn’t some fringe group within Adventism pushing that message—it’s God Himself who, through the Three Angels’ Messages, commands the world to avoid the beast, the image, and the mark. To reject that part of our mission is to reject God’s divine warning. 

So here’s the video from Africa. In his words, Ganoune Diop clearly states that he only preaches Jesus, not the Three Angels’ Message. Now, after I asked him for clarification on this, as we are told to hold our leaders accountable, he claims he never said such a thing and insists that believing otherwise is “nonsense.” You be the judge. 

• Diop: “I Don’t Preach the Three Angels’ Me... 

What’s truly “nonsense” is the idea that some are sidestepping the Three Angels’ Messages in their public witness. The problem isn’t with preaching Jesus. The problem is the omission of the full, distinct, urgent warning given in Revelation 14. You cannot preach the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ while dodging the call to come out of Babylon, the exposure of the beast, and the danger of receiving the mark. 

“The present truth, the special message given to our world, even the third angel’s message, comprehends a vast field, containing heavenly treasures. No one can be excusable who says, I will no longer have anything to do with these special messages; I will preach Christ. No one can preach Christ, and present the truth as it is in Jesus, unless he presents the truths that are to come before the people at the present time, when such important developments are taking place” (Manuscript 33, 1897).

#GCSession 2025 - St. Louis - Thursday Evening

U.S. bishops on immigration

6/17/25




United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

WASHINGTON — “As your shepherds, your fear echoes in our hearts and we make your pain our own. Count on the commitment of all of us to stand with you in this challenging hour,” said Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, addressing the surge in immigration enforcement actions.

He offered a reflection on behalf of the bishops of the U.S. and acknowledged that while law enforcement actions to preserve order and ensure community security are necessary for the common good, we cannot turn a deaf ear to the anxiety and fear in communities.

Archbishop Broglio’s reflection follows:

Just before the opening of the special assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, it seems appropriate to give voice to a profound concern in the hearts of the Shepherds of the Church in our Country.

When he spoke to the young people of Chicago this past weekend, Pope Leo XIV reminded us that at the heart of the Christian faith is an invitation to share in the communion of life and love of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the first community and based completely on love. The Holy Father also challenged us to be a sign of hope by making the world a better place.


Considering Pope Leo’s message, no one can turn a deaf ear to the palpable cries of anxiety and fear heard in communities throughout the country in the wake of a surge in immigration enforcement actions.

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