A new study by Catholic market research company Vinea Research found that belief in the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist is greater than a 2019 Pew Research study previously estimated.  Pew Research had found that 69 percent of U.S. Catholics personally believe that “the bread and wine used in Communion ‘are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.’” By contrast, only 31 percent of Catholics said that they believe that “the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus.” These statistics alarmed many practicing Catholics — and for good reason. The Catholic Church calls the Eucharist the “source and summit of the Christian life,” which contains “the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself.” The results of the Pew Research study indicated that most Catholics didn’t personally believe the central tenet of their professed faith.  But the Pew Research study had a critical flaw. As Vinea Research explains: “‘Actually become,’ is not language that the Catholic Church uses in teaching on transubstantiation.” Instead, the Catechism articulates that “the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ … is truly, really, and substantially contained.” Catholics commonly use the phrases “true presence” or “real presence” to capture the mystery of the Eucharist. (RELATED: In Defense of the Sacred Heart) Picking up on this small, but vital, difference in wording, Vinea Research framed its study by asking, “How would the results differ if better Catholic terminology were used?” Vinea organized a study with a sample of 2,259 self-identified Catholics, who were divided into two groups. One group was surveyed with the same wording as Pew Research, while the other group was surveyed with language that more closely matches the Church’s language for Eucharistic theology. Vinea asked respondents to select from the following options:  Which of the following best describes Catholic teaching about the bread and wine used for Communion?  Jesus Christ is truly present in the bread and wine of the Eucharist Bread and wine are symbols of Jesus, but Jesus is not truly present Not sure Regardless of the official teaching of the Catholic Church, what do you personally believe about the bread and wine used for Communion?  Jesus Christ is truly present in the bread and wine of the Eucharist Bread and wine are symbols of Jesus, but Jesus is not truly present Where the 2019 Pew Research survey found that about one in three Catholics agree with the Church’s teaching on the Eucharist, Vinea Research measured 41 percent agreement when respondents were surveyed with the wording from the Pew study.  But when people were polled using Vinea’s survey language, 69 percent of Catholics said that they agree with the Church’s teaching on the Eucharist. The survey also found that over 80 percent of Catholics who attend Mass once a week believe in the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist, compared to about 50 percent of Catholics who seldom attend.  Hans Plate, the founder and president of Vinea Research, said. “We cannot directly compare the results of the two studies on a research level as sampling methodologies differ … But I think it is very fair to draw the conclusion that Pew greatly underestimated the number of Catholics who actually believe in the True Presence.”  “What this tells me,” he stated, “is that those who believe [the Eucharist] is a symbol are not rejecting Church teaching … They are, rather, misinformed or poorly catechized.”  Still, statistical surveys are poorly suited to the nuanced realities of faith and mystery — as Vinea Research well knows: “Our view is that a simple two-option survey question is suboptimal as an approach to assessing belief in the Real Presence. It can provide a snapshot, but a very imperfect one.” Though the Pew Research results from 2019 likely failed to represent the true landscape of Eucharistic belief among American Catholics, it spurred a renewed focus on Eucharistic theology at parishes across the nation. And it’s quite possible that this focus led to an increased awareness and acceptance of the Church’s teaching.  Nevertheless, the discrepancy between the 2019 Pew Research and 2024 Vinea Research results is a testament to the gulf between the Catholic Church and secular society. Catholics would be naive to expect secular pollsters or journalists to understand and accurately capture the nuances of the faith. Pew Research no doubt thought that the phrase “actually becomes” captured the Catholic teaching on Christ and the Eucharist. But 2,000 years of teaching and tradition result in a rich theology that can’t really be reduced to social science polling. (RELATED: The American Spectator’s Paul Kengor Analyzes Karl Marx on Jordan Peterson’s Podcast) Contrasting the artist with the modern scientist, G.K. Chesterton once wrote: “The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits.”  When it comes to the Eucharist, may we all be poets. Mary Frances Myler is a contributing editor at The American Spectator. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2022.  READ MORE by Mary Frances Myler:  Sen. Vance, Rep. Cloud Introduce Legislation to Dismantle DEI Chasing Gender Euphoria Bishops Sue Biden’s EEOC for Mandating Employers ‘Accommodate Employee Abortions’ The post More Catholics Believe in the Eucharist than Previously Thought appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

The news of the four Israeli hostages rescued last week in Gaza resurrected latent hopes across Israel amid weeks of increased attacks by Hezbollah along the northern border and a rising Israel Defense Force (IDF) death toll in Gaza. The testimonies of the rescued hostages were a sobering reminder of the war’s objectives. They should also serve as a reality check to delusional academic communities and world leaders who are bent on vilifying Israel, and, in absurd cases, have thrown in their support behind Hamas. On Saturday afternoon, June 8, special forces in the IDF, Internal Security Service (ISA), and the “Yamam” National Counter-Terrorism Police Unit successfully rescued Noa Argamani (26), Almog Meir Jan (22), Andrey Kozlov (27), and Shlomi Zvi (41), who were kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7. The remarkable mission followed weeks of preparation and precise intelligence gathering by the ISA’s Hostage Task Force. The hostages were kept in two separate locations in the central Gazan town of Nuseirat, and the rescue operations were carried out simultaneously for fear that, once the mission was underway, the hostages would be murdered. Hamas officials called the operation a “complex war crime.” They alleged that the IDF used the U.S. humanitarian pier to stage their entry into Nuseirat through aid trucks and massacred civilians before finding the hostages. According to one Gazan account, “A truck arrived carrying humanitarian aid and clothing, and suddenly 10 [IDF] soldiers got out and shot at me […] The artillery shelling started, and I saw dozens of citizens on the ground, including people with their heads cut off. The truck came from the American port that the occupation established in the Gaza Sea.” The Hamas Ministry of Health, known for feeding biased war statistics and casualty numbers to major international media networks, reported that 274 Gazan civilians were killed and 700 injured. Al-Jazeera, which Israel has recently blocked from the country for false reporting and collaboration with Hamas, called the operation “a complete bloodbath.” One Hamas spokesman announced: “We killed a number of Israeli prisoners in response to what happened today” while Hezbollah expanded its missile reach into northern Israel because the “IDF violated the rules of confrontation” in Nuseirat. On the other hand, the reports and videos released by the IDF tell a different chain of events. Uniformed special forces units covertly entered Nuseirat under aerial and artillery support, breached the buildings where the hostages were kept, and eliminated the armed guards who attempted to murder the hostages once the purpose of their mission became clear. With the hostages secured, the units departed on foot to awaiting vehicles while under heavy machine-gun and rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) fire from Hamas militants in the nearby “busy marketplace” and hiding within alleyways. One vehicle broke down and reserve ground units and helicopters were called in to support the rescue. Hamas attempted to down the helicopters by firing several surface-to-air missiles. In less than an hour, the hostages and rescuers were in helicopters on their way out of Gaza. The commander of the “Yamam” Counter-Terrorism Police Unit, Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora (36), was severely injured during the evacuation and later succumbed to his wounds. Contradictory reports from Arab and Israeli sources are to be expected, but the details unveil a handful of absurdities. Calling a civilian rescue mission “illegal” and accusing Israel of exploiting the mission to “massacre” Gazan civilians — alleged by many governing officials — shows just how far the European Union, United Nations, and the international public have been swayed by Hamas propaganda. For example, Ben Saul, a law professor and UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism, stated on X that Israel’s rescue mission “may have been illegally launched in anticipation that civilian casualties would be excessive.” Saul went on to say that Israel engaged in the “war crime of perfidy—disguising some forces as protected civilians.” Such assessments intentionally overlook the perfidious nature of Hamas militants who dress in civilian clothes and launch attacks from civilian centers so that Israeli counterattacks can be blamed for the collateral damage, as was the case in Nuseirat. According to IDF reports, Hamas militants “fired indiscriminately” during the rescue evacuation resulting in civilian casualties. Like many Palestinian towns, Nuseirat retains its 1967 designation as a Palestinian “refugee camp” even after years of municipal development. In her testimony, the hostage Noa Argamani described being held captive in the home of a “wealthy family” (she was lucky). The other three hostages were kept in a mid-rise apartment building at the home of Abdullah al-Jamal, a spokesman for the Hamas Ministry of Labor and journalist for the US-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit publication Palestinian Chronicle. As stated above, the rescue units came under heavy fire from Hamas combatants in the nearby “busy marketplace.” Wealthy families, journalists for U.S. nonprofit organizations, and bustling marketplaces don’t exactly match the image most conjure up when thinking of a “refugee camp.” These details also contradict recent media reports of a blockaded Gazan population on the brink of famine and starvation. Most importantly, the news of rescued hostages should bring the purpose of the war back into focus. Many across university campuses and in governing positions seem to have forgotten how the war started after Oct. 7, the key objectives, and who are the real good guys and bad guys. The rescue mission in Nuseirat was a far cry from a premeditated massacre, as many claim, and was in fact motivated by the fundamental Judeo-Christian principle and the American value of “No one left behind.” When Dinah, the daughter of the Patriarch Jacob, was raped and abducted by the Shechemites as recorded in Genesis 34, Jacob’s sons mobilized, outsmarted their enemy, and rescued their kin. One can only hope that Jacob’s descendants will continue the mission until all of Israel’s raped and abducted children are returned home. READ MORE: The Airlift That Saved Israel The post Rescued Hostages are a Sobering Reminder of Israel’s Fight in Gaza appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

When Trump won, the Far Left flipped. If he wins again, they’ll be even worse. Over the last several years, America has seen social demonstrations increase in frequency and fervency across a swath of leftist causes. If Trump wins in November, these will grow higher still. You can thank Joe Biden — not for losing, but for giving into the Far Left’s demands and raising their expectations. Black Lives Matter was not a new organization in 2020, but it came into its own following George Floyd’s death. A summer of protest swept across America and the Far Left’s cry of “Defund the Police” reverberated. It was the crescendo of a protest cacophony that had erupted as soon as Donald Trump had been sworn in as president. Even elected Democrats got into the act; Rep. Maxine Waters said, “Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up. And if you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.” Before long, a new Democrat majority took the effort into Congress. However, the Far Left never quit the streets. Even after Biden took office, they have refused to come inside. Being a minuscule minority, the democratic process holds little allure for them — and even less results. A case in point is Green Party standard-bearer Jill Stein, who currently registers 1.3 percent in RealClearPolitics’ average of national presidential polling. Ballots reflect their numbers, but the streets magnify them, as they did when thousands marched last September in New York. Or delayed a 2023 US Open semifinal match. Or disrupted congressional baseball games played for charity. The Far Left’s “justice” causes have only multiplied, and, with them, their demonstrations. Addicted to social demonstrations, the Far Left are like all addicts: the more of a drug they get, the more they want. So, despite Joe Biden having brought the Far Left to overdose levels, they want more. On the environment, he has waged a war against fossil fuels, giving America higher prices, reduced energy security, and $250 billion in lost output. He has adopted unrealistically stringent requirements for electric vehicle sales — even though Americans refuse to buy them, despite steep tax incentives to do so. His open-border policy was tailored to the Far Left’s sanctuary cities and Abolish ICE mindset. As Israel continues pursuing an embedded Hamas, at the Far Left’s insistence, Biden’s administration has increasingly turned away from a staunch ally in a time of need. The administration’s foreign policy pursued the Far Left’s goals from its beginning. Starting with its ignominious withdrawal from Afghanistan, it inexplicably pursued rapprochement with Iran, the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism — including Hamas and the Houthi movement, which now regularly attacks Western shipping. At the Far Left’s behest, the administration has promoted and tolerated DEI initiatives within its own ranks, even as these are discredited and in retreat elsewhere. As with all appeasement policies, the target is never appeased. Demands only grow — hence the Far Left’s environmental and Gaza protests are aimed at the Biden administration. It is these elevated demands that, should he win, Trump — and America — will encounter. If Biden is ushered out, don’t expect the Far Left and their demands to go with him. Not only will they stay, but their demands will be heightened from four years of Biden’s coddling. No one pulls the Far Left’s triggers like Trump. And Biden has raised their baseline for outrage. Simply returning to sanity — not being Biden — will set off the Far Left. Supporting our ally Israel in its fight against terrorism will be deemed “genocide.” Developing our natural energy resources will be labeled an attack on “environmental justice.” Dismantling DEI initiatives will be called an attack on “social justice.” Securing the border will be denounced as “racist” — ditto, returning those here illegally. The list of transgressions will be endless, not that the Far Left will need one. Just being Trump will be enough. Should Trump increase his minority support, as he now appears to be doing, this will only set them off all the more to recast Trump into what they proclaim him to be. Trump is already leading in this race: in RealClearPolitics’ average of national two-way polling, by more in five-way polling, and by most of all in battleground polling. In June of 2020, Trump was trailing by roughly double digits; at one point in June of 2016, Trump trailed by roughly 7 percentage points. Should Trump win in November, it will not catch the Far Left by surprise like it did eight years ago. They are already mobilized. Their demands, thanks to Biden, are at their highest levels ever. The Far Left’s depths will match the heightened expectations Biden has raised. Wherever that disappointment takes them — and it will certainly start in the streets — America’s self-styled elite will support and cover for them. America should begin bracing itself now for the Far Left’s PTSD: post-Trump social disruption. J.T. Young was a professional staffer in the House and Senate from 1987-2000, served in the Department of Treasury and Office of Management and Budget from 2001-2004, and was director of government relations for a Fortune 20 company from 2004-2023. READ MORE: The 2024 Battleground Grows and Tilts Toward Trump The post If Trump Wins, the Far Left’s PTSD (Post-Trump Social Disruption) Is Coming appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

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