Well, it's been a hell of a ride, laying rubber all over the road for the past decade. But it's time to call it a day and park the Rogue in the garage. Effective today, I am shutting down my blog to focus my attention on other endeavours. My thanks to the more than 2.7 million people who regularly joined me on these sojourns through news stories over the years that dealt with the places with issues of religion and faith intersecting with public affairs. May God bless you with a continuing desire to learn about and help disseminate the issues of faith throughout the public square. Happy trails in your continuing travels! Fr. Tim Moyle, p.p. Diocese of Pembroke
Reflections from the pastoral ministry of an Evangelical Catholic Priest.
That is not defining secularism. He is defining non-religious and I think he is confusing the two on purpose. Whenever I read articles like this from people who belittle people who are non-religious I only think that they want to impose religion on everyone. After all, that was certainly the case pre-Enlightenment. If I were to publicly announce non-belief according to Aquinas, the doctor of the Church whose teachings form the basis of Catholic theology, I should be put to death as a heretic. http://www.leaderu.com/ftissues/ft9512/articles/novak.html
ReplyDeleteI worry there is nothing unbiased in Fr. Kirby's willful obfuscation.
Michael: For the same reason, I added the tagline to the heading (at least according...) Secularism in and of itself is indeed a neutral thing which allows for the expressions of faith and non-faith. When it is used though to extinguish the voices of faith, it becomes something that becomes a parody of itself. In many ways, it becomes as intolerant and biased as the l'ancienne regimes which would have punished you for your views. To use religious lexicon, it becomes a heresy which distorts the truth from which it springs.
DeleteFr. Tim
But voices of faith are not being extinguished, only the tradition that religion be allowed in public schools, public buildings and public ceremonies. I have a brother-in-law who is Mormon and is adamant that the shootings in public schools are a result of prayer being removed from the classroom. I asked him if he would be okay with the teacher leading the class in the decade of the rosary each morning. He was aghast. Then I asked how do you think Jews, Muslims, Hindus and non-believers feel when they are required to accept their government requiring them to take part in a religious observance that is in conflict with their beliefs.
DeleteSecularism is only intolerant of imposing religious practice and unlike religious intolerance in the past the punishment is not capital. And heresy is not a distortion of the truth, it is a rejection of the current teaching. If it wasn't for heresy The Catholic Churches would still be teaching and active as it did during the time of Aquinas.
Michael: I don't see why you're arguing with me on this point. I thought my comment made it clear that I am agreeing with you. BUT... you have to admit that it is possible to misapply a secularist ethic to the detriment of religion just as it's possible to misapply religious belief to the detriment of civil society. It's the abuse or misuse of each that needs to be avoided, not their proper use in relation to each other.
DeleteCan we agree on this at least?
Fr. Tim
Yes we can Fr. Tim. Sorry for not reading you properly.
DeleteI hope I'm not belabouring this topic but the current candidate for AG in the US commented this about Justice Sotameyer during her vetting process
Delete"If you have secularization in the world and don’t believe in a higher being, maybe you don’t believe there is any truth.” He thought she was non-religious but she is Catholic. It's not comforting having a person in that position who disparages "secularization"
Michael: No. You're not belabouring the topic. There is a school of thought that states without a 'higher being', there can be no absolutes... ergo everything including truth is relative. Sessions seems to be such a person. And while we might quibble about this or that element of his belief, I know that we are of one mind in saying that he is not the greatest candidate for AG that we could think of. He comes off like a southern Baptist, fundamentalist who sees the entire world in stark black and white (or perhaps better said for him white and black - better not put the cart before the horse!) whereas I believe we both recognize that there are an awful lots of shades of grey between those two extremes. It is not going to be a happy time south of the border I'm afraid for the next few years.
DeleteFr. Tim