The Catechism of the Catholic Church states in paragraph 1931: Respect for the human person proceeds by way of respect for the principle that "everyone should look upon his neighbor (without any exception) as 'another self,' above all bearing in mind his life and the means necessary for living it with dignity."37 No legislation could by itself do away with the fears, prejudices, and attitudes of pride and selfishness which obstruct the establishment of truly fraternal societies. Such behavior will cease only through the charity that finds in every man a "neighbor," a brother.
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Current events have been centered around Confederate Statues in the United States. Sides are once again drawn. On the one are those people who see these monuments as honoring a system of government that enslaved and exploited people based on their skin color. On the other is a weird mixture of people; some state removing these statues is trying to erase history, others claim the statues are there to honor the heroism of those men and women who died trying the defend the Confederacy of the United States and others are unabashedly members of the Klu Klux Klan or other White Supremacy Groups.
I have read tons of posts online about this current fight. I have read posts from friends of mine who are of African descent, from friends who have deep Southern and Confederate roots, who are Catholics on the Left and Catholics on the Right. I have listened to the President of the United States stumble big time when he had a chance to totally reject the political ambitions of people like David Duke because he could not seem to properly express the sentiment that White Supremacy AND the thugs showing up in black shirts with ax handles claiming to be members of AntiFa are demonstrating anti-American ideals. Once again we have been unable to be reasonable about the whole issue. Once again we cannot seem to ask a question like this:
"Can we remove objects glorifying people who committed treason while preserving an important part of our history? Can we do it so people do not forget that not so long ago we thought it was perfectly okay to buy and sell people who have skin a different color than our own?".
I do not understand why it is so difficult to teach the truth of history, why we have to pick a side and make one group bad and another good. The reality of the slave trade out of Africa is ugly and dark and messy - let's tell the story. Let's tell the truth. Let's talk about African Tribal leaders selling members of tribes they had conquered to the Dutch and the Portuguese. Let's talk about how people in power - White, Black, Catholic, Protestant - misused their power and hurt people. Why do we shy away from this? Why can't we, in the words of my late Texan born father, tell the truth and shame the devil? No side is clean - no race, no religion, no tribe - when it comes to the Slave Trade. Certainly the United States cannot pretend it never happened and certainly it is not unreasonable to question whether it is appropriate that statues erected to honor men who lead an armed revolt against the government in order to preserve a system of slavery should be allowed to remain in the public square?
I think this is difficult to talk about and discuss for one reason:
I think it is because we cannot explain slavery in this country unless we talk about God.
We can talk about wars and economics and the imposition of power but as we drill down deeper what cannot be ignored that slavery is a sin...and sin does not exist in the absence of God.
Slavery exists because of sin. Man is cruel to others, to animals and to himself because of sin. If there was no sin, if Adam had refused his wife's request and stood firm for God we would not be battling today over pieces of granite. We would not be calling each other horrific names. We would not be begging the people of Planned Parenthood to help young girls brought into their abortion mill by their 'boyfriend' rather than just kill the baby and return the child to one of the many forms of slavery that exist today.
Those people who regularly demand to know what is wrong with the opposition miss the point. Much of what divides us today is a result of our willingness to let concupiscence rule our lives. We refuse to acknowledge there is a God and it is not us. We refuse to worship God in the manner He requests of us, demanding our freedom to live and love and worship as we please. We refuse to even believe there is a God.
And we wonder why people run cars into crowds over a statue.
Some of you think this is a simplistic argument. You point to all the piles of research done by sociologists and psychologist to prove that the reason we are at each other's throats is the result of a much deeper issue than a refusal to love God.
Others will state I am delusional because there is not God to worship and love.
What I know today is that Right and Wrong would not be so difficult to determine if we used our eyes in the manner the Church teaches us: we need to see our neighbor as an 'other self'. We need to acknowledge that every human being, from the moment of its conception to its natural death, is worthy of dignity and respect simply by virtue of BEING a human.
When I take the time to look at you, really look at you, in order to see myself I won't need to attack you on social media or call you names because you have a different idea from my own. I am able to actually stop, think, consider and respond. I can participate in a dialogue. I can learn. I can grow.
I take the time to see you as an 'other self' because God teaches me, through His Church, to do just that ....without Him I can't seem to make the right decision. Quite frankly, I have yet to meet anyone who can...though I have met a lot of people who THINK they are functioning quite well without God.
They are wrong.
2 comments:
Don’t do it. Step away from the precipice. It’s a long way down from the cliffs of reason. I love hear stories that newly minted privileged-checked, guilt obsessed ex-oppressors tell. Its like the enthusiasm of ex-smokers, or um, other ex-affiliated denizens who can’t wait to share the unending magnificent experience of ex-ness. Perhaps you can relate.
I was labeled a racist in the 2008 general election. Kafakatrapped, gasping for air, trying to figure out why in the world I was placed in a position where I had to prove a negative. I soon discovered that people love to use assertions in place of facts, and prefer hit-and run guerilla tactics to a reasoned discussion. The only real problem I had was that the mental acuity of those harassing me was far below what I assumed it was. Once I discovered they were morons and imbeciles, I steered clear. Its like arguing with a fanatic, you won’t get anywhere, all the arguments are circular, nothing new is learned. If am to be patronized and shamed into compliance, it should be at least by someone who can connect the dots. Otherwise, the experience is like being barked at by a small agitated dog. You spend half your time finding a quiet place, and the other half not stepping in it on the way out.
These progressive geniuses are to blame, in my opinion. In their blind hatred of our current Prez, they have elevated the other morons who used to spend their time drinking in a box canyon, reminiscing about life on their homeworld, where all the water fountains are properly labeled, and everyone KNOWS their place. But no, they had to chase them out of their holes, and in doing so conferred more power to them then they actually possessed. Talk about the absolute treason of reason.
I have been around the block, and I have been places where they still buy and sell human beings, where life has little value, where little-d dignity is in short supply. But big-D Dignity, that image and likeness of God is always present, if you don’t wall yourself off from it. The sociologists and medical ethicists want the D-word removed from the lexicon, and replaced with “autonomy.” I really despise the soft sciences. Psychology, sociology. They don’t generally report their uncertainties, their research is not very reproducible, and they suffer from higher rates of paper retractions. They can’t even get the sign right most of the time. Meanwhile the hard science people are sweating bullets reporting uncertainties, getting the sign right, and making sure the research is reproducible. But people like their control, don’t they? When a leading sociologist come out and makes claims about “implicit bias” or “critical race theory,” there is now a “ground breaking paper” that attorneys, government officials and company HR representatives can use to “fix the damn problem.” None of this addresses our broken relationship with God. Until it does, you will see this same ole’ circus come around and around, nothing changing, even down to the guy sweeping up the elephant crap at the end of the parade.
I think both of us know that the ugliness of today's world stems from that first break between God and Man. We were meant to be in union with The Creator. We were not meant to be in competition with The Creator. Sometimes it is difficult to see the world as anything other than one giant response to the Sin of Adam.
O Happy Fault indeed.
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