Catholic Voice

 One of the big issues raised in the debate over whether or not Ireland should have signed on to the Lisbon Treaty concerned neutrality, particularly military neutrality.  This article is not written to challenge Ireland’s military policy which certainly has its merits.  It seems, however, that neutrality as an Irish value in and of itself has been raised to the status of an ideal to be imposed in other areas of public policy, especially those pertaining to religion and morality.  The personal and social consequences of this development in Irish culture can only be described as devastating.

 

One might legitimately ask what is religious neutrality, what is moral neutrality, and how are they being imposed as part of an ideology otherwise known as secular humanism?

 

Religious neutrality is the reduction of all religions to an equal social status under the banner of tolerance.  This ideal is imposed primarily by means of hijacking religious institutions such as schools and hospitals and forcing them to adhere to governmental standards or guidelines based upon secular humanist principles.  Valuing all religions the same will seemingly result in the ideal that all will get along and none will be offended—after all religion, especially the Catholic Church, is the problem that needs to be corrected, the great oppressor, the cause of wars and all that…right?

 

Moral neutrality reduces the criteria of moral truth from the natural law to the relative and subjective whims of individuals or groups.  Accordingly, we have neither an obligation nor a right to advise others that some actions are actually good or evil.  Right and wrong are considered matters of personal opinion rather than objective truths—much less Divine imperatives.  Personal freedom, which is in fact confused with licence, is the mantra of the proponents of moral neutrality who again often occupy important positions in both ecclesial and secular institutions.  It is regrettable that even we clergy and religious too often fail to live, teach, and preach boldly moral truths without compromise because someone might be offended or worse, even consider us judgemental!

 

Consider, for example, the dilemma of teachers in Catholic schools.  Many feel caught in the middle between their obligation to form disciples of Jesus and the expectation that they adhere to secular education standards.  For that reason, they no longer teach and arouse Catholic faith.  Ask them, and they will be first to tell you that they are not allowed to lest they offend others and fail to instil tolerance in their pupils.  Hence, our Catholic faith—the fullness of God’s revelation to humanity—is watered down and thrown in with all other world religions.  Together they are taught as just another academic subject to test out of.  If you listen intently, you can hear the shouts:  Crucify Him!  Crucify Him!

 

The death cry is even louder and fiercer on the healthcare front as abortifacient practices are commonplace even in institutions claiming to be Catholic.  The morning after pill, which prevents a fertilised ovum (otherwise called a baby) from implanting itself in her mother’s womb, is prescribed and dispensed by doctors under the banner of contraception (as if this were itself morally permissible).  Other abortifacient, anti-life practices are also performed as contraceptive practices.  The medical industry may capriciously alter the conventional definition of words without giving notice to unsuspecting patients, but the result is the same:  dead babies.  No amount of verbal engineering and no contrary opinion can ever make killing less evil.

 

Yet we have only scratched the surface.  There is also discrimination against pre-born, disabled babies who are at risk of being sent off to England for an untimely death at hands of an abortionist.  Mercy killing of the aged and infirm is likewise being proposed if not imposed by healthcare professionals under the guise of compassion. 

 

Is this what pro life Ireland means?

 

Christ’s faithful, especially parents and patients, need to be increasingly proactive to ensure that the quality of education and healthcare given meets Catholic standards in terms of faith and morals.  This is also true in other areas of Catholic social services which have adopted non-directive counselling practices.  Schools, hospitals, and other institutions are being pressured, even required to render unto Caesar but not unto God. 

 

Admittedly, sometimes watered down catechesis and a host of immoral practices are not only being imposed upon people but also sought after by them.  But this only further highlights the point that something has gone seriously wrong long before the moment serious choices have to be made.  Neutrality has been imposed and inculcated into the very mind and heart of a culture that once produced so many Saints and scholars.  These were illustrious men and women who stood for something, for someone, for Jesus Christ.  They did not have a neutral bone in their bodies.  They believed in the Lordship of Jesus, their faith impacted the way they lived, and they never shrank from proposing the Catholic faith and morals in a world desperately in need of direction.

 

Of course, ideas have personal and social consequences when ideological dreams and visions give way to reality.  In terms of religious and moral neutrality, the effects have been quite devastating in Irish culture.

 

In reality, religious and moral neutrality leads first to scepticism (religious and moral truth cannot be known) and ultimately to secularism (a warped reality without reference to God as creator and destiny).  Devoid of an accurate moral compass, one is left to wander aimlessly, guided by only his base, animal instincts.  Ironically, by cutting himself off from God, man cuts himself off from his own humanity.  The fruit of this is meaninglessness because one can no longer answer the vital human questions of who am I, how did I get here, and where am I going when I die.  No wonder we numb ourselves with sex, drugs and rock and roll, for tomorrow we die and that is all you get.  No wonder crime and suicide rates have soared.  Meanwhile, religious survivors are written off as conservatives gone mad, trampled upon by the media, and certainly anything but tolerated—the only people it is acceptable to offend.

 

Perhaps the problem of neutrality is best summed up in a poem Pastor Martin Neimöller wrote as a critique against German intellectuals in the wake of the Third Reich:  First they came after the communists.  I was not a communist, so I remained silent.  Then they came after the socialists.  I was not a socialist, so I remained silent.  Then they came after the trade-unionists.  I was not a trade-unionist, so I remained silent.  Then they came after the Jews.  I was not a Jew, so I remained silent.  Then they came after the Catholics.  I was a protestant, so I remained silent.  Then they came after me, and there was no one left to speak up.

 

As Catholics we must stop acting like Peter did on Good Friday and to start acting as Peter on Pentecost!

 

 

This feature is categorised under Life Matters