Yesterday afternoon, while I was finishing up a bottle of wine and waiting for the lasagna to bake, I did some channel surfing. I found a channel called EWTN with an upcoming news show from a Catholic perspective; that sounded better than the secular news shows. Although I never watch that channel, I am familiar with it. I know, for example, that a popular show was canceled when the priest was discovered to be living a secret life of pleasure and luxury. Another show was canceled when the host blamed boys for seducing priests when they are vulnerable. Normally, I follow Terence\u2019s dictum that \u201cnothing human is alien to me\u201d, but that comment is alien to me.<\/p>\n
The news show began with a discussion of the political situation in Egypt; an Egyptian Christian was the guest. Of course, the first topic was the situation of Christians in Egypt, which apparently is precarious. It would have been a good opportunity to discuss how the Muslims and Copts had got along for the past 1500 years, but that was not mentioned. However, the show took an interesting turn, at least for me, although the two interlocutors were oblivious. They mentioned a few Muslim radicals who had undergone an education in the West. They were genuinely surprised how a liberal Western education did not \u201ctake\u201d in these men, who nevertheless pursued quite illiberal policies.<\/p>\n
While, in their eyes, that was a perfectly natural attitude to take, for me, it was quite jarring. Why bother to watch news from a \u201cCatholic\u201d perspective if it is indistinguishable from secular sources? Perhaps those Muslims, as outsiders, were immune to the implicit supposition that the dogmas of liberalism are rational and axiomatic. Mohamed Morsi<\/strong> got a graduate degree in materials science at USC, a STEM major, so he would have missed out on most of the liberal indoctrination. Apparently, even California dreaming did not suffice to turn him.<\/p>\n So what is the attraction of liberal democracies to the religious news hosts? I have mentioned Pope Pius IX\u2019s Syllabus of Errors<\/cite><\/a> several times and now is the time to look at its points. It has earned the approval of Julius Evola<\/strong> for its adamant opposition to liberalism. Now it is true that the current pope claims the syllabus is now overturned, as there is a different critique of liberalism. If so, then what is it? Not even the news anchor is aware of it. Keep in mind that Evola never rejected the Ancien Regime<\/strong> even if his views on sexual matters were looser. In reading these propositions, readers may, if they prefer, substitute their own spiritual authority for any mention of the Church.<\/p>\n The literary form of the Syllabus is to state a positive proposition while asserting it as false. Point 3 is the fundamental dogma of Enlightenment liberalism:<\/p>\n \n3. Human reason, without any reference whatsoever to God, is the sole arbiter of truth and falsehood, and of good and evil; it is law to itself, and suffices, by its natural force, to secure the welfare of men and of nations.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n We hope that EWTN agrees about the falsity of (3). This aligns them more with Morsi than with liberal education. Point 39 is related:<\/p>\n \n39. The State, as being the origin and source of all rights, is endowed with a certain right not circumscribed by any limits.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Clearly the Western Tradition is in agreement with Morsi on this point. The next is more controversial:<\/p>\n \n40. The teaching of the Catholic Church is hostile to the well-being and interests of society.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In the case of Egypt, readers can substitute \u201cIslam\u201d for \u201cCatholic Church\u201d. Leaving aside for the moment the historical conflict between Traditions in geographic proximity, liberalism rejects any and all spiritual authority. That is why any attempts to \u201cmodernize\u201d or to be acceptable to the modern world are ultimately futile. The next proposition is asserted by the French and American Revolutions. With the appropriate change of language, this proposition is also rejected by Morsi.<\/p>\n \n55. The Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Proposition 77 is basic for the liberal state as well as by Vatican II under the rubric of \u201cfreedom of religion\u201d. Neo-pagans also accept prop 77, thus aligning themselves with liberalism rather than Tradition. We have pointed out that the Ancient City did not accept religious freedom except in an attenuated form. With a suitable verbal transposition, the Islamic state also rejects proposition 77:<\/p>\n \n77. In the present day it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be held as the only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all other forms of worship.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is just a sample. The point is that we are hard pressed to determine how the contemporary so-called Catholic viewpoint differs from what is absorbed in a \u201cliberal education\u201d. If we turn to EWTN, we certainly don\u2019t learn much. We can end with an issue of current relevance. One of the functions of the spiritual authority is to determine what is \u201creal\u201d, a prime example, that of the \u201cReal Presence\u201d. Another is what constitutes a \u201creal\u201d, rather than merely a nominal, marriage. We see that the same issue was debated 150 years ago, even if the specifics differ. This false proposition is:<\/p>\n \n68. The Church has not the power of establishing diriment impediments of marriage, but such a power belongs to the civil authority by which existing impediments are to be removed.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In other words, the spiritual authority alone determines the impediments to marriage. If left to the temporal powers alone, the result will always be wrong. Hence, attempts to \u201cdebate\u201d in our time what constitutes marriage are doomed to fail ultimately; the modern mind is not bound by the real but by the nominal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yesterday afternoon, while I was finishing up a bottle of wine and waiting for the lasagna to bake, I did some channel surfing. Continue reading