It would appear that Mike Huckabee is a man of great courage. He had the audacity to say "merry Christmas" in his latest political add and actually point out who the Christmas holiday is actually referring to! Doesn’t he know that he is in for a lot of criticism? Hasn’t he gotten the memo, the one that said that Christianity has been marginalized and doesn’t belong in public life?
Criticism
Yes, the sensitivity police have jumped on this situation. There is even the suggestion that parts of the book shelf in the background of the add are shaped like a cross, thus sending a subliminal message! (If someone was openly talking about Jesus Christ in an add why would he use subliminal images?) The critics are talking about this as if it were a violation of the separation of Church and state. Joanna Weiss of the Boston Globe writes "The implied message, observers say, seems to be twofold: that there is one important religion and one candidate who represents it best."(1)
Secular paranoia
I think those observers are wrong. They are merely reading their own insecurities into the situation. They are so afraid of theocracies they feel that any public mention of religion is a seed for religious oppression or that any religious expression in synch with the majority of the spiritual sentiments of much of the population is tantamount to triumphalism. But all Huckabee is doing is extending a Christmas greeting to the vast majority of Americans who have at least some knowledge of what Christmas is supposed to be about. Whatever the founding fathers meant by separation of church and state, they did not mean that the majority had to hide their spiritual sentiments.
Fine response
I like the way Huckabee responded. He didn’t respond with anger and venom. He used humor to respond as well as reason and tact. In doing so he went against the stereotype of the fundamentalist fanatic, thus making it harder for the critics. It is a fine example of the Christian patience in the face of unfair attacks that our Lord desires us to exibit.
Christians here to stay
Whether the secularists like it or not, the majority of Americans are at least nominally Christian and many are devoutly so. We are not going anywhere.It’s been that way since the founding of the colonies. It is all well and good to be sensitive to religious minorities, it is the right thing to do. But why can’t the sensibilities of the majority also be respected?
Boston Globe, Dec. 19 , 2007, p. A17
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Musings on The Golden Compass
<
But in thinking about it I should not have been that surprised. After all, fantasy adventures are supposed to appeal to that part of humanity that reaches out for that which transcends our ordinary existence. Pullman’s atheism likely turned many off. When you deny that there is a transcendence then what savor can any fantasy story written by him or any atheist possibly have.
As it is his story reads more like science fiction than fantasy. It involves a parallel world with the technology of the late 19th century. It involves the search for "dust", that is subatomic particles that supposedly influence human behavior. It also involves searching for a way to travel to other parallel worlds. This of course runs afoul of the Church(no Protestant reformation in this world) because it smacks of heresy.
Here is where Pullman’s attitude makes itself manifest. He frames the narrative as a conflict between dogmatic conformity verses "free thought", the pressure to toe the line as opposed to objective inquiry. He takes liberties with the story of the Fall as told in Genesis, adding a few twists to fit his parallel world. This is typical rationalist railing against the "evil Church " ,as it supposedly squashes free inquiry in order to hold on to power that permeates much of Science Fiction.
Many secularists were wailing and gnashing their teeth when the movie allegedly toned down the anti Church elements in the book. But they needn’t have gotten all bent out of shape. They did not tone it down but merely disguised it. It is true that the movie did not use the word "church" (using the word magesterium instead)but it portrayed the "magesterium as even more power hungry than the book! Also, the word "heresy" is still used, making it obvious who is being referred to.
To most the book and movie seems merely to rail against ‘organized religion" and not spirituality in general. But Pullman seems to be influenced by sci-fi writers such as Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clark and Robert A. Hienlien among others. I have read many of their works and believe me, they have no use for any belief in transcendence but were firmly wedded to a positivistic world view where anything can be explained without reference to a deity. Pullman uses the same language and ideas these writers and rationalists in general use to undermine religion in general.
Its funny though, Pullman wrote these books as a response to C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books. It doesn’t appear that Compass, will beat Narnia at the box office. This may well reflect the fact that spirituality is stronger in this country than many believe. It also shows that we need not be afraid of atheists and rationalists expressing their views in movies and tv. Let them do so, we will respond, not with hysterical rancor , but with their own weapons, reason and argument, secure in the knowledge that human spirituality can not be easily dismissed.
Well I finally seen The Golden Compass. (And read the book)It is a shame I did not do it sooner in order to stay current. But then the fact that it is not current and that it did not do as well at the box office as expected in this country is news in itself. Apparently the calls for boycott the film by Christians on account of the author Phillip Pullman’s atheism have worked! I was sure the controversy would have boosted ticket sales, as controversy usually does.
Fantasy appeals to Transcendance
But in thinking about it I should not have been that surprised. After all, fantasy adventures are supposed to appeal to that part of humanity that reaches out for that which transcends our ordinary existence. Pullman’s atheism likely turned many off. When you deny that there is a transcendence then what savor can any fantasy story written by him or any atheist possibly have.
More like Science Fiction
Pullman's Outlook
Here is where Pullman’s attitude makes itself manifest. He frames the narrative as a conflict between dogmatic conformity verses "free thought", the pressure to toe the line as opposed to objective inquiry. He takes liberties with the story of the Fall as told in Genesis, adding a few twists to fit his parallel world. This is typical rationalist railing against the "evil Church " ,as it supposedly squashes free inquiry in order to hold on to power that permeates much of Science Fiction.
Secularist grumbling
Many secularists were wailing and gnashing their teeth when the movie allegedly toned down the anti Church elements in the book. But they needn’t have gotten all bent out of shape. They did not tone it down but merely disguised it. It is true that the movie did not use the word "church" (using the word magesterium instead)but it portrayed the "magesterium as even more power hungry than the book! Also, the word "heresy" is still used, making it obvious who is being referred to.
Sci Fi outlook
To most the book and movie seems merely to rail against ‘organized religion" and not spirituality in general. But Pullman seems to be influenced by sci-fi writers such as Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clark and Robert A. Hienlien among others. I have read many of their works and believe me, they have no use for any belief in transcendence but were firmly wedded to a positivistic world view where anything can be explained without reference to a deity. Pullman uses the same language and ideas these writers and rationalists in general use to undermine religion in general.
Desired Christian response
Its funny though, Pullman wrote these books as a response to C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books. It doesn’t appear that Compass, will beat Narnia at the box office. This may well reflect the fact that spirituality is stronger in this country than many believe. It also shows that we need not be afraid of atheists and rationalists expressing their views in movies and tv. Let them do so, we will respond, not with hysterical rancor , but with their own weapons, reason and argument, secure in the knowledge that human spirituality can not be easily dismissed.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Advent Reflections
The Advent season is upon us again. During this time of year we are assaulted with all the bustle and high pressure commercial hype. We are everywhere exhorted to buy this and that in order to keep the economic engine humming. The latest technological inventions in video games and music apparatus are trotted out at this time as well as high profile CD and DVD releases. With all this emphasis on commercial activity it is almost enough to make one forget what this time of year really means.
Almost.
Despite all the commercialism there are still more than a few hints in the air of the spirituality that should be more in evidence at this time of year. Christmas specials on TV and Christmas movies stress the more spiritual(If not specifically Christian) aspects of the holidays such as giving to the less fortunate and spending time with family and the emphasis on loving one’s neighbor. Even the lonely and less fortunate among us feel a particular sting at this time because they sense that there is a goodness this time of year signifies that indicates that there plight is something that is not right in this universe.
There seems to be a certain amount of merriment surrounding this time of year with the decorations ,parties, music, etc. It seems that even the mundane activities are permeated with a certain sense of transcendent joy. It is as if there is a sense that this time of year signifies that there is something to human existence that points to something more than mere materialism.
Thomas Merton spelled this out when he wrote “In the special and heavenly light which shines around the coming of the Word, all ordinary things are transfigured.”(1) It is like people in the West deep down sense something of the world transforming event that was and is the Incarnation, that many seem to sense, however dimly, that there is something Divine about Advent that commercialism can’t completely hide or extinguish.
As always, the Church through Christ has the answer for this intuition of the part of humanity. As then Cardinal Ratzinger wrote,” The last word about being is no longer the unamable absolute but love, which makes itself visable in the God who himself becomes a creature and thus unites the creature with the Creator.”(2) Karl Adam writes” For Christ our Lord is the incarnate revelation of God’s love, nor is the Body of Christ anything else but the implanting and growth of that same love, in all those who are incorporated into Christ.”(3)
Again, now Pope Benedict XVI writes in his recent encyclical Spe Salvi concerning the visit of the wise men
“ This scene , in fact, overturns the world view of that time, which in a different way has become fashionable once again today. It is not the elemental spirits of the universe, the laws of matter which ultimately govern the world and mankind, but a personal God governs the stars, that is, the universe. It is not the laws of matter and of evolution that have the final say, but reason, will, love_a Person. .....above everything there is a personal will, there is a spirit who in Jesus has revealed himself.”(4)
There was a popular song out a decade or so ago titled”What if God were one of us?” by Joan Osborne. It makes me wonder if she ever went to Sunday school because to the Christian GOD IS ONE OF US! That is the reason for the joy of Advent. “He shall be called Emanuel, GOD WITH US”. Again, now Pope Benedict XVI writes in his recent encyclical that the advent of Christ signals that God of love rules the universe, not impersonal forces, that we are free. God became man because of His love for us and thus showed us the true nature of divinity. In the midst of the pagan despair(a despair that is returning in this post modern world) He came to the world and conquered death and showed humanity that death and sin are not the defining aspect of human existence, that there is something beyond. that the meaning of life transcends the mundane experience of much of our existence.
All this much of humanity in the West seems to sense, however dimly in some. It is as if they sense that there is more to our human existence than the post modern nihilism that is creeping into the psyche of many. It is our duty of those of us who have been given the knowledge of significance of the incarnation to advance this knowledge. The Church’s celebration of Advent points to the God who broke into the space-time continuum and became part of the material world by becoming man to show this. Thus it is that we in the Church can show the direction their intuition leads by our words and especially our deeds. Thus we can show that the spiritual inclinations that still make themselves felt at this time of year are not mere sentimentalism or the wishful dreams of human imagination but are a manifestation of that part of the human person that senses the existence of a higher reality.
End notes
1. Thomas Merton, A Thomas Merton Reader, Image Books, Doubleday, New York, 1989P. 360
2. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Truth and Tolerance, Ignatius Press, San Francisco CA.2003, P. 84
3. Karl Adam, The Spirit of Catholicism, Image Books, Doubleday, 1954, P. 146
4 Pope Benedict XVI, Papal Encyclical Spe Salvi ch 5.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
James Carroll and the recent Beatifications
James Carroll is at it again!
In an article that appeared in the Boston Globe Last Monday Dec. 3 on page A11 he criticizes the beatification of the 498 Spanish martyrs who were killed in the Spanish Civil War. The Pope said that these were "heroic witnesses of the faith who, moved exclusively by love for Christ, paid with their blood for their fidelity to Him and His Church." Carroll raises some doubt about this.
Political motivation
"The Pope was implying here that these martyrs were not motivated by politics, even as the Vatican insisted their beatification was not meant to be political either. But one could wonder."
What!!
It takes a lot to get me steamed but this does it. Carroll is accusing the Church of being political in its decisions to beatify and canonize. He believes that the canonization of Thomas More, for example, was done in order to inspire the Spanish to resist the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War. Like they needed any more motivation than the fact that the Republicans were communistic and atheistic and thus out to destroy the Church!
But here’s the kicker. He states;
"One need not deny the individual innocence of the 498 ‘Spanish martyrs’ to understand that their celebration may have effects that are anything but innocent. The facts that these people were probably targeted merely for wearing cassocks or religious habits, and that they symbolize the many who fell to the grotesque excesses of Civil War violence are not enough to justify such glorification."
In an article that appeared in the Boston Globe Last Monday Dec. 3 on page A11 he criticizes the beatification of the 498 Spanish martyrs who were killed in the Spanish Civil War. The Pope said that these were "heroic witnesses of the faith who, moved exclusively by love for Christ, paid with their blood for their fidelity to Him and His Church." Carroll raises some doubt about this.
Political motivation
"The Pope was implying here that these martyrs were not motivated by politics, even as the Vatican insisted their beatification was not meant to be political either. But one could wonder."
What!!
It takes a lot to get me steamed but this does it. Carroll is accusing the Church of being political in its decisions to beatify and canonize. He believes that the canonization of Thomas More, for example, was done in order to inspire the Spanish to resist the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War. Like they needed any more motivation than the fact that the Republicans were communistic and atheistic and thus out to destroy the Church!
But here’s the kicker. He states;
"One need not deny the individual innocence of the 498 ‘Spanish martyrs’ to understand that their celebration may have effects that are anything but innocent. The facts that these people were probably targeted merely for wearing cassocks or religious habits, and that they symbolize the many who fell to the grotesque excesses of Civil War violence are not enough to justify such glorification."
Was Carroll paying attention in seminary? The Church has been canonizing and beatifying martyrs for near 2000 years! To choose death instead of taking the easy way out during difficult circumstances is one of the best, if not the best, ways to affirm the truth of the Christian experience. It is an insult to these martyrs and to the Church to imply that politics were a motivating factor in a process of canonization that is long and meticulous.
Carroll's complaint
The bee in Carroll’s bonnet is the allegation that the Church supported Fascist regimes such as Franco’s during this time period. This is a subject that needs to be examined in context . Maybe Carroll has a legitimate point to make .(maybe) But that is a separate issue and the beatification ceremony should be kept out of the conversation. He should not be pointing a finger at the Church saying this act was political when he himself wrote this diatribe his own agenda in mind.
Carroll's agenda
Carroll, a former Catholic priest, has criticized the Church for a long time now. It seems the Church can’t make a move without him criticizing her and complaining about some heinous act in history allegedly committed by her. It appears he is angered by the fact that the Church won’t go away and won’t play ball with the secular Zeitgeist . It makes one think he is trying to make his former Catholicism disappear like an obsessive compulsive continually scouring a stain in his suit that won’t come out!
Church still perserveres
But despite the best efforts of Carroll and others the Church will keep on proclaiming the truth and holding up the witness of martyrs as examples to follow. It will not become a Latin version of neo paganism nor another branch of Unitarian Universalism. The Church will certainly not secularize. The Church is meant to be in opposition to these things, not part of them. James Carroll and his like won’t fare any better than the gates of hell.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
