Faiths not supposed to "loosen" core doctrine

There are two interesting and important meetings taking place this week. One is at the UN where a two day interfaith conference is taking place. The other is the regularly scheduled meeting of the US Catholic Bishops. Both are examples of activities where those who do not understand the workings and efforts of people who have conservative, orthodox core faiths are sniping in the media. That's fine, because it gives us another opportunity to discuss the basics of belief in God.

Let me start with an analogy (of course!) Suppose you have a family with many young children, and you worry about keeping them safe from all dangers. So when you hire people to work on the house, let's say electricians, who do you hire? (Let us assume in this analogy that money is unlimited). Do you hire someone who swears to adhere to the complete safety code of electricians, or someone who follows the parts of the code he or she thinks is "good enough?" So if you are worried and want your children to sleep safely in your home, do you select the electrician who does absolutely everything by the book, with safety and proper procedure being his or her highest priority? Or are you impressed by the electrician who waves his or her hand and announces to you, "I am wiser than all of the other electricians, and am also wiser than all of those governmental agencies who establish so-called safety codes. I will pick and choose what parts of the code to follow, and which to break or to ignore, and you will trust me."

Obviously you would select the electrician who follows the code precisely and who seems to care about your family as if your family was his or her own.

This is what those who safe keep the core doctrine of the faiths are like, whether they are Christian, Muslim or Jewish. They are not following their own codes and "loosening things up" because the safety codes are "old fashioned" established by "oppressing and repressing religious leaders." Those who safeguard and keep the core doctrine of their faiths are like the good electrician who faithfully follows the code because he or she both believes and knows that the code is wise and applies in all cases. Things that are not in the code, well sure, maybe one electrician will offer you choices that have nothing to do with safety, but help in convenience or aesthetics, such as where you place your lighting, or how you position the light switches. But on the code, the core safety code, the good electrician will not budge from that.

This is why the Catholic Bishops are reiterating, more strongly than ever, their professing of the Catholic doctrine that abortion is always morally wrong. Abortion being morally wrong is part of the Catholic Church's core "safety code" from which one cannot deviate. By that I mean that even if someone disagrees with what is in the state's electrical code, that doesn't make the rules and the words disappear. Likewise, sure, the Catholic Church has laypeople who in their heart of hearts may think, "Well, surely there are times that abortion is OK." That is fine, you can think that in your heart and still be a good Catholic. God understands the confusion. But it is not alright for you to run around, as if you are an electrician, and tell people that parts of the state's electrical code book are "wrong" or can be ignored. You would actually be doing something of malpractice, if you were an electrician, and in training an apprentice, you told him or her "Hey, don't worry about the safety code. Just follow whatever parts you feel like, and ignore or change the rest." Then there is a fire and who is responsible?

This is why, to use this analogy, that the Catholic Bishops are correct in continually reiterating and restating that the belief that abortion is morally wrong is core Catholic doctrine. They are not being "inflexible" and do not need to be "liberalized," as those who just plain do not understand religion say they should do. I mean, core doctrine exists because the Church traces that doctrine directly back to the word of God, which is not a matter of "where you put the light switch," but a matter of following the safety code. Where there is room for discernment is how the Bishops address members of their flock who, and this is important, speak out in public in order to "teach" others to ignore the safety code. This is the problem with the most recent controversy with Catholic politicians, both those who are sincere in their faith and those who are nominal, to put it charitably. When a Catholic politician claims to be "explaining" Church doctrine, they are opening their mouths to take on a role that is as if a master electrician now has the job to train apprentices. Therefore, when a Catholic politician misstates the pro life doctrine of the Catholic Church, he or she is like the master electrician who explains to the apprentice wrong information that changes and thus dangerously deviates from the safety code manual. That cannot be unchallenged because it is teaching dangerous error to those who hear his or her words. This is why certain Bishops choose to chastise Catholic politicians who openly "teach" erroneous doctrine, claiming it to be correct. It is not a matter of the Catholic Bishops being "oppressive" or "old fashioned," anymore than the master electrician who faithfully follows the safety code of his or her profession is "oppressive" or "old fashioned."

Thus the Catholic Bishops are being perfectly correct, to be united in being clear about the unchanging Catholic doctrine regarding abortion, but to use pastoral discernment individually about how each of them might or would react within their parishes to those who are publicly misstating and flouting core Catholic doctrine. When Catholic liberals or the larger liberal secular audience to these public reiteration of Catholic core doctrine criticize the Catholic Bishops, it is the critics who just don't "get it," which is why I have provided this analogy. Every faith has core doctrine that is there because it is the truth and the way to not only remain in that faith community but more importantly to achieve salvation in eternal life, and not gravely offend God. There is a nuance among those who criticize the Catholic Bishops that imply religion is some sort of "cultural" system that people are expected to "modernize" as time goes along. That is the opposite of the truth and the point of religion. Religion is a gift from God, not an invention of humans.

Repeat: "Religion is a gift from God, not an invention of humans."

Again, as I have written and explained before, God understands that the temptation to believe in the "right of abortion," aka "freedom of choice" is strong, since temptation, especially in selfish sexual matters is a continuing weakness of humans. God understands the Catholic who in his or her heart struggles to understand this part of the faith, including those who have had abortions. But that does not mean that just because he understands and has mercy that the person with this conflict of heart should open his or her mouth and entice others to weaken their faith. THAT is the boundary that is a grave sin, and this is why the Catholic Bishops are vigilant shepherds. They are not trying to deny anyone their "rights," but they are going to insist that people understand that saying it's "not in the safety code" is a lie, and that it "is in the safety code." Those who have abortions and make mistakes still have all the avenues of the Church open to them, to get "right with God" with a sincere heart. But those who have a dilemma in their heart are not doing God's work if they make public their slanted "belief" and either proclaim it as "true" doctrine of what the Church "should" believe or, just as bad, do it as solidarity to entice others to, and there is no nice way to put it, sin.

Who of you would feel better if you talked someone into an abortion? Sadly, I know there are some who are proud to talk those who waiver into having an abortion, rather than arguing for life. But I believe two things about those people. One is that I believe there are fewer of them than people think, since I do not believe the polls reflect how proud someone would be to talk a woman into having an abortion. I'm just not sure that so many would feel covered with glory if they talked a wavering woman into having an abortion, if not right away (perhaps in the panic of youth) then later, when one values life more as one matures. The second thing that I believe is that those who genuinely are proud of talking women into abortions do so out of an unspoken almost superstitious feeling that "the more the merrier," and that if lots of women "stick together and have lots of abortions" that they are somehow demonstrating that abortion is "OK" and there is no God who sorrows at abortion and who will, if he must, punish those that do not regret the taking of an innocent life. Humans have that tendency, it's human nature, where they feel "safety in numbers" as the saying goes. They somehow are tempted to feel that if lots and lots of women have abortions, that somehow that proves that they have "critical mass" (pun not intended!) They think that they are collecting many "enlightened" people to prove that it's "OK to have an abortion." "See, you had one, and 'nothing happened.'" By that "nothing" they mean like God does not exist, or that God exists but "understands," or that God disapproved but he would never send such an otherwise good person to hell. Humans have always suffered from that "safety in numbers" mentality, of tempting each other into sin, as some sort of inoculation or "insurance policy," all the while saying that "it's OK." It's not OK. Abortion is like everything else, something that will have to be answered to directly to God upon death and judgment. Just because the sky didn't fall down and cave in when a million women got abortions does not mean that God isn't there, didn't "notice," or is "OK with it because she is such a giving and loving bubbly woman anyway so what the heck, her being desperate or nice 'cancels out' having that abortion." Sadly, this is one of the character weaknesses of humans, and it has only increased, not decreased, over time as human self centeredness and enabling technology has increased.

This is why the Catholic Bishops must restate the core doctrine that abortion is never morally right. However, humans are supposed to be so mature, and so in cases of extreme suffering (as the pro aborts like to use as everyday examples, such as rape or incest), do not people do things in private that they must answer to, either way, to God? It's not like the Catholic Bishops are checking everyone's medical records each day. (Goodness, the pro abortionists don't want medical records checked even when young girls are raped and forced to have abortions, "privacy" you know.) So the Catholic Bishops have two responsibilities. One is to repeat the core doctrine so no one can say they did not know or understand. The second is to deal with public profile people in their parishes who advocate flaunting of the core doctrine and thus lead others into sin or error of thought. They also gently correct those who just babble wrong doctrine. They understand the difference between erroneous babbling and deliberate disbelief of one of the core doctrines of the faith, and they respond accordingly.

Now, using my analogy, let me turn to the UN interfaith meeting. I have been peeved to read some sniping in the liberal press about "how" can the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, promote "tolerance" when the Islamic kingdom of Saudi Arabia is "so intolerant." Huh? Again, there is the analogy of the good electrician who follows the safety code. It is a non sequitur to accuse a leader who is responsible for the faith of his or her people to be "intolerant" when they insist that the people "follow the safety code" of their faith! Sheesh. Exactly as I said above the whole point of believing in God and joining (or being born into) a faith is that you subscribe to their creed and their code doctrine, as given by God, does not change. It is exactly people like King Abdullah who are entitled to lead interfaith efforts, not people who have lukewarm faith and who demonstrate it with their eagerness to edit God's instruction and word.

That does not mean that, like the good electrician who will, after following faithfully the entire safety code, allow for optional decisions where safety is not a risk, that Saudi Arabia will not inevitably adjust their optional manifestations of tolerance. I have every belief that only good things will come from the many faithful of Saudi Arabia, and the Muslim world in general. It is precisely the people who are firm and joyous in their core faith (even the parts that are difficult to live up to and may be hard to understand) who have the wisdom and confidence to know, then, where they can make decisions that create new traditions and tolerances. This is another thing that lukewarm or non-believers do not understand about the conservative in faith, whether the conservative are Jewish, Muslim or Christian. They do not understand that those of the most solid and consistent faith are those best positioned not only in the eyes of God but in the respect of the world and their own faith community to make sound non-core doctrinal changes, expansions and manifestations of tolerance. These are the very people who have the credibility and the wisdom to pace their leadership of their faith community to make good discernment of traditions, not core doctrine, that can and should be modified or expanded. It is exactly the exemplary "master electrician" who can serve on an agency to add new safety code or to find alternate solutions when, for example, new electrical service technology is discovered. It is not the person who doesn't really care if he or she follows the book, pun intended. It is the person who is pious, believing, orthodox and who understands that God and his expectations are unchanging, no matter how humans "change," who can then discern genuine avenues of increased tolerance, expanded faith traditions and genuine allowable and safe "progress."

I hope that you have found all of this helpful.