Rare Jewel Insight: April 30, 2005
Table of Contents:
1. COMMENTARY
- “Of Presidents and Popes”
2. JOIN US IN COLORADO
3. BECOME A SIGNER!
1. COMMENTARY
- “Of Presidents and Popes”
(by Rick Marschall, Managing Editor, Rare Jewel Magazine)
President George W Bush this past Thursday night concluded the first press conference of his second term. In it, correspondent David Gregory of NBC News reminded us of how one unelected reporter can hold more sway than countless politicians. In a question to President Bush, he misquoted Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, he implied that all judicial filibusters are directed toward “people of faith” in mocking tones, and he denigrated the role of religion -- conservative Christians, of course -- in political discourse.
No news there. The disheartening news is that President Bush did not rise to the occasion. He did not defend his threatened judicial nominees, who are clearly under attack because of their “deeply held religious beliefs” (unquote, Sen Charles Schumer, D-NY). He did not say a word on behalf of traditional Christian values, whose last defense might be a return to a strict constructionist court system. He said nothing to encourage the hopes -- or acknowledge the support -- of Christian Patriots.
Instead he spoke platitudes about viewing religion “as a personal matter…. I don't ascribe a person's opposing my nominations to an issue of faith…. I don't condemn somebody in the political process because they may not agree with me on religion. The great thing about America… is that you should be allowed to worship any way you want, and if you choose not to worship, you're equally as patriotic as somebody who does worship. And if you choose to worship, you're equally American if you're a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim. That's the wonderful thing about our country, and that's the way it should be.”
How ironic. A snap-quiz, “Who would have disagreed with Bush on that last sentence?” The list includes the Mayflower Pilgrims; the Founding Fathers; most signers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution; Alexis deTocqueville; and – lo and behold -- Pope Benedict XVI.
It will warm the cockles of the hearts beating inside RARE JEWEL readers to learn that the new pope is a fan of Alexis deTocqueville! (In our current issue, Publisher Tim Ewing writes a paean to Alexis deTocqueville’s “Democracy in America.”) On Nov. 6, 1992, when he became a member of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences of the Institute of France, Ratzinger maintained that a free society can only endure when people share basic moral convictions and high moral standards, especially when they arise from an intellectually homogeneous people, not “imposed or even arbitrarily defined by external coercion….”
"'Democracy in America' has always made a strong impression on me," he said on that day. DeTocqueville “saw as an essential condition the fact that a basic moral conviction was alive in America, one which, nourished by Protestant Christianity, supplied the foundations for institutions and democratic mechanisms." This from a future Roman Catholic pope.
But he, too, was joining forces with those who believed in Moral Absolutes… and built societies based on common principles, common goals, common suppositions. Implied in DeTocqueville and Ratzinger was not that America succeeded because of a “Protestant work ethic” that was specific to, say, Calvinism, but the very fact that the society was One, of common stock, sharing spiritual assumptions, more important than ethnic similarities. Such is what makes nations, rather than countries. Ratzinger very recently decried the loss of such an ethos in Europe.
In another echo from the recent issue of RARE JEWEL MAGAZINE (we don’t claim that RJM is in the Vatican’s reading room, but perhaps that great minds run alike…?) the new pope has attacked "Christianophobia," the influx of non-Christians into Christian societies and the loss of Christian heritage by neglect and persecution.
"To have a clear faith according to the church's creed is today often labeled fundamentalism," he said, implying that many used the label pejoratively; "while relativism, letting ourselves be carried away by any wind of doctrine, appears as the only appropriate attitude for the today's times. A dictatorship of relativism is established that recognizes nothing definite and leaves only one's own ego and one's own desires as the final measure."
Likening the church to a boat buffeted by "numerous ideological currents," he said it “has been unanchored by these waves, thrown from one extreme to the other: from Marxism to liberalism, up to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism, and on and on…. An adult faith does not follow the waves of fashion and the latest novelty."
As an American Protestant/Pentecostal/Fundamentalist/Evangelical (no, they’re not mutually exclusive terms to me) who has been fortunate enough to have visited Rome and the Vatican many times, the recent ceremony surrounding the funeral of John Paul II and the installation of Benedict XVI might have had more resonance with me than with many American Catholics. And so might it be the case with many RARE JEWEL INSIGHT readers.
Partly this is because of the politics and philosophies of the former Cardinal Ratzinger, the theologian who now reigns over the See of Rome. For he is indeed one of the greatest Christian minds of the last century -- and perhaps as significant a political thinker as theologian.
Let us immediately, and emphatically, put aside -- though not yield -- deep divisions we might have about doctrine. The new Pope, for instance, is a foe of the Reformation. He condemns modern worship practices -- clapping in church, spontaneous and ecstatic worship. And of course his views on Marian adoration and efficacy of prayers to saints are anathema (or should be) to Protestants. But it is possible to put those points aside and welcome this pope. Especially in this time of crisis in the West. Increasingly we hear the terms “Evangelical Christians” and “Pro-Life Catholics” used in the same sentence. Whatever other nuances there may be, we are allied in important battles.
For an explanation of Benedict’s core message, once again don’t
look to the news media. If you do, you might think that he is a
champion of dogma. He is a defender of Doctrine, but that does
not fully explain his significance.
Benedict has spent the greater part of his life -- his effective ministry -- attacking Relativism, the sin of the culture, the cancer on the church. I would suggest that Christian Patriots in America have an affinity with any people from any system or any church who believe in Absolute Truth. People of good will in this world might disagree with what that Truth is, but we must (if forced to choose) see soul-mates in those who believe that there IS Absolute Truth… that even if we never know it in this world, that we are ennobled as humans in our striving for it.
Relativism in society has many names in the church today: Liberalism; some forms of modernism; certainly post-modernism; the “emergent” church. In his last days as Cardinal Ratzinger, Benedict delivered a forceful speech to the College on Relativism. If it was a campaign speech, file it under, “What You See Is What You Get” -- a magnificent example of not compromising.
So he fights against the spirit of the age that says that all thought is subjective. What is refreshing about his point of view is that it goes beyond a blind acknowledgement of an Absolute Truth to a reverence for the inquiry after Truth. His view of humanity -- the marketplace of ideas -- is not of crusty dogma but a lively intellectual exchange.
Therefore, he correctly identified “Liberation Theology” three decades ago not as Christ’s truths and empowerment for unique ethnic and economic classes, but as shabby Marxism masquerading as religion.
Another factor that should interest us is that the new pope’s views on living one’s faith has “legs” -- it was he who wrote the famous letter to American priests on denying Holy Communion to politicians who favor abortion rights, that they are guilty of a "grave sin." This was widely viewed as censure of John Kerry, Democrat nominee for president, and “Catholic,” especially mentioning "the case of a Catholic politician consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws." The letter said a priest facing such a prospective communicant "must refuse to distribute it," and condemned any Catholic who votes for a candidate explicitly because that candidate actively supports abortion position -- that voter would be “guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for holy communion."
He also wrote a letter, this time to clergy worldwide, also wrote a letter to bishops worldwide opposing a variety of feminism that makes women "adversaries" of men. He advised the European Union to reject the bid of Turkey -- a Moslem nation –- for membership.
The Age of Miracles is not past. Who would have thought it? -- a German pope less than 60 years after World War II; one who wore the uniform of the Hitler Youth; one who was a radical until the street melees of the 1960s; one who defends not just Roman Catholic rites but the proper rallying-points of a threatened Christian tradition, a Western civilization that could be an endangered species.
His Declaration of War on Relativism is one we ought to second. On Sundays we’ll all go to our own churches, but the rest of the week we will join forces with Benedict XVI against those who hold NO truths to be self-evident; who hold that “intolerance” is a greater sin than murder; who would have our children somehow be better off in a cold, gray society where nothing is wrong or right, where there is no overcoming, or victory, or redemption.
2. JOIN US IN COLORADO
Rick Marschall and Tim Ewing will be at the Colorado Christian Writers Conference in Estes Park CO, on May 11-14, 2005. Both will each speak at separate sessions, but will also present a special Saturday afternoon workshop together, “Impacting Our Culture,” that is open to conference attendees and the general public, especially pastors. Discover why and how to “take captive every philosophy to make it obedient to Christ.” For more information, go to www.WriteHisAnswer.com/Colorado and click on the “Pastors Special” box.
3. BECOME A SIGNER!
The Declaration of Dependence is a new kind of petition that also represents a movement to restore our nation’s Christian foundation. The Declaration of Independence not only declares independence from Great Britain but also declares our nation’s dependence on God. Our nation has neglected the latter, to which the DoD aims to bring recollection and renewed commitment.
We are also attracting ministry and business leaders who want us to list their organization name as a supporter of the Declaration. Individuals: Read and Sign the Declaration of Dependence at: www.DeclarationOfDependence.org.
Ministry and business leaders email support@DeclarationOfDependence.org to get your organization listed as a support.
United, our voices will have greater impact in the effort to restore our America’s foundations. The Declaration of Dependence is your tool for multiplying our strength unifying our efforts.
