Religious Faith And The Public Square

There can be little argument that religion does not play a significant role in the political arena in the U.S. today. Indeed, there seems to be a movement afoot to marginalize if not eliminate any religious input into the issues that preoccupy us currently. One case in point is the attempt to force religious institutions to obey dictates by the federal government such as the Health and Human services Dept. mandate on insurance policies. The Little Sisters of the Poor [who minister to the indigent poor] were told they had to include birth control and abortions in the insurance coverage of their employees despite the teaching of the Catholic Church. The issue has been resolved for the moment, but another change in administrations could change all that. How did we get to this point? I'll be offering at least one ingredient by examining the theological crisis in the American Civil War. I hope you will find it instructive.

A fair number of Americans today subscribe to the loose collection of ideas called Relativism. I deal with its tenets and try to show how it is unworkable both in theory and practice. Its basic tenet is that there is no moral Truth: What's good for the goose may or may not be good for the gander. To each his own truth. The focus is on doing your own thing so long as you do no harm to another person. The first problem with this is Who determines what harm is? There are a host of unforeseen consequences to any act. But the basic problem is that it considers acts isolated from loving relationships. It's all about what I consider good for me. It glorifies selfishness. It is popular because it can be used to justify what I want to do. The end result is an enslavement to the self. Thus it can be used to mask my behavior versus conventional morality.

There is a popular notion today that Science and Religion are at odds if not hostile to each other. Historical evidence indicates that not only is this in error, the opposite is true. It is no accident that science as we know it today not only arose in an European environment, it was fostered by the Catholic Church. The case of Galileo in particular will be examined.

It will deal with 3 Questions: 1. What is the purpose of a parish in the Mission of the church as a whole? 2. What is the specific nature of an inner city parish? 3. What is unique about his current parish (it's history and its present environment)?

I thought I would introduce myself to the listeners & use that as a way of outlining some of the life lessons I've learned that most people can identify with. Then I would address a principal problem at the heart of many controversies today, namely The value of human life. It is crystal clear that many in our society today place little value on it. This is not something applicable to the big topics like abortion & euthanasia alone, for with the model of ISIS we also have the mass shootings that seem to be commonplace. Not even the persons perpetrating such outrages place any value on their own life. They seem to think the only way they can draw attention to themselves is to kill as many innocent persons as they can in the knowledge that they themselves will be a casualty. I will outline the Christian perspective on this problem & show why human life has a special value in the scheme of things. I would end with a few words about the guest coming on next week's show.