Now-retired Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput is seen in this 2016 file photo. He is the author of the book "Things Worth Dying For: Thoughts on a Life Worth Living." (CNS photo/Sarah Webb, CatholicPhilly.com)
Tribulation Times
April 13, 2021
(1Pe 2:16) Be free, yet without using freedom as a pretext for evil, but as slaves of God.
ARCHBISHOP CHAPUT: The U.S. is “a great and, in its best ideals, a good nation,” he writes, but it also is “a nation of chronic racial injustice, deep sexual dysfunctions, self-flattering elites, great disparities in wealth, and the intentional destruction of more than 50 million unborn children.” “We’re in bad shape” as a nation, he told CNS. “I didn’t want to minimize it. The best place to begin is the truth. But because we’re Christians, there’s always hope … in God. We can be pessimistic about the future, but we must always have hope. Hope gives us joy.”
THE CATHOLIC THING: Once Upon a Time, in America
HLI: Gender Ideologues Are Gaslighting Us
NEWS ITEM: New York parent seeks OK to marry their own adult child
BLOG: America Loses Plumbing Within The Next 3 Generations
EXCERPT CATHOLIC LEAGUE: The Holocaust's Moral Lessons
At Nuremberg, the standard Nazi defense was to claim that they were only doing what they were instructed to do. It did not work. The London Charter of the International Military Tribunal determined that “following orders” did not exonerate them. Though the Tribunal did not explicitly invoke natural law—e.g., we know in our heart of hearts that certain acts, such as the killing of innocents, is wrong—it essentially validated what Aristotle broached and what the Catholic Church later pioneered.
We need to remember this moral lesson because of the prevalence of moral relativism in our culture, the notion that there are no objective truths. This pernicious idea is not new, though it is more widely embraced today—allowing for glaring inconsistencies—than ever before, especially on college campuses. Its legacy is rich with irony.
“There is no such thing as truth, either in the moral or in the scientific sense.” Many professors and their students would fully endorse this view today. Hitler is the author.
Before Hitler there was Nietzsche. He spent his adult life trashing the teachings of the Catholic Church. He is famous for opining, “There are no facts, only interpretations.” The Nazis later agreed. Martin Heidegger also embraced Nietzschean relativism and, not surprisingly, he was a big fan of Hitler.
The idea that there are no objective meanings also marks deconstruction, a school of thought that originated in France in the 1960s; Jacques Derrida is its intellectual father. In this country, his views achieved currency through Paul de Man. Many intellectuals were shocked when it was revealed that de Man had been a Nazi collaborator in Belgium. If they understood the logical consequences of denying moral truths, they wouldn’t have been shocked.
In a survey of college seniors, conducted in 2002, three-quarters of them said they were taught that right and wrong depend “on differences in individual values and cultural diversity.” When James Q. Wilson, a professor of political science who taught at UCLA and Harvard, discussed the Holocaust with his students, he found no general agreement that the Holocaust itself was a moral horror. “It all depends on your perspective,” one student said.
Professor Roger Simon, who taught at Hamilton College, experienced the same reaction. He estimated that 10 to 20 percent of his students could not condemn the Holocaust. “Of course I dislike the Nazis,” one student told him, “but who is to say they are morally wrong?”
Even more troubling, philosopher Christina Hoff Sommers found that students at Williams College, who were taught that “all knowledge is a social construct,” doubted the Holocaust even occurred. As one student said, “Although the Holocaust may not have happened, it’s a perfectly reasonable conceptual hallucination.”
The good news is that the reality of objective truth cannot be erased, even in our cancel culture, though admittedly it is harder to voice this verity than ever before. It is incumbent on those of us who know better to point out the flaws inherent in moral relativism.
"Have ANY Catholic Question? Just ask Ron Smith at: hfministry@roadrunner.com
(1Pe 2:16) Be free, yet without using freedom as a pretext for evil, but as slaves of God.
ARCHBISHOP CHAPUT: The U.S. is “a great and, in its best ideals, a good nation,” he writes, but it also is “a nation of chronic racial injustice, deep sexual dysfunctions, self-flattering elites, great disparities in wealth, and the intentional destruction of more than 50 million unborn children.” “We’re in bad shape” as a nation, he told CNS. “I didn’t want to minimize it. The best place to begin is the truth. But because we’re Christians, there’s always hope … in God. We can be pessimistic about the future, but we must always have hope. Hope gives us joy.”
THE CATHOLIC THING: Once Upon a Time, in America
HLI: Gender Ideologues Are Gaslighting Us
NEWS ITEM: New York parent seeks OK to marry their own adult child
BLOG: America Loses Plumbing Within The Next 3 Generations
EXCERPT CATHOLIC LEAGUE: The Holocaust's Moral Lessons
At Nuremberg, the standard Nazi defense was to claim that they were only doing what they were instructed to do. It did not work. The London Charter of the International Military Tribunal determined that “following orders” did not exonerate them. Though the Tribunal did not explicitly invoke natural law—e.g., we know in our heart of hearts that certain acts, such as the killing of innocents, is wrong—it essentially validated what Aristotle broached and what the Catholic Church later pioneered.
We need to remember this moral lesson because of the prevalence of moral relativism in our culture, the notion that there are no objective truths. This pernicious idea is not new, though it is more widely embraced today—allowing for glaring inconsistencies—than ever before, especially on college campuses. Its legacy is rich with irony.
“There is no such thing as truth, either in the moral or in the scientific sense.” Many professors and their students would fully endorse this view today. Hitler is the author.
Before Hitler there was Nietzsche. He spent his adult life trashing the teachings of the Catholic Church. He is famous for opining, “There are no facts, only interpretations.” The Nazis later agreed. Martin Heidegger also embraced Nietzschean relativism and, not surprisingly, he was a big fan of Hitler.
The idea that there are no objective meanings also marks deconstruction, a school of thought that originated in France in the 1960s; Jacques Derrida is its intellectual father. In this country, his views achieved currency through Paul de Man. Many intellectuals were shocked when it was revealed that de Man had been a Nazi collaborator in Belgium. If they understood the logical consequences of denying moral truths, they wouldn’t have been shocked.
In a survey of college seniors, conducted in 2002, three-quarters of them said they were taught that right and wrong depend “on differences in individual values and cultural diversity.” When James Q. Wilson, a professor of political science who taught at UCLA and Harvard, discussed the Holocaust with his students, he found no general agreement that the Holocaust itself was a moral horror. “It all depends on your perspective,” one student said.
Professor Roger Simon, who taught at Hamilton College, experienced the same reaction. He estimated that 10 to 20 percent of his students could not condemn the Holocaust. “Of course I dislike the Nazis,” one student told him, “but who is to say they are morally wrong?”
Even more troubling, philosopher Christina Hoff Sommers found that students at Williams College, who were taught that “all knowledge is a social construct,” doubted the Holocaust even occurred. As one student said, “Although the Holocaust may not have happened, it’s a perfectly reasonable conceptual hallucination.”
The good news is that the reality of objective truth cannot be erased, even in our cancel culture, though admittedly it is harder to voice this verity than ever before. It is incumbent on those of us who know better to point out the flaws inherent in moral relativism.
Thoughts and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: The Practice of Virtue
4. What punishment will not that servant bring upon himself who knows the will of his Master and does not do it?Prayer request? Send an email to: PrayerRequest3@aol.com
"Have ANY Catholic Question? Just ask Ron Smith at: hfministry@roadrunner.com
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