What is lawful in democracy, isn't necessarily moral, Brit archbishop tells gov’t leaders 11/29/2006
Catholic Online
BIRMINGHAM, England (Catholic Online) – What is lawful is not necessarily moral, an English Catholic archbishop told government leaders in a pointed message that claimed that secular democracy today is engaged in an intense, aggressive reshaping of society’s moral landscape.
In a Nov. 26 homily on the feast of Christ of King during the annual Civic Mass at St. Chad’s Cathedral here, Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham told gathered politicians and members of the local judiciary, fire and police departments, public services and religious leaders from various faith communities that civic life extends to more than political life, connecting to “the ordinary life of its citizens, to the different qualities and dimensions that make up our common effort, our common good.”
While noting that the process of political democracy provides “a framework of laws and revenues within which we pursue our stated aims,” the archbishop stressed that civic life’s essence is found in the “recognition that our dreams can only be made real through thorough cooperation and partnership between us all.”
In working toward a “vision of a better world,” he stressed society’s hope should be centered on the human person. “It is not a vision of outstanding technological innovation, claiming to solve our problems; nor is it a vision of a political master plan; nor a presentation of overwhelming firepower. No, it is a person,” he said. “Our hope, our future, lies within the human person,” said Archbishop Nichols, chairman of the Catholic Education Service, an agency of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. “Within the great dignity and genius of each person lies the resources and potential on which we can build our true future.” For the Christian, he noted, Jesus Christ points the way that “finds an echo in every heart.”
“He tells us that love is our highest aspiration. He tells us that self-sacrifice is the highest expression of love. He tells us that out of that love is born a profound reverence and respect for all life, especially human life, and particularly when that human life is most vulnerable,” he said. “Out of that self-giving love is born a passion for justice and a yearning for lasting peace between people.”
“His witness gives a clear shape to our task as a society. If we are to build the togetherness we desire, the good life that we can share, we have to realize that it is, unambiguously, an enterprise of love, of sacrifice, of justice and peace. It is, unambiguously a moral enterprise,” the Birmingham archbishop said.
Yet, he said, many today suggest that society’s “common enterprise” can be conducted within a morally neutral framework, where “moral judgment is a private matter, not to be brought into the public or, especially, the political arena.”
“Indeed the secular agenda seems to propose that all we need is the clarification of what is lawful. But that is not so. Those who are elected to fashion our laws are not elected to be our moral tutors,” he said.
“But when our moral vision has been neglected, or even marginalized, then the temptation to rely on the law as the moral guide becomes, for some, irresistible.”
He pointed to issues surrounding “the beginnings and endings of human life,” such as abortion, euthanasia and human cloning, and the “moral equivalence being forced upon us” between traditional and same-sex marriage where “public opinion and medical technology are invoked as a basis for coming to a judgment about the quality and worth of the life of another person.”
“The process of secular democracy in our country at this time, while claiming to act disinterestedly and in a morally neutral fashion, is in fact engaged in an intense and at times aggressive reshaping of our moral framework,” Archbishop Nichols said.
In contrast, he said, “all the great religious faiths all present in this city” agree “that moral norms cannot be decided by the ballot box of Parliamentary debate.”
“That is not a way for arriving at the truth of our human condition or at a full understanding of our needs and potential,” he said. “Rather, in these impenetrable matters … we need both faith and reason for this enterprise.”
Acknowledging that those in government have “a growing respect for the contribution made by the faith communities,” the archbishop stressed that those resources cannot be made when the government imposes “conditions which contradict our moral values.”
“It is simply unacceptable to suggest that the resources of the faith communities, whether in schools, adoption agencies, welfare programs, halls and shelters can work in cooperation with public authorities only if the faith communities accept not simply a legal framework but also the moral standards at present being touted by government,” he said. “That is the road to the damaging of key partnerships. And what will suffer is our common good.”
Further, he said, as “our society is moving into a postsecular phase,” faith communities can help by underpinning “with insight and vision the mutual respect we need in our world.”
“Indeed unless the roots of this respect in religious faith are acknowledged and nurtured, then it will soon be gone,” he said. Archbishop Nichols added that the more and the more clearly faith communities express themselves and cooperate together, “the less possible it is for those who wish to do harm to use religious faith as a cloak for their violent intent.”