Relativism, truth and freedom

Monday, December 28, 2009

Brother Richard DeMaria

BLOGGER PROFILE

Pope Benedict XVI, following the lead of John Paul II, has argued that widespread relativism is the most serious cancer in contemporary society. George Weigel, in his book, “Letters to a Young Catholic”, suggests that Catholics today can be divided into two groups: those who begin with the assumption that all religions are the result of the human effort to find God, and those who accept the orthodox position that Christianity is a revealed religion.

The orthodox position is that Christianity occurred because God entered into human history and revealed Himself. If we believe that God has revealed Himself to us in Jesus Christ, then the record of this revelation is “the truth”. It is not one of many truths; it is God’s revelation to us.

Yet to assert in our culture, which values tolerance above all other virtues, that there might be something properly described as “the truth,” rather than just my truth or your truth, is viewed as arrogant, anachronistic and intolerant. Many people warn the Church that, unless we are more flexible in its teachings, we will lose membership. Many years ago, when he was known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, our current pope foresaw a reduction in membership if the Church remained orthodox in its teachings. But, he said, the priority of the Church should not be numbers but preserving the faith correctly for the next generation.

Surprisingly, however, the facts don’t support the prediction that faithfulness to the tradition will result in loss of membership. Weigel points out a surprising contemporary reality: It is precisely the most orthodox religions and religious communities that are growing. Weigel says that there seems to be an “iron law” at work: Christian communities that maintain a clear sense of their doctrinal and moral borders flourish, while Christian communities whose borders become so porous that it’s hard to tell who’s in and who’s out wither and die.

How often today, in a discussion about an important topic, one of the participants ends the conversation by saying: “Let’s just say that we agree to disagree.” Or “You have your truth and I have my truth.” Behind both of these remarks is the philosophy that because every belief is a mixture of truth and untruth, all beliefs are equally valid. This is what Benedict calls “relativism.”

Unfortunately, many Christians bring a relativistic viewpoint to their understanding of Christianity. They assume that the different understandings of Christianity are equally true and they encourage each person to find an understanding of Jesus and of the Creed that “makes sense” to him. In line with this, many parents take it as axiomatic that they should leave it up to their children to decide for themselves what religion they wish to follow

In the song “My Way,” the singer reflects today’s morality when he brags that no one told him what to do; he forged his own way and truth A sign of maturity, according the contemporary mindset, is that one does not try to convince others to accept the truth of one’s own beliefs.

I suggest that we follow the balanced advice given by St. Peter, which is to be confident in our faith while remaining respectful of others: “Should anyone ask you the reason for this hope of yours, be ever ready to reply, but speak gently and respectfully.”

Cardinal Ratzinger, in his “Introduction to Christianity”, cites the story of “Clever Hans”. In this story, Hans begins a journey with a large sack of gold. He finds it inconvenient to carry this burden and decides to exchange it for a horse which will be less burdensome. After a while, he finds the horse is also inconvenient and trades it in for something even more convenient. Hans keeps trading down to something which is less inconvenient, losing value with each trade, until he ends up with a whetstone. When he realizes how little value the whetstone has, he throws it away.

Cardinal Ratzinger suggests that this is what 20th century theologians have been doing with the truth of Jesus Christ. On the premise that “modern” people were finding it difficult to believe the truth of the divine nature and miracles of Jesus, they found bases to re-interpret the belief in ways which, with each reinterpretation, make the Gospels more easily believed - and eventually worthless.

Brother Richard DeMaria, CFC
Executive Director, Ministry of Christian Formation