RBWords - Volume 19 - Number 11: November 2006
Something to Think About
The visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Turkey has more than symbolism in it. A pope who is virtually carrying on a crusade against \"relativisim\" and \"secularism\" is visiting a culture that has its own crusade against what it perceives as a mortal threat to its way of life - the very same relativism and secularism that Benedict XVI is opposed to. [Yes, Turkey is theoretically a secular state, but Islam is the overwhelming religious reality there.] Both the Pope and Islam make common cause against a common enemy but it is an alliance of absolutes who must eventually face one another if they are successful in conquering their common enemy.
The battle against relativism is an effort to restore standards and truths that are unchanging and absolute. It is also a battle to overcome individualism and privatization of religion and restore it to a common consciousness. Catholics have experienced this at various points in history. Miniature examples havfe occurred in our own nation in towns where Catholics were the overwhelming religious group or Protestants ruled the roost and Catholics had to travel miles to the nearest church.
It has become almost a theological platitude to say, \"the truth is one.\" And we must \"each\" seek it and be happy with \"wherever\" it is found and \"however\" it manifests itself. The danger of this kind of individualism is that it really reduces love of God and neighbor to a \"be nice whenever you can\" way of life. Islam requires certain \"pillars\" to be observed - no ifs ands or buts. The Catholic Church professes a creed and expects that its members accept the teachings of the authority we call the Magisterium. Each is convinced that it has the fullest measure of the truth. If both have come to \"the truth,\" does it matter which one a person accepts? Ah ha! There\'s the rub! Despite the Vatican II documents DIGNITATIS HUMANAE (On religious freedom) and NOSTRA AETATE (On the relationship of the church to non-Christian religions) there can be little question that the church insists on its understanding of the truth about God. And in countries where Islam is the majority, Christian churches live a precarious existence because Islam is equally insistent on its version of the truth about God. If Pope Benedict\'s efforts result at least in a \"peaceful co-existence\" perhaps more truth will be understood even if its expression cannot be shared. IT\'S SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT.
It Has Been Said
\"Faith in God is the foundational and primordial act of the spirit. Faith engages neither the mind alone nor the will alone, but the whole person. Knowing and willing are thus parts of a single act of faith; in faith the two meld into an inner unity. For this reason, faith in God is neither a purely intellectual belief-faith nor a purely volitional decision-faith nor a matter simply of feeling. It is an act of the whole person, an act in which alone the person reaches fully human stature.\"
from THE GOD OF JESUS CHRIST by Walter (Cardinal) Kasper
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