It is not religion itself that troubles me as much as its officious absolutism. Obviously religion must retain a core of absolutism to remain true to itself yet to be viable it ought to accept change through compromising relativism. The new Pope Benedict XVI does not accept this premise. In an ideal world absolutes are uncompromising because of their prima facie truths, but we do not exist — even if we believe they are the foundation of existence — within the pure essences of a spiritual realm.
Ideally, abortion should not be reality but in the dirty world of existence it is a fact generated by numerous variables of human frailty that need not be morally acceptable and surely not encouraged, but just as surely should not be openly condemned as an absolute abomination, including partial-birth abortion where it is indisputable that the mother is in serious jeopardy of the child doomed to a life of untold misery. What is an abomination is the stance of the Catholic Church and our administration that those who wish to avoid abortions must do so by abstinence and condemn the willy-nilly use of contraceptives.
So, too, all male and females were designed to be as Adam and Eve, but subverted DNA say otherwise, leaving some individuals in the quarry of homosexuality. That they are disoriented sexually does not make them less human simply because they cannot reap the awards of progeny — as a matter of fact, it is just as well they are incapable of passing on their genes. The argument that their orientation is an abomination because they wilfully choose to be gay warrants limited legitimacy toward some caught up in a lifestyle corrupting their natural leaning and as in the case of any socio-psychological deviance should be afforded therapy, if willing. Of course, the absolutists have every right to resent such activity, but in reality it is none to their business to pry. Just as I vehemently protest the insanity of rappers destroying the beauty of poetry and music, and avant-garde artist that undermine symmetry and context, I do not have the right to — as Plato had wished — to ban the prevalence of the poets’ “divine madness.”
Except for lawyers no one thinks lightly of divorce, but to the Church — except for profitable annulment — it is an unacceptable breach of trust. Yet to many it is a blessing — even though disruptive for children — because the law lends to them the beauty of rectifying their mistakes — particularly when relationships are abusive.
Though no father — ambivalent when it comes to a son — wants his daughter involved in premarital sex, reality dictates that, short of locking her up, it is a doomed wish. True, he has parental rights to rant and rave and even disinherit, but it will not efface the sordid reality. With the exercise of prudence, however, he could lobby for the check and balance of a secular world running amok.
Yea unto absolutism of the pure spirit — just as long as it leaves the rest of us grimy souls alone to self-destruct.
Copyright © 2005 Richard R. Kennedy All rights reserved. Revised: April 20, 2005.
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