Pope Francis, Catholics, and Christians in the news worldwide
My hope -- almost certainly not to be realized, but a hope nonetheless -- is that the encyclical will help depoliticize climate change.
It's almost impossible to actually convince someone of anything, once they've made up their mind. Yes, the evidence overwhelmingly backs up the assertion that human activity is driving climate change, but that's not likely to change the mind of anyone who's already decided to disbelieve it. Politics is about organizing people, not ideas, and for whatever reason, the people who have a major stake in opposing action on climate change are also very influential in the Republican party, and lacking in the Democratic party.
That makes climate change an identity test -- which tribe do you belong to?
The only way to get people on the American right to change their minds on climate change is to make it safe to believe in it without fear that you're betraying "your" side.
I'd hope that the pope, as 1) not a member of the American political left (not an American at all!) and 2) the leader of a religion with many adherents on the American right, is in a position to do that.
PVW said:
My hope -- almost certainly not to be realized, but a hope nonetheless -- is that the encyclical will help depoliticize climate change.
It's almost impossible to actually convince someone of anything, once they've made up their mind. Yes, the evidence overwhelmingly backs up the assertion that human activity is driving climate change, but that's not likely to change the mind of anyone who's already decided to disbelieve it. Politics is about organizing people, not ideas, and for whatever reason, the people who have a major stake in opposing action on climate change are also very influential in the Republican party, and lacking in the Democratic party.
That makes climate change an identity test -- which tribe do you belong to?
The only way to get people on the American right to change their minds on climate change is to make it safe to believe in it without fear that you're betraying "your" side.
I'd hope that the pope, as 1) not a member of the American political left (not an American at all!) and 2) the leader of a religion with many adherents on the American right, is in a position to do that.
Good point. Thank you for that analysis.
PVW, you make excellent points, and you state them well. How do you think the encyclical can depoliticize the issue? Is it because both rightists and leftists both belong to the Church?
Encyclical -
http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html
Some Catholic interpretation -- it will be interesting how the media will spin his words..
http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2015/06/18/if-laudato-si-is-an-earthquake-it-had-plenty-of-early-tremors/
http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/Vatican.php?id=12246
http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/Vatican.php?id=12245
Well the Pope has now clearly come out in the leftist of the lets go back to all living in caves type.
Americans, Catholic and non-Catholic, will now return to their altars of partisan democracy and interpret this as they will.
nohero said:
Encyclical -
http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html
Thanks for posting the actual encyclical -- it is written in easy to read and understand words, while expressing profound and beautiful observations
SouthernBaron said:
Americans, Catholic and non-Catholic, will now return to their altars of partisan democracy and interpret this as they will.
ramzzoinksus said:
Well the Pope has now clearly come out in the leftist of the lets go back to all living in caves type.
Clearly some never left them.
"We are not God. ... Although it is true that we Christians have at times incorrectly interpreted the Scriptures, nowadays we must forcefully reject the notion that our being created in God’s image and given dominion over the earth justifies absolute domination over other creatures. ... Each community can take from the bounty of the earth whatever it needs for subsistence." (Paragraph 67)
@Tom_Reingold:
I think what will be key is how the American hierarchy responds. In theory, sure, the fact that there are Catholics across the political spectrum should be relevant, but I don't think it actually is. What _is_ key is that a great many bishops and parish priests are strongly identified as being part of the political right. For Catholics on the Right, their parish priest (and to a lesser, but still significant extent, their bishop) is a key part of their community. If they respond positively to the pope's encyclical, I think that has significant influence on how regular folks in the pews respond.
So that's a big if. But assuming that one, the other big question would be how people like Fox news react. If it really comes to a conflict between Church and Fox, I think Fox has the upper hand. (Fox as shorthand for the whole constellation of conservative media and influencers).
I'll note that in the best case scenario, I don't actually expect a sudden political consensus on how to approach climate change. Rather, I'd hope we can at least all get on board with the fact that it's actually happening. It's a bit ridiculous that the question of whether it's even occurring is a partisan issue. But beyond that, I'd hope we start to see serious grappling with the issue from the Right (and that it would be significantly different from what Democrats are proposing). I think if get to the point where we're insulting each other over having the wrong approach to climate change, that's a huge improvement from the current arguing over if it exists.
The Pope has this right!
47. Furthermore, when media and the digital world become omnipresent, their influence can stop people from learning how to live wisely, to think deeply and to love generously. In this context, the great sages of the past run the risk of going unheard amid the noise and distractions of an information overload. Efforts need to be made to help these media become sources of new cultural progress for humanity and not a threat to our deepest riches. True wisdom, as the fruit of self-examination, dialogue and generous encounter between persons, is not acquired by a mere accumulation of data which eventually leads to overload and confusion, a sort of mental pollution. Real relationships with others, with all the challenges they entail, now tend to be replaced by a type of internet communication which enables us to choose or eliminate relationships at whim, thus giving rise to a new type of contrived emotion which has more to do with devices and displays than with other people and with nature. Today’s media do enable us to communicate and to share our knowledge and affections. Yet at times they also shield us from direct contact with the pain, the fears and the joys of others and the complexity of their personal experiences. For this reason, we should be concerned that, alongside the exciting possibilities offered by these media, a deep and melancholic dissatisfaction with interpersonal relations, or a harmful sense of isolation, can also arise.
Conservatives who are Catholic are having a sad today. And so, they come out and deliberately misrepresent the contents of the encyclical. Example:
"In this encyclical, Francis expresses strikingly anti-scientific, anti-technological, and anti-progressive sentiments."
http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2015/06/the-return-of-catholic-anti-modernism
Leftist Catholics are loving the discomfort that conservative Catholics are feeling. Does it make up for your years of discomfort on abortion, birth control and divorce?
ramzzoinksus said:
Leftist Catholics are loving the discomfort that conservative Catholics are feeling. Does it make up for your years of discomfort on abortion, birth control and divorse?
To give you a proper response, I'd have to educate you about a few things about which you don't know. Realizing that would be futile, I will say, "No", but I do so without validating your question.
Religion, done properly, ought to make you uncomfortable, regardless of political affiliation.
Pope Francis closes with
BEYOND THE SUN
243. At the end, we will find ourselves face to face with the infinite beauty of God (cf. 1 Cor 13:12), and be able to read with admiration and happiness the mystery of the universe, which with us will share in unending plenitude. Even now we are journeying towards the sabbath of eternity, the new Jerusalem, towards our common home in heaven. Jesus says: “I make all things new” (Rev 21:5). Eternal life will be a shared experience of awe, in which each creature, resplendently transfigured, will take its rightful place and have something to give those poor men and women who will have been liberated once and for all.
244. In the meantime, we come together to take charge of this home which has been entrusted to us, knowing that all the good which exists here will be taken up into the heavenly feast. In union with all creatures, we journey through this land seeking God, for “if the world has a beginning and if it has been created, we must enquire who gave it this beginning, and who was its Creator”.[172] Let us sing as we go. May our struggles and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope.
245. God, who calls us to generous commitment and to give him our all, offers us the light and the strength needed to continue on our way. In the heart of this world, the Lord of life, who loves us so much, is always present. He does not abandon us, he does not leave us alone, for he has united himself definitively to our earth, and his love constantly impels us to find new ways forward. Praise be to him!
— Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
The power of one...
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2015/06/a-great-dinner-companion-in-every-sense/
Following the Supreme Court ruling, will opposing religious objectors have the freedom to defend their views? Litigation looms.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/27/us/conservative-lawmakers-and-faith-groups-seek-exemptions-after-same-sex-ruling.html?ref=todayspaper
Mtierney, do these same people seek an exemption for "participating" in a marriage between divorced people?
And speaking of participating... why is selling a cake to a gay couple considered participating in (or even approving of) their marriage, but selling a gun to a murderer is not participating in their crime?
If he were alive today, what would Chesterton say 88 years later?
“THE next great heresy is going to be simply an attack on morality; and especially on sexual morality. And it is coming, not from a few Socialists surviving from the Fabian Society, but from the living exultant energy of the rich resolved to enjoy themselves at last, with neither Popery nor Puritanism nor Socialism to hold them back… The roots of the new heresy, God knows, are as deep as nature itself, whose flower is the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eye and the pride of life. I say that the man who cannot see this cannot see the signs of the times; cannot see even the skysigns in the street that are the new sort of signs in heaven. The madness of tomorrow is not in Moscow but much more in Manhattan — but most of what was in Broadway is already in Piccadilly.”
~G.K. Chesterton: “G.K.’s Weekly,” June 19, 1926.
ParticleMan said:
Mtierney, do these same people seek an exemption for "participating" in a marriage between divorced people?
And speaking of participating... why is selling a cake to a gay couple considered participating in (or even approving of) their marriage, but selling a gun to a murderer is not participating in their crime?
That bakery in Oregon has been fined $135,000 for their refusal to bake a cake! It will most likely put them out of business.
I think that using Chesterton in the context of the recent Supreme Court ruling, is a misuse and a misunderstanding of Chesterton.
IMHO.
Yet another amazing example of faith in action...
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/28/opinion/sunday/nicholas-kristof-hes-jesus-christ.html?ref=todayspaper
Saw that this morning. Didn't make me happy. Archbishop Hebda seems like a great guy, has been to our parish at St. Joe's and I was looking forward to him taking over fully from our current Archbishop. I hope this doesn't mess that up.