My precious, precious grandchildren,
This series of letters is an attempt to have you notice which “ocean you’re swimming in” (remember the fish who doesn’t have any idea of what water is because it’s always been surrounded by it?).
I grew into adulthood in a Christian society in which Christianity was losing influence as the Post-Christian Rationalist influence was becoming more entrenched, especially in the educational enterprise. Why does this matter? Because the morality that guides each type of culture creates entirely different realities.
Christianity’s dogmas tell us that an all-loving God created everything out of love and asks us to live by loving each other, sacrificially when necessary. The moral laws that guide adherents to Christianity are summed up in the 10 Commandments, but even more concisely in Jesus’ 2 commandments: Love God with all your being and love your neighbor as yourself.
Such commandments, when properly lived out, put curbs on human self-centeredness; they demand that we sacrifice our wants for someone else’s need. As a result, ideas such as equality, justice, individual dignity, and freedom while not unique to the USA are lived out here differently than in other places since our country was specifically founded on religious freedom by adherents to Christianity (or at least those who believed in God).
These Christian values are enshrined in our Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness… and in our Constitution: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America…)
Christianity is also responsible, in large measure, for institutions such as universally accessible education (free public school), hospitals, and social services as we expect them today. Our current expectations of these institutions grew out of the service and sacrifice of many Christians (specifically Catholic women religious -nuns) who saw the needs of their neighbors and sought to fulfill them.
There is ample room for criticism regarding how Christians have lived out these moral values; racism as expressed in chattel slavery was a huge failing–although demand for its abolition also came from Christians. However, that we who are Christians strive to live them in our personal and communal lives despite our failings, remains an important guiding principle.
Christian influence today can be seen in their work to protect the dignity of ALL life by opposing the taking of life of the most vulnerable among us through abortion or euthanasia as they simultaneously offer (at no cost) crisis pregnancy services and hospice services to attend to the significant needs of women with unplanned pregnancy or people who need care to die naturally with dignity.
The “fruits” of properly lived-out, sacrificial Christianity are love for others as shown through true non-politicized justice; essential care for the poor, sick, and vulnerable; respect for life in all its forms; total adherence to truth; and gentleness and kindness practiced through self-control– all of which brings peace in a family, community, and nation.
Only a few of us truly live our Christian values ALL the time. However, seeking to live them out even imperfectly has brought a great deal of good in our society.
Let’s contrast that with the ideology of the Post-Christian Rationalist (PCR) who decided that religion and faith in God was akin to superstition and myth and of no use to the modern person. Without God involved, so many of PCR’s “fruits” have had disastrous outcomes because they substituted God’s plan for humanity for self-interest, power, and the ability to define what is good without a guiding principle other than if it feels right, it is right; or, if it is profitable, it is right for me despite the consequences for anyone else; or even more detestable – if you don’t contribute enough to society, you can be eliminated.
Way back in the garden of Eden, whether you believe it’s an actual story or a myth that teaches an essential truth, Eve substituted her selfish desire to know what was good and evil for the obedience to God’s command not to touch the fruit of that tree. Because of free will, God allowed her choice but her knowledge came at a price—separation from God through disobedience. She no longer trusted in the goodness of God and chose her own way; and with that, her choices’ natural consequences.
Selfish choices always have consequences and because of our need for community, those consequences usually spread far beyond our individual choice.
Funny enough, many dogmas of PCRs come from Catholic social teaching about justice, acceptance, and care for the outcast. But without God present, the choices are based on self-centered egotism and the outcomes lack a true concern for the needs of others. The dogmas take on a false compassion that is unearned by being in service to others, or they are simply morally bankrupt.
Two examples are euthanasia and immigration. In euthanasia the stated goal is to keep someone from suffering when they have a terminal diagnosis (same goal as Hospice care). But often the person is coerced to end their life out of financial considerations or out of fear of suffering. Stories out of Canada, well ahead of the USA in euthanasia practices tell of people being denied healthcare as way to force the decision for euthanasia.
Calling it end of life care is a euphemism for life ending care. And calling it medically assisted suicide is a euphemism for murder. I have enough experience now with Hospice care to attest to their ability to ease suffering (mental, physical, and spiritual) while allowing nature to take its course. Hospice affirms the dignity of every life while maintaining a trust in the family to be involved and help lovingly guide the dying person to death with appropriate care.
The difference between medically assisted suicide and hospice care is the true motivation behind the process. Hospice acknowledges that only God knows the hour of death while addressing the suffering because of fear of death or fear of pain through medication and other methods. Euthanasia takes matters into human hands and neglects to deal honestly with the spiritual aspects of being human or the fear that accompanies a terminal diagnosis.
Unbounded illegal immigration is also an example of false compassion. The cartels involved in the mass migration of desperate people from other countries involves charging exorbitant sums of money to traffic men, women, and children through dangerous environments in which robbery, rape, and murder are common outcomes for the unlucky people who fall victim to them. On top of that, the funds spent to house and feed the numbers of illegal immigrants necessarily forces the choice between taking care of the needs of each country’s vulnerable citizens and those who bypass immigration systems to arrive illegally.
All these vulnerable people need care. But there is only so much money for that care. So, who is the government most beholding to: its current poor/vulnerable citizen, or the poor/vulnerable citizens of another country?
Every government has specific security demands that it must provide its citizens or it is a failed state. Catholic social teaching demands we care for others in the following order: family (children, spouses, parents), local community, wider national community, wider world community. Those among us with abundant resources have an obligation to share more. Those among us with limited resources have an obligation to care for our own families before moving beyond that to others. Compassion, like any other skill, is learned in small doses closest to home before spreading outward.
Also, one must first adequately care for the self because no one can give from an empty well. Yet such care should not be self-centered in such a way to only think of self. We should meet our essential needs and then share whatever we can. My decision to care for you when you were a baby/toddler is an example here. I could have made a great deal more money with my skills if I’d worked at a regular job. But I have always believed that one-on-one care is so essential to the development of an infant/young child that it took precedence over my desire for nice things I could buy with a paycheck. What you needed was so much more important than whatever I wanted beyond food and shelter.
True compassion is something earned in the quiet places of our lives, not necessarily in the public sphere. Protesting injustice is a common public expression (especially in college-aged kids) and we definitely should protest injustice. But if all we do is protest without sacrificing something else that we could DO to address injustice, then our protest is a false compassion directed toward being seen as good and compassionate without any personal sacrifice and while remaining in the safety of our small world.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn said, “The line between good and evil cuts through the heart of every man.” Therefore, each of us must constantly examine our motivations for our actions and hopefully always choose what is most loving as we continue to seek the good, the true, and the beautiful—that is God.